Federation Commander

[Chewy]

Any chance we could get some feedback on the origins 2010 FC tournament and the results. I suspect a lot of veterans went and participated and it would be great to hear their thoughts. If possible it would be good to hear what races and fleets many of the veterans used and how they did.

I'm fairly new to FC, but an old hat at combat tactics and strategy. I know that one of the best ways to learn is to watch veterans in action and analyze what they do effectively so it would be great to read some feedback.
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Chewy
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Semper Fi

[Steve Cole]

There were 8 players (more than ever before) and Patrick Doyle won.

(I was in the booth the whole time and that's all I know. Mike W, you need to get Filsinger to come tell us.)
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The Guy Who Designed Fed Commander

[Growler]

Origins is one of my favorite times of the year. I have been a Judge since 1993, and over those years I have made many friends. As June rolls around, I find myself looking forward with great anticipation to seeing old friends I can only meet once per year. Origins is a great place to meet the actual people you might otherwise only know online.

While the convention turnout seemed a bit low (though apparently up from last year), this had little effect on the turnout for our events. F&E gets stronger every year, due to an incredibly loyal player base and the able leadership of Colonel Chuck Strong, while the SFB tournament had roughly the same turnout as in the past and, the FC tournament continues to grow slowly each year. The events all ran very smoothly due largely to the quality and sportsmanship of the players and the dedication of our team of experienced Judges.

Pat Doyle is again the Federation Commander National Champion. We ran the tournament with essentially the same rules as in the past, with a slight modification to allow players to enter for only a single round if they don't want to commit to an entire weekend. To alleviate the problem of trucking an entire carton of ship cards to the show just so players could pick a few to use, we continued to allow players to construct their own fleets, but if they wanted to use ship cards provided by ADB, they had to select from a selection of pre-built fleets.

I remain interested (so does the company) in your ideas for improving the Origins events.
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Mike Filsinger

ADB Staff and
Tournament Judge

[wedge_hammersteel]

I’m writing this from memory so it might not be 100 % accurate. And I might leave out parts. I think Patrick will do the official write-up for the Captain’s log.

My fleet was the WYN AxBC, CA, and CW. The AxBC placed disruptors in each option while the 2 other ships placed drones in each option. So I basically had a pseudo-Kzinti fleet. The stock WYN tourney fleet was the CA, CW, FF and FF. I tested this fleet before the tourney and the FFs got taken out early and too easily, so I chose a 3 ship fleet.

My first opponent was FED strike cruiser and 2 NCAs. The battle went the entire 4 hours. It was this battle that I realized that the AxBC’s inability to do a HET and turn quickly at speed 16 and 24 was going to hurt.

I approached at speed 16 and fired my disruptors at range 15 or so and scored some good hits. I was expecting the FED to close and use photons so I turned away from the FED. I felt sure he would use the photons and I wanted him to hit a side shield. He didn’t and held the photons and turned to chase me. We circled the map for a turn and engaged again. I eventually scored more damage and won on points. I think my opponent had some unlucky photon dice rolls.

My next battle was against Patrick and his Lyran heavy dreadnaught and 2 war destroyers. My initial plan was to concentrate on the dreadnaught. As the battle began and we closed, I was able to fire disruptors at 15 and I think I scored some internals on the DN. Patrick then maneuvered his ships to put the war destroyers between my ships and his DN. Since I didn’t want to wade through the war destroyers to get to the DN again, I focused on taking out a war destroyer. I concentrated my fire and was able to destroy one of the war destroyers and then headed away from the DN as it turned back into the battle. I couldn’t get the axBC to turn quick enough to go on the offensive again so the remaining war destroyer and DN eventually pounded my ships enough to where they had little power to move. The multiple ESG pulses finished them off. Patrick was even able to board the axBC with marines. One thing that the axBC had going for it was the 8 batteries that I could use for shield re-enforcement and it had a bunch of power to re-enforce for each volley of fire.

I thought that 3 ships that were of similar size and force would hold up better to one powerful ship and 2 small ships. I think Patrick thought the opposite and used his war destroyers as fodder and the DN for clean-up duty. Even if he lost both war destroyers, he would destroy all three of his opponent’s ships or cripple them so he would win on points. My group is going to experiment with a battle of a FED DN and 2 destroyers against Patrick’s ships. In this tournament, my group felt that the ESG was the most powerful and efficient weapon.

My final battle was against Kzinti. I lost that one but no so badly. Again, if the AxBC could stay head on and range 10-15, the ship could hold its own. In this battle, once we engaged, the AxBC was basically trying to turn and engage again but remained on the defensive. I don’t remember too much about this battle.

If I were to choose a fleet again, I would make my primary ship the largest DN that my chosen empire had and fill the rest of the 450 points with war destroyers or light cruisers if possible. I feel the DN is the key.

No one chose to fly a plasma empire. I wasn’t too surprised by this. No one flew Klingons either.

I really enjoyed having battles with new players. I think all of my opponents were tourney veterans. All in all, it was a good and fun experience.

[Scoutdad]

Too bad I couldn't make it then.
I had intended to fly a Klingon squadron - at least then they would have been represented.
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Commander, Battlegroup Murfreesboro
Department Head, ACTASF

[malleman]

Feds CS, NCA, NCA.

1st Opponent Tournament Winner. Lyrans (Dn,DW,DW) I lost 230 to 315.
2nd Opponent Tied for 2nd, but bowed out. Kizinti (I think his fleet consisted of a NCC, NCA, BC) I lost 174 to 310.
3rd Opponent 2nd Place. Kizinti (I think his fleet consisted of a NCC, NCA, NCA). I lost 155 to 315.

I may be mixed up on who had which fleet out of the two Kizinti players.

Most (I think 6 out of 8 ) players played disruptor empires.
2 Kizinti
2 Fed
2 WYN
1 Lyran
Not sure what empire the 8th fleet was.

[Usurper]

Hello all.

I was the "other" Kzinti player I flew the NCC, the NCA, and a BC. (I believe the other Kzin flew the standard NCC and 2xNCA fleet) My first match (and my first ever game of FC) was against Pat and we fought to a draw. He is a very tough but courteous opponent. Considering that he was the reigning FC Champ I felt fortunate with that outcome. My other two matches were against the Fed players. I don't know the ending points but I was able to defeat those scary photon-death dealers. Before the convention I had considered playing Feds but thought that they might be hardpressed vs a drone heavy Kzinti fleet. This opinion seemed to have been bourne out in my anti-Fed battles.

After those three matches I was a scant 16 points ahead of Pat... not enough to really matter. To settle this Mike suggested we fight yet again. As I was set for an huge A&A minis game the following day (I honestly never thought before the tourny that I would be in a position to make the finals) I bowed out. I also didn't relish the possibility of a Kzin vs Kzin catfight (I really hate those intercine battles) It also spared Pat from possibly two Kzin fights in a row not that he obviously couldn't have handled it It worked out best for me though...I did win the A&A battlefest and the beaucoup de goodies that came with it so I was a happy camper.

I might consider jumping ship to the dark side...I mean Klingons next year...but then again I would hate not to use my cats.

Thanks for a great first three games of FC. There will no doubt be more

Ron

[malleman]

Hey Usurper,

Cool to see you on the board. Could not remember what your fleet consisted of. Sorry, I should have you really beat the crud out of me.

Matt

[mojo_billbo]

I couldn't make Origins this year.
However, I did pre-plan incase things changed and I could make it.

This is what I was planning on using:
Fed F.J. Dreadnought (#912) DN: 180 pts.
Fed New Drone Cruiser (#921) NCD: 144 pts.
Fed New Light Cruiser (#33) NCL: 125 pts.

the "plan" was to hit hard where possible with the DN, use the maneuverability of my NCD and NCL to flank and use the NCD to drop as many drones as I could.

If I would have been there, based on what was posted, I would more than likely lost. Looking at what was posted I think that DN and double DW team would have taken out my NCD in pretty short order and ruined my dream of a federation ship "flooding" the map with drones...

Did sound like you had lots of fun trying!
--Bill

[wedge_hammersteel]

mojo_billbo, you would need to focus your initial drone wave entirely on one of the Lyran DWs so they would overwhelm the ESG. I spread the drone wave of my WYN fleet over the three Lyran ships equally and the ESGs handled it fine.

I think you would have put up a good showing with that fleet.

[storeylf]

[terryoc]

Good reasons to take a WYN AxBC:

1. Hellbores. WYNs can take one-third of their ships armed with hellbores. The AxBC has the power to make it work.
2. Drones. Loading all the option mounts with drones turns it into a terrifying anchor ship, with 8 drone racks. In this configuration, charge like a maniac with a bunch of drones following you in.
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"Captain" Terry O'Carroll, fourteen papers published including six best of issue
"Man, Terry, you are like a loophole seeking missle!" - Mike West

[Dan Ibekwe]

Interesting After-Action Reports, thanks.

I would have taken a Lord Bishop and a pair of Dragoons, w/o fighters. No small and easily killable ships, similar speeds and turn modes. Have to be a bit creative with the HB firing arcs, though.

Three Iroquois plus a few Stingers might also be an option. Sadly the Overlord plus two Iroquois dream team comes to 452.
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We are Hydrans! NO ONE LIKES US!

[terryoc]

You can only take two identical ships, so three Iroquois is out.
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"Captain" Terry O'Carroll, fourteen papers published including six best of issue
"Man, Terry, you are like a loophole seeking missle!" - Mike West

[Dan Ibekwe]

True enough. Two IRQs and the D7H if we get a ship card for her would get the same effect (12 FA HBs).
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We are Hydrans! NO ONE LIKES US!