|
Federation Commander A NEW fast paced board game of starship combat!
|
View previous topic :: View next topic |
Author |
Message |
Chewy Ensign
Joined: 14 Jun 2010 Posts: 9 Location: Waterloo, IL
|
Posted: Fri Jul 09, 2010 12:12 pm Post subject: Origins 2010 FC Tournament Overview |
|
|
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. _________________ Chewy
-----------
Semper Fi |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Steve Cole Site Admin
Joined: 11 Oct 2006 Posts: 3828
|
Posted: Fri Jul 09, 2010 2:30 pm Post subject: |
|
|
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.) _________________ The Guy Who Designed Fed Commander
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
Growler Ensign
Joined: 15 Jul 2007 Posts: 8 Location: Cincinnati, OH
|
Posted: Fri Jul 09, 2010 4:06 pm Post subject: Origins 2010 After Action Report |
|
|
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. _________________ Mike Filsinger
ADB Staff and
Tournament Judge |
|
Back to top |
|
|
wedge_hammersteel Commander
Joined: 27 Sep 2008 Posts: 578 Location: Lafayette, LA
|
Posted: Fri Jul 09, 2010 5:45 pm Post subject: |
|
|
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. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Scoutdad Commodore
Joined: 09 Oct 2006 Posts: 4754 Location: Middle Tennessee
|
Posted: Fri Jul 09, 2010 6:23 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Too bad I couldn't make it then.
I had intended to fly a Klingon squadron - at least then they would have been represented. _________________ Commander, Battlegroup Murfreesboro
Department Head, ACTASF |
|
Back to top |
|
|
malleman Lieutenant Commander
Joined: 12 Jan 2008 Posts: 307 Location: Lafayette, LA
|
Posted: Fri Jul 09, 2010 7:18 pm Post subject: |
|
|
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.
Last edited by malleman on Sat Jul 10, 2010 7:02 am; edited 1 time in total |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Usurper Ensign
Joined: 10 Jul 2010 Posts: 1 Location: Northern KY
|
Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2010 6:46 am Post subject: |
|
|
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 |
|
Back to top |
|
|
malleman Lieutenant Commander
Joined: 12 Jan 2008 Posts: 307 Location: Lafayette, LA
|
Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2010 7:01 am Post subject: |
|
|
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 |
|
Back to top |
|
|
mojo_billbo Commander
Joined: 07 Mar 2010 Posts: 426 Location: Danville, PA
|
Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 12:20 am Post subject: |
|
|
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 |
|
Back to top |
|
|
wedge_hammersteel Commander
Joined: 27 Sep 2008 Posts: 578 Location: Lafayette, LA
|
Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 1:52 am Post subject: |
|
|
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. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
storeylf Fleet Captain
Joined: 24 Jul 2008 Posts: 1897
|
Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 10:48 am Post subject: |
|
|
Quote: | 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. |
Quote: | 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. |
I'm intrigued by your write up, anytime we've played a tourney style game involving a large ship and smaller ships it has always ended bad for such a combination. I was wondering whether the increase in play time from 3 to 4 hours might allow the big ship to make more impact, and I note that a number of people post forces based on the big/small split. as a generalisation though, I still think 3 medium size ships are better than a big and 2 small.
Killing 2 DWs and having even a single point of damage on the DN woud have scored enough points to win even if he had crippled all of your ships, he would have to score at least 1 kill and 2 cripples or 2 kills to win. If you take out the DWs fairly quickly then that is still quite a task even for the DN which will have to avoid going beyond merely 'damaged' at the same time.
Quote: | 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. .... I concentrated my fire and was able to destroy one of the war destroyers and then ..... |
Quote: | I spread the drone wave of my WYN fleet over the three Lyran ships equally and the ESGs handled it fine.
|
Ok, I wasn't there, and might be getting a false impression from the way you wrote that up, but it sounds like you lost that fight less due to the 'Big ship/small ship' combination and more due some tactical errors on your behalf. You seem to have identified that small ships go pop quickly, giving you easy points and quicky reducing enemy firepower/options. Yet you started the fight ignoring that potential weakness, concentrating on the strong enemy ship instead, then you changed focus a turn later further diffusing the effect of your firepower in the vital first couple of turns. That first turn volley that scored some internals on the DN could presumably have hit a DW reasonably hard.
On top of that it sounds like your 'pseudo kzinti' force negated one of its obvious strengths by spreading drones around against ships that are pretty much immune to anything less than significant drone focus. Again from the way you wrote it up, it sounds like you played to his strengths and not yours.
If you had played it different, possibly concentrating on the small ships (and staying concentrated on them) and using your drones better do you think you would have been more likely to win than the other guy, or do you think that you still would have come out worse becuase of the combination of big/small ships? I'd be tempted to play the same setup again before making conclusions about whether it was the big/small setup of the opposition that beat you.
Out of interest, given your weapon choices, any reason you went Wyn rather than straight Kzinti? I know the auxbc has attracted me a couple of times with its power and batteries, until I remember it's the ship that makes a pig look sleek, nippy and agile. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
terryoc Captain
Joined: 07 Oct 2006 Posts: 1386
|
Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 3:33 pm Post subject: |
|
|
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. _________________ "Captain" Terry O'Carroll, fourteen papers published including six best of issue
"Man, Terry, you are like a loophole seeking missle!" - Mike West
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
Dan Ibekwe Commander
Joined: 08 Mar 2007 Posts: 453 Location: Manchester UK
|
Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 11:45 pm Post subject: |
|
|
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. _________________ We are Hydrans! NO ONE LIKES US! |
|
Back to top |
|
|
terryoc Captain
Joined: 07 Oct 2006 Posts: 1386
|
Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2010 3:45 am Post subject: |
|
|
You can only take two identical ships, so three Iroquois is out. _________________ "Captain" Terry O'Carroll, fourteen papers published including six best of issue
"Man, Terry, you are like a loophole seeking missle!" - Mike West
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
Dan Ibekwe Commander
Joined: 08 Mar 2007 Posts: 453 Location: Manchester UK
|
Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2010 7:02 am Post subject: |
|
|
True enough. Two IRQs and the D7H if we get a ship card for her would get the same effect (12 FA HBs). _________________ We are Hydrans! NO ONE LIKES US! |
|
Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group
|