Plasma Advice

TJolley · Post by **TJolley** » Fri Jul 04, 2008 1:53 pm

yea, that's a mistake on the player playing 2 ships. You stack them and run them as a single 'unit' where possible. Then yo are talking a whole different ball game.

Later in the game, splitting up forces can be advantageous, but usually not at the start.

Patrick Doyle · Post by **Patrick Doyle** » Sun Jul 13, 2008 12:23 am

I'd like to echo, and refine Sir Drakes advice.

There are three basic Functions for a plasma Torpedo.
(1) Seeking Weapon
(2) Direct Fire
(3) A Big Threat

(1) As a Seeking Weapon
There are three reasons to launch a plasma torp as a seeking weapon, (A) To influence the enemy's maneuver, ie, make him run from you. WHile he is running, you can postition yourself for phaser attacks. If you shoot out his aft shield, you make it harder for the enemy to run without getting damaged. Phasers become your primary weapon.
(B) The second reason to launch is to cause damage. Usually the enemy will move as 24+1 and you won't actually cause much damage. IF however, he make a mistake when maneuvering, and the torpedo will hit, by all means, launch the torps.
(C) The 3rd reason to launch torps is to absorb enemy phaser fire. You can follow your torpedoes in your attack run if it fits your tactics. Usually the enemy will spend some time running out the torpedo, then fire phasers to reduce the warhead.

(2) Plasma as Direct Fire
(A) Bolting - If the enemy is running from your torps, consider lobbing an occasional bolt into his aft shield. If you are going to penetrate shields, then target engines with your bolt and phasers. You will slow your opponent down and make it easier for future plasma torps to hit.
(B) Carronade - If inside range 5, carronade your F torps, don't bolt them.

(3) Threat - Sometimes that R torpedo is best left in the launcher for a while. You may get more benefit from threatening the enemy with the plasma then actually launching it. Sometimes the threat of an action is more useful than the actual action.

Hope that helps some.

Savedfromwhat · Post by **Savedfromwhat** » Sun Jul 13, 2008 1:34 am

You can't hold an R iirc unless you are a Starbase.

DNordeen · Post by **DNordeen** » Sun Jul 13, 2008 2:19 am

True, but you can hold a G-torp in an R box and upgrade to an R when you fire it.

A loaded torp in an R-box is always a threat since it can come out as an R.

junior · Post by **junior** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 5:05 pm

DNordeen wrote:True, but you can hold a G-torp in an R box and upgrade to an R when you fire it.

A loaded torp in an R-box is always a threat since it can come out as an R.

Unless you blow up the torp box during the Direct Fire Phase before they can fire it.

You can still fire the torpedo anytime before the end of the turn. But you can no longer upgrade it.

mjwest · Post by **mjwest** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 8:07 pm

junior wrote:
DNordeen wrote:True, but you can hold a G-torp in an R box and upgrade to an R when you fire it.

A loaded torp in an R-box is always a threat since it can come out as an R.
Unless you blow up the torp box during the Direct Fire Phase before they can fire it.

You can still fire the torpedo anytime before the end of the turn. But you can no longer upgrade it.

Yes, that is all true, and must always be kept in mind.

But it isn't that bad. Remember that you will usually have other plasma torpedo boxes to pad the Pl-R, and that when it is the last one left, you have Frame Damage to pad it.

So, if you have had all of your other plasma and all of your Frame Damage shot off, the state of your Pl-R torpedo is probably not gonna save you ...

junior · Post by **junior** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 8:20 pm

mjwest wrote:But it isn't that bad. Remember that you will usually have other plasma torpedo boxes to pad the Pl-R, and that when it is the last one left, you have Frame Damage to pad it.

So, if you have had all of your other plasma and all of your Frame Damage shot off, the state of your Pl-R torpedo is probably not gonna save you ...

Unless you're flying a War Eagle.

Also, Hit and Run raids for the particularly foolhardy are a possible way to deal with an R-torp that's still in the tube but at a lower status. And those can't be mitigated by shunting the damage to another torpedo. Though I know I'd be really reluctant to get into transporter range with a ship that had a torpedo sitting in its R tube.

pinecone · Post by **pinecone** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 9:01 pm

I'd rather hit-and-run a cloaking device

junior · Post by **junior** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 9:24 pm

pinecone wrote:I'd rather hit-and-run a cloaking device

The Cloaking Device won't kill you as quickly as the R-torp will.

But most ships have enough transporters to H&R both.

Nerroth · Post by **Nerroth** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 9:33 pm

Here's a plasma-related question:

If one was flying a plasma variant of the ISC Star Cruiser (one which had a third PL-S in place of the PPD) how would one make the most out of the alternate weapon configuration in FC?

pinecone · Post by **pinecone** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 9:41 pm

junior wrote:
pinecone wrote:I'd rather hit-and-run a cloaking device
The Cloaking Device won't kill you as quickly as the R-torp will.

But most ships have enough transporters to H&R both.

The cloaking device is more Annoying though.

Savedfromwhat · Post by **Savedfromwhat** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 10:17 pm

If you were afraid you were going to lose it to direct fire you could just upgrade and bolt it in direct fire.

junior · Post by **junior** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 10:19 pm

pinecone wrote:The cloaking device is more Annoying though.

I'd much rather be annoyed than crippled.

Your mileage may vary.

Gary -

I'd need to double check, but the thing that comes most immediately to mind is the ability to force certain races (such as the Hydrans and the Feds) to keep their distance by the simple expedient of launching one plasma torpedo every turn (if you've got the power for it). A basic plasma tactic is to use the long rearming period of plasma torpedoes against the ship carrying the torpedoes. But whereas most plasma cruiser carry two of the larger torpedoes, a full three allows you to always have at least one ready at all times. In particular, this could be a problem for a Hydran player given the shortage of heavier phaser-1s on most Hydran ships. It might take a while, but I would imagine that any ISC ship with three Plasma-S torpedoes should be able to wear a Hydran Fusion ship down through long-range sniping. Any attempt to close can be initially met with a single Plasma-S to encourage them to turn away, followed by the other two torpedoes (assuming that they haven't been used on previous turns) once the Hydran is irrevocably committed to the overrun.

I'd need to doublecheck the ship display (which I don't have handy at the moment) to verify that the power curves work properly, however.

DrFaustus · Post by **DrFaustus** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 10:22 pm

The peeps I normally play with tend to be very nervous when I de-cloak since it normally means some one is about to eat a Plasma R very soon.

Althrough after being caught by a Gorn carronade I tend to be careful about closeing to much on a Gorn ship.

Best bit of plasma advice I can think of don't under estimate bolting, alot of people tend to forget to use them, or that they let a plasma ship reach out and touch someone fairly well. I've manged to get people a few times when they thought they where outside plasma torp range. (Or using power to run like mad, so I throw a few plasma F's bolted to snipe his shields.)

Nerroth · Post by **Nerroth** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 10:48 pm

I see what you mean, Junior - but in the ISC case, that CA would still also have the rear-firing plasmas to consider.

Would using all of these plasmas just slow the ship too much - or would a Concordium captain aboard a plasma-variant be able to afford not to worry too much about arming the rear-firing torps, if the tactic of one S a turn was being used?