A couple of romulan tatics

[markgeorgetwo]

Number one "the decloak and strike" this is one every one knows is to decloak right in front of a target and blast it with a pasma torpedo at a close range a plasma torpedo will cripple or destory a ship if not decteced on a lab roll.
number two "THE Mordet maneuver" this envolves that a small group of ships remains cloaked and does not move while another group will flank the enemy and occupies the enemys attenion while the remaining ships that have not moved moves and decloaks and fires and the enemy is caught in a trap.

Number three"Evaisve maneuver" this is when the romulan ship is pursued it cloaks changes its line of flight to prevent the enemy from knowing where it is and it launches a probe that emits a energy signature that matchs the ship with a slight flaw so the enemy can detect it as it goes after the drone the real shop can circle it and decloak and strike or escapes.( i do not know if these tatics are allreadly in sfb or fc i got them out of the dominion war source book)

[TJolley]

Number one "the decloak and strike" this is one every one knows is to decloak right in front of a target and blast it with a pasma torpedo at a close range a plasma torpedo will cripple or destory a ship if not decteced on a lab roll.
number two "THE Mordet maneuver" this envolves that a small group of ships remains cloaked and does not move while another group will flank the enemy and occupies the enemys attenion while the remaining ships that have not moved moves and decloaks and fires and the enemy is caught in a trap.

Number three"Evaisve maneuver" this is when the romulan ship is pursued it cloaks changes its line of flight to prevent the enemy from knowing where it is and it launches a probe that emits a energy signature that matchs the ship with a slight flaw so the enemy can detect it as it goes after the drone the real shop can circle it and decloak and strike or escapes.( i do not know if these tatics are allreadly in sfb or fc i got them out of the dominion war source book)

Sorry mate..not in FC at all..and not really in SFB either..but probably could be (more or less) in a moderated game

[Scoutdad]

1) Decloak and Strike: An effective tactic, if your opponent will allow it to happen. Since here is no hidden movement of cloaked units in FC - it's hard to pull this off. As for ont detecting on a lab roll? As the type and target of a Plasma Torpedo is known at the moment of launch, there is no reason to "lab" a torpedo.

2) The Mordet Maneuver - Again, with no hidden cloak rules, the opponent will know exactly where the stationary ships are, how many arethere, and what power is available. None of this information is hidden in Federation Commander,and as most battles / scenarios involve forces of relatively equal strength - if half your force is stationary and hidden, the remaining ships will be sorely out-numbered and most likely out-gunned and will have a very hard time forcing the other ships to go where they want them to go. I know that I'd try my very best to take care of the half of the force that was coming after me... and then go clean up the other half of the enemy force. Dividing your forces and hoping that the enemy cooperates with your plan is a very dangerous tactic.

3) the Evasive Manuever - This will not work as the exactlocation of the cloaked Romulan ship is known at all times and there are no probes that emit an energy signature (Wild Weasel?) available in Federation Commander.

[markgeorgetwo]

I did not say for sfb and fc at the moment perhaps in some future product it was something i had lying in my star trek folder that i thought could be worked on at a later date. by the way scoutdad i thought your romulans are very good congratulations on your prize for them has a cockney saying goes the bees knees so i thought that the post would be okay.

[Scoutdad]

Thanks for the complement on the Romulans. I've got about 2 dozen more in progress. Takes foreverto paint all those dang birds...

[Starfury]

I'm guessing that the Star Trek combat system is much different than FC/SFB. I remember playing Star Trek RPG and we were in a Fed CA. Got attacked by 1 D7. They fire, we return fire. Results: CA has shield damage, D7 is expanding cloud of debris. Fed gunner "oops..."

[Scoutdad]

A very appropriate description of nearly every Star Trek game I've ever seen... other than SFB. Seems that most designers think the Federation consisted of nothing but Uberships capable of single handedly taking on entire empires.

[Starfury]

Supposedly the Federaton CA/CC was able to take on 3 Klingon D7 and win most of the time, but that was Star Trek RPG/Combat Simulator from FASA. SFB/FC have made things a bit more even overall.

[TJolley]

I'm guessing that the Star Trek combat system is much different than FC/SFB. I remember playing Star Trek RPG and we were in a Fed CA. Got attacked by 1 D7. They fire, we return fire. Results: CA has shield damage, D7 is expanding cloud of debris. Fed gunner "oops..."

The way damage is done in that game is just BAD. The D-7M is the best all round ship in the game..if run properly and depending on terrain. If it is an open-space battle, the Feds are pretty much unbeatable as they have the best beam weapons in the game and can sit back going speed 0 and utterly destroy any other ship before they get into effective weapons range.

If there is terrain, the Feds are usually toast. the Klingons can out maneuver them and get where they can't be hit while bringing full weapons to bare.

What sux is damage allocation..it is per weapon, roll 1 D10...if you roll a '7' Woo-hoo..all the damage goes to Hull..and if it's a heavy torpedo..it's usally bye-bye cruiser..if you roll another result..same torpedo will only disable a beam weapon..

A very beer-and-pretzels game that lets you use those cool-looking Fasa minis that you don't see every day, but not very satisfying.

[Pinkfluffychicken]

Bolt-and-cloak

What do people think of this one: Competent Gorn player who isn't going slow enough for your plasma to hit, and both players on ships with three or four plasma torps.

Ballet him for long enough for him to forget you can cloak. When you reckon you've got him hooked on the ballet, end t2 of your reload cycle pointing at him at range 12 - 15 and as sideways on as you can get. T3 you slow down to save the power to cloak. Sub-pulse 1 you close to range 10 (if you've hooked him on the ballet he will co-operate). End of Sub-pulse one you bolt 2 or 3 torps (depending on the ship) and launch an F, then cloak.

With a bit of luck you've done some internals, are out of arc of half of his torps and occupying his attention with the launched F and take very little back.

[Scoutdad]

"Bolt and Cloak!"

This is actually a rather valid tactic and our resident Romulan has used it often, and not just against the Gorns. He'll close to near bolt range, suddenly accelerate, bolt all the torps, and then cloak-run-reload!

[Magnum357]

I've never tied this "Bolt and Cloak" trick in my games. Just so use to firing Plasma's so much that I didn't bother with Bolts. I've heard people experimenting with Klingon ships with Cloaks, but they say using the Disruptors is not all that effective combined with the cloak (Dizzies charge to quick). Is it different with Plasma Bolts?

[junior]

The reason that cloaks work better with plasma is because plasma torpedoes have a three turn arming cycle. The cloaking device allows you to become much harder to hit while your torpedoes are being rearmed. Disruptors, with a one turn arming cycle, don't really have a need for it.

[Scoutdad]

I've never tied this "Bolt and Cloak" trick in my games. Just so use to firing Plasma's so much that I didn't bother with Bolts. I've heard people experimenting with Klingon ships with Cloaks, but they say using the Disruptors is not all that effective combined with the cloak (Dizzies charge to quick). Is it different with Plasma Bolts?

What we've found is that with the flexibility of pay-as-you-go movement, it's waay too easy for a ship to speed up and run out a salvo of plasma's - so we tend to use bolts in FC much morethan we ever did in SFB.
Although, catching a ship in a tactor beam or in an energey depleted state and hitting them for 70+ points of plasma still beats the h*** out of firing a few Plasma Bolts.

[Pinkfluffychicken]

Scoutdad: Agree completely (and I spent most of my Romulan career fighting Hydrans until I stabbed my Gorn allies ). It's why I've moved to Klingon. Too much unlearning to do when any frigate can run up to range 2, fire, HET and outrun anything you put on the board .

Mind you, I've noticed that bolts at range 20 seem to be better...need a dam big map, though.