Cornering the floating map

[Kang]

When playing on a floating map, say 50 hexes across from a fixed point, you may find it frustrating when your opponent is running and reloading his drones or plasma, or perhaps he's performing shield repairs. He's doing speed 24+1 for the whole turn, and he's keeping the range open. You'd like nothing better than to see him run into a corner from which there is no escape, but it's a big map and there's all the space he needs.

But even on a floating map, you can still corner your opponent. The map is actually a giant hexagon 100 hexes across, which means it still has corners, albeit six of them rather than the usual four on a fixed map. Thinking of the map a simply a large, but still fixed, map, is the key to this strategy.

Ships running at speed 24+1 for a whole turn will cross a 100-hex map in a mere three turns. Sooner or later he's going to have to make a decision about what to do when he reaches the map edge. Now, if your opponent is running away in a more-or-less straight line, it means that he's running approximately parallel to two of the edges of the map.

Usually, one of those two map edges will be closer than the other. The trick here is not simply to do a straight stern-chase, but to take up a position slightly to the side of your opponent's trail, on the opposite side of his ship from the nearest map edge. This way, he either has to turn towards the nearest edge of the map, in which case you simply turn and parallel his course again in the same way, or he turns towards you which allows you to close the range. The idea is that you box him in against the sides of the map, just as if it was a fixed map.

If, however, you were performing a stern chase, or were on the side of his ship closest to the nearest map edge, then all he would have to do would be to turn away from you and he would open the range again.

This means that eventually you can corner your opponent and give him what he deserves.

Another way of looking at it is that you keep your ship nearer the centre of the board than his. As long as you are on the inside of his turn, which effectively is what is happening, than you can cut him off at each corner and eventually close the range. That way he's doing all the running and, sometimes, you can even go at a lower speed thus releasing power for your weapons.

Of course, a clever opponent can complicate things by launching over-the-shoulder plasma shots, and given your high forward speed, these plasma torps will probably be powerful when they hit you. But still you are not in his primary forward arcs and the torpedo threat is not as great when you are behind him.

[Wolverin61]

When playing on a floating map, say 50 hexes across from a fixed point, ....

Sounds more like a location map than a floating one to me, Tony, since it's a finite size. It's just bigger than a 'standard' map.

I could be wrong though, it's happened frequently on here lately.

[terryoc]

yep, Kang means a location map. And it is difficult to corner a person in a location map, but it can be done.

[Kang]

Thanks, gentlemen, you were right;
I meant a Location ap. Vocab dysfunction.....

Andy, I like the new avatar.....

[Wolverin61]

Andy, I like the new avatar.....

Thanks, Tony. It didn't come out quite as well as I'd like, but I guess it's nice enough all things considered.