I am moderating a mini-campaign between Fed and Kzinti forces. It appears that the Kzintis will have a DN, a NCC, 3 DEs, and at least 1 CM to attack the Fed battle station. The Feds will have a DN, a CC, 2 NCLs, a Tug, a mobile base, and perhaps another ship to defend the battle station.
The Kzintis should be able to fire somewhere around 50-60 drones at the Fed battle station. Is there any possible way for the Feds to avoid getting their station blown to pieces?
Drone bombardment
Moderators: mjwest, Albiegamer
Drone bombardment
Mike
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Sandpaper gets the job done, but makes for a lot of friction.
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Sandpaper gets the job done, but makes for a lot of friction.
Aggressively go after the drones and the Kzinti ships. If the Feds can get the Kzintis to target their ships instead of the battlestation or at least split their fire, they'll win. Either way, the Feds need to aggressively knock down the drones using every weapon the ships have (photons, suicide shuttles, drones, and phasers). After the Kzintis start reloading, the balance of firepower will be dramatically in the Feds favor
Once the Feds start closing, they need to use their out of arc weapons on the drones that get past them. This will free up the in arc weapons to start taking down the Kzintis.
Of course, the whole time this is going on, the BATS needs to blast the Kzinti's with it's Ph-4s.
Overall, I think the Kzinti's don't have the firepower to win against an aggressive Fed. The feds have a DN, CC and 2 light cruisers vs a DN, NCC, 3 destroyers and a medium cruiser. The DN and CC's are equally matched and the 2 NCLs & a Tug vs 1 CM and 3 Destroyers is fairly equal as well. Throw in a mobile base and a BATS and the Kzinti's look pretty outgunned.
With that in mind, an aggressive Fed can effectively gut the Kzintis without a lot of support from the base. If the kzintis manage to survive, the mobile engagement, they'll be too damaged to take on the BATS and mobile base.
Once the Feds start closing, they need to use their out of arc weapons on the drones that get past them. This will free up the in arc weapons to start taking down the Kzintis.
Of course, the whole time this is going on, the BATS needs to blast the Kzinti's with it's Ph-4s.
Overall, I think the Kzinti's don't have the firepower to win against an aggressive Fed. The feds have a DN, CC and 2 light cruisers vs a DN, NCC, 3 destroyers and a medium cruiser. The DN and CC's are equally matched and the 2 NCLs & a Tug vs 1 CM and 3 Destroyers is fairly equal as well. Throw in a mobile base and a BATS and the Kzinti's look pretty outgunned.
With that in mind, an aggressive Fed can effectively gut the Kzintis without a lot of support from the base. If the kzintis manage to survive, the mobile engagement, they'll be too damaged to take on the BATS and mobile base.
Speed is life; Patience is victory
I hope the Kzinti player likes a challenge - this fight looks tricky for him to me. That said, it's possible.
My advice to the Federation would be to get - and keep - your fleet between his drones (and ships!) and the BATS. But don't get suckered into an even ship-to-ship fight where his ships are at extreme range from your biggest guns on the BATS.
You should actually have more phaser-Is in your fleet than he has drone racks, so he will need to build a wave which maxes out against his control limit over a couple of turns. Don't be afraid of leaving some drones for the BATS to shoot, it has plenty of point defence all its own.
When you have a choice prioritise shooting those drones which can't just be replaced by an immediate launch on the impulse/turn you kill them, to ensure you reduce the overall number on the map, and the total you have to deal with on any given turn; the converse probably applies to your Tractor beams - force him to drop control if he wants a replacement drone on the map quickly.
If your opponent can force you to deal with two or more whole turns' worth of launch in a single game turn, that might well be enough to swing things in his favour.
Hope this is some help, and not too obvious.
My advice to the Federation would be to get - and keep - your fleet between his drones (and ships!) and the BATS. But don't get suckered into an even ship-to-ship fight where his ships are at extreme range from your biggest guns on the BATS.
You should actually have more phaser-Is in your fleet than he has drone racks, so he will need to build a wave which maxes out against his control limit over a couple of turns. Don't be afraid of leaving some drones for the BATS to shoot, it has plenty of point defence all its own.
When you have a choice prioritise shooting those drones which can't just be replaced by an immediate launch on the impulse/turn you kill them, to ensure you reduce the overall number on the map, and the total you have to deal with on any given turn; the converse probably applies to your Tractor beams - force him to drop control if he wants a replacement drone on the map quickly.
If your opponent can force you to deal with two or more whole turns' worth of launch in a single game turn, that might well be enough to swing things in his favour.
Hope this is some help, and not too obvious.
Everybody, thanks for the advice.
The way that the MB ended up in the same sector with a BTTS was that the Tug was hauling it around. We allowed that in our campaign.
I allowed the Feds to do a 75% trade-in on the Tug and MB for a CA, so that has changed. It doesn't look as if the big attack will occur just yet. The Kzinti pulled back, ostensibly to allow other ships to catch up and join the main fleet. The Feds moved out in two task forces to probe the Kzintis.
There may be a battle this week between a Fed force of a heavy dreadnought and heavy cruiser and a Kzinti force of a dreadnought, NCC, and DE. The Feds know they are outnumbered and are low on points, but might just take on the Kzintis because they know the Kzintis' best commander won't be there for the battle.
The way that the MB ended up in the same sector with a BTTS was that the Tug was hauling it around. We allowed that in our campaign.
I allowed the Feds to do a 75% trade-in on the Tug and MB for a CA, so that has changed. It doesn't look as if the big attack will occur just yet. The Kzinti pulled back, ostensibly to allow other ships to catch up and join the main fleet. The Feds moved out in two task forces to probe the Kzintis.
There may be a battle this week between a Fed force of a heavy dreadnought and heavy cruiser and a Kzinti force of a dreadnought, NCC, and DE. The Feds know they are outnumbered and are low on points, but might just take on the Kzintis because they know the Kzintis' best commander won't be there for the battle.
Mike
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Sandpaper gets the job done, but makes for a lot of friction.
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Sandpaper gets the job done, but makes for a lot of friction.
Minor point, but Suicide Shuttles cannot target drones.DNordeen wrote:Either way, the Feds need to aggressively knock down the drones using every weapon the ships have (photons, suicide shuttles, drones, and phasers).
I happened to discover that immediately after a game I watched in which a player used one in a "kitchen sink" approach to stopping an incoming drone wave.