Federation Commander

Power planning

This is very crucial to winning the game. I usually set my baseline speed always to 16. Then, i set aside energy to use for phasers and batteries.
Then i use the rest of this energy to arm heavy weapons such as photons.
the number of phaser energy left varies towards the amount of drones you will face.

Speaking of baseline speeds here are my experiences....

If you are fighting a plasma race you almost always want to set baseline speed 24 and have plently of power for acceleration when you are within plasma ranges. Anything else makes you an easy target for plasmas. Against plasmas I usually average a speed of 28-30.

Also faster speeds let you set the range and timing of the engagement better, or at least prevent your opponent from doing the same.

For example, when I am playing Klingons against Federation, to hear a baseline speed of anything less than 24 from the Fed makes me very happy. I can now fly my sabre dance at speed 24+ and ensure that the Fed never gets within overload range. Of course I never have the power to overload disruptors and usually do not have power to fire every weapon. I just need to do more damage every turn than my opponent.

When I am playing Feds I generally move very slowly on the first turn and charge overloads. On the second turn I hold photons set baseline speed 24 and charge as fast as I can (speeds in the range of 28-32) for that first alpha strike. If the first alpha strike does not go well then I rarely am able to overload photons again in the battle.

Kang wrote:

I like to plan my intended power usage at the start of the turn. I even separate out my pile of energy chits (we use coins) into intended usage - accels, phasers, batteries etc. Even though energy allocation is not the done deal it is in Star Fleet Battles, it's still a good idea to try to allocate your power in this way at the start of the turn; you can always change your mind about the usage as the turn develops and your plan comes into contact with that of your opponent.

No, it isn't SFB, but you still need to have a pretty clear idea of where the power comes from and where it's going. Actually, what will happen over time is that you'll start carrying in your head some pretty hard and fast numbers for your favorite ships. You pull out the D7 card, and think...Hmmm, 24 points of power to run speed 24. Gotta stary away from those photons. That leaves fifteen. I'll need eight for four stanard load disruptors. And three for the phaser 1s. That's eleven, so that leaves me with four. I've got three in the batteries. So, that leaves me four points for buying acceleration, or maybe soaking damage without dipping into the batteries. Or I could use three points for accel, and save a point for firing a defensive phaser 2 if my ADD crew weenies out on me. (And they're going in the agony booth if they do!)

I could also use that four points to overload two disruptors, if it gets that close. (Not that the overloads will likely save me if things get that close too early.)

Or alternatively, maybe I could buy a few points of acceleration, and get an over the shoulder phaser shot at close range. Three for the phaser 1s, and four for the phaser 2s, and I've still got power left for transporter raids, and maybe a suicide shuttle.

That's the sort of thing you can do with power planning, and you'll develop, with practice, mental maps, or models of ships you fly frequently. So at some level, it's pretty simple to learn a few numbers, but actually planning power usage requires a lot of thought, always. Remember, the decision to use reserve power is the one of the most critical and far reaching of all decisions in Fedcom.

You must study this deeply.