Federation Commander

Do the Federation players generally find it more desirable to overload and hold, or to load, and overload when firing? Under what conditions do you chose either option?

I get the impression it might be better to load, to allow for long range fire, and overload just when an enemy gets close.

Now, if I could only figure out how to get close to a plasma armed ship...

R
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Justin bieber fans

It is pretty standard to load half as OL's and the rest as standard, at least in my experience.

In FedCom, I've never done anything other thaqn load, then overload. "Pay as you go" power frees up this option and I use it as much as I can. As you note, it keeps you from being locked into close-range, and also frees energy for other purposes (if you end up having to go on the defensive; e.g. running away from a plasma).

As I've matured past the "close and hose" tactics I started with, I've noticed a tendency to hold my photons (cheaper when not overloaded), overload some of them with "leftover" energy on the turn break and then close for an overload shot (overloading at that point). I rarely shoot beyond close range, but I'm spending more time to make that shot count.

Any good suggestions for handling Romulan flotillas when using Feds.... (try to whisper, 'cos my adversary also reads the boards!)

How does one close when there are about a dozen or so plasmas waiting?

I generally don't overload until the instant of firing. And then, I only overload if I have the power after allocating power for firing phasers. Usually, I only overload to +4, due to power limitations.

IIRC, in FC the phaser gives a better power to damage ratio than a heavy weapon.

Now, this of course changes if you're going to be shot up quite a bit and might lose several of those photons.

Like OGOPTIMUS, I give priority to phasers when "allocating" power (they are the most efficient power/damage and flexible weapons in the game).

FedCom doesn't have a "decide pretty much everything before the turn" allocation form like SFB, but I still spend some time setting marks on my power track to "reserve" enough power for the phasers I expect to be able to use, tractors, accelerations, etc., after I set and pay for baseline speed. Not a hard allocation, but definitely a plan. The marks are there to keep me from making a goof and shorting myself (easy to do when you have a bunch of ships to manage). Any power left over after "reserving" is available to overload with, at the time of firing.

I do often end up partially overloading some photons with "leftover" power on turn-breaks, but never all of them (there is never that much). This leaves me with some tubes partially overloaded and some not during the approach. I have the option to take shots at range and then close for overload shots, or (if the battle flows my way) I can skip the pain of bad dice at long range and close for an overload shot with all tubes overloaded as much as possible at the time of firing. If the over-the-turn-break overloading happened, there is often enough power to fully overload all tubes, assuming a slower speed setting - circumstances don't allow this to happen all the time, but when it does, it's a glorious thing..

All excellent advice, and mirroring my own thinking, I am proud to say for someone new to all this.

So far, all my experience is in dueling, but will join into squadron sized actions this weekend. Concentrated phasers makes for more tactical choices about photons. It also means the half OL option can still be very destructive at close range, and more dangerous at longer...

Other comments are welcome, especially about closing on plasma armed ships.

R

"Fools learn from their own mistakes - wise men learn from the mistakes of others." Otto v Bismark?
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Hot Box Vape

drwibble wrote:Any good suggestions for handling Romulan flotillas when using Feds.... (try to whisper, 'cos my adversary also reads the boards!)

How does one close when there are about a dozen or so plasmas waiting?

I believe that the standard procedure would be for the Feds to close to 1 hex with lowered shields as an act of trust to try and avoid firing in the first place

Hmm...

I do seem to remember a Trek episode where a warbird opened fire and Picard called the entire bridge crew to the conference room to discuss "options"....

drwibble wrote:Hmm...

I do seem to remember a Trek episode where a warbird opened fire and Picard called the entire bridge crew to the conference room to discuss "options"....

That's the French for you...

Let me also point out the effectiveness of direct targeting using photons standard WITH your phaser suite. I've discussed this at length on another post. At moderate range, with a standard photon/ phaser combo you can punch down a shield and score internals.... do the math. You can really put a hurting on just about anybody with patience, skill, and just a little luck.

I surmise, then, that the Fed players here recommend middle ranged fire versus plasma armed vessels, not overloading torpedoes, but using that energy saved for flying fast (like away from plasma).

R
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HOTELS IN MEXICO

It's easier to put it this way -

If you're flying speed 24 against a plasma ship (particularly a Gorn - Romulans can mix things up a bit with their cloak), then there's not much that they can do against you. Even if you never bother to accelerate, by the time the torpedo catches you the warhead will have little if any strength left. And the plasma bolts don't do any more damage than your photons (which have a faster arming cycle!).

If you're flying slower than speed 24, then you have to stop and think about what you're doing and the tactics that you're going to use to keep from getting caught at range 1 by the plasma ship (at which point there's no way that you can avoid a full strength torpedo impact).

Why make things harder on yourself if you don't need to?



(the above is a gross simplication, though not by as much as I might wish)

Overload them immediately when firing:

What if you later need that energy or don't get a chance to fire. Its just energy wasting.

The difference Enterprise is that you can spend 16 points of power at one time to overload them all (plus the 4 points to hold them during energy allocation), or you can spend 6 points to hold them and another 8 to 2x OL but honestly most feds will try and wait to fire till range 2-4 so it might behoove you to OL all 4 of them and only spend the 8 points a turn of holding energy.