HOW TO TRIP A SABER DANCER
Posted: Thu Aug 12, 2010 6:28 pm
HOW TO TRIP A SABER DANCER
A fairly common tactic employed by the Klingons against the Federation (and indeed, many other races that have the crunch power that Klingons lack) is the “Saber Dance.� This tactic involves staying at long range and using the accuracy of disruptors and (to a lesser extent) phasers to weaken the opponent enough to defeat them with one close range attack. This tactic is particularly useful against photon and plasma ship, because photons have pathetic accuracy at long range, and plasma would fizzle out long before it reaches the Klingon ship.
So how do the photon and plasma races defeat the Klingon Saber Dance? The key is Evasive Maneuvers. With EM in effect, disruptors are reduced to (essentially) photon accuracy. Phasers become useless outside of range 15. The obvious counter is for the Klingon to use his drones to force you to drop EM. But once you drop EM to phaser down the drones, you can use your other phasers on his or her ship, and maybe turn the dance in your favor. And while he does have an unlimited supply of drones, he cannot keep a continuous wave coming, for he will have to reload his racks one at a time.
Let’s apply this principle to the classic match up: the Federation CA vs. the Klingon D7. We’ll analyze the average damage the Saber-Dance will do at ranges 25 and 15. The D7 has four Disruptors, three ph-1s and six ph-2s. At range 16-25, half of the disruptors will hit on average. For one turn, this scores 4 damage (two disruptor hits). The Phaser-1s will get (on average) either 1 or 2 points of damage; we’ll assume it’s two for this example. The Ph-2s will score (on average) 2 damage. This gives a total of 8 damage. To nullify that damage, the CA will have to spend a fairly large 12 energy (4 reinforcement, 8 for shield repair).
However, when EM is added to the equation, things change dramatically. With EM in effect, the chances are he will hit with only one disruptor, and his phasers become absolutely useless. In this case, you need only 8 energy (6 for EM, 2 for reinforcement) to completely erase the damage you took. This gives the Federation ship 4 extra energy, which seems minor on the surface, could be used to pre-load or load two photons or go into batteries. By using EM, you force the opponent to come to you, and when he does he will be the one at a disadvantage.
“But what if he closes the range, but not into overload range?� you might ask. Well, at range 9-15, the average total damage the Klingon will do is (when rounded up) 11. That will take 16 energy to stop. With EM, he will only average 5 damage, and then you will only need 12 energy to stop the damage.
To sum it all up, the key to beating the Saber dance is to not allow the opponent to score permanent damage. EM is an effective way of keeping the opponent from doing just that. It allows you to save on energy that can go into weapons instead.
This is my first tactical paper, so i'm not really sure if I'm doing things right or not. Please comment and point out any flaws you see
A fairly common tactic employed by the Klingons against the Federation (and indeed, many other races that have the crunch power that Klingons lack) is the “Saber Dance.� This tactic involves staying at long range and using the accuracy of disruptors and (to a lesser extent) phasers to weaken the opponent enough to defeat them with one close range attack. This tactic is particularly useful against photon and plasma ship, because photons have pathetic accuracy at long range, and plasma would fizzle out long before it reaches the Klingon ship.
So how do the photon and plasma races defeat the Klingon Saber Dance? The key is Evasive Maneuvers. With EM in effect, disruptors are reduced to (essentially) photon accuracy. Phasers become useless outside of range 15. The obvious counter is for the Klingon to use his drones to force you to drop EM. But once you drop EM to phaser down the drones, you can use your other phasers on his or her ship, and maybe turn the dance in your favor. And while he does have an unlimited supply of drones, he cannot keep a continuous wave coming, for he will have to reload his racks one at a time.
Let’s apply this principle to the classic match up: the Federation CA vs. the Klingon D7. We’ll analyze the average damage the Saber-Dance will do at ranges 25 and 15. The D7 has four Disruptors, three ph-1s and six ph-2s. At range 16-25, half of the disruptors will hit on average. For one turn, this scores 4 damage (two disruptor hits). The Phaser-1s will get (on average) either 1 or 2 points of damage; we’ll assume it’s two for this example. The Ph-2s will score (on average) 2 damage. This gives a total of 8 damage. To nullify that damage, the CA will have to spend a fairly large 12 energy (4 reinforcement, 8 for shield repair).
However, when EM is added to the equation, things change dramatically. With EM in effect, the chances are he will hit with only one disruptor, and his phasers become absolutely useless. In this case, you need only 8 energy (6 for EM, 2 for reinforcement) to completely erase the damage you took. This gives the Federation ship 4 extra energy, which seems minor on the surface, could be used to pre-load or load two photons or go into batteries. By using EM, you force the opponent to come to you, and when he does he will be the one at a disadvantage.
“But what if he closes the range, but not into overload range?� you might ask. Well, at range 9-15, the average total damage the Klingon will do is (when rounded up) 11. That will take 16 energy to stop. With EM, he will only average 5 damage, and then you will only need 12 energy to stop the damage.
To sum it all up, the key to beating the Saber dance is to not allow the opponent to score permanent damage. EM is an effective way of keeping the opponent from doing just that. It allows you to save on energy that can go into weapons instead.
This is my first tactical paper, so i'm not really sure if I'm doing things right or not. Please comment and point out any flaws you see
