Federation Commander

Ok one more question about the tholians. What is the best way for the tholians to win a battle against the feds. Should i trap them in some web and then come up from behind then to stay away from their photons? Or are there any other good tactics to try.

You can't "trap" anyone with webs unless they are completely disabled. Even with web casters, you can't build a web fast enough to trap anything that can still move.

So, the base idea depends on one question: Do you have web casters or not?

If you don't, you fight like slower, less maneuverable Klingons. Keep your distance up, so that you can take advantage of your disruptors' arcs and optimum ranges. Use your snares to dispose of any random drones he throws your way.

If you do, then you use your cast web as a barrier to let you get relatively in-close phaser shots while he cannot return fire. Make sure your web is cast in a "W" form, so that there are nooks and crannies for you hide behind. (If it is a straight web, he will just dive in and blast you anyway.) The tactic is difficult to learn well (I sure haven't), but ludicrously effective.

Make sure your web is cast in a "W" form

I'm confused on how this is legal for free standing web. Excerpts from 4Q3a:

Webs created by a web caster must be in a straight line (or include only one or two sideslips in the same direction).

A web strand created by a web caster cannot form in hexes adjacent to or in the same hex as other web strands at the time it is created, including webs created during the same impulse or free standing webs which are not yet active. If this is attempted, the cast fails, no web forms, and the energy used for the cast is lost.

A W is still possible under that rule.

It only takes two sideslips in the same direction to make a W.

Also, see the example in the rule which is of a 5 hex W.

As an aside, In the FC Online tournament, Pat Doyle recently defeated my force of a Fed NCA and NCL with his Tholian force of a NCA and two PCs. He never fired a single disruptor and exclusively used the NCA to cast web. He noted that it can be a bit nerve wrecking to play the Tholians because it has to be done just right as Mike noted above. Even in our game, he made one mistake early on. If I had better exploited it, it might have cost him the game.

Also, one counter to watch out for is the Feds not using their Photons at all and instead working as fast phaser boats. However, if that happens, it might make sense to forget casting web and instead use that energy to fire disruptors.

Ahh! I was thinking a much more pronounced "W" with turns as opposed to slips.

If your casting, your movement doesn't matter.

Jim is correct. It takes some practice to begin learning to use the webcaster properly. The only person I know who has it mastered is Paul Scott and he has taught me. But Jim is also correct that I am clearly learning.

For what it is worth, I have a Tactics article in the with illustrations on how to begin learning to use the webcaster. ADB willing, it will appear in the FED COM Starship Tactics Manual. All articles have been written for the Manual, so the next variable is when ADB will be able to fit it into their production schedule.

Also, when using you cast web your movement, timing and the placement of the web is crucial. If those three things arent in synch, you will lose.

If you have webcasters, and you're facing Feds, cast web is likely more useful than a web fist, because you need to keep him at a distance for as long as you can. If he gets too close, he can start calling for directed damage, and directed damage power systems is the death of Tholians. The web fist can do some damage, but Feds tend to be built fairly tough. If it's a closed map, you can't play keep away forever. In fact, you probably can't play keep away foreve even on an open map because Tholians tend to be short of power, and mostly they can't run and power a lot of weapons. But you need to keep him off long enough for your phasers and disruptors, which have excellent arcs, to wear him down.

Remember that you don't have a lot of Maines, so transporter raids can be risky. If the dice hate you, you may actually lose enough Marines to leave yourself vulnerable to boarding.