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James Lowry
United States
Sunnyvale
California
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Again, long after I thought I'd be done and get it out the door, I've released the next version of the Federation & Empire Vassal module.
Download it here:
http://www.starfleetgames.com/documents/F&E%201.3.zip
The changelog for this version is longest one yet; it's a pretty massive update. Here's a quick list of the highlights:
* The ISC extension is updated for the actual published version of ISC War.
* The scenarios are now bundled into the module, so the zip is just the module plus extensions as separate files now.
* The capital charts are completely reworked so that you should be able to run a capital assault just from them.
* The racial charts and battle mats have been updated and look better.
* A lot of markers have been added as memory aids for combat. This includes handling hidden information functions such as which of multiple maulers is actually mauling.
* Added a bunch of carriers with heavy fighters, and separate counters for all the HDW (and similar) modes.
* New squadron counters for the Theater Transports, for when they're working as a permanent team.
* A new extension ("Extras") includes just about every unpublished ship that I have official stats for.
So, go download and enjoy! ...And tell me what bugs and mistakes remain.
Oh, and I should warn you that the combined module & ISC extension are a pretty huge package. The main ISC scenario ("Driving Winds") is also pretty massive, so you will need to give Vassal more memory space than the half-gig default. Go into the Vassal module manager, and the the module itself and select "Preferences" from the File menu, and change "JVM max heap" to 1024 (from 512). Otherwise, you'll probably be able to load, fiddle around, but not save anything big with the ISC....
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James Lowry
United States
Sunnyvale
California
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And now things begin in earnest. With both the Lyrans and the Klingons having massed everything on the borders, the Kzinti can't defend everything, and must pick their fights.
My usual plan is to go for the planet in 1001, so as to cut off the starbase in 0902. After a turn as a partial grid, the Kzinti have motivation to let it go. This game is the first time that I've had to deal with monitors, and I couldn't juggle everything to feel like I could take on the planetary defenses, monitor, and likely reaction (or at least, Reserve) forces this time.
Builds:
Lyran: DN, TGC, 3xCW, JGP-V, 2xDW, DWS, 3xFF, FRD, 2xKBP, 4xFF->DW
Klingon: C8, D7, TGA, 7xD5, LTT, D5S, 2xF5L, 4xF5, 2xE4, E4R, FRD, Activate 2xD6, 2xF5, 3xE4, D7->D7A, D6->D6M, D6->D6V
Once again, no 'true' heavy cruisers have been built (after conversions). There's several new hulls, but they're all on other duty. Worse, the life expectancy of a D7A is not great, but it's the best stasis ship the Klingons have right now.
Which I suppose brings us to 'new toy time'. Thanks to an episode of the Animated Series, the Klingons have ships with Stasis Field Generators, a device that can be focused on up to three targets at a time, and stops time for that target. Usually, this is done to an enemy ship, whereupon the rest of the fleet gathers near, drones are launched, and the field is dropped. The ship then explodes in a hail of gunfire and drones that hit seconds later. Or, it can be used to protect friendly ships, since it will be immune to fire while the field is up.
The problem is that the field only works at short range, and the SFG-equipped ship must be at a full stop to use the field. This is not wise when there's other annoyed enemy ships about.
The rules for all of this in Combined Operations are very long and detailed, since there's a lot of potential rules interactions. And it's an interesting study in rules that gives the Klingon player full control over his intent, without letting him get everything he wants. Each (non-friendly) target is rolled for to see if the ship is frozen, nothing happens, a random target is frozen (that procedure causes a lot of the rules), or there is a disaster which leaves the stasis ship vulnerable while nothing gets frozen. The more targets the Klingons try for, the worse the chances.
With the addition of the Klingons, and still only a one-front war, the Kzinti had to suffer five raids this turn, which he called up POLs for on each one. My goal was to cause as many disrupted provinces as possible, mostly aimed at ones I couldn't get at, and the rest at ones that would be difficult to garrison. The Klingons sent in 3xD5, and couldn't avoid taking a casualty in each fight, so retreated without disrupting anything, with one of the D5s crippled to boot. The Lyrans sent in a CW and CF, both of which managed to disrupt provinces.
Combats:
1601: Klingon: dest D5
1602: SSC: Kzinti retreat
1605: Kzinti: dest BATS; Klingon: crip 2xF5
1303: SSC: Kzinti: dest POL; Lyran retreat
1506: Neutral: 2xPDU; Klingon: crip E4, capture planet
1405: Kzinti: dest BATS; Klingon: crip SAV
1205: Kzinti: dest BATS; Klingon: crip D6, F5
1105: Kzinti: 2xPDU; Klingon: crip D6, capture planet
1504: Kzinti: dest CVE, EFF, SF; Klingon: crip D7C, D5, F5, dest D5
1004: Kzinti: dest BATS; Lyran: crip DW, DD
1304: Kzinti: 3xSIDS, crip 3xBC, dest CVE, 2xEFF; Klingon: crip D7, D6J, 3xF5, dest D6S, capture DD; Lyran: crip 2xCA, CW, DD, dest DW
0903: Lyran: crip CW
0703: Kzinti: dest BATS; Lyran: crip DW, 2xDD
0701: Kzinti: dest BATS; Lyran: crip CL, 2xFF
0902: Kzinti: 4xSIDS, crip BC, CL; Lyran: crip 5xCW, 2xCL, 2xDW, DD, dest SC, DW, 2xFF
I had thought I had a pretty good chance of taking down the Klingon border SB when I diverted a Lyran force to join in on the assault, however, I just didn't have what it took there, and he had a pretty good defensive force.
Meanwhile, I actually did have enough ships at 0902 to have a good crack at it, but I had no specialty ships. Most notably, there was only one scout present, which Belirahc wisely took out in the first round, leaving me to fire into a -2 shift most rounds. Even so, there was a chance at it, but the dice were not with me; a final 1-5 split convinced to leave instead of digging even deeper into the fleet.
As usual, all the secondary objectives were met. But I didn't manage any of my primary objectives (taking out a SB or 1504). I'd say this turn shows that while I'm more experienced with F&E, I'm not that experienced. The easiest thing to fix would have been to remember to put a second scout into 0902. Actually sending the Lyran Red Claw fleet there instead of 1304 would seem to have been best as well.
This is of course no more than a delay, as the Kzinti cannot hold up against this for long (and he can't really afford to lose ships at this rate for long). But the clock is ticking. There is a lot for the Coalition to do in the early game, and not enough time. Delays like this are something that I can ill afford if there's going to be a creditable invasion of the Federation on Turn 7.
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James Lowry
United States
Sunnyvale
California
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The Coalition failure in the Second Battle of Hydrax has left me a lot more breathing room than I expected, but there's still a number of serious problems.
First off, the Coalition is in the middle of upgrading three BATS to SB in Alliance territory. This really surprised me, because of the expense involved, but while I can't afford letting them all go up, because of the expense of killing them later, I wasn't sure I could afford to take care of any the BATS now.
The Kzinti front was especially troublesome. Two of the three SBs were going up there, and there's another BATS behind them. The real problem is that they're all on the 'west' side, towards Lyran space, while my offensive has been directed towards nailing down the 'east' side, adjacent to the Federation.
In the end, the major Kzinti effort went to smashing the Klingon BATS/SB at 1202, though I made a stab at 1504, aided by Federation forces. On the Hydran front, another attempt sallied out to challenge 0416, and once that was pinned, several crippled ships transferred from the capital to the off-map area.
Kzinti Theater
Hydran Theater
The Klingon presence in Hydran space has become very attenuated, if I wasn't desperate to stop the SB upgrade, I would have cleaned them out of Hydran space.
Combats:
1705: Klingon: crip F5L; Federation: crip CA
1402: Klingon: crip F5L
1506: Klingon: crip 7xE4; Kzinti: crip FF, capture planet
1105: Klingon: dest F5; Kzinti: capture planet
1504: Klingon: crip 4xD5, dest D5; Federation: crip 2xFF
1603: Klingon: crip F5, dest D6; Federation: crip NCL, FF
1202: Klingon: crip D7, D6, D6M, AD5, 2xF5, F5E, E4A, dest 2xD5, BATS; Kzinti: crip CV, 2xBC, 4xCM, MEC, CL, CLE, FF, EFF, dest BC, CM, CLE, cap D5
0216: Lyran: crip DD
0918: SSC, both sides retreat
0818: Klingon: crip D7
0416: Lyran: crip CA, 3xCW, dest BATS, CA; Hydran: crip LB, dest DG, HR
Altogether, things are going well. Two BATS have been destroyed, and a lot of EPs have gone down the drain in the form of incomplete Starbase upgrades. The Kzinti have taken neutral zone planet 1506 again, and reclaimed 1105, all of this should start contracting the Klingon budget, as the EPs from conquests is fading. However, the Kzinti fleet still took a fair amount of damage, and there's only so far they can push before catching up on repairs.
A quick look at the numbers shows that Alliance ships are up from 191 to 214, but only because of released Federation ships being counted toward the total. The Kzinti are up 6 ships and the Hydrans are down 7. Meanwhile, the Coalition total is up from 333 to 346. This is entirely due to the Klingons; the Lyrans are down 12 ships from 100 to 88.
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James Lowry
United States
Sunnyvale
California
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As expected, the only Federation involvement in the game so far is sending the 4th Fleet across the border to aid the Kzinti. Belirahc tried striking into the Marquis area, but it was pretty obvious where things were headed, so I was able intercept some of it, and none of his attacks got anywhere.
On the Hydran front it was different. Well, it was still pretty obvious where things were going, but I couldn't do anything about it. He pinned the reserve in 0119, and established a pretty strong cordon separating the Old Colonies from the Capital (3-5 ships per hex), hit the minor planet at 0519... and poured approximately 200 ships into the capital.
Kzinti Theater. The Federation is getting sucked in....
Hydran Theater
Combats:
1803: Federation: crip CC, CA; Klingon: dest 2xF5
1602: Kzinti: crip MEC, CL, dest EFF; Klingon: crip D7C, dest 2xE4A
1503: Kzinti: crip MEC, EFF, BC; Klingon: dest F5L, 2xF5
1506: Kzinti: dest FF; Klingon: crip E4
1502: Kzinti: crip MEC, EFF; Lyran: dest 3xDW
0119: Hydran: dest HR; Lyran: dest 2xDW; Klingon: crip F5
0519: Hydran: dest LN, 2xHN; Klingon: crip F5
0617: Hydrax I: 2xPDU, 6xSIDS; Hydramax I: re-devastated; Hydramax II: re-devastated; Anthraxan I: re-devastated; Anthraxan II: re-devastated; Hydran: crip DG, 3xKN, HN, dest 2xKN, CR, 2xCU, 2xHN; Klingon: crip D7V, D6M, D6V, CVT, D5V, 4xAD5, 4xF5E, dest C8, TG-A+2BP, D7, 4xD6, 2xD6D, D6M, 10xD5, 4xF5L, 2xF5, F5S captured; Lyran: crip 2xDN, STT, 2xCVL, 2xCWE, 2xDWE, dest DN, CA, STT, CW, 4xDW, DWS, SC, 5xFF
In the end it was a very bad turn for the Coalition. The Kzinti position is getting stronger, and Hydran capital held out yet again, with the loss of an incredible number of Coaliton ships.
He should have taken it. I was at best a round or two away from having to abandon the capital rather than cripple the best parts of the Hydran navy. But he was nearly out of Lyran ships, and had no Klingon ships with a CR better than 8 (and they were going fast). He could no longer do the damage he needed to get anywhere.
So what went wrong?
The first thing was a poor use of command points. Everyone involved used two command points (Klingons, Lyrans, and Hydrans). With everything other than the capital already devastated, it was pretty obvious that all the real fighting would be in the capital system itself. So, extra command slots are of much better utility there. Knowing this, and knowing that this was likely going to be the last stand of the Kingdom, I spent two points for two slots in the main system. Belirahc spent two points per empire so that they could have one extra ship in each system.
Conventional wisdom says that when assaulting a capital planet, the thing to do is to use Directed Damage to knock down the Planetary Defense Units on the planet. This is damage inefficient, since PDUs normally have a defense of 3, but this is increased to 5 when using DirDam (doubled to 10 if not using a mauler). The good news is that PDUs, unlike ships or normal bases, do not have a crippled side, so that 5 points does eliminate it—also, DirDam can kill four PDUs each round as one attack.
The problem is that each PDU also has 6 fighters. If there are no friendly units that have spare fighter capacity, these fighters will die at the end of the round, and can become "Involuntary Minus Points", which will be subtracted out of the attacker's damage next round. It is quite likely that the second round will be spent earning off the minus points accumulated in the first round. This tends to make the entire idea look like a bad deal. However, even on a round where you are just earning off minus points, you are still receiving less damage than otherwise, because those minus points are from ComPot that would have been on the line otherwise.
Here's the record of actual Hydran ComPot and damage by round, with what it would have been if he had directed on the PDUs (and the Coaltion damage):
Actual Directed Coalition damage [after minus points] (DirDam+leftover on fighters = minus points)
288/79 288/79 36(30+6 = -18)
280/77 253/70 30[12](10+2 = -10)
269/81 233/70 24[14](10+4 = -8)
270/88 216/70 37[29](20+9 = -9)
270/54 189/38 25[16](10+6 = -6) *at this point there are no more PDUs
263/53 171/34 16[10]
I am assuming that he had and used a mauler every round here. But he actually came in with five of them, so the odds of having an uncrippled mauler every round is actually very good.
If you look closely, you might see my mistake. I did not crank up my BIR until round 3. I was leery of just how much damage I might have to take all at once, without really thinking through the fact that I want to cause as much damage as possible early on, when my ComPot is still very strong.
Just over the course of the six rounds it would have taken to clear the PDUs (and a round to start dropping damage on the fleet & SB), Belirahc would have saved 71 damage. As it was, the combat dragged out another three rounds after this with my ComPot partially lowered because he had directed on my fighters and ran me out of reserves.
The Hydran capital is not in good shape. To do this, I did take 3 self-inflicted PDUs, nearly crippled the SB, killed a good number of non-fighter carrying ships, and piled up a good number of cripples. It will take time to recover from this. But they can recover, and every ship he uses in not letting them recover is making the liberation of Kzinti space easier, and allowing the Federation time to gear up production.
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James Lowry
United States
Sunnyvale
California
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Faced with the Lyran navy solidly packed behind its defenses, and the Klingons massing on the border, Belirahc didn't make any attacks on his half of the first turn, making it very fast to go through.
At least his raids went better than mine. He picked on little out of the way places with no defenders, and handily defeated the police ships that I called up to defend myself. As a result, two Lyran provinces are disrupted for the next turn (lowering their economic output).
And now a few words about new toys:
The Kzinti are the primary carrier-using race. They start off with more carriers than anyone else, and can be counted on to build at least one carrier per turn. So, they rely on using fighters to take (free!) damage on, as well as to keep their offensive potential up. Once the fighters are gone for the turn, the Kzinti navy isn't nearly so much of a threat.
The problem is, even with all those carriers to operate as spares, it only takes a round or two to start running out of fighters.
So, Advanced Operations introduces the FCR, Fast Carrier Resupply ship, which can carry, but not operate a squadron of fighters. These provide reloads, allowing carrier forces to operate longer, and the Kzinti to fight longer while only burning fighters which are replaced for free after combat is over.
Of course, the Kzinti aren't the only ones to get them. The Klingons find them every bit as useful, for instance, though it takes longer for the Klingon carrier force to really become worthwhile.
I was slightly surprised at Belirahc's actual builds:
Kzinti: CV, CLD, DD, FFE, FCR, MON, 4xPDU
The CV and the FCR are there, but he didn't bother building a full escort group for the carrier. The Kzintis start the game without enough heavy escorts to go around, and this is putting himself further behind. I'm guessing he's planning on just putting everything on MECs as fast as he can after they start showing up next turn, but it takes a while to get enough medium cruisers to go around. In the mean time, I'm going to have to lean on his escorts as hard as I can.
On the other hand, his only light cruiser was built as a CLD, which is about as good of a EW platform as he's got right now. It's still only 2 EW points, but he just doesn't have anything better at the moment.
(I should also note that he didn't get any new heavy cruisers either.)
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James Lowry
United States
Sunnyvale
California
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Well, not satisfied with one game slowly grinding forward, Belirahc and I have started a second full General War game. It is the second game, which means when it comes to a choice, we work on the original game first and let this one sit. (And it has done a fair amount of sitting while I work on the Vassal module.)
We've swapped sides, so now I get to show Bel how the Coalition offensive should be done... or embarrass myself trying.  In addition, we're using the CO, AO, and FO rules for this one. I'll go into some of the extra toys available in another entry soon.
Along with other things Star Fleet Battles - Module R5: Battleships introduced the "New Heavy Cruiser", a response to the fact that F&E was showing that by the middle of the General War, the major empires were going to be running out of heavy cruisers. While F&E isn't as centered on the CA as SFB is, they are still an important part of the fleet, being the biggest units that aren't commonly set aside as being the command element of a battle force.
The reason that this is so can be seen in my turn one Coalition builds. Including mothball activations, the Coalition has six new heavy cruiser-sized ships, but the number of actual heavy cruisers in service is technically lower than they started. Here's my first turn production:
Lyran: BC, TGC, 4xCW, 2xDW, DWS, 3xFF, MB, PDU, 2xKSP, CA->DN, 3FF->3DW
Klingon: D7C, TGA, D6M, 8xD5, D5S, F5L, 4xF5, [FV+E4A], E4, E4R, Activate 2xD6, 2xF5, 3xE4, D6->D6S, D6->D6D
The Lyrans only have one CA build slot per turn (which has been the subject of much moaning from Lyran fans over the years), and their need for tugs (thanks to needing to build a wide-ranging infrastructure, and the ability to use a large number of good tug pods and pallets) is not to be underestimated. Technically, a Cougar tug is just as good in combat as a regular CA, but a tug can't really be treated the same as a CA, because their flexibility will take them into other roles, and that makes them a valuable target if seen unprotected on the battleline. At the same time, an existing CA was converted to a dreadnought, a uniquely Lyran ability, which does allow them to start treating their heavy units as a way of constructing very dense lines, instead of task force leaders, but there is still plenty of things for extra command ships to do.
Meanwhile, the Klingons construct a command cruiser (fall turns only), two heavy cruisers (/battlecruisers), and activate two more D6s (for as long as the mothball reserves hold out). However, they have lots of different roles to turn these ships to. One CA is substituted to a TG, as there certainly aren't enough of them for my plans (though the LTT will help soon). The other is substituted to a mauler, which will be desperately needed to force ship kills on the fighter-heavy Alliance. One of the activations is converted to a scout, because the D6S is an excellent heavy scout, and the EW war is something that the early Alliance has trouble with, so I want to push that advantage as far as I can. The other D6 activated is converted to a D6D, the most versatile non-tug in the game. It can do drone bombardment, it can be the free scout, and it can go on the battleline and be just as effective as a regular D6, while also still contributing EW. (It should be mentioned that that last can be a good way to lose a D6D as an aggressive Alliance player will likely kill any D6Ds he can get at, though the scout self-defense bonus will make this slightly more expensive to do than killing a normal D6 as well.)
One of the major new rules in the game is Raids. Each power gets to put a small number of ships into a "Raid Pool" which each get to go behind enemy lines and attack single weak targets (like an unguarded FRD) or disrupt a province. The enemy gets to either react a nearby ship, or call up a free police ship to try to deal with it.
My two raids technically didn't get what they were going after, and I got a crippled BC to boot, but I did manage to kill a Kzinti BC that reacted to one of the raids. That is a nice result.
The first turn tends to be fairly boring. Some Coalition players don't even bother attacking, figuring that it just makes it easier for the Kzinti to do an effective counterstrike on their turn. Even with aggressive play, there's only three targets that can be taken down on the first turn, and the Kzinti will be able to defend them pretty well.
I went across the border and hit all three BATS. I didn't try anything fancy like pinning forces on the SB, or going after the fourth BATS in 1004 (on the Klingon border, but technically in range).
Combats:
0701: Lyran: crip CA, 2xCL; Kzinti: crip 2xBC
0703: Lyran: crip SC; Kzinti: dest EFF
0803: Lyran: crip 3xDW, DD; Kzinti: dest BATS
So I got one BATS and took more cripples than he did. Pretty much par for the course. I did take out a EFF with direct damage, and if I'd thought about it, I probably would have take out a second one in the third battle.
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James Lowry
United States
Sunnyvale
California
-
The Kzinti economy has stabilized at 60 EP. I seriously contemplated going for a DN this year, but 16 EP was just too much to sink into one ship. Instead I built a new CV group, a BC, 3 CMs, and repaired a full CV group as well as 4xBC, CC, CM and FF.
Economically, things have continued to go from bad to worse for the Hydrans. With my failure to be able to hit all of the blockading line, the Old Colonies were cut off from the capital. Total income was about the same as turn 5, but it was split between the capital and the off-map. This limited Hydran builds to RN, HR, CU (off-map) and a PDU on the capital. On the other hand, it meant I had a free hand to repair all the cripples that were piled up in the Old Colonies, and convert a captured D7 to Hydran technology.
For the Hydrans, the plan was simple: Hit as many targets of opportunity as possible, send the fleet in to 0416, and see if I could kill a tug or base before running out of fighters. The Kzinti contemplated something similar, but like last turn, ended up pinning a reserve on 1504 and hit another pair of Klingon border BATS.
Kzinti front.
Hydran front.
Combat:
1701: Klingon: dest D7
1307: Klingon: dest BATS, dest cripD5, cripF5, cripE4A captured
1302: SSC - Klingon retreat
1703: SSC - Klingon retreat
1602: SSC - Klingon retreat
1707: Klingon: dest BATS, F5
1504: Klingon: crip 3xD5; Lyran: crip CW; Kzinti: crip MEC, Z-D5
0117: Lyran: dest CW, DW
0118: Klingon: dest E4
0319: SSC - Hydran retreat
0416: Lyran: crip DN, BC; Klingon: crip 2xC8; Hydran: dest PAL
0417: Klingon: crip E4; Hydran: dest PAL
Things continue to go poorly for the Hydrans. Many of my attempts at 'gaming' Small Scale Combat on that front went awry, the worst case being ambushing a couple Lyran cripples in open space with a Paladin DN, and forgetting that he had plenty of spare Reserves to hit it with.
Worse than that gaffe, the Hydrans push at 0416 again had two rounds of bad rolls and ran out of fighters without getting past the approach battle. Not only that, but he killed the other PAL (a battle tug was in formation), leaving battle tugs as the only CR-10 ships in the Hydran navy. That is going to come back to haunt me.
The Kzinti did much better, with no dead ships and minimal cripples. In exchange they took down another two Klingon BATS, delayed repairs on a crippled D6V (driven off one of the BATS), and captured... an E4A.
That last will get turned in for EPs. If there's anything the Kzinti don't need, it's another 2-4 escort frigate. Now an F5E, on the other hand... that would be worth something. (In fact, if I ever manage to capture an F5, or Lyran DW it'll be converted to an escort; the Kzinti just don't get any good light escorts in the base game.)
The Hydrans have pulled back to protect the capital again, but the Kzinit have put a chunk of the navy on the starbase in 1704. It controls the on-map connection between the Kzinti and the Federation, and it is for the first time a legal target. He might force it, but with a Federation Reserve in range, I can make it hurt. On the other hand, a major push against the Hydrans may see the capital fall.
This is the end of Turn 6, and the end of the initial scenario, "The Wind". I believe Belirahc is going to do a review of the full six turns, but in the mean time, this is how the Victory Conditions break down (by my count, which is... mostly accurate.  ):
For any level of victory, the Coaliation must:
A) have more total ships than the Alliance: 333 vs 191. Check.
B) have more total attack factors on those ships: 1909 vs 1223. Check.
For a Tactical victory:
A) the Alliance must have a total economy of 90 or less: 99 EP. X
B) the Coalition must destroy 20 Alliance Battle stations (SBs count as 3, and subtract out any Coalition ones destroyed): 17 BATS + 6 SB - 4 BATS + 1 BATS built in Kzinti space = 29. Check.
So he managed the overall check quite well, and killed enough bases (and qualified for a major victory there, which wants 25 BATS). The problem is the economy, which is a really tough one to manage. The Kzinti are currently managing 60 income on their own, and the Hydrans are already down to about their minimum without actually taking the capital. If he had managed his turn 4 push on the Kzinti capital better, I think he could have devastated more planets, but he really needed to devastate everything other than the capital itself (like he did in the Hydran capital). That would have barely gotten him the tactical victory.
A major victory requires getting the Alliance economy down to 75, which would seem to require actually taking one of the capitals. Possible, but not easy. "Historically", I believe the Hydran capital actually fell on Turn 7. ...which could still happen here. 
And yes, we are continuing. Belirahc and I agreed to go as long as we can take it on this game, so keep watching for Coalition Turn 7 to show up soon. I'm pretty sure we won't see an invasion of the Federation, but it will be able to send the 4th Fleet in to help the Kzintis.
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James Lowry
United States
Sunnyvale
California
-
It is now Y171, which means the Lyrans finally get to start building carriers. I had forgotten that their limit is two per year, not one per turn, so I was a bit disconcerted when Belirac promptly built a CVL, and converted a second. At the same time, the Lyrans built a new PDU (stored) to replace the one I destroyed, and have started converting two MBs to BATS.
Klingon activity was more surprising. They canceled an entire F5 squadron as well as their 3 E4s, and substituted a TG-B for a D7. All of this helped them afford a D7V and FV group, as well as upgrading a MB to BATS, and using the upgrade method to get a second PDU on 1202.
I was expecting another turn of watching the Coalition pushing on my defenses, while I watch the Kzinti cripple pile mount ever higher. Well, I was in for a surprise.
This turned out to be the turn of repositioning and rest. Belirahc avoided precipitating any major battles in Kzinti space, since I had two good reserves there. In Hydran space, he drove to cut off the Old Colonies from the Capital, and I couldn't stop it because I couldn't keep a good line of ships all the way there with only one reserve. If I had thought to split it into a pair of small reserves, I could have done it. Lesson for next time: Always try to use all your reserve markers, even if everything fits into one; you may want the added flexibility.
It was gratifying to watch several large stacks of Coalition cripples retreating out of my space. It can be easy to forget just how much damage you're doing when you're trying to figure out how to make good your own damage.
Kzinti front.
Hydran front.
Combats:
0319: Hydran: dest CR
0119: Klingon: dest 2xE4
1702: Klingon: dest F5L
A lot of the new builds went to Hydran space, so I assume that's where most of his attention will be next turn. In the mean time, I'm going to have to see what I can do about his current round of base building.
Sun Nov 20, 2011 10:03 pm
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James Lowry
United States
Sunnyvale
California
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After the failures in my efforts to keep the Coalition from just disrupting everything in sight, it should be no surprise that income was down again. Kzinti income dropped another four EP from 63 to 59, while Hydran income dropped nine points to 40.
The Kzinti scrapped a Lyran DW that was captured in the Coalition portion of the turn to raise another 1.5 EP. Production was limited, consisting of a CV group, an extra MEC (to replace one lost last turn), BC, FF. Repairs were even more limited, adding up to less than last turn's. However, that repaired all the crippled escorts and a good number of regular ships, so the backlog is slightly better. I also repaired and converted a captured D5 to Kzinti technology. It would probably been better to wait until money was flowing in from the Federation, or the repair backlog is clear, as the conversion is not necessarily cheap (3 EP). But having it sit there for two turns has been bugging me, so that irritant is gone. If we were using the EW rules in Combined Operations, I would have sacrificed quite a bit to get it in service and converted to a D5S. A good heavy EW platform for the Alliance is worth quite a bit in the early going under those rules.
Meanwhile the Hydrans had even tougher decisions to make. Turn 5 is when the first Cavalier carrier is scheduled. Hydran carrier groups tend to be somewhat weak in ComPot, but they protect valuable fighter-carrying ships from harm. I wanted to build the CV, but with 10.5 fighter factors, it has a cost of 31 EP, slightly over 3/4 of the Hydran income. Free fighter factors reduce this to 19 EP, but that was still too much to be able to afford the escorts, much less more prosaic things like repairs. So I canceled the entire group, repaired a few things (pretty much everything with fighter factors), and built DG, 2xHR, and two PDUs on the homeworld.
Operationally, the main plan had been to visit the Lyran MB in 0902 and kill it before the conversion to a BATS completed. However, the arrival of three sets of tugs with PDU/MB pairs at 1001, 1202 and 1504, and four Klingon reserves in Kzinti space caused an entire re-think of the prospect.
Kzinti front
Hydran front
Combats:
1601: Klingon: dest F5
1507: Klingon: dest cripF5, cripE4, BATS; Kzinti: crip CL, FF
1506: Klingon: dest F5; Kzinti: capture planet
1303: Klingon: crip D5
1504: Klingon: dest 2xTGB, crip D7, 2xD6, 5xD5; Kzinti: dest DF, crip CV, CC, BC, MEC, 2xCLE, 2xEFF, FF
1202: Klingon: crip D6V, F5, 2xE4A; Kzinti: crip CC, DD, 2xFF
1302: (Fighting Retreat) Klingon: crip D7
0819: Klingon: dest E4
0419: Klingon: crip E4; both sides retreat to 0418
0418: Klingon: dest cripE4
0519: Klingon: dest 2xcripF5L, cripF5, F5
0416: Lyran: crip 2xBC, CC, 2xCA, CL, 2xDW dest TGC, 3xCW, 3xDW; Hydran: crip HR, dest HR, 2xLN, CR
0417: Lyran: crip DW; Hydran: dest crip HN
Things did not really go as planned. Mostly because the dice decided to be disagreeable and the Kzinti failed the initial approach battle at both of their major battles. The Hydrans rolled lower than the Lyrans in all four rounds at 0416 (and the pursuit), which forced them to expend the stored fighters of the FCP just to get that far. In all cases casualties were higher than hoped simply because of the trouble in getting to the target. To add insult to injury, I couldn't even roll the 3 or higher I needed to kill a lone D7 in a Fighting Retreat.
However, two Klingon and one Lyran tug are dead. He's only built four since the beginning of the game (after missing them the first turn, he's been building at the max rate of 1/year), so it will be much harder to pull this 'four simultaneous sets of bases at once' trick.
I had tried to distract the Klingon reserves by striking at Klingon space itself again, but he ignored it, letting me take out a BATS and (temporarily) capture the neutral zone planet. If I can keep doing that, he'll run out of BATS and become especially vulnerable to having the supply grid in Kzinti space disrupted....
And now, I sit tight and wait for the coming storm. I'm pretty certain that there won't be a turn 7 invasion of the Federation this game, so I'm presumably going to facing everything he can throw at me on the upcoming turn 6, and turn 7 after that will be worse. The Federation will interfere on Turn 7, but the 4th Fleet reserve won't be able get to the Kzinti capital....
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James Lowry
United States
Sunnyvale
California
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Okay, the new version of the F&E Vassal module has turned into quite an undertaking. For some reason, I've decided work through just about every idea I've had for the module and not gotten to, and put them in the upcoming 1.3.
With any luck I won't need to do this again for quite a while, because this is certainly the biggest update I've had in ages. Certainly, it has the longest feature list of any update I've done.
Anyway, last week I put in just about every legal heavy fighter carrier conversion outlined in (530.221), and not just the couple of 'common' ones that actual counters have been provided for.
Now, I'm redoing all the HDWs. I went with the AO route originally, just general counters with a box that marked what mode they're in, but not actually giving specific stats. That saved me a lot of effort, and since the module didn't give the combined total in the stack viewer at that point, it had minimal effect. Now, I'm providing a separate counter for each legal mode. I'm also putting in a sub-menu that allows quick switching between modes.
Who do you want to be today?
So, anyone who's waiting for the ISC War update, sorry for the delay, as all these extra things I'm doing are pushing back the release of that. The good news is the delay has given me time to notice a couple things hidden away in the rule book to put in the module, such as overlays for the new provinces the Romulans and Gorns annexed at the end of the General War.
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