marie (02/18/83)
I would appreciate reading anything interesting that anyone wishes to post to this newsgroup concerning sfb. I will be posting information concerning the game and new additions to it as I obtain it. Also if anyone is interested in playing a campaign game of anything that is practical to play over the net, please post concerning this. We have a campaign game of starfleet battles in progress using the federation space board as modified through expansion 3, the newsletters, nexus magazine, etc. We invented most of our own big board movement rules. We have quite a few good sfb players here at nmt, so if anyone wishes to play a campaign game over the net please post concerning this. Our players who specialize mostly in one of the races are quite good so they would be able to "stand-in" for you in the ship to ship or fleet to fleet battles. I may post progress reports of our campagin game which depicts the first general war to the net at a later date.
seagull (02/25/83)
As pertain's to Dave Spicers note of noting progress (slow as it may be) of our campaign game being played here at nmt, I warn that his descriptions will be as from a freelance reporter. Propoganda by the Admirals of each race will be rampant here and all descriptions by Dave will be his personal view of the game in progress. Note that this is not to discredit his info by any means but that you MAY find that his descriptions may not jibe with "official" versions of the war.As an admiral myself and high admiral for the grand alliance I will "correct" him if and when necessary so that "false or misleading" statements fall in line with the "official" view. Rob Pierce Admiral of the Gorn Confederation Fleet High Admiral for the Grand Alliance P.S. Don't believe everything you read! P.P.S. We will be victorious!
ralph (03/01/83)
OK, if we are going to be bombarded by battle reports from the far reaches of known space, how about an order of battle for the combatants. How many ships and of what type? How many players are involved, and who has what? I'm assuming that the scenario came from the second expansion book, but a little more detail would be helpful. Beware of Orions bearing gifts, Ralph
dossamg (03/15/83)
HHHHOOOOLLLLMMMMDDDDEEEELLLL WWWWAAAARRRRGGGGAAAAMMMMEEEERRRRSSSS NNNNEEEEWWWWSSSSLLLLEEEETTTTTTTTEEEERRRR
Fall 1982
by
Alan M. Gopin and Bill Neumann
BBBBOOOOYYYY,,,, WWWWEEEE''''RRRREEEE RRRREEEEAAAALLLLLLLLYYYY LLLLAAAATTTTEEEE TTTTHHHHIIIISSSS TTTTIIIIMMMMEEEE............
This is the fall 82 newsletter of the Holmdel Wargamers.
But it's already March you say? Tough, the typist broke his
finger, and this is the earliest it could get done. Think
of the short wait you'll have for the spring newsletter.
BBBBEEEEAAAAMMMM MMMMEEEE UUUUPPPP,,,, SSSSCCCCOOOOTTTTTTTTYYYY....
In the first skirmish of the Klingo-Kzinti war (of our new
Star Fleet Battles campaign) the Kzintis, played by Alan
Gopin and Chris Sampoli, learned some expensive lessons in
tactics. The Klingons fielded 3 D7 class battlecruisers and
a CV(T) carrier Tug, all managed by Bill Neumann (a.k.a.
Ardak Kumerian). Alan had the CV Gladius and Chris the
Strike Cruisers Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. Battle was
joined in earnest as Bill turned on Chris' 2 Strike
Cruisers, giving the Tweedle Dee a very bloody nose. This
caused an immediate tactical withdrawal by Chris, which left
Alan holding the sack. Turning his attentions to Alan, Bill
used that old Klingon magic and charged the Gladius and its
fighter swarm. The D7 Distraught was heavily damaged by
drones, but Bill pressed onward, undaunted, until he had
closed to point blank range. Sub space was alive with
Kzinti calls for cruiser support. Chris responded
sluggishly with one crusier. Alan's fighters were busy
finishing off the Distraught. It was too late. The first
Klingon volley caused over 90 internal hits to the Gladius.
The second volley was overkill. The klingons took some
damage as they dodged the expanding sphere of debris from
the CV. Meanwhile, as the fighters made their run at the
Distraught, her captain, Lance Jibip, was heard making his
last sub space contact: "Ship finished. Must self-destruct.
Wish me luck. Here goes noth....." This message was
terminated by a blinding flash from the Distraught. He
never got the chance to self-destruct. However, the Kzintis
lost 2 fighters and had 9 crippled in the fireball that used
to be the Distraught. As Commodore Ardak Kumerian turned
his attention to the finally attacking CS, it was a case of
Deja Vu. Without the massive drone power of the carrier to
distract the klingons, the CS was blown to within an inch of
destruction. Chris ordered the remaining cruiser to
disengage as the Klingons pulled back to a safe distance to
finish off the crippled crusier.
Final Tally: Kzinti losses: 1 CV destroyed with all
fighters, 1 CS destroyed, 1 CS with moderate internal
damage. Klingon Losses: 1 D7 destroyed. No other internal
damage. All fighters and shuttles lost.
OOOOHHHH YYYYEEEEAAAAHHHH????
As the Klingon-Kzinti war erupted in full swing, Grand
Admiral Alan Gopin sent a massive punitive force against
Kumerian's squadron. Kumerian had been reinforced by 2 G-1
pseudofighters and a replacement for the D7 'Distraught.'
The Kiznits however had come loaded for bear with 2 strike
cruisers (one towing a needle pseudofighter), a frigate, and
the "biggest Mutha you ever did see' - the SCS Hegemony,
complete with a full strike group of 6 pseudofighters and 12
fighters. The Hegemony is the Kizntis version of a one man
band. Out gunned by over 50% Kumerian still accepted battle
(cocky SOB ain't he?). In a wild series of ups and downs,
no one really won this scrape, but it was one hell of a
battle! First, Alan got one up by crippling the 2 G-1s as
they suicidally charged the Kzintis. Then Alan got two up
by hitting the D7 'Didjahaftu' with a drone swarm, forcing
it to pull out of the battle line. Bill got even as the 2
strike cruisers and the frigate hit a nuclear space mine
planted in their path by the "suicidal" G-1s. Score at the
half? EVEN. As the Needles, supported by 12 fighters,
charged in, they set off the second NSM, wiping out 6
Needles and all 12 fighters. This explosion also destroyed
5 Klingon Z-2 fighters, and damaged various nearby shuttles
and drones.
By this time, the second D7 had been hit by a drone swarm.
The 'Dildonia' was almost destroyed and was left without any
remaining power sources. This was in spite of Kumerian's
decision to do everything possible to save it from the
drones. Not that old Ardak is a softie, its just that an
exploding D7 in the midst of a close formation is unpleasant
(as was soon to be made apparant).
One strike cruiser and the frigate had pulled out by now,
leaving the undamaged SCS and one CS to charge the remaining
Klingons, who at this point consisted of one D7 in good
shape, one CV(T) in mint condition, one D7 in fair condition
but somewhat out of position, and the 'Dildonia' which was
definitely no longer at Blue Book value.
In very rapid sequence, the following happened (as
transcribed from subspace radio and the remaining recorder
markers): D7 'Destruction': "Holy $%&*, that thing is coming
at us!...All batteries fire...Damage Control??...YOU'RE
KIDDING...Crom's Devils... the CS is firing too...Damage
Control??...Hello...HELLO...%&$#*...Security stations,
Mutiny in Engineering hull...Hello Commodore Kumerian, this
is the Snealina Liberation Army. The ship is ours. Die,
imperialist bone-faced dogs...Kumerian to Squadron...Drop
all NSMs. We're not going home. They won't either.... D7
'Dildonia': Prepare for destruction...Drop Mines... CV(T)
'Krebbs': Warp out of here... All weapons on the
SCS...NOW... SCS 'Hegemony': Victory is
ours....$%&*....Damage Control...Good...*&%$...Damage
Control.... OK...10 drones point blank...can't
avoid...$%*&...Damage Control....&$#*.... CS #1: What are
WE doing here? D7 Didjahaftu: Bring her around...Fire...
All Ships, More Or Less Simulaneously: ...they're/we're
(pick one) gonna blow!! CS #1: BOOM. D7 Dildonia: BOOM.
D7 Destruction: BOOM. 4 NSMs: BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. SCS
Hegemony: A Mine dead ahead...another...another...BOOOMMM.
CV(T) Krebbs: $%*#/....*$#&%...$*%&%....*$&%*....We got
her!...Damage Control.. Amazing...Let's go. D7 Didjahaftu:
Ditto. CV(T) Krebbs: We made it....DRONES!...Hard
aport...&$#*%...Damage Control... Make do. D7Didjahaftu:
We did it. We won?!?!??
More or less. Final score: Klingons 972 (including 351 for
attacking outnumbered) Kzinti 496. A Klingon victory
(redefining the term Phyrric).
AAAANNNNDDDD OOOONNNN TTTTHHHHEEEE OOOOTTTTHHHHEEEERRRR FFFFRRRROOOONNNNTTTT............
The following is a transcription of Klingon intercepted
Hydran sub space radio transmissions: Chris Sampoli is the
Hydran Commander, Scott Kennedy commands the Klingon Hydran
frontier squadrons.
Admirals Log: Hydran Date 3170.4
Report on battle of XX Quadrant
Orders from His Royal Highness Hydraxan XI were for the
Royal Hydran Navy 1st Fleet to proceed into Klingon space
and probe in force to determine Klingon strength along the
frontier. THE RHN 1st Fleet included the DN Hydraxan VII,
DDs Helios and Hera, Scout Mercury, and 4 Harrier
pseudofighters.
We proceeded at Warp 4 across the border with all scanners
and sensors at max. Sub space communications were silent.
Within five parsecs, the scout scanners picked up 3 Klingon
D7 cruisers, and 6 smaller craft, most likely G-1s escorting
the D7s.
At this moment, my communications officer reported a sub
space transmission from the Klingon Commander. "You have
entered Klingon Space! Surrender or you will be destroyed!"
Before I could respond to this message, my communications
officer sent the Klingons the following reply: "You fuzz
faced mother rapers sleep with Lyrans!" This brought the
morale up a bit.
I ordered my fighers to scramble, along with the IX Harrier
squadron under command of Lt. Krashnburn. His orders were
to intercept the Klingon pseudofighters. We received the
following message over sub space radio from him: "This is
Lt. Krashnburn. We have engaged the enemy. We are now
receiving incoming fire."
On the Hydraxan VII, the monitors could not pick up the
engagement because of the extreme range. Then six large
explosions lit up the screens. They appeared to come from
Lt. Krashnburn's quadrant. The scanners couldn't pick up
our squadron. We then intercepted a garbled sub space
message from the Klingons: "#$%&#...Break of@----...All
Ships Repeat...?!/#$...Dis..gage" At this point, the Klingon
Fleet was reported to be fleeing. All but 2 of the ships in
Lt. Krashnburn's melee were taking off for deep space.
Unfortunately, none of the IX Harrier squadron returned to
report.
I ordered our transporters to lock on th one of the
Harrier's jettisoned recorder markers. The contents read as
follows:
Captains Log Supplemental: I have reported back to Admiral
D. Lerious tha the enemy has been engaged by the Princes
three eyes. The Klingons have destroyed Harrier #3 with
their first volley. The explosion has caused a chain
reaction. Damage
was....#$%?...Been...Taken...#$%?...Hssss...Most of
crew...Dead... Am Las....
Epilog: As Fleet Admiral, I have recommended that Lt.
Krashnburn be awarded the Royal Hydran Cluster. This action
was a tactical victory for the Royal Hydran Navy. (And an
object lesson in not flying in close formation when using
Exp 2 self destruction rules. --- Ed.)dossamg@houxn.UUCP (07/05/83)
Does anybody have any ideas on how a pair of Klingon D7s can beat either a pair of Federation NCLs or an Federation CA and DD using the Kaufman retrograde? The Fed ships appear invincible on a floating map using this tactic. Cat Who Sleeps With Dogs Admr. 3rd Kzinti Field Force a.k.a. Alan Gopin houxn!dossamg
jonab@sdcrdcf.UUCP (07/06/83)
Split the D7's and go wide around each side (10 to 15 hexes). Stay far enough away that his photon torpedoes cannot affect you, but close enough so that he must keeped them charged, thus reducing his speed. If you go around wide enough, he cannot continue the retrograde manuever because of the limited firing arcs of the photon torpedoes. He will be forced to turn to face you, thus separating his ships. Kaufman retrograde does not work well with only one ship. The only problem I see with this tactic is that it gives him ample opportunity to disengage, (if that is what you are trying to prevent).
dossamg@houxn.UUCP (07/08/83)
Splitting the D7s to beat a Kaufman Retrograde is vulnerable to a combined turn by the NCLs. Even out to range 12 the photons have a 33% chance each of scoring a hit. Out of the 8 photons fired, the expected damage at this range is more than 21 points. This means that with only slightly better than average luck, the front shield of one of the D7s will be totalled on the first volley. This situation gets even worse at range 8 where 8 photons have an expected damage of 32 points. The main reason that the Kaufman Retrograde is so effective is that the damage caused by a photon torpedo is constant with range. Because of this the Klingons can't win a long range fire fight. Their Phaser IIs and Disrupters can't match the Federation Phaser Is and Photons at long range. Granted that the combined turn will put one of the D7s behind the Feds, the Feds will still be able to concentrate fire from both ships on a single shield while the Klingons will not. Your idea is one of the options that I have tried. It usually doesn't work very well. The one exception is when the Feds miss badly on the first volley. But then it really doesn't matter what the Klingons Do. BTW the reason that I asked the original question is that I expect the ORIGINS tournament this year to be a duel between two NCLs and two D7s. In this case the Feds will not be trying to disengage, at least not before they do enough damage to win on points before they do. Alan Gopin houxn!dossamg a.k.a. Cat Who Sleeps With Dogs Commanding Kzinti 3rd Field Force Holmdel Wargamers #
jonab@sdcrdcf.UUCP (07/11/83)
I would like to know exactly what scenario you have set up between the NCL's and the D7's, (starting positions, weapon arming status, victory conditions, etc.) I will playtest the scenario with some friends and see if I can find an answer. But here is some clarifications about my previous article. First, if the NCL's are not firing proximity photon torpedoes, then the D7's should be able to beat them at a head to head fight at long range. I calculated the expected damage for photon torpedoes and for disruptors, and the disruptors are as good or better at every range. The expected damage is better per hit, per turn, and per energy point allocated. Only if the NCL's use proximity photons will they gain the advantage. Second, if you split the D7's, you must separate them wide enough to be outside of photon torpedo range (if possible, otherwise reinforce shields). The NCL's cannot move as fast as you and still charge the photon torpedoes (you should be able to move 10-12 hexes faster per turn). The NCL's cannot turn towards one of the D7's and bring the photon torpedoes to bear, because they are travelling backwards, putting the D7 out of the photon torpedo arc. They must first stop for a turn and then come at the D7, more than enough time to realize what is happening. (If they use quick reverse, it costs them an extra 5 warp energy that they cannot use to come at you). The worst thing that can happen to Federation ship is to have the enemy get behind and stay behind them. They do not have adequate firepower to the rear, and cannot turn fast enough to shake the enemy. The important thing when you split your forces is that you must be on your toes. The enemy is bound to leave an opportunity for an attack by one of your ships that cannot be answered effectively.
ralph@inuxc.UUCP (07/12/83)
Pardon my ignorance, but what is a Kaufman retrograde? I'm assuming it is a specific set of moves. Given that, two D-7's will not normally be able to hold out against a pair of Federation NCL's. Operating at any sort of range is bad news, since your phaser II's and disrupters are going to be of marginal use. The UIM might help some, but they always break down on me before they do any real solid damage. I'd say that your best hope would be to close in, try to stay out of the photon firing arcs, and pray to whatever gods Klingons believe in. This is a good time for every dirty trick you know. Fast drones might be of some help, too, but I don't think they allow them in tourney play. (Do they?) Overall, this doesn't seem to be a fair match. The only reason the D7's will win is luck. Not what you need for a decent tourney. Maybe they are thinking about two of the D-7C Command Cruisers vs the NCL's. I haven't played that one, but it should be a closer match. Ralph Keyser inuxc!ralph
dossamg@houxn.UUCP (07/13/83)
A Kaufman Retrgrade is a maneuver that involves 2 or more Federation ships backing away from their opponents at intermediate speed (8-12). It is based on the fact that photon torpedo damage is constant with range. The object is to maintain a distance of 9-12 hexes from the opponent. At this range, the fed ships can do more damage than their opponents, and their advantage increases at the 13-25 range, especially when using proximity fuses for the photon torpedos. See Captain's Log #1 for more details on this maneuver. Regarding the comment that 2 NCLs vs. 2 D7s is not a even match, Expansion 3 lists the BPV for the NCL as 116 and the BPV for the D7 as 117. That gives the 2 D7s a 2 BPV advantage. Alan Gopin houxn!dossamg a.k.a. Cat Who Sleeps With Dogs Commanding 3rd Kzinti Field Force Holmdel Wargamers
dossamg@houxn.UUCP (07/13/83)
The standard tournament scenario is a duel. Start the opposing ships around 30 hexes apart, speed on previous turn max, weapons state III (i.e. hot). As an alternate to 2 NCLs vs 2 D7s, try a Fed CA + a Fed DD vs 2 D7s. If you do test this, I would be interested in hearing the results. I am one of the SFB playtesters and I can get comments back to Steve Cole. Alan Gopin houxn!dossamg a.k.a. Cat Who Sleeps With Dogs Commanding 3rd Kzinti Field Force