Re: needle beam thoughts

I had a friend use the massed needle beam approach on me one time.  The
largest ship in his fleet (mass about 90-100) packed 14 needle beams
into the
foward arc, had 8 thrust, Level 3 Screens, and a bunch of 3-arc C's for
defense.  This monster would wipe out 2-3 systems each turn.  As another
poster mentioned, the Fire Con are really the best targets.  Take them
out
and all of the weapons are useless.  Second best is engines, especially
if
you can catch the ship heading toward the edge of the map.  Mark took
out all
of the FC on two cruisers, but luckily overshot my SDN and in the time
it
took him to wheel around, I pummelled most of his supporting ships.  I
think
the battle ended as a draw at best.  If you think that your opponent
might be
going to try some of this, I suggest speed as the best defense.  Make
the
limited arc work for you and be sure to have some sensor power so that
you
can ID the offending ship and stay away from it..  It's a pretty tough
tactic
to stop though, especially if the needle ship is well shielded.

Later

Brian