Battle report - scratch one more NSL task force

Title says it all, really :-/

Cinematic battle, theoretically floating table (though we didn't need
to use that option). Core systems and ship morale were not used.

This time the fleets were:

NSL:
3 Maria von Burgund-class BB
2 Radetzky-class CE
3 Kronprinz Wilhelm/E-class CLE
5 Waldburg/M-class DDG
14 Falke-class SC
Total: 2998 pts

FSE:
1 Bologna-class CVL (4 Interceptor sqdns)
2 Roma-class BB
3 Jerez-class CA
8 Ibiza-class FF
8 Mistral/A-class SC
Total: 2997 pts

This time the NSL might have had too much ADFC support - they were a
rather weak in beams. They definitely had too many missile units;
standard DDs would have been far more effective than the DDGs in this
battle.

The DDGs were there mainly to soften up the FSE FFs and SCs before they
could open fire - with the speeds I normally fly at, SMs and fighters
are the only weapon systems which can reasonably reliably do that, and
killing 5 of my strike craft before the BBs opened up would've left
about 4 of my small ships able to fire at anything.

Unfortunately I had realized the same thing, and brought interceptors
to protect against any NSL SMs (or fighters, had there been any). They
did marvelously well - although 6 of the 8 missile salvoes the NSL
fired during the battle were on target, not even one single missile got
past the fighters.

The FSE tactics were the same as in the last battle - small fry attack
at high speed from one direction, the heavies hit from a completely
different direction one turn later. 

The NSL, OTOH, basically sat still - the BBs never flew faster than
speed 2 and quite often didn't move forward at all (though they did
spin in place quite often), and the fastest NSL ships during the battle
were two DDs that re-deployed from one flank of the NSL formation to
the other. They moved at speed 10 :-/ Following Alan's advice, only 2
Falkes covered each MvB initially while the other 8 formed a line 6mu
behind the MvBs. The DDGs covered both flanks, and the cruisers were
crammed in between the reserve Falkes and the battleships.

There was one problem with this formation: It is almost impossible to
turn it in Cinematic without having the BJs fall out of formation and
leave some of the front-line ships without reserves. Since the FSE
attacked from two directions, it was impossible to keep the Falkes in a
position where they were both covered from attack by the battleships
*and* able to move forward for BJ duty at need.

The FSE small fry hit first, approaching perpendicular to the NSL
formation and killing 7 Falkes for a cost of 4 Ibizas and 5 Mistrals.
Not too good an exchange, but no worse than expected. The survivors
then withdrew at high speed.

The NSL now spun in place to recieve the FSE heavies that came
screaming in from almost the opposite direction and ending the turn at
range ~20. The NSL hammered the closest FSE ship - a Roma - but lost 4
Falkes and had a Kronprinz Wilhelm crippled in return (which didn't
lose many systems apart from its ADFC... and was completely unable to
repair the damn thing during the next 7 turns!). The MvB closest to the
FSE heavies was now completely stripped of BJs - the FSE small fry had
killed its initial escorts, and the heavies had killed the ones that
could have replaced them - and one of its ADFC escorts had been knocked
out.

Then the missiles started flying, and the FSE heavies closed to
point-blank range. The three remaining Falkes tried to move forward to
cover at least the other two MvBs, but ended up in a clump together
with three of the cruisers - and all three FSE CAs, and four FSE
missile salvoes, three NSL salvoes, and all four FSE fighter squadrons
(all within a 5x5 mu square... no problem, there was plenty of room
left, promise ;-) ). As mentioned above the NSL missiles were all shot
down by fighters, and the FSE missiles narrowly missed the BJs and hit
the cruisers. The stripped MvB was squarely hit by 5 salvoes and blew
up in a spectacular fireball; one Radetzky (hit by 2 salvoes) hung on
with a single damage point and virtually no systems, the other Radetzky
took two thresholds, one Kronprinz lost most of its armour and almost
took a threshold check, and the two NSL DDGs which hadn't launched
their last missiles ate one FSE salvo each and lost their chance to
launch (one lost the magazine, the other the FC).

The NSL were shaken but not beaten, and now the FSE force - a mere six
ships - sat at point-blank range of 2 MvBs and a bunch of others.
Unfortunatly they had misjudged their spin somewhat, and couldn't
concentrate their fire as well as they'd've liked. They killed the Roma
they had already battered and inflicted serious damage on two of the
Jerezes, but the FSE got even by killing the three remaining Falkes,
the gutted Radetzky, a Waldburg/M and a Kronprinz (which took three
points from FSE PDS :-) ). (No, the FSE dice weren't that hot - apart
from the PDSs - but I concentrated at picking off his wounded ships.
The Radetzky and the Falkes weren't too hard to kill, either :-/ )
While both Jerezes lost critical systems - one an SML, the other its
FCs - they managed to repair enough of the damage to remain in fighting
condition.

The FSE kept going straight through the NSL formation, starting a slow
loop back. As a parting gift they launched another nine missile
salvoes, this time at the BBs (and one salvo at a DDG - curse those
cross-broadside launchers on the Roma...). All missiles hit their
intended targets (the BBs were moving at speed 2, and I had killed
everything vectored towards them on the previous turn - they were
rather easy targets :-/ ). The DDG simply disappeared; one of the
battleships was completely gutted (1 damage point left, and a total of
three systems remained - a PDS, half its engine and an FC...), but the
other one was covered by the undamaged CLE and got away with a mere 23
damage points (ie, it only took one threshold). Parting beam shots
finished off the gutted MvB, but the NSL almost killed one of the
Jerezes. It managed to repair its engines and FTL drive, but had to
withdraw as fast as it could.

At this point in the battle, the forces consisted of:

FSE:
1 Bologna-class CVL (light hull damage, 1 salvo remaining in magazine)
1 Roma-class BB (undamaged, 2 salvoes remaining)
2 Jerez-class CA (one seriously damaged, one with light damage, no
missiles remaining)

1 Jerez, 4 Ibizas and 3 Mistrals had withdrawn from the battle.

NSL:
1 Maria von Burgund-class BB (half-way to the 2nd threshold, no
important systems lost)
1 Radetzky-class CE (half-way to the 3rd threshold; lost all beams
except
	1x C1, but all other systems OK)
2 Kronprinz Wilhelm/E-class CLE (one had lost its ADFC, the other was 
undamaged)
3 Waldburg/M-class DDG (1 with light damage, none with missiles left)

The FSE decided to swing around for one more attack run, to try and
kill the last NSL battleship. It took them four turns to loop back into
beam range, during which the NSL repaired most of their damaged systems
(except that ADFC) and grouped into a tight formation around their last
BB - in effect using the DDGs as BJs. The FSE entered extreme C2 range
and killed the Radetzky before they launched missiles, but the Roma
took serious damage and lost most of its beams. In addition they had
misjudged their attack slightly so they were unable to fire all the
three remaining salvoes at the BB; instead they launched the last salvo
at the CLEs.

Put it like this: Even if there are BJs 1mu away, a thrust-2 ship
starting the turn at speed 0 isn't that difficult to hit. Both salvoes
directed at the MvB hit it, and the third hit the undamaged CLE - with
the only surviving ADFC. Although the CLE stopped the missiles
attacking itself cold, it failed to protect the battleship which died.
The FSE ships charged in just behind their missiles and once more ended
the turn at point-blank range; their beam fire killed the other CLE
(the one which still hadn't repaired its ADFC) and a DDG. The NSL
didn't have very much left to return fire with, and only inflicted
minor damage. When the FSE ships had rushed past them, they scattered
and fled into FTL before the FSE could turn around and finish them off.

This battle was a lot more even than the last one and could probably
have gone the other way if the NSL had had somewhat better luck with
their PDS rolls (eg, not rolling all their sixes against one single
salvo and leaving the others almost untouched <g>), or brought normal
DDs instead of the DDGs - that'd've provided some much-needed beam
firepower and made my interceptors worthless.

Even so, it was a fairly convincing FSE victory; the FSE lost 232 HS
and had most of the rest damaged or even crippled, but the NSL lost 774
HS - more than three times as much.

The low speeds and spinning in place allowed the NSL to fire much more
effectively than in the last battle, but it also allowed me to launch
my missiles very accurately. Only one of my salvoes hit another ship
than the one I aimed at - my first missile launch was directed at one
BB, two CEs and two DDGs, but one of the salvoes intended for a CE hit
a CLE instead.

Merry Christmas to you all,

Oerjan Ohlson
oerjan.ohlson@telia.com

"Life is like a sewer.
  What you get out of it, depends on what you put into it."
- Hen3ry