Re: FT - Large scale fleet engagements

G'day Adrian,

>10+ SD's on their own.  I think we'll try with escorts now.
>But, don't they just get picked off at range by Nova Cannons?

Nova cannons aren't that scary anymore <well in my opinion, but then
many
wold say you'd be a fool to listen to me ;)> given the damage other
things
can dish out and the fact you can't fire/do anything else that turn. If
you're opponent is silly enough to take one, let him. Escorts are a
vital
part of the game to me (mainly because you could count the number of SDs
I
own on one hand, even if you chopped four of the fingers off) and their
worth shouldn't be under estimated - they're another layer of defnse the
opposition has to get through and they can be annoying - I've got one
scout
that has been the ship to deal the deathblow to an enemy SD on 3
occasions
(probably becuase they didn't see it and it crashed into their view
screen).

>Indeed.  We've been designing ships as "line of battle" ships, not as
>multi-purpose.
>We've rarely seen a ship receive fire for more than two turns and still
be
>operational, so we tried a few designs with minimal armor, hull, and
SMR's
>not SML's.  The ships die horribly, but have tremendous firepower.  Of
>course they need protection from small ships, but we found a few beam
heavy
>SD's generally takes care of that.

When you're talking smaller ships, how many and what type have you
tried?
Unless they've got an impressive number of FC then there's only so many
targets thay can shot at. The other thing to note is that cinematic
plays
out as a vastly different game to vector in many respects, you'll rarely
see a vector game that lasts near as long as the cinematic games
discussed
here. A vector game of 5+ turns is a long one in my experience, 3 maybe
4
is closer to normal. 

>Yes, but the mass cost is tremendous and useless versus non-SM equipped
>ships.

So I take it carriers don't feature highly in your battles either?

>We talked about this but decided that it was dull and pointless (why
not
>just build a big ship with a few class 6 batteries?)  

While I agree that class 6 batteries maybe a little over the top, why
not
try a mix of beams (especially if you take escorts too). Make the SM
player
work for their kills by pinging them as they come in (i.e. have a few
big
beams on a couple of ships) <as an SM player I can't believe I just sad
that!>

>More to the point, the out ranged side would realistically always
disengage.  
>not much fun as a game.

Harping back to those escorts again <;)>, that's another thing they're
for
to be a mobile platform or to annoy the opposition enough they want to
stop
and fight.

Hope that helps

Beth

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Elizabeth Fulton
c/o CSIRO Division of Marine Research
GPO Box 1538
HOBART 
TASMANIA 7001
AUSTRALIA
Phone (03) 6232 5018 International +61 3 6232 5018
Fax 03 6232 5053 International +61 3 6232 5053

email: beth.fulton@marine.csiro.au