RE: FB2 Fleets (or "How I Learned to Hate the Savasku")

> the outcome concerned me, because it appeared as though the
> Kra'vak have a hard time standing up to other fleets unless they use
> large amounts of fighters.  Also, the disparity in ship cost seems to
> make it prohibitive for the Kra'vak to even want to close the range,
due
> also in part to their basic fragility when compared to ships of other
> races.

The KV have average or better hull strength so they aren't that fragile,
they just don't have defenses against beams, other than maneuverability.
One thing you did stumble on was a weakness the KV have against a fleet
of
lots of small ships and from your description, that is what you faced. 
The
KGuns can do some massive damage, but if your target is a frigate, that
could lead to lots of wasted overkill.

> During the second game, I played against a Sa'vasku fleet.  I had nine
> ships, he had eleven (including six destroyers; it was a somewhat
> smaller game).  I had no fighters, and he had two escort carriers,
> On the last turn of the
> game, my battledreadnought ended up within 6" of his SD.  He had
coasted
> in, and so used all of his power points to fire weapons at me.

I'll ask why did you let that happen?  Your opponent was able to predict
where you would end up and you let him save power by not using thrust

> In looking at that game, it was pretty apparent that the fact that the
> Sa'vasku don't need to allocate any power to defense is a pretty
> overwhelming advantage against the Kra'vak.

True, it is a rock/paper/scissors type of thing, benefit against one
race,
bane against another.  But also remember that the KV never had to use
mass
for screen generators or screen nodes.	That mass was used elsewhere
(more
guns, more hull, etc) so these strengths  to your advantage.

> Also, the fact that we
> don't play with Damage Control rules tends to give them a strange
> advantage as well.

Ouch, that would hurt as well, especially with larger ships

> what sort of tactics can
> you suggest for playing the Kra'vak effectively without having to rely
> too much on fighters, and/or countering the advantages of the
Sa'vasku,
> particularly when playing Kra'vak.

Anyone playing against the SV has to create multiple threats so the SV
can't
pile all of their power in one bucket, and then hit them when they don't
expect it.  If the SV guess where you will be and what you plan
correctly,
they can optimize for that situation, so don't be predictable.	If you
can
surprise them and hit them when they planned for something else, the can
be
easy targets.  Force the SV to use power maneuvering, the KV have a
better
chance of doing this than the Human or Phalon fleets.  You can't force
the
SV to add power to the Defensive pool, but that is a KV thing, but you
can
take away attack dice aimed towards your ships by making the SV fire at
fighters (and also create their own fighters which takes more power). 
The
fleet you took against the NSL might have faired much better than what
you
did take.  Don't get too close to the SV, their beam firepower doubles
each
range band you get closer while the SV pods have less range and a worse
to-hit than KGuns.  I would not get within 12" if I could help it, or at
least force the SV to thrust in order to get that close.

Dean Gundberg

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