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

Paul Radford wrote:

>I've written to the list on this very subject before. In the battles
Kra'Vak
>vs Sa'Vasku, and Phalon's vs Sa'Vasku, the Sa'Vasku were victorious
>due to the opponents becoming despondent about the whole thing and
>having no hope of victory.

That's the easiest way to win any battle, and the only way to win a war
:-/

>Movement method was cinematic and ships were FB2 designs. The
>Sa'Vasku would apply max power to thrust, then cruise at speed with
>sufficient power to make turns of up to 3 with the remaining power
>being applied to the offensive pool. The Sa'Vasku player did not even
>fire a single pod, as there was simply no need.

They were never hit by plasma bolts, then?

>He just coasted around using his stingers to great effect. My Kra'Vak
>forces were decimated and i put this down to a redundent defensive
>pool when playing Kra'Vak. With the Phalons, advanced drives and >long
range fire were the name of the game which favoured the >Sa'Vasku.

Depends a bit on the Pulser mix the Phalons use though, and as usual on
the table size. You need a fairly large (or floating) table in order to
stay outside range 36mu all the time, and only the SV BCs and bigger
are able of firing in the 36-48mu range band while simultaneously
powering their engines.

'Course, a Phalon fleet with most or all of its Pulsers set to "L" will
be vulnerable if the Sa'Vasku charge in close instead, but charging in
close requires the SV to maneuver (which reduces their firepower) and
makes their end locations a lot more predictable (you know where you're
going, so you know where they need to be if they want to close the
range to outgun you, and so you've got a decent chance to hit them with
plasma bolts if they try). And, of course, having a couple of spare
Pulsers set to "C" may come as a nasty surprise for SV that get too
close <g>

>Beth suggested that the spicules draw from the defensive pool which
>while being a good suggestion, only applies when fighters and missiles

>get a look in. Neither of the two battles mentioned featured fighters
or >drone groups.

Spicules "rolls one die with exactly the same effects as a standard
PDS", which means that they also work against Plasma Bolts. At least
the Phalons ought to have had *some* of those :-/
 
>IMHO,	I find that Sa'Vasku have a tremendous advantage in that
>extremely variable thrust leads to greater unpredictability when
trying to >figure out where their movement may end.

The most important in the SV case is to figure out where they'll end up
if they coast or use very little thrust - that's where you *don't* want
to end up yourself. If they make any more radical maneuvers, their
firepower drops to more managable levels; even thrust-3 soaks up around
25-30% of the power available to an undamaged SV ship. (OK, 37.5% for
the Thy'Sa'Teth and only 17.7% for the Fo'Sath'Aan, but those are
extreme cases :-/ )

>Learning to predict movement is important especially when cinematic
>rules are used (as we do) and you're using Kra'Vak.

Predict movement has always been important for FSE players or other
missile users, or anyone using (F)-arc weapons, but now everyone needs
to do it :-/

Regards,

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