Re: [FT\DS2] Fleet and Army sizes for games

Richard Bell wrote in reply to Stiltman:

>>I've had an ambition to set up some sort of larger campaign game
>>where resource management winds up meaning something.  OTOH, >>I
could easily see that getting out of hand -- e.g. a carrier force
>>attacking a battleship force, the carrier side trades their fighter
>>complement (but no ships) for the opposing task force, nullifying
both >>of their striking power for the time being, but the carrier side
goes and >>buys much fancier fighters the second time around whereas
the >>battleship side has to replace their whole task force, thus the
>>campaign quickly becomes worse for whoever falls behind.
> 
>It costs at least 45 pts to field a fighter squadron (mass 12, MD 2,
>FTL, Hull integrity of 1, fighter squadron bay), plus the cost of the
>fighters (18 minimum).
>Yet I would fearlessly face an equal value of these carrierlettes in a
>single Konstantin (The Konstantin has interceptors*, the carrierlettes
>have whatever), because I know that with six squadrons on defence >and
level-2 screens, I should just be able to weather out the storm 

This depends quite a bit on what rules you use. Stiltman doesn't use
the fighter morale rules, or even the fighter squadron rules, which
means that his massed fighters are very much more powerful than they'd
be if he'd used all the published fighter rules.

No matter which dogfighting rules you use, 2:5 odds means that your
interceptors will last about one turn (unless the enemy goes all-out on
Attack or Torpedo fighters, that is). If you use the FT2 dogfight rule
(simultaneous fire) the interceptors will most likely take out enough
enemies to save the Komarov (though not without serious damage); if you
use the FB rules instead (one squadron at a time) they most likely
won't save it at all.

>and my class-3's will be giving some of the enemy pilots dark thoughts
>about getting home

Um... exactly how did the thrust-2 Konstantin get to within 36mu of the
equally maneuverable soap-bubbles? I think you can safely assume that
the fighters launch some way away from the carriers - 60-80mu away or
so. Unless you play on a fixed board, the Konstantin is unlikely to
catch the carriers at all.

>If you actually decide to defend these ships against enemy fighters,
>they need escorts that can survive.

Fighter superiority is a pretty good defence against enemy fighters,
and the soap-bubble carriers will have fighter superiority against just
about any other type of fleet.

>To defend against direct fire weapons, it has to have more thrust, but
>more thrust than three requires a larger FTL, and another hull box
>(mass 17, MD 5, 2 hull boxes, FTL, ftr bay, cost 60).

...or its fighters can take the attacker out before the soap-bubble
comes under fire :-/

>A dedicated cruiser escort, a-la Atlanta class from WWII (mass 60, MD
>4, FTL, 18 hull boxes,2xscreen, 2xADFC, 14xPDS), costs 202 and, >with
the fighter break off rule, can fend off 2, maybe 3, fighter >squadrons
simultaneously.  The tyranny of numbers means that it does >have a
limited anti-ship capability with its PDS suite, allowing it to finish
>off the defenceless 45 pt carrierlettes that tried to attack it.  

*IF* it gets close enough before the soap-bubbles hyper out, yes.
Otherwise it'll only kill the fighters (and - since Stiltman doesn't
use the fighter morale rules - will take some damage doing so, as
well).

>A high
>acceleration ship with a single class-4 beam can snipe away several of
>the carrierlettes while dodging the fighters (mass 50, MD 10, FTL, 10
>hull boxes, FC, PDS, class-4(F), cost 161).

With an (F)-arc weapon, your attack location is quite easy for the
carrier player to predict (at least within the 18mu he needs to attack
you) - which means that the enemy fighters will be there. Use an
off-set arc, or a multi-arc weapon, or have MUCH more point defences,
if you want the sniper to survive to shoot more than once.

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