Re: DragonFlight 2000

> Also met Stiltman - Eric. Had a short, unsatisfactory game of FT - I
got
> swarmed by fighters, then walked into my own & his plasma bolts, then
left
> the table with only my BDN surviving... I always play vector, and the
> larger burst radius of cinematic PBLs caught me. (I prefer vector,
it's
> more interesting & challenging...) Wild contrast in playing styles -
my
> group & I tend to use fairly FB1/2 standard ships, vector, and all the
> fighter morale/endurance rules. Stiltman uses massive
mixed-and-genre-tech
> ships, cinematic, and masses of fighters without any of the limiting
> rules... do you have _any_ designs lighter than about 300 mass, Eric?
:>

Heh... I'll take issue (good-naturedly) with a thing or two here. ;)

Quick description of forces for the rest of the group:	we were playing
a
mixed Phalon-and-customhumantech game that was originally intended as a
two-
on-two, each person with roughly twelve to fifteen hundred points' worth
of
ships.	They split up their Phalon models so that Brian (on their side)
had
a BDN, three heavy destroyers, and three frigates, while Corey (on my
side)
had a BC, two medium cruisers, and three lighter destroyers.  My wife
flew
a single giant carrier (at Brian's request), I flew a mass 250 "Fortress
I
Class Star Destroyer" (6 FBs, 2 4-arc B3s, 8 6-arc B2s) and two mass 56
"Clam" light assault carriers (4 FBs).	I had 14 heavy fighters to your
ten interceptors; you had 11 or 12 dice of plasma to my 8.  They
contributed
several lava rocks to use as asteroids that were considered absolute
obstructions and used Phalon models; I had a large shoebox full of Micro
Machines minis that my wife and I used and an old Aerotech box that we
used
for fighter counters.

I didn't have _that_ many more fighters than you did... I only was left
with
three groups and change of heavy fighters after the dogfighting with
your
side's interceptors was over, and they never got any chances to attack
any
of your ships at all other than those three pipsqueak escorts you were
nice
enough to detach a long way away from the main force without fighter
cover.

The plasma exchange was the real story of that game.  You spreaded yours
out
over a wide area, missed with most of it, and flew into what little
_didn't_
miss; I took an eyeball judgment of where you'd have to go, put all of
mine
on that spot, and then peeled a turn to avoid both asteroids and my own
plasma
all at once.  You edged only three of my Phalons, three of yours, and
clean
missed the STD; I hit your entire force and none of my own.  All of your
escorts and fighters were dead, your BDN was thresholded, and her
carrier
wasn't far from threshold; I had no ships dead, one thresholded cruiser,
with a number of scuff marks on the rest and 22 heavy fighters left with
two
shots.	It was after the plasma turn that you bailed.

I don't know if the playing styles were all that different... we each
brought
a few things to the table that the other didn't typically play with (I
brought
fighters, you brought asteroids, and per your objections I simply picked
out
ships that only used "standard" FB1 tech).  Yeah, I _do_ tend to use a
fair
number of fighters, but I also play fleets that use none at all, and I
don't
think I could be accused of just plain not knowing how to handle a
ship-to-ship
action.  :)

And yes, I _do_ have designs below 300 mass.  :)  My workhorse units
tend to
be between 200 and 280 mass, but in fairness, it _is_ true that I tend
to
look down my nose at escort sized ships.  My experience has generally
been
that they tend to be easily shredded (and their weapons removed from the
strategic equation) before they can do much whenever there's bigger guys
around.  I do fly (large) escorts, but they're pretty much always
equipped
with needle beams, because that's about the only thing that escorts can
meaningfully hurt an enemy with before they get reduced to so much fine
dust.
As time has gone on, though, it's also true that I've started to like
fast
battlecruisers with needle beams in this role instead.
-- 
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 The Stilt Man		      stiltman@teleport.com
   http://www.teleport.com/~stiltman/stiltman.html
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