AAR Nea Rhomaioi vs Islamic Fed...sort of

There was a little confusion about who was playing which side....I'll
let John take it from there:

Pretty standard opening..  Both fleets were in tight formations
closing almost straight ahead.	The IF force was moving pretty quick,
the NRE was slowly cruising.  Turn 3, we were in missle range.
Imperials salvoed 18 SMRs  at the IF force.  Took out 2 Saladin
destroyers, but most of the salvo was aimed too far back to do any
damage.  Turns out the IF had taken an all-beam force.	The NRE
proceeded to charge drives and jump out.  Loses totalled 2 frigates, 1
missle destroyer, an escort cruiser, a light missle cruiser, and a
heavy missle cruiser.  In return they managed to finish off a
Hattin-class "Heavy Cruiser" (Small battlecruiser--90 TMF).

Pretty nasty defeat for NRE, mostly due to two factors.  First,
miscalcuation about IF force structure.  Second, missing with the bulk
of the SMRs.

The weird thing was the force on both sides.

NRE: 2xCAG, CE, 2xCLG, 5xDDG, 3xFF, 1xDrone Tender (FF with no guns,
tugs around 10 size-2 banzai jammers)
Total offensive weapons: 18 SMRs, 13 Beam 2

IF: 2xSaladin DD, 3xHattin CH, 2xSaif al Islam BB
Total weapons: 16 Beam 3, 28 Beam 2

Which side was using whose doctrine?

LL: First, "Islamic doctrine" is contradiction in terms.  Maybe in
"real life" where espionage has established which emir has which
weapons fitted to which ships and where they are deployed, then you
can tailor to the threat.  But IF forces tend to one extreme or the
other and it's difficult to determine beforehand which it will be.

Second:  If you have that much of your force in SMRs, it helps to hit
something occasionally.  Preferably larger than a DD.