Battle Forces
Battle Report: No ships were lost on either side. The Andromedan Satellite Base was destroyed. The Andromedan minefield was cleared.
Battle Forces
I went into this with some calculations on drone damage. If the GP just sat back and fired drones at my SatBase, I could run them out of drones before taking damage. I assumed they would go after the MWPs as well, which would mean they could destroy my SatBase by turn 9 and still have several rounds worth of drones to fire at me.
They say in SFB that “Speed kills”. There are a whole bunch of other clichés that apply too. Ignorance kills works even better. Everyone knows the Feds are killers at this kind of thing due to photons. Knowing your enemy matters too. Minuteman, the Federation player, is the best of us in single ship combat. Kadh's the best in fleet battles. So, give Minuteman a fleet and he's out of his element. My best chance. Finally, having the latest version of the rules when the enemy doesn't, also wins.
To the battle...
I started at speed 21 and the GP came in at speed 10. They launched the expected drone wave, which ran into my minefield. Half of the mines were set for drones. No shots had to be fired at drones by me to kill them all. The GP sat at long range (around 25 I think) and pumped damage into the satellite base. So much for 9 turns; it would be gone on turn 5. All the drones, it turns out, were aimed at the MWPs. They never had a chance. Turn 3 I lost all of them.
I wasn’t sitting idly by. My return fire was less effective at this range than theirs, but I got in my shots. By the end of turn 4 I had forced both Orion DWs to disengage. Technically, the second would disengage on turn 5, but who’s counting? I figured turn 5, when the base would go up, was the turn I needed to act.
Early in the turn I displaced the two Dominators to just behind the base. Late in the turn, after all the firing and as the GP fighters were heading back to the carrier, I activated the Displacement Beacon in the minefield. A displacement beacon reduces the chance of inaccuracy when displacing to its location.
Turn 6 I displaced the two Dominators into the minefield and started spewing satellite ships. Then I attempted to displace the SCS and the Tholian NCA. I got the SCS, but it ended up going away from me. I had to satisfy myself with watching the GP fleet scatter and run. I ran down and destroyed the 2 Federation NACs and a Kzinti drone frigate. I lost both Terminators and a Mamba for that.
I then killed the Federation DWA and they started concentrating on one of my Dominators. Once it started taking internals, I retreated it, leaving me with 3 Mambas, 2 Eels, and a Dominator. The GP still had the SCS and its fighters, the Fed minesweeper and GSC, the Tholian NCA and DD, and a Kzinti DF.
I went after the SCS. They went after my Dominator. I was able to cripple it and took a few internals. The Fed disengaged it and I popped the EM out. That decided the issue. The rest of the GP ships disengaged the next turn.
I lost 2 Terminators, 1 Mamba, 9 MWPs, and the SatBase. The GP lost 2 Fed NACs and a DWA. The Fed SCS was crippled and all of the F-14s and F-18s were destroyed, but none of the A-20s.
If I don't win on turn 1 in one of the battles, I have no real chance to win Unity. I had surprise on my side. They weren’t expecting the Displacement Beacons. It won’t work that way again, but it got me the victory I needed for Turn 1. I have other surprises later.
The other advantage I had was that I controlled the speed and range. I have a serious edge in damage capability at ranges 0-3 and 5. Anything else, it’s not a big difference. This means I can’t get to range 4 or less. If the Feds don’t have overloads, the advantage extends to range 8, but I don’t want to count on that.
I would have liked to kill the SCS or the Tholian NCA. Either would have meant a long-term advantage for me, but the GP don’t have to risk them this early in Unity.
Battle Forces
Battle Report: No ships were lost on either side. The Andromedan Satellite Base was destroyed. The Andromedan minefield was cleared.
This currently shows all of turn 1. I will archive this turn as soon as turn 2's write-up is done.
This is the page for the current turn. Archived pages are linked to from the main Unity 2009 page.