Fed Tactical Advice

jonathan1971 · Post by **jonathan1971** » Fri Jul 25, 2008 7:48 pm

Can someone point me to an article regarding federation tactics. I'm not doing a very good job at commanding fed ships.....thanks

Jonathan

pinecone · Post by **pinecone** » Fri Jul 25, 2008 10:07 pm

Don't know about an article (they usually are aginst feds anyway) but here's my advice:

If you think that an opponent will close in on you, then overload photons early and take him out on the pass, but be sure to hold off for one turn to oveload.

If he will not close in, then overload half of your photons, while chasing him. Keep him on the run. If he engages, then overload the other photons and blow him up. If he run, fire one photon (not oveloaded) to damage him as he sabre-dances.

When dogfighting, then choose whether to use the Photon Smash (firing everything you have and whatch his ship crumple) or continuos Barrage (always have some torpeados ready) tactics. In a battle where he's constantly comming in and out, use the Continuos Barrage. If He is attacking agressivly, blast him away with the Photons Smash.

Overall, if he is coming close, blast him to pieces. If he is not, then keep him on the run.

jpat · Post by **jpat** » Sat Jul 26, 2008 2:14 am

There's a *short* article in Communique #2 addressing Fed-style combat. It's in the Commander's Circle area, which you may already know about.

bobrunnicles · Post by **bobrunnicles** » Sat Jul 26, 2008 5:58 am

Funny thing is I'm having the opposite problem - making Klingons work against Feds. As a Fed, I do the above and kick butt; as the Klingon I just don't know if I have the patience to do the saber dance. We'll find out on Sunday when once again I seek glory or death! Qa'pla! (sp)

pinecone · Post by **pinecone** » Sat Jul 26, 2008 1:12 pm

I'd say good luck, but... I don't wanna here of a Fed going down

.

Oh, alright Good luck!

bobrunnicles · Post by **bobrunnicles** » Sat Jul 26, 2008 6:24 pm

Thanks!

Two weeks ago we played and my F4 beat his Frigate although there wasn't much left of either ship at the end; last week we played D7C against CA and I got my butt kicked - miscalculated range/movement possibilities and let him close to 4 hexes and he unloaded overloaded photons on me and I took a bunch of internals. After that I managed to fend him off for several more turns but he always had more power and the end became somewhat inevitable. I beat down almost all his shields but just couldn't score any decent internals. This week will be different though!

djdood · Post by **djdood** » Sat Jul 26, 2008 8:38 pm

I never cease to be amused by the "i eat my boogers" auto-replace for cussing.

BB -

It sounds like you're on the right track. Knowing that your tactics aren't getting the results you want is the first step to altering them. The "saber dance" takes more thought and practice than just "closing-and-hosing". I'm still working on it myself, but I'm getting better.

bobrunnicles · Post by **bobrunnicles** » Sat Jul 26, 2008 9:28 pm

djdood wrote:I never cease to be amused by the "i eat my boogers" auto-replace for cussing.

I know - I just went back and changed it to 'butt' so it makes more sense (not that you couldn't figure out what it was supposed to be anyway, right?) LOL

It sounds like you're on the right track. Knowing that your tactics aren't getting the results you want is the first step to altering them. The "saber dance" takes more thought and practice than just "closing-and-hosing". I'm still working on it myself, but I'm getting better.

Very true, and my opponent is a very fast learner - which is fine because I love a challenge; it brings out the best in my own game. I know he's wary of firing photons at the 5-8 range bracket because of the 50/50 chance of wasting them, but is it worth closing as a Klingon to that range for the additional few points of damage you might score (plus the opportunity to overload) or (assuming you can maintain the patience) just keep plinking away at range 9+ where his photons are useless?

Scoutdad · Post by **Scoutdad** » Sat Jul 26, 2008 9:48 pm

Bob,
Unless their is a pressing reason for ending the scenario early - then no, closing to 5-8 hexes is not worth it. If you've got time - then by all means, stay at range and sabre-dance. It's sometimes, long, drawn-out, and boring but it is a sound tactic.
Every time I've ever taken a chance and closed to the 5-8 bracket my oppoent has literally handed my tucahs to me.

If, however, you have a time limit then alternate tactics (i.e., closing to OL range) are sometimes necessary.

Good luck and think "patience... patience... patience..."

DNordeen · Post by **DNordeen** » Sun Jul 27, 2008 12:44 am

I'll second Scoutdad with an additional caveat. There is no reason to close beyond range 15. The bracket is 9-15, so unless you are going for overload range there's very little reason to get closer than range 15 and risk ending up at range 8 instead of 9.

Mike · Post by **Mike** » Sun Jul 27, 2008 2:30 am

For a Klingon or Kzinti, you can fire those disruptors at range either early in a turn or late in a turn and then go evasive on the next impulse. You're not overloading, so you're not expending much power and should have plenty to keep up a good speed, go evasive, and stay at a decent range.

bobrunnicles · Post by **bobrunnicles** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 3:15 am

Well, we didn't get to finish but we're calling it a Klingon victory - I saberdanced to perfection (well, to my naive eyes, anyway

) and he never got closer than 9 hexes, and that was due to a minor miscalulation on my part. All told he did one point of damage to my #3 shield, while I was tearing down his shields at a steady rate - in the end he called it due to frustration. It seemed to us that given a floating map a smart Klingon can keep the Fed at bay all game.

However since it seemed like a limited 1-on-1 duel situation next week we're going to switch things up and either try a multi-ship duel, try switching races or start going through scenarios - we're already thinking about trying the Planet Killer scenario and/or some of the other ones from the book. Any especially good ones people can recommend?

Mike · Post by **Mike** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 3:32 am

I might be able to recommend a few...

(har-umph!)

[no comments from mjwest or scoutdad, please...]

Scoutdad · Post by **Scoutdad** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 12:51 pm

ummm... never mind...

but if you don't like Mike's suggestions, I can make a few!

Kang · Post by **Kang** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 2:24 pm

bobrunnicles wrote:...I got my butt kicked - miscalculated range/movement possibilities and let him close to 4 hexes and he unloaded overloaded photons on me ...

Same happened to me in one of my games - there's a Battle Report of it somewhere. It's very easy to miscalculate closure rates especially at high speeds where you can effectively close by 8 hexes per impulse if you're moving head-on.

And making that mistake against a Fed loaded for bear is going to cost the non-Fed player the game. It may therefore be worth keeping your eyes open for the opportunity to close head-on and accelerate as you do.

Interestingly, the same tactic may be useful for the Hydrans - if you think your opponent may misjudge the closure rate, then by all means bang the throttle wide open....