Federation Commander

I am a "startegically challenged" Fed Com player who always seems to loose with the Klingons against the feds. Does anyone have any advice on how to take these Photon slingers out? :oops:

Range 15 is your friend and his enemy.

You might want to check out this thread and this thread.

Basically they say to stay away, further than eight hexes especially.

I just noticed those threads. Another example of my posting before reading thoroughly!!

Klingon tactics vary enormously depending on the opposition.
A beginner fighting in a duel (single ships) against the Fed will often find that the combat is decided in one impulse at very close range. Klingons work best in group fights (it has to do with the amounts of damage they do at medium range. Once a squadron is big enough to drop the front shield on opposition ships of a similar size - usually three ships will do this - that ship cannot easily pursue). It is very easy, particularly as a beginner, to get sucked ever closer to the Fed ships with painful consequences.

It does not have to be that way.

Your advantages are good ranged weaponry that fires every turn. A better turning circle. Better arcs. A small number of missiles to use up his phaser power on the turns of your choice (firing them every turn is only sensible if the game is going to be very short, especially since they are protected from damage by the now near useless ADDs, and very short games do not suit you).

His advantage is huge, short range, FA firepower.

While you learn I suggest variations on this theme.

Try to move towards him on the first turn (you will be running turn two so you will need the space) and finish up with a range 15 shot at a slight angle on turn one. Ideally you want to hit his front shield. Move away. Expect to be taunted (it just seems to work that way).

Plot a decent speed on turn two (24 for beginners - you may find opportunities to plot 16 when you have gained some experience). Top it up with acceleration energy. Keep moving away. At the end of turn two turn (hence the need for extra space to manoeuvre in) to get another range 15 shot, preferably on his front shield. Launch drones.

Turn three, impulse 1 launch your second set of drones at the same target as before to double up the wave (this leaves you the ability to produce another pair of drone launches on turns 4 and 5. You should have full front shields to his slightly battered ones. At this point you can turn in or keep running and hit him at 9 - 15 again. If you decide to turn in give your drones a chance to get a few hexes ahead of you. Ideally they should get to him just before you fire. Manoeuvre both the drones and your ships sideways so he can't just run past them. Time the attack so that you fire at no closer than range three using your usually superior turn mode to control the range. Many Fed players are reluctant to fire outside range four because the chart doesn't favour them. This can be used against them. Keep some power for movement. Move away if he doesn't fire (expect more taunting). As his shields are ground down his problems increase.

If he fires a lot of photons on turn three and does not kill you you have the advantage on turn four. Get stuck in and make his life miserable.

He may fire at range 5 - 8 and get lucky (the photon isn't called the lucky man's weapon for nothing). Fighting against the Feds you have to accept that. Make him need to be lucky to win.

Finally

Remember that the longer the battle goes on the greater your chance of winning.

Bait him to range 8 and let him exchange fire with you. Next turn smash him while his Photons are still in loading cycle.

pinecone wrote:Bait him to range 8 and let him exchange fire with you. Next turn smash him while his Photons are still in loading cycle.

simplistic... but if he falls for it, it's effective - although our Fed player can hit with 3 of 4 OL'ed Photons at range 8... so it's quite the risky proposition.

Indeed. I would not take those odds.

Bleed him for a few turns first by hitting him at 9 to 15 hexes.... THEN give him his range 8 shot and smash him while he tries to reload.

Or even better, shoot him in the back!

Stay off the Fed's forward centerline, where all of his phasers can fire. The photons hurt, but the phasers just make it even worse. You want to fire through your #2 and #6 shields, where most of your weapons can fire, while denying him an alpha strike (all of his weapons at once). Also, try to weaken a shield BEFORE going in to exchange overloads, then when you exchange overloads, hit that shield. The shield damage you scored earlier will come back as internal damage.

Oh, and keeping your speed up is more important than arming weapons.

pinecone wrote:Bait him to range 8 and let him exchange fire with you. Next turn smash him while his Photons are still in loading cycle.

He'll be more inclined to meet you at range 8 than at 9. Also, if you keep a good speed, He might not have the energy to overload. Chances are he'll only hit with half of the photons, and you'll hit with half or more distruptors. Distruptors are half the damage of photons (approximately). So in a D7 vs. Ca match, if the Ca hit with 2 photons and the D7 hit with 5 Distruptors, the D7 would have done more damage.

Still not the way I'd want to play. I'm patience... I can sabre dance at range 12 - 15 for 10 or 12 rounds if need be.

THe D7 has only 4 disruptors. They only hit 1/6th of the time more than Photons at Range 8. When the Feds have most/all Photons loaded, dance at range 15.

A possible exception is the Klingon Dreadnought, as it is too slow a turner to Saber Dance well.

Simple: you scream and leap

No wait...that's the Kzinti one.

In a Klingon you generally do not want to close with the target, especially a Federation ship with OL photons. Keeping the range open and sniping is best then getting a 4 drone stack to follow in for the kill.

This is also good for use against Plasma ships (Gorn/Romulan) because they would LOVE to have you come head on and trade strikes...100pt of plasma hurts a lot more than 4 OL disruptors.

I guess I'm notthe best one to blisten to, as I don't use the klinks much.