Federation Commander

Has anyone found moving in reverse to be especially helpful in any particular situation in FedCom?

Not particularly. It eats up huge amounts of power.

The only tactical usage is, start of turn and your opponent is directly behind you -- if their speed is high you could run in reverse and let them overrun you (hopefully ending up in front of you) (Helps if your opponent believed you were gonna run at high speed when he set his speed) --
Otherwise, its a huge power drain you cant afford --
It would also depend on whether you had used your High Energy Turn and the condition of your shields --

I've seen it used to disengage on a fixed map while keeping all weapons facing the enemy

Maybe just if you've got someone chasing you and they've exhausted their turn mode, you could reverse to get under 'em (or have them smack into a web).

I think is definitely a situational thing - and I've not seen a reason to do it yet. The power drain is huge and, unless your drone-heavy, that will affect what you can achieve after reversing.

TJolley wrote:I've seen it used to disengage on a fixed map while keeping all weapons facing the enemy

In SFB, this is known as the Kaufman Retrograde. It allows a force to retreat from the battle while still being able to utilize their heavy weapons. It works best with he Federation, as Photon Torps damage doesn't attenuate as the range increases... but can be used by any race to varying degrees of effectiveness.

During playtesting, Battlegroup Murfreesboro set-up specific scenarios where the Kaufman Retrograde was used. Due to the high cost of moving in reverse, it was not as effective as in SFB. A determined enemy will simply (OK, not simply... because charging into a barrage of heavy weapons is very painful) overruns the retrograding force.

All in all, I can't see reverse movement being used as a valid tactic in may instances. I think that it would only become useful in very limited situations... and even then, it seems that other, less costly actions would be superior.

just my two Quatloos worth, YMMV

Wasn't the increase in reverse movement specifically done to reduce the effectiveness of the Kaufman Retrograde? I thought I read that in CL 32.

jmt wrote:Wasn't the increase in reverse movement specifically done to reduce the effectiveness of the Kaufman Retrograde? I thought I read that in CL 32.

Yes, that was the designers original intent... and it worked out quite well, also.

I've never used it.

It's not a common tactic, and the double cost of reverse movement in Fed Comm makes it even more rare.

Other than the Kuafman Retrograde scenario from SFB - I probably haven't used reverse movement more then 4 or 5 times in 30 years of game play.

've used reverse movement a couple of times since I started playing FC - oddly more than I ever used it in SFB.

At low speeds (especially a speed plot of 0 reverse) it can be used as a surprise in the right circumstances, and has a littlemore than marginal use in asteroids.

Actually I think the best thing about throwing the odd turn of reverse movement in FC is the rarity of it happening, in SFB such a thing was pretty commonplace, in FC pulling a quick reverse out of the hat can genuinely suprise the opposition, it also means that anytime you em dec on the last impulse of the previous turn, their between turn thoughts have to include: "what if the swine reverses on me".

Definitely of marginal use, but when it works it can be such a hoot.

I know this is basically a rules question, but in its context it's probably relevant here.

Reverse movement costs double, as no doubt does reverse accel.

But is reverse decel also double the cost? It's just I don't have my rulebook handy......

Kang wrote:But is reverse decel also double the cost? It's just I don't have my rulebook handy......

(2B1c) says no.

Every game I've move in reverse I lose.

My above post is no longer true, I used it twice last game I played, once at range 16 when employing the Klingon Sabre Dance with a dead rear shield and needing to face with my weapons.

I lost, but not by much, I was down to 2 energy but I lasted 2 turns.

As the above, Is aceleration/Deceleration cost doubled in reverse? I assume no but am unsure.