From: Peter Mancini <peter_mancini@m...>
Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 14:13:27 EDT
Subject: Back in action
Hello all, It's been a long time since I've been on this list. I decided to get back on because I've started to game again and also because I just bought two new fleets to game with. I was happy to see that the first message I got concerned tactics for the Kra'Vak as that is my first fleet. The other fleet I bought is the Phalons. I do have some questions however... 1. -- why do the Phalons or anyone else for that matter call their larger ships MOTHERships when indeed it is quite clear they are FATHERships. 2. -- are their any rules for their docking stations? A roundtable discussion this past week (read: we were drinking gin and howling with laughter...) centered on such rules. We decided that the ports on the docking station would be quite, um, fleshy if you will. The center hub of the station would be dominated by two connic refueling stations. Someone in the group suggested placing a pad over one of the ports to show what they look like when they are down for monthly maintenance. We decided that Phalon docking stations required much higher maintenance than other stations and generally were unable to get ready to deal with any emergency in anything less than 1 1/2 hours. Phalon ships that dock with the station will undock as soon as business is concluded and then enter into radio silence with the docking station for at least several days. It has been observed that on occasion the bridge crew of some Phalon ships will get intoxicated and resume radio contact with docking stations they haven't seen in years at odd hours. Docking stations also, occasionaly, build new phalon ships. They are small and require a long shakedown cruise. All to often the Fathership that delivered the parts to build the new ship will find it too cumberson to include it in the taskforce. Taskforce integrity is based on the "buddy" system and the responsibility for caring for a new ship can be seen by many Phalons as a burden that destroys that system. A classic way of defeating Phalons is to distract them. Launching a pod with some shiny new technology, even during battle, will cause many of the Phalons to break ranks so they can check it out. Don't bother to include instructions as they will be ignored and the pod will almost upon being received be opened and taken apart for further inspection. Phalon fleets are generally slower than other fleets when entering new territory. Phalons seem to ignore all nav beacons and when off track will rarely, if ever, stop long enough to triangulate their position within local systems. Their slowness is not a question of velocity (which can be quite large in magnitude) but more with not making a straight path to their target. Phalon fleets have been known to communique back to the docking station stating that they are on patrol but then quickly skirt behind a local moon, exchange boarding parties and play cards. The Phalon ships tend to have larger and larger cargo areas modified on their ships as they age. When asked, Phalon ship commanders often respond back that "they are working on it." Oddly, phalon ships and docking stations have different measuring systems using the same terms. A ship's standard measuring unit will tend to be as much as 50% to 175% larger than the docking station's. A ship, for example might say it is at least 10 megaunits long while the docking station will guide them to a 6 megaunit long docking port. Odd. The Phalons are truely enigmatic as you can tell. They are so alien and have no analog in human society that it may be years, centuries (never?) before we truely understand their motivations.