Cruiser battle

Well, of course I couldn't ignore Michael's challenge. We've fought three
battles locally; I used "my" squadron twice and "Michael's" once while my
opponent used the other one. To avoid confusion, I'll refer to them as
"my"
and "Michael's" regardless of who used which, and despite the fact that my
FTF opponent isn't called Michael at all :-)

The designs were:

"Michael's" squadron: 1 Mass 36, Thrust 8 cruiser with level 3 Screens, 1 A
(FP) battery, 1 A (FS) battery and one PDAF 1 Mass 36, Thrust 8 cruiser with
level 3 Screens, 2 Pulse Torps and one PDAF

"My" squadron (version 1): 4 Mass 36, Thrust 4 cruisers with level 1 Screens,
2 A (PFS) batteries, 1 B (PFS) battery and 3 PDAF.

For the second battle we switched roles. My opponent changed "my" designs
slightly, to "My" squadron (version 2): 1 Mass 36, Thrust 4 cruiser with level
1 Screens, 2 A (PFS) batteries, 1 B (PFS) battery, 2 PDAF and Enhanced Sensors
3 Mass 36, Thrust 4 cruisers with level 1 Screens, 2 A (PFS) batteries, 1 B
(PFS) battery, 2 PDAF and 1 SMP (F).

I kept this for the third battle.

All battles were meeting engagements, starting at speed 20, and fought at a
"floating table".

Battle 1 lasted for 16 turns; average speeds for "my" squadron was about 18
while "Michael's" squadron flew at roughly 25. The PT-armed cruiser had
distinct problems to get to fire - usually it was either too far away or
slightly out of arc; all in all it fired three shots and inflicted a single
point of damage. The beam cruiser could usually shoot, but was massively
out-gunned (especially when it had its side arc facing my ships!).
Thanks
to the high speeds the ranges were usually pretty long (30-40 mu). I did
a bad mistake on one occasion, allowing "Michael's" ships into "my" rear arc
for two turn; fortunately the range was about 30 mu. My opponent then made a
mistake and slipped out of my blind spot; had he managed to stay there he
probably would've destroyed my damaged cruiser eventually.

By turn 15, one of "my" ships had taken 12 points of damage, losing an PDAF
and its FTL drive; "Michael's" beam cruiser had taken 10 damage points while
the PT cruiser had taken 12. They had lost one weapon each, but no screens or
engines, to the treshold checks. They were approaching "me" from my rear
starboard quarter, but were going a bit too fast. On turn 16,
therefore, they ended up almost on top of "my" ships - but in front of
them. I had a _lot_ of luck during that fire phase (suddenly all the
sixes
wanted to get out of my dice :-/ ); the first salvo forced a treshold
check on "Michael's" beam cruiser and downed two of the screens, and the
remaining three salvoes (24 dice...) killed it and inflicted a few points
on the PT cruiser. At this point, my opponent ceded the battle - the PT
cruiser would try to go FTL on the next turn; since it still had all its
screens remaining (after taking two treshold checks!) my chances of killing it
weren't too great, but I could have. If we had continued the battle, it might
have killed my wounded cruiser (though considering its record thus far in the
battle, I don't think so); it certainly wouldn't have stopped my three
undamaged ones.

Battle 2:
My opponent slightly re-designed "my" cruisers, removing one PDAF on
each to mount SMP and sensors instead. This battle lasted for 12 turns.
Average
speeds were rather low - the thrust 4 ships averaged speed 14, the
thrust 8
ones speed 16.5 - and ranges were accordingly low too. In spite of being
at short range in the rear arc of two of "my" ships for three full turns, the
PT cruiser managed to fire only twice inflicting 6 damage points in all. The
battle ended with both "Michael's" cruisers dead, one of "my" ships destroyed
and two others lightly damaged (2 and 3 damage points, respectively).

I think it was a mistake on my ("Michael's") part to fly so slowly - it
ensured that I stayed close to the enemy ("my") beam batteries to take serious
damage even through the screens. The SMPs didn't do very much,
either - 4 damage points in all.

For battle 3, we switched sides again; I kept the SMPs on "my" ships. I
screwed this one up royally while my opponent fought very well - I
deployed in two squadrons (to try to protect the blind spots of one another),
but they became far too separated to give any support to each other.
"Michael's" ships cruised around at speed 30-40 during the first half of
the game, flip-flopping from one of my squadrons to another and wreaking
havok... but it wasn't enough. "My" heavier beam batteries and greater arcs of
fire whittled the enemy fleet down, and after 12 turns both "Michael's" ships
were destroyed. I had lost one cruiser, another had taken 14 pts of
damage and lost all its weapons (but not the FCs, as usual :-/) and the
other two 5 pts of damage between them. The PTs hit this game, inflicting 21
DP (compared to the 16 from the beam cruiser); "my" SMPs only caused 3 pts.

I haven't fought this with "Michael's" squadron vs 3 of "my" cruisers. It
should prove pretty even, considering the outcomes above.

Later,