I need to design a fleet to take part in a campaign game with FB designs. I
want to make sure that it is balanced with the book designs and fun to play.
The capital ships I'm thinking about using have L2 screens, a medium sized
beam armament, and pulse torps. What do you folks think about using heavy
screens with the new rules? I just found the rule about any rerolls bypassing
screens, that makes them less attractive. Are they worth the weight?
The opponents for this campaign are NAC, Romanov (using SM heavy designs), and
the Kemet (using mostly beam armed ships).
Whenever fighters have been used in the few games I have seen, they have
always been slaughtered fairly early. Is this normal? Maybe they weren't used
correctly, as they don't seem to be worth their point value, let alone the
astronomical cost of the fighter bays.
Here's one of the designs that I've come up with for an SDN -
Points: 680 Mass: 200 Thrust: 4 Hull: Average FTL: Yes 4x 3 arc Class 3 2x 6
arc Class 2 2x 3 arc Pulse Torp 4x Fire Control
6x PD
1x ADFC
6x Armor
Level 2 Screens
No fighters. It will have an escort group of at least one escort cruiser and a
couple of destroyers.
I would love to hear any advice or critiques that you have.
Thanks, Joe
Looks like an upgunned Valley Forge or Victoria.
If your opponent is beam heavy, then screen-2 is worth the effort, but
from
the look of your opponent, you would be better with screen-1 & use the
mass for PDS & armour.
Fighters do often die fast, but this can be deceptive, as a well organised
fighter strike can be devastating. Effective combat requires about 1 squadron
for every 2 PDS you expect fired in defense. If your opponent uses a lot of
ADFC, fighters will die in droves. In this occurance, you keep the fighters
back until a ship drops out of formation (due to drive damage or can't follow
the fleet manoeuvers) and finish it off. This means your combat line keeps
after the undamaged ships which can still blunt a fighter strike.
The other use is as an anti-SML force; put squadrons among your groups &
use endurance to engage salvos which could overwelm your PDS net.
****
If you can get resupplied easily (depends on campaign rules), fielding 3 light
carriers (12 squadrons) is capable of disabling enemy capitals in one strike.
Neath Southern Skies -http://home.pacific.net.au/~southernskies/
[Pirates] Dame Captain Washalot
[DitD] Captain Puppilier
> -----Original Message-----
> I need to design a fleet to take part in a campaign game with FB
Good idea.
> The capital ships I'm thinking about using have L2 screens, a
Yes and no. Against anyone but the Kra'Vak, I 'd say that screens are still
worth their weight. There are enough Beam and/or Beam-like systems out
there that they prolong your survivability by a significant margin. However,
taking Level 2 screens, IMO, starts to unbalance your ship.
> Whenever fighters have been used in the few games I have seen,
Sounds like they're not being properly employed. Keep in mind that they can't
be attacked by anything other than fighters until they attack, excepting ADFC
equipped vessels.
Even then you want to time your fighter waves to arrive all together, or
better yet along with some other nasty surprise (like an SML) so the PDSs are
further divided.
> Here's one of the designs that I've come up with for an SDN -
If you're going to balance this design with existing FB designs, I'd change 2
PDS into Class 1 Batteries. The total lack of Class 1s is conspicuous.
> > The capital ships I'm thinking about using have L2 screens, a
> Yes and no. Against anyone but the Kra'Vak, I 'd say that screens are
If you're up against FB1 ships, they're worth it.
In most custom games, they're a mixed bag because a lot of people will
primarily use screen-piercing weapons in custom games.
> > Whenever fighters have been used in the few games I have seen,
> Sounds like they're not being properly employed. Keep in mind that
That's not true, with respect to ADFC. If you hunt through the FB1, you'll see
a very specific statement in there that ADFC no longer allows you to attack
non-hostile fighters, and that you may _only_ attack the fighters that
are either attacking you or attacking a ship within 6" of you.
> Joseph L. Poulin wrote:
> The capital ships I'm thinking about using have L2 screens, a medium
Screens are worthwhile against any weapon they can degrade (ie. human or SV
beams, most but not all fighters, Pulsers, and PBLs), but useless against
everything else. As a rule of thumb, if the enemy can inflict
more than 1/3 of the "raw" damage (ie., before the screens take effect)
with screen-skipping weapons, you're better off using the mass and
points for more hull/armour or weapons.
> The opponents for this campaign are NAC, Romanov (using SM
The screens are of no or little use against the Romanovs, break even (roughly)
against the NAC (at least if the NAC player rolls better
to-hit rolls with his P-torps than Indy does <g>) and are very
worthwhile against the Kemet (at least if it is the Kemet designs posted to
the Ship Registry, with few beams and fewer other weapons).
> Whenever fighters have been used in the few games I have seen, they
Massed fighters against an isolated target are lethal; few fighters
against well-defended targets die (or get too scared to dare attack
again). If you only have a few fighter squadrons it is usually better
to use them defensively - they won't hurt the enemy ships much, but
they can at least shoot some of his fighters and/or missiles and stop
*them* from hurting *your* ships :-/ If the enemy doesn't have
fighters/missiles of his own, use the fighters to finish off any
cripples.
> Here's one of the designs that I've come up with for an SDN -
Should do well against the Kemet, OK-ish against the NAC, but don't
expect too much against the Romanovs unless you're better at dodging missiles
than he is at aiming them. Given the enemies you're up
against, I'd replace one screen with more armour and PDS/class-1
batteries.
Regards,
> Sounds like they're not being properly employed. Keep in mind that
True, what I meant was that ADFC vessels were the only other ships allowed to
attack an attacking group if they weren't the ship attacked.