Genearal SFB Tournament Tactics

Game 3 David Cheng – Hydran 

First of all, I had a phone conversation with Dave along with several emails from him that helped me fill in some of the events of the game that I forgot, so this is really a collaboration between the two of us. Thanks to Dave for making a valiant effort during the game and for being a sport afterwards with assisting me in writing this. Even after the collaboration I’m sure I got a few details mixed up, but I think this is pretty close to what happened.

I had just finished an 8 turn slugfest against Ben Ossenfort’s WYN AUX, but it was Friday night and I had only played 2 games all day so I decided to give it a go against Dave. Dave and I had played each other before, and he’s been flying the Hydran at every convention I’ve seen him at, so I knew he was experienced with his ship. We started the game at about 9:15.

Turn 1

My plan was to slip out and set up an attack run early on turn 2. If he launched fighters on turn 1 and had them lead his ship, I was going to try to shoot them at range 8 and then come back later to engage the ship. So I did a 16/24 split, armed 1 SS, put 1 point on my #6 shield (leftover power, really) and overloaded the photons. I did speed 24 at the end of the turn because he was going to get preferential movement if he wanted it anyways, so I might as well keep the better turn mode of 5.

Dave announced speed 14 and came out slipping to his left at almost every other move. I slipped a couple of times to my right myself. It looked like we may engage at the end of turn 1 after all, but I would rather do that then put myself too far into the corner. As we got closer, I was mystified as to why Dave did not launch his fighters. Dave mystified me again by accelerating to 27 on impulse 21. I sped up to 24 on impulse 28. We eventually reached range 5 on the oblique on impulse 30. He called for fire but we both declined. On impulse 31 I turned into him and Dave was forced to turn into me or surrender an unreturned alpha. Dave launched both his fighters, but facing the opposite direction of his ship, mystifying me for a 3rd time. We where at range 3 centerlined. I liked this shot because I felt that his #1 would be more important to him later in the game than mine would be to me. I also felt that hitting with 3 or 4 photons would be practically game ending for him and I had a better than 50% chance at getting that, so I went for it. He fired 4 p1’s and an OL hellbore, leaving my #1 at 2 boxes. I fired 4 16 point OL photons and 6 p1’s (holding back the 360’s) and hit with only 1 photon! My phaser rolls where average so I got about 7 internals after seeing 5 reinforcement on Dave’s #1. I got a fusion beam, a warp engine and a p1, but I was still seriously considering throwing the game right there. I decided to play on and see what I could get. So on impulse 32 I HETed directly away from him to direction C and fired my 360’s on his down shield after he slipped right making it range 4. I rolled a 5 and a 6 netting 5 damage which he stopped 2 more of with general from his batts. I did get a another p1, though. He fired his other HB as an OL and hit with that downing my #1 and doing 9 internals to me netting him a p3, a photon and 2 warp. As it turned out, Dave had overloaded both his helbores in EA as well as allocating 5 reinforcement to his #1. If I had run for the corner, he would have been in a bit of a bind. Oh well.

Turn 2

So now I had to avoid a Hydran with his fighters out for an entire turn. I put 4 into my phaser caps, started 2 photons with 2 point of power each, refilled my batteries, held the SS, allocated 2 points to fix a box on my #1, and used my remaining 16 power to do a 24/1, 12/6, 17/25 speed plot. I also used 2 points of CDR to fix my p3 and 2 points to begin repairing a left warp box as an AWR. If he plotted a high speed, I would dump my batts into movement. If not, I would shovel them into starting another photon or two. Dave plotted a speed of 26 with a decal to 14 on imp 4 to make me initially believe he was going to chase me fast.
So I turned to direction B as soon as possible. He turned to peruse. My speed change to 12 kicked in and I turned again to direction C to do my best to shake him. He HETed his fighters early in the turn and they where trailing his ship by a couple of hexes. So I basically trundled into my SE corner while the Hydran slowly slipped after me and turned when it was safe for him to do so. I was able to centerline him at range 6-8 on his #3 and do about 10 damage from my side phasers out my back. I also got a shot on his down shield with my 360’s prior to that, but he had 5 points of general reinforcement. I got one of his hellbores here. The extra 2 phaser shots came from battery. His fighters fired their gats at me late in the turn for a couple of points on my #4. On impulse 32 I used 2 battery to start arming my 3rd photon. At the end of the turn Dave repaired a point on his #1 shield. He also repaired a p1 as a p2, clever little devil. He also landed both his fighters on impulse 32.

Turn 3

Now I was in trouble as his remaining HB was back online and I was in a corner
with his ship trailing me and his ship not too far away either. Luckily for me his #1 was at 1 box, so it would still be awkward for him to truly pursue me. I completed the 3 photons as standards, put 4 back into my phaser caps, refilled the batts, held my SS, and put 17 points into movement using a 12//17/ 22/12 split. I used 4 DCR to complete the repair on my left warp as an AWR. Dave did a 23/14 split for 17 power.

I turned around and Dave let loose with his OL hellbore on impulse 2 which hit, downing my #1 and killing a phaser 3 and 2 more warp. I was able to keep his fighters out of range 3 and managed to line up a range 4 shot on his hurt #3 shield on an impulse where he didn’t move next and I did. I used Batts to pump up all 3 photons to 10 points and let rip with them and 3 p1’s hoping to get mizia next impulse with my other phasers. Naturally, only 1 photon hit and that combined with my phasers (which did 7, yay) managed to drop his shield exactly after reinforcement. Dave then HETed towards me to turn his fresh #6 to me and prevent my mizia, so I had to turn off to avoid the fusion/gat death. I took a few pot shots at Dave’s ship on an off shield but did very little damage Impulse 32 Dave launched 2 shuttles. Throughout the turn I was circling clockwise in the SE corner of the map and close to my ship’s starting point. Dave was about 6-8 hexes away facing away from me, I think. 

Turn 4

I was frustrated with my photons, so I decided to not arm them at all and actually put the power into something useful. I put 6 into phaser caps, refilled my batts (I had used 2 to fire phasers and 2 for reinforcement last turn), held the stinkin SS, spent 2 to repair a box on my #1, and put 17 into movement starting off at 24 and decelerating to 16 on impulse 6. I used 2 CDR to repair another p3 and 2 points to fix a right warp as an AWR. Dave plotted a burst speed split of 22/28/14/7 for 14 power.
He HETed a 2nd time and came in at me during his period of speed 28. By the time he decelerated to 14 he tried to tractor me and I fought it for up 4 points. Fortunately, I kept my head here and did not burn batts to jump to a higher speed. He still would have been able to get range 3 to me and if I had been tractored, I would be fighter bait. He fired 1 standard fusion, the repaied Phaser2 and a gat. The following impulse (12), both fighters fired their alphas, downing my # 4 and hitting a phaser 3, A 360 p1, 2 AWR, and 3 warp leaving me with 31 total power. I was able to loop out and back towards the right hand wall. I used 4 p1’s to nuke one of his fighters. He (fired the other fighter’s gats and) landed the other fighter impulse 23. By turns end, I was heading direction D down the wall again in the SE region of the map. Dave was still having difficulty following me and was facing A or B, keeping his strong #2 up to me. He could not face his #1 or #3 to me as they where both either severely hurt or down.

Turn 5

I was going to have to make an attack run this turn with only my phasers, but he didn’t know that. I felt that I may need my surviving photons soon, though, so I started 2 of them. I put 4 into my phaser caps, 2 into batts (he had destroyed 3 last turn), 1 to the stinkin SS, and 17 to speed doing a 17/22/17/12 split. I used 4 CDR to complete the right warp as an AWR. Dave moved 14 throughout the turn.

Since Dave could not turn to face me directly, I was able to loop in behind his FA and get a range 4 shot on his down #3. Dave waited for me to give him the business, but was surprised when I announced that 4 p1’s where all I was going to fire. Decent phaser dice (finally!) netted me some quality internals and I was able to get his second Hellbore and his surviving p1’s. I then turned off hiding behind my #3, then looping back to D (heading towards map bottom) with him off of my barely holding #5. At some point Dave got to range 3 and tried to tractor me again for a few points, but I fought it. He also fired a fusion beam further hurting my already weak #5. I headed into the SE corner to avoid his toys. As it turned out, crafty Dave had moved the declk crew from his dead fighter’s bay to the other one, so they where able to load 2 fusion charges onto the surviving fighter in the 27 impulses it spent in the bay. That little turd was able to get on my down #4 and at range 3, fired 2 gat bursts and 1 fusion on consecutive impulses and did 13 total damage in 2 volleys!!! That took out my other 360 p1, the repaired p3, 3 warp, and 2 more AWR, leaving me at 25 total power. Near the middle of the turn he launched his other 2 shuttles. I myself launched a manned shuttle on 30, then my SS targeted on one of his admins because I felt I could not afford to hold it any longer. I also wanted his shuttles to use their phasers on something other than my ship. Dave repaired a fusion at turn’s end.

Dave wanted to concede after failing his 2nd tractor attempt, but I talked him into playing it out as I saw neither ship had the clear advantage. I still had a close to full strength 2,3, and 6 shields, but my 4 and 5 where down and my #1 was at 2 boxes. He had a 3 box #1 which he had been steadily repairing and a down #3, but the rest of his shields where at close to full. So we played on. Now by this point it was after 12 so we where beginning to get sloppy.

Turn 6

I had been able to avoid his 1st 2 shuttles so far and their range 4-8 sniping was inconsequential. But now I found myself on the map edge near my beloved SE corner facing B with a fighter and 4 shuttles bearing down on me. I was to dedicate this turn to cleaning up Dave’s mess. The good thing for me was that his ship was down to 4 fusions , a gat, and a p2 (I had destroyed another p2 that he had repaired from a previously destroyed p1). His ship still had a decent amount of power, but he was facing the wrong way and didn’t have much to throw at me that turn anyways. I’m not sure what he did with his power besides repairing a shield box on his #3 and loading his 3 remaining fusions. He went speed 12 all turn. So my EA went like this: Finish both photons as standards, start another one, 5 to phaser caps, 3 points on my 1 box #1 (to stop shuttle snipping), refill my 2 batts, 2 points to repair another box on my #1, 1 warp tac, 1 impulse tac, and 3 points of power to do a 0/4 split with my speed increase kicking in on impulse 16.

Impulse 1 I fire both my lf/l p1’s at his fighter at range 4, crippling it. Impulse 2 I Tac to A and torch the little sh*t with one of my FH p1’s. I launch another Admin. On impulse 4 I launch another admin. Now here is where Dave made a huge mistake. He chose to have his shuttles take range 4-8 pot shots on my 1 box #1 instead of at my shuttles. So, between a few p1 shots from my ship and the p3’s from my admins I was able to destroy all but one of his admins. The other I had crippled with a p1 from my ship. The cripple happened to be the target of my long time friend, the Suicide Shuttle. So the Sui roasted the last Hydran shuttle and I suddenly find myself, a FED for crying out loud, with attrition unit superiority. Now, while I was doing all this, Dave was flying around loading his fusions. By turns end, he had turned himself around to face me, but was demoralized by the fact that he’s have to deal with my shuttle flotilla (all 3 of em, baby!) and that if he did that, he’s have precious little left to hurt me. 

Turn 7

Now that I had achieved my goal of cleaning the board of ugly green counters, I was ready to build up some speed and prepare for an attack run. Dave still had more power than I did and more internals remaining on his ship, but his long range firepower was non existent. I finished 2 photons as standards, started a 3rd photon, put 5 into my phaser caps, refilled the batts with 2 points, put 2 points of reinforcement on my #1 shield, and moved speed 8 the entire turn. I was happy with this plot because I would be able to keep my shuttles close to my ship the entire turn and David would have to deal with them if he wanted to close with me. David held his 3 fusions and moved 9 the entire turn.

David closed for another attack run by looping around to the bottom of the map and I loope around (both of us moving clockwise to hide our #1 shields) but he balked because he realized that he could not get rid of my shuttles and have anything other than the fusions for my ship. And all of those fusions where not likely to survive the damage I could do to him on the way in with 3 phaser 1’s and 2 photons. So I was able to get a range 8 shot on Dave’s #5 shield, hitting with 1 photon and downing more than half the shield. I don’t think I got any weapons, just power. The rest of the internals where useless stuff like lab, shuttle bays, and control spaces. Maybe 1 or 2 power. I turned off towards the top of the map and Dave got behind me but had to watch our for my shuttles pinging him through a down shield. We finished the turn at range 2. Dave repaired a gat. I was out of repairs.

Turn 8

I felt that I was able to stay out of range 1 of him, I’d be able to tac around next turn and give him the business next turn. With his shields being what they where, he would be unable to come directly at me without me pinging him through his hurt #1. So I completed my photon that I started last turn and started the other 2 back up again. I only put 1 into phasers, bringing my caps up to 2.5 (I was not expecting to fully engage this turn and I still had my 2 points in my batteries from last turn). I put 3 points on my shredded #5 shield because that’s what would be facing him most of the turn. I put 11 into movement starting at 17 to escape and dropping to 8 on impulse 12. I had stopped tracking Dave’s power at this point (give me a break, it was after 1!) but you’ll see by the way this turn played out where most of his power was…

So here I was expecting a clean getaway with Dave maybe cleaning up my shuttles (which where right behind him now.) So what doe he do? He plots an initial high speed with a sharp decal that allowed him 3 straight movements. Impulse 2 we both move parallel to each other. Impulse 3 Dave HETs successfully for the 3d time in the game and centerlines me at range 1 on my badly hurt #5. he tractors me and I don’t bother to fight it. He tractored me at range 1 so he could get a centerline shot on me . At this point I’m thinking the game is over. Sure my shuttles may be able to get some range 2 potshots, but I was going to be in no shape to continue the fight. I had done everything I thought possible to stay in the game despite hitting with only 3 out of 9 photons all game and this guy pulls 3 HETs and does not break down. I felt I just wasn’t meant to win this game. So Dave calls for Fire. I can only offer 1 phaser 1 through his 3 box front shield. He gives me 4 standard fusions and both gats. And lo and behold, the Dice Gods who had been tormenting me all game suddenly found favor in me and Dave rolled 4 6’s for his fusion beams!!!!!!!! I was still hurt badly by this, sustaining though 30 internals. I was down to 2 photons, 4 phaser 1’s (both FH and the RfF/R phasers), 1 impulse and 8 warp. Dave maintained the tractor because he’d have a difficult time with his lower speed keeping me off his down shields. So he kept his strong #2 to me and I eventually turned my 18 box # 2 to him. He dragged us off as my shuttles followed about 2-3 hexes back, taking pot shots at his weak #5 and downing it. He had about 24 power left at this point. He maintained his tractor throughout the turn break.

Turn 9

My drastically reduced power situation simplified my EA. I was crippled, so I didn’t need life support. I didn’t power Fire Control either. I put 3 into phasers, finished 1 photon as a 10 point overload, held the 2nd one as a standard (I wanted it for next turn), and powered shields. He rotated me into his hex on impulse 1. He had 10 pints on his #6 and 1 point of general reinforcement.

We basically sat there all turn long while my shuttles crept up to him and took range 1-2 shots through his down #3 shield. After stopping 5 points the remaining 6-7 points of damage took out 4 more warp and a fusion beam (all his hull, lab, shuttles, etc… where gone and all he had left where a few weapons, some control boxes, the probe, and warp) If he taced, he would be exposing a down shield to my photon and phasers. 2 of the shuttles managed to orbit around him at divergent angles and wound up on his down #3 again, along with another one that had just been going straight. On impulse 25, I unloaded 3 p1’s and my 10 point photon downing his #6 shield exactly. He fired his lone p2 at me and did 5 which coupled with my 1 point of feedback reduced my #2 to 12 boxes. He then taced around to centerline me and we awaited the fireworks. Dave dropped the tractor on impulse 32.

Turn 10

Simple enough for me. No FC, no life support, 2 to shields, 4 to phasers, 2 to make the photon a 10 pointer (I could have made it 12 points, but would have taken 2 feedback. A 10 point overload does only 1) and used the extra point to reinforce my soon to be extinct #2 which was at a whopping 12 boxes. Dave had 20 power left and was also crippled, do he powered shields, OLed 3 fusions, I Tac and 2 points worth of general reinforcement)

Impulse 1, Dave lights me up with his 3 OL fusions and the gat. He does 29 internals to my ship rolling a mediocre 3,4,4 with his fusions. I take 2 excess damage hits and have 2 emergency bridge boxes left on my ship and nothing else. Between my 4 p1s, photon, and a simultaneous shot through his down #5 with my shuttles, I do 41 to him. He counted the systems on his ship and saw that he had only 36 boxes left on his ship. If my volley did not blow him up outright, He would have been a useless derelict and the shuttles would have finished the deal on impulse 1 of the next turn. Dave conceded. It was 2:15 am.

Looking back on the game, Dave and I both realized that he could have done a couple of things that would have allowed him to either win it or at least survive turn 10. he could have taced a 2nd time and put me off his full strength #2. He would not have gotten the centerline shot and that was the side he had only 2 fusions on so he would have barely gotten through the shield anyways. If he did maintain the tractor, I would have put the extra point into a warp tac instead of reinforcement so I could have gotten my shot on impulse 2, but it would only have downed a shield and he wold then tac to fire his other fusion. Then it would have been a matter of my shuttles being able to strip enough weapons before turn 12.

The one thing that really cost Dave the game, though, was his refusal to deal with my shuttles. he was intent on blowing my ship up because it was late and we both wanted to get it over with. His horrid fusion roll on turn 8 kept me in the game as well, but I figured I was owed that after going 2 for 7 with range 3-4 photons, not to mention him succeeding in 3 HETs. The game would certainly have been different if I had hit with 1 more photon on turn 1, and it would have been over if I had hit with 3. In the long run I’m glad I did hit with only 1 because this turned out to be the craziest game I had ever played in a tournament.

Game 1 - Peter Bakija, Kzinti
Game 2 - Ben Ossenfort, WYN AUX (Hellbore, Dis, Gat, Drone) 
Game 3 - David Cheng, Hydran
Game 4 - Aadil Sulamain - Tholian ATC
Game 5 - Wil Leiserson - Tholian ATC
Game 6 - Kevin Block-Shwenk, Rom TKE
Game 7 - John Malis, Klingon
Game 8 (Round 1 of single elimination) - Ameer Sulamain

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