My games at Total Con 04

     For as long as I have been playing SFB, it was always in the back of my head that I should enter a tournament in the Federation TCC at least once while I'm still playing.  I always tended towards the more opportunistic and maneuverable ships in the past and I was always terrified of doing my best and still having my weekend ruined by a couple of unlucky photon rolls.  But for this convention I decided to go ahead and give it a go.  One of the things that is really great about the Fed is that it is a headache free ship to fly.  You don't have to worry about timing your seeking weapon launchings, doubling engines, timing your ESG announcement, option mounts, web placement, launching and landing fighters, etc....   It's just you and your ship.  This really contributed to my enjoyment of the weekend.  At Total Con the previous year I took the Orion and played 8 games in 2 days.  After that stretch I had acquired quite a headache from dealing with all the decisions I had to make to fly that ship well, not to mention the fractional accounting.  Note that I'm a little shady on some of the smaller detail.  If you catch an inconsistency in any of the games, it's quite possible that my memory of that event has fizzled.

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

Basic Fed Ideas

Here are some of the things I try to achieve when flying a Fed.  I won't get into serious detail here.  Note that while I consider myself to be a decent Fed player, but I'm not an ace.  There are some Fed players out there that are better than I am.

It's All In The Plot - Since you don't need to worry about anything else besides loading your goodies, you should pay extra attention to your speed plots.  You will need to be clever with these because you're turn mode is awful and preserving your ability to turn is paramount to success.  The amount of energy spent on movement will depend on your opponents.  Generally, you'll need to move much more against plasma ships.  Against direct fire ships you can spend 16-19 points on movement the 1st turn and be OK.  Drone launching opponents will warrant high speeds if you feel you can maneuver around the drones.  Keep an eye out for opportunities to downshift to 16 or 17 to get a tight turn in and then bump your speed up once you've gotten turned around.  As long as your photons are loaded, you can use high speed to pressure your opponents to do wacky things in an effort to keep you away from them.  One thing I rarely do is corner dodge on the 1st turn.  I see little reason for it unless I'm facing an Orion who doubles both his engines.  Even then, I may decide against it.

Expected Damage/Reasonable Goals - If you have the T2000 module, you will be familiar with the chart that lists the percentages of hitting with x amount of photons at various ranges.  Memorize that chart.  One thing that gets many beginning Fed Captains killed is that they expect too much out of their photons.  They feel that once they reach range 4 or even 8 they are going to blast the crap out of the other guy.  Unless you get lucky, it just doesn't work that way.  An average range 8 Fed alpha off centerline will yield 44 or 45 points of damage.  That means little or mo internals against somebody who has allocated reinforcement if it's a front shield.  If you're taking a range 8 shot on somebody, there should be a good reason why you're shooting from there and not from somewhere closer.  Good reasons would be 50+ points of plasma in your face, a ton of drones heading your way and you've got the ability to run away, you have a shot on a weak/down shield, It's the best shot you're going to get against that shifty Tholian who's hiding behind web, etc...  When I take range 8 shots on a forward shield, my goal is just to drop that shield to exploit later in the game.  I may get a handful of internals in the deal, but I consider that a bonus.  Let's say that I'm facing a plasma ship and I've been dealing with a EPT ballet for 3 turns and I finally get a range 8 shot lined up on a rear shield (and I have space to run for the next turn).  If all 4 of my photons are fully overloaded, I expect to do about 15 internals to him (44 -24 for the shield and 5 for reinfocement = 15).  now 15 internals is not going to kill anybody.  What it will do is give you a solid chance at taking out a torp and most importantly, giving you a couple of power hits to slow him down in the future.  This is a reasonable goal.  If you whiff with 3 or 4 of your photons, at least you won't be quite so heart broken since your goal was not to blow him up in the 1st place.

As the ranges get closer, you'll expect more damage, but don't get all ticked off if you only hit with 2 photons at range 4 because that happens more often than hitting with 4.  I expect to hit with 2-3 from range 4.  Range 2 is really good because I expect to hit with at least 3 and I don't have to worry about feedback damage.  Not to mention the fact that it's more difficult for your opponent to tractor you.  The key thing to remember is that you will rarely end the game on your opening shot unless you are at ranges 2-0.  It's the 2nd shot that hurts more.

Speaking of Odds - I usually have 3 outcomes set in my mind when firing my opening alpha strike.

1. Hit with more photons than expected - I most likely will win
2. Hit with expected photons - Things are going according to plan
3. Hit with less photons than expected - It may be tough for me to win it, but I won't quit unless it's absolutely hopeless.

So as you see, 2 of the 3 possibilities are in my favor.  And even if I do roll poorly (and you will see quite a few examples of that in my games) you may still be able to win if you hang in there.  I find that many opponents expect you to throw in the towel if you miss your 1st big shot.  Keep your head and look for opportunities to get back into the game.

The Front - I to maintain my front shields as long as possible.  The Fed is very much like the Lyran in this aspect.  Once you lose all your forward shielding, you are most likely going to lose the game unless your opponent is hurt badly.  Try to take plasma F torps and such on rear shields.  It may even be worth taking a handful of internals to keep a forward shield strong.

Maximize the Shot - Once I fire that 1st alpha strike, I know that it is unlikely that I'll be able to have 4 full overloads again in the game.  So I try to have as much power in my photons as possible.  Unless I'm facing a plasma opponent, I will fully overload all 4 photons on turn 1.  If I'm facing a plasma opponent, I'll overload 3 of them and hold the 4th as a standard.  If all goes well, I'll be able to overload it later with battery (or in EA of a later turn).  I feel it's important to get the most out of your photons in the beginning of the game because It's so hard to get them all up to that level again.

Fun on The Reload Turns - Most Fed captains hate the reload turns.  I try to have fun with them.  What I do depends on the situation.  In most cases I try to maintain my speed and run.  It's what I do with any leftover power that counts.  If I feel that I need a photon strike soon, I'll start 3 photons and put as much back into battery/phaser capacitors as possible while maintaining about 24 hexes of movement.  If I am desperate to get away, I won't even bother with the photons.  I'll just make sure the batteries are full and put as much as I can get away with into the phaser.  Many opponents are surprised when a "reloading" Fed miantains enough speed to maneuver onto a down or weak shield for a phaser strike.  And remember that if both ships are facing opposite directions directly off the spine of shields 2/3 or 5/6, the Fed can fire 6 p1's onto the rear shield.  That can be devastating if that shield is already hurt.  Finally, there is the sit and weasel reload, where I sit there and Tac while radiating negative tractor like the Sun radiates heat. I feel I need at least 3 weasels to pull it off well and I rarely do this.

The Weasel  - As much as I hate to use them, Wild Weasels are something I must be able to use very well to be effective.  Knowing how to perform a timely emergency deceleration benefits the Fed more than any other ship.  The 4/14 (and similar weaseling plots) are another thing I concentrated on excelling at.      

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Contact me at marcusg@celeritycomm.com