Topic: Things to remember about Squadron Commander 2

[Herr Burt]

Pardon my SC spamming.  This will be my last new post on the topic for a while.

Things to remember:

1)  DV's ARE LOW!  Most open space hexs are at DV 5.

2) DV's CAN BE RAISED above their starting value!  Yes, you can fortify your space.  It has been many campaigns since we have been able to do this.  Something to remember when you are needing to learn the ropes.

3) Yes, you can buy MORE THAN ONE SHIP!   It has been a while since you could do this.   Don't buy one ship and think you are done.

4)  You may NOT WANT TO buy more than one.  Six starships on the screen at once can be a handful.  You might want to start with one purchase (which is two PF's) and practice a bit with the fleet screen before diving all the way in.  You'll draw less AI opposition this way while you practice.

5) There are A LOT OF MISSIONS!  You won't get all patrols.  Make sure you remember which mission you have.  If you are supposed to scan the enemy before killing him and you just blow him up, you'll lose.

6)  There are NO PLANETS.  The important hexs are the ones with the high Econ value.  Most are marked with an asteroid field.  (To show the mining operations.)

7) YOU CAN'T DISENGAGE FROM A HUMAN!   We've never had this rule before.   With cheap attrition units (and I just made them even cheaper) this should be fun.

EVERY KILL COUNTS!  EVEN IF YOU LOSE!  Even if you lose against a human, keep up with how many of his boats you killed.  They add to your side's tally.



-Herr Burt

[Dizzy]

This may help, a description of all PF's: PF Chart

[Herr Burt]

This may help, a description of all PF's: PF Chart

Oooh!  Very spiffy.

Thanks, Dizzy!

-Herr Burt

[Herr Burt]

Another thing to remember, that I meant to bring up before.

To get all six of your PF's to show up in the fleet control screen, I've cast them as starships.   (Even the ones you launch out of your virtual bays.)

What does this mean?  It means that plasma D will not fire on your PF's.   I didn't really like the way plas-D would fire on half of your flotilla but not the other half in Squadron Commander 1, anyway.   And besides, plas-PF's already have more than enough crunch power in this server.  Plas-D will still be *very* handy, however, when you fly into a squadron of plasma-armed fighters from the other guys Fi-Con PFs.  (Or a few hundred drones if Some Lyran decides to go for broke with three Fi-Cons in a flotilla.)

Just something to keep in mind when you look at buying one of those PFe's or PFd's.

On another note, the fact that I can do this means I can finally put the F5Q into my next full-up war server.  We'll teach the galaxy why the Klinks made their frigate squads a feared force.   ;>  I could'nt do it before because it was dumb having plas-D fire at an F5 or an F5S.

-Herr Burt

[Hexx]

I'll bite
What's a F5Q?

[Herr Burt]

I'll bite
What's a F5Q?

Welcome to new levels of geekdom.  The F5Q is a Federation and Empire term.  It is a three-ship unit the includes an F5C, an F5, and an F5S.

What is the F5?  Why is not not really a frigate, and not really a destroyer?  How did it manage to both suck and be the most successful design in the entire SFB galaxy at the same time?  The answer lies in the way that the Klingons deployed their ships.

The Klinks use a quantity over quality philosophy, and they rarely deployed their F5's individually.  Instead they formed them into FF squadrons of one leader, one standard, and one scout, and treated this group as a single entity.  When F&E gives the historical OOB for various fronts, it doesn't even mention how many F5s are in the theater; just how many F5Q's.  They even provide F5Q counters to move around on the map.

One thing the Klinks suffered from in my Four Powers War campaign years ago (aside from the broken Hydran AI matching.....)  was that you couldn't model the fact that they had more expendable ships than either of their enemies.  The Klinks had only the pilots that logged onto the server and each pilot could only take up to three ships; just like every other race.  Even numbers of pilots was actually a disadvantage for the Klinks.

When that campaign ended, I thought for a while and wondered if the F5Q might help the Klinks feel more klink-like.  It would be three ships that only took one slot.  However, two starships that acted, commanded, and took plas-D like a fighter left me a little unsatisfied.

Now two-thirds of that problem are solved.  The F5 and the F5S would accept commands like a starship, and they would be immune to plas-d like a starship.  The only remaining glitch is that when you lose the F5C, the F5 and the scout go with it.   At this point I think I can live with that.

-Herr Burt

[Bonk]

2) DV's CAN BE RAISED above their starting value!  Yes, you can fortify your space.  It has been many campaigns since we have been able to do this.  Something to remember when you are needing to learn the ropes.

You use EDDBEDIT (or DarkElfs?) or are we running on SQL?

[Herr Burt]

2) DV's CAN BE RAISED above their starting value!  Yes, you can fortify your space.  It has been many campaigns since we have been able to do this.  Something to remember when you are needing to learn the ropes.

You use EDDBEDIT (or DarkElfs?) or are we running on SQL?

I used EDDBEDIT.  It's really easy.  One command, and all your DV's are halved!     Worlds better than when I used to try to do that by hand.   

There is a lot of good stuff in ED's editor.  It would make a wonderful tool....... if only it worked past a few days into the server.    A lot of the tricks I wanted to do for Eco War won't happen because EDDBEDIT mysteriously stops working eventually, on any server.  But initial DV's are a great use for it since the DB is still perfectly clean.

-Herr Burt