Topic: Anyone care to talk tactics?

[Clark Kent]

I was just curious if anyone would like to share how they approach battle scenes, and how they deal with battles tey are in.  I'm also interested in how long a battle lasts for others.
I personally prefer feds (ok, so I'm not very original), flying a  CLC or one of the BC_ excelsiors.  Sometimes I will up it to a drednaught or a battleship, or maybe an experimental in OP.  Typically, if I'm approaching an opponent of equal or greater BPV, I will keep a low speed while I overload photons, arm a scatter pack, and if necessary a wild weasel, reinforce shields, and if I have a ship with enough power I will try to match my oponent's ECM with ECCM.  As I approach I will often keep a speed of as low as 4so I can load as much power into my shields as possible, I let him blast away, most often not able to get through my forward shields, then around distance 2-3 I will open up with an alpha strike, pass, set torpedoes to normal and increase to maximum speed my ship can go and charge all weapons at once (14 on a BCF). 
From there I generally keep the battle fairly close in range (less than 10, while I try to keep my strong shields to him, being fairly piucky about the shots I take, focusing on weaker shields or ones that I've already blasted through.
For maneuvering purposes I don't like to drop below 10 after my initial alpha strike, and usually if I use my scatterpack, I drop it after my initial pass once I'm out of range of an AMD.
Typically, i opt to keep my photons charging throughout the battle rather than take the extra power I could have if I were to disarm them.
Typically my battles last between 5-10 minutes.    Anyone else?

[Nemesis]

It varies a lot depending on what I'm flying and what I'm opposing as well as the mission objective.  My basic style though tends towards the sabre dance, which is why I'm so comfortable flying Klingon.  It also explains why mostly I am not comfortable in larger ships (with a few exceptions), my favourite Klingon hulls are the F5 and  D6/D7 mainline and Command variants.

A key thing though is that I watch power usage closely and will switch fairly frequently how  and if I'm arming my heavy weapons on a bank by bank basis and my ECM status.  I frequently will turn off some of the heavy weapons or if using plasmas will underload them.

One thing I do that many players don't is I switch my view around, I don't stay constantly on the "face towards enemy" viewpoint.  The top down view lets you "thread the needle" around blackholes, asteroids and mines quite easily.  It has saved me many times.

[Soreyes]

Ahh heck. I just Charge launching a lot of drones. And hope one or two hit

[Nemesis]

Thats why I like having terrain vs drone boats.  Asteroids, planets and blackholes are sooo useful for sweeping the drones out of space for me. 

[marstone]

 Well, against AI.  I fly drone boats.  Launch a wave, I then outrun them.  Tractor enemy, emergeny stop.  alpha strike just before the done wave hits, thus 12 drones, and all weapons hit one shield.

Average battle length has been under 2 min, best time 1min 20 sec.  (crossing the map takes the longest)

Multi-ship battles are similar.  Try and take the side ships first.  Might do the tractor, emergency stop, if the range to the other enemies is open.  Otherwise, look for a longer fight with weasels.  (that is mainly, fire a good drone wave to draw weasel.  before the weasel is over drop scatter pack timed so it will arrive after the weasel is voided.  fire more and watch the fireworks)

Non drone boats.  I like the saber dance style.  Range open, speed high, mid range fire to remove a shield

Against real players, (since I started to play again this year, haven't really played much since SFCIII came out and the group I was in switched to it, I didn't like it)  Real simple.  Fly in fight, blow up from to much damage (only pvp I have been involved in has been against ships two classes bigger then me, but I hate to retreat tho have done so once in a frigate against a dreadnaught fight)

Kurt
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[Nemesis]

My anti AI battles tend to be longer as I minimize the usage of consumables so I don't have to keep returning to base, taking no internal damage is part of the goal.  I also use only the default # of drones rather than buying extra reloads all the time.  When on the Dynaverse getting drafted while out of consumables is rough.  I try to reserve scatterpacks and other consumables for human opponents. 

Some tactics I avoid using except against the AI or against people who try to use them against me.  Tractoring someone into an asteroid, planet or blackhole for example.  Using the map edge to defend my damaged shields is another.

[Clark Kent]

Something I jsut thought of: when flying with a fleet, I like to take all my ships head on against the most powerful of another fleet, having them fire only when I command.  That way, I can pretty much knock the biggest duck out of the pond on first strike.  Seems to work well in minimizing damages to my fleet and putting the odds in my favor.

[Soreyes]

Thats why I like having terrain vs drone boats. Asteroids, planets and blackholes are sooo useful for sweeping the drones out of space for me.

 

I should point out that in PvP I pretty much suck  
There have been a few times I have surprised some people. Sometimes it does not come down to tactics. Sometimes guile and misdirection works.

[Roychipoqua_Mace]

I like long-range, cautious tactics. If I'm a Romulan, launch a plasma then turn away. If I'm a Lyran, saber-dance with the disruptors. It's slow, but it does bring down their shields. And then when they're not expecting it, do an anchor or ESG overrun.

[Panzergranate]

I tend to fly addition ships, not stock. If I'm Fed it is alway a Hunt Mk.II.

Shields are always al round boosted as I tend to maneuver a lot and can't be arsed to have the distraction of fiddling with the shiled settings.

All photons on standard yield.

Main tactic is to move away from the enemy formation to charge forward and aft photons and have a good scan of the enemy. I then target my other squadron ships onto the key target ships in the enemy fleet, not always the largest as sometimes it pays to destroy the most agile first.

I then also jump through the ships lauching shuttles and/or fighters to add to the friepower.

While the escorts are busy I then turn and attack the best tactical target in the scenario, usually the lead ship and perform a fly over shoot up at [oint blak range firing both forward and aft torpedoes and dropping a well timed mine into the path of the target. If i'm lucky I manage a hit and run on the enemy transporter system in th efirst run and prevent them hastling me with mines or boarders.

I then head away to make distance and recharge weapons. If the target pursues I bombard it with aft torpedoes and both aft and all side Phaser banks.

I reserve Scatter Packs for use on pursuing ships to take out forward shields and allow direct fire damage to be inflicted at range.

Once the target is suitably crippled and is unable defend itself adequately, I turn and finish it off with hit and runs combined with suicide shuttles and direct weapons fire.

Another tactic of mine is to lure a larger hostile ship into an asteroid field and use a bit of judgement ot tractor it slightly off course just enough to colide with an asteroid.

Skilled flying around asteroid dust clouds will damage pursuing enemy ships, drones and fighters.

I also like to lure a drone dependant pursuing enemy into a star's radiation field so as to render these weapons, shuttles and fighters useless. The latter die in seconds on entering the radiation.

The tactic here is to take out either the number 3 or number 5 shield and then make maneuvers so that the enemy spends the majority of the time with this shield gap facing the star. Works every time for me.

I prefer to fly the Klingon AD5 if playing that race. Frigate choice is the E4K or F6. Destroyer choice then it has to be the brilliant E5 and with the K refit if possible.

I don't play other races other than Fed or Klingon.

My son prefers the Hydrans and Gorns, especially now that the stock models have been replaced with the true and correct models.

[Don Karnage]

well for me i first set my torpedo to proximity (explode near the ship).

then i use a probe to see what's i face and plot some commando to destroyed the drones and add (if they have one) and the tractor beam.

then i already have a scatter pack ready and suicide shuttle  that i will lunch on them, i wait so i have destroyed the add for both shuttle.

also i will re enforce my shield and put the ecm eccm to 3 both and flight at speed of 20 max and fire all weapons when  i get close to 5 (to do the most damage to them).

i always play fed and only in single player since the com with the game is not connected to the net.

[Panzergranate]

I always set my ECCM to maximum as I like my weapons to have a good chance of a hit.

I deploy shuttles to attack as they tie up enemy weapons and what shooting a shuttle isn't shooting me!! Fighters make for a bigger nuisance obviously.

I'd still recommend targeting the enemy's transporter system for the first hit and run and usually do this when the enemy attempts a first mine against me. Stops both enemy mines and enemy hit and runs, leaving my ship safe to hit key systems with raiders everytime I fly past.

Another cunning tactic is to launch a shuttle towards an objective and tractor it, shut off all propulsion and it will tow you ship, with appropriate towing speed penalty behind it at speed 10 usually. Good for attacking static targets such as bases so that all power on your ship can be reserved for the attack.

Another is to tractor shuttles and fighters then ram them into asteroids or just take them on an unpleasant ride through a dust cloud. Works on PFs to some extent.

I won't mention dropping shuttles at the right moment to waste enemy fighter's missiles as some folks don't like folks using tactical initiative in games.

[Slider]

It's all about winning the first pass for me. 

Winning the first pass allows you to dictate the pass of the game.

I first see what the match up is; since I typically fly a Disrupter boat my approach centers around gauging my opponents attack strategy fast med slow approach and then forcing them to make a first shot that causes less damage than mine. 

I prefer they fire first but if thats not the case as with many smart foes I then look at how close I can get to hit them with an alpha at an optimal gun arc angle while sliding away from their optical angle. 

If they counter that then I look at his ECM/ECCM. If hes actively countering me then I take a shot at an angle that favors my ship. Then I try to angle 2 Shields at him for his shot. 

While power management controls are not everyones bag (I dont like messing with them) I think the really good pilots get into the habit of changing them but only against even or better opponents.

Taking the above approach and all things being equal what happens is you set things to 23541 as you load, then once your guns are ready you go to 23251. This means your committed to fire first then your going to at a decent range say 8-12 angle your shields so that your opponent feels he needs to fire before your out of optimal range. In the mean time you have a considerable amount of reinforcement defending two shields of if your really good start taking it on one then roll to the other just as he breaks through.

This works real well in 2 v 2 and 3 v 3 when the opponents don't sync their fire. If the first guy doesn't get in the energy pours right back into shields forcing the next guys phasers to have to soak through it all again to get internals.


After the shots are exchanged I look to see who won the pass and what their exit looks like. Some guys slow down some guys speed up and ECM ecm ECM. I constantly watch ecm on approach and as we pull away. ECM is a full time thing for me.  I prefer to slow down and recharge right away. Depending on my opponents ship and his recharge rate second pass is all about getting to another shield that will cause him grief, so if I knock down 3 I look to hit 5 or 4 if he'll give it to me. Once that occurs then its all about falling back to 12-18 and "bleeding him out" as a klink or finishing if I'm lyran.

Normally my battles vs evenly matched ships is 10-20 minutes vs most pilots but some guys have good defence and drag it out longer.

Be cool to see match up talks, though I think most of us at that stage of the game fly the same way.

[Tus-XC]

I'm a big rom pilot, and i tend to like mid era ship (KE, KVL).  My tatics are about waiting for the other guy to screw up really.  I have alot of patience so i'll gladly wait for you to do what i want you to do (and i'll nudge ya in right direction of choices for my end game ).  I tend to enjoy making a good mine field... smaller ships like the ones i fly don't have a problem getting through them, an equalizer for me (especially if they don't know where the nuke is... or if i've even deployed it).  O and i love cloaking, its fun.... and not many people are willing to take advantage of it due to the power constraints... but used right it'll throw off you oppoenent and give you an edge.  Longest fight (versus human) was a 2 hour 1v1... i forget what they had but it ended up being a draw (i tink it was a klinker). 

[Nemesis]

While power management controls are not everyones bag (I dont like messing with them) I think the really good pilots get into the habit of changing them but only against even or better opponents.

Using Shift+ScrollLock you can save those settings.  I do so for each ship as I use it so that I don't have to waste time at the beginning of a mission to get back to my default settings.  Proper power management has won me battles fairly often.

One battlefest long ago came down to me in my D7 (what model I don't recall but it wasn't one of the best or worst) against a Romulan ship that I didn't recognize.  The Romulan was very heavily armed and I was unsure if it was one of their top cruiser designs or a BCH as some of the Romulan cruisers are really well armed.  I asked the Romulan and he told me it was his CA.  That meant I was in trouble so I used a desperation ploy.  Frontal attack and Gorn anchor.  At the end of it I was running away at Green Alert doing speed 4 (my ship was gutted), my Romulan opponent was confused as he was chasing me at speed 18 and I was escaping.  He realized too late that the anchor was to push him too close to a black hole.  If his power management had been set correctly he could have accelerated to escape.  His settings however gave priority to weapons and I had made very sure that he was charging all of them, which rendered him unable to accelerate.

Then of course it turned out that he was wrong and was in fact in a BCH which meant that I had the advantage of being in my C7 when he was in his Dreadnought.  He then made one more mistake.  He knew me well enough to know that I don't handle large ships like BCHs and DNs as well as I do cruisers and smaller.  The C7 flies like a cruiser, not like a BCH, that underestimating cost him his DN. 

[Nemesis]

O and i love cloaking, its fun.... and not many people are willing to take advantage of it due to the power constraints... but used right it'll throw off you oppoenent and give you an edge.  Longest fight (versus human) was a 2 hour 1v1... i forget what they had but it ended up being a draw (i tink it was a klinker). 

I sometimes fly Romulan as they are one of my favourite races to fly.  I prefer (when allowed) squadrons of 3 Battlehawks and part of my strategy with them is to fly in line and cloak each ship as it fires and rearms.

I also will cloak when I think my opponent is about to fire, but uncloak before there is a visible effect.  The partial cloak reduces the effectiveness of many weapons especially photon torpedoes. 

Waaay back when Romulans were complaining that the most recent patch (to EAW) had crippled the plasma torpedo I took on a friend who was abandoning playing Romulan for Fed because of the patch.  In a Battlefest I started with a WB+ and he was cocky and lost his FF and DD then properly flew his NCL to wear me down from a distance.  Among the tactics I used to take down that F-NCL was partial cloak then uncloak to cause his photon torpedoes to miss, he never noticed.  When he finally thought he could hit me from behind that trick caused his full overload alpha strike to miss which when combined with my HET put him staring down the throat of a plasma R fully armed.   His crippled NCL was saved when his computer crashed.  The WB+ had very light shield damage. 

[Roychipoqua_Mace]

I don't know why a lot of the SFB veteran sites have maligned the cloak tactic so much. It seems like the best tactic for the Old Series ships. Heck on some ships it seems like the only tactic.

[Clark Kent]

I think it's because cloaking can be a very difficult thing to master, moreso than a lot of other tactics.  I know I use it sparingly.

[Nemesis]

Cloaking in SFB also had variant optional rules and required either absolute trust of the other player or a non player to audit his actions to make sure he wasn't changing things on the fly.  Who wanted to audit?  Everyone wanted to play.

Also if you use the cloak against non traditional enemies its effectiveness plummets. 

Cloaks are very poor vs short range disruptors and hellbores especially overloaded.   ESGs do damage AND void the cloak for phaser and disruptor fire.

Remember in SFB the disruptor could be fired a 2nd time after only 8 impulses (1/4) turn as long as the two firings were on different turns so a D7 for example could outrun your plasma, come in with overloads while your cloaked, fire at 0 range, move off, HET and hit again 8 impules later with overloads then run for distance having dropped 2 of your shields (likely 1 and 4) and done some internals all before you could rearm your plasmas. 

Hydran Hellbore armed ships and fighters can just rip apart a cloaked ship.

[Panzergranate]

My son's favourite tactic, if he's playing Hydrans, is the above overloaded Fusions at point blank range. Not so good on fighters as it destorys the weapon, but hey, fighters don't usually live long enough to firre again against a Klingon warship anyway!! I don't think that they're allowed to overload Fusions of fighters anyway??!!

The main thing with SFB was the out of game development of starships designs. There was always that theme of finding a use for redundant hulls or finding ways of adapting existing hulls to fill needed roles.

I believe that it is this feature of designing and developing ships, instalations and equipment, from SFB, that has carried so well over to SFC and Armada to ensure there success and following. As it is stated in the 1988 rulebook for SFB Volume III, "Star Fleet Battles is a game that has no visible ending!!" So here we are in 2007 discussing playing SFB on SFC games platforms, speculating ship designs, tactics and creating models posting on Battle Clinic.

Perhaps the failure of Legacy and some other Star Trek games was the fixed and limited in game ship choice and gameplay.

I'm still hoping that afuture incarnation of SFC will be in 3D coordinates so that starship firing arcs will finally make sense. Maybe one day.