I thought I'd throw in my tactics vs. AI ships into this discussion.
In games vs. the AI, I usually keep my speeds waaay up (as close to max as I can manage), drop the phaser capacitor recharge rates to about half or a little less, and keep the range open. Plus I max out the ECM shift if possible to help throw off enemy fire.
Then I do a lot of left then right side oblique passes to spread out the counterstrikes over multiple side shields. This is where those 'spread out' firing arcs become an advantage. While your opponent is gnawing on 4-5 shields, you are beating up his three front shields. It's hard to protect your ship when all your weapons face forward and your forward shields are toast...
Energy priorities: 1 Speed 2 Weapons 3 Tractors (generally unpowered) 4 ECM 5 Reinforcement.
Adjust phaser capacitor accordingly to make sure your torps are indeed charging/remaining charged.
I-Torps are for whittling. One I-Torp at range isn't much to worry about. But an additional 5-10 damage plus phasers every 2-3 turns adds up! Also, envelopers are nice when making multiple passes. 2 S Envelopers landing at around range 6-10 do 20 damage to every shield. The shields stay up, but your opponent has glass shields the next time you swing by with envelopers... Plus your Phaser/I Torp volley will probably breach the facing shield after these hit. And if your opponent feels like chasing you, lob the opposite I torp at him as you turn away from him. And maybe kick a T bomb or two out of the hatch to distract the AI ship.
Remember if envelopers prove to be too power hungry you can always switch to F torps (and 2 turn arming cycles!). Most AI ships are stupid enough (they don't take F torps seriously) that you can land these at range.
Enemy Weasels are your friend. These give you the time to open the range a LOT while your opponent comes to a stop. Plus, they run out eventually.
Keep range open at all costs! Try to avoid range 8, perhaps only briefly to increase phaser effectiveness if you think you can get away with it - range 5 or closer is usually an absolute no no until he has suffered extensive damage - and arrange for him to meet your torps on his corresponding attack pass.
Think of the non bearing & smaller phasers as 'extra' phaser capacitors and pursuit deterrents.
Protect your #4 Shield, as it tends to get picked on as you switch between starboard and port battle passes. Remember to activate your general shield reinforcement, so that stray points of power have the opportunity to stop damage. (Note that shields are at the bottom of the feeding trough).
Don't be afraid to fade away for a few extra turns if your shields are a little too pink. Erratic Maneuvering may be helpful if the opponent has sufficient long range firepower (such as a Starbase or BB).
Even with the lowly ISC FF, I've been able to take out much larger AI opponents (DNs) doing the plasma ballet at range. It takes time, but as long as speed and keeping the range open are your #1 priorities, you can make it work. Even if it means taking an extra turn or two to arm those torps! Thank goodness the AI doesn't concentrate fire well!
Once the enemy formation is suitably off balance (and damaged), you can quickly do a point blank battle/boarding pass against the slowest/most damaged enemy ship hiding behind that 'immaculate' front shield you haven't been using! That's where the Phaser Alpha strike comes into play. Then run away again, quickly, and spend some time rejuvenating shields and recharging weapons.
Capture what you can. Use Non Violent combat & phasers once you've damaged your opponent's hull about halfway (and eliminated most of his weapons). This kills enemy boarding parties while lessening the chance of making his ship go boom. The extra VP's come in handy when looking for ship upgrades. Phaser your opponent until he's down to 2-4 boarding parties (may take a couple of passes), then send the marines!
Just kill the Orion ships. Boarding them often results in self destruction, so no sense wasting perfectly good marines...
ISC ships generally have spare warp power (i.e. the 'war cruiser' power curve), so keeping speed up is a little easier. Now if the ISC CL had only 20 warp, this would NEVER work.
PPDs are nice, but I like S Torps better! They usually have friendlier arcs. Plus they envelope/shotgun!
Kill fighters and P/F's as soon as the opportunity presents itself. Make sure that whatever you fire at them is sufficient to kill them, otherwise they will just regenerate on the carrier. Switching those envelopers to shotgun sometimes helps...
ISC X ships with full plasma complements (the ones with all the extra torps) are just downright scary at the plasma ballet. Plus they usually have little problem keeping their speed up.
Tractors should only be used when absolutely necessary in missile defense. Just let the weapons chase you and let the point defense phasers do their work, and drop a T bomb or two if necessary. Watch for stray asteroids, they make great missile killers!
Against starbases, turtle. Max shield reinforcement and take advantage of your longer heavy weapon ranges (15, 10, etc). Fire phasers just for fun, they might catch an unwary phaser mount once you breach the shields. Sometimes the starbase is just too tough for your little ship though, so know when to give up. Capturing enemy vessels on the way to the starbase is a nice way to distract those phaser 4's! Don't feel bad about sacrificing your AI 'allies' to the starbase by letting them get closer than you are.
Note these tactics are vs. AI. Other players should be wary of this and minimize this tactic as much as possible (keeping the range in check, 'waiting' for the weak shield to swing by, etc.).
p.s. Gorns and Romulans can often use these same tactics to good effect as well.
Topic: ISC Strategies needed (Read 13256 times)