Federation Tournament Tactics
By John KimThe Federation TCC is a gambler's ship.
More than any other tournament cruiser, it relies on a single system: the photon torpedo. If you get bad die rolls in hitting, or if your opponent gets lucky in internals, your hope of winning go spiraling away quickly.
The trick, then, is how to maximize your chances.
The Ship
Except for its photon torpedoes, the Federation TCC is not an exceptional ship. Its power of 38 is standard for a 1 Move Cost ship -- only the Romulan King Eagle has less, and many TC's have more or have cheaper weapons to load. Its turn mode of D is poor (the worst along with the 5 other D-modes in the tournament). It has 3 transporters and one shuttle bay, again standard.Its good features are:
- 12 Forward Hull + 4 Aft Hull
- Forward Hull is hit about twice as often, and protects the impulse engines and batteries. On average it will take about 40 internals for the Federation to start losing its batteries.
- 8 Phaser-1's
- The most phaser-1's in the game... a distinction shared with the Archeo-Tholian, Gorn, Lyran, and Seltorian. It's arcs are good: much better than the Gorn, somewhat superior to the Lyran and Seltorian, and somewhat inferior to the Archeo-Tholian.
- 2 Phaser-3-360's
- These fire in all directions, and hence protect from all directions. That is, no matter where the Fed TCC is hit from, it is guaranteed that the first two PHAS damage hits are the weaker ph-3's. On the down side, after this there is no more protection -- every phaser hit takes off a major portion of your firepower.
Also, remember that DRONE hits go directly to phasers -- this means that you will take 33% more phaser hits than many other tournament ships (but then, you don't have drones to lose).
The Options
The Federation TCC is not known for a huge variety of tactics. What it is best known for is charging down on the enemy to close range and firing four fully-overloaded photon torpedoes plus phasers. It takes damage on the way in, but if it hits well the opponent is devastated. Next turn, both ships stop and knife-fight as they are losing power. If the Federation survives this with some torpedoes intact, then impulse #1 of the next turn is the coup-de-grace.Frankly, this reputation is well-deserved -- because that is what the Fed TCC is best at. The trick is doing this well.
Some Federation captains are tempted to do the unexpected -- like cycle their photons, firing two per turn -- or firing standard proximity shots. Most often this is a grave mistake.
The Federation's advantage over other ships is a heavy one-time punch, allowing all of your firepower to be directed onto a single shield. If you cycle your photons and spread them out into different volleys, your average firepower is simply worse than most other ships in the tourney.
Proximity hits don't do much damage and leave you running to re-arm. Four proximity shots does an average 8 damage -- most of which will likely be absorbed by reinforcement. Meanwhile, your opponent will drive you to a corner and pound on you during re-arming -- and you will be cripplingly slow loading overloads.
The Odds
That said, what are the gambling chances here. The photon torpedo has an enormous punch, but its hit chances are not good compared to other weapons. A lot depends on those dice, and you should understand the chances carefully. Assuming that you fire all four of your photons in a single volley, here are the chances of each result:
Range Chance of N Photons Hitting 4 3 2 1 0 0-1 100% 0% 0% 0% 0% 2 48% 39% 12% 1% 0% 3-4 20% 39% 30% 10% 1% 5-8 6% 25% 37% 25% 6% Now, many captain's will hold fire until they reach range 2 or preferably 1. This helps with the photon lottery, but it introduces another gamble. You are practically guaranteed to start taking internals before you reach this range... Thus you play the DAC lottery of how many weapons you lose:
DAC Result Chance for single Volley of N 6 12 18 24 30 Torp 29% 50% 64% 75% 82% Phas 67% 89% 96% 99% 99% 2nd Phas 15% 41% 62% 76% 86%
DAC Result Chance for two Volleys of N 3+3 6+6 9+9 12+12 15+15 Torp 29% 50% 64% 75% 82% 2nd Torp 3% 9% 17% 24% 33% Phas 67% 89% 96% 99% 99% 2nd Ph 22% 55% 77% 88% 94% 3rd Ph 3% 18% 38% 57% 69%
The Approach
The trick, then, is getting to close-range to deliver your maximum alpha-strike. Your most important job is protecting your #1 shield from damage for as long as possible. You have several methods of doing this. First, at long range you can probably prevent most damage by reinforcement. As you get closer, you may want to approach him through your #2 and #6. Lastly, you want to close the gap from range 8 to range 2 as fast as possible -- don't get caught in here at the end of the turn, or he may get two overloaded shots on you.Here are some of your first turn options:
When you get to your final approach, remember some basics.
- Overload and advance!
- Here you move straight ahead (Speed 14-18) to take the `high ground' at the center of the map. Thus, no matter where your opponent goes on turn 2, you will be able to catch him for a point-blank shot. However, because you have to pay for overloads you will be moving slowly (18-20 hexes of movement maximum). You will be outmaneuvered by your opponent, allowing him a solid shot on your forward shields, and you don't have much energy to reinforce with.
- Run for your corner while completing your overloads
- While you can complete and fire overloads on the first turn, you will be moving slowly -- about 18-20 hexes of movement maximum. The advantage of this is that he only gets a medium-range shot on your rear shields, and next turn you can give chase at speed 26+. The disadvantage is the you are giving him a lot of room to run when you chase him during turn 2.
- Speed in with partials
- Another Turn 1 option is to hold two full overloads and two standards. This gives you more speed and/or reinforcement than your opponent may be expecting. If you can get to a good firing position, you can complete the overloads and fire at the start of next turn. Also, if you lose a torpedo to damage, then you can take it on a standard.
On the down side, it takes very skillful combination of maneuver and/or reinforcement to prevent him from seriously harming your all-important #1 shield.
- Circle warily
- Some opponents are simply more dangerous than you are close in: plasma ships, the Hydran, and the LDR. Here you want to keep your speed up, but you also don't want them to corner you. You might speed in with 2 standards, fire and run away to reload. However, plasma ships and Hydrans are full of mind games and choices -- don't rely on a fixed tactic.
The choice of when precisely to fire is a personal one. Ranges 5-8 is almost always bad -- most ships will not be that badly hurt, and they will pound you on the reload turn. Range 3-4 is good but risky -- you might gamble, or you might try it if faced with ESG's or other close range weapons that you could destroy before they deliver their damage.
- As you close from range 8, you should be going at speed 31 for that portion of the turn. Use mid-turn speed changes.
- As shown from the ``Odds'' section above, the mizia effect of multiple volleys can strip you of a second photon and more phasers. Try approaching under your #2 or #6 shield with your turn mode fulfilled, so you can turn your #1 to him.
- You may well expect to take 15+ internals at range 3-4. This will probably take out a photon. If you want to hold until you get to range 1, then consider firing a photon early. He may turn a new shield for your range-1 shot, but better some off-side shield damage than wasting it altogether.
Dealing with the Weasel
Wild weasels are usually thought of as seeking weapon defense, but they seriously degrade photon performance with the +2 shift. Firing an alpha strike with a +2 shift, you can expect to do at least 21 fewer internals. In short, DON'T DO IT! Never waste your photons this way.
ECM Shift Average Damage for (4PHOT+6PH-1) at Range: 0 1 2 3-4 5 6-8 0 103 96 82 67 53 45 +2 72 66 53 37 23 17 As you can see, regardless of the range, firing through the weasel saves him about 30 points of damage. In return, his fire has its range doubled (for passive fire control). At range 1 or 2, his average damage will typically go down by only 15 points or so by this range penalty (see my First Strikes table).
The solution is not to play his game. Do not go in and trade shots with him -- he can fire on passive, voiding his weasel, and then launch another weasel the next impulse. The key of how to beat it depends on how he gets his weasel out...
The basic logic here is the same -- his weakness upon launching a weasel is that his slow speed lets you get away and reload. If you try to close to get a range 0-2 shot, you still won't get satisfying damage, and you will be clobbered by his return fire.
- Emergency Deceleration
If an opponent announces emergency deceleration as you are closing with him, you have 2 impulses before he can launch a weasel. If you are within range 8, strongly consider firing everything at him before he can launch and running. While photon damage is a crap shoot at 5-8, you are guaranteed to be able to get away to reload without him pressing you.
- Initial Speed
Your opponent may simply plot a speed of 4 or less during Energy Allocation. This means he can launch a weasel on impulse #1 with no warning before you can fire. Essentially, this reinforces the wisdom of not ending a turn at range 5-8.If he launches the weasel before you reach range 8, kill it with phasers and circle (it should take 3 phaser-1 shots on average). As you get to range 8 again his explosion period is over... If he launches another weasel, repeat this. He will run out of weasels and you can quickly reload your phasers. If he doesn't launch, fire at range 8 and run to reload.
Conclusion
The problem with any tactics text is that your opponents may well read it -- and if you follow things to the letter you will be predictable and defeated. However, take to heart the basic principles and information shown here. Don't follow advice here just because it says so -- consider breaking this advice and what effect it will have.Of course, which of these you choose depends heavily on your opponent's ship and the player. Like most articles, this is the beginning of tactical analysis, not the end.
Good luck!!