WYN Shark Tournament Tactics

By John Kim

The WYN Great Black Shark has been dubbed the ``Cheese Shark'' by those who see it as a choice for captains wanting maximum firepower rather than style or tactics. In truth, while it is a solid contender, it takes just as much skill to fly effectively.

It is in many ways a slight variation from the Kzinti and the Klingon, but it has its own distinct advantages. Those ships have scatter-packs, which tends to make them depend on a single attack run. The Shark is better at a continuous game, steadily circling and tearing chunks off the enemy. It is damaged in return, of course, but it takes damage better than most others.

Options

In the WYN Shark, you have option mounts, but a very limited set of choices for them and you must use those options through the whole tournament. The anti-drone option is only really effective against other drone ships -- and thus unless the tournament is filled with such ships, then the ADD just isn't worth it and can be ignored. The choices remaining are:

The Pseudo-Cat (Drone/Drone): Taking drone racks in both option mounts results in a ship very similar to the Kzinti. At longer range, drones speed your ship up because they use no power, and slow your enemy down as she spends energy to deal with them. Close in, they can be deadly if your opponent isn't careful, and soak up firepower that would otherwise be going into you. However, you are limited by your control capability: if you launch a full spread of 4, then you can only fire 2 more until some hit.
The Gunboat (Phas-1/Phas-1): This option gives you great direct damage, surpassing most others in continuous damage potential. However, it leaves you low on power. If you load overloads and phasers, then you will be going very slow and your opponent may avoid range 8 or otherwise outmaneuver you. Your arcs are better than all others, but you still need to centerline your opponent to fire all your guns.
The Split (Phas-1/Drone): This is a good medium between the two, since the drone can fire when the opponent is on the phaser side. However, this limits your maneuvering if you keep your phaser side towards the enemy, and makes you predictable in your attack run.

Everyone develops their favorite, of course. I like two drone racks because it gives me speed and flexibility in my maneuvering. However, phasers are more dependable in causing damage.

Ships Features

The wonderful thing about the Shark is how well it takes damage. Their tops are made out of rubber, their bottoms are made out of springs. Looking at the types of damage that come in:

HULL hits have a better distribution (8+8) than the Klingon (4+7) or Kzinti (5+10). On the DAC, over twice as many hull hits are forward than aft -- and once forward hull is out the ship starts losing batteries and impulse power. The Shark can on average take 30 hits before it starts losing batteries (vs 18-20 for the others).
PHAS hits are mitigated by the 3 phaser-3-FX. These ``pad'' the phaser-1's so that after five PHAS hits, only 2 phaser-1's will be lost. Phaser-3's can also be repaired in a single turn, restoring this padding.
TORP hits are mitigated by fast disruptor repair. If you lose a disruptor on turn 2, it can be firing again on turn 4 with a 10 hex maximum range.

If you are expecting to take damage early, a possibility to consider is taking a drone rack or two out of service the first turn and unload some drones for use as reloads. Then if later on a drone rack is damaged, you can repair it and load it. After all, nearly always a rack will be destroyed before you run out of drones to fire. Often it is more useful to have a turn-1 launch, but this tactic can give you a bit of an edge late in the game.

General Disruptor Tactics

The big question with disruptors is always how to load them. Overloads are neccessary for maximum firepower at close range, but they slow you down so much that it can be difficult to get into position.

The first answer is the ``sabre-dance'' -- fire at range 15 with standards and then turn away to keep the range open... thus guaranteeing that he won't get an overloaded shot on you. This nets you 8 damage on average (2 per disruptor) -- plus 1 for every phaser-1 you fire. Most other tournament cruisers have less long-range firepower.

The best way to overload for an attack run is the famous ``hack-and-slash'' maneuver. Here you approach your enemy with your disruptors unloaded or at standard -- timing your approach so that at the end of the turn you are at optimal range (0-4 hexes depending on your opponent). On impulse #32 you fire your phasers from the capacitor, taking down his shield and doing a few internals. Then in Energy Allocation, overload your disruptors and fire on impulse #1. Your opponent cannot move or HET on impulse #1, which guarantees that you will be firing on the same down shield.

General Drone Tactics

The key to drones is timing and confusion. A calm and clever opponent will know what your launch output is and hold back enough firepower to wipe out your drones. This helps you by diverting firepower which would otherwise go into your ship. However, by tricking your opponent you can get a hit.

Flying Armor: In the straightforward approach, you want to stack your drones so that they reach your opponent about when you do -- forcing him to shoot or tractor them which uses up power and phasers that would otherwise have gone into you.
If you are launching at close range, check ahead on the impulse chart. Sometimes you can get drones (especially fast drones) to jump from range 2 to range 0 if he is trying to close -- forcing him to either spend more firepower or hold back from his approach.
Sneak Attack: If you really want to get a drone hit, then you need to lure the opponent into firing phasers or using power which he needs for drone defense. Often if you give him a tempting shot on your ship, he may use up phasers that he needs for drone defense. Bursts of speed and/or shuttle launches may catch him unprepared. Also, make him think you made a mistake which he can exploit.
In the first round of HR3, I turned away from a Lyran to take his weakened ESG on a fresh shield -- thus ``accidentally'' letting him get behind me. In reality, I carefully examined the hexes and impulse chart and realized that I could get two type-IV-F drones to jump from range 2 to range 0 if he tried to slip behind me. They both hit and I got two impulses of mizia phaser-fire on his downed shield.
Anchor: This is the traditional Kzinti move, and it is a good one. However, since your drone assault is more slow-and-steady than the Kzinti, opponents are less likely to resort to wild weasels in the first place. Obviously don't pass up a golden opportunity, but you can fight just fine without this too.

Opponents

Federation: Freddie depends on getting to range 4 with his overloaded photons. The more you can throw at him before he gets there, the better. Use standard disruptors to pound his forward shields (ideally his #1) early on. Also, at the last minute as he closes you can try weaseling to ruin his attack run -- it seriously weakens photon hit chances because of the +2 shift from ECM.
Klingon: Kolonel Klink's real advantages on you are greater power, his anti-drone, and his scatter-pack. Even without phaser options, your extra phasers balance out his UIM, but the extra phasers cost you power. The key here is (1) expect that he will control the range, and (2) disrupt his initial attack run as he approaches with SP drones. Don't try to out-speed him -- use the power to reinforce and load/use phasers.
Romulan TFH: Mr. Hawk is a solid Romulan. You need to keep up speed, and like Fred put as much damage into it at medium range as possible. Averaged over turns your firepower is superior, so keep up standard fire and run out the launched plasma as best you can. Be careful about getting in close... it's not a bad knife fighter and has a lot of tricks like cloak and pseudo-torps, plus it has a deadly anchor.
Weaknesses: only 2 labs and 4 control.
Romulan TKR: The Kestrel's faster and a little tougher, but with split arcs. Thus, it is in theory more limited in anchoring since it needs to fire through its #1 shield -- but again, be real careful about getting in close... It is tempting and can win you the game, but it can also get you roasted.
Romulan TKE: The Peasant Eagle (Pheasant?) is weak than the other Roms, but faster under cloak and has a T-bomb for drone defense. It sucks at knife-fighting, so if you have dealt with a torp or two you are safer in closing and just pounding it.
Kzinti: Meow-mix depends vitally on his scatter pack and double drone control... Without these you just plain outgun him. He wants to develop a big drone wave and charge with it -- thus you want a steady exchange of fire. Consider weaseling his scatter-pack drones.
Gorn: The Lizard is very similar to the TKR but slightly tougher -- he has a lot of phasers but lousy arcs. If you run out his plasmas, you will dish out more than you receive. Beware of the Gorn anchor -- but if you do enough damage before he closes, you will win.
Archeo-Tholian: Archie's got great firepower and the web, but he's small and his disruptor arcs are split. Early on he'll outspeed you, but if he has to overload he really slows down. Fire drones one at a time so he can't snare a bunch, and wear him down. Ideally take out his #1 shield -- he needs this to fire all his disruptors, plus from the front he has no padding for his phaser-1's.
Neo-Tholian: The navy rockhead is bigger but actually less well-armed than the civilian. This one can better afford to overload, so be prepared for a straight slugfest. Again spread out your drones so he can't catch a stack in web, and again go for his #1 where he has less phaser padding.
Orion: Fighting Jolly Roger really depends on what options he's got. Usually he's looking to charge up some heavy weapons, then come screaming in for a big charge. Again, here you prefer the steady exchange of fire -- close with him or keep away to keep up a constant disruptor and drone assault.
Hydran: Fighting the trash-can depends on how he uses his fighters. Keep up your speed to avoid close range, and try to damage either his #1 shield or his fighters with standards. Your drones won't really slow him down, so time them so that he has to deal with them just as he is making his attack. Don't let him overrun you without a good chase -- but don't expect to dodge him forever.
Andromedan: Andy is a tricky customer who can take a huge amount of damage. He plays the slow-and-steady game even better than you do. You need to go fast to keep up with him and punish him for panel dumps. Don't overload unless you are sure you can keep up.
Lyran: Tigger obviously wants to overrun you -- and with more power he will catch you eventually. Don't expect to dodge his ESG's unless they are radius-0. You want to exchange standards (possibly twice if he is slow in approaching) and build up a drone wave. Then when he comes at you hit the ESG's together with your drones. You can try to gamble by firing at range 4 and hoping to hit an ESG -- but it's a 50/50 shot. The important thing is to stay on him after that and pound him.
WYN Aux: Like Roger, fighting the Bathtub depends heavily on what he's got in his option mounts. He's fast and may want to anchor you. Again, keep up your speed and your fire -- if you can damage him enough before he gets in close you've got it.
ISC: The Peacemonger is a tricky diplomat. What he wants is for you to charge at him, eating a PPD and several torpedoes to get in close, where his phasers will open up your weak shields. On the other hand, if you let the battle drag on his PPD is devastating on weakened shields. Reinforce and close with him carefully, then stay on top of him. Use hack-and-slash.
LDR: The Commie is fast and deadly close in, but he just cannot take internals well at all -- no phaser padding and good chances of losing an ESG. Soften him up as much as possible before he overruns you -- aiming for his #1 shield.
Seltorian: The Bug is a tricky customer because he doesn't have to choose overloads until he fires -- that's his main strength. Thus, he likes dancing around just like you do -- but he may dive in unexpectedly and fire overloads, or stay out of overload range if you slow down. Avoid range-8. If you have standards try to stay at 12-15, and when you close make sure you are solidly in overload range. Make sure to keep turning new shields for his second PC shot.

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John H. Kim <jhkim@fnal.gov>

Last modified: Mon May 4 15:40:41 CDT 1998

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