Post by RiflemanIII on Jun 3, 2010 20:43:18 GMT -5
Unprepared defenders, 2200 Pt. Attacker vs. 1800 pt. Defender.
Priority 1 information CLASSIFIED
Debriefing of Lt. Arnold Sanders, 3rd Perseus Trading Co. Enforcement Detachment, formerly of PTS Violence of Payments by Perseus Internal Affairs
Ex: Can you describe to us the precise nature of the mission in question?
AS: Well, we were originally being sent in for a strike against the Acheron Authority, a single-system government that had refused to accept our trading terms. In a display of strength, we were going to warp in, destroy all Planetary defense ships in the vicinity, and warp out, in the hope that such an attack would force their government to capitulate and join our trading sphere of influence.
Ex: Could you describe the initial disposition of forces?
AS: Intel had assured us that there were no more than a half-dozen sub-capital ships outside of the Warp point at any moment, so we calculated their mass based on a best guess, and put together a force that would have normally out-massed them by about 2-1. However, once we translated through, we found out that in between the time we received that intel and the time we had finished gathering, staffing, and supplying our force, the Acheron PDF had commissioned or acquired at least two small Battlecruisers, though only two were in the engagement.
Perseus Trading Co. 2200
BCF 1x Executive Officer-Class Competitive Advantage
CAC 1x Venice-CV class Short Sell
CAB 2x Venice-class Visible Hand, Inside Raiding
CLS 4x Hansa-class Merchant of Menace, Munitions Exchange, Micro-political Incinerations, Violence of payments.
Acheron PDF 1800
BCR 2x Erebus-class Persephone, Tartarus
CAD 3x Charon-class Charon, Hades, Tantalus
CLR 3x Styx-class Orpheus, Sisyphus, Styx
Ex: Describe the progress of the mission.
AS: Well, though we did translate through together, our ships were too clumsy to immediately regroup. While the Advantage linked up with the Inside Raiding and the Visible Hand, the PDF had apparently been prepared for us. The Inside Raiding struck mines as soon as it started making a burn towards one of the two groups of enemy ships- While its critical systems were repaired, the ship must've plowed through every last mine in that field, because it took severe damage from the mines. This was the reason that the carrier and one of the screening cruisers came in behind, but it was a hard thing to watch.
Ex: Describe the first engagement with the enemy.
AS: Well, our screening cruisers moved to try to engage their three heavy cruisers, and the plan was to support the light cruisers by using the carrier's fighter wings. The first exchange of fire went fairly well- a long range salvo from the Competitive Advantage obliterated one of their light cruisers, and caused critical damage to the FireCon of one of their BC's The problem was, though, was that the enemy Battlecruisers and light cruisers were Rrapid response vessels- our flanking advantage was whittled away to nothing within minutes as they came to bear.
Ex: Then what happened?
AS: Well, the Inside Raiding and Competitive Advantage had hit mines again- no hull damage, but the shields were weakened enough for the Tartarus to destroy the Inside Raiding. Not wanting to risk any more ships to mines, the commander ordered us to temporarily stand by while our carrier launched fighters. He didn't want to go any further without support, but at at that point, both of their capital ships opened fire into the front of the Competitive Advantage. While the first merely broke down the shields, the salvo from the second battlecruiser tore through the Competitive Advantage's hull and systems- It blew through the ship's PDS controls, Firecon, ruined one of the gatling laser mounts, and took out the bridge as well, killing our force leader as well as the regional VP of Contract Enforcement. A torpedo from one of the light cruisers destroyed the forward shield generator, too. The way that thing just drifted, it was almost as though the techs had given up.
Ex: What about the other cruisers?
AS: The fighters had only just launched, so they couldn't make it in time to support our light vessels- we should've brought the carrier in with the first wave, really. it meant that the Merchant of Menace was destroyed by combined fire from the Charon and Hades, and Multi-vector fire from the other ships weren't able to defeat the Hades's shields- They had double-strength chargers, I know it, and our ship's fire control just wasn't up to going toe-to-toe with their heavy cruisers. We had though that splitting the fleet would keep our heavy hitters from being flanked, but it was just a disaster all around. By the time the fighters had started attacking, the Munitions Exchange had been destroyed too.
Ex: Describe the rest of the battle, as to the best of your knowledge.
AS: Well, considering the state that the Competitive Advantage was in, the fact that they turned their guns on the Visible Hand was hardly surprising. Seeing as our situation was hopeless, the captain ordered our ship back through the warp point, and he pushed the ship's maneuvering to its limit to spare the company further loss of assets. Their light cruisers managed to finish off the Competitive Advantage by attacking its unshielded side. The Visible hand managed to get some surprisingly telling shots in- those Battlecruisers were not well-armored, that's for sure. However, t was only a matter of time before it was outmaneuvered and destroyed. I don't know what happened to the Short Sell, we left the system before it could be determined.
Ex: Thank you very much for your information.
-------------------
Well! Played this out on my lonesome, and discovered some things.
-I like the fact that there are no range bands. It really speeds up fire resolution since you can throw so many dice at once.
-RDF Capital Ships are vicious bastards. They were able to turn and engage more or less right from go- they make the element of surprise far less of and advantage in scenarios ljke this one.
-You really do need maneuverable ships in Warp point battles, if just to get all of your ships together in a timely fashion. I gave the Perseus Co. ships all Delta 1 since they were basically converted and up-gunned freighters, and it really bit me how much a difference that maneuver/accel profile makes.
-I never really found a good opportunity to used the missiles on the PDF's Battlecruisers. Ah, well.
-I was really lucky with the mines. Not a single mine placement scattered at all.
-I do like the fact that fighters are a supporting arm of the ships, rather than the other way 'round, like in some other games.
-Also the fact that it's difficult to build swarm fleets, in any case. This is a big one, really.
-I played this yesterday, but only got the chance to write it all today, so my recollection about what exactly happened in each turn was a bit fuzzy, but I got the flow and order of events down just fine.
-I used the backs of my old Battletech mapsheets combined with the counters that came in the Aerotech 2 book for play purposes- They worked just fine.
Priority 1 information CLASSIFIED
Debriefing of Lt. Arnold Sanders, 3rd Perseus Trading Co. Enforcement Detachment, formerly of PTS Violence of Payments by Perseus Internal Affairs
Ex: Can you describe to us the precise nature of the mission in question?
AS: Well, we were originally being sent in for a strike against the Acheron Authority, a single-system government that had refused to accept our trading terms. In a display of strength, we were going to warp in, destroy all Planetary defense ships in the vicinity, and warp out, in the hope that such an attack would force their government to capitulate and join our trading sphere of influence.
Ex: Could you describe the initial disposition of forces?
AS: Intel had assured us that there were no more than a half-dozen sub-capital ships outside of the Warp point at any moment, so we calculated their mass based on a best guess, and put together a force that would have normally out-massed them by about 2-1. However, once we translated through, we found out that in between the time we received that intel and the time we had finished gathering, staffing, and supplying our force, the Acheron PDF had commissioned or acquired at least two small Battlecruisers, though only two were in the engagement.
Perseus Trading Co. 2200
BCF 1x Executive Officer-Class Competitive Advantage
CAC 1x Venice-CV class Short Sell
CAB 2x Venice-class Visible Hand, Inside Raiding
CLS 4x Hansa-class Merchant of Menace, Munitions Exchange, Micro-political Incinerations, Violence of payments.
Acheron PDF 1800
BCR 2x Erebus-class Persephone, Tartarus
CAD 3x Charon-class Charon, Hades, Tantalus
CLR 3x Styx-class Orpheus, Sisyphus, Styx
Ex: Describe the progress of the mission.
AS: Well, though we did translate through together, our ships were too clumsy to immediately regroup. While the Advantage linked up with the Inside Raiding and the Visible Hand, the PDF had apparently been prepared for us. The Inside Raiding struck mines as soon as it started making a burn towards one of the two groups of enemy ships- While its critical systems were repaired, the ship must've plowed through every last mine in that field, because it took severe damage from the mines. This was the reason that the carrier and one of the screening cruisers came in behind, but it was a hard thing to watch.
Ex: Describe the first engagement with the enemy.
AS: Well, our screening cruisers moved to try to engage their three heavy cruisers, and the plan was to support the light cruisers by using the carrier's fighter wings. The first exchange of fire went fairly well- a long range salvo from the Competitive Advantage obliterated one of their light cruisers, and caused critical damage to the FireCon of one of their BC's The problem was, though, was that the enemy Battlecruisers and light cruisers were Rrapid response vessels- our flanking advantage was whittled away to nothing within minutes as they came to bear.
Ex: Then what happened?
AS: Well, the Inside Raiding and Competitive Advantage had hit mines again- no hull damage, but the shields were weakened enough for the Tartarus to destroy the Inside Raiding. Not wanting to risk any more ships to mines, the commander ordered us to temporarily stand by while our carrier launched fighters. He didn't want to go any further without support, but at at that point, both of their capital ships opened fire into the front of the Competitive Advantage. While the first merely broke down the shields, the salvo from the second battlecruiser tore through the Competitive Advantage's hull and systems- It blew through the ship's PDS controls, Firecon, ruined one of the gatling laser mounts, and took out the bridge as well, killing our force leader as well as the regional VP of Contract Enforcement. A torpedo from one of the light cruisers destroyed the forward shield generator, too. The way that thing just drifted, it was almost as though the techs had given up.
Ex: What about the other cruisers?
AS: The fighters had only just launched, so they couldn't make it in time to support our light vessels- we should've brought the carrier in with the first wave, really. it meant that the Merchant of Menace was destroyed by combined fire from the Charon and Hades, and Multi-vector fire from the other ships weren't able to defeat the Hades's shields- They had double-strength chargers, I know it, and our ship's fire control just wasn't up to going toe-to-toe with their heavy cruisers. We had though that splitting the fleet would keep our heavy hitters from being flanked, but it was just a disaster all around. By the time the fighters had started attacking, the Munitions Exchange had been destroyed too.
Ex: Describe the rest of the battle, as to the best of your knowledge.
AS: Well, considering the state that the Competitive Advantage was in, the fact that they turned their guns on the Visible Hand was hardly surprising. Seeing as our situation was hopeless, the captain ordered our ship back through the warp point, and he pushed the ship's maneuvering to its limit to spare the company further loss of assets. Their light cruisers managed to finish off the Competitive Advantage by attacking its unshielded side. The Visible hand managed to get some surprisingly telling shots in- those Battlecruisers were not well-armored, that's for sure. However, t was only a matter of time before it was outmaneuvered and destroyed. I don't know what happened to the Short Sell, we left the system before it could be determined.
Ex: Thank you very much for your information.
-------------------
Well! Played this out on my lonesome, and discovered some things.
-I like the fact that there are no range bands. It really speeds up fire resolution since you can throw so many dice at once.
-RDF Capital Ships are vicious bastards. They were able to turn and engage more or less right from go- they make the element of surprise far less of and advantage in scenarios ljke this one.
-You really do need maneuverable ships in Warp point battles, if just to get all of your ships together in a timely fashion. I gave the Perseus Co. ships all Delta 1 since they were basically converted and up-gunned freighters, and it really bit me how much a difference that maneuver/accel profile makes.
-I never really found a good opportunity to used the missiles on the PDF's Battlecruisers. Ah, well.
-I was really lucky with the mines. Not a single mine placement scattered at all.
-I do like the fact that fighters are a supporting arm of the ships, rather than the other way 'round, like in some other games.
-Also the fact that it's difficult to build swarm fleets, in any case. This is a big one, really.
-I played this yesterday, but only got the chance to write it all today, so my recollection about what exactly happened in each turn was a bit fuzzy, but I got the flow and order of events down just fine.
-I used the backs of my old Battletech mapsheets combined with the counters that came in the Aerotech 2 book for play purposes- They worked just fine.
