Dramatic SFB: Tholian Cargo Tug, Klingon Raiders

[Matthew]

The Klingons sent a pair of D5 War Cruisers and a F5B Destroyer to kill 
a Tholian Tug (CPC - frigate hull) defended by three Destroyers and a 
frigate-scout.


We rolled weapon status and the Tholians rolled WS-III (rolled 5, +2 
base, +1 for scout). This allowed the Tholians to begin with a 
moderate-strength globular web formed up. The Klingons decided that they 
couldn't breach that, and decided to retreat.


Running the numbers, we decided that:

The Klingons would start at about 20 hexes away. If they were going to 
attempt to breach the web on turn one, they could not afford overloads 
and would have only a few points of EW. The Tholian web began at 
strength 10 and the Tholians would add approx 7 strength points to it 
(all in the first 2 impulses of the turn) after loading overloads. 
Drones launched on turn 1 will not make it through the web on that turn. 
It would take only a little power on turn two (4 power from each 
destroyer) to make it so the drones have no effect at all on the Tholians.

Assuming the Klingons would try to web-dive at some point (the sooner is 
the better, from a web-strength point of view), some D5 would absorb 18x 
Ph-1s at range 2 (that range being just before the Klingons hit the web 
and are able to shoot back). Average damage with neutral EW puts the 
damage at about 81 - crippled D5. That ship would turn off at the last 
minute and hope to make it's escape before being blown up.

At range 1, the remaining Klingons would have 6x Disruptors (25 average 
damage for standard loads), 2x Ph-1s (10 damage), 6x Ph-2s (25 damage), 
and a pair of Ph-3s (7 damage). That 67 damage would roughly put paid to 
the tug, netting the Klingons a win. However, the Tholian's return fire 
of 6x Overloads (50 damage) and 6x Ph-3s (22 damage) is going to make a 
hole in the other D5.

The following turn, once weapons recycle, would see not only the damages 
seen above, but the Tholian phaser-1s would be more effective (and 
recycle one or two impulses before everything else). You'd see the 
destruction of the D5 in the web and a crippling of a Tholian destroyer. 
The F5 cannot exit the web (except by going through the globe and to the 
other side), so is very likely to be destroyed on the turn following the 
D5's destruction - but perhaps after destroying the crippled Tholian DD.


Trading a CW and DD for a DD isn't a good trade, even for a scenario win 
where the stakes aren't extraordinarily high.


There are other permutations:

The Tholians could either launch a cloud of shuttles for the phaser-3s 
(giving them something like 30 more damage at range 1) or charge them as 
weasels for the EW bump (fire at range 2 as above, to cripple a D5, 
launch the weasels, absorb some damage, then fire everything from 
passive fire control. The damage of both sides is reduced for that turn, 
but the net effect is unlikely to be changed.)

The Klingons could charge the web on some turn other than turn 1. The 
web will be strong enough that nothing will escape it once they enter it 
(adding about 7 strength points per turn while unmolested means that 
drones that entered on turn 1 will never leave (strength 23 once a few 
impulses into turn 2) and it will be strength 29 by turn 3.) However, 
the EW situation for the Klingons might be better (or might not: they 
don't have a scout, while the Tholians do. Simply firing the scouts pair 
of ph-1s later means they enjoy adding a pile of O-EW to some D5 or can 
add 2 points of EW to the DDs.) This gives the Klingons overloads, which 
would increase their damage by 25 damage above, allowing the crippled 
Tholian DD to be a destroyed DD.

The Tholians are very likely to beam out some mines into the web, but 
these are likely to be a non-issue since the Klingons will simply 
maneuver so they take the mines on a different shield than they present 
to the Tholians. The Tholians will obviously set the mines to target 
Size-Class 3 and a 0-hex radius, so they can maneuver freely through 
them and the Klingons cannot prevent their big ships taking it by 
sending in the F5 early.

Playing games with Erratic Maneuvers or weasels as they web-dive might 
allow the Klingons to skip the range-2 phaser-hose. This would allow 
them to do (very best case) 90 more damage (from a second D5, plus 
having the power for overloads). But it is a simplification, because it 
doesn't take under account the effects of the Klingon's Passive Fire 
Control and the Tholians firing before the Klingons do. The Klingons do 
not have the power to do this and reach the web on the first turn, which 
makes retreat impossible for any ship in the web. So the entire Klingon 
force is likely to be destroyed with this technique.


--Matt