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Since Surprise Package is a fairly quick scenario and has an interesting matchup, Patch decided to go for turning it around and playing it again, and he tried taking the USS Kublai out for a spin.

My opening speed was close to Patch’s (21), but he went a bit faster with the DDL, speed 13. I launched a scatterpack on impulse 8, and then turned off so the drones would have time to be a separate target, and fired on impulse 10, hitting with three disruptors, and doing two damage with a pair of ph-2s to take down a little less than half the #1 shield, going to exactly half from a point from another pair of ph-2s the next impulse.

Patch turned to pursue and the scatterpack launched speed-12 drones on impulse 16, and I started turning around behind them. For turn 2, Kublai speed up to 19, while I kept my speed. The drones kept him off me a little while I finished my turn and fired disruptors on the oblique at range 13 on impulse 7, hitting with three again for seven damage to the #6 shield, with another point the next impulse from a ph-2. Patch made it around the drones at this point, and I launched one from the racks to discourage him as I turned off again.

This left him chasing me at range 10 at the end of the turn (much closer than I had hoped), so I increased speed to 26, while the DDL sped up to 25. With me going faster, he bolted one plasma torpedo on impulse 1, hitting for seven damage. I started a turn, and Patch followed a few impulses later. With him under a turn mode restriction, I HETed to reverse course on impulse 8.

We both slipped out, so the pass would not get too close, and I fired two disruptors (all I had power for) at range 8, hitting with both for six damage to the #6 shield. The next impulse, Patch launched a plasma torpedo, and fired two ph-1s to do four points to my #6, while I fired two phasers to do another three damage. The next impulse, another phaser shot got lucky to do three damage, punching two through the #6, for one hull and auxiliary control.

We both turned off at that point, and I ran out the plasma torpedo. I had hoped to get it to hit on its last move so as to know if it was real without Patch hitting the 10-point limit on plasma damage and earn off the VP penalty for that. But, near the end of its run it slipped over to be directly behind me, which kept me from doing that maneuver (I might have slipped too, and maybe gotten to do that, but didn’t think of it).

My goal for turn 4 was to get back at Patch (currently range 19), and get onto shield #1 or #6, hit him one last time with his damage going on my full front shields, and then disengage on turn 5 (required by the scenario). We both dropped speed, going back to our turn 2 speeds, with me at 21 and Patch at 19.

While I was technically on an intercept course, this meant I was unlikely to get across his course to get at the weak shields, but I spent too long giving up on it. Eventually, I turned in on impulse 26, just outside his FA arc. If he wanted to fire photons at me, he would have to accept a close pass with his weak #1 shield.

Well, he didn’t, but did fire off a FH plasma torpedo before turning off. This left me unable to penetrate his shields while I dodged the (real?) plasma. As it turned out, the earlier one was a pseudo torpedo, and this one was real, and I was unable to dodge it, taking 15 damage on my #2 on impulse 32 of turn 4.

Afterword

So, I got 9.4 VP for doing (two) internals, while Patch gets 28.25 VP for me disengaging, +4 for my faster drones, and +4 for the one T-bomb I took (and didn’t use; there’s a reason I only took one). 9.4 : 36.25 = 394% – Decisive Victory.

Certainly, a longer scenario allows the D6 time to break down the smaller DDL, and the main thing it has is the mix of heavy direct-fire (photons) and fast seeking weapons (plasmas). It turns out Patch had also been paying holding for the plasma-Fs (which should be 0); I know that had been discussed, but he forgot during a three-week delay we had getting the scenario started. So, he should have had a couple more energy available during the game.

It’s an interesting asymmetry. With the DD being noticeably smaller than the D6, it’s a rough scenario without the surprise element. I also knew going into this play that Patch had done a very good job with IKV Devastation in the first game, and I was going to have a hard time doing any better. The main thing was using a scatterpack, which did get me breathing room for over a turn, and let me get those internals in three passes, despite having “merely” average die rolls, or a bit better on phasers, while Patch had gotten very lucky on his disruptors the first time.