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The overall Coalition economy continues to contract, with the Lyrans picking up a little bit of ground, which didn’t make up for either Klingon or Romulan losses, which happened in spite of both of them surveying a new province. Adjusted income was 309.75 EP.

Builds:
Klingon: D7C, D7, D6J, D5W, 7xD5, AD5, F6, 6xF5, D6V->D6U
Romulan: CON, FHF, 3xSP, SPC, SPM, 2xSK, SKE, SEH, WE, SNB, WE->KE, SP->SPM
Lyran: BC, STT, NCA, CW, CWE, CWS, 2xDW, DWE, 2xFF, FCR

The Romulans worked through most of their cripples from last turn’s SB assault, but the Klingons are still dealing with a large number of cripples, and are currently cancelling some of the smaller ships to deal with it. They did convert the last D6V to a D6U, as I had planned, which eliminates that class of odd 5-point carriers. B10-2 rolled well, and is all but guaranteed to come out next turn. B10-3 only rolled a ‘2’; by average rolls, it should come out on 21, but there’s an outside chance that both could show up on 19, which might be a problem.

The Klingons put a repaired D5 back in the Raid Pool, and added an existing FD7 to start filling out the expanded pool. The Lyrans raided a Kzinti province, and killed a Federation FF that was holding a Klingon province, and preventing supply to BG Harbinger. The Klingons raided three Federation provinces, and the C5 was sent to try and crack the wall of ships built around the Orion Enclave, but all the raids were run off, with one D5 being crippled. The Romulans raided two Federation provinces, and one Gorn, and made another attempt to kill the supply LTT in 4007 (partially to draw out a ship from 4006, which was a likely target during the turn). Both Federation provinces were disrupted, but the LTT was merely forced to retreat, and a Gorn POL ran off a FFH to keep that province from being disrupted.

A primary problem was dealing with the solid wall of ships Byron had erected around the Orion Enclave to keep me from keeping supply to it, which would enable me to keep it neutral. There were a number of strong fleets nearby to complicate matters. The biggest problem was the fact that the Third Fleet had shifted forward to 1910 and stayed there, putting it in range of way too many important targets in Klingon space

But that meant the garrison on the 3rd Fleet SB was much reduced (consisting of the 4th Fleet, no longer needed near Kzinti space). So I started concentrating on tying down the reserves as best I could, and making one last try at it before the Federation started destroying everything I had left near it over the next few turns.

The Romulans had a heck of a time working their way out of the knot of Federation fleets near their border, but managed a good force to reclaim the NZ planet. To the north, they struck at the last Gorn border BATS, and had a decent fleet to take one of the Gorn-Fed border BATS while pinning a reserve there.

The Lyrans kept their activity light, going for 1504 in Kzinti space while backing up the Klingons elsewhere and keeping ships available.

Limited goals.

Limited goals.

The big push (again).

Trying to pull back more than a stump.

More BATS destruction.

The small Hydran reserves split between reinforcing 0416, and the small fight in 0916, while both Kzinti reserves went to 1504 (the only fight in range). The Federation 1st R (the only one completely unpinned) went to 3210, and two of the 4th R ships freed up there went to 3111, and the end of the wall around the Orions. The 3rd R in 2610 still had five ships free, and they went to 2509, which allowed the 2nd R there to send five ships to SB 2211. One Gorn reserve was stuck in 2610 with the bulk of the Federation reserve, and the other was stuck in 4006.

Battles:
3511: SSC: Federation: crip FF
3111: SSC: Romulan: dest WE
3412: SSC: Federation retreat
3413: Federation: crip FF; Romulan: crip SN
0416: Hydran: dest TR; Lyran: dest CWG, 2xDW, crip CW, DW
0916: Hydran: crip CU; Lyran: DW
0717: Hydran: dest LNH; Klingon: dest E4
1504: Kzinti: dest FKE; Lyran: dest DWE
2012: SSC: Federation: dest POL
2211: Federation: dest SB, CA, 2xDE, crip BT, CA, 9xNCL, DE, 5xFF, FCR; Klingon: dest 2xD6, D6D, D6S, AD5, D5S, F5L, crip D7, 3xD6, AD5, D5G, MD5, D5S, 2xF5, F5E, wound PT; Lyran: dest DW, crip DW
2509: Retreat after declined approach
2610: Federation: crip CA, NCL; Gorn: dest BDE, crip LTB; Klingon: dest F5W, crip 3xD5, 3xF5
3210: Federation: crip NCA, NCL; Romulan: crip SP, SK
3415: Federation: crip 2xNCL; Romulan: crip 2xSP, 2xSK
3315: Romulan: dest SNB
4408: Gorn: dest BATS
4006: Gorn: dest BATS, crip COM, DD; Romulan: dest SKF, K4, crip SPF, WE

Given an initial 53-point difference in ComPot, I wasn’t sure that I actually could take the 3rd Fleet SB, but it was the best shot I had to limit Byron’s ability to strike into Klingon space. One weakness he had was a limited number of CR10 ships, so I destroyed escorts to drive the CVA off-line, and Byron did some of my work by self-crippling a battle tug. Sure, it’s really efficient to repair, but my first goal was to get his line density down. By round 3, the difference was 17 ComPot, and I had the ships and fighters to take that, and some good rolls was helping. If he’d been willing to self-kill ships (and the Feds build enough), he might have squeezed another round out of it, but it probably wouldn’t have been worth it.

Byron naturally accepted approach in front of 2610, where the Gorns are setting up a MB. Two ‘6’s from the Alliance in a row kept me from getting at the base, and I didn’t have what it took to go four rounds and have any sort of fleet left, so that job was left undone. Maybe I can get there again, but it’s getting more and more unlikely….

The Federation rolled much better than the Romulans over 3415, but ran out all their fighters in the first round, and then gave up the NZ planet. But they gave better than they got, and overran a two-ship garrison next door on the way out.

I had just about given up all hope of killing the 3rd Fleet SB, and as the Federation offensive starts reaching into Klingon space, its presence was something I really couldn’t afford. So killing it is a big win for me, and I got it for relatively cheap. It did leave me a bit out of position, and the cost of taking it out may still turn out to be excessive. But in the long run putting much of the south-center out of reach will pay off. I just have to survive the short term while reorganizing.

Meanwhile, the Romulans have finished off the Gorn border BATS, and hampered their reach that way. Federation pressure is mounting, but the Romulans can… mostly put up a stubborn defense. The Federation has a lot of strength near the rim of the galaxy now, and I expect a fair amount of havoc near Tholian space. This means I’m probably not reestablishing contact between the Klingons and Romulans, and the KR spare parts are winding down….

This took me a while to get started on. The Klingons have been pounded, and I wasn’t seeing anything useful they could do. Of course, this is the turn where 75% exhaustion kicks in, but I almost consider that the least of my worries, though with all the backlogged repairs finally hitting the system, money got tight real fast. Gross income was 417, down just 0.9 from last turn, though the Klingons had a ~6-point drop that was being made up by the other two. However, after exhaustion, this was a mere 312.75 EP. The Alliance’s recent income is ~360, so this has taken me from solidly ahead to solidly behind in real money.

Builds:
Klingon: 3xD7, D5W, 6xD5, AD5, F6, 3xF5, F5E, F5J
Romulan: NH, VHK, SP, SPC, 2xSPM, SK, 2xSKE, SEH, FAL, SNB, WE->KE, BH->BHF
Lyran: STL, CA, NCA, CW, CSV, CWE, 2xDW, DWE, 3xFF, CL->BC

Repairs were at an all-time high of 121.5 EP, nearly half of that being from the Klingons, who consequently had a very tight budget; but it doesn’t do a lot of good to build new ships if I can’t use the ones I’ve got.

For the first time the Klingons did not build any new fighter capacity this turn. I expect there won’t be any new carriers for a bit, but I should be converting the last D6V up to D6U next turn, and I hope to convert a D7V to D7U at some point soon; they’re expensive, but with how Byron’s been beating me up in the EW war, a scout carrier seems like a very handy item to have. Hopefully, I’ll get to see the Lyran CSV in action soon (also my first heavy fighters, something I’m sure we’ll see a bit more of).

This is the turn where the raid pools expand, but I didn’t want to pull a bunch of ships off the line to go raiding, so the only addition was the Romulan SHR, which I had retrograded into the capital last time specifically to be come the third Romulan raider. The Klingons and Lyrans each sent a raid into Kzinti space, disrupting a provinces now out of easy reach. There were five raids in Federation space, which disrupted three provinces, with one failure crippling a D5, while the last was a successful attempt to kill a Federation Tug (though a Prime Team was wounded in the process). The Romulans tried a similar raid on a Federation LTT on a supply mission just inside the Gorn border, but a DNL reacted to chase the SHR away, and the final Romulan raid in Gorn space also failed.

While the main Federation front was a series of problems with no solution, there was still room to maneuver elsewhere. The Gorn SB in 4206 was relatively lightly defended, and there were no reserves in range of it. First though, the Romulans worked on a plan for another offensive in Federation space, which led to a constant stream of move and counter-move as I tried to pin the 3rd Reserve in 3212, and elements of the 5th Fleet reacted in to keep some of it mobile.

Meanwhile, the Lyrans finally attacked 0416, a project that I’d been meaning to get to since Turn 11. With a large chunk of the Hydran fleet now on the capital, it wouldn’t be as punishing, and I had hoped it would draw some Hydran forces away from the capital, but nothing moved. They also pressed forward in Kzinti space, to help the Klingons regain their border from them. The Klingon North Fleet stayed inactive to block any access of the Kzinti reserves to planet 1407 (where the guard FF was assaulted by two ships), while larger forces challenged 1202 and 1506. A bunch of small fights developed in Federation space as I tried to clean things up a bit, and finally, I made an attempt on planet 2509, though there were enough non-reserve forces nearby to shut down some of my moves. The Romulans also sent their large West Fleet to 3509 again, which had had its last defenses knocked out last turn.

The Lyran’s turn in Hydran space.

Back into Kzinti space.

Activity, but not a lot else.

An important gap.

Naturally, the two Hydran reserves (four ships total) went to the only fight in Hydran space, while the Kzinti reserves went to 1202, though the DNLs that had been leading them stayed behind in the capital. The Gorn and Federation reserves on 2610 both went to the planet in 2509 (though he thought of sending the Gorns to 2011 to kill my crippled D6M in that combat). The Federation 2nd Reserve went to smash a small battle in 2207, and the rest were already pinned.

Battles:
4008: SSC: Gorn: dest POL
1611: SSC: Federation: crip FF; mutual retreat off of captured planet
1407: SSC: Kzinti: dest FF; Klingons recapture planet
1506: Kzinti: dest FF; Klingon capture planet
2207: Klingon: dest E4
2110: SSC: Klingon retreat
2011: SSC: Federation retreat
2609: SSC: Gorn: crip LTT
3213: SSC: Federation: dest NCL; Romulan: crip SKF
4208: Gorn: dest BATS; Romulan: crip SK, K5S
3212: Federation: dest ECL, crip FF, FFE; Romulan: crip SP, SK
3509: Federation: dest CA, crip 2xNCL, FF, FFE; Romulan: dest FHF
4206: Gorn: dest SB, DN, HDS, 2xBD, 2xDD, 2xDDG, crip 2xBC, TG, 3xHD, 5xBD, 5xDD, SC, K5 captured and expended for combat bonus; Romulan: dest SUP, SKE, 4xSEH, 2xKR, KRM, K5L, K5, K4, 4xWE, FAL, 2xSN, SNB, crip CON, FH, R-CLE, 9xSP, 2xSPF, KR, K5, 4xKE, 2xWE, CE, 2xBHE, BHF
2509: Federation: crip 2xNCL; Klingon: dest MD5
2510: Federation: dest NCL; Klingon: dest D6D
0416: Hydran: dest 2xPDU, DWE; Lyran: dest CW, 2xDW, crip DN
1202: Retreat after denied approach

My offensive towards 2509 included an over-ambitious strike by two D6s at a Gorn LTT+TPOD by itself in 2609. Byron simply reacted a CM into the hex for a slightly better force with a size advantage. But the rolls were 12 to 3, for the D6s to cripple the LTT for no damage, though they then retreated to 2510 to keep from being alone and cut off. The captain in charge of the strike will be promoted to squadron command in a D7C.

The battle for the SB went longer and bloodier than I had hoped (as ever). The Gorn fleet had a natural firepower superiority the entire way, and started with a large EW advantage that I kept to a -1 shift by killing the HDS. The Romulan fleet on the Gorn border is light on carriers, which aided the carnage, and die rolling was relatively even, though I had a 6-2 split late in the battle that certainly helped. It took six rounds to wear out the Gorn fleet and get him to take 6 voluntary SIDS. I then directed the last two SIDS and the crippled base over the next three. Thankfully, he got a minimal roll in pursuit so he couldn’t do more than kill the two big maulers. The Romulans will be very thin until the repairs get processed, and still thinner than I’d like with all the ship losses. But the Gorn fleet there is smashed (9 uncrippled ships, including 2xSAS), and the one on the other SB doesn’t have a lot of things it can immediately do.

Things are still bad, and the fact is, I’m unlikely to ever have another chance at the 3rd Fleet SB, which is way too close to too much. But, even if a bit late, the Romulans have managed another step towards the goal of pushing Gorn bases far away from the original frontier. There’s one border BATS left, and now only two of the backup bases remain.

No doubt, there will be increased pressure on the Romulans after this. But that hopefully means less Gorn involvement in the Fed-Klingon theater.

With the collapse of the Kzinti front, I had a lot of problems to address….

Coalition income was at its lowest ebb since the scenario began, with most of the loss coming from the Klingons, who also had poor survey rolls for the third turn in a row.

Builds:
Klingon: D7C, D7V, D6M, D5W, 7xD5, AD5, 3xF5W, 4xF5, 2xF5E, E4R, C8->C9A, D6->D6D, CL-K-CL, FFE->K-FFE
Romulan: CNV, FHF, SPC, 3xSPM, 2xSK, SKE, SEH, WE, SNB, WE->KE, BH->BHF
Lyran: BC, STT, NCA, 2xCW, CWE, DW, 2xDWE, 2xFF, FCR, FRD, FTM, CV->CVD, 2xFF->DW, BS(F)->BTS(F)

Repairs also hit an all-time high, though I managed to miss a couple Lyran DWs waiting on BATS for repairs. The Klingons alone spent 48 EP on repairs, and still had some backlog. The Lyrans are still struggling to get their repair cycle going. Since I was repairing a C8 anyway, and had a spare SFG kit, I converted it to a C9A, who will presumably only use the SFGs in relatively low-density battles. The Klingons also converted two captured Federation ships to their service to help with ship count (especially since one was already a light escort, so I could build fewer of those), while the Lyrans converted their one CV up to a CVD.

The Lyran raids hit a HN blocking supply in Hydran space, and crippled it, and Kzinti POL, which drew a DN(!) in reaction (I didn’t think he’d burn the reaction on it), which crippled the Lyran DNL. The Klingons hit a Fedeation POL & crippled FF, which escaped, another POL, which died while crippling a D5W, and raided a province near the capital. The Romulans went after two Federation, and one Gorn province, only one of which worked (two cloaked evasion rolls failed, and the Roms accepted a battle against Gorn BATS fighters, but the fighters survived while forcing the FFH to retreat).

The big goal for the turn was one I’d looked at two turns previous, but had to reject. The 3rd Fleet SB is in range of the major planet I hold in 2306, but with that area semi-permanently out of supply, the forces there can’t make it back. But this time, the partial grid was able to spend 7 stored EPs to supply 35 ships to move down, and move against the forward reserve in 2509. I needed to be able to hit the other reserves in the area, but just couldn’t find a way to do it that wouldn’t divert too much away from the SB.

Meanwhile the Romulans mostly pressed on Federation space, sending large forces to 3210 and 3509 (I hoped that the former would draw a reserve to help the Klingons… but no), as well as taking on another Gorn BATS behind the east border. I decided to leave the small Federation force on 1611 alone, hoping to cut them off by putting a small force on 1910. The major forces still in Kzinti space hit 1504, while another force hit 1407 to pin it down. The Klingons moved in on the Hydran capital again, though the Hydrans were able to react reinforcements in, and still keep enough on 0416 to keep the Lyrans from trying it.

Stepping carefully around the Hydrans.

Limited goals against the Kzinti.

Taking on the 3rd Fleet.

Renewing the Romulan drive into Federation space.

The Gorn Reserve on the Federation capital went to 2509 to free up a few ships in the reserve there, which then went to take 1910. The other two Federation reserves in the area went to the 3rd Fleet SB, while the 4th moved out of Gorn space to help 3509, and the Gorn reserve went to pound a SNB vs POL battle. The two (two-ship) Kzinti reserves went to help 1407.

Battles:
1805: SSC: Kzinti: dest FF; Klingon: crip F5
1806: SSC: Federation: dest cripFF
1808: SSC: Federation: dest FF; Lyran: crip JGP-C
1910: Federation capture planet; Klingon: dest F5
0519: SSC: Hydran retreat
0515: SSC: Hydran: dest cripHN
0212: SSC: Hydran: dest HN
3808: Romulan: dest SNB
5006: Gorn: dest BATS; Romulan: crip K5
3314: Federation: dest FF; Romulan: crip SNB
3313: SSC: Nothing
3210: Federation: dest NCL, crip NCL, FF; Romulan: crip KRM, SK, capture planet
3209: SSC: Federation retreat
3509: Federation: dest FFE, 2xPDU, MON, SWAC, crip 3xNCL, 3xFF, planet devastated; Romulan: dest SP, SPF, SE; crip: 2xKE, 4xSP, SPF, SK, SKG, K5, BHE
2509: Gorn: dest CCH; Klingon: crip 2xD5, 3xF5
2408: SSC: Federation: dest POL; Klingon retreat
2407: SSC: Both retreat
2211: Federation: 2xSIDS, dest BT, DE, 3xFF, FFE, 2xSWAC, crip 8xNCL, DD, 4xFF; Klingon: dest SAF, D6J, D6S, AD5, F5L, F5, crip B10, D7C, 2xD7, D6M, 6xD5, AD5, F5L, 2xF5E, F5S; Lyran: dest STT, 2xDW, crip STJ
2210: SSC: Federation: dest POL
2108: Federation: dest FFS, crip DN+; Klingon: dest cripF5, E4, crip AD5, D5S, F5S
2007: SSC: Federation: dest cripFF, POL
1407: Kzinti: dest cripBC, crip CC; Klingon: crip D7, D5
1504: Kzinti: dest EFF, crip MC, 2xMEC; Klingon: dest D6D, crip F5, capture planet
0617: Hydran: dest DG, DWE, CU, crip CU; Klingon: dest D7, LTG, E4A, crip 2xD6, capital captured

The Federation left a tug near the Romulan border, but there wasn’t much I could do about it. After a CL reacted in, it was just above SSC level, but the Feds lost a FF, and then did a Fighting Retreat over 3313, where low rolls kept anything from happening there.

The Federation went a round over 3210, in an unequal fight that still cost the Romulans a shocked KRM, while the fight for 3509 went four rounds, with two of those with a bad split on rolls, and one with a blown offensive cloak attempt. The Romulans chewed through ~60 fighters, and took a lot of cripples, and suffered more mauler shock. The good news is that the fixed defenses are gone (on the second attempt here), which makes the planet more vulnerable in the future.

We both knew the 3rd Fleet SB fight was going to be nasty going in. I had a decided advantage in number of ships, but the Federation could out-ComPot me even without the SB, mostly due to being willing to put up plenty of CAs, and three battle tugs (one of which I mauled). Despite using a CP against nothing for the Feds, I was taking a lot of damage, and 100+ fighters lessened the pain, but still melted away too fast. I made some errors, such as assuming he wouldn’t direct to cripple the B10 when it was up unprotected (and there were rounds when he might have killed it), so it wasn’t available on the round when the SAF went in. I figured to max out minus points, sacrifice the D6J, and send in the SAF while the B10 froze a few ships for cheap mauling. Well, that didn’t happen, the disrupted SAF did no damage, and my troop assaults (which I should have started earlier), didn’t get anywhere, despite there being no backup troops in the hex for him, and the maulers generally shocked on the first roll. I might have been able to force the assault, but I’d have nothing left at the end of it.

The battle for the Hydran capital went three rounds. I was willing to kill as many Hydran ships as I could even if it wore out the West Fleet, but generally couldn’t do the damage for the cruisers. I was a bit surprised when the Hydrans retreated with a number of spare fighters left. I guess they figured there’ll be another day to keep me busy, and Coalition forces aren’t likely to get much stronger.

The failure at the 3rd Fleet SB puts the Coalition in an even bigger hole than it already was. The large concentration in NW Federation space that I was bleeding with also made sure that the 4th Fleet was stuck near it’s SB. Now that’s largely evaporated, and no doubt I will lose that foothold completely. Finally knocking out the 3rd Fleet SB would have been worth it, and opened other opportunities. Now I have the worst of both worlds, as I can be sure that the SB will be much better protected next turn; the 3rd Fleet had been bleeding ships, as I wanted before doing this push. But I just couldn’t keep the reserves out/away, and the only positive results are that the Romulans are in range of Earth, and they finished stripping the defenses off a major planet in front of their advance (if they could afford to advance…).