Rindis.com

Crossposted from the SFU blog on BGG

The Kzinti continue to recover, with their economy up to 78.2 this turn (plus 24.6 treasury, thanks to the Feds). They built a full schedule and replaced a PDU on 1502 (which had been reduced to 1), as well as converting a CVL to a full CV. Cycling the repairs is continuing, and the end of the backlog is in sight.

On the other hand, the Hydrans lost another three economy in the Capital grid, reducing it to 13 EP. Seeing the writing on the wall, I repaired another SIDS, built a TR, a pair of CUs (and a third at the off-map SB), and repaired a spare AH to bring the UH group up to full (overstuffed) strength, leaving 0 EP left in the treasury. The Old Colonies didn’t have much to do, and is now sitting on 58 EP.

I considered attacking a broad swath of northern Klingon space, mostly to keep some of the Coalition reserves out of the way, but ended up sticking with the main plan: I hit a few other targets to try and sweep the Klingons out of the 13-15 columns, and then sent the Home Fleet in to 1202 to try and retake the last Klingon-held planet in Kzinti space. He reacted out a sizable force to hold some of the fleet away, and then sent in the Lyrans from 1001.

Meanwhile, available Federation forces that I haven’t actually moved into Kzinti space have moved closer to the Klingon border, and in range of a few bases in Klingon space.

The Hydrans contented themselves with kicking the Klingons off of 0519 with overwhelming force (I was expecting the Lyran reserve to come in and force me to take damage, but nothing doing), which was about all they could do without the nearby Klingon forces reacting in.

Kzinti front.

Hydran front.

Combats:
1106: Klingons: crip F5
1107: Klingons: crip D5; Kzinti: crip 2xMEC
1305: Klingons: dest D5
1505: SSC: Klingons: dest D5; Federation: crip FF, retreat
1202: Klingons: PDU; Lyrans: crip BC, CA, 2xCW; Kzinti: dest SF, capture planet
1303: Klingons: crip F5S
1302: Klingons: dest D6M; Kzinti: crip BC, MEC, dest CLE
0519: Klingons: dest F5L; Hydrans: capture planet
1807: Klingons: dest F5, BATS

I was expecting to see a hard fight for 1202. The Kzinti fleet is getting pretty impressive, but it was fighting over Coalition defenses for a change, and he needs to start slowing the Kzinti down.

Belirahc has been shooting SFs every chance he gets, and I am feeling the effects. I’m going to have to start building MSCs just to make it more expensive (though most of the CMs are still going to escorts…).

This marks the end of the second scenario of the General War, “The Tempest”. Here’s how the Victory Conditions break down:

For any level of victory, the Coalition must have more ships than the Alliance (only counting Federation ships in released fleets):
Lyrans: 109; Klingons: 276; Total: 385
Kzinti: 150; Hydrans: 63; Federation: 61; Total: 274 Check
(The totals are adjusted for three Klingon ships that have been captured, which I forgot last turn.)

For a Tactical Victory:
A) The Alliance must have a total economy of 250 or less: 281.95 EP X
B) The Coalition has destroyed 35 Alliance Battle Stations: 29 X
(see the Turn 6 wrap up for how bases are calculated)

Even with the Federation economy at 75%, it counts for 165.75 EPs. The other two are only going to be under 84.25 if the Coalition has used the opportunity to really lock up Hydran and Kzinti space. And generally if it can do that, there will be a invasion of the Federation to cut it down to size before its build schedule kicks in.

Again, the 35 bases is going to be hard to do without invading the Federation (which should make that total easy). It’s still possible, as the bases left in the Marquis zone, which I’ve concentrated on keeping him out of, are worth another five. Combine that with fewer losses on the Coalition side, or more new bases built in Alliance territory, it’s not hard. And that’s not even considering the SBs in the two Alliance capitals.

Crossposted from the SFU blog on BGG.

Federation aid to the Kzinti is really making a difference, as their economy jumped from 61 to 74.2 EP this turn. In addition the Federation had sent 20 EPs of financial aid last turn, some of which was absorbed by drone bombardment costs from last turn.

All in all, the Kzinti had 87.9 EP to play with, and were able to build their first new DN in three years, with no ships being canceled. The backlog of cripples is still a problem, however.

The Hydran on-map economy, meanwhile, shrank from 20 EP to 16. They built a HR, a CU (off-map), a new PDU and repaired a SIDS, in addition to repairing all off-map cripples, and converting a DG to a LB.

The Federation built its second CVA, and an FV. The Limited War provisions really tie their hands. No overbuilds, and no new tug pods. Pity, they can build a very nice heavy carrier pod (VAP), and have the money to do it, but it will have to wait. They did upgrade every DN in Star Fleet to DN+.

I had initially thought to strike at the Klingon minor planet in 1407, but Belirahc reacted off of 1504 as my first strike force went by. At that point, I shifted gears and hit the three planets under Klingon control in Kzinti space. This allowed me to use the Federation Carrier Fleet 1 (centered around the CVB), as it had been out of range of any targets in Kzinti space on the original plan.

Kzinti theater

Hydran theater

Combats:
1605: Klingon: cripF5L destroyed
1504: Klingon: dest 2xD5; Federation: crip FF; Kzinti: capture planet
1505: Klingon: dest D5; Kzinti: dest FF
1303: SSC; Klingon: crip 2xF5 & retreat
1202: Klingon: dest PDU; Kzinti: dest SF
1105: Klingon: dest F5; Kzinti: capture planet
0418: Klingon: dest D5
0519: Lyran: crip CW

The Kzintis lost two ships and took no cripples. That certainly helps with the cripple situation. Though I need to remember to get another couple of scouts soon, Belirahc is starting to go after them, which means I probably need to use the much tougher MSC in place of the SFs.

And another quick look at the numbers says that the Alliance is up another 19 ships, mostly from 11 Federation new builds. The Kzinti are up 7 ships and the Hydrans up one, for a grand total of 240 (only including released Federation ships). The Coalition is up 22 ships for a total of 368, fairly evenly split between the Klingons (10) and the Lyrans (12). Since the Klingons have the bigger build schedule, this points up the fact that they are tending to take the losses at the moment, something that will presumably accelerate when the Federation gets fully involved in the war.

The Coalition failure in the Second Battle of Hydrax has left me a lot more breathing room than I expected, but there’s still a number of serious problems.

First off, the Coalition is in the middle of upgrading three BATS to SB in Alliance territory. This really surprised me, because of the expense involved, but while I can’t afford letting them all go up, because of the expense of killing them later, I wasn’t sure I could afford to take care of any the BATS now.

The Kzinti front was especially troublesome. Two of the three SBs were going up there, and there’s another BATS behind them. The real problem is that they’re all on the ‘west’ side, towards Lyran space, while my offensive has been directed towards nailing down the ‘east’ side, adjacent to the Federation.

In the end, the major Kzinti effort went to smashing the Klingon BATS/SB at 1202, though I made a stab at 1504, aided by Federation forces. On the Hydran front, another attempt sallied out to challenge 0416, and once that was pinned, several crippled ships transferred from the capital to the off-map area.

Kzinti Theater

Hydran Theater

The Klingon presence in Hydran space has become very attenuated, if I wasn’t desperate to stop the SB upgrade, I would have cleaned them out of Hydran space.

Combats:
1705: Klingon: crip F5L; Federation: crip CA
1402: Klingon: crip F5L
1506: Klingon: crip 7xE4; Kzinti: crip FF, capture planet
1105: Klingon: dest F5; Kzinti: capture planet
1504: Klingon: crip 4xD5, dest D5; Federation: crip 2xFF
1603: Klingon: crip F5, dest D6; Federation: crip NCL, FF
1202: Klingon: crip D7, D6, D6M, AD5, 2xF5, F5E, E4A, dest 2xD5, BATS; Kzinti: crip CV, 2xBC, 4xCM, MEC, CL, CLE, FF, EFF, dest BC, CM, CLE, cap D5
0216: Lyran: crip DD
0918: SSC, both sides retreat
0818: Klingon: crip D7
0416: Lyran: crip CA, 3xCW, dest BATS, CA; Hydran: crip LB, dest DG, HR

Altogether, things are going well. Two BATS have been destroyed, and a lot of EPs have gone down the drain in the form of incomplete Starbase upgrades. The Kzinti have taken neutral zone planet 1506 again, and reclaimed 1105, all of this should start contracting the Klingon budget, as the EPs from conquests is fading. However, the Kzinti fleet still took a fair amount of damage, and there’s only so far they can push before catching up on repairs.

A quick look at the numbers shows that Alliance ships are up from 191 to 214, but only because of released Federation ships being counted toward the total. The Kzinti are up 6 ships and the Hydrans are down 7. Meanwhile, the Coalition total is up from 333 to 346. This is entirely due to the Klingons; the Lyrans are down 12 ships from 100 to 88.