Friday, March 24, 2006
God of War: Race To Oblivion
Art (drneuro at TABS) and I got together last night to finally play the first scenario in the Star Fleet Battles God of War campaign. We'd been talking about doing this for a few weeks, and last night was the big kick-off night.
Prior to starting the campaign, we had decided that I would play the Federation in this campaign and Art would play ... well, everything else. I forget exactly how many scenarios the entire campaign is, but I seem to recall that it's about six or so.
Last night's scenario was Race To Oblivion, which pits a Federation ship (a DNH) versus a Klingon ship (a C8K) in a race through a minefield to be the first to a stranded frigate. The first one to get to the frigate, transport the crew off and then flee the area would win the scenario.
Things started out fairly well for both of us. We started with a rather large section of minefield between us, and we knew that we were likely to meet somewhere in the middle of it. I don't think either of us quite expected how quickly we would meet and start exchanging fire, though. We both shot ahead into the minefield, maneuvered our way through and met right at the end of the first turn near an open intersection.
I let him have it with some phaser fire right at his front shield. Art opened up with disruptors and phasers, and he also dropped some drones that would get to me in the first few phases of the second turn. Both of our shields took beatings, and my front-left shield pretty much went down right then and there.
In turn two, Art slowed down only a little bit, but as I wasn't sure about how well I'd be able to maneuver the minefield, I slammed on the brakes (so to speak). The drones got a little too close for comfort, but some anti-drones and some phaser fire took care of them. And then Art went zooming by me. I followed him with fully-loaded torpedoes, and just as he got far enough way that I could fire (can't fire them at range zero or one), I let him have a volley right in the tail section, cutting that shield to ribbons.
With our vast differences in speed, Art maneuvered his way through the minefield first, leaving me far behind. Then we hit the next section, where we had each placed three secret minefields. Art made his way across that section before I even got to it, but then he slowed down a bit while I cranked the speed right up. Art didn't know it, but he skirted the edge of one of my minefields as I took off after him (he was one hex away from taking damage :D).
As it turned out, the secretly-placed minefields didn't come into play, as I guess neither of us got close enough to hit them. As we neared the edge of that area, I was firing at Art's tail section, causing internal damage. Deciding to make a fight of it, Art chose not to floor it and head for the freighter. Instead, he did a 180 with a HET and opened up with everything he could spare, knocking down my front shield and blowing up some internal systems. It wasn't enough to slow me down much, though. I had my eye on the prize. Reloading torps and phasers, I slowed down a bit, but I tried to go as quickly as possible towards the frigate.
Art turned around and came after me, firing at my rear and knocking down that shield. My poor ship was hit with more internal damage, but that big sucker could take a hell of a beating.
Around turn five, we started to get within sight of the frigate. I kept my speed up while throwing some specific reinforcement into my rear shield, as I knew Art would just keep on shooting in the hopes that I'd either blow up or lose the ability to complete my mission. Now several hexes behind me, Art kicked up his speed to try to catch me before I could reach the frigate, but it just wasn't enough. He slowly gained on me, but I had enough speed to get to the frigate before he could get there.
With my front shield already down, I aimed at the frigate. Once I was within about three hexes, I triggered my transporters, beamed everyone on board and headed for the map's edge. Art did a couple of quick calculations. He was shooting at a fresh shield, and he'd lost some good weaponry. He simply couldn't do enough damage to that shield to have any hope of taking me down.
As the Klingons gave up, the Federation ship made off with the crew of the frigate. Somehow I have a feeling the Klingons will swear revenge on the captain that kept them from their prize. :D
Prior to starting the campaign, we had decided that I would play the Federation in this campaign and Art would play ... well, everything else. I forget exactly how many scenarios the entire campaign is, but I seem to recall that it's about six or so.
Last night's scenario was Race To Oblivion, which pits a Federation ship (a DNH) versus a Klingon ship (a C8K) in a race through a minefield to be the first to a stranded frigate. The first one to get to the frigate, transport the crew off and then flee the area would win the scenario.
Things started out fairly well for both of us. We started with a rather large section of minefield between us, and we knew that we were likely to meet somewhere in the middle of it. I don't think either of us quite expected how quickly we would meet and start exchanging fire, though. We both shot ahead into the minefield, maneuvered our way through and met right at the end of the first turn near an open intersection.
I let him have it with some phaser fire right at his front shield. Art opened up with disruptors and phasers, and he also dropped some drones that would get to me in the first few phases of the second turn. Both of our shields took beatings, and my front-left shield pretty much went down right then and there.
In turn two, Art slowed down only a little bit, but as I wasn't sure about how well I'd be able to maneuver the minefield, I slammed on the brakes (so to speak). The drones got a little too close for comfort, but some anti-drones and some phaser fire took care of them. And then Art went zooming by me. I followed him with fully-loaded torpedoes, and just as he got far enough way that I could fire (can't fire them at range zero or one), I let him have a volley right in the tail section, cutting that shield to ribbons.
With our vast differences in speed, Art maneuvered his way through the minefield first, leaving me far behind. Then we hit the next section, where we had each placed three secret minefields. Art made his way across that section before I even got to it, but then he slowed down a bit while I cranked the speed right up. Art didn't know it, but he skirted the edge of one of my minefields as I took off after him (he was one hex away from taking damage :D).
As it turned out, the secretly-placed minefields didn't come into play, as I guess neither of us got close enough to hit them. As we neared the edge of that area, I was firing at Art's tail section, causing internal damage. Deciding to make a fight of it, Art chose not to floor it and head for the freighter. Instead, he did a 180 with a HET and opened up with everything he could spare, knocking down my front shield and blowing up some internal systems. It wasn't enough to slow me down much, though. I had my eye on the prize. Reloading torps and phasers, I slowed down a bit, but I tried to go as quickly as possible towards the frigate.
Art turned around and came after me, firing at my rear and knocking down that shield. My poor ship was hit with more internal damage, but that big sucker could take a hell of a beating.
Around turn five, we started to get within sight of the frigate. I kept my speed up while throwing some specific reinforcement into my rear shield, as I knew Art would just keep on shooting in the hopes that I'd either blow up or lose the ability to complete my mission. Now several hexes behind me, Art kicked up his speed to try to catch me before I could reach the frigate, but it just wasn't enough. He slowly gained on me, but I had enough speed to get to the frigate before he could get there.
With my front shield already down, I aimed at the frigate. Once I was within about three hexes, I triggered my transporters, beamed everyone on board and headed for the map's edge. Art did a couple of quick calculations. He was shooting at a fresh shield, and he'd lost some good weaponry. He simply couldn't do enough damage to that shield to have any hope of taking me down.
As the Klingons gave up, the Federation ship made off with the crew of the frigate. Somehow I have a feeling the Klingons will swear revenge on the captain that kept them from their prize. :D
// posted by Chris @ 10:40 AM 
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