inq101 said:
once in close most fleets will beat Gaim. Fleets like EA or Narn scare me as they can take the punishment of the long ranged e-mines and fighters for a few turns before flying between ships loosing their broadsides. The Gaim are lacking in short ranged (secondary) weapons and are forced to rely on their auxiliary craft and rare lasers or damage their own fleet to hurt the enemy.
Fer other races are as vulnerable to criticals as the Gaim. Results that don't worry other races (-1AD) cripple Gaim ships. Most of them only have weapons in a single arc and there not that fast in the first place.
The 10 pt skirmish fleet is worth the same as 20 skirmish ships in VP's. You could loose every ship in your fleet and still win in a VP based mission.
Yes, Gaim are tough. Their ships are good and several fleets suffer badly when facing them. They also have their weak points and are far from unbeatable.
From the Narn, a T'Rakk, Ka'Tan combo is difficult for the Gaim. 6 or so Ka'Tans and 4 or so T'Rakks. You have enough e-mine threat to force him to keep his fighters spread out and this reduces their effectiveness severely as they are only speed 10 (which is incidentally the same speed as your ships).
The T'rakks have loads of hp for their priority while the Ka'Tans have little single-shot e-mines to clear the Gaim fighters.
Launch goriths and form them up away from your ships but in flanking position. Try to draw photon bombs onto them. Any one that the fighters draw is one that doesn't hit your ship. If he doesn't shoot them, engage gaim suicide fighters. Once they are in close with his fighters he won't bomb them. The goriths absolutely will die but any fire they draw is less on your ships. He needs his fighters to do damage, yours are pretty irrelevant.
As for your ships, spread out with T'Rakks leading the way. If the gaim suicide fighters attempt to close, E-mine any groups, use weapons on singletons. Don't worry if a couple will hit. You can take a few of them without a problem unless he gets a lucky crit. Gaim photon bombs simply cannot kill T'Rakks quickly.
Don't be afraid to hit the T'Rakks with an e-mine if you have to. Ignore the non-suicide fighters. Let your side or aft weapons fire on them if nothing else is available, but they can be safely ignored. Also destroy breaching pods. They are slower than anything in your fleet though so they shouldn't be much of a problem.
Summary: You WILL be taking hits from the gaim all the way in. That's ok though, they can't crit and you are pretty tough. Don't give him multiple hits on multiple ships and don't let him hit you with a batch of suicide fighters at once you should have him. Don't forget the heavy lasers on the Ka'Tans.
All those fighters look scary but they only move at 10" per round and that is really all he has that can really ruin your day. Your e-mines will keep him from stacking fighters too close and that massively dilutes their effectiveness. Don't let a single photon bomb hit multiple ships if you can avoid it. Make maximum speed for the carriers and use the Ka'Tans to clear fighters that get in your way.
For the non-Narn:
High maneuverability, high speed ships (white stars, vorchans/demos, shadows, vree, drazi) should circle the gaim out of range to gather the fighters and probe for weaknesses in his setup. His suicide fighters are only speed 10 and they can't touch you beyond that. Don't let him minimize their weaknesses. If you charge him, you are effectively increasing their speed. He has 3 choices with setup:
1. Form the fighters up between his fleet and yours.
2. Form the fighters up in a cloud around his fleet.
3. Group them close to try for massive impact.
#3 is the least likely option. If he does it he made your job easier. Whitestars and fast ships can simply dodge around the stack. #1 is the best compromise and the one you will most likely see. If you have played Starfleet Battles before, you've seen the Kzin use the exact same tactic. They key is don't run through the fighters to get at his ships. It won't work. The narn are the only ones who can do that because they can prevent him from grouping the fighters or punish him if he does group them. Go around them, use the table. (Beware the size of your play table though
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Tzarevitch
