animus said:
Over the weekend we played a Raid level Convoy duty.
Centauri:
2 x Demos
Centurion
Altarian
Primus
Defending: Liner, Gunboat and 2 Freighters
Narn:
Var'Nic
2 x Ka'Toc
G'Sten
I moved in from the side and got boresights on one freighter but the Demos's turned so fast and shot a torpedo that mashed me good.
After that the Centauri Fleet all turned on me. The Ka'Tocs never did squat (much different than what I remember in 1st ed).
I ended up losing all my Narn ships for one demos and one freighter. Another Demos was hurt kinda bad, but nothing else to speak of.
I know this is a scenario that favors the defender, but it was really kinda ugly. Anyone have a suggestion on how to attack Convoy Duty?
Truthfully your ship choice is a bit strange. Beams don't benefit from low hull.
The Var'Nic is an excellent ship over all but it isn't at its best when outnumbered like that due to lack of side-arc weapons. Beams also tend to kill it as they ignore its hull and can get to its low-for-a-Narn hp. Its own beam also doesn't benefit from the super-low hulls.
Ka'Tocs? Again, too many beams. Ka'tans would have been better. You aren't supposed to be fighting a fleet engagement. You want weapons that have good range and will rip into low hulls. E-Mines, Ion Torps, Ion Cannon Pulse Cannons etc. will do well. Also the longer the range the better. Hit the civies before the centauri can hit you. You have a good chance of hitting with both dice from the e-mines against the super-low hulls and if they are too close to each other you can hit several. Ka'Tans can still close and use their beams and secondaries to finish cripples off afterward.
A G'Sten? A G'karith would have been better considering the longer range, the multi-hit function and the low huls of your targets. G'Sten have WAY too short a range for my tastes although they do have the correct sort of weapons for this job.
As mentioned, T'Loths and T'Rakks shine here. Plasma cannons will rip into the super-low hulls and barring crits (which are unavoidable whichever ship you choose) he can't kill them quickly.
I would've used 2 T'loths and 2 Ka'Tans myself. The force is low firepower (but more than enough for the civies) but tough as hell. T'Loths are also quick for their size.
The Ka'Tans should e-mine the civies. Fire on the same ship, particularly if they are grouped too close. If the sentris are near one of the transports acting as interceptors, e-mine that one. T'Loths should drive at the targets with the Ka'Tans behind.
This force also has a lot of Frazis. They'll do a lot of damage if he lets them get there and he has only 2 defending sentris (I am very surprised there is no Maximus in his force but be thankful). He has AF on his ships but none of them can loan it to help the civies. If they try to screen with their own AF, e-mine the batch.
The 2 Dag'Kar, 2 Ka'Tan idea is an interesting one (kinda cheezy though) as they may be able to destroy all the civies at range 30. The Dag'Kars won't live through the effort though. Switching one of the Ka'Tans for a scout may allow the force to unload firepower then jump out. You have a good chance of killing the liner and a freighter in a single turn. More if he is too bunched up. Use the Frazis as interceptors for the Dag'kars. If this is a campaign, I'd use this force, fire once, then jump out.
Tzarevitch
