volmd said:
Recently introduced to ACTA:SF by my brother. I have played three 600 pt games thus far. Twice as Klingon and once as Fed. All three times Klingons won easily.
I waded thru many pages of the boards and never saw a tactics post regarding Fed vs Klingon. I have purchased a nice fleet of Feds (2 DN, 2 BCH, 2 NCA, 2 NCL, 2 Mantas, 3 DW, 2 Burkes) and may get some hand me downs from my brother. Any ideas on what to do or not do with the Feds vs the Klingons?
Second, I see the term init sink and am not sure I understand what that means. Is is just fielding more ships than your opponent so that even if you don't win initiative you can move at least some of yours ships after he has completed moving his?
Thanks in advance
Init sinking is where because you have more ships than your opponent you can move your "sink" ships (read non-vital/expendable ships that you either fly outside of reach of enemy fire, or put into a position to bait enemy ships to attack) first and save your important ships' (read vital ships such as Command ships, ships with big guns) movements for after your opponent has moved so that you can better position those ships in relation their fleet to maximize the effectiveness of said ships. It usually means finding the cheapest ship possible as a filler, ships like the Klingon E4, the Federation's Police Cutter work well for this role because of their low cost. Two E4 costs the same as a D6 and gives you the same number of drones for the points (although less effective drones due to the three ship "channeling" rule), and the same number of disruptors (less effective due to shorter range and decreased survivability of the E4). However you are sacrificing some major fire power in terms of P-1s (E4s have none, D6 has 3) trading down for P-2s.
Tactics for Feds vs Klingons...
http://thetantalusproject.blogspot.com/
deadshane shares several of his theories on Fed fleet composition. I would sum it up thusly:
1. Photons, shoot them whenever you can, it doesn't matter if you're firing at over half range (7.5in) and need a 5 or 6 to hit (well it sort of does). On a 6 you hit the hull and not the shields, and if you notice...most Klingon ships do not have a lot damage compared to other ships of the same class from other factions. Combine that with Multi-hit x 4, Devastating and you could (in theory and in rare circumstances in practice) blow up a C8 with one photon shot through the shield (but this would apply to every ship, as the incident in question involved 3 photon crits to the dilithium chamber).
2. Do not have all your ships Reload at once, the major downside of the Reload SA is power drain, granted once you have fired all your photons off, the only other weapons most Fed ships have left to fire are Phasers...even still, this means that those ships can't choose other SAs like IDF, APE (hence going ape), Boost Shields. So you can have all your ships Reload at once, but...it might not be tactically prudent.
3. Just because you've shot all your photons does not mean your ships are out of the fight. The Federation's best weapon (in my opinion) is Phaser 1s, range 18, Accurate +2, Precise, great fire arcs, and you can almost always fire them.
4. Be wary of the Klingons' slight superiority in drone fire, be smart about how you use your phasers, be aware of how many ships have fired drones on which ships, which ships have yet to fire, which ships have no phasers or drones with which to shoot down enemy drones.
5. Borrow from the Gorn, anchor the pesky Klingon gnats buzzing about. Again, Klingon ships have low damage for ships of the class, which means you will get at least a +1 bonus in the opposed crew check to see if you've tractored the Klingon down. Superior maneuverability is useless if they're stuck tethered to a Federation brick.
General suggestions for ACTA SF
1. Focus your fire as much and as often as possible. That means pick out one ship that most of your ships can direct most of their weapon fire against, and burn it down quickly and smartly (by this I mean, maybe holding off on firing drones at this ship until after it has foolishly fired all Phasers and drones and is left relatively defenseless against your drones, not as useful against Klingons as all their ships have anti-drone systems).
2. Do not move purely as a reaction to your opponent's movement. If you feel like your opponent's moves are forcing you to move your ships in a certain way, then you're probably moving into a trap. Look at the positioning of their ships, and think about how you can force their ships to move in reaction to yours...sometimes it means doing something seemingly idiotic, most of the times it means moving your ships in a way the enemy's battle plans will be thwarted if they do not react.
3. Pre-measure as much as you need, it is allowed in this game...and sometimes you can even use it as a psyche out, example: "So my Federation Heavy Cruiser is only 24 inches from that ship you just moved, which means if I move another 10 inches and with a turn that puts me in photon range" Then proceed to move another ship into a position to support that move, and hopefully when your opponent thinks about their next move they will be worried about that CA putting some photons into their ship.
