CZuschlag
Mongoose
Then, you have one of four cases:
Case 1: There are roughly as many Light Raiders as Heavy Raiders, and those Light Raiders are spending at lease some of thier effort covering a 2" cone around the Heavy Raiders.
Good. This means that there is a great deal of Light Raiders out there. While useful from an maneouver standpoint, the expected damage yield is very small. Per turn, a Light Raider can expect to generate 2.13:2.36 vs. Hull 5. Given the very common 10-turn restriction, and that Light Raiders often require at least 1 approach turn while not able to fire this means that each LR will likely create 19.17:21.24 damage total throughout an entire fight. They have to team up to cause any notable damage whatsoever.
Compare to an Olympus' turret causing an expected yield over, say 8 turns (one close-range turn, it doesn't even get a shot for some reason) of even 37.86:37.86 before the Pulse Cannon or Missile Loadout (very important) is factored in, you'll see that selecting a Light Raider, while useful for the Drakh is also useful for the opponent.
So, the fear of the Nials, in this case, has noticeably decreased Drakh firepower to 3/4 (half of Raiders are Light Raiders, half firepower of normal Skrimish-level ship at best) of previous, the Nials have more than succeeded, without even firing a shot.
Case 2: 1 Light Raider covers 2 Heavy Raiders, regularly, all over the board.
Most reasonable escort scenario, first suggested on the boards here by Burger. However, the formation of the cone now gets very tricky. In particular, if you are finessing a range (with anti-fighter weapons out there, this is common), you have to have enough separation for two bases to touch one another, and cover a 2" halo around them. This requires you be about 4" away from the Heavy Raiders under escort (did this with figurines and a tape measure, geometry would give a more precise result --- sorry 'bout that), barely leaving a 3.25" left for the Light Raider's guns to fire at something else if fighters don't appear, and leaving the Heavy Raiders within 4" of their targets -- not a good option against the nastiest fighter race out there, EA (most particle beams are range 5). Now that I know Minbari don't get Anti-fighter in general vs. Drakh Raiders at close range, this helps a great deal; it used to keep me from using LRs to escort.
This perfect formation is often hard to arrange -- with 2/45, Heavy Raiders don't have the nimbleness you might expect.
More often, it's not worth it, and the Light Raider doesn't fire at a ship. This is, again, another reduction is firepower output, here, by up to a total of 1/3 of your fleet firepower if you can't be real careful; all from fielding Light Raiders due to a wish to protect against fighters. Again, the Nials do their job.
Case 3: Overlapping/interlocking multi-ship anti-fighter Light Raider defenses.
Haven't designed a protocol for this yet. But theoretically possible!
Case 4: Your fighters are on the side of the battlefield that has disproportionately many Light Raiders.
You have been outmaneouvered. Oh, well, you can't win 'em all....
Not saying that the Light Raider is a bad buy. It isn't! But their use has to be justified VERY carefully. The Drakh fleet is a defensive fleet, not offensive, despite the pack tactics suggested. Light Raiders are things you HAVE to buy, not things to WANT to buy.
Quite often in practice, these don't happen. The fighters, very commonly, get shots at those Heavy Raiders.
Case 1: There are roughly as many Light Raiders as Heavy Raiders, and those Light Raiders are spending at lease some of thier effort covering a 2" cone around the Heavy Raiders.
Good. This means that there is a great deal of Light Raiders out there. While useful from an maneouver standpoint, the expected damage yield is very small. Per turn, a Light Raider can expect to generate 2.13:2.36 vs. Hull 5. Given the very common 10-turn restriction, and that Light Raiders often require at least 1 approach turn while not able to fire this means that each LR will likely create 19.17:21.24 damage total throughout an entire fight. They have to team up to cause any notable damage whatsoever.
Compare to an Olympus' turret causing an expected yield over, say 8 turns (one close-range turn, it doesn't even get a shot for some reason) of even 37.86:37.86 before the Pulse Cannon or Missile Loadout (very important) is factored in, you'll see that selecting a Light Raider, while useful for the Drakh is also useful for the opponent.
So, the fear of the Nials, in this case, has noticeably decreased Drakh firepower to 3/4 (half of Raiders are Light Raiders, half firepower of normal Skrimish-level ship at best) of previous, the Nials have more than succeeded, without even firing a shot.
Case 2: 1 Light Raider covers 2 Heavy Raiders, regularly, all over the board.
Most reasonable escort scenario, first suggested on the boards here by Burger. However, the formation of the cone now gets very tricky. In particular, if you are finessing a range (with anti-fighter weapons out there, this is common), you have to have enough separation for two bases to touch one another, and cover a 2" halo around them. This requires you be about 4" away from the Heavy Raiders under escort (did this with figurines and a tape measure, geometry would give a more precise result --- sorry 'bout that), barely leaving a 3.25" left for the Light Raider's guns to fire at something else if fighters don't appear, and leaving the Heavy Raiders within 4" of their targets -- not a good option against the nastiest fighter race out there, EA (most particle beams are range 5). Now that I know Minbari don't get Anti-fighter in general vs. Drakh Raiders at close range, this helps a great deal; it used to keep me from using LRs to escort.
This perfect formation is often hard to arrange -- with 2/45, Heavy Raiders don't have the nimbleness you might expect.
More often, it's not worth it, and the Light Raider doesn't fire at a ship. This is, again, another reduction is firepower output, here, by up to a total of 1/3 of your fleet firepower if you can't be real careful; all from fielding Light Raiders due to a wish to protect against fighters. Again, the Nials do their job.
Case 3: Overlapping/interlocking multi-ship anti-fighter Light Raider defenses.
Haven't designed a protocol for this yet. But theoretically possible!
Case 4: Your fighters are on the side of the battlefield that has disproportionately many Light Raiders.
You have been outmaneouvered. Oh, well, you can't win 'em all....
Not saying that the Light Raider is a bad buy. It isn't! But their use has to be justified VERY carefully. The Drakh fleet is a defensive fleet, not offensive, despite the pack tactics suggested. Light Raiders are things you HAVE to buy, not things to WANT to buy.
Quite often in practice, these don't happen. The fighters, very commonly, get shots at those Heavy Raiders.
