McKinstry said:
Matt - You've mentioned tractors before and I don't see them as much of anything of real value versus drones. Most ships have 2-3 and the have a 50% chance of working. Once used, that's it for the entire turn therefore in a single firing phase against Kizinti you have maybe 2 drones out of 12 taken down by tractors, if you are lucky. As most ships have 2 Phaser 3's, even if both are in arc which most aren't, you are lucky if you kill 2 more. Thus the average cruiser sized non-ADD ship, if a bit lucky in tractor and Phaser 3 rolling, kills maybe 1 full 4 drone launch from the Kzinti using all their Phaser 3's and tractors. They now have to use Phaser 1's or hope their IDF rolls were good or they are going to take 8 x D6 hits for around 24-28 hits plus whatever phaser/disruptor/photon goodness the other guy cares to inflict.
Your analysis is correct - except you miss that you are _supposed_ to use phasers 1 to defend you against drones

Also consider boosting shields, as every dice you roll for that does, in theory (and on average) nullifies one drone. Boosting shields
before you get hit by drones is best
Also consider throwing drones back at your opponent, either directly against his drones (one takes care of one), or at his ships, forcing
him to blow ADDs or soak up phaser fire.
Handling drones (whether giving or receiving) is all about keeping your opponent off balance and getting him to react to
you, rather than the other way around.
And don't be afraid to take damage. That 24-28 hit average you cite is quite soakable by many cruiser-level ships if you choose not to use phasers-1 to defend yourself, instead using them to hit back and try to force your opponent on the defensive. Of course, you
will spend the next turn boosting shields!
It is kinda difficult to put this down in words - there is a sort of feel you have to develop as to when to take the damage on the chin and when to go fully defensive. Once you crack it though, you'll start winning a lot more!
Try a non-ADD fleet, is my recommendation. That will
force you to think about incoming drones on other terms. You can then apply that back to your Klingons.