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Re: 2495 - Attacking Abel. The Strategy - part 1 Sun, 29 July 2007 09:25 Go to previous messageGo to previous message
AlexTheGreat is currently offline AlexTheGreat

 
Lieutenant

Messages: 661
Registered: May 2006
Location: Sydney, Australia
 I think it's important to properly plan & co-ordinate the attack against Abel. Thus, I have put some thought into it & I will put a proposal.

Part 1 deals with the preparation, timing, gating to Squidcakes, first step towards Abel & reinforcements/Squidcakes garrison.

Part 2 will deal with the journey to Abel & the assault on Abel. I have not yet fleshed that out yet.

A. PREPARATION

1. Ship requirements, builder & Operator:
Ship ....... # Req ... Builder .............. Operator
Zaidzev ...... 400 ... Gaim,Pak,SPOO ........ Builder/Combine at Squidcakes (TBA)
Vladimir ...... 80+ .. Gaim,Pak,SPOO ........ Builder/Combine at Squidcakes (TBA)
Spartacus ..... 50+ ., Llort ................ Llort
BB 12xJugg .... 60+? . Pak, others? ......... Builder?
Red Pirates . 1200+ .. Drakh (700?), others . Pak (SPOO if 10 races - see below). Transfer
............................................. before gating (to keep away from enemy beams)
DD Sweepers ... 100 .. Llort ................ Gaim (allows more MF hits)
B-52 Bombers .. 60 ... Gaim ................. As for RPs for the same reason. 20 per year.
M.T.Probe ...... 2 ... Exist ................ Llort with 80K pop (would be nice if pop
............................................. could be transfered since Abel
............................................. is more valuable to SPOO I think
SF Coloniser .. 10 ... Llort ................ Llort
SFX ......... 5-10 each, mainly for repairs . Builder

2. Techs Required for B-52s
Tech .... How
Con15 ... Con14: Shadows provides via W-L in 2 years - Llort passes it on via W-L. Con15:
......... Llort hope to get it from the MT - if not then must be researched (SPOO?).
Elec12 .. Llort should have Elec12 by next year & will transfer via W-L.
Bio12 ... Gaim research Bio9. Llort will have Bio10 next year & will transfer via W-L. Gaim
......... research Bio 11-12.
Gaim Tech ETAs: Bio9 by 2497, Bio10 in 2498, Con14 in 2499, Elec12 in 2500, Con15 by 2502?,
............... Bio12 by 2502.

3. Ship designs:
(i) B-52 Bomber. FM, 12xHush-a-Boom, 4xLBU-74, 2xGorilla, 2xJ20. This design should be quite an effective planet killer & is LESS attractive than Red Pirates v missiles provided they are operated by a race with RS. They are also less attractive than scout chaff (tho more attractive than Red Pirates) v beams. No B-17 bomber design would survive the assault against Abel & probably no B-52 that contains more Bor than the proposed design.
(ii) DD Mine Sweeper. FM, 1xCroby, 2xGattling. These are to be used in fleets of 5 (to minimise damage per ship in a MF hit) & can take 4 MF hits if used in that way (any race).

B. TIMING

Since the B-52s are essential & cannot be queued until 2502 & at least 20 are needed at an approximate cost of 460 res + travel time to Zippy is 2 years (some could be added at Shannon), the departure year from Zippy looks like 2505 unless we leave in 2504 & gate the bombers a year after the war fleet (years in brackets if we want to do that). Therefore:
Gate Race:
Llort order Gate race to move from Hoover to Shannon in 2502 & pop-drop. Gate available in 2504.
Gaim/Llort:
Rendezvous at Zippy in 2505(/04) & gate to Shannon for 2506(/05). More ships can be added at Shannon.
Drakh:
Rendezvous at Shannon in 2506(/05) transfering, say, 10 Red Pirates to Narn if needed (see manipulation below).
Pak/SPOO:
Rendezvous at Dog House in 2506(/05).
Transfering Fleets:
Bombers & chaff to be transfered to Pak (or SPOO if 10-race battle) on arrival to Shannon/Dog House.

C. GATING TO SQUIDCAKES

1. Transfering Fleets upon arrival to Squidcakes (i.e. orders to transfer in same turn as gating)
(a) We need to determine who will operate the main/combined Zaidzev & Vladimir fleet. It seems to me that the priorities for the attack on Abel are:
(i) Kill the Vorlon Base (& ships) at Abel
(ii) Kill the Ipsha fleets (since the Ipsha are the primary missile ship builder)
(iii) Kill the Hyak fleets (maybe some missile ships as well)
I haven't fully analysed that yet.
Enemy beam ships are less of a problem apart from the need to avoid all the chaff being burnt early & keeping the bombers away from them since our main fleet should be big enough to handle whatever they have.

2. Battlegrid Manipulation for Squidcakes
This may change if we can get a scan of Squidcakes but I expect that all VA races will be there in some capacity or another. That assumed we have 3 primary options: 11 races (Narn sets Gate race to Enemy for one turn), 10 races (All IA & SA races) and 9 races (no Narn ships gated). Here are the grid positions:
E=Earth, D=Drakh, V=Vorlon, G=Gaim, L=Llort, H=Hyak, P=Pak, o=Gate, S=SPOO, I=Ipsha, N=Narn

____ 11 Races _________________ 10 Races _________________ 9 Races
. . . . . . . . . . ______ . . . . . . . . . . ______ . . . . . . . . . .
. . . o . . G . . . ______ . . E . . D . . V . ______ . . . S . . G . . .
. . . . . . . . . . ______ . . . . . . . . . . ______ . . . . . . . . . .
. E . . . . I . H . ______ . . . . . . . . . . ______ . E . . . . . . H .
. . . S . . . . . . ______ . G . . . . . . L . ______ . . . . I . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . ______ . . . . H . . . . . ______ . . . . . . . . . .
. L . . . . N . D . ______ . . . . . . . . . . ______ . L . . . . . . D .
. . . . . . . . . . ______ . P . . . . . . S . ______ . . . . . . . . . .
. . . V . . P . . . ______ . . . I . . N . . . ______ . . . V . . P . . .
. . . . . . . . . . ______ . . . . . . . . . . ______ . . . . . . . . . .

You may have a different opinion but, after examining the probable matchups, I think I like the 9-race version. This gives Pak a good spot to keep the bombers & chaff away from enemy beam ships but is still close enough to attack the Vorlons (3-spots away) & Ipsha (4-spots away). The down side is that Llort are within 2 spots of Vorlons & 3 spots of both Ipsha & Earth so if they all move that way maybe I would lose my fleet; however, SPOO is close to both Earth & Ipsha so probably not. Also Gaim is only 2-spots from Hyak & 3-spots from Ipsha but Ipsha is not far from anyone which is another good point in our favour.

3. Ships that gate in the assault year
I think it's a good idea to hold some ships until Assault year + 1 to avoid the loss of sensitive ships. I'd suggest that in the assault year:
(a) Send only 600 (half) the chaff.
(b) Send only 20 bombers (NOTE: 20 of the proposed bomber design destroys 4080 installations; LBUs=3600 + HaBs=480).
(c) Hold the M.T. ships (with pop) + SF Colonisers
Everything else gates.

D. FIRST STEP TOWARDS ABEL

It's all about clearing the minefields ASAP. IMO the sweepers need to be hardy. Using fleets of 5 DDs with shielding we can quite happily sweep at warp 10 &, even allowing for warp 10 losses due to engine explosions, plenty of sweepers should reach their destination (of course 10% are lost permanently). Those that don't make their destination do 9-10% damage & the next movement can be at warp 10 again.

E. REINFORCEMENTS / SQUIDCAKES GARRISON

1. Reinforcements
(a) We need to keep sending in warship reinforcements & chaff for at least 3 years after the initial invasion. These ships will also serve to protect additional bombers, etc.
(b) We need to send in 20 more bombers in the year after the invasion &, preferably, 20 more in the following year.
(c) The other support ships (chaff, M.T. ships with pop, etc.) should arrive one year after the invasion.
(d) At lease one SFX needs to be stationed at Squidcakes for each race sending in reinforcements. The gated ships should merge with the SFX for automatic healing of the reinforcements.

2. Squidcakes Garrison
We need to keep the gate open at Squidcakes, not only for reinforcement but also to gate out if necessary. We will need to assess the position at the time but, in general, I think the reinforcements will provide a sufficient garrison tho the incoming 2nd & 3rd wave of bombers will need an escort.

Part 2 will follow in a couple of days but I encourage criticism & discussion about Part 1.

[Updated on: Wed, 01 August 2007 03:14]

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