| Re: removing a frigate hoard |
Tue, 08 August 2006 23:47  |
|
 JasonC |
 | Petty Officer 2nd Class
Stars! V.I.P |
Messages: 58
Registered: July 2006
Location: Arlington, MA | |
|
The ways to counter a croby frigate horde depend on the tech levels available. You may face a situation with even tech, or have superior tech. If you tech is inferior your chances are poor.
The equal tech counter is shielded beam frigates. As you get far less dp per frigate you need another advantage. The usual one is to exploit the added weight of crobies by first determining the enemy design, and then picking the range of beam the other guy did not take.
For example, if the croby horde is using bazookas then use range 3 beams and shields only. You are lighter, so you will move last and choose the range. You will get multiple free shots as he laboriously crosses the battle board. All frigates have very high firepower to dp, so getting multiple shots before the enemy fires can make a huge difference.
If instead the horde has collidial phasers, then you should use bazookas. You can generally get first shot at range 2 - the bazooka is higher initiative. And your ships should be considerably cheaper. You can extend the dp per resource invested even farther by using a 2 bazooka design. This can keep your cost per ship half of what a croby & collidial phaser horde costs. Remember IS races pay 25% more for weapons, and the collidial is quite expensive to start with. The crobies also cost more than ordinary shields.
In either case, you can also add a token of sapper ships. They will get more shots off against a bazooka horde, of course. The fp per resource is 3 times what phasers give. If the enemy is using some sappers on the other hand, consider using a frigate design with 2 tech 11 gatlings instead. This gives 62 fp against each token with first shot assured, and will stay lighter than enemy croby ships, thus able to close to range 2. Using only 2 also keep the weight equal to shield 3 phaser designs from other enemies (up to engine differences, to be sure).
Note that these countermeasures depend on a reactive design, knowing the bulk of the enemy horde. He may adapt to your countermeasure, if he builds a lot of his fleet after yours. When generations are mixed, the gatling idea rises in effectiveness.
The best counter to a croby horde if you have the tech is a sizable token of beam battleships. The weapons tech does not need to be more than 10. Fill the elec slots with capacitors and use 8 sappers and 12 range 3 phasers. A stack of 8 of these can kill 80 croby frigates for the loss of a single BB. This counter is typically only available to cheap con races, but it useful to remember if that is your situation. It can also help finish off a croby fleet getting long in the tooth, age wise.
Cruisers and battlecruisers, on the other hand, will do no better than even against them, resource for resource. And you will need to match or exceed their range, without it confering any advantage as it can with frigates. While cruisers are superior to standard frigates in fighting power per resource, they are not superior to RS croby frigates.
Do not put too much stock in jihads as your counter to them. Until their shields are knocked down, the kill rate is quite low. Ordinary FFs lack the armor to withstand jihad fire, but croby ones do not have the problem. Chaff is also effective against a small jihad token. Generally it will take a large stack of beam warhships representing a comparable investment of resources to beat the croby horde.
Sincerely,
Jason Cawley
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