From: awarwick@southcom.com.au Date sent: Sat, 8 Aug 1998 12:37:14 +1000 To: babylon5-wars@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU Subject: [B5W] NCW and battle report. Send reply to: babylon5-wars@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU Well, NCW arrived in Hobart, Australia (as well as 5000 US sailors from the CVN John C. Stennis, but thats another story.) I wasn't expecting it here, the ends of the world, for at least another 6 months (which is optomistic for when things finally arrive down here...) I finally get to see what everyone is talking about. After a first read, my first thoughts were Wow. A lot of interesting new ships and weapons, an interesting history of the war, plus some nice pics/maps. The new stuff seemed to fit nicely in with the overall style of both races - my main problem will be finding enough time to test them all out.... Definatly can't wait to see the other suppliments when they come out. The Assault on the Homeworld looks interesting - it'll definatly take a while to play. Even with their number advatages, I can see the Centauri getting hurt. Between the Ja'Stat, Bin'tak and 2 Dag'kar's, they can pump out 18 Ion Torps and 18 E-mines every 2 turns. That has got to hurt somewhat.... Anyway, I had my first play test earlier today, testing out a scenario I'm writing up. A small Narn scouting party, consisting of 1 Ka'toc Battle Destoryer, 2 Thentus Frigates, 1 Sho'kar Scout and 6 Goriths intercepted a distress call from what appeared to be an Arcismus under attack by a Darkner Fast Attack Frigate, a Maximus Frigate and a Mograth Frigate. As the battle started, the supposed Arcismus began shooting and lauching Rutarian Fighters did the Narn realise it was a Dargan Strike Crusier that had lead them into a trap.... Turn 1. The Narn forces closed on the Frigates as the 'Arcismus' manoveured to flank, still disguised. The Sho'kar painted up the Maximus while the rest of the ships targeted it. In reply, all Centauri ships targeted the Ka'toc. The Gorith's kept in close to the Narn ships, not risking themseleves in a charge on the Centauri. Despite the range and DEW, the firing was remarkable accurate. The Sho'kar landed 2 lucky TA shots on the Maximus (On a 3 or less, 2 of the 4 shots hit). The Ka'toc hit with both Heavy Laser shots, but the Mag Gun was interecepted. The first Thentus hit with a Medium Laser and 2 TAs, while the second Thentus hit with a Mdm Laser. The entire forward structure of the Maximus was removed, as well as damage being done to the primary structure and starboard thruster. The Centauri's fire was just as accurate, but less damaging. The Maximus hit with 4 of its 8 TA shots (on a 5 or less), while the Mograth hit with 2 Matter cannons, and the Darkner with 2 more Matter Cannon's and a Battle Laser. The Ka'toc lost a Hvy Laser, a TA, a Lt Pulse Cannon and a Retro, as well as receiveing damage to his jump engines, and an outlet critical on the other Retro. Turn 2. The two forces closed in to almost point blank range, the Thentus 2 and the Mograth participating in a fly by shoot-out. The rest of the Narn ships and the Goriths switched their attention to the Mograth, while the Maximus swung around to try and bring its rear TAs into arc. Unfortunatly for the Centauri, the Dargan misjudged its course, and instead of being able to centerline the Sho'kar, was only able to bring half its load to bear. Even worse, its course brought it close enough so that the Narn could spot it for what it was, a Dargan, and not a Arcismus. The Sho'kar landed 2 TA and 2 Burst shots into the Mograth, and despite no lock on, 2 TA and 2 lots of 2 Lt Pulse hits into the Dargan. The Mograth was laid into by 4 Lt pulse hits from the Ka'tor, 4 TA and a Burst from Thentus 1 and 8 TA and 2 Burst shots from Thentus 2. The Mograth hit 2 of the Goriths with its TAs, and put 2 TAs into the Ka'toc, while the Maximus could only hit with 1. Despite its bad position, the Dargan hit the Sho'kar with a Battle Laser, a Matter Cannon and 4 TAs. The Sho'kar's damage was minor, considering, loosing only a single Lt Pulse, though 2 TAs were damage and structural damage was incurred. The Dargan feared worse, 2 TAs blown off, plus holes being punched through the forward structure. The Mograth suffered major damage, loosing the Guardian, both Main Thrusters, a matter cannon, a retro and suffering damage to the Plasma Stream (it stayed on by 1 box), the other retro and the forward, aft and primary structures. Two Gorith's were destroyed, the remainging ones laying more damage into the aft structure, leaving it barely intact. Narn sensors picked up the emergance of a flight of Rutarian's into the fray... Turn 3. The Mograth tried to slow itself down so as not to over shoot the battle while the Dargan tried a tight turn to try and come in behind the Narn forces. Unfortunatly its turn wasn't sharp enough to bring its remaining charged heavy weapons into arc. The Narn ships stuck together and chased down the Darkner while the injured Maximus struggled to keep is rear TA's in arc. The Rutarians charged down on the Narn ships, the Gorith's valiantly moving to intercept. The Darkner was pounded by 4 TAs and a Burst beam from both Thentus and a TA and a Lt Pulse of 2 hits from the Sho'kar. The Ka'toc was hit by 3 TA shots from the Maximus, and a Matter cannon from the Darkner, while the Sho'kar suffered 2 TA shots from both the Dargan and the Mograth. The Darkner lost both Matter Cannons, a retro, and suffered extensive damage to the reamining Retro and the forward structure. The Ka'toc lost only a thruster, as well as suffering damage to the starboard thruster and forward structure. The Sho'kar lost a Burst beam and suffered minosr structural damage elsewhere. The dogfight saw 1 Gorith destroyed and another badly managled. Unfortunatly for the Narns, only 2 of their fighters hit, one watching in amazement as both shots did no damage to an oncoming Rutarian (2 1's rolled for damage). The other only slightly damaged a Rutarian. Meanwhile, the 2nd Rutarian flight was lauched from the Dargan.. Turn 4. The Mograth continued is slow down, unfortnatly the Ka'toc and reamaining Goriths closing on its tail. One flight of Rutarian's headed after the Goriths. The Dargan finally got into a position to fire at what it hoped would be the rear of the Narn ships, but both Thentus performed sharp turns only capable by agile ships and came roaring straight back down at the Dargan. The Sho'kar also managed to get into a postion to lend support. The 2nd flight of Rutarians flew between the Dargan and the oncoming Thentus to try and draw some fire. The Maximus continued to move around the egdes to try and keep its rear TA's in arc. The Dargan was pounded by the Thentus' and Sho'kar, both Thentus hitting with 2 Mdm Lasers, 1 burst beam and 4 TA shots, while the Sho'kar landed 3 TA shots and a Burst beam. The Ka'toc's Mag gun went off, slamming into the crippled Mograth. The Darkner managed to hit the Ka'toc in reply with a Battlelaser, while the Dargan shot 6 TAs and 2 matter cannon's into the Sho'kar. As shot after shot slammed into the Dargan, the entire forward structure was ripped off, and yet still more shots landed, destroying the Sensors and seriously damaging the structure, hangers and engine. Finally the ship gave out as a Burst beam from the Sho'kar destroyed the ship's reactor, leaving it floating dead in space.... The Mograth lost it's entire aft structure to the mag gun, as well as some primary structure. The Ka'toc was barely damaged by the Darkner, though the Sho'kar lost its starboard structure and had its jump engines damaged by the Dargan. The remaining Gorith's were destroyed by the 1st flight of Rutarian's while the 2nd laid into one of the Thentus, destroying a Mdm Laser and a TA. I called the battle there, the Centauri in a poor situation. The Dargan was destroyed, the Mograth crippled (Aft structure gone, forward half gone. The plasma stream and one retro were barely hanging on, while the other retro, a matter cannon and the guardian were destoyed.) The Darkner had lost both matter cannons, a retro and 3/5ths of its forward structure. The Maximus had lost its forward structure, and was down to 2 TAs and 3 Guardians. The Rutarians had one craft damaged, but the rest were fine. On the Narn side, the Gorith's were gone, the Sho'kar had lost its starboard structure, 1 Thentus was undamaged, while the other had lost a TA, a Mdm Laser and 1/s its forward structure. The Ka'toc had lost both retros, both Hvy Laser and forward Lt Pule cannons, 3/5ths of its forward structure and 2/5ths of its starboard structure. Narn Thoughts: I love the Thentus. Fast, manoveurable, reasonable cheap and with decent armamanent, using them in pairs like I did can cause problems. I'll have to try a trio of them next... The Sho'kar performed admirably, thought I'd hate to end up on the recieving end of a Corvan, or worse still, a Minbari ELINT ship (I'd be guessing at least 16 - 18 EW, maybe more - very scary thought, especially with jammers...) Yes, it isn't very good, but it is an ELINT ship and can prove useful. The main problem with the Ka'toc is its lack of fighter defense. Personally, I'd go with a G'Quan, which is just as manoveurable, faster, tougher, more heavily armed, bigger fighter load and only 120 more points. The Mag Gun is nice, but you need to get nice and close to use it.. The Goriths do give the Narn improved dog-fighting abilities over the Frazi's, though the best they could do it hold their own. A mix force of Goriths and Frazis would do well, the Gorith trying to keep other fighters off the Frazi's during strafing runs on ships. The Burst beam is a fun little weapon, though not in the Matter cannon's league... Mind you, the fact it did finish off the Dargan may have influenced my decision somewhat. Centauri Thoughts: Of the little I saw of the Rutarian's, they are tough. Destroyed a Gorith flight with no loses and put a few holes in a Thentus. If I had continued, they may have changed things somewhat, though probably not enough to win the battle. The Matter cannon is a nasty support weapon, though the lack of overkill does limit it. Still, it is great for stripping systems and a number of shots from this could easily cave in a side of even the largest ship. The Plasma Stream never hit, so its effect I can't judge. The Guardian's are good (if fragile) system, preventing even worse damage to the Maximus on the first turn. The Centauri ships perform admirable and stood up well to quite a pounding, though were perahps a little under powered compaed to the Narns weaponary, at least on the ships chosen. I probably also didn't use them quite properly, so will need to test them again. I'll continue to test the various ships and weapons and hopefully put up a web page one day with further opinions.. Cheers, *********************************************************** Andrew Warwick awarwick@southcom.com.au There's too much blood in my Caffine System............ ***********************************************************