Author Topic: Battle for Barnard's Star  (Read 36125 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline MarcAFK

  • Vice Admiral
  • **********
  • Posts: 2005
  • Thanked: 134 times
  • ...it's so simple an idiot could have devised it..
Re: Battle for Barnard's Star
« Reply #15 on: November 20, 2015, 04:36:32 PM »
The main disadvantage of AMM vessels is the poor total warhead load, even at fairly early tech level most ASMs have more than 1 WH per MSP. However I find myself equipping my AMM escorts with size 1s of greater warhead for anti ship use. I did need to sacrifice an anti missile fire control to make room for a longer range low resolution one for the new missiles though.
" Why is this godforsaken hellhole worth dying for? "
". . .  We know nothing about them, their language, their history or what they look like.  But we can assume this.  They stand for everything we don't stand for.  Also they told me you guys look like dorks. "
"Stop exploding, you cowards.  "
 

Offline sublight (OP)

  • Moderator
  • Captain
  • *****
  • s
  • Posts: 592
  • Thanked: 17 times
Re: Battle for Barnard's Star
« Reply #16 on: November 21, 2015, 08:19:38 AM »
I almost went with str-2 anti-ship missiles for that fleet. Trouble was, that also made those missiles 36% slower. While 30.6k km/s is still potent I thought I'd err on defense penetration and accuracy over payload. Currently the showcased anti-missile fleet is second only to the missile artillery fleet in total warhead strength.
 

Offline sublight (OP)

  • Moderator
  • Captain
  • *****
  • s
  • Posts: 592
  • Thanked: 17 times
Re: Battle for Barnard's Star
« Reply #17 on: December 01, 2015, 11:02:47 PM »
Round 1, Match 4: Mine Layers vs Beam Leviathans

[Squire Hetsch] "Commander on Deck!"

[Knight Birnbaum] "At ease. Our first strike earlier today was disappointingly ineffective and uncoordinated, but never the less highly informative. SIGINT, begin presentation."

[Chaplain Pfaff] "Sir! Current anylsis indicates that we are facing a quartet of 14kTon battleships protected by class-50 shields plus energy point defenses. Primary point defense consists of either turreted meson or gauss cannons capable of either destroying either 7 missiles every 5 seconds or 13 missiles per volley on a slower cycle. Secondary point defenses consist of 15cm laser turrets capable of destroying no less than 11 missiles per volley. Opposing forces have a maximum speed of 3213 KPS. Evidence suggests the battleships are not armed with missiles.

"Initial contact consisted of passive signatures on four class-50 shields moving at 2143 KPS. Following standard protocol, our Sepulchre minelayers each fired a load of self propelled mines toward the boogies. A miscoordination resulted in one Sepulchre firing early, but the time offset allowed for point defense timing analysis. It is my recommendation that this opening strike offset be made standard procedure.

"No missiles were intercepted by anti missile fire, but the battleships accelerated to 3213 KPS prior to impact and destroyed all sub-munitions with str-1 and str-6 point defense fire."

[Knight Birnbaum] "Thank you. Captains, our enemy has tipped their hand and shown us their full strength. To our advantage, we both out range and and run our opponent. With proper execution we should suffer no casualties. However, self propelled mines are clearly ineffective in offensive operation, and a single load of Broadsword missile pods will also be ineffective in the open field. Therefore, we will be once again splitting the fleet.

"Broadsword 004, Sepulchre 004, and Crossbow 004 will return to our entry point to reinforce the missile pods deployed there and brace for assault. After the second wave of pod missiles impacts the enemy the broadsword will evacuate as many pods as possible through the jump point to safety, with the Sepulchre mining the far side in case our foes try to follow through. Meanwhile, Squire Hetsch will take the remaining forces and secure both sides of enemy jump point with conventional mines.

"Do our country proud, and will will have this war won before Broadswords one through three return with reinforcing missile pods. Does anyone have any further questions or comments for the record? ... No? SIGINT, seal the record and transmit a secure copy to high command. Dismissed!"

* * * Interlude - Leviathan Perspective * * *

The Krivak pressed onward. Their opponents had attempted trickery with multi-warhead-missiles, but had failed horribly. Even a single mighty Krivak could have weathered -that- anemic missile attack. This should be a quick bloodless victory.

What!
Wait!
How!?


* * * * * * *

[Knight Birnbaum] "Hetsch, make a note. Medals for the Broadsword 004! They did it. All missile pods fired and evacuated before the battleships could close, and 28 kilotons of warhships destroyed.

"Make a second note. One hundred and twenty missiles is -exactly- enough to destroy a 14 kiloton battleship with escorts. 24 missiles destroyed by point defense fire, 12 blocked by shielding, the 33rd shield-penetrating missile causing atmospheric venting, and the final missile breaking her back. Amazing.

"They don't know it yet, but we've won! Half their fleet destroyed, and we control their jump point. They only have two ships left, and one will have to transit their own jump point to prove it clear and when it does... heh heha BWHAHAHAH... ho...

"Oh, strike that last comment from the record before transmitting if you will."

* * * Interlude - Leviathan Perspective * * *

Ship log May 24th 0140 - Krivak 004. Discovery of 12x salovs of 3x size-7 missiles similar to the 'ineffectual' missile buses seen earlier. New Orders: Proceed to 230k km from jump point and destroy missiles at range with area fire.

Ship log May 24th 0146 - Seven missile bus salvos activated just before entering beam range, unleashing 63 size-2 submunitions. 10x point defense interceptions, 52x str-4 explosions, no internal damage, everything absorbed by shields and armor.

Ship log May 24th 0201 - All mines have been destroyed without incident, including 'duds'. Returning to enemy jump point to exchange stations with Krivak 002 rather than risking jump point transit with dangerously thin armor.

* * * * * * *

[Squire Hetsch] "Commander on Deck!"

[Knight Birnbaum] "At ease. I regret we have insufficient champagne to distribute to the enlisted, but that is one lesson learned that must be rectified before future action. Any further lessons learned?"

[Squire Hetsch] "Self propelled mines can be deployed on jump points indefinitely, but should only be used such as a last resort." [Muted groans and uneasy laughter]

[Chaplain Pfaff] "108 sub munitions are insufficient to guarentee a kill against a jump blind battleship, which I -still- can't believe was able to survive transit with an active scanner and an engine intact.

*
*
*



Mine Layers are Victorious
Decisive Victory!

Losses:
Beam Leviathans: Three Krivak battleships, heavy armor damage to fourth.
Mine Layers: None. Missile/fuel expenditures only.

Final Thoughts:
The Beam 'Leviathans' were remarkably brittle. Highly resistant to small volleys even as individual ships, but not so much to heavy alpha strikes. I was not expecting them to loose a ship in the first serious missile strike.
« Last Edit: December 02, 2015, 06:00:06 AM by sublight »
 

Offline Sematary

  • Commodore
  • **********
  • Posts: 732
  • Thanked: 7 times
Re: Battle for Barnard's Star
« Reply #18 on: December 01, 2015, 11:11:26 PM »
That was a good battle.
 

Offline sublight (OP)

  • Moderator
  • Captain
  • *****
  • s
  • Posts: 592
  • Thanked: 17 times
Re: Battle for Barnard's Star
« Reply #19 on: December 05, 2015, 02:50:36 PM »
 8)


Round 1, Match 5: Fast Heavy Cruisers vs Anti-Missile Destroyers

Ladies and Gentlemen, The Battle for Barnard's Star presents the FINAL battle of Round 1, featuring a pure overpowered anti-missile fleet included by popular demand pitted against a new, arguably improved, varient of the fast-railgun strategy that proved effective in the Alpha Centauri Arena.

The date is June 5th, 2025. Entering from the north via the GJ 1002 jump point is the AntiMissile fleet displacing 60.7 kT and armed exclusively with size-one missiles, the majority of which are anti-missiles. From the south entering directly via the Sol jump point is the Fast Heavy fleet displacing 56.4 kT and armed with a mix of railguns and high power microwaves. At 10,000 km/s these are also the fastest ships of the line, outpaced only by the beam fighter scouts and FAC missile boats.

Both task forces detach their non-combat vessels and proceed at full speed down the middle toward an inevitable clash.

June 6th, 17:38 - First contact by the Anti-missile fleet when they detect the R100 active scanner of the Hurk-100 just over 133m km out. Active scanner contact follows at 19:48, and when the fleets cross the 37.5m km mark the anti-missile fleet opens fire with tripple waves of 162x S1-ASM missiles, targeting one and a half waves each on the Hurk-100 and Hurk-1 001. Once the missiles cross the point at which the fast heavy cruisers could have turned and outran them the fleet turns back toward their entry point to maximize the engagement time.

Impact! With a combined closing velocity of 58k km/s the missiles be a stroke of luck skipped completely over the Heavy Cruisers's detection range. All damage was absorbed by armor, so first blood doesn't occur yet.

Momentarily uncertain the cruisers cancel movement orders and remain in place to weather the missile storm. The second wave impacts, and breaks through to destroy an active scanner, crew quarter, and maintenance bay. The third wave breaks through on the Hurk-1 001 to destroy a single fire control. The storm ends, and the cruisers resume their advance.

For their part, the Anti-missile fleet takes a few minutes to finishes cross-loading ammunition to compensate for the small magazines on the Abasolo and launches a fourth and final wave of dedicated ASMs split evenly against the two damaged targets and reverse course to close for offensive anti-missile operations.

Impact! The fast heavy fleet saw this wave coming and engaged, but enough leakers struck true to destroy the engine on the Hurk-100 knocking it out of formation. By this point the Hurk-EM has picked up the Res-9 scanners on the Anti-missile fleet, and elect to leave the crippled Hurk behind while racing onward to their foe.

The Anti-missile fleet concludes two full waves per target are necessary, and begin launching one the fleets are 3.5 million km apart, with orders to follow at 2.5m km.



However, the anti-missile fleet neglected to consider that while the ASMs were striking with less than 55% accuracy the ASMs would strike with 100% perfection. The result was overkill. More missiles are believed to have self destructed for lack of a target than were shot down by opposing point defenses.



The only survivors were a single ship the destroyer fleet had neglected to target plus the previously wounded ships the anti-missile fleet was saving for later. When all was said and down every fast heavy cruiser was destroyed and the anti missile destroyers still had 552 anti-missiles in magazines, enough to have potentially taken down an additional cruiser.

Winners: Anti-Missile Fleet
Decisive Victory


Round 1 Result Summery:
Missile Artillery vs Beam Fighters       - Beam Fighters win [Marginal]
Stealth Missiles vs Fast Rail Frigates   - Fast Rail win [Decisive]
Missile FAC vs Tractor Module Beams - FAC win [Decisive]
Mine Layers vs Beam Leviathans       - Mine layers win [Decisive]
Anti-Missiles vs Fast Heavy               - Anti-Missiles win [Decisive]

Round 2 Bracketing:
Fast Rail Frigates vs Missile FAC
Mine Layers vs Anti-Missiles
Beam Fighters vs Stealth Missiles
Missile Artillery vs Tractor Module Beams
Beam Leviathans vs Fast Heavy

I intend to play out Round 2 over the coming weeks. I am not yet sure if there will be a conclusive Round 3 or if I will be ready to switch over to Aurora vs 7 at that time.
« Last Edit: December 05, 2015, 02:58:48 PM by sublight »
 

Offline MarcAFK

  • Vice Admiral
  • **********
  • Posts: 2005
  • Thanked: 134 times
  • ...it's so simple an idiot could have devised it..
Re: Battle for Barnard's Star
« Reply #20 on: December 12, 2015, 06:25:36 AM »
Interesting, the speed of the fast cruisers actually caused the incoming munitions to not be detected, turning an asset into a fatal flaw. If they had known what the opposing fleet was capable of different tactics might have helped. Perhaps zig zagging towards the AMM fleet at 4-5000 km/s, closing time would be worse, allowing much more salvos in, but allowing detection and possibly course reversal before impact to get in an additional defensive shot.

Though it's pretty obvious that the anaemic missile sensor is what failed Nightstars fleet.  It was is close though, an extra 20k range would probably have been enough.
" Why is this godforsaken hellhole worth dying for? "
". . .  We know nothing about them, their language, their history or what they look like.  But we can assume this.  They stand for everything we don't stand for.  Also they told me you guys look like dorks. "
"Stop exploding, you cowards.  "
 

Offline sublight (OP)

  • Moderator
  • Captain
  • *****
  • s
  • Posts: 592
  • Thanked: 17 times
Re: Battle for Barnard's Star
« Reply #21 on: December 12, 2015, 08:27:59 AM »
Sensor coverage was not quite that bad. Failed missile detection while possible only occurred by chance that one time. The biggest issue was that high speed missile dodging was a key feature for the fast heavy cruisers, but the offensively used AMMs were accurate enough to completely negate that feature.

--------------------------------------------------
Round 2, Match 1: Fast Rail Frigates vs FAC Missile Boats

Crewman Elis nudged a drifting corpse aside from within the charnel house that was once a Halifax class Frigate, pausing only long enough to open the singed helmet and close the sightless eyes. It was a small respect now performed by detached habit. The Halifax had just survived her fourth missile bombardment as the cursed enemy had, once again, underestimated the damage they needed to end her. Fifteen hours ago he had fought the pain and shock of the first casualties with the stoic detachment of duty. Now with the dead outnumbering the living 3:2 the survivors were either as numb as he from exhaustion and horror... or had joined the physicaly dead as psyciatitric losses.

Every engine was offline, as were all weapons, fire controls, sensors, and reactors. Engineering was at 50%, but thanks to priority in the damage control queue engineering had already been destroyed twice over. He wasn't sure how many of the original damage control crew had survived. Life support faired better and was mostly intact, as was the emergancy cyrogenic chamber which was somehow online. The ship should have been quite, but now creaked worse than an old house as softened bulkheads shifted and inconvenient battle damage was hammered aside.

The halifax would not survive another engagement, and could not be repaired to combat ready status. All available fuel and maintenance supplies would be transferred to surviving ships, and those still aboard the halifax were to board lifepods and abandon ship the instant the next wave of missiles were detected.

Not that the remaining ships were any better. She was the last of the Halifax, and had outlasted the twin Protector class frigates. Annapolis 001 had died first to the anti-missiles trying to bring down the enemy scouts. All three Kingstons were still flying, but two had survived almost as much and were left with crews half dead. Only one frigate stood untouched, but one frigate alone could not hold two jump points.

Crewman Ellis paused as he came to the sealed bulkhead to his quarters, following orders to gather essential personal effects prior to abandoning ship. The patched tel-tails showed red. He had forgotten the small crew quarter he shared had been destroyed earlier and left unrepaired. Not that he wanted any keepsakes of this. Tomorrow would be bad enough, waiting, adrift unknowing if rescuer, interrogator, or the ticking clock would arrive first.

Waiting. If patterns held it would be another eight hours before the missile swarm returned. Eight hours to gather any gear worth saving, to prepare the newly dead for the funeral pyre, the entire Halifax now their boat. Nothing else to do but wait.
Eight hours.
Then unknown days.
Waiting.

Waiting is always the hardest part.

--------------------------------------------------

[20 hours later: July 7th 19:55] Fast Rail fleet detects in bounded active scanner

[2:10 later: 22:10] FAC fleet gain active scanner coverage of incoming frigates

[23:12] First missile interception
20x5x missiles -> 34x PD block, 44 hits, 1x protector destroyed by str34+25 secondary

[23:31] Anapolis catches up with Trinkat scanners 19 minutes after impact. Only two Trinkat's remain providing active scanner overwatch. It moved in for the kill with the onboard popgun.

[23:38] Trinkat detect inbound Annapolis. Trinkat's turn and run. Two Nirbhik interceptors are ordered to turn back and rescue the scouts.

[07:51] Annapolis impacted by 4 str-1 hits from unknown source
[07:53] Additional 6 str-1 impacts finish off Annapolis.

[10:15] FAC return to station after reloading, launch 2nd wave split between two Halifax, first and last salvo on surviving Protector

[10:42] 28 point defense losses, one of two targeted Halifax vanishes with twin secondary detonations [str23,24]

[14:53] FAC finish reloading. Protector reports exceptional repair progress

[19:56] FAC fire 3rd wave

[20:23] Impact: 49x Str4 detonations, 1x Str36 secondary, 17x interceptions: Protector Destroyed

9th [2:17] 4th wave impact: Targets were stationary on jump point, but interception guidance calculated each target was on a different heading causing wave to break up and impact independent at different times for a greatly reduced effect

[4:31] FAC close to close range for offensive AMM use, and appear on frigate scanners for the first time.

[4:36] Detonation, just 7x interceptions. Annapolis are dispatch to try and run down FAC.

[12:01] Detonation, 80+ Str-1 detonations.

[19:14] 85x Str1 impacts

[05:23] FAC anti-missiles strike again, targeting both the wounded and shifting surplus fire to the previously untouched Kingston. The Fast rails broadcast their conditional surrender. Their three remaining mobile military ships would collect lifepods from the field of battle and fall back, conceding Barnard's Star to the Missile Swarm.

------------------------------
Decisive Victory for the  FAC Missile Boats:
Missile Boat Losses: None.
Frigate Survivors: 2x Kingston Frigates, 1x Annapolis Fast Scout, all Iroquois Tankers.
 

Offline sublight (OP)

  • Moderator
  • Captain
  • *****
  • s
  • Posts: 592
  • Thanked: 17 times
Re: Battle for Barnard's Star
« Reply #22 on: December 17, 2015, 05:52:48 PM »
Round 2, Match 2: Mine Layers vs AMM Fleet

A story of somewhat less successful circumstances.

[Squire Hetsch] "Commander on Deck!"

[Knight Birnbaum] "At ease. Weapons, what is our first strike ETA?"

[Chaplain Schnur] "2 minutes 55 sec Sir! Just past the 2 million klick mark, now coming up on 1.8"

[Knight Birnbaum] "Very well. Confirm recording."

[Chaplain Pfaff] "Telemetry nominal. Recording confirmed. We should... ohh"

[Chaplain Pfaff] "Telemetry lost. Interdiction at 1.6 million K. 100% looses. Sir."

[Knight Birnbaum] "... Execute contingency plan Charlie. Broadsword with escort fall back to entry point. Remaining forces bipass engagement and conventionally mine enemy point. One third static mine ordinance on each side of gate. Crossbow 003 to follow opposing fleet to maintain contact."

* * * Fleet Combat Log Entries: August 2025 * * *
August 1, 2015
August 1

21:28 Active scanner detected: S60/R18. Emission is inside R9 detection range, <400 tons.

22:58 120x Size-2 inbound missiles detected. Reversed direction to maximize engagement time. Still firing 1:1 (only size-2)
22:59 First interception, 27x destroyed.
23:00 4x leakers. Str-4 warheads. All damage was absorbed by armor.

23:28 Two opposing ships transit. TCS 95 and TCS 63
23:28 Fired single wave of 6x18 ASMs on each target

23:30 100x Size-2 inbound missiles detect. Same protocol as before.
23:31 3x leakers impact. Str-4 warheads. All damage absorbed by armor.

23:36 ASMs impact. No point defense fire. TCS 95 target destroyed by class-27 secondary explosion after 72nd impact.
23:36 TCS 63 target jumps out of system 5 seconds ahead of second wave. Missiles self destruct.

August 2nd
00:03 Active scanner contact: 3x fighter classes, 32x fighters total. See Table C-M.
00:03 Initial salvo of 9x ASM missiles targeting all four active-scanner equipped fighters plus one each of other classes.
00:10 Impact. All fighters destroyed by 3-5 missiles, except target 'Baldwin'
00:11 Begin firing at will. 6x ASM per target.

00:36 All fighters destroyed, excluding Baldwin. Each Baldwin has survived 12-18 impacts without loss. Reclassifying as decoy and ending fire.

* * * * * * *

[Knight Birnbaum] "SIGINT, Report."

[Chaplain Pfaff] "Sir... recommend surrender sir."

"Our first exploratory wave was destroyed with extreme competence. Both Alpha and Beta waves destroyed without effect. The Broadsword attempted to evacuate one flight of mines, but was destroyed instantly after a foolish heroic stand to observe missile effects. The single set of thermal signatures 5 seconds before impact was all they ever saw.

"Optimistically, only the six ships designated 'Tapajo' have missiles. If their magazine ratio is the same as our Sepulchre then they have 400 missiles each, 2400 or more total.

"Sir, They have no more than 500 missiles offensively, and at most 1000 missiles defensively assuming a 4:1 kill ratio. That leaves no less than 900 missiles unaccounted for.  They have more full salvos remaining than we have ships.

[Knight Birnbaum] "And if we sacrifice our ships?"

[Chaplain Pfaff] "Optimistically? The reloaded Broadsword transit unopposed, and our mines conventional and heavy destroy half their fleet, then run out of ordinance. A stalemate, but with near total loss on our side. Pessimistically? The other ships also have missiles, or they rearm with collier, and our sacrifice was for nothing."

------------------------------------------------------------------
Decisive Victory for the AMM Fleet:
AMM Losses: None.
Mine Layer Losses: 1x Broadsword, all initial fighters.

A sufficiently large anti-missile-missile engagement window is one of the few reliable defenses against heavy alpha-strikes. Defeating AMMs requires either rapid sustained small missile fire of your own or else sufficiently deep magazines to run AMM stores dry. Despite firing first, second, and third the minelayers could do neither.
 

Offline sublight (OP)

  • Moderator
  • Captain
  • *****
  • s
  • Posts: 592
  • Thanked: 17 times
Re: Battle for Barnard's Star
« Reply #23 on: December 26, 2015, 07:32:08 AM »
Round 2, Match 3: Beam Fighters vs Stealth Missile Cruisers

Draw!

In the battle of Barnard's star each side made a critical mistake that should have resulted in a decisive victory for the opposing force.

The fight opened according to classic tactics. The Barracuda and Tarantula fighters headed off down the middle and met the Stealth cruisers half way, picking up the R100 active scanners. The Stealth fleet opened fire with the Size-4 Synchronous ASM missiles and Size-1 Dualing ASM once the fighters began to approach the point of no return for a missile interception, and as with other opponents underestimated the fighter armor. Fighters with armor damage turned back while the others pressed forward while the stealth fleet increased, then increased again their fire power. The final barracuda made a hard push, but was destroyed just a quarter m km short of gaining an active sensor lock. Without an active scanner the fighters were forced to turn back without ever seeing more than the R-100 active signature. The fighters had lost two Barracudas and a Tarantula, the Cruisers had fired more missiles than were carried by their Sydney collier. The Cruisers paused long enough to empty the Sydney and send her back for a missile reload.  The fighters returned to their carriers for repair.

Then the cruisers made a critical error.

Seeking to catch any emerging force jump blind they set up their blockade just 270k km off of the enemy jump point.

The Beam fighters made their signature interception. The fast Barracudas and Tarantulas charged in from the West, Black Widow escorts came in from the East, and the Jaguar and Scorpion Fighters came up from the South. Once the first missile impacted against the approaching forces the returning reinforcements made their jump transit, North.

The cruisers were caught with their size-4 launchers in mid cycle, but were quick to begin launching AMM offensively.

10 seconds after transit 30x str1 warheads impacted the Doberman jump carrier.
15 seconds and 6x str-4 warheads impacted
20 seconds and 30x str1 warheads, but the doberman is no longer jump blind and launches her fighters.
25 seconds and the two accompanying wolverines overcome their fire delays and launch fighters. The Stealth cruisers finally begin to run.
30 seconds and the fighters North fighter force begins their attack run against a fleet just 300k km distant.

It was a desperate fight, with cruisers tossing everything out the launch tubes as fast as they could. After the first microwave impact they prioritized the Scorpions. The R-10 active scanner was lost, a fighter was destroyed, then three, then all Scorpions were down. Destruction of the meson armed Jaguars followed.

The Stealth Cruisers had survived for the Beam fighters had made a fatal error of their own: Only one of the Microwaved armed Scorpion fighters had registered orders to open fire. Masked by the energy impacts of the Mason cannons and the single firing Microwave this oversight went unnoticed until all was too late. Only the Amphion was fully blinded, with one Melbourne loosing an R10 fire control and the other loosing the active scanner. Other components had been destroyed by meson impacts, but all cruisers other than the blind Amphion remained combat capable.

By all rights the Stealth Cruisers should have been helpless within 25 seconds of the first microwave hit. Instead they destroyed all but two jump gate fighters plus a third of the flanking fighters, leaving every Barracuda dead or fleeing for repairs. At that point the Stealth cruisers deactivated their large R-100 scanners and escaped for a rendezvous with the returning Sydney. Having proven themselves capable of replenishing missiles in greater quantities than the Beam Fighters could replace their own losses the Stealth Cruisers were declared victorious. However, since they could just as easily have lost if the Beam fighters had not fumbled their assault this was graded only a marginal victory.

* * * * *

Marginal Victory for the Stealth Cruisers
Stealth Cruisers: 30 casualties, no lost ships.
Beam Fighters: Lost 1x Doberman, 23x assorted fighters
 

Offline sublight (OP)

  • Moderator
  • Captain
  • *****
  • s
  • Posts: 592
  • Thanked: 17 times
Re: Battle for Barnard's Star
« Reply #24 on: January 04, 2016, 06:47:28 PM »
Round 2, Match 4: Missile Artillery vs Tractor Modules



Historical Notes: Depicted above is a sensor recording logged of the opening salvo impact of the September War. The fight is considered to mark the pinnacle of beam-based anti-missile defenses with fifty-five out of one hundred and four missiles destroyed. However, the remaining missiles proved enough to destroy one ship, the Lancea 001. The following five waves of delivery vans resulted in two additional kills plus two cripples, including a Verutum which exposed the tractor link dependency.

Although the damage was comparatively light enough had been done to place the burden of offense onto the tractor module fleet. The tractor fleet was obliged to split forces to simultaneously break the blockade on their own jump point without giving up control of their enemies entry point. They failed. With weakened mutual point defense a single final wave of delivery van cluster missiles followed by just two waves of torpedo was enough to destroy or cripple every ship sent back to brake the blockade. Single-salvo follow up waves then destroyed both returning Verutum tugs before either came within 100m km of their home jump point.

The complete failure of dedicated beam point defense platforms to resist heavy sustained missile fire in the magneto plasma age marked the end of the beam point defense erra. Hens-forth anti-missile missile defenses and pre-preemptive long range missile fire became the norm, with beam weaponry retained only for jump point defense. As a side effect beam weapon technical research languished until...

-----------------------------------------------------
Marginal Victory: Missile Artillery (Won via tie-breaker conditions)

Artillery Losses: None.
Tractor Fleet Losses: 3x Verutum, 3x Spiculum, 3x Lancea + 2x Lancea Cripples.

-----------------------------------------------------

I very much want to start a new game in 7.20 whenever that comes out, so I will probably only run two more fights in Barnard's Star: The final match up of Round 2 plus a championship fight between the only two undefeated fleets: Missile-FAC vs Anti-Missiles.
 

Offline MarcAFK

  • Vice Admiral
  • **********
  • Posts: 2005
  • Thanked: 134 times
  • ...it's so simple an idiot could have devised it..
Re: Battle for Barnard's Star
« Reply #25 on: January 04, 2016, 09:43:25 PM »
That last match sounds like it'll be very explosive. However AMM should win hands down, larger weight of fire, massive missile reserves, and more durable ships. I didn't analyse their sensors though but I'm confident the engagement range of the destroyers is going to be longer.
« Last Edit: January 04, 2016, 09:53:33 PM by MarcAFK »
" Why is this godforsaken hellhole worth dying for? "
". . .  We know nothing about them, their language, their history or what they look like.  But we can assume this.  They stand for everything we don't stand for.  Also they told me you guys look like dorks. "
"Stop exploding, you cowards.  "
 

Offline sublight (OP)

  • Moderator
  • Captain
  • *****
  • s
  • Posts: 592
  • Thanked: 17 times
Re: Battle for Barnard's Star
« Reply #26 on: January 17, 2018, 12:32:25 PM »
Well, its been a year but I was suddenly in the urge to play replay Aurora. Thus my return to finish this series.

Round 2, Match 5: Beam Leviathans vs Fast Heavy

Beam knife fights are fast and furious. This one probably won't be an exception even with the Fast Heavy fleet trying to initially maintain range. On the left with the range advantage our the Beam Leviathans. Their fleet is armed with 40x turreted 15cm lasers each with a 240,000km range. However the long-range fire controls only support 4,000 km/s tracking speeds. On the right are is the Fast Heavy fleet, flying at 10,000 km/s they are the fastest non-hanger carried ships of this arena and armed with sixteen large high-power microwaves.

The fleets begin their approach with only R1 scanners active.
The Fast Heavy fleet detects the Leviathans first via the EM Shield signatures.
The Leviathans gain active scanner locks.
The Heavies gain active scanner locks!
Less than 1m km to interception...
The Leviathans are reversing course to maximize their long range advantage...
1st Shot! the Leviathans score 2x str-1 impacts on a randomly selected unique class...
2nd Shot! the Leviathans score 9x str-1 impacts... and we have word that is the Hurk-EM being targeted.
85k km! Both sides open fire. 7x microwave impacts by the Heavies, 12x str-2 impacts by the Leviathans!

They fire again in syn exchanging blows ever 10-seconds.
And again! Armor is breached! Shields are down! The Heavies take 6 casualites when the EM Detection sensor is destroyed and order the Hurk-EM to withdraw.
They fire again! The first Krivak was already electrically fried but the Heavies are taking no chances. The Leviathans target another unique: the Hurk-10.

It would appear that the Heavies are having trouble holding position. They keep oscillating between 85k km and 51k km as they battle to control range.

And now the second Krivak is being targeted as they exchange blows again...
And again!...
And again!... The second Krivak's shields are down!
The heavies fire a 4th time to be certain, and the second Hurk's armor is breached with a microwave, railgun, and fusion reactor destroyed.

The heavies retarget and order the damaged Hurk to withdraw. The Leviathans split their fleet with the two intact Battleships reversing to charge forward while the fried Leviathans flee in an attempt at damage control.

Fire! The Leviathans levy one last hopeful barrage at the fleeing hurk but no additional damage makes it through the armor.
Fire! The Leviathans now focus on the Hurk-100, but are only firing at 50% strength vs 75% strength by the Heavies.
Fire! Shields are breached, but with the reduced fire the Leviathan is still combat capable.
Fire!
Fire for certainty!

Only one Leviathan is still active and its shields are going... going... gone! The Hurk-100's armor is gouged but intact.
The Heavies move in for the kill using railguns, with the armored battleship surviving a full 40s before collapsing under fire.
It is over! The Heavies move on to chase down the blind with the leviathans having insuficient time to repair even one component much less a working scanner/FC combo.

-----------------------------------------------------
Decisive Victory: Fast Heavy

Heavy Losses: None, (2 with repairable component damage)
Leviathan Losses: Total destruction
-----------------------------------------------------

Round 1 Result Summery:
Missile Artillery vs Beam Fighters       - Beam Fighters win [Marginal]
Stealth Missiles vs Fast Rail Frigates   - Fast Rail win [Decisive]
Missile FAC vs Tractor Module Beams - FAC win [Decisive]
Mine Layers vs Beam Leviathans       - Mine layers win [Decisive]
Anti-Missiles vs Fast Heavy               - Anti-Missiles win [Decisive]

Round 2 Bracketing:
Fast Rail Frigates vs Missile FAC        - Missile FAC win [Decisive]
Mine Layers vs Anti-Missiles             - Anti-Missiles win [Decisive]
Beam Fighters vs Stealth Missiles     - Stealth Missiles win [Marginal]
Missile Artillery vs Tractor Module Beams - Missile Artillery win [Marginal]
Beam Leviathans vs Fast Heavy        - Fast Heavy win [Decisive]

Round 3 Bracketing:
Tier-1 2-0:
    Missile FAC vs Anti-Missiles

Tier-2 1-1:
    Fast Rail Frigates vs Beam Fighters
    Missile Artillery vs Stealth Missiles
    Mine Layers vs Fast Heavy

Tier-3 0-2:
    Beam Leviathans vs Tractor Module Beams

For Round-3 Tier-2 I intentionally paired fleets that had fought vs missiles in both previous rounds against a beam fleet, and fleets that had fought against beams in both previous rounds against a missile opponent.
 

Offline JacenHan

  • Captain
  • **********
  • Posts: 454
  • Thanked: 115 times
  • Discord Username: Jacenhan
Re: Battle for Barnard's Star
« Reply #27 on: January 17, 2018, 06:27:03 PM »
Well, its been a year but I was suddenly in the urge to play replay Aurora. Thus my return to finish this series.

Two years since you last updated this! I'm surprised you still have the save. The match was interesting, I've never really used microwaves, since I typically prefer a homogeneous beam armament on my ships, and microwaves on their own are pretty useless.
« Last Edit: January 17, 2018, 06:29:43 PM by JacenHan »
 

Offline TCD

  • Lt. Commander
  • ********
  • T
  • Posts: 229
  • Thanked: 16 times
Re: Battle for Barnard's Star
« Reply #28 on: January 18, 2018, 08:26:37 AM »
Yes, the effectiveness of the microwave ships is very interesting. Of course they still got their ass kicked by the AMM fleet.
 

Offline sublight (OP)

  • Moderator
  • Captain
  • *****
  • s
  • Posts: 592
  • Thanked: 17 times
Re: Battle for Barnard's Star
« Reply #29 on: January 18, 2018, 12:21:54 PM »
Two years since you last updated this!

Oh, right. Last year was when I tried to get a multiplayer serial attack challenge going.
...
That does explain why the save was for version 6.43.


As a teaser I'll run Fast Rail Frigates vs Beam Fighters for more microwave action next before moving on to the Missile FAC vs Anti-Missiles finals. Ideally I'd save the winners showdown for the end, but I want to make sure that one gets played before I loose interest and disappear again.