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 VictoriousDecisive 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.