The Northern Coalition (AAR)

[joeclark77]

Gallacite is not a widely mined material but it is critical for engines.

It is also darned critical for missiles, which are mostly made out of engines and which you have been producing at a brisk rate.  This is something that often comes up with missile-heavy ship designs.

[Paul M (OP)]

It is also darned critical for missiles, which are mostly made out of engines and which you have been producing at a brisk rate.  This is something that often comes up with missile-heavy ship designs.

Well the amount of Gallacite needed per missile is small but in the numbers I've had to make it also contributes, probably more than I think since I see cost 0.5 or 1.5 and ignore it.  I think though that the 25 Galacite per engine refit cost were the big driver.  Basically I didn't pay enough attention to this, mainly because I've always seemed to have a goodly amount of it on hand.  But I think a few comets ran out.  The good news is that Venus has it in the millions with an availablity of 0.8 so I should be able to recover from my stupidity.

It is interesting to look at my stockpiles:  I had 650 Hawk I(I) CMs, then 1100 Hawk II CMs, then 1100 Hawk IIB CMs (and I have yet to replace them all so at least another 500+ are still in service).  So my production of CMs increased from 650, to 1100, to 1900 and I'm sure the Falcon I's will be around 2500.  I just scrapped the Hawk I(I) as it wasn't considered viable.  I will keep the Hawk IIB's as reserve and scrap the Hawk II's so that is some Gallacite back.  Still overall the number of missiles is increasing...even in terms of AS missile but there I haven't got so dramatic an increase:  Javelin II are at around 100, Javelin III at 150, Javelin IIIA are say 300-ish.

The Quiver class collier has 6 magazines but still is pretty limited in how many missile it can carry (a Tribal Mod 1 now has 3 magazine).  I am seriously considering when the next size of ships come out to go to a size 3 missile for the DD and smaller ships.  Assuming I can make one that is half way effective that is.

But at any rate the Gallacite issue has tossed a spaner into my long term planning...as getting Venus and Faewald's production upwards is just critical at this point (stock is 1500 with an projected use of around 400).

[joeclark77]

The way this game goes, you always anticipate one shortage like corundium or gallicite, and by compensating for that one you find yourself with a surprise shortage of something you hadn't even thought about, like boronide.

[Brainsucker]

Maybe you can mix your missiles (high low) in your ships so you can save the material to build your missile. Or you can make a high - low unit; with High as elite and be given the best while the rest will be given the older version. By using high - low equip policy, you can reduce the need of making new missiles. Or you can make an experimental units to test your newest arsenals. So you don't have make too many "useless" units to fill your rank.

Well, my point is, make 1 unit of your newest ship, equip it with your newest missiles and arsenal, and throw it or them to the enemy territory to gather data. Survive or not, you will get an idea that your newest hardware is working or not. Or rather than sacrifice your experimental units, you can put it to your latest expedition to see that it work or not. If it work, you can mass production it, if not you don't have to waste your materials to make useless stuff.

I'm curious about the location of your important characters that often mentioned in the story. Where are they?

[Paul M (OP)]

Maybe you can mix your missiles (high low) in your ships so you can save the material to build your missile. Or you can make a high - low unit; with High as elite and be given the best while the rest will be given the older version. By using high - low equip policy, you can reduce the need of making new missiles. Or you can make an experimental units to test your newest arsenals. So you don't have make too many "useless" units to fill your rank.

Well, my point is, make 1 unit of your newest ship, equip it with your newest missiles and arsenal, and throw it or them to the enemy territory to gather data. Survive or not, you will get an idea that your newest hardware is working or not. Or rather than sacrifice your experimental units, you can put it to your latest expedition to see that it work or not. If it work, you can mass production it, if not you don't have to waste your materials to make useless stuff.

I'm curious about the location of your important characters that often mentioned in the story. Where are they?

The mixing of older and new countermissiles is probably going to happen with the forts.  For the mobile units they have been all upgraded to the Falcon/Arrow mix except for the flower class jump tenders.  They may be priority two for new missiles and keep the Hawk IIB's for longer.  There is substantial difference in effectiveness between the two missiles so it hard to leave the older ones in service.

At the moment the first part of the gallacite crisis management plan has gone into effect.  The trouble though is that it caused a spike in the projected Corundum use (as in using 10% of the stockpile) so that is putting pressure on the NCC to get Calisto up and running...and that is 600 intrastructure, and 50 mines they need to build.  But it would produce over 600 corundum per year.  As JoeClark said one thing feeds into another in this game at times.

At the moment most of the Naval Senior Officers are in Sol.  TG2 is in overhaul in Earth Orbit.  Commadore Frasier is based on Earth, as is BIC's operational command.  I'm sorting out a set of dates for starting HAT TRICK.  It will be after Aug 6th (the ETA on the refit to the last fort) but after that I need to look at training progress and fuel and so on.  Current game time is late june so I'm close to another write up.

[Alfapiomega]

Still a great job! Following this!

[Mel Vixen]

So will your Navy switch to Gaus, rails or lasers to reduce the need for AMM? It would certainly ease your ammonition situation.

[Paul M (OP)]

So will your Navy switch to Gaus, rails or lasers to reduce the need for AMM? It would certainly ease your ammonition situation.

The Navy has Dual Purpose 10 cm IR Laser Turrets, but at the moment their targetting speed is limited and their rate of fire is too low.  When these issues are dealt with on the next round of upgrades then the demand on Countermissiles will likely drop.   Also the 10 cm IR Laser Turret will likely remain the standard "DP" weapon.  More powerful lasers will be barbette mounts.  Based on some playing around I think the laser turrets will become smaller with time as currently the gear is taking up a lot of space and a faster firing laser is the same size as a slower firing one.  What I don't really know is the rules for lasers in terms of size...is the driver the size or the wavelength for example.

Guass, and rails would require starting new research lines and for the moment that is right out at least for the forseeable future.  The plan is to build in a cycle of:  Research Centre, Lots of small stuff, Strategic Building, Lots of small stuff, Research Centre...  The first RC goes to the base CP pool, the second goes to the Naval centres of excellence.  The Naval CoE's are:  Propulsion, Offense, Sensors, and Defence (it is still waiting for its RC).  Logistics and Terraforming are covered by a secondary research centre.  Offense alternates between energy beams and missiles...so adding in a third weapon system would result in a slowing down of existing weapon developments.

In January of 2287 development of a new 10cm IR laser will start, and after it is built the new turret will go into development.  It will take another year for a better set of fire control systems to show up but it should have a tracking speed of around 8000 km/s and comparable range to the current system.  I also spotted the "PDC" tab for fire controls so it is likely the forts will get a fire control update that makes them considerably more useful as well.  I probably should start looking at the size reduction tech for the laser...to make the point defence turrets smaller but it seems likely I need to have much improved capacitors to make it work properly.

Overall the research situation is at the worst right about now...as the CoE's only have a single RC associated with them (except for Propultion, it has 3).  But it will be a while before there is spare capacity to go after new technology...unless I get some lucky results in investigating wrecks.  Also there is a big push to get the most out of my sole energy weapon specialist.  Getting better lasers is a high priority as they at least don't "run out."


Thank you for the comment Alfapiomega.

[Mel Vixen]

Wavelength increases distance for lasers just like launchspeed does for rails.

ATM i run a small Non-earth campaign and my shipyards and Research-centers are as limited as yours (No TN stuff for 20Billion Km). The higher wavelengths get quickly more expensive.
Particle beams are a good choice for offence, the damage and range are decoupled which means you can get a good range even with low damage. This damage stays the same over the entire distance too. The problem with them is the high energy usage so you need some Cap research for 5 sec. cycles.

Smaller lasers are good but to use them properly you need atleast 12er-caps (12/4 = 3) if you go with turrets.

[Paul M (OP)]

Wavelength increases distance for lasers just like launchspeed does for rails.

ATM i run a small Non-earth campaign and my shipyards and Research-centers are as limited as yours (No TN stuff for 20Billion Km). The higher wavelengths get quickly more expensive.
Particle beams are a good choice for offence, the damage and range are decoupled which means you can get a good range even with low damage. This damage stays the same over the entire distance too. The problem with them is the high energy usage so you need some Cap research for 5 sec. cycles.

Smaller lasers are good but to use them properly you need atleast 12er-caps (12/4 = 3) if you go with turrets.

I had thought about particle beams but it is mainly the question of preventing dilution of research efforts.  They will probably be the long range beam weapon of choice in the future while the lasers will remain the point defence solution.  But for the next decade or so the laser and missile will be the sole weapons deployed.

[Jorgen_CAB]

I must say that lasers provide the best of all worlds in research efforts in the early game since they can be used as both a defensive and an offensive weapon system. In most of my conventional starts I start out with investing mainly in laser technology and using missiles as primarily an offensive system. My reasoning are the cost involved, both in terms of technology research but also in industrial costs in general. Developing and maintaining good and effective AMM in the early game is very expensive especially if you compare it to how cheap an IR laser turret is in comparison.

It usually come down to how good my science research teams are, but most often I tend to put less effort into my military and more into other sectors. Thus laser technology becomes my main weapon system early on, at least until I'm prepared to send some serious military resources outside of the Sol system and expect them to actually perform decently.

It can be a decent approach to research the 75% miniaturization of the laser if you intend to use it as PD. If you attain capacity technology of 4 you can get the 10cm laser to fire every 15 seconds. That is good enough in a PD role.

I also find that using more expensive lasers than 10cm IR cannons can be a waste of resources since PD seldom need better range than 30000km.

I instead develop a multi-purpose 15cm cannon (best wavelength I have) that I put in a 2x tracking speed turret with appropriate fire-controls. This is a system for bigger ships and not meant as a pure ASM system but built to be used in a dual-role, mainly to defend against fighter/FAC armed with beam weapons but also other ships with higher speed engines and missiles.

[Paul M (OP)]

I must say that lasers provide the best of all worlds in research efforts in the early game since they can be used as both a defensive and an offensive weapon system. In most of my conventional starts I start out with investing mainly in laser technology and using missiles as primarily an offensive system. My reasoning are the cost involved, both in terms of technology research but also in industrial costs in general. Developing and maintaining good and effective AMM in the early game is very expensive especially if you compare it to how cheap an IR laser turret is in comparison.

For the most part that was my reasoning except that CM's are part of a layered missile defence.  Largely how effective they are depends on what your are fighting.  Having them also means that fighters are pretty much non-issues since they will not survive to reach engagement range (those that rely on beams anyway).  Plus nothing stops you using them in close-in battles to engage ships.  The current CMs will have a 3v1 interception chance of 63% against a wolver ship killer plus for the first time they are faster than the inbound missiles.  Coupled with the 8 DPPD laser turrets on the DDs there is considerable optimism they can hold their own...so long as they can engage a single wolver ship at a time.  Not to mention if they can deploy the pinnances they will have a chance to engage the missiles at considerably longer range though I am dubious they will be able to re-engage.

Have to see but I'm a bit delayed as Starslayer has been e-thumping me over the head about our starfire campaign.

It can be a decent approach to research the 75% miniaturization of the laser if you intend to use it as PD. If you attain capacity technology of 4 you can get the 10cm laser to fire every 15 seconds. That is good enough in a PD role.

Unfortunately 15 s recharge rate is too slow.  The Wolver missile salvoes are spaced 10s appart so the need is for a laser that can fire at a minimum of every 10s and idealy more often.  The size reduction will have to wait for the future.

I also find that using more expensive lasers than 10cm IR cannons can be a waste of resources since PD seldom need better range than 30000km.

It is unlikely that the NCN will go to larger or more powerful lasers for their DPPD laser turrets.  For other uses see below.

I instead develop a multi-purpose 15cm cannon (best wavelength I have) that I put in a 2x tracking speed turret with appropriate fire-controls. This is a system for bigger ships and not meant as a pure ASM system but built to be used in a dual-role, mainly to defend against fighter/FAC armed with beam weapons but also other ships with higher speed engines and missiles.

At the moment for anti-shipping work I don't see the point to a turret mount.  But combat experience may change my mind.  I am considering a 15cm Visible laser at the moment for the first anti-shipping laser.  But the 60K km range of the particle beam is interesting as well...only I don't see it happening any time soon due to limited tech resources.

[Paul M (OP)]

AD 2286  (January 1 to June 30)  Taking stock and Making Plans

The reality of the Gallacite issue hits home this six month period as Commissioner Buxtorf stands firm on his "no more construction" line.  The fact is that the current production of Gallacite is sufficient for maintenance and some limited missile and pinnance production.  A new harvester will use 75 SCUs of gallacite, the new Terraformers 100 SCUs, while a new Destroyer takes 250 SCUs.  The increase of new mines will drain the Corrundum reserve which means that the reserve on Callisto needs to be brought into operation.  That will necessitate as significant diversion of resources to infrastructure, mine and terraformer construction.  But stabilizing this situation is clearly a short term high priority task.  The stockpile of 685 Hawk (I) counter missiles currently held as a strategic reserve is scraped on February 26 recovering: Tritanium: 42.8 tons, Gallicite: 37.1 tons, and Fuel: 17125 litres.  The NCCFB reports that all is well with the farm on Earth and that all colonial farms should be (based on their often months old data) at acceptable levels.  The NCC at least for the moment has only mineral issues to deal with.

A clear consiquence of the Gallacite levels is that losses in HAT TRICK are going to be slow to be replaced.  Commadores Frasier and Morgenrot still consider the operation a critical necessity.  New technologies are being researched and clearly field testing of the existing systems and new ships is an absolute strategic necessity.  In June while the ships of 4th Squadron are undergoing maintenance after nearly a month of training manuevers they finalize their planning.  Commadore Frasier schedules a briefing with the Prime Minister Ronald Getti, who adds the Defence Minister Gertrude Daladier, the Naval Oversight Commision (Chair Mr. Olaf Torvaldson) and the leaders of the primary Opposition coalitions (Ms. Wyoming de Silva and Mr. Martin Smith-Goldmayer) at Goose Green to the closed door session.

Commadore Frasier along with Commadore Morgenrot and Captains Veronika Zweig (CO 5th Squadron) and Ewan Ahmed (CO 6th Squadron).  The reception is generally positive.  Defence Minister Daladier is the most supportive of the politicians there.  The opposition leaders are much more neutral adopting the same stance they have taken over the Gallacite issue.  Not supporitive but not crying wolf either.  They appear to be more than willing to give the both the Government and the Navy some rope to hang themselves.  The Navy proposes Sept 10 as the start of the operation to give them training time after the completion of the last Fort Upgrade.  The meeting ends with the PM saying he will discuss the matter with the Privy council and inform the Navy of the decision.

OPERATION HAT TRICK

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE:  Evaluation of current NCN ship designs and weapon systems.
SECONDARY OBJECTIVE ONE:  Intellegence gathering on Wolver ships present in Wolf 359.
SECONDARY OBJECTIVE TWO:  Destruction of one or more Wolver ships.
SECONDARY OBJECTIVE THREE:  Secure control of Wolf 359.  NOTE: This will only be possible if all Wolver ships can be engaged and destroyed.

FORCE STRUCTURE:
Task Group 2
Interstellar Survey IV

PHASE 1:  ENTRY

NCN Intellegence suggests that it is unlikely substantial enemy forces will be present at the jump point.  As sufficient jump tenders/ships are available the entire assault force will be able to simultaneously enter the system.  The view of the planning staff is that if a Wolver vessel is present it is the optimal situation for the NCN strike force as it will be at close range to 12 NCN combat vessels and will not be able to determine the engagement range to the extent that is possible in a deep space battle.

PHASE OBJECTIVE:  Secure jump point.

PHASE 2:  INVESTIGATE WRECKAGE

1-1-1 was engaged while attempting to investigat the wreckage at Wolf 359 xx.  These wrecks are a good target for the initial ship movement.  If Wolver ships intervene it will allow, depending on enemy dispositions, the possibility for defeat in detail; as only a single ship engaged 1-1-1.  The main body, composed of the Battlegroups of 4th, 5th and 6th SQNs will proceed to the gas giant and collect information on the debrie fields in orbit around it.  They will be followed by a group consisting of 3 Edinburough Support Ships escorted by a Gargolye FFG(H).  The Scout class ship from will during this phase do a flypast on the way to the habitable world.  It will attempt to determine in advance of the NCN vessels what Wolver forces are present.

PHASE OBJECTIVE:  Close range scans of alien wreckage.

PHASE 3:  INVESTIGATE WOLF 359 xx

The Scout will do an extreme range fly past to determine if Wolver forces are present.  CO TG2 will decide based on the current tactical situation to implement the approach to the habitable world. 

PHASE OBJECTIVE:  Secure orbitals.

ENEMY FORCE:  NCN Intell believes 3 Wolver ships are present.  Disposition is unknown.  Intentions are unknown.  As multiple jump points are known to exist in the system it is unclear if the Wolvers will stand and fight, or withdraw if they feel the odds are not in their favor.  The enemy agressively engaged 1-1-1, a formation that massed the same as the ship engaging it, but if that would hold true for a force of 12 ships is not clear.

The 1st Geosurvey Team finishes surveying the asteroid Hilda finding no new mineral reserves and the Upholder sets course for Mars and shore leave on Febuary 1.  The now refreshed crew rendevous with Ceres on the 2nd of March and starts a ground survey of this body.


Industrial Efforts, Earth, Sol
Primary Industrial Tasks
AD 2286 (February 16) The five Ordnance Factories are built on shedule.
AD 2286 (April 2) A new Terraforming Installation is constructed and immediately shipped to Mars via a civillian contract.
AD 2286 (April 2) The refit of the ILB Fort Londonderry to the Fort Rostock standard begins.

Secondary Industrial Tasks
AD 2286 (February 16) A Fuel Refinery comes on line. (Earth now has: 4,083,200 l per year production)
AD 2286 (April 2) A number of pre-fabricated living quarters and life support equipment is completed for BIC. [ooc]Intrastructure x32[/ooc]
AD 2286 (April 2) The conversion of an older mine to telepresence control begins.

Missiles and Fighters
AD 2286 (January 1) Construction of 12 Comm/Sensor Buoys (Batch 2) ends.
AD 2286 (February 26) Construction of 48 Arrow Anti-Ship Missiles is completed.
AD 2286 (March 27) Construction of 120 Falcon Counter Missiles is completed.
AD 2286 (April 27) Construction of 120Falcon Counter Missiles is completed.
AD 2286 (May 29) Construction of 120 Falcon Counter Missiles is completed.
AD 2286 (June 30) Construction of 120 Falcon Counter Missiles is completed.
AD 2286 (February 16) Fairmile C1(EW/SAR) 009 joins 5th Squadron Battlegroup.
AD 2286 (April 27) Fairmile C1(EW/SAR) 010 is accepted for duty with 5th Squadron Support Group.

Naval Yard: Victorias-Esquimalt Graving Yard, Sol
AD 2286 (June 19) Protecteur (Protecteur Mod2.3 class) ends her refit.  All ships of TG1 have been modernized with the most efficient engines.

Civillian Yard:  Robert Napier and Son's Ltd., Sol
AD 2286 (June 24) Lagoon (Loch (EE) class) is constructed and becomes the lead ship of FHG XI.  She is dispatched to Jupiter to begin fuel harvesting.
AD 2286 (June 30) Mere (Loch (EE) class) ends construction becoming the lead ship of FHG XII.  She is dispatched to Jupiter to begin fuel harvesting.
No new Petrol Class consorts are started due to the halt on ship construction.


Civillian Operations in Sol
AD 2286 (January 16) The civilian mining colony on Reinmuth has been expanded to 11 civilian mining complexes
AD 2286 (February 26) The civilian mining colony on Haumea has been expanded to 11 civilian mining complexes


BIC Operations in Alpha Centauri

Faewald's industrial park turns out around 80,000 peoples worth of new lifesupport equipment and housing prefabs but the number of people the colony can support still slowly drops ending the period at a deficite of nearly 170,000.  ICG IV completes its shore leave on January 21 and departs for Earth.  ICG II arrives on April 9 with a load of 20,000 colonists, prefabricated components to expand the colony and a new factory for the park.  ICG II departs for Earth on May 8.  From May 11 to June 24 this ships of FHG I are in orbit around Faewald enjoying time ashore.  They are back harvesting fuel on July 1.  HLG I arrives on June 16 with 40,000 people and sufficient support and prefabricated housing for them plus the equipment for 2 mines. 

Governoress Naomi Jackson study group reports to her the numbers over the housing issue.  The colony is growing at about 440,000 people per year and supporting that growth would take 266 standard production units per year of pre-fabricated components from the industrial park.  The park currently provides 129 standard production units worth per year.  BIC delievers pre-fabricated material from earth sufficient for 368,000 people but also brings 170,000 new colonists.   So the total growth is 610,000 people and the total new support and housing both brought in from Earth or produced locally is enough for 436,000.   She sends a report back to the NCC requesting that they try to deliver more factories to Faewald as her estimate is she needs between 16 and 20 of them to meet the minimum demand solely for lifesupport and housing.


BIC Operations in AD Leonis

Traffic control on Forge has a busy six months with a large number of ship groups either transiting the system and the usual ballet of FHG's refilling the farm.  With the BIC freighters stopping in on their way back and forth to the outer colonies the services near the port are doing particularily well.  On Febuary 6 FHG VI completes its alloted shore leave and returns to Deeper Sky to continue fuel processing.  From Febuary 26 to April 7 the ships of FHG IV are in orbit around Forge as their crews take a break.  They are back harvesting on the 8th.  FHG IX arrives from Sol on March 15 and its crews are on leave until April 22 when they move to Deeper Sky to make the fuel they need for the last part of their journey to Gliese 526.   FHG III is on leave from May 3 to June 14.  Passing through the system are BIC ICGs, BuSurvey ships, and two naval squadrons.


BIC Operations in FL Virginis

Biforst sees the ships of FHG VII complete shore leave on Febuary 6, returning to refining operations on Febuary 8.  ICG VI arrives from Sol with 20,000 colonists, a mine and a large supply of additional lifesupport and pre-fabricated components for the colony.  The ships of the ICG depart for Forge on Febuary 26 after refueling.  FHG VII is in orbit of Biforst from May 4 to June 14, returning to refining operations on June 15.  The Navy rebunkers their Protecteur RV's from the farm as well to support their ships which are present on the jump point to LHS 292.  After relieving 1st Squadron of their picket duties on March 23 3rd Squadron emplaces Comm/Sensor Buoys on both sides of all jump points leading out of FL Virginis (Gliese 526 and Gliese 505) giving traffic control on Biforst some idea who is present in the system.  When 1st Squadron arrives in Sol the refit of the Protecteur will leave all ships of TG1 at the most modern standard.


BIC Operations in Fliese 526

The ships of ICG V complete their shore leave on March 21 and start the journey back to Forge.  On April 2nd 3rd Squadron emplaces a comm/sensor buoy at the jump point giving the colony early warning of arrivals and giving it the ability to store messages on the buoy.  They are informed of the status of FHG IX at this time.  So far the NCC Xenoarcheological team has no breakthroughs to report but a great deal of background or prepatory work has been carried out in the alien city.  The question at the moment is how the aliens stored their records.  After that will come reading them, and then learning the language.

Survey Operations Gliese 505

The George Vancouver (Interstellar Survey I's class Survey Ship) spends the time expanding the gravitational survey of the outer system.  Cmdr Katherine Evans sees no reason not to continue the efforts and by the 15th of May has managed to complete over half the required measurement.  She finishes the last location, as her ship is just a few days out from it and then on May 30 starts back for the jump point and the waiting Path Finder.  IS II which escorted the two Oberon's to the system will remain on the jump point as the two Oberons split to complete the last 12 measurement series needed to have all the data necessary for a full survey.

[Brainsucker]

Now it is the time to test how far the NCN new ships can go.

[Paul M (OP)]

Now it is the time to test how far the NCN new ships can go.

Yes it is.  The real question is how effective are the missiles.  At the moment the NCN is assuming around a 25% chance to hit for the ship killers but they are unsure what defensive systems the Wolvers use.  That gives the result that 4 missiles per salvo are likely to hit before accounting for defences.  Leading to:  8 missiles per armour layer (in reality with "re-binning" you get faster penetration).  There is a good chance the TG's full AS inventory is necessary to kill a single Wolver ship.  The CMs should be finally effective with around a 60% 3v1 interception proability.  But even the lasers should be a lot more useful.  2 in final fire mode, and 6 in area defence mode will give a high chance of stopping the inbound (around 60%).

But the key thing is to see how everything functions to allow the next generation ships to improve.  The next gen laser fire control system will be much improved and will have a PDC and ship varient.  In both cases the tracking speed will be a lot closer to what the turrets actually are capable of and the turrets themselves should be smaller and firing more rapidly.  Lastly the C1 pinnances are capable of recovering lifepods efficiently so crews won't be abandoned regardless how the battle goes.

What I am not looking forward to is all the fiddle faddle of splitting up the TG into ships and deploying them via the follow system.  I'm also not sure that will do with syncronized firing.

It would be easier (HINT HINT) with a real formation editor!