DARKSTAR CAMPAIGN UPDATE: DUCHESS ANNABEL’S WAR IS OVER

Three turns in, and so far my little Japanese-American alliance battlegroup is doing great.

With Enhanced Sublight, my ships have +1 thrust each turn and with Starship Tactics, they have a +2 to initiative.  Long story short, we were able to get close-range broadsides with both  my heavy cruiser IJN Naginata and destroyer USS Oriskany across the British heavy cruiser’s stern, a prime location.

Note the damage tracks digging deep through HMS Kraken’s engines, reactors, and even core.  She’s crippled, out of the game and set adrift on her last heading and velocity (pro tip, never end your turn pointing toward a planet if you can possibly help it – it’s a fast way to lose a ship if you’re crippled).

Here’s the shot where Nagainata was able to cripple the Kraken.  Note where the Japanese cruiser is presenting a broadside right across the British cruiser’s stern.  This is an extremely deadly maneuver, and not easy to pull off.  Basically, you have to get very lucky with your initiative or catch your opponent napping.  In this case I kind of kind both.

I do have to correct myself in the previous panel – by the looks of this photo USS Oriskany was not in this killing salvo on HMS Kraken, although I do remember contributing some torpedoes to this fire phase.  So Oriskany did help with this, but not with gunnery.

Although @gladesrunner has clearly lost this game (HMS Kraken) is down and that frigate went up like a string of Chinese firecrackers in the  very first fire phase, goddamn is this new heavy cruiser powerful), she keeps her chin up and keeps it from turning into a rout.

This is especially important as it’s a playtest of the game’s point balance.  If the game really is a rout, then I have to go back to the drawing board and tweak some of these campaign upgrades …

But she’s fighting back.  USS Oriskany has since been crippled by return fire from the Kraken.  Fire is simultaneous in this game, so in the same turn Naginata was tearing apart Kraken’s stern, Kraken was also doing the same to the Oriskany. 

Although crippled, the Oriskany will live to fight again.  things saved her life.  One. she has double-upgraded ECM and Gravitic Shielding.  Two, the range is longer.  And three, only forward guns of the Kraken fired on her, the Kraken’s aft turrets were firing point blank against the Naginata. 

Anyway, the game is now down to just the Naginata and @gladesrunner’s remaining light cruiser, the Relentless class light cruiser HMS Requiem.  The Requiem has put a broadside across Naginata’s stern, not to mention some previous torpedoes from the Kraken.  So when Naginata loses initiative on Turn 6, she parks her stern “against the moon” in an attempt to protect her damaged fantail from more of Requiem’s rail guns and deep-cutting lasers.

The Requiem finally goes down, not through lack of speed, bravery, or maneuverability … just the Naginata (a 200-point heavy cruiser) is just too damned powerful for a 102-point light cruiser (smaller ship, much few campaign upgrades).  Honestly once the Kraken went down, this game was up.

But the game felt very well balanced.  We played it again after this and the British did much better.  This time the Oriskany really got the $h*t shot out of her, as in she legitimately almost died.  Here’s her damage sheet from the second game:

Both port and starboard engines, gone.  Port and starboard reactors, gone.  Her point defense mass drivers have been hit twice.  She’s lost three maneuvering thrusters, resulting in a +2 thrust cost to make any turns at all or even roll over on her back (a useful maneuver to screen damaged armor or present fresh  batteries / torpedo spreads)  Port quarter shields are gone.  Magazine’s been hit.  Bridge has been hit, the captain has been wounded and will have to roll to survive.  Sensors have been damaged, she’s lost her aft 5gw rail gun turret …

The whole ship could have actually exploded on the spot, there was a 40% chance based on the damage sustained to critical systems (engines, reactors, magazines).

THAT was a nail-biter of a roll, I can assure you of that.  I’ve played this ship on and off for six years, if I lost her now I think I would physically cry.

Also, if we were playing a campaign game, she’d need 45 days in dry dock (30 internal boxes hit = 30- days, +50% for being crippled / towing time) – plus whatever time it took to transit to nearest friendly port (again, FTL travel time in this setting is strictly limited).