DARKSTAR CAMPAIGN UPDATE: DUCHESS ANNABEL’S WAR IS OVER

Well, as some of you may remember, I was challenged on an episode of XLBS a while back to run a game of Darkstar on-line.

Never challenge Oriskany. 😀

In all seriousness … this first on-line game has now been run.  It took place on December 1, 2018 between myself here in Fort Lauderdale and @davehawes in the UK, with spectators from the US, UK, and Canada.

The platform proved very smooth and outside of a few lag issues when remote players were trying to move their pieces on the shared desktop, delivered a pretty epic Darkstar experience.

So here we have the opening positions at the end of Turn 01 movement phase.  We have a Mars-sized planet and a small moon to upper right.  The moon is rich in a valuable resource, and has been mined so heavily by city-sized automated facilities that industrial debris is now presenting a navigational hazard (note the asteroid counters strung out the moon’s gravitational eddy).

Apparently the powers-that-be feel this moon is still valuable enough to fight over, as the Holy Russian Empire and the United Kingdom  have decided to have a bit of a dust-up over disputed expiration dates on the mining leases of this facility.

The Russians are approaching from upper left.  They have an old Konstantin class light cruiser, a Sonvya class destroyer, and a Novgorod class frigate.  All 7-gigawatt rail guns and heavy plasma projectors.  A direct, simple, sledgehammer kind of a force.  They are approaching at high speed, pushing 36 kilometers a second.

The British (at @davehawes’ request) have a much smaller, more agile, and high-tech force.  Notably, the British flagship is the Osprey class light carrier HMS Raven, carrying a complement of Supermarine Starfire aerospace fighters and Hawker Star Typhoon bombers.  You can see where the British (approaching from lower right) have set a much slower course, wary of keeping a distance from those big-punch Russian guns, and instead are trying their best to scramble their aerospace group as quickly as possible.

Initial volleys are exchanged at a distance of 3420 kilometers (19 hexes).  That’s the distance from London to Cairo.  All of Europe would easily fit into the space between these two battlegroups, but they are closing at a combined rate of about 50 kilometers a second (180,000 km an hour).

Spreading things out just a bit for the same of clarity (and just in this screen pic), we see the Russian task force making its approach.  Flagship is the light cruiser CPK (Holy Russian Ship) Basilov, a Konstantin class light cruiser.  Older, cheaper, loaded with simple rail guns and old P-500 “Plamya” (flame) Class III torpedoes, named for Russian Orthodox saints, these ships have a direct purpose and despite their age, still pose a very serious threat to anyone who gets too close, as the British are about to learn.

Slightly more advanced (although by no means state of the art) are the Sovnya class destroyer Kortik (traditional Russian naval dagger) and the Novgorod class frigate Volkhov (named for mid-sized cities of terrestrial Russia).

To balance the game at 117 points, the Basilov and the Kortik are entering this game without their scouts.  So the only aerospace the Russians have is the one lonely scout from the little frigate Volkhov.

Russian ships have also launched torpedoes. The decision was made by the Basilov’s captain to slow slightly and lake a turn in an attempt to present a broadside.  This doesn’t work anyway (she lost initiative) but the idea was to present more guns in exchange for firing a full spread of torpedoes from both port bow and starboard bow arrays.

The Royal Navy launches aerospace craft to engage.  These ships are the HMS Raven, the aforementioned Osprey class light carrier, and her two escorts.  These are the Falklands class fleet destroyer HMS Singapore – actually a pretty advanced design and the most advanced ship on this table.  On the other end is the humble HMS Fergusson, a small Cornwallis class escort frigate.  Specifically designed not to be an independent vessel (she doesn’t even have the full speed of a frigate), she is a true escort ship, designed to hang close to a flagship and provide torpedo, gunnery, and especially mass driver (anti-aerospace craft) support.

Meanwhile, the forward, port, starboard launch bays of the Raven have already launched the maximum amount of fighters and bombers she can this turn.  These are racing out to engage the Russians with aerospace missiles from the fighters and much heavier aerospace torpedoes from the bombers.

The most challenging part of the on-line play solution was figuring out how to work the Warships Record Sheets (WRS).  But I think we’re getting it.  Here is a partial view of HMS Osprey’s WRS, showing the torpedoes she’s launches so far, her aerospace group, her mass driver defenses, her initiative for Turn 1, her initial velocity recorded for Turn 1, and the final speed for the turn (which of course becomes her initial velocity for Turn 2).

End of movement on Round 2.  The two sides have closed to about 1440 kilometers (about the distance from London to Warsaw).  The British are about to  hit the Russians with a devastating aerospace and torpedo strike.  But the Russians are no slouches when it comes to ship-launched torpedoes, and what this battlegroup lacks in aerospace craft they make up for in guns . . .

Lots of guns.

And the two sides are a lot closer now.  And those British ships suddenly look very small and frail . . .

Stay tuned!