In Corner #1: Weighing 182,000 tons, Representing the kindest, sanest people to ever blockade the entirety of known space, Captain John Trauger in the ISC TCC

In Corner #2: Weighing 174,000 tons, Representing the Usurper at his most regicidal, Captain Majead Farsi in the WYN Great Black Shark TC
 

...Or not.  Dave had drones in that fight (and Maj--who was playing a Fed--got his shield #1 blown off by some of those drones).  Dave finished Maj off faster than I did.  Maj gave me a cause for concern a few times, but I generally felt sure of the outcome once Maj's tactics became clear.

In all fairness to Maj, what he was doing worked OK.  He just didn't know when to put the pedal to the metal and attack.  When I took a WYN Black Shark (LS P-1, RS drone rack variant) and faced an ISC (4SFA #107), I used no reinforcement and had my front shields shot out from under me.  Maj's caution was more prudent than I believed at the time of this fight.
 

Turn 1
The WYN started out speed 14 and only recently jacked it up to 26.  He took a Aft Hull hit for being a little slow with his last SOP (guess he's occupied with my bro).  We ended up about 12 hexes apart with my IMP-32 PPD getting wave-lock the first pulse out the door.  Maj's slow speed and lack of aggression told me he was reinforcing his shields on Turn 1 so he could take the PPD with minimal damage, then maybe charge after me.  True to form, this fist PPD pulse splashed harmlessly off his reinforcement. 

The big question is: does he cover out for another round or attack?  I will have a good idea when I see whether the PPD bites or bounces.  He's shot off 4 speed 20 drones, but so what?  If I keep my speed up, I can dodge them if I don't want to deal with them. 

The biggest mistake Maj made here was staying turned to direction D.  He charged disruptors and ended up discharging them on IMP 32, not firing them at me. If the WYN is going to play the "Wear 'em down" game, he needs to wear 'em down and you don't do that by NOT firing already-charged disruptors at your foe.
 

Turn 2
Looks like he's covering out.  Speed 14, and he put 12 points into anti-PPD reinforcement.  Only 8 points of unaccounted-for power and at least two of that is special shuttles.  As I get the engines ticked over to speed 24, the drones are pulling up close.  I think I'll kill them. 

This was not as cut-and-dried an issue as I make it sound.  I considered simply dodging the things (and saving my phasers) and tie up his control channels. If he wanted to fire the really SERIOUS drones at me he would have to cut tracking to the speed-20s, destroying them at no cost to me.  At the time I didn't realize that Maj was playing my power curve, chasing me around, working his way to the center of the map in order to pace me without going as fast and trying to pin me against a wall.  I went back and forth over this all through Turn 1 and Turn 2 Energy Allocation.  I decided to kill the drones hoping he would fire more and I might run his inventory out  I killed about 1/2 his drone supply this way.
 

He bulled through my enveloper, taking 5 to all shields, except shield 1, which took nothing and kicked up to speed 21. 

Maj underestimated the power of the enveloper, I guess.  As I showed myself as being pretty good at avoiding range-8 he took my next enveloper seriously, phasering the crap out of it.
 

Hmmm...  5 reinforcement on Shield 1.  5 is an interesting number in tournament SFB... 

Assuming his speed increase is good for the rest of the turn he's burned a minimum of 1 point of battery power.  And that then only if he had no special shuttles prepared.  Let's assume he started the game with 2 suicide shuttles (the WYN has two shuttle bays for twin Suicide Shuttles) then, say, started arming a couple of Wild Weasels on Turn 1?  Likely deduction: He's done.  He armed no disruptors (or at best one) and just burned all his battery power to keep his front shield intact.  Now what to do about it... 

IMP 26 Whoops!  Maybe he's *not* holding four special shuttles.  He just kicked in a late turn burst of speed 26.  No weasels, huh Maj?  He only has 2 points of unallocated power.  I'd say no weasels...well, possibly one.  He'd be a fool to arm BOTH his pre-game special shuttles as weasels. 

...Which he might very well have done.  The 3 shuttles he launched were all weasels. This, I think, is an error.  Against the ISC, you WANT toys to throw at him.  Especially since the WYN has two shuttle bays, allowing a double-trouble 2-at-once Suicide Shuttle launch. I think the WYN derives a strong advantage in having suicides to chuck.
 

IMP 32: Oh, by the way, the moderator forgot to mention the fact that the WYN had launched 4 more drones.  Minor detail.  No big deal...   :) 

Turn 3
It's a footrace and this time, it looks like Maj has his sneakers on.  He comes off the gun at 26 to my 28.  Poor drones are being left in the dust. 

IMP 15: The WYN got winded after four  impulses at speed 26.  He's down to 18 while I'm still scooting along at 28.  What's that barrier up ahead...? 
IMP 16: Did I say "footrace"?  Boy was I wrong.  He's dropping to speed 9. NINE?!?  What's next?  Speed 4 for IMPs 25-32?  Maybe he playing the "Fortress WYN" game.  All I know is my biggest problem just CEASED to be turning the corner on this guy.  The question is: do I PPD him or just dust him? 
IMP 25 He's kicking up to speed 19 (as fast as he'll be able to go until IMP 26 NEXT turn).  PPDing him would give him range 8 and THAT is against my religion.  Guess it means "dust him". 

These drops to single-digit speed were the key to my being able to keep out of range 8 for another 3 turns.  I could reliably predict the WYN's maximum speed and plot a probable course and speed around him during EA.  The only question that remained was making sure to keep the plasma chucking and the PPD pulsing.
 

IMP32 Maj's late-turn burst of 19, makes "Dust him" a little difficult, but hey, he's stuck at 19 or slower for the next 25 impulses, and I can pull a max of 28.  I still ought to be able to dodge range 8 and turn the corner.  Instead of being a no-brainer, It'll just take a little planning.  Y'know what?, my G-torp will on-line next turn too... 

Turn 4
We're off to a blistering start ladies and gentlemen...I'm at speed 19 and he's doing speed 8.  SPEED 8?!?  I almost chucked a plasma torp at him just to see if he'd weasel.  I've never been handed the initiative on a silver platter before.  Max WYN speed: 18 for the rest of the turn and into next turn.  Of course, there's the small matter of 4 inbound drones... 

Give that weapons officer a cigar!  Scotched 4 drones with 4 P-3s.  If my PPD hits on the first pulse, he'll get a promotion. 

I got LUCKY!  I had no backup orders and mistimed the drone's approach. If those phasers hadn't all done 4 damage, the remaining drones would have slammed into my ship.
 

IMP 8: Yup.  He'd have weaseled.  He just dropped to speed 4.  I half-expect speed 0 in IMP 16 and TACs.  So he IS playing the "Fortress WYN" game. Well, fine.  I know this game and how it works.  It's a favorite tactic of mine (as Sjakko from H4089 will attest).  We'll just see whether he has more weasels or I have more torps. 
IMP21 ...And here comes my first torp: an enveloping G. 

What Maj doesn't understand is that the ISC is not a "close and hose" ship.  I'm not gonna break range 8 (much less knife fight) unless it's to my advantage to do so.  If Maj wants to hit me with overloads, he'll have to work for them.  I'm not gonna drive up to his heavily reinforced doorstep and say "Please kill me". 

I honestly expected Maj to decelerate all the way.  He didn't.
 

IMP 24: Here he comes, turning in and blazing away at the fastest speed he can go till this time next turn: 14.  I'm going to 26, myself.  The only thing I'm wondering is if he'll fire disruptors this round. 
IMP 28: Feeling like I have a handle on the next couple of turns, I thought I'd chuck a quick F-torp at him... 
IMP 31: I guess he didn't like what happened the last time he was hit by an enveloping G-torp.  He threw EVERY phaser on his boat at it.  Did 55 damage to my poor torp, lowering its warhead to 13.  That means 2 damage to every shield (Shields 1 and 2 have reinforcement)  He's got a spare point to put to the (reinforced) shield of his choice.  #1 as it turns out. 
IMP 32:  He cut loose with disruptors and scorched my Shield #6 for 9 and I started the PPD pulsing.  True to form, my weapons officer hit with the first shot.  As promised, he's promoted.  Between this and H4089, my weapons damage has been nothing less than stellar. 

Turn 5
The second I saw him plot speed 4 I knew what was coming next and Maj didn't disappoint: an IMP 1 weasel.  That messes with my PPD and diverts the F-torp at the same time.  Fortunately, he can only do that 4 times.  I may have to start repairing shield 6.  Hopefully my weapons officer can hold the line on the PPD.  Weaseling just the F-torp would be marginal at best. 

Here I thought Maj was getting aggressive when he turned toward me... 

IMP 8:  My weapons officer is earning his (recently upgraded) pay.  The weasel only threw him for one impulse then he had the WYN in his sights again.  The interesting thing is the WYN only had almost no reinforcement.  Wonder where all that energy went, hmmmm?  Some of it went to phasers obviously.  Last turn was the first time he kicked the dust off them and he fired every phaser he had at my enveloping G.  But he's got 38 power to play with, plus batteries.  He OUGHT to have reams of power for reinforcement, even considering the phasers. Unless...  I think he overloaded his disruptors and put power to negative tractor.  We'll find out about the disruptors on IMP 32, when he discharges those useless overloads.  It ought to come pretty fast.  With my butt pointing at the WYN, my harassment options are limited. 
IMP 16: He's kicking up to speed 14.  Not unexpected. 
IMP 32:  He just turned to B to follow me.  Sounds like a good time to turn to C... 
IMP 32: He shot 4 standard disruptors at me.  He's finally getting a *little* aggressive. What the Hades did he do with all his power?  Let's work it out here: 4 for housekeeping, 9 for movement, 8 1/2 (max) for phasers, 2-4 for special shuttles, 2 for reinforcement against PPD fire, 8 for disruptors.  That's 35 1/2, accounting for everything.  A MINIMUM of 3 1/2 points of power is unaccounted for.  I GUESS the rest may have gone to battery recharge (I had a sneaking suspicion that he used 3 points for shield reinforcement against my IMP 32 PPD and enveloping torp last turn. I guess that accounts for all but 1/2 point, but it just seems like he coulda done more with 38 power than that... 
OOPS:  I did a no-no. I under-allocated power for movement by 1.  Scratch 2 points of battery power... 

Turn 6
So at the top of the batting order, we're both about topped out for speed:  I'm going 30, Maj's is going 14. 
IMP 1:Y'know, Maj's pursuit could be a lot harder if I chucked some plasma at him. Bon Voyage to a G and a F who have been waiting all game for this. I have been MOST unfair to these two launchers, favoring the B and D plasmas.  (especialy the B)  Here's where I even-up. 
IMP 3: He HETed?!?  A HET????  When I saw this I was stunned for 10 minutes.  I could not believe that he turned and RAN in the face of a measly 40 points of plasma.  He is now facing E (straight away from my torps) running for the middle of the board.  They'll be pretty exhausted when they catch up, even though he's only going 14.  (there's about 8-10 hexes separating my torps from the object of their affection)  And I'm headed direction C at speed 30 so I can't exactly HET after him (would that I could) so we'll see how fast we can get this bathtub turned around... 
IMP 7: He just announced a mid-turn speed change to 8.  By my calcs, the torps will hit after running exactly 15 hexes.  The F-torp will be all tuckered out (I'll get maybe 1 point of damage), but the G will be on its last hex of 15-damage.  Unless he turns on IMP 8 to bring more phasers to bear... 
IMP 8: ...which he did.  Turned to D.  We'll see if I get better mileage out of the torps.  Funny thing:  I'VE turned to D too! 
IMP 16: Well, he managed to run out my poor little F-torp.  Mild surprise there.  I thought I had it pegged at impact on it's last hex of movement. The G is down to 15 and it will impact the weasel he just threw up before it loses any more power.  So I at least get collateral damage right? 

Well, actually, no. 

Boy is Maj gonna hate it when he finds out he weaseled a pseudo.  Even if it wasn't fake, Why burn a weasel just to avoid phasering the torp?  It's not like his phasers are gonna wear out, for Boogee's sake... 

Well, sure he's -2 to hit, but inside 10, the PPD (and my weapons officer) can compensate.  On the other hand, I'd love to see him fire back.  So I've traded a F-torp and a pseudo-G for his HET bonus and a weasel.  Not only that, I still have my real G hot and ready.  I'll take it. 
IMP 20: Torpedo away! (the real one)  Some might harken my own words from 4075 back to me, suggesting that I'm firing my torp into a very large neutronium-lined dumpster by launching a torp while Maj has a weasel up. 

Well sure. 

But it's for a good cause.  Take a look at the situation. 

Maj can either: 
A) stay under weasel protection.  He *can't* change speeds until 24 anyhow.  If he does have a speed increase plotted, it will take effect before it (the plasma) impacts the weasel, therefore voiding it (the weasel) and turning it (the plasma) once again towards it (Maj's ship).  Likely Maj would need to E-Decel.  This would be great.  he would be immobile until well into next turn.  Which means I get clean away. 
B) Re-activate fire control and shoot disruptors at me. But then what does he do with the torp?  Phaser it down?  He's gone to great pains to avoid this.  Weasel a second time?  I'd LOVE that, too.  This turn I'd have gotten 2 weasels, Maj's HET bonus, AND an immoblie opponent for 16 impulses at the cost of the cost of a real G and F torp (crunch all you want, I'll make more), and a pseudo-G.  Sweet deal if you ask me. 
C) Reactivate fire control, disruptor me and turn away.  He could easily run the G down to 15, maybe even 10, which cuts back on the phasers he needs to vape it.  But he gives up the chase because he'll be pointing D and I'll be pointing F. 
D) Reactivate fire control, disruptor me and take the torp like a man (i.e. phasering it before it impacts).  This would be my option.  It is the only option which preserves the ability to chase.  And he could possibly run the torp down to 15 before impact.  Of course, Maj would still be out some energy from the phaser caps and he'll need to recharge them next turn.  That's less energy for speed and/or reinforcement than if I hadn't chucked the G at him. 

It will be interesting to see what he does. 
IMP 21: So Maj didn't choose A).  Don't you love it when an enemy is so obliging?  Here I was, staring down a -2 shift for my PPD and Maj kindly turned his fire control back on, eliminating the shift.  'Course my weapons officer is studly enough to have hit anyway (roll of like 5)... 
Maj will have fire capability back on IMP 25, just after the PPD stops pulsing.  How deeply the PPD bites will determine my actions from here. 
IMP 26. The PPD chewed a BIG hole in Maj's #6 shield.  Seems he didn't reinforce anything but #1 and he used his batteries to HET...  Shield 6 is down to *SEVEN* boxes.  That sure sounds like begging for an enveloper to me. 
IMP 29: Yeow! I got 4 disruptors and 4 Phaser-1s right in the butt!  That was a 9-point pain in the...Shield 4.  But on the other hand, my G-torp (rememeber, the one headed for the dumpster?) just slammed into his #2 shield for 11 (he phasered it down to 11)  No word on reinforcement, but Shield 2 took a point of PPD splash damage (so no allocated reinforcement) and I'm SURE he HETed using battery power...  Yup.  Took all 11 on the shield.  He's down to 11 boxes left.  Only one good Front shield (#1) left. 

Interesting point: 2 of Maj's P-1's have stayed silent.  Maj didn't fire them at me and he didn't fire them at my plasma.  I can't believe he'd hold them in reserve (against what, a suicide shuttle?) so that strongly says that he hasn't been able to recharge them after that huge burst of phaser power against my last enveloping G torp.  Hmmm.   Dry phaser caps, dry batteries.  Maj has his work cut out for him allocating power next turn. 

This was the crucial pass. I blew the crap out of his #2 and #6 shields, making it VERY hard for him to pursue me .  Next PPD shot was going to be tough on him.
 

Turn 7
6 turns of anything is enough, right?  Time to change tactics.  I'm gone to speed 0 compared to Maj's speed (max acceleration) of 14.  I'm hoping I wierded him out by not continuing with my blistering pace. 
IMP 7 Well, I popped a couple plasmas at Maj on IMP 4 and, like clockwork, Maj announced a speed change to 8 this timpulse.  Speed 4 should be announced on IMP 15-same impulse the plasmas impact.  Gotta love it when people are this predictable... 
Got another HET, Maj? 
IMP 12.  Hmmm.  Guess not.  Looks like Maj is twisting and turning, trying to get those torps to keep away until he can slow down to speed 4.  That IS what you have planned for IMP 16, right Maj?  Unfortunately, it's a long way to 16 when the torps are 2 hexes from you. 
IMP16: He phasered the F-torp and ignored the G-torp.  Now I wish it was real.  It would have been so cool to ding in the last of his good front shields. He phasered 10 off the F's warhead and met it with 10 reinforcement.  Now remember, Maj burned his batteries to HET last turn and likely emptied his phaser caps too. 

Now Maj has sped up to 14 again.  Hmmm.  No more weasels, Maj?  Just two suicide shuttles maybe? 

Let's do his EA. 

Lesee...he started the turn with 3 moves at speed 14 then 2 at 8, now 1 more at 14 (total 6) +3 for spending at least the next 1/4 turn at 14 (total 9) +4 housekeeping (total 13), +10 shield reinforcement (total 23) assume 2 special shuttles (total 25), fired 3x P-3's and 2x P-1s: +3 (I'll assume the extra 1/2 was left in Maj's caps from last turn, total 28), assume he's armed disruptors (+8 for a total of 36 out of 38 power the ship can generate). 

That leaves 2 points of power for IMP 24-32 movement.  Back to 8 perhaps?  He MAY have as much as 1 1/2 points of power in his phaser caps from the P-1's he didn't fire at my ship last round.  Then again, he could have sloshed that elsewhere and still have 2 points of reinforcement left on #1.  He also may not be holding 2 special shuttles either.  That makes as much as 5-5 1/2 possible points unaccounted for against his IMP 24-32 movement, but I'm not giving him credit for any extra phaser energy than that 1/2 point.  Call it a max of 4 for potential slosh, then (technically 12 slosh but REALLY--like he didn't charge his disruptors?  Get real).  If his holds speed 14 till the end of the turn (4 hexes moved), his caps will be assuredly be bone-DRY.  Moving 3 or more hexes over 24-32 *suggests* his caps are dry but doesn't nail it down. (maybe 1/2 point in them) 

Of course, there's a faster way to find out... 
IMP 26: Looks like Maj is taking his time trying to get to me.  Personally, I'd have turned to C by now to try to get on my rear shields.... 
IMP 23: OK, major rewind back to IMP 16.  Seems Maj's reinforcement was on a different shield.  He took the 10 ALL on the nose!  Woo Hoo!  Shield #1 is down to 16!  I just chucked my enveloper at him.  Figure his reinforcement is on Shield 2, so it won't take nothin' but I'd love to see what happens to that 7-box shield 6...  How's your phasers Maj? 

This was the capstone.  Knocking 10 off his last good shield.  Between my plasma and my PPD, the going's going to only get tougher.
 

Unfortunately, this messes up that whole EA calculation I had going.  Not that I'm complaining, mind you... 

IMP 28: the enveloper hit and he didn't have any reinforcement anywhere.  AND he announced a speed increase back on 26.  Yeah, all the phasers he *didn't* shoot at the F-torp, he shot at the enveloper.  Did 26 to the torp (-13 off the warhead) and ate the rest.  4 to all the front shields and 5 to all the rear ones.  He's now a reverse Klingon.  Glass FRONT shields!.  I think I have just scored first blood too.  When his 11-box #2 shield dropped to 7, I uncorked all 6 P-1's and got exactly average: 11.  If he has batteries, we'll see all 5 of them burned to keep this shield up. 

OK, let's try his EA again: 3 moves at 14 (3) followed by 2 moves at 8 (+2 for 5), followed by 5 more moves at 14 (+5 for 10) and finally he'll get 4 moves at 18 (+4 for 14), Housekeeping (+4 for 18), Phaseres (his caps are assumed completely dry from last turn, but we're assuming 1/2 point carried over--+8 for 26)  Assume 2 special shuttles (+2 for 28) assume he has disruptors charged (+8 for 36).  I have 2 unaccounted for.  As much as 4 if he held back his two P-1s last turn.  1 or 2 OL disruptors?  Possible.  2-4 left in the batteries?  Equally possible.  Unfortunately, Maj didn't send in a SOP to the moderator today and we were stuck at last-ditch reinforcement from my phasers.  We'll know when the moderator is back from vacation after the July 4 weekend. 

OK. The moderator popped into the office for a sec and gave us a sitrep.  Just found out what happened when the phasers hit the WYN's shield.  He pulled *5* from the batteries?!?  Shield #2 still up, but by *1* box!  Doh! 

OK what has he/will he actually burn as far as power is concerned?  14 movement, 4 housekeeping, 8 1/2 phasers, 5 batteries for a baseline of 31 1/2 known.  If he carried over any power in his phaser caps from last round, he can have a max of 3 disruptors armed.  If not, he's got 2.  2 points likely have gone to special shuttles, making 2 the likley number I'll see.  The important thing is he's burned his batteries and emptied his phaser caps.  I KNOW he's going into next turn with just his 38 points of power to deal with threadbare shields, empty phaser caps and disruptors that need powering.  Will he go for the gusto or take time out to catch a breath (and let me arm plasma)?  I'm cool either way. 

IMP 32: He's going for the Gusto.  He even shot FOUR (?!?) disruptors at me (missed with 3, poor guy).  That just put the known energy usage at 39 1/2 when the boy had NO battery power and a max of 2 points of phaser caps carried over from the previous round.  That means he has NO special shuttles armed.  NONE.  NADA.  None even prepping.  Any plasma I shoot he takes on the snoot, unless he phasers it into oblivion. 

Hey, that kinda rhymes... 

Next turn's the Big One for both of us.  he's finally got me at range-8 but he's about as unprepared as he could get.  Nothing in his batteries or phaser caps, he starts at Range-5, but is limited to a speed of 18, just as I'm limited to 10.  The 4th has come and gone, but there ought to be some nice fireworks coming out of this. 

Turn 8
IMP 1: Out of the gun (so to speak), it's the PPD once again.  True to form, my weapons officer hit on the first pulse.  How much reinforcement ya got, Maj?  Guess not much if Shields 1 and 6 both take full damage.  Looks like the front shields were reinforced so as to be able to take 3 pulses. 
IMP 2: Ooo, a weasel!  Anyone NOT see that coming with the WYN running at a speed of 4?  It threw my wavelock off, but at the cost of those 4 drones he just launched.  Still, I have confidence in my weapons officer... 
IMP 3: True to form again, my weapons officer got the wavelock back after one lost impulse. 

This was my first OLed PPD in the game.  It was something of a gamble: Do a 5-pulse OL or 6?  If Maj went for a max-speed burn towards me, getting 6 pulses in before myopia would be difficult at best.  That's certainly what I would have done.  Get as close as possible as fast as possible and cut loose with disruptors and phasers.  Remember: Maj had not taken any internals at this point...but was going to.
 

7/16/98: Maj surrendered rather than even allocate reinforcement against the 3rd PPD pulse.  The PPD was fully overloaded.  4th and 5th pulses would finish sandblasting his shields down and Maj would have needed his batteries to hold off the most of the 5th pulse. He's got nothing to stop the 6th, which will hit him solid.  He'd have no front shields to fight behind.  Even if he has full-OL disruptors, he's going to have to approach open to space with my ship ready with fully-charged phasers and a 2-turn F-torp to pop at him.  If I didn't pop the F at him, It'd be an enveloper the following turn and Maj's best shields (3 and 4) were at 12... 

Yeah, it was time to pack it in...