Aerotech - Dropship Intercept

[Lord Cameron]

I decided to try something new - 2 squadrons (12 ASF's) of FedCom fighters intercept a Draconis flight (6 ASF's) escorting a Union dropship.
(Draconis organization = 12 fighters per squadron, FedCom organization counts 12 ASFs as 2 squadrons)

Thanks to the Arlington group for participating!  [notworthy]
The engagement took place in the 3030s or 3040's, all craft are 3025 tech

Due to the fact we had limited time and some new (to Aerotech) players, the forces were abridged, from 6 to 4 fighters per squadron (flight).

The forces =
Fedcom:

Blue squadron: (2 flights of 2 fighters each)
1. Chippewa
    Corsair

2. Lucifer
    Hellcat


Gold squadron: (2 flights of 2 fighters each)
1. Sparrowhawk
    Lightning

2. Eagle
    Thunderbird

Draconis Combine (4 fighters)

Black 1:
Slayer
Sai

Black 2:
Shilone
Stingray



Pictured: Gold squadron

[Lord Cameron]

There were three things that I was curious to find out:

1. Would a two to one fighter advantage be decisive for the attacker? (Or could the smaller force hold their own?)
2. How well could the dropship defend itself?
3. Could an attacking force evade the escort and seriously damage the DS?


I didn't get pics of the first few turns (my apologies) but here is a recap.

First turn:

The Draconis DS (red) is burning down to a planet. (It's at high velocity, retro thrusting to reduce velocity before entering atmosphere) Therefore, it's facing the attackers who are intercepting at a higher velocity.

The 8 attackers thrust towards the DS. The 4 defenders split into 2 pairs (Black 1, Black 2) and split to approach the attackers from both sides.

Second turn: The fastest attacker (Gold 1) consisting of the Lightning & Sparrowhawk speeds in towards the DS, followed by the rest of the FedCom force. Draconis forces continue to fork to both sides of the attacker.

[Lord Cameron]

Turn 3

The DS rotates, begins thrusting away from the attackers.
It was originally in a standard approach burn, at 2 thrust. With this manouver it's approach to the planet will be faster, but will need to retro brake later at full thrust. (Union max thrust = 5)


Black 1 and Gold 2 engage, while Draconis Black 2 (Stingray & Shilone) and Blue 2 (Hellcat & Lucifer) exchange fire.
Black 2 is still moving at about velocity 6, and next turn will pass through the Fedcoms (moving at velocity 6 - 8 in the opposite direction)


Sorry for the poor picture quality in these first few close-ups.  :-[

[Lord Cameron]

Turn 4

The FedCom fighters pass by the DC escort, the slower Chippewa & Lucifer of Blue squadron now in range of the DS, begins firing at long range.
The faster Hellcat & Corsair (from Blue squadron) speed up to get into medium range. (they have no long range weapons)
Thunderbird (from Gold 2) fires LRMs at long range into the Dropship, while the Eagle turns to engage the Slayer & Sai, which are now closing in on the FedCom's flank. Sai takes some heavy damage from the Eagle.
(Sai is proxied in this game by a Sholager)

The Sparrowhawk (from Gold 1) approaches the DS at high speed and fires a salvo of small lasers.
Boxcars!!   :(
The Union needs to make a control roll of 5 or better (critical hit) and fails.  >:(
~~Out of control~~

Turn 5
Finally I managed to get some decent photos.  :P

Sparrowhawk is at hig velocity, overshoots the DS, and must turn around to get back in range.
The DS (out of control) cannot thrust or rotate  >:( so the FC fighters blast away at the rear.
Corsair, Lightning & Hellcat close in to point blank range of the DS.
Stingray, Shilone (at range) target the Chippewa.
Slayer & Sai target the Eagle, meanwhile the Eagle savages the Sai (Sigh...)
Sai takes a sensor & crew hit. 

Dropship tries to regain control, fails....  >:(
 

[Lyran Archer]

Wow! Whose Union DropShip and is it IWM?

[Lord Cameron]

Wow! Whose Union DropShip and is it IWM?

Yes it's IWM, it's Weirdo's dropship. (and the Chippewa & Corsair are his too)

http://ironwindmetals.com/store/index.php?cPath=16_44_109_144

Unfortunately the Union has disappeared in the last 2 weeks, so I guess they're out of stock.  :(

More pics from turn 5...

[Weirdo]

Wow! Whose Union DropShip and is it IWM?

Mine, and yes. It's the standard map-scale resin Union they sell, at the same scale as their Leopard, Broadsword, and Overlord. It's slightly modified with a removable base, and two mounting holes so it can be fielded on the ground, hovering, or in "horizontal" flight in space.

That was a FUN game. Was it really my Sparrowhawk that caused so much annoyance to the Union? I'd completely forgot! :o

[Lord Cameron]

That was a FUN game. Was it really my Sparrowhawk that caused so much annoyance to the Union? I'd completely forgot! :o

Indeed yes, that was very interesting.
Super paint job on the Union BTW.  8)

And yes, it was the Sparrowhawk!  >:( (With the SMALL laser )   :o

Anyway, to continue....

Turn 6
Dropship fails the regain control roll AGAIN!!  [tickedoff]
FC heavies continue to pound the weaker rear quadrant of the DS.
DS's return fire is limited (O-of-C), but manages to hit the Hellcat, which also spins out of control, spirals away at high speed.
Sparrowhawk turns and thrusts back into firing range.

Chippewa continues to take a beating from the Slayer & Stingray.

Turn 7
DS finally regains control, pivots, and starts firing for effect.  }:)
Eagle targets the Slayer at point blank range.
Lighning, Lucifer & Corsair attack the nose & side arc of the DS
Slayer & Stingray blast the Chippewa to smithereens.


**Quote of the Day**   from Weirdo:

"It's a Chippewa, it comes from the factory already pre-damaged"   ;D


(Turn 7 photo - before firing phase)

[Lord Cameron]

Another pic from turn 7 - at table level.

[Atlas3060]

One day I will show up to the table and fly again.

[Weirdo]

Clearly I need to exercise more. Right now, kicking you would only result in a short hop, not true flight.

[Lord Cameron]

Turn 8 (final turn)

DS firing from 4 arcs targets the Corsair, Lightning & Thunderbird.
FC fighters continue to pound the Union.
Slayer lines up the Thunderbird for a flank shot.
Shilone & Stingray target the Eagle & Lightning respectively.
Sai shoots the Corsair, which returns fire. Corsair shatters the frontal armour of the Sai, sensors destroyed, Sai now unable to fire. (mission kill) :( (sigh...)  :P   

[Atlas3060]

Clearly I need to exercise more. Right now, kicking you would only result in a short hop, not true flight.

Oy, I did decent enough during a couple of our aero games.
Besides you don't have the TSM needed to kick my frame.  ;D

[Lord Cameron]

Unfortunately we didn't have time to complete another turn.  :(


Dropship Intercept - aftermath.

The FC have lost the Chippewa, while the Lightning, Corsair & Thunderbird have taken moderate damage.
The Hellcat is some distance out, but not seriously damaged once control re-established
The Draconis have effectivly lost the Sai, while the Slayer has taken moderate damage.

The Union has lost about 65% of it's armour from each side, and about 40% of frontal armour.
However it only has 18 points armour left (of 100) on the rear, so will likely be destroyed next turn if the FC can get 2 or 3 fighters into the rear arc.  :o



Some thoughts on the battle

The DC fighters were less effective than I expected in protecting the dropship, however the DS was more effective than I thought in targeting attackers.  :-\
I (as the DC) made a critical error in thrusting too quickly towards the attackers, as I couldn't turn around quickly enough.
I had originally planned for the attackers to have 12 fighters, and I think this is close to the minimum for an effective DS attack.
The FedCom had only 8 in this scenario as played, but were helped enormously by the DS spending 3 critical turns out-of-control, and therefore not able to manoeuver or return fire nearly as effectivly.  ???


Any comments guys?   :-\

(pic from turn 8 - last turn)