As the fighters are launching, Macavenger starts issuing orders.
"Alright, no Ospreys yet. That's good. All capital ships, I want a general Torpedo bombardment of the Cruisers, try not to engage them at close range. Save a few torpedoes though, in case Ospreys show up. Firefoxes, Starscreamers, You'll also assault the Cruisers, with Star Cobras flying cover. Remeber to get behind them, most will probably have Particle beams. Mantas will screen our capital ships from Confederate fighters. Komodos, Typhoons, and Assault Carriers, get in close with the Frigates once you've unloaded at the Cruisers."

Macavenger opens a channel to ~Rebel~. "I think we can handle this, but stick around. It's not safe to start delivering troops yet, and planetary bombardment is out of the question. The Confederate troops aren't in installations, they're fighting what's left of our troops. I want half your fleet to stay in close and support our Mantas against the Confederate fighters with your Missiles, we don't have enough Mantas, really. The other half should stay cloaked for now. Use torpedoes very sparingly, I do want a reserve if more ships show up."

Turning to his captain, Macavenger adds, "Looks like it's time to give the new equipment it's first true operational test. Pick a Cruiser that doesn't look like it's gettting hit much and throw some torps at it, then we'll go fridge hunting." A wolfish smile crosses his face. "They can't possibly know what we've got for them, even if a Confederate spy did see the test run."

=============
David, the Alliance still does allow freighters carrying things like food and equipment through its territory, right? If not, that would completely cut off some of our bases, and we'd have to do someting. Additionally, I'd like to know how well patrolled alliance systems are, I have been through some that aren't blocking military traffic. What kind of firepower do they kep there to ward off trouble? I know they don't attack ships just for coming through and I'm not planning to create a scene here, but I'd like to know for other reasons. Also, are all independent worlds in the alliance? If not, can you give us a list of which ones are so we know which systems are off limits?

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So go on the internet game sites and bash all the PC users!

(This message has been edited by Macavenger (edited 07-05-2001).)

Quote

Originally posted by Macavenger:
David, the Alliance still does allow freighters carrying things like food and equipment through its territory, right?

Anything non-military is perfectly legal. If you want to take military supplies (ie weapons etc.) through Alliance territory, you'll need to negotiate an agreement with them.

Quote

Originally posted by Macavenger:
Additionally, I'd like to know how well patrolled alliance systems are, I have been through some that aren't blocking military traffic. What kind of firepower do they kep there to ward off trouble?... Also, are all independent worlds in the alliance? If not, can you give us a list of which ones are so we know which systems are off limits?

The Alliance is not blocking military traffic ~yet~ except in the Levo system. They will all start very soon. They have a fleet of slightly upgraded Corvettes, as well as some Defenders, Lightnings, and Rapiers. The fleet is coordinated from a central location on New Istanbul. If you look at my map (linked below), you'll see which planets are currently Alliance members - they're the dark green ones.

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David Arthur
(url="http://"http://members.aol.com/darthur1/talon-ev/")Talon Plugin for Classic EV(/url)
(url="http://"http://members.aol.com/darthur1/confed.html")The Confederate Political System(/url)
(url="http://"http://members.aol.com/darthur1/battleforsol.jpg")The Battle for Sol Map(/url)

Ok, that answers my questions about the alliance... are you going to do anthing about my attack, or do I just get to continue calling shots?

------------------
So go on the internet game sites and bash all the PC users!

Before the alarm buzzer had finished sounding, Captain O'Donnell was on the bridge of the C.N.S. Montcalm. "Report!" he called.

"A large rebel battlegroup has entered the system and begun firing on our ships," answered the helm officer. "Mass readings are off-scale too, suggesting that there may be even more vessels present under cloak."

"Power up weapons, and begin evasive maneuvers," the captain instructed him. He turned to his comm panel. "All ships, we are under attack. Enter attack pattern A97. Ground control, you might want to activate the planetary guns in case they try to land or bomb you. Frigates, draw the enemy's fire while the cruisers attack them with the particle beam cannon. Fighters, provide cover wherever necessary and try to keep the Mantas off our ships." He deactivated the commlink. "I just hope Admiral Rollins gets here in time to show off the Osprey in battle."

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David Arthur
(url="http://"http://members.aol.com/darthur1/talon-ev/")Talon Plugin for Classic EV(/url)
(url="http://"http://members.aol.com/darthur1/confed.html")The Confederate Political System(/url)
(url="http://"http://members.aol.com/darthur1/battleforsol.jpg")The Battle for Sol Map(/url)

Minutes into the battle, the rebel battle plan seemed to be working. Under orders not to fire torpedoes at the Frigates, the Cruisers were hit by a massive barrage. Several were destroyed, with many others severely damaged. Some Frigates driving forward in an attempt to attract fire got a little too far in front of the Cruisers, and were hit hare by komodo Frigates. Starscreamers raced in, launching precision bombs at the Cruiser, finishing several more. Many Patrol Ships came after them, but the Star Cobras were able to handle most, though both Star Cobras and Starscreamers took moderate losses. Naturally, the Confederate return fire had also taken its toll, destroying several Komodo Frigates and Typhoon Cruisers, as well as one Rebel Cruiser and 2 of ~Rebel~'s Destroyers.

Macavenger was mostly pleased with how things were going, but gave some new orders to adjust to some Confederat tactics.
"Mantas, you are clear to engage the Confederate fighters. They aren't coming after our ships in any numbers, ~Rebel~'s Destroyers can protect us. Starscreamers, go after the Frigates now, the Cruisers are pretty well hammered. All ships, move in on the Frigates, but stay clear of remaining active Cruisers as much as possible. Assault Carriers, mop up the Cruisers. Split into 2 packs of 3, use your cloaks and new equipment." He turned to the captain of teh R.S.S. Annihilator. "Cease fire with torpedoes. Take us in on that group of Figates there, under cloak. Bad as the long range battle has been for the Confederation, it's time to show them what we can do up close and personal."

The 7 ships of Macavenger's fleet disappeared from the Confederation's screens.

At this point, I estimate losses as follows(all figures approximate):
Confederation:
15 Cruisers Destroyed, 5 more disabaled, the rest have moderate to major damage.
10 Frigates Destroyed, a few more disabled, some with heavy damage
About half the fighters have been eliminated.
Rebels:
1 Cruiser, 2 Destroyers, 10 komodos, 5 Typhoon carriers.
Several more of our capital ships have a fair amount of damage from torpedo fire.
About half the Star cobras and maybe 40% of the Starscreamers, 30% Firefoxes, Mantas almost all remain since they haven't done much yet.

Your turn David.

------------------
So go on the internet game sites and bash all the PC users!

The C.N.S. Montcalm rocked as it was hit by another rebel torpedo. "Frigates, stand your ground," called Captain O'Donnell over the fleet comlink. "Ground control, we need support. Fire on any rebel vessels that come within range with the planetary guns, and try to get the orbital cannons in place as quickly as possible. Wait - are there any rebel ships down there that you don't need for research purposes? Good. Send them up, transponders unmodified. That should confuse the rebels a bit. Fighters, focus on the rebel carriers. Hit them with everything you've got, and then let the cruisers come in for the kill with their particle beams."

At that point, several blazing lights appeared at the edge of the system. They quickly expanded into hyperspace exit points, and Confederate ships began pouring out. The Montcalm's comlink activated. "Sorry we couldn't stop those guys at Matar," came the voice of Captain Hughes of the C.N.S. Wolfe. "I thought you might need a hand."

------------------

A junior technician stood outside the door to the largest hangar in the New Britain spaceport. He'd been trying to open the lock for hours, but it seemed the rebels had changed the locking code. Frustrated, he kicked the door. It opened.

Inside stood an enormous vessel bearing Rebel markings.

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David Arthur
(url="http://"http://members.aol.com/darthur1/talon-ev/")Talon Plugin for Classic EV(/url)
(url="http://"http://members.aol.com/darthur1/confed.html")The Confederate Political System(/url)
(url="http://"http://members.aol.com/darthur1/battleforsol.jpg")The Battle for Sol Map(/url)

(This message has been edited by David Arthur (edited 07-05-2001).)

~Rebel~ reports in on the status of his fleet. 2 more of Rebel's destoyers have been dstroyed in the fighting as well as one disabled, which leaves 4 destroyers uncloaked and assisting the fleet. "Macavenger, the other half of my fleet is ready to deliver the troops to the planet surface. My sensor readings indicate their planetary guns are charging up but that shouldn't be a problem, I've handled situations like this before. I think it would be a good idea to start my assault now, that way I can take the capital and possibly put those orbital guns out of commision for you."

With that said ~Rebel~ began his descent with whats left of his cloaked fleet. He then bagan issuing orders..."Alright, I want all of the destroyers not carrying troops to uncloak now and create a diversion for the planetary guns, the rest of you stay close to thr R.S.S. Freedom." 6 of Rebel's destroyers uncloaked and branched off and were almost instantly fired at by the planetary weapons. The R.S.S. Freedom and the other Destroyers were then able to sneak past planetary defences almost unoticed and the 4 remaining destroyers uncloaked almost on top of the capital. They then landed, and with the push of a button, ramps lowered and thousands of Rebel troops poured into the city, eventually taking it with moderate casualties to ground troops.

"I want planetary guns disabled or overrun as soon as possible. Unfortunatley, my 6 diversionary destroyers were all destroyed so if the fight in space doesn't go as planned, I'll have a problem. Lets hope you can pull through Macavenger."

------------------

Quote

Originally posted by ~Rebel~:
6 of Rebel's destroyers uncloaked and branched off and were almost instantly fired at by the planetary weapons. The R.S.S. Freedom and the other Destroyers were then able to sneak past planetary defences almost unoticed and the 4 remaining destroyers uncloaked almost on top of the capital.

This is rather problematic. First of all, it's far from possible to "sneak past" a Confederate defence grid (I assume the same is true for the Rebellion), and second, the planetary defence guns are numerous to attack all your destroyers at the same time. Anyway, since there are guns all over the planet, how is attacking the capital going to overrun them?

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David Arthur
(url="http://"http://members.aol.com/darthur1/talon-ev/")Talon Plugin for Classic EV(/url)

I meant by sneak past, is that when I sent in the first 6 detroyers, the planetary guns were focused of them primarily. So while they were busy, the other 4 got past with minimal damage. And if you controlled a city full of high ranking officials, you could problably "persuade" some of them to shut down some guns. You can always disregard my post if you think it is that unfair.

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So how big is the new Matar fleet that's arriving? Same size?

A couple more cruisers flamed into oblivion from fighter attacks. Meanwhile, 3 Rebel ships, apparently Destroyers, decloaked behind the C.N.S. Montcalm. Before the sensor officer even had time to call out the contact, all three fired a brilliant red beam through the aft section of the cruiser. The ship exploded spectacularly, and another Cruiser fell prey to a similar attack. Three of them cloaked again immediately, while the ones which had destroyed the Montcalm wheeled on another near by Cruiser, and fired. The beams broke the ship in half at the midline, separating the engines and weapons from the command deck and cutting power everywhere in the ship, which was clearly out of the fight. These three then cloaked again as well, though one was hit fairly hard first by fire from a few of the remaining fighters.

Back toward the front lines, things were not going well for the Confederate Frigates. Deprived of Cruiser support and mostly out of torpedoes, they had little option but to fight up close, where they were hideously outclassed by the more modern rebel ships. Also, with most of the Confederate fighters down, most of the remaining fighters were swarming around, strafing them at will. One large group of about 20 frigates had grouped together and had not yet been seriously challenged. That was about to change. The R.S.S. Annihilator led 10 Komodo frigates in a sweep against these 20. The Komodos fanned out, lancing in and firing Turbolasers at the Frigates. Meanwhile, the R.S.S. Annihilator cut straight in, and fired. It too had the red beam, err, 2 of them. One frigate exploded under them, then another. Another tried to work in behind to attack th engines. The double beam lanced out to the side, showing itself to be turreted also. This Frigate, too, quickly became a fireball, and the rest of the fleet wasn't doing well against the Komodos.
(These parts are happening between my last orders and when the reinforcements come in.)

Macavenger's tactical officer calls out "Sir! Another Confed fleet dropping out of hyperspace. Vectors place it coming from the Matar system."

"So, they got smart and decided to follow us. We'll have to make them pay for that." Macavenger shoots off an FTl message to Captain Skyblade. "Skyblade, come in. The Confederate fleet stationed at Matar has hypered to Rigel to assit the fleet here. Matar should be open. Last I heard, your fleet was at Turin. If you are still in the area, attack Matar immediately, it should be vulnerable."

Macavenger then open's a comm chanel to ~Rebel~. "We don't need your 8 remaining Destroyers to help here anymore, take them back to your fleet. I want you to send 4 ships to the surface, under cloak. Report on an activity coming up from the surface immediately and try to evac any remaining troops on the planet if you can, I don't think we're going to be able to hold this place right now. The rest of your fleet can decloak, and try to hold off that new fleet coming in for a while. No unnecessary heroics, this is just a delaying action, not a full attack on them. Draw fire and execute maximum evasive manuvers, targets of opportunity only."

By this time, all the cruisers from the first fleet have been disabled or destroyed, and the Frigates are falling fast. The original battle is degenerating into a mop up action. "All ships, recall remaining fighters, repair and rearm. The remainder can easily be accomplished by fleet ships, and we want the fighters as fresh as possible for action against the other fleet if and when it becomes desirable. Fighters without ships to return to are to cover ~Rebel~'s Destroyers in their action against the Matar fleet."

------------------
So go on the internet game sites and bash all the PC users!

And David, about those captured Rebel ships and technologies you ~claim~ to have, I'm pretty sure that in the event of a major Confederate attack, the ships would be either destroyed or booby trapped. If nothing else, I can guarantee that anything sensitive like cloaking devices would be destroyed. I'm sure you've heard of the recent incident involving the US EP-3 spy plane that collided with a Chinese fighter. The crew destroyed just about everything sensitive on the plane before it landed. While no one would ever be able to destroy everything, something like a cloaking device is ~not~ going to be left operational on any ship when enemy forces are taking over. The crew or maintenance team knows better than that. So while I concede that you'll get some stuff, maybe even some semi functional ships, you will not be able to find a cloak that easily. You'll have to take some more time and invent your own.

------------------
So go on the internet game sites and bash all the PC users!

Rebel gets on the intercomm to his fleet, "Alright, this is your commander speaking. We won't be winning this fight or holding the planet so I am coming back up to the surface with the 4 destroyers we got down here. To the 4 destroyers in orbit, get ready to rendevous with us once we are back in orbit because we have to help hold off another Confed fleet jumping in from Matar. Rebel out." Rebel then sent out a beacon for all rebel sodiers to report back to the destroyers as soon as possible. Within the next 20 minutes, 95% of the soldiers were back on board and Rebel's fleet regrouped in orbit, ready for combat.

------------------

Actually, it's too soon to say for sure that we're going to lose here, though with the arival of another fleet i am expecting to have to retreat soon. Regardless, this is going to be a victory, I'm pretty sure. If we wind up winning in space, we can always land the troops again, along with the new ones we've brought.

------------------
So go on the internet game sites and bash all the PC users!

It was at this moment that the Osprey battlegroup dropped out of hyperspace. Admiral Rollins could see nothing but a brilliant display of red light on his viewscreen. "What's going on here?" he called over the comlink.

"CNS Wolfe here, Admiral," came the voice of Captain Hughes, "We've lost the Montcalm."

"What are you doing here, Hughes? You're supposed to be guarding Hodgson's World!"

"Don't worry about Matar," said the Captain. "We deployed the automated defensive flak drones before we left. Nothing could get past them. What's important is what's happening here. The rebels have some sort of beam weapon which is really devestating our ships."

"Engineering," the admiral called, "can you do anything about these beams of theirs?"

"I don't know - it looks like they follow a normal longitudinal pulse pattern, so if we knew the frequency and amplitude, we could probably use the tractor beam to create an interference pattern that would stop the beam from hurting us and maybe even cause its energy to boomerang back at the firing ship."

"How easy would it be to get the frequency and amplitude?" asked the admiral.

"Not sure - it would take some pretty fancy computer power to..."

"This ship has some pretty fancy computer power," interrupted the admiral. "This is the C.N.S. Macdonald, the newest and most up-to-date ship in the fleet. Now start calculating!" He turned the comlink over to fleet control. "Fleet, this is Admiral Rollins. Osprey groups, try to disable the rebel beam weapons. Attack fighters, give them cover. Matar fleet, do whatever you can against the traditionally-armed rebel fleet."

A squadron of Lightning fighters arced past the rebel ships, skillfully avoiding their fire. They began to fire on one of the specially-armed rebel destroyers, distracting its attention from a Confederate frigate. As it turned, the captain found himself face to face with a Confederate Osprey. "Fire the beam," he called.

The red beam began to extend from the front of the destroyer, but at the same moment, a green beam extended from the Osprey with precision that only the latest computer guidance technology could produce. The two beams merged into a glowing yellow fireball, and before the rebel captain knew what was happening, his ship was hurtling defencelessly towards the planet. The Rigellian defence guns quickly finished it off.

==================

Quote

Originally posted by Macavenger:
... I'm pretty sure that in the event of a major Confederate attack, the ships would be either destroyed or booby trapped.

I have to disagree here. If your planet is being attacked, which do you do? Do you

• start destroying your ships and the technology that could save you, or

• try to get as much of it into space as possible?

In any case, I never said I had an operational cloaking device, just that what we had would advance Confederate research significantly.

While we're talking about research, how did the Rebel cloaking device suddenly lose the shield-dropping weakness that makes it dangerous to use in battle?

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David Arthur
(url="http://"http://members.aol.com/darthur1/talon-ev/")Talon Plugin for Classic EV(/url)

Whoa, slow down there. What makes you think that you can figure out how to disable a beam you know nearly nothing about in the middle of the battle? I admit that this isn't new, it's the alien heavy fusion beam, but obviously they never learned how to do that sort of thing to it.

And also, these flak drones you mentioned, from your description of them, would appear to be an Ares technology. I could counter with Engineering Pods from Ares, but this is EV, not Ares. I'm not saying you can't have flak drones, I'll concede that point, but you can't have the kind of indestructible flak drones that come from Ares. They have to be defeatable in the ordinary sense. You can't put a bunch of automated devices up and say "Nothing could get past those."

I think we have some differences in technology we need to work out here before we can continue. I'm not trying to make my ships invincible or anything here(in fact I was planning on one of them to be destroyed soon anyway, in all likelihood), but you can't just take 30 or 60 seconds in the middle of a batle and suddenly invent a counter for a weapon that's been in existence for years, and has never been countered. Furthermore, since the aliens were believed extinct over the intervening years, any such research, if it happened at all, would have a very low priority. Also, countering attacks that way really isn't in the spirit of EV, you know. ECM only affects guided weapons, and the beam isn't guided, but if you can explain very well how you propose to do this at some slightly later time, I might waive that point.

Additionally, one other problem with an Osprey engaging one of my ships exists, and goes something like this:

As soon as the Ospreys came into the system, Macavenger started flashing out orders. "All ships, the Ospreys have arrived. Everyone stay out of their range, period , unless you get different orders. ~Rebel~, You've still got 17 Destroyers with Torpedoes. Come around and open fire on the Ospreys. Whatever you do, don't get in close. All other ships, we're taking over the delaying action against the new fleet."

I planned for that the whole time. Mind you, these orders go out within 5 seconds of the Ospreys arrival, because we were expecting it and I knew exactly what I wanted to happen when and if they arrived.

============

Quote

Originally posted by David Arthur:
While we're talking about research, how did the Rebel cloaking device suddenly lose the shield-dropping weakness that makes it dangerous
to use in battle?

I never said it did. My Destroyers(Assault Carrier mk. IIs, actually) have been using it tactically on the Cruisers. Decloak, fire beam, cloak. Similar principle to the Klingon Bird-of-Prey in Star Trek VI, just not as efficient as that one. They are visible and targetable for a few(maybe 3) seconds. The advantage is that the window for firing on them is small, and you don't know where they will appear until they do. Also, they do have a little shield when they decloak, because shields do recharge at normal speed in EV while the cloak is engaged. Try it sometime if you don't believe me. You can't tell while the device is on, but if you cloak for a while and then decloak, you will have shields when you decloak. And don't worry, Rebel Engineers are also working on this, and we think we're getting close to a solution.

Quote

Originally posted by David Arthur:
If your planet is being attacked, which do you do?

So they would probably try to get into space, but if it became apparent that they wouldn't make it, You start on the sabotage list, which would have the cloak at #1. Something delicate like a cloaking device could e destroyed easily by 3 or 4 hits from a good sledgehammer. So my point about cloaks stands, you would not pick up anything significant there. I never tried to deny that you would et some operational ships, and there's really little else new on our ships that you don't have.

Also, you never mentioned how big the Matar fleet was, and I also need to know how many Ospreys are in the system.

------------------
So go on the internet game sites and bash all the PC users!

Quote

Originally posted by Macavenger:
And also, these flak drones you mentioned, from your description of them, would appear to be an Ares technology... They have to be defeatable in the ordinary sense. You can't put a bunch of automated devices up and say "Nothing could get past those."

These flak drones are not the flak drones from Ares, and they are not invincible. They're essentially medium-sized, stationery, automated, and heavily armed defence platforms. The "nothing gets pas those" is not because they are indestructible, just because they are effective and very numerous.

Quote

Originally posted by Macavenger:
... but you can't just take 30 or 60 seconds in the middle of a batle and suddenly invent a counter for a weapon that's been in existence for years, and has never been countered.

I don't see why not. While it's true that when the fusion beams were in common use by the aliens there was no counter, the Confederation's technology has advanced significantly. In particular, you have to remember that during the Great War, the Confederation had no beam weapons. With the development of the particle beam cannon, Confederate understanding of beam weapons increased greatly, and the staff on Osprey-class vessels are among the best-trained beam operators in the CSN.

Quote

Originally posted by Macavenger:
I planned for that the whole time. Mind you, these orders go out within 5 seconds of the Ospreys arrival, because we were expecting it...

Why were you expecting the arrival of the Ospreys? At no time were the plans of Admiral Rollins's battlegroup available to the rebellion, and in any case, the Ospreys arrived several days behind schedule, for reasons already stated.

The fleet from Matar is about the same size as the one that was originally in Rigel. Fourteen Ospreys just arrived.

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David Arthur
(url="http://"http://members.aol.com/darthur1/talon-ev/")Talon Plugin for Classic EV(/url)
(url="http://"http://members.aol.com/darthur1/confed.html")The Confederate Political System(/url)
(url="http://"http://members.aol.com/darthur1/battleforsol.jpg")The Battle for Sol Map(/url)

(This message has been edited by David Arthur (edited 07-06-2001).)

Well, you didn't ask me, Macavenger, but I don't mind about you taking the X-group. I'm at camp, and concentrating on RoC II in the EVO board anyways. You're doing pretty well.

~Rebel~, Firefoxes are from Talon, Starscreamers are slightly modified from Empire II, I invented the Komodo, Skyblade invented the Star Cobra, and Macavenger invented the Assault Carrier which I modified into the Typhoon Carrier.

------------------
Winning is easy; losing is an art.

Sattomax: Actually, the Assault Carrier is a modified Rebel Destroyer. And I took the X-fleet because you weren't here to run it, and needed more than 7 ships to assault Rigel. I fully intend to give it back to you when you return from camp, and get myself a bigger fleet soon anyways.

And David, I expected Ospreys because I've heard of them, and it seemed logical that they would be deployed to a place that had been recently taken over and would be expecting a counter attack. Also, with the potential for something that powerful coming in, you have to always be prepared for it, whether you really think it will show up or not. I'll be giving similar orders in any battle which involves Ospreys at any point, in all likelyhood(sp?).

I realize that Ospreys have some of the best equipment and crew in the Confederation, but that doesn't make them supermen. It takes time to counteract a weapon like that, and exactly how do you propose to counter a beam of hard energy coming at you anyway? Besides, the opportunity hasn't arisen yet because none of my Carriers would have fired at your Ospreys; only ~Rebel~'s ships have permission to engage them at this point, and only with torpedoes.

Again, I think that countering weapons they way you're proposing to do is against the spirit of Escape Velocity, and i don't think it really should be used here. If you do that, soon we'll have a counter for the Particle Beam, and then probably adapt it to redirect Proton Turret fire or something. It's really not much different. I suggest we stick to the spirit of EV here and counter all attacks with shields and armor, or for guided weapons manuverability and maybe ECM.

Don't have time to post the next installment of the battle now, I'll do that a little later this afternoon.

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So go on the internet game sites and bash all the PC users!

(This message has been edited by Macavenger (edited 07-06-2001).)

Continuing the battle here:

Macavenger leads his fleet and the X-Fleet away from both groups of ships, stalling for time. Meanwhile, ~Rebel~ leads his fleet in a charge at the Ospreys, firing torpedoes. Admiral Rollins is surprised by the change in tactics, but does not hesitate. "We'll have to remind the Rebels why they fear the Osprey. Take us in at them and return fire."

Torpedos savage both fleets,while the Ospreys's fighters attack the Destroyers as well. Six of the Destroyers go down, but take a few of the Ospreys with them. Before the Ospreys could get in range to fire the Particle Beams, however, the Destroyers peeled off and shot away from them. They turned to pursue.

By this time, all the fighters in the fleet had been rearmed on their carriers. As the Ospreys veered after the Destroyers, A swarm of the redeployed Firefoxes angled in, firing torpedoes. A group of Star Cobras was close behind, gunning after the Lightnings still harrasing ~Rebel~'s Destroyers. Three more had fallen to the Lightnings, but with the arrival of the Rebel fighters, they were unable to focus on the Destroyers. The Ospreys, already seriously damaged by torpedoes from the Destroyers, had a hard time dealing with this new wave. Several more were destroyed, and a couple were crippled.

Seeing this, Macavenger became rather frustrated with the situation. "Much as we'd love to board those Ospreys to try to capture them for study, there's no way we can do it now," he decided.

The Fleet was still fleeing from the Matar fleet, but wasn't going to stick around much longer. It was currently out of torpedo range - just barely out of it. Most of the ships were already damaged, and in no condition to try to fight off the Confederate fleet. Remaining Mantas hd been deployed in a screen to keep out Confederation fighters.

Macavenger realized it was about time to leave, they had done about all they could. "Firefoxes, Star Cobras, return to your ships. ~Rebel~, cloak your leet and prepare to exit the system. Fine work, everyone, but we've done all we can here."

The fighters turned and came in to dock, while the fleet oriented itself for entry into hyperspace. The Confederation would have one narrow window during the recovery of the fighters to try to do as much as it could to the retreating rebels.

So, David, your choice now is whetehr to let us go, or attempt to pursue. The few remaining Ospreys(I estimate 4 active but damaged, 3 disabled) should be out of range to do much, but since I don't know their exact speed they could probably get close enough to throw some torpedoes, whether those would hit before we leave is a question. The Matar fleet might be able to do something, it's much closer but probably slower. Up to you.

------------------
So go on the internet game sites and bash all the PC users!

(This message has been edited by Macavenger (edited 07-06-2001).)

"The rebels ships are retreating," called Captain Hughes over the comlink. "Fleet, charge hyperdrives and set a pursuit course."

"Belay that," came the voice of Admiral Rollins. "If we follow this rebel fleet, another one will come and take New Britain. Keep firing on them as long as they're in the system, and have our ships engage them if they pass through any more Confederate territory, but don't pursue. All ships are to remain in the Rigel system at least until we can deploy defence drones *****."

The Confederate ships of the Matar fleet continued to fire on the retreating rebels, but the remaining vessels turned their attention to salvaging the disabled capital ships of both governments that now littered the system.

==================

***** I have renamed the flak drones to avoid confusion with Ares technology.

Quote

Originally posted by Macavenger:
The few remaining Ospreys(I estimate 4 active but damaged, 3 disabled)...

You're under-estimating the Ospreys a little here, but I'll give you 7 active and 3 disabled.

I still don't feel that it's any more contrary to the spirit of the EV scenario to counter beams with beams (the physics of the countering is at least as valid as that of the beams themselves) any more than it is for planets to change hands or for there to be more than 36 ships in a system, but I'll waive that point for now so this topic doesn't devolve into pointless bickering.

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David Arthur
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