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[Haspen]

I've turned on my BotF and checked the database:

Galaxy I: 208hp+600shd = 808 damage to resist, x9 = 7272.
Ambassador I: 153hp+410shd = 563 damage to resist, x 18 = 10134

I just noticed at my Federation LP pics that Borg Phaser dealt 640 damage to one of Ambassadors, destroying it. Which means, two Borg phasers for Galaxy, and one Borg phaser for Ambassador. I'm not counting the mathematical shenaningans that come from technological levels and other invisible variables.

Which leaves us to debacle: How many phasers per turn of battle a Borg Cube shoots? By blind count on one of my LP's pic, it seems like it shoots around ~15 to ~20 phasers.

I had 25 ships in my fleet when I first battled the Borg: 4 Galaxies, 2 Oberths, 19 Ambassadors. I would also like to remind my Ambassadors where at level II, and the battle took 2 turns.

I would also like to remind that there were 8 ships standing afterwards.

we are so screwed here ;-;

[ivanthe8th]

So according to these numbers, perhaps the solution is to make more destroyers. Here's my thought process:

• For our ships to last 1 whole turn, they need to have hp+shield>640
• The only ship we can build at present with this much defense is the Command Cruiser
• Destroyer II's cost 2660 industry, Command Cruiser I's cost about 5000 (roughly)
• Therefore, destroyers and command cruisers are approximately even in their ability to withstand the Borg
  • 2 destroyers take 2 shots
  • 1 command cruiser takes 2 shots
  • 2 destroyers = 1 command cruiser to build
• But the damage output of 2 destroyers > 1 command cruiser (I think, Haspen since I can't get to my copy of BotF would you mind fact-checking?)
• Therefore, we should build more destroyers to maximize our damage, but we lose a huge proportion of the fleet every time the cube shoots.

• Ideally, we have enough destroyers to kill the cube in one turn of tactical combat.

If I recall correctly, cubes have around 6000 shields and near 1000 hp, let's round up to 7500 to be on the safe side. I'm going to assume worst-case scenario, where the cube kills 20 destroyers per turn before we can get a single shot off. So to win we need to solve this equation:

X = damage per turn per destroyer
D = number of destroyers
T = number of turns to kill the cube

Code: [Select]

  T
  Σ   X*(D-(i*20))
 i=1
Provided X is known, all we need to do is solve the equation for when the sum is greater than the defenses of the cube. If X is large, maybe we'll be able to get away with killing it in one turn and losing 20 ships. If X is small, then we may end up sacrificing 60 ships to kill this thing.

Haspen if you can check what X equals, we can calculate the size of the fleet we need to win.


Hooray math!

[Haspen]

Weapons:

Destroyer II:
6x25dmg phasers
4x44dmg torpedoes

Lt.Cruiser I:
7x25dmg phasers
5x44dmg torpedoes

Cmd.Cruiser I:
9x30dmg phasers
7x52dmg torpedoes

[ivanthe8th]

Thanks Haspen! So according to this, this is the maximum potential damage per turn:

• Destroyer: 326
• Command Cruiser: 634

There's a certain amount of randomness here, the cube could shoot 20 command cruisers once, killing none, and then get hit by 20*634 damage. Or it could shoot 10 command cruisers twice, destroying them, and then get hit for 10*634 damage.

Alternatively, we could spend the same money on 40 destroyers. Since a single shot from the cube kills the destroyer no matter what, we have 20*326 damage guaranteed.

To compare, that gives us (minimum) 6340 damage from the command cruisers versus (guaranteed) 6520 damage from the destroyers. Both figures assume we build 20 command cruisers or 40 destroyers.

Now, I've found that inexperienced crews frequently miss with some of their phasers. If we redo the math without phaser damage we get this:

20 command cruisers deal either 20*364 or 10*364, depending on the cube.
40 destroyers deal 20*176.

That gives us 3640 for the command cruisers (again, taking the lower value), and 3520 for the destroyers. Close enough to call it equivalent.


Finally, we need to recognize that we already have 25 ships in service. So the damage figures I just did will be on top of whatever our current fleets can deal.

Assuming the Trill and Talarian ships get specially targeted by the cube and die without firing, we consider their offensive capability to be no better than any other ship, but provides us with 7 more destroyers (or some unknown number of command cruisers, depending on what the cube shot) alive for our calculations. If we assume we built destroyers, that leaves us with 4400 extra damage (not counting phaser damage, so it could be more) beyond what I've calculated above due to our existing fleet. It would be difficult to calculate the potential damage if we build command cruisers, but I'd expect it to be somewhat higher.

Therefore, if we plug all this in to our summation from my last post, we see that we can deal the necessary 7500 damage in one turn if we add on either 2 fleets of command cruisers (18) or 4 fleets of destroyers (36).

Doing the math out-of-post, I get that we can destroy it in 2 turns with 3 additional fleets of destroyers (27). Again, the math gets harder if we try and do it with command cruisers. But assuming the cube is as intelligent as we are, and cherry-picks it's targets to minimize our ability to destroy it, 9 command cruisers + our current fleet loses to the cube. Edit: Having 12 or 15 command cruisers doesn't make it possible either.

Therefore the most economical way to destroy the cube is with 3 more fleets of destroyers. With 5 planets building them, and making judicious use of our treasury, I estimate we could get that fleet built in less than 30 turns.

Obviously we'd lose around 40 of our ships if we did this. But I figure that it's better we rebuild our fleets after the Borg threat has been neutralized, rather than try and build them before the fight and potentially lose systems while we wait.

Edit: Did the math wrong, we need 3 more fleets of destroyers, not 2.

[Haspen]

Just... build the damn fleet already, pulverize Borg, and let's back to dealings with Romulans

[ivanthe8th]

Haha Haspen, I'll get to it later tonight. Thanks for your help though!

[ivanthe8th]

Turn 143 Addendum

We've scrapped work on building Listening Posts in Selay, Bolarus, and Ktaria. All 3 systems have been re-purposed to pure destroyer production. I'm also splitting up the Johnson and Morrison, in the hopes of quickly re-colonizing Zadar and any other systems we lose.

Furthermore, the Quebec, Monrovia, and Warsaw are constructing an outpost in orbit of Betazed. Being adjacent to Zadar, there's a good chance the borg will head there next. Once the outpost is done, we'll split up the remaining transports in the hopes of coaxing the cube into a battle in open space.

The Grey Fleet and First Destroyer Fleets will continue bombarding Romulus. It will serve the purpose of preventing the Romulan fleet from getting on its feet, and it will keep the ships safe and away from the cube until we're ready to attack. I'm pulling the Unity Fleet back to join it. The puny Klingon fleet can wait, the Unity Fleet is slow enough that I want it closer to the cube for when we decide to engage.

Finally, I'm pulling both the Cortes and Sandhusky back to Romulus to assist. Even if they get destroyed, they'll be sparing a destroyer.

Turn 144

Looks like our enemies are trying to take advantage of the situation.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Then again we did destroy 8 of their ships just now.

The Borg claimed more of our citizens, we can only hope the system can hold out another turn or two.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

It's the same image, but they did kill 9 million this turn.

There is some good news, however.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

First time I'd ever consider this a good thing.

Hopefully this anomaly will also effect the cube. If so, then the Borg may be pinned in Zadar for a while longer. The good news is this won't effect our ship production, so it's an effective way to bide time.

Of our 3 troop transports set to build the outpost over Betazed, the Quebec was selected to supply the power core for the structure.

With the finished factory upgrades in Betazed and Mintaka, I've set Betazed to build yet more destroyers. Mintaka has been assigned construction of command cruisers. If the Borg spare them, they'll be able to deal huge damage. If the Borg target them, then we'll have more destroyers to hit it.

Turn 145

The Borg finally completed their destruction of Zadar. The system is now barren and vacant. We can only hope the subspace anomaly will effect the movements of the cube.

Turn 146

So it begins.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

We did get a little information from the battle. The "borg ray" dealt 540 damage to the outpost.

Oh god.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

You were saying something Neonivek?

Suffice it to say, the subspace anomaly disappeared. Our hastily-built outpost was nothing to the Borg, and they've begun assimilating Betazed. I sincerely doubt we'll be able to save the Betazoids. I'm ordering Trill to buy the remainder of their factory upgrade, and we'll begin destroyer production there.

The Morrison is going to re-colonize Zadar. With luck the new colony will re-attract the cube, allowing us to delay its assault of our other systems.

Also the Antedeans offered us an affiliation. Of course we'll accept.

Turn 147

The Borg claimed 69 million Betazoids. Hopefully the system will last another few turns.

Turn 148

36 million died in Betazed this turn. Thankfully, they completed a warship, the destroyer USS Montreal A, before they lost most of their population. The Montreal is moving to Trill, the rally point for our constructing fleets, taking with it as many refugees of Betazed as it can hold.

Speaking of Trill, a Klingon scout was in the system when the destroyer USS L'aventure A completed in the system. The destroyer sent the scout running with no damage to either side.

Turn 149

Beginning the update, some diplomatic news. The Klingons are taking advantage of this situation to make new friends, they signed a non-aggression treaty with the Romulans and an affiliation treaty with the Cardassians. Meanwhile, the Edo offered us an affiliation. I'm happily accepting.

Meanwhile, in Betazed.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

9 million seems popular.

Finally, I'm buying a few more of the ships we're building around the empire, just to get this fleet off the ground. Unfortunately this is basically the end of our treasury reserves.

Turn 150

The USS Helmsdale A, a destroyer built in Ktaria, met a Ferengi light raider on the way to the rally point in Trill. Also, the USS Lachlan A, built in Selay, ran into that Klingon scout again. Both enemy vessels fled.

Oh yes, and amid the chaos of the Borg cube, we still had time to cripple the Romulan Star Empire forever. They now have no access to dilithium.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The irony of all this is not lost on me.

And once again, 9 million die in Betazed. This turn, we managed to buy another destroyer in the system, The USS Alameda A is taking yet more Betazoids to safety.

I'm also pleased to announce that outposts completed in orbit of Zadar and Benecia. If we're lucky we can engage the Borg with the assistance of one of these bases.

Turn 151

Even in the face of tragedy, the march of progress goes on.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I think I'll go for energy 6 next to get a free-research building.

Once again, 9 million Betazoids die. Once again I purchase a destroyer in the system to get the people to safety. The USS Tian An Men B, sister ship to one in the First Destroyer Fleet, is fleeing the system with yet more Betazoid refugees.

In other hopeful news, the Vulcans offered us membership. I'll naturally accept, and I'll also add their 8 ships to our growing navy.

Turn 152

This is becoming depressingly routine.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I don't get why it's always 9 million.

In other news, the Klingon scout that's been bothering us made it all the way to Sol. The outpost there was somewhat more accurate with its phasers than our new destroyers were. The scout is no more. Also the Ferengi signed an alliance with the Cardassians.

The evacuation of Betazed continues with the purchase of the USS Sitak B. This ship will join the growing fleet over Trill. With the population of Betazed at a paltry 5 million, and with no further funds to purchase new destroyers, this will be the final ship to leave Betazed.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Yep.

I estimate the Vulcan reinforcements will take 6 turns to reach Trill. With luck that will prove enough to consider facing the Borg. Additionally, the dilithium from Vulcan will fuel further shipbuilding. The fleet will complete that much faster.

Turn 153

Betazed is no more. The system, barren. The people, evacuated to the best of our ability. But their civilization, their culture, is irreparable. We can recolonize the system, but we will never get the Betazoids back as they once were.

With all our shipbuilding, I completely failed to notice that we're now being charged for the maintenance and upkeep of our fleets. Our economy, while mighty, cannot support a fleet this size. I'm going to allow the ships we have in production to complete, but no more will be built lest we run too heavy a deficit. The engagement with the Borg must happen soon, we wait only for the arrival of the Vulcan fleet.

Turn 154

Oh no, they're after the Bolians.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Shit!

Our attempt to lure the Borg by re-colonizing Zadar failed. The Vulcan fleet has been redirected to Bolarus, and the fleets over Trill will rendezvous with it there.

By some miracle, the USS Saratoga B completed in Bolarus just prior to the Borg attack. It will join the rest of the Fleet at the rendezvous point at Benecia.

Turn 155

57 million die on Bolarus, as our fleets draw ever closer to the system. The USS Swiftsure A, our third Galaxy class Command Cruiser completed in Mintaka this turn, it will arrive at Bolarus just in time to join the fleet.

Unfortunately, its completion puts us in the red income-wise. We've got one more destroyer almost complete in Talar, and it'll be able to make it to the fight. But otherwise, this is the fleet with which we fight the Borg.

Turn 156

Nothing to report, the ship in Talar finished and will join the battlegroup. Our cash reserves are now under 1000 credits, and we're spending 200 credits per turn to maintain the fleet. It's now or never.

More die in Bolarus.

Turn 157

9 million died in Bolarus, but after this turn no more. Our fleet is assembled, and with the Bolian people down to a mere 23 million, we have to save them now or we never will.

It is time. Here is an inventory of our fleet:
First Destroyer Fleet (9 Miranda-class Destroyer II's)
USS Stratford A
USS Brittain A
USS Tian An Men A
USS ShirKahr A
USS Reliant A
USS Saratoga A
USS Majestic A
USS Sitak A
USS Lantree A
Grey Fleet (9 Miranda-class Destroyer II's)
USS Nautilus A
USS Miranda A
USS Brunswick A
USS Everett A
USS Rockford A
USS Somali A
USS Covington A
USS Coronado A
USS Newport A
The Unity Fleet (2 Trill Warships, 5 Talarian Warships)
TDS Protector A
TDS Guardian A
Gunstar A
Battlestar A
Firestar A
Havocstar A
Bloodstar A
Battle Fleet A (9 Miranda-class Destroyer II's)
USS L'aventure A
USS Boston A
USS Montreal A
USS Winnipeg A
USS Berkeley A
USS Kirkland A
USS Alameda A
USS Condamine A
USS Lachlan A
Battle Fleet B (9 Miranda-class Destroyer II's)
USS Tian An Men B
USS Venice A
USS Sakai A
USS Helmsdale A
USS Sitak B
USS ShirKahr B
USS Reliant B
USS Majestic B
USS Saratoga B
Vulcan Fleet (8 Vulcan Ships)
T'plana-Hath A
Kohlinar A
T'Pau A
Seleya A
Surak A
Katra A
T'plana-Hath B
Kohlinar B
Battle Fleet C (2 Oberth-class Science Vessel II's, 2 Miranda-class Destroyer II's, 3 Galaxy-class Command Cruisers)
USS Sandhusky A
USS Cortes A
USS Nautilus B
USS Miranda B
USS Argonaut A
USS Bermuda A
USS Swiftsure A

All told, our fleet is composed of 38 Destroyer II's, 3 Command Cruiser I's, 2 Science Vessels II's, and 15 assorted minor race ships.

We number 58 vessels. There is one cube. Prepare yourselves, Borg, the United Federation of Planets is coming!

[Sirus]

A message from the Betazoids in my fleet:

KILL IT.

[Haspen]

Slaughter, slaughter, everywhere slaughter~

Time to slaughter a cube~

[ivanthe8th]

I was doing a little checking, and it turns out that Betazed never built a single colony ship. And aside from the 4 destroyers completed in this update, they haven't built any other ships.

I'll RP the Montreal A, Alameda A, Tian An Men B, and Sitak B as the last surviving remnant of the Betazoid race. At least the last survivors we can control anyway. I'm sure that the Trill have made the refugees feel welcome. If we'd built any colony ships in Betazed at any point in this LP I'd have treated that "human" system as their new home. But alas we did not.

In my diggings I noticed this:

Admiral me with the next colony ship you build, I want to strike the earth! Assuming there's earth and not lava on an alien planet.

We didn't build any colony ships for a while and I must admit that I forgot you. If it's all right, I'll admiral you the USS Mertens A. It's set to colonize Romulus next turn. Hopefully you'll be satisfied striking earth that once served as the home for the Federation's greatest threat.

[ivanthe8th]

Being impatient to see how the battle would play out, we'll be having an update early.

Preparation

We begin by ordering all fleets into the Bolarus system.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The fast-attack ships, our destroyers, scouts, and the Vulcan fleet, arrange themselves in an approximately spherical formation around the USS Stratford A.

Our cruisers, minor race and command, are held slightly farther back, and adopt a configuration so as to minimize potenital collisions with the other members of the fleet.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The Battle

There is only one command to be given. All ships, fire at will!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Some of our phasers hit their mark, but many of our crews are fresh and inexperienced. Many more miss.

The Borg, on the other hand, are ruthlessly efficient. Not a single ship they target stands a chance of survival. Meanwhile the remainder of our ships unleash a storm of torpedoes, tiny and pale against the night of space.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Just as our crews gasp in horror at the instant vaporization of so many of our ships, a cry goes up. The cube's shields are down, and the hull is showing signs of weakening!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Our fleet presses home the attack, and finally the cube begins to explode in a dazzling fireball.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Finally, all is still and silent.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

In the last moments of the battle, the fleet opened fire with a massive volley of phaser fire. Practically every functional ship simultaneously focused their fire and the cube buckled under the strain. Truly, all those who participated in this battle are responsible for the victory. We hereby proclaim the Borg threat ended, and dedicate this victory to those who died making it possible.

The Lost

The 27 million human colonists on Zadar
The 281 million betazoids on Betazed
202 million bolians on Bolarus

USS Stratford A
USS Lantree A
USS Brittain A
USS Sandhusky A
USS Tian An Men A
USS Sitak A
USS ShirKahr A
USS Saratoga A
USS Reliant A
USS Nautilus A
USS Majestic A
USS Miranda A
USS Cortes A
USS Brunswick A
USS Everett A

After-action report

We managed to defeat the Borg and only lost 13 Destroyers and 2 Science Vessels. This small of a number might lead one to believe that we could have saved Betazed. But if we'd had much smaller a fleet, the battle would have lasted a second turn. It's possible that our remaining ships would be unable to destroy the cube before being themselves destroyed.

Therefore, as sad as the loss of Betazed, and the Betazoid people in general, is it was better to wait until the Vulcan fleet arrived and we could assure our victory. Of the ships lost, thankfully they were of less importance than other ships. All of the destroyers crewed by Betazoids escaping the assimilation of their people survived to claim their revenge. The Sandhusky and Cortes are easily replaced, and the First Destroyer and Grey Fleets, while severely lessened, were not completely destroyed.

And now, as our fleets retreated from the border to address the Borg threat, our sensors show Ferengi and Cardassian activity on our borders. But our victorious fleets now know that nothing can defeat us. And this cowardly act, to attack us while we were cleansing the galaxy of a threat to all life in it, cannot go unanswered. The wars with the Ferengi and Cardassians will begin now in earnest, and the Romulans should look to their gods.

[Haspen]

Well, not so many casualties there! We are actually better prepared for destroying Romulans complet-

...Wait, weren't I in command of Reliant A? Weren't we actually all in command of now-lost ships?

Fuck D:

[ivanthe8th]

Yep, you and Jarod Cain are dead.

Sirus was the only other person who had a claimed fleet, and all of the Unity Fleet survived the battle.

By my count you and Jarod Cain have 5 ships between you. I don't want to build more warships for a while, so the two of you should decide what's going to happen to the remainder of your fleet. Or you could claim one of our battle groups instead.

[Neonivek]

Don't worry, I beamed out all the dead people at the last second and they are alive and living the rest of their lives on my Party ship!

Betazoid Mango Smoothy?

[Haspen]

*thinks*

...Due to a freak transporter accident, a second Admiral Haspen has been found in Starfleet Command. As there was practically tiny delay between his prime's death and his discovery, the Command decided to make a cover-up story.

Admiral Haspen is back to duty with only minor bruises after escaping on a shuttle!

Now that Galaxy-class I wanted. USS Bermuda will do Dibs on first super-assault/siege fleet that it forms. Sovereign-class warship will be nice new seat of command, when we get to the tech levels that's it.