Retroactive Running Commentary on the foxtrot game!
Turn 1&2:
Initial deployment of fleets is under way.
Ethermeister had a design flaw and needs to do some welding before the warship can deploy.Azrayel has only a gunship so it will need to attack hard and fast before the other players' fabricator income comes in to play.USEC has designed a fleet of light fighters, with excellent acceleration. It includes a disruptor for great close-in punch and effectively unlimited endurance. Right off the bat, these fighters are charging in to combat.Shooer has taken a more defensive approach with light and fast point defence drones. Dual light lasers provide good anti-missile firepower, but endurance is extremely limited and they will not be able to sortie far from the base.Dessard has designed a heavy interceptor squadron, with quad light lasers and frontal armor for protection. This fighter is surprisingly nimble as it has oversized engines on a small frame and includes side thrusters as well.Girlinhat has designed a heavy dogfighter using twin medium lasers and a shield system with excellent coverage. Although these fighters are the most expensive fighters in the game so far, they also have the most firepower and best defences. Although there are only two fighters, the mothership is clearly intended to join combat. This ship carries a well shielded battery of turbolasers where others have only point defence guns.Turn 3:
Dessard has deployed some armored missile bombers to supplement the fighters and accelerating south towards Girlinhat in a wide formation.USEC's fighters are accelerating slowly while they form up into a tight wall. While this ensures the fighters can't be attacked individually, they will have to take care not to hit each other.Azrayel is picking up speed and looks to be heading for Ethermeister's base with the disassembled gunship.Turn 4:
USEC's fleet has picked up a lot of speed now and is definitely moving to support Dessard's attack.
Dessard's missile bombers have really picked up speed, likely in an attempt to flank before firing.Shooer has yet to make a major move.Girlinhat has reoriented her fleet to face the incoming attack but is holding ground for now.Turn 5:
Shooer has started moving the mothership and its cloud of defence drones northeast, but it seems unlikely to arrive in time to assist.Girlinhat has moved the fighters ahead to take point. They are just outside medium laser range and closing slowly so there should be quite a few turns to bombard before the enemy small lasers can return fire.Dessard's missile bombers are still travelling at high speed, and getting pretty far from the rest of the fleet. The base has built and fired a missile south. 
This particular missile design has great acceleration and a small forward shield so it can't be shot down. However, it has no side thrust so evasion will be effective.
Turn 6:
Ethermeister has completed reconstruction of the gunboat, just as Azrayel is about to enter weapons range!USEC's formation is moving quite fast now, and won't be able to stop for a dogfight. I doubt they intend to try as a rapid hit and run action will minimize casualties.Girlinhat has turned the fleet to face the incoming USEC fighters, and this also provides an excellent angle for making an evasion burn to break the missile lock. She has also built a minimalist missile. No defence, just a warhead on a rocket. Extremely cheap, but it will be a challenge to hit with it. If the USEC maintains a predictable course and tight formation, this could be extremely bad for them.Dessard has moved to flank while Girlinhat is distracted by the USEC fighters. Hits from behind will be particularly effective as there is a significant gap in the shields there.Turn 7:
Ethermeister has powered up the main drive and launched from the base, but still has to turn to port in order to get a bead on the incoming warship.It looks like he'll get that time, as Azrayel is one hex short of weapons range but approaching fast.Shooer is slowly moving, but still far from weapons range, sitting this one out.USEC has all fighters in weapons range now, and has free choice of any target. None of Girlinhat's fighters have raised shields yet, so the damage could be heavy. They have held position and turned back towards Dessard's fleet.Girlinhat's missile is being sent north, but it doesn't look like it will be able to intercept any of the fighters.Dessard's missile, on the other hand, has turned to the side. While this does allow it to track evading ships, it also uncovers the warhead from the protection of the forward shield.
The missile bombers are tightening up their path and it looks like their flanking manoeuvre will be successful. If missiles start coming from all directions, Girlinhat will be hard pressed to shoot them all down with heavy weapons.Turn 8:
Surprisingly, the USEC fleet chose not to fire. They have another opportunity this turn, and a particularly good angle of fire against Girlinhat's mothership from behind.Girlinhat's opening volley of fire was quite disappointing. Only 3 hits out of 8 shots. One of the shots did hit an enemy fighter in the nose before its shield came up, piercing all the way through and damaging the shield generator and structure.Return fire from Dessard should be particularly intense, and the missile is on course for a direct hit on Girlinhat's mothership. This will be the last chance for point defence fire to disable that missile before contact, and there is no time or thrust available to evade!Shooer is accelerating towards the battle, and may be planning to intercept the left hand missile bomber.Ethermeister has left dock, and can now make the turn to face Azrayel, who has a free volley against either the base or warship.Turn 9:
Azrayel has fired a full turbolaser volley into Ethermeister's base, dealing moderate damage to the docking ring and fabricator.Ethermiester has Azrayel in the sights of his twin heavy lasers now, and will be looking for revengeShooer is definitely on the move now, heading towards Girlinhat's besieged mothership.USEC had a friendly fire incident, and the second fighter has critical damage to its hull and moderate engine damage. The disruptor bolt in question managed to break through the far side of the hull and continued on to strike Girlinhat's mothership for minimal reactor damage.
Another shot hit the mothership's engine for 35% damage, but the remaining two shots hit only shields.Dessard split fire between one of Girlinhat's fighters, and the missile passing through the formation. The missile escaped with a damaged but functional warhead, while the fighter soaked 11 hits for light damage to all systems.Girlinhat's fighter attacks were a bit more effective, damaging the starboard missile and engines of the left hand missile bomber. The big effect was the thundering broadside of lasers from the mothership. The storm of lasers destroyed the warhead on the incoming missile, before punching through to wipe out the shield, scorch the armor and deal moderate damage to all four of the main thrusters on the fighter behind it.
Girlinhat's missile survived passage through Dessard's fighter screen. With all of the defending fighters out of range and the base immobile and unarmed, the missile is home free.Turn 10:
Well! A correction from last turn. There was indeed
one fighter still in range of
Girlinhat's missile!
It was a great effort, with 4 of 12 shots on target (statistically 3.6 hits were expected), however the booster engine at the back absorbed most of the hits and the warhead survived despite critical damage.In fighter vs fighter action, small laser hits dealt light damage to Girlinhat's fighter, and Dessard's fighter took light damage to shields and armor in return.
The fighter which was caught in the mothership's sights earlier turned to flee, and got shredded from behind for massive damage. Propulsion and attitude control is down to 25% effectiveness and the fighter's internals are exposed to another volley this turn.
Both missile bombers have deployed their payloads, but it is not clear which direction they are intended to go.USEC fighters fared much better, delivering a four shot salvo with two hull hits into the aft end of Girlinhat's mothership. One reactor is now moderately damaged, and one of the hull segments of the engine block is heavily damaged. The fighters themselves are sailing away at high speed, so it will be some time before they can return to the fight.Shooer is approaching the missile bomber with a heavy fighter bearing medium lasers. As the bomber is unarmed except for its missiles, this will be quite one-sided. The bomber has a higher acceleration now that the missiles aren't slowing it down, but it is deep within weapons range.Azrayel continues to bombard Ethermeister's base to the exclusion of all else. Hull and fabricator have dropped to 50% integrity.Ethermeister has opened fire on Azrayel's warship, hitting with all beams. The shields held with only minor leakage this time, but their strength is eroding quickly under the heavy laser hits.Turn 11:
Ethermeister's shots are punching through the shields on Azrayel's warship this turn, but the armor underneath prevented all but minimal damage.Azrayel continues to target the base, and although the fabricator is shielded by the bulk of the base now, one of the turbolaser bolts has critically damaged one of the bridges, and the docking ring is down to 20% integrity in places.
It seems a bit late, but Azrayel has also launched a missile from very short range.Shooer has got the missile bomber lined up in his sights, but both missiles are now about to cross close by. They seem unlikely to pass close enough to be worth blasting the fighter, but Shooer's base could be in trouble.Girlinhat's missile has arrived at the enemy base in the north and will detonate successfully. This could be very bad for Dessard; we'll have to see how the shields hold up.
The wounded fighter has been exploded into six separate fragments by a final volley from the mothership. There is almost $2000 worth of scrap in the debris, but it is moving fast enough that nobody is going to be able to catch it.
Medium laser attacks against the nearby fighters splash mostly against shields and armor for minimal damage.
The mothership is turning to face the remaining fighters and two incoming missiles from the bomber. Its turbolasers are about to overheat and drop to half effectiveness, but that is still better than the alternative.Dessard's fighters continue to spray light laser bolts into Girlinhat's fighters, and the damage is accumulating to dangerous levels. Although the nose shields have been raised, the fighters have already taken moderate to heavy engine damage.PSA: Raising the shields is critical to protecting your ship!
Turn 12:
Ethermeister scores a heavy hit to one of Azrayel's main engines through a weakened shield, but has decided the base is lost.
A massive detonation vaporizes most of the base as the self destruct warheads are triggered.Meanwhile, on the other side of the universe, Girlinhat's missile detonates behind Dessard's base. Fortune smiles on Dessard, however, as the deflector shield holds at 50% and the fabricator survives by a thin margin. Criscrossing laser fire from the mothership and fighters shower the right hand missiles and a passing fighter in damage. While the fighter survives with moderate engine damage and badly scorched armor, the lead missile is disarmed.Return fire from Dessard's units is focused on Girlinhat's fighters. Engine and hull damage has reached critical levels, and the northern fighter loses a shield generator and half its energy storage.USEC's fighter squadron has almost reached turnaround. The damaged fighter is recovering, but it will be at least 10 turns to fix the engines, and up to 75 turns before the hull will be returned to good condition.Turn 13:
Shooer is finally in the action; a medium laser bolt is blocked by the cockpit shields of the missile bomber, but a second shot spears the port engine for heavy damage.
A pair of drones are also passing south of Girlinhat's mothership, and about to intercept Dessard's moderately damaged fighter. Their current approach vector doesn't leave a clear firing lane for the trailing fighter. We should see a dodge to the side soon.
The last missile on the right heading for Girlinhat survived the gauntlet, and has reached its target. Unfortunately the mothership's shields are very strong on the front so it is unlikely to suffer any permanent damage.
Other missiles on the left are bearing down hard on Shooer, and this looks like it could get very dangerous. The two missiles from the bomber are being joined by two more missiles launched earlier from Dessard's base. With Shooer's drones heading east, there isn't much time or many guns left to defend the base.Although Shooer's base is unshielded, it is mobile and range will reduce the power of the blasts. Shooer probably should have had his heavy fighter attack the missiles instead of the empty bomber. This will be a nail biter right to the end.Meanwhile,
Girlinhat's fighters are still trading blows with
Dessard's.
The heavy armor and shields of Dessard's fighters vs
the mostly bare hull of Girlinhat's fighters seems to balance out the advantage
Girlinhat's higher damage medium lasers have over
Dessard's low damage light lasers.
Turn 14:
Kaboom! That's a mighty fine hit by Dessard, and Girlinhat's shields are down to 60%. Only a little sunburn across a lot of components, but that's going to add another 15 turns to her 40 turn repair bill.
The fighters are doing well, scoring hits on the crippled north fighter. The nose shield has collapsed from the strain, and another couple laser bolts could destroy the final unshielded capacitor keeping that fighter operational. Over $3000 in salvage opportunity there if he can pull it off.
Girlinhat's fighters have finally raised all their shields, but they're in pretty rough shape. It'll take 55 turns to repair on its own, and the mothership is in no shape to assist. There is definitely a strong argument for ripping out and replacing the damaged components with freshly constructed bits. Unfortunately that won't be possible as Girlinhat's fabber is going to be bankrupted just replacing all the lost parts on the north fighter.
It does look like the main attack has broken, so there should be a few turns to regroup and prepare for the next wave.USEC has started accelerating west towards Shooer rather than coming back to strike at Girlinhat's mothership. Not too surprising given the huge firepower that ship can put out.Shooer is in deep trouble now, and I don't see how that base is going to survive. There isn't enough point defence in the current universe to stop four shielded missiles like that. There is no time left for evasion on the first missile, but he might be able to dodge the next few.
Shooer does have that heavy fighter going north, and if it were to swing around behind Dessard's base it could finish off the fabber that Girlinhat nuked.
Any drones that survive the destruction of the base will also have favourable odds for taking on USEC's fighters, at least until the batteries die.Turn 15:
Shooer's fleet is scattering, and it looks like he's somehow managed to get a good dodge stance!
With the speed of those missiles, it will be tough for them to make the turn, and if the nearby missile detonates, it will likely fratricide the second missile.
The third missile can land anywhere along Shooer's movement options, so it is going to be a psychological coinflip to see if they both pick the same dodge location.
Shooer has launched a missile bomber himself, but it is dangerously close to the second of the incoming missiles.
To the east, light fighters barely make a dent in the heavy forward shields of Dessard's fighter. Return fire has gone right through the cockpit, and half of the attacking force is down in the first round. The second fighter has taken critical damage to a laser, but is still fully operational.Dessard's second fighter has delivered a serious blow to Girlinhat's south fighter; hit from behind, the shields offer minimal protection and half the energy storage is vaporized.Girlinhat's north fighter and mothership have combined forces to rip into the unarmored aft of Dessard's missile bomber. Both cockpits are destroyed, but the hull manages to hold together. $1900 worth of scrap there to the first person with a clamp.
The mothership is clearly going for offence, as it has spent its budget on a superheavy bunkerbuster missile rather than replacement parts for the fighters. Unfortunately due to a design flaw, it only has enough CnC to detonate one of the four warheads.
Azrayel in the west has finished picking through the wreckage. It will be another 5 turns before the shields are recharged and damage is repaired but the crew are working quickly.Turn 16:
Kaboom! Dessard chose to detonate both of the nearby warheads. Thanks to the distance gained from the dodge, Shooer's base has only taken 50% damage to components across the forward hull and lost only a docking clamp and a laser.And Shooer wins the Psych-out against the next missiles! Due to range there will only be one more half-damage blast to take before the radar is clear.Well, not completely clear... USEC's fighters are due to arrive in weapons range next turn and add their own contribution to Shooer's scarred hull.Most of Shooer's fleet has taken severe if non-crippling damage from the blast waves. The missile bomber was particularly close and took severe engine damage while losing the warhead on one of the two missiles. Low on hitpoints, they will be quite vulnerable to killshots by USEC's squadronInitial strikes against the rightmost fighter slashed a disruptor bolt across the nose, taking out half the guns and dangerously softening the cockpit glass.Return fire was mostly absorbed by the hulk of the wrecked lead fighter, leaving only 1 point to plink off the armor of Dessard's fighter.Definitely would be a good idea to switch targets and score some damage against the softer
USEC targets.Girlinhat's south fighter has taken more hits from behind as it attempts to dock, and the last capacitor is down to a nail-biting 1hp out of 60. If not for that port wing shield it would have been long gone.Missiles are streaming from Dessard's base now, but Shooer's fighter is extremely fast so they are unlikely to be able to catch it.Dessard has managed to restore the aft shields to 80% and the fabricator is only up to 34% integrity, so this will be an interesting one. With $700 left after buying missiles, it will take some time to save up enough for a fighter than can drive off the attacking fighter.Turn 17:
Another distant blast lights up Shooer's base, but although some parts on the lead edge are as low as 9% health, nothing further has been destroyed.
His crew are certainly not to be envied, with 858 repair tasks in the queue, they'll be busy for at least 43 turns.
Shots fly between Shooer's squad of two and the combined forces of USEC and Dessard.
Outnumbered 6 to 2, they are taking heavy fire and only their tiny stature prevents them from taking heavy damage.In the north, Shooer's fighter continues to strike the missile bomber while circling around to the vulnerable aft side of Dessard's base.Girlinhat's southern fighter seems to have missed its docking opportunity. Instead it has powered down shields to save energy while it slowly self-repairs. The north fighter is coming in quickly as well, but should have plenty of thrust to match speeds for docking. Total damage is a $500 capacitor on the south fighter and $1300 miscellaneous for the north fighter. 15 more turns will pay for the replacement parts.
Meanwhile the missile is picking up speed towards Dessard's base.Dessard's best bet here might be to nuke Girlinhat's missile with his own, cheaper missile. The base definitely can't take another hit, and funds are too low to build anything new for a while.
On the other side of the base, the missiles are turning far too slowly to keep up with Shooer's fighter.
An interesting thought does come to mind, seeing Dessard's missile bomber approach the base: that bomber is pretty wide, and the spacedock might just be able to hold it so the bomber shields the fabber with its hull.Out west, Azrayel is sweeping around to the south. That little missile fired during the battle with Ethermeister has been idle the whole time and is drifting slowly towards the action. We'll have to see if anybody remembers it is there when it finally picks a target and goes active.Turn 18:
Its quite a tangled mess down there by Shooer's base. The eastern fighter is soaking up hits; with heavy damage to the front section and energy down to half capacity, it probably has only a couple more turns left in it. The south fighter is doing well with what it has, putting shots into USEC's fighters, but it will take a while to wear them down with mere light lasers.
Laser hits from behind Dessard's fighter have severely damaged one of the lasers. One more lucky shot could put it out of commission, and those exposed aft capacitors will tend to amplify the light lasers into more serious beams.USEC has split up the formation; one fighter has hit the base and destroyed another point defence laser, while two others work on Shooer's fighters and the fourth appears to be heading north to keep Girlinhat occupied. As long as it doesn't blunder into the forward arc of that mothership, it should stand a good chance at fighting the two crippled fighters.Girlinhat continues to work on that docking process. With the ships all lined up along an axis, its just a matter of timing the thruster burn to match both speed and position.
It is a tough call what to do with so little cash; the booster engine is probably the lowest priority since the fighter is fully functional without it. Then it is a toss up between the capacitor and a shield generator. The backup capacitor is pretty important, but getting full shields should keep the capacitor from taking fatal damage.
It might be worth putting a small capacitor on there temporarily to prevent a killshot until funds are raised for a full repair.
The missile going north is approaching its terminal phase, and this will be Dessard's last chance to intercept. There are two missiles in range, and its just a question of whether Dessard is willing to risk using just one. With the fabricator and thus the entire game at stake on this, I'm betting on the double-barrel defence despite the cost.
Up at the base, it looks like Dessard won't be docking the bomber after all; its going much too fast to stop in time.Shooer's attack fighter seems to be focusing fire on the missile coming after it. The missile isn't a threat to the fighter, but it is good to keep it from attacking the base.Elsewhere in the north, USEC is bring the construction ship south. There is a good $1200 worth of scrap metal left at Ethermeister's base that could be recycled, and few hundred more worth of missile debris heading in that direction.Turn 19:
Shooer's taking some hits to the base, but all to the rear where the hull is still strong.
The fighters are taking hits and close to breaking.USEC's fighters are taking hits too, but since they weren't singed by the storm of missiles earlier, they're holding up a lot better. Weapons are overheating now, so the fire against Shooer will be lessened.USEC's rightmost fighter has Girlinhat's fighters in weapons range now, and they don't have their shields up yet! This could be devastating.Girlinhat's fighters also seem to have turned away from the encroaching fighter, and neither fighter will be able match speeds and dock.
The missile up north is now in range of both of Dessard's warheads, though one is going to suffer a 50% range penalty. It looks like Dessard is committed to blowing both missiles, since they're unshielded variants, and the trailing missile won't survive the front one's explosion.Further north, Shooer's fighter has done some serious but non-fatal damage to the missile attempting to pursue it, and has turned its guns towards the base.Turn 20:
Oh, my, that is quite an upset! Three of the warheads on Girlinhat's missile have been vaporized by the blast waves, but the last one survived with no hits to spare!
This doesn't look good for Dessard at all. Laser fire from Shooer's fighter is softening up the shields just as Girlinhat's warhead impacts, and the fabber has only been patched back up to 50% integrity since the last hit.Not only that, but Shooer's missile is screaming in to hit from whatever angle it wants next turn.The only consolation is that Dessard still has that recycler, so minimal repairs to the fighters are possible, and in theory a scavenger ship could gather enough loot to build a small fabber, but there's just not enough time left in this game.Back south, USEC just misses Girlinhat's fighter with a disruptor bolt before the shields come up.
It should be noted that at 8 damage a shot, the R3 shields can't block the entire hit, so there's still a lot of risk here.Dessard's fighter is also on its way to assist. Those small lasers won't be likely to penetrate the shielding, but they will be able to weaken it before the disruptor bolts arrive, and any exposed components will be eroded quickly.Shooer's base continues to take hits, including a disruptor shot through a thruster mount and into the port bridge. Nothing destroyed, but even more repair bills are stacking up.
The fighters are facing a bit less resistance as USEC falls back, so it looks like they'll survive to recharge at the base.As the only player left with an undamaged carrier or base, USEC will be able to patch those fighters up in no time flat once they land.Turn 21:
Dessard's last construction project, a fighter happened to be positioned perfectly to block the majority of the blast pouring into the fabricator. Unfortunately Shooer's laser bolts put the final nail into that coffin, and Shooer moves all the way up to second place on the kills list!
While the new fighter and the old bomber are now severely damaged, they are still fully functional, and a short stay in the spacedocks could bring them back to combat worthiness.Unfortunately, Shooer's missile has arrived and will be delivering another demoralizing blow.Girlinhat's fighters are taking heavy fire now from the combined forces of USEC and Dessard. A disruptor bolt has hit, but spread itself over two shields, only collapsing the starboard one. That left a hole for a laser bolt to scorch the engine pod just a little more, but the fighter remains intact if vulnerable.Return fire mostly missed, but USEC has taken a light hit to engines.Azrayel's sneaky missile has started taking fire from Shooer as it approaches to a dangerous distance from the wounded baseship.USEC's fighters have overshot their mark by a fair bit, assuming they meant to dock with their carrier. Newton and Murphy like to tag-team people like that when they least expect it.Turn 22:
Dessard's base gets rocked by another explosion, this time from Shooer. It looks like shooer's down to assets of about $3500 plus his two fighters, which would be enough to recycle into a good quality scavenger drone for collecting more money as long as the fighters can keep his base alive. There's a fair bit of scrap out there at the moment, but most of it is moving quickly towards oblivion.A small but fancy hex-shielded scrap hauler would run $3700 and allow combat grabs, though a bare bones economy model can be built for just $1800.
Just south, Girlinhat's mothership has withstood a glancing disruptor bolt from USEC off the aft shield for no damage, but the fighters were behind it. The weakened shot skipped through where the fighters' shield was down, and scored the wing; that hull strut is down to 35% integrity.
The second fighter managed to take two bolts of friendly fire through the port wing. Although the shield was drained, but only light damage managed to make it through to the engine pod.A bit further on, Shooer and USEC have gotten into a little bit of a dogfight there. Shooer has the edge in acceleration but USEC has much better turn rate.
Seeing as USEC has just gotten Shooer's fighter to overshoot him, there is an opportunity to stay in Shooer's blind spot and get a couple good disruptor bolts in to end the fight.
Back at base, Shooer has built a nifty little module to upgrade the base. It is clearly based on the laser fighters, but instead of thrusters and capacitors, it has extra cockpits.
Once docked to the base and enabled, it will add an extra 20% to the repair rate and provide some sorely needed laser defences in the aft-port sector.Turn 23:
Girlinhat's fighters have both docked safely, although the mothership is still taking light laser fire. Light hits to the engine have reduced it to 55% integrity. Those repair crews are completely overwhelmed, capable of fixing only 19 of the 102 available. Priority automatically falls to the hull and thrusters of the fighters due to their slow repair rate, but Girlinhat may want to manually prioritize that engine so the light lasers don't erode it down to an immobile mothership.USEC looks to have turned to double-team Shooer's east most fighter. It has already lost one of the lasers and the rest of the ship is in rough shape so this could be over quickly.It'll cost Shooer 5 CnC points to enable the pod and begin repairs. A small capacitor or gyro would have provided enough energy to build it with the cockpits pre-enabled, which could have saved some time, but either way the pod will speed up repairs by about 10 turns.USEC's carrier appears to have a slight braking problem, and will overshoot the fighters by quite a bit.Continued here:
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