I think we actually did very well with the opening engagement.
The and run tactics were defiantly not a detriment. Most of our kills were from the ambush. A straight up brawl would have been a disaster. I think it talked about their ships and cannons being stronger than ours.
Would it be possible to use just the hit part of hit and run tactics, and then engage as normal? They are both procedures we already own. Would combining them as such take a revision? It doesn't really develope anything new.
Scoring a few kills with an ambush will give us a numbers advantage that ought to let us hold our own against them in traditional combat.
Our skiffs at the unfinished can move to the three captions via burned mountain, and link up with our fleet there. The combined force ( plus our two new skiffs) ought to be enough to support a landing. The other transport can then bring immediate reinforcements the next turn. forgot about wrack spire.
larger engagements will favour us, as we will get more kills off in the opening ambush.
Also, did I mention we damaged both of their transports this turn? That's kind of huge. Repairs are half cost, so that's basically another whole transport they have to pay for. Also, we killed some of their marines. Probably about a squads worth. Not just any marines either, starting marines. They were probably carrying state of the art, super expensive equipment. Given we killed some of them, and they probably took some losses in the spire, landing two squads next turn with have us on at least even numbers with them. They won't be able to reinforce either, as their transports have to return before coming back out.
I think this opening engagement went about as well as could reasonably have been expected.
As for designs this turn, I think we ought ought to do Crystal linings/elongated trim crystals/ crystal trimmings (still indecisive on the name). This would give us a speed boost that would let us use the hit and run tactics properly, and it's a useful ground work in its own right.
Then we throw one dice at the med Crystal, use one for some actual infantry tactics, and idk for the other. Bank it?
Edit: Edited stuff. Also, a question. Our dockyard says it produces 2 skiffs a turn. Is that automatic, or do we have to pay the cost of fully outfitting two new skiffs, plus hulls?
Edit 2: even if we are paying full cost, we could build 2 more skiffs and send them to the captains as reinforcements this year. I think we should do this.