I don't know how they did it...

[DestinyStar]

I was Commodore, leading the main Alliance fleet against the Dantari Separatists from my flagship the Archon. Those under my command had singlehandedly taken out all enemies in the sector as well as the minefields around the Farcasters. Alliance losses were extremely low. The campaign, while only just started, had so far been a great success.

I remembered from the briefing that some Dantari Separatists were hiding out in a nearby sector. According to the intelligence reports, there were only a couple of ships, and they were likely destroyers. I figured that the cruiser under my command wouldn't have too much trouble against a couple of destroyers... And I didn't want to send the Archon, just incase it was needed in the current sector. So I had my cruiser jump out to go check things out and possibly destroy the enemy.

I turned to the nav display and changed the view to the sector my cruiser just jumped too. That day was obviously a very lucky day for the crew of the cruiser. Their jump into the sector had taken them into sensor range of an enemy destroyer. As communication over such a range was hard, I couldn't properly monitor the situation or give specific orders. So I left it in the hands of the cruiser's captain. As I expected, the captain chose to deviate from the path I had assigned them to engage the destroyer. That was no problem for me, as I would have expected the same from any of my captains. Hell, I would have done it myself. I wasn't too worried, as a cruiser vs a destroyer usually ends up with the cruiser winning... Unless there are unusual cirumstances. In this case there wasn't, the cruiser was at full hull strength, though I didn't know about the destroyer.

Of course, I was ever thoughtful of the fact that there were likely two destroyers in the sector. So it was of no surprise to me when another red blip showed up on the display as my cruiser closed in with its target. I glanced over what info the cruiser could send about the new target, expecting it was the second destroyer. Wait... CA... That's not the right designation for a destroyer. I began to get worried at this point. While I was confident my cruiser could come out victorious over the enemy cruiser, there was also the destroyer to consider. But there was not a lot I could do, as I couldn't give specific commands. So I watched as my cruiser continued to approach the destroyer. They were likely exchanging fire at that moment.

I then noticed a couple more red blips... Fighters. Thankfully they weren't bombers so were probably not armed with ASMs. But if there were fighters there... Yet another red blip showed up... CV... Oh hell. It was then that I realized my cruiser had stumbled upon a full carrier group. A final red blip showed up, the second destroyer. At this point, I wasn't expecting my cruiser to come out of this in one piece.

No sooner had I thought this when I received a quick communication burst from my cruiser, signalling that it had destroyed an enemy. I checked back at the nav display to see that contact with the first enemy destroyer had been lost. Well, atleast the cruiser managed to take some of them with it. I turned away, not wanting to watch the enemy ships kill those under my command. I was still looking away when I received another comm burst, again signalling that the cruiser had destroyed an enemy. I assumed it was likely one of the enemy fighters taken down by PDB fire. I glanced at the nav display to just confirm my assumption... And I was shocked to find that the red contact signifying the enemy cruiser was gone.

I was certainly surprised. My cruiser had taken down the enemy cruiser in a very quick amount of time... In all my time of personally captaining a cruiser, I had never taken down an enemy cruiser so quickly. Maybe they were already damaged... Maybe luck was shining on my troops... I don't know how it happened. But, while my hopes were momentarily raised, they sunk again as I realized there was still a carrier, likely with a full complement of bombers, and a destroyer. And they were likely facing my cruiser who had taken a serious beating from the enemy so far, though I couldn't tell what condition it was in.

Again I received comm signals saying that my cruiser had destroyed some targets. Though in this case, it was refering to the two enemy fighters. By now, I imagined the cruiser was barely holding together, with hull breaches everywhere. So it was an /incredible/ shock when I received another comm signal, while at the same instant I watched the contact for the enemy carrier disappear... My cruiser had destroyed the carrier? That was quite an accomplishment. I was just standing there, watching the nav display with my mouth hanging open. My officers nearby were also similarily shocked. And most of the bridge crew were starting to get interested in what was happening.

It wasn't long later than the cruiser again reported destruction of the enemy. The last destroyer disappeared from the nav display. My bridge crew errupted into cheers and I was standing there with a huge grin on my face. This lone cruiser had just gone up against a carrier group and not only survived, but destroyed all enemies.

I quickly modified the cruiser's flight plan and sent the update to them. They only had one order, to jump back to the sector the Archon was in. I wasn't entirely sure their Q-Drive still worked... But we'd find soon.

Sure enough, the familiar flash of a ship jumping into the sector appeared in the distance. The cheers from the bridge crew grew again at the sight. I quickly moved over to the tactical display to get a good look at the status of the cruiser... Only 75% damage to their hull... I was expecting them to be well into the red!

I don't know how they did it, but they managed to face and destroy a carrier, a cruiser and two destroyers while only receiving 25% damage. I made sure the entire crew received medals for their achievement.

-----

Well, not exactly as impressive as Psycho's victory. But I was just so shocked that they succeeded... Previous experience in the campaigns had told me that the AI really sucks with command. In the time it took me to make a bombing run against an enemy carrier in a Thunderbolt... The AI caused the fleet to lose 18 out of the 21 remaining Thunderbolts in similar runs. The three in my flight were the only ones to return to the carrier.

[wdboyd]

Great AAR.
 
That is one competent Cruiser commander... is his name James Tiberius Kirk?

[Zanthras]

cool story, I like and respect the fact you played as a commander and really had no 'one on one' combat, to speak of, yourself. You made command decisions for the AI and let it play out.
 
IMHO it is one of the best features of the game.
 
 

[Voyager]

Well, it's possible they ended up in a blind spot in the enemy cruiser's coverage.  I do recall the Tac Briefing mentioning that Hegemony ships tend to have poorly covered underbellies.  I've only be able to do the capship training so far, but I found if you get extremely close to the enemy DD, you can very quickly dispatch them with torpedoes, simply because their PDS don't have time to target them.

Basically merge fast and under, then rotate early for a raking volley as you hurtle past.  Sort of the of the exact opposite of the classic sailing era attack.

Harry Voyager