PLAYING DD

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Newsgroups: alt.games.xtrek
From: hill@norman.VI.RI.CMU.EDU (Robert Hill)
Subject: DD players guide (at last)
Date: Wed, 04 Mar 92 18:34:36 GMT

Here is my DD players guide.  Sorry it took so long to get out.  My
thanks to Bert Enderton, who game me some stats, and the CMU trekkers
who helped me correct some errors.  Once again, i'm sorry that it took
so long.

Please forgive my poor writing skills:

Destroyer (DD) Play

SHIP SPECIFICATIONS:

Internal damage/shields: 85/85
Maximum warp speed: 10
Torpedo Speed: 14
Maximum fuel: 7000 
Torpedo damage/fuel: 30/210
Plasma damage/fuel: 75/2250
Phaser damage/fuel: Good:60-85/595 
Maximum armies: 5
Bombing: Fair
Cloaking: Good
Maneuverability: Good
Acceleration: Good 
Deceleration: Great
Tractor/presser strength: Fair

BATTLE TACTICS

General:

Destroyers are commonly noted as the ship of lose.  They are perhaps the
most difficult ship to fly, but they can be useful in certain roles.  It
can be difficult to decide when to fly a DD.  The best use of a DD is
space control and aggressive bombing.  The most important thing to keep
in mind about a DD is your etemp.  You must keep a modest distance
between your ship and your enemies, so you generally need to move faster
than they do.  This causes your etemp to skyrocket.  If you can't run,
you die.

Battle speed in a destroyer is warp 4 or 5.  You often need to
accelerate to max warp to avoid the phasers of the heavier ships.  If
your enemy is content to phaser you to death and you can't seem to hit
him with your torps, run.  Tractors and pressors are important, but in
general, if a large ship is close enough for you to t/p them, you are
dead anyway.  If you are close to a DD or a SC, tractor them and crush
them, or pressure them and get away.

Be very careful of internal damage.  Two torps from any ship type can
render you useless, and probably dead.  Also beware of the CA phasers.
They will try to tag you repeatedly with 20 point phasers until you
can't run.  They you die.

It can be useful to fake etemp in a DD.  You opponents will close with
you, and then you can nail them if they are smaller.  Remember, use your
cloaking to your advantage, but watch your fuel.  Lastly, DD decelerate
faster than any other ship.  This has saved me many times.  Don't
dogfight at one speed!  Use your acceleration, deceleration advantages!

vs. Battleship (BB)

Stay away from him.  You need to hit him repeatedly with torps, while
avoiding his powerful phasers.  If you can stay out of his phaser range,
and repeatedly hit him with multiple torps, then you will do well
against this ship class.  If your opponent is clueful, it will be very
difficult for you to kill him without dying.  Try and recruit help from
other ships if you have to deal with this ship type on the front.  BB
weakness if maneuverability.  You must exploit this weakness if you are
to survive.

vs. Cruiser (CA)

Watch your range.  You can close to t/p range, but not for long.  You
should try to get him to chase you.  Do this by keeping your distance.
If you can irritate him, and get him to follow you, you have a good
chance of killing him by multiple torps.  If he won't chase you, try and
run him out of fuel, then close and destroy him.  You must beware,
because it only takes about 1500 CA fuel to kill you.  Watch his
tractors and pressers.  As a hint, try and hit him with torps while he
is hitting you with a 20 point phaser.  His phaser may cover the torps
you are firing, and he may not see them. You can also do this with
planets, they can also obstruct his view(this works best on a monochrome
display.)  Most of your opponents will be CA's.

vs. Destoyer (DD)

Use your tractor and pressors.  You enemy probably doesn't, so this can
be a huge advantage.  You can close to you leisure against DD, because
your phasers are equal to theirs.  Remember, your torps are you primary
weapon.  You don't have enough fuel to phasor a DD to death at long
range.

vs. Scout (SC)

Try and phaser them to dust.  If they get too close, tractor them, and
pelt them.  Fire torps to force them to maneuver closer.  Realize that
you won't hit with many torps, so phaser them alot.  You can chase them,
but watch the back torps.  Also evaluate if they are worth chasing.

vs Assault Ship (AS)

You need to get close to them, but beware their fast, 30 point torps.
You can get close to them, and you should get close to them.  Their
phasers are about as strong as yours, so you need not worry about
them.Try and hit them with multiple short range torps.  Try and run them
out of fuel.  They don't have a lot, then you can close and crush them.

KEY REMAPS:

All ships should remap tractor and pressure.  In addition, I find
max-warp to be a good remap.  Detonate your own torps is important,
because in close range you need those torps back that miss in a hurry,
or you are dead.  Detonate enemy torps is also important, in case you
get hit be the occasional torps.

PLANET TAKING

Destroyers are fair for planet taking.  Use a DD when speed is
essential.  You can only carry 5 armies, so be aware you won't be able
to hard-take many planets.  You cloak very well, so if the planet is
guarded and not a fuel planet, try and run your enemies out of fuel
before landing.  If you land on a planet and there is a single enemy
with fuel, it is unlikely that you will survive or take the planet.

SUICIDE ATTACKS (OGGING)

Use a DD to ogg smaller ships that will run from CA or BB.  You will
have a hard time ogging a CA, BB, or AS in a destroyer.  It is too hard
to unload on them before you die.  Don't forget to tractor your target.
Try not and over run him, as well.  If you are ogging an SB, try and
uncloak as you are going past him, then unload a spread and phasers into
him.  You won't live long, but it is about the best you can do in a DD.

DEFENSE

A DD is a powerful defender because of its acceleration, speed, and
refueling capacity.  You can often beat the planet taker to the planet
or bomber to the armies.  Your main task is to kill them when they
arrive.  If you want to suicide them, then close fast and try and phaser
lock them (they will usually be cloaked).  Once they are phaser locked
(you have hit them with your phasers).  Try and hit them with phaser,
plasmas, and torps.  If you want to live, wait until they are on the
planet, then kill them by firing everything you have.

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End of PLAYING DD
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