Basic Combat Strategy
Knowledge is Power
- Know your battlefield. Be aware of your surroundings (asteroids, anomalies, etc.) and use them to your advantage. For example, asteroids and obscuring anomalies can provide cover; hazardous anomalies can block an escape route.
- Know your battle rhythms. Weapons, shields, system intrusion, power rerouting, and other ship systems have a limited duration or a limited number of shots, and take a certain amount of time to re-arm, recharge, or otherwise recycle. Different ships have different turn rates and max speeds. Both your ship and the enemy ship will only be able to fire a certain amount of shots before having to wait a certain amount of time until firing again, and both ships will take a certain amount of time to turn to face their targets. Pay attention to these battle rhythms and coordinate the timing of your crew to take advantage of them. For example, when the phasers are fully recharged, make sure helm has the enemy ship in the firing arc, and engineering has allocated enough power for the necessary phaser range. Timely "prepare" and "execute" orders can help your crew maintain an efficient and effective battle rhythm.
- Know your ship, and your enemy's ship. Familiarize yourself with the relative capabilities of the three Starfleet ships, as well as major Klingon, Romulan, pirate, and Borg ships, so that you know, in any given matchup, whether your ship has more or less firepower, and is more or less maneuverable, than the enemy ship you are facing. Choose a combat strategy that will take advantage of the specific matchup. For example, the Aegis can fire while undetected, thereby delivering damage to enemy ships without taking any damage to your ship. This allows the Aegis to be effective even in an outnumbered (1-vs-many) combat situation.
- Know when to make a temporary tactical retreat. If your phasers are spent and recharging, your torpedoes are all re-arming, and your shields are depleted and recharging, there is little point in remaining within the enemy's weapons range, taking damage to the hull, while those systems recycle. Power allocated to phasers or shields is useless when those systems are depleted and recharging, so put the power into engines and have helm move the ship out of the enemy's weapons range and/or firing arc. In some cases, you may want to impulse to another location, make repairs, and then return to battle. Remember: your ship cannot fight if it is destroyed.
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