From: rhodesia@wixer.cactus.org (Felix S. Gallo)
Subject: sunscreamer's How to be a Scoutbomber, part 2.5
Followup-To: rec.games.netrek
Organization: Real/Time Communications
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 92 07:39:20 GMT

madpit@athena.mit.edu (Douglas R. Pitters) writes:
> bagel@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Prime Wordsmith for Hell's Bagels) writes:
>> A scout's dangerousness is measurable in discrete terms.  [...]

>	I guess this makes sense to me on the intuitive level, but I need
>to know how 3 seconds of bombing before enemy closure transalates to the
>distance between us: More specifically, how far away in general is 3 seconds
>assuming I'm in a scout, and he is *not* in a scout (CA, on average)?
>
Since everyone's screen is a different size, and since everyone has
varying levels of responsiveness, I can't really tell you.  If you're
both moving at maxwarp towards a planet, then if he's on the edge
of your screen as you go into orbit, you have about three seconds
assuming that you're cloaked (which you should always be in contested
bombing).

If you plan to scoutbomb, then the best way to learn this timing is
to do it over and over and over and over and over and over and over
until you've got a pretty good idea *yourself*.  Since you have to
make the decision with your twitch muscles rather than your brain
when the armies appear and an enemy is close, do a lot of racing
people around the universe to various targets in less-important
situations.

Along this line, once you decide to go for a planet and it's contested,
the stupidest thing you can do is slow down and try to juke the other
guy into missing with his torps.  His ship will be moving in at warp
9, and each millimeter he gets closer to the planet reduces the time
it takes for his torps to arrive on the planet.  If an enemy is within
phaser range of the planet and you still haven't orbitted, your chance
of success is small.  If he locks you, he can fire torps that prevent
you from lowering your shields for the bomb.  *be courageous* when
you scoutbomb, and stick to your original decision, no matter how
grotesque it looks pressing 'b' while sixteen torps zoom towards you.

Note: the above only holds for moderately-clueful-and-above
opponents; a good scoutbomber can turn a charging low-clue player
into a kill and still have enough fuel and space to bomb and escape,
in most situations.  However, it's unlikely that anyone smart enough
to try to stop you from bombing is dumb enough to eat lines of
warp 21 torps, so err on the side of caution -- especially if the
enemy is kill-less and you'll be allowing her to carry off the planet.

Which brings me to another point: netrek is won by the application
of armies to planets.  Scoutbombers attempt to minimize the chance
of enemies applying armies to their planets by taking those armies
away.  However, they can also attack, directly or indirectly, other
sources of danger.

	a) scoutbombers can ogg carriers from the backfield.  This
is extremely dangerous to those carriers if executed correctly,
as scouts are fast enough to get in on the carriers with minimal
warning.  Coming in quickly from the backfield can deter carriers
from running home, making a de facto "wall" against which the
main oggers can crush the delayed carrier.

	b) scoutbombers can waste people's time.  I'm a big 
disbeliever in the "anti-scoutbombing" practice of sitting on
an army-holding planet and waiting for the scoutbomber to walk in;
the strategy of the scoutbomber is to wait patiently for her
compadres to come with larger ships, to harrass and threaten the
anti-scoutbomber -- thus sticking him to the planet -- and to
use the fact that the enemy isn't being directly useful to 
coordinate efforts at the front line, where the scoutbomber's
team now often has a numerical advantage.  Scoutbomber-chasers
can also be translated into kills, cripples or large losses in 
time.

	c) scoutbombers can supply their team with informational
reports.  Not just "f++ at veg for rig," but "wave for can forming
at alt," and "top cloaker carries".


Remember that, as a scoutbomber, you're not just a ship that bombs
armies, you're the person on the team with the most free time.  Once
you're in a perfect position -- which does exist -- you can just walk
along at low warp staring at the galactic and changing raw information
into tailored information.  In, for instance, Desert Storm, superior
Iraqi artillery/minefield traps were nullified by the fact that the
Iraqis had no idea when the heck the Allies were actually in the
minefields.  Similarly, American satellite information was so complete
that our cruise missiles could be programmed to turn left at certain
street intersections in Baghdad.  Be a satellite.

>				Subby

rear ensign sunscreamer
minister of education, HELL'S BAGELS

school's out
-- 
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Felix Sebastian Gallo                              rhodesia@wixer.cactus.org
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Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek