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The overall Coalition economy continues to contract, with the Lyrans picking up a little bit of ground, which didn’t make up for either Klingon or Romulan losses, which happened in spite of both of them surveying a new province. Adjusted income was 309.75 EP.

Builds:
Klingon: D7C, D7, D6J, D5W, 7xD5, AD5, F6, 6xF5, D6V->D6U
Romulan: CON, FHF, 3xSP, SPC, SPM, 2xSK, SKE, SEH, WE, SNB, WE->KE, SP->SPM
Lyran: BC, STT, NCA, CW, CWE, CWS, 2xDW, DWE, 2xFF, FCR

The Romulans worked through most of their cripples from last turn’s SB assault, but the Klingons are still dealing with a large number of cripples, and are currently cancelling some of the smaller ships to deal with it. They did convert the last D6V to a D6U, as I had planned, which eliminates that class of odd 5-point carriers. B10-2 rolled well, and is all but guaranteed to come out next turn. B10-3 only rolled a ‘2’; by average rolls, it should come out on 21, but there’s an outside chance that both could show up on 19, which might be a problem.

The Klingons put a repaired D5 back in the Raid Pool, and added an existing FD7 to start filling out the expanded pool. The Lyrans raided a Kzinti province, and killed a Federation FF that was holding a Klingon province, and preventing supply to BG Harbinger. The Klingons raided three Federation provinces, and the C5 was sent to try and crack the wall of ships built around the Orion Enclave, but all the raids were run off, with one D5 being crippled. The Romulans raided two Federation provinces, and one Gorn, and made another attempt to kill the supply LTT in 4007 (partially to draw out a ship from 4006, which was a likely target during the turn). Both Federation provinces were disrupted, but the LTT was merely forced to retreat, and a Gorn POL ran off a FFH to keep that province from being disrupted.

A primary problem was dealing with the solid wall of ships Byron had erected around the Orion Enclave to keep me from keeping supply to it, which would enable me to keep it neutral. There were a number of strong fleets nearby to complicate matters. The biggest problem was the fact that the Third Fleet had shifted forward to 1910 and stayed there, putting it in range of way too many important targets in Klingon space

But that meant the garrison on the 3rd Fleet SB was much reduced (consisting of the 4th Fleet, no longer needed near Kzinti space). So I started concentrating on tying down the reserves as best I could, and making one last try at it before the Federation started destroying everything I had left near it over the next few turns.

The Romulans had a heck of a time working their way out of the knot of Federation fleets near their border, but managed a good force to reclaim the NZ planet. To the north, they struck at the last Gorn border BATS, and had a decent fleet to take one of the Gorn-Fed border BATS while pinning a reserve there.

The Lyrans kept their activity light, going for 1504 in Kzinti space while backing up the Klingons elsewhere and keeping ships available.

Limited goals.

Limited goals.

The big push (again).

Trying to pull back more than a stump.

More BATS destruction.

The small Hydran reserves split between reinforcing 0416, and the small fight in 0916, while both Kzinti reserves went to 1504 (the only fight in range). The Federation 1st R (the only one completely unpinned) went to 3210, and two of the 4th R ships freed up there went to 3111, and the end of the wall around the Orions. The 3rd R in 2610 still had five ships free, and they went to 2509, which allowed the 2nd R there to send five ships to SB 2211. One Gorn reserve was stuck in 2610 with the bulk of the Federation reserve, and the other was stuck in 4006.

Battles:
3511: SSC: Federation: crip FF
3111: SSC: Romulan: dest WE
3412: SSC: Federation retreat
3413: Federation: crip FF; Romulan: crip SN
0416: Hydran: dest TR; Lyran: dest CWG, 2xDW, crip CW, DW
0916: Hydran: crip CU; Lyran: DW
0717: Hydran: dest LNH; Klingon: dest E4
1504: Kzinti: dest FKE; Lyran: dest DWE
2012: SSC: Federation: dest POL
2211: Federation: dest SB, CA, 2xDE, crip BT, CA, 9xNCL, DE, 5xFF, FCR; Klingon: dest 2xD6, D6D, D6S, AD5, D5S, F5L, crip D7, 3xD6, AD5, D5G, MD5, D5S, 2xF5, F5E, wound PT; Lyran: dest DW, crip DW
2509: Retreat after declined approach
2610: Federation: crip CA, NCL; Gorn: dest BDE, crip LTB; Klingon: dest F5W, crip 3xD5, 3xF5
3210: Federation: crip NCA, NCL; Romulan: crip SP, SK
3415: Federation: crip 2xNCL; Romulan: crip 2xSP, 2xSK
3315: Romulan: dest SNB
4408: Gorn: dest BATS
4006: Gorn: dest BATS, crip COM, DD; Romulan: dest SKF, K4, crip SPF, WE

Given an initial 53-point difference in ComPot, I wasn’t sure that I actually could take the 3rd Fleet SB, but it was the best shot I had to limit Byron’s ability to strike into Klingon space. One weakness he had was a limited number of CR10 ships, so I destroyed escorts to drive the CVA off-line, and Byron did some of my work by self-crippling a battle tug. Sure, it’s really efficient to repair, but my first goal was to get his line density down. By round 3, the difference was 17 ComPot, and I had the ships and fighters to take that, and some good rolls was helping. If he’d been willing to self-kill ships (and the Feds build enough), he might have squeezed another round out of it, but it probably wouldn’t have been worth it.

Byron naturally accepted approach in front of 2610, where the Gorns are setting up a MB. Two ‘6’s from the Alliance in a row kept me from getting at the base, and I didn’t have what it took to go four rounds and have any sort of fleet left, so that job was left undone. Maybe I can get there again, but it’s getting more and more unlikely….

The Federation rolled much better than the Romulans over 3415, but ran out all their fighters in the first round, and then gave up the NZ planet. But they gave better than they got, and overran a two-ship garrison next door on the way out.

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I had just about given up all hope of killing the 3rd Fleet SB, and as the Federation offensive starts reaching into Klingon space, its presence was something I really couldn’t afford. So killing it is a big win for me, and I got it for relatively cheap. It did leave me a bit out of position, and the cost of taking it out may still turn out to be excessive. But in the long run putting much of the south-center out of reach will pay off. I just have to survive the short term while reorganizing.

Meanwhile, the Romulans have finished off the Gorn border BATS, and hampered their reach that way. Federation pressure is mounting, but the Romulans can… mostly put up a stubborn defense. The Federation has a lot of strength near the rim of the galaxy now, and I expect a fair amount of havoc near Tholian space. This means I’m probably not reestablishing contact between the Klingons and Romulans, and the KR spare parts are winding down….