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Overall, the Alliance economy was up 5.8 EP this turn, most of this came from the Federation, while the Hydran economy expanded a little to offset losses to the Kzinti. However, the Hydrans and Kzinti also hit the first stage of exhaustion at this point, which dropped the actually total collected from 368.8 to 342.5 EP, which is still comfortably ahead of the Coalition.

Builds:
Federation: CVA, CF, TG, NCA, 11xNCL, NSC, 3xDW, 2xDWA, FFB, 8xFF, FFE
Kzinti: NCA, 2xCM, LTT, 3xDW, 2xFFK, 3xFKE, VAP, 2xCV->CVH
Gorn: DN, BC, CMV, TG, HD, LTT, BDE, 4xDD, MB, CL->CLE
Hydran: RGR, TG, MKE, HR, PGC, 3xCU

At some point, the Kzinti CVH was bumped up in date to match the various scout carriers that get heavy fighters before general availability. I’m not sure how many the Kzinti will convert over, as there are some logistical problems, but the more he converts, the more they can feed each other. The appearance of a Kzinti CVA pod is also a bit ominous, as the Klingons are far from affording theirs.

The Hydrans swapped out a RN for the new RGR and added a PGC to the raid pool, which eliminated a crippled D6 left near the capital. The other Hydran raids hit the far end of their space again, eliminating a E4 and F5L, and liberating the last province that was still under Long-Term Capture. The Kzintis added one of two available DNLs to the raid pool, which went after a Lyran garrison DW, but a BC reacted from 1105, and crippled the DNL for no damage. The BFs hit Lyran space again, and successfully raided two provinces. The Federation added a CF to the raid pool to join the three DNLs, which all went after Klingon ships in Federation space, and killed a F5 and crippled an E4 (the latter all by itself, surprisingly, while the F5 had help from a second one, and another F5 target fought off the DNL with help from a C5), while the CF raided in Romulan space, and a POL kept it from raiding the province. The Gorns added nothing to the raid pool, with an attempt to kill a SNB in Federation space crippled it, and a SNB in Gorn space was forced to retreat.

The first offensive that developed was when the remnants of the Gorn 2nd Fleet crossed the border. They were the only ships in range of SB 4411, and weren’t enough to deal with it, so the SUB group and all the SB fighters reacted out, as Byron was about to do a maneuver he’d done before, where he moves between two BATS, and then move on to one, with nothing on the other able to react. The entire fleet stopped for my reaction, and later the 3rd Fleet moved out and hit BATS 4310, adjacent to where the 2nd had stopped.

In Hydran space, the fleets moved out, and it was obvious they were headed for 1013 where the Lyrans had a MB co-located with the Klingon BATS, which does a lot of Lyran supply in the area now. The 2nd Fleet purely pinned the Lyrans, and then the Home Fleet moved out, and I threw everything I could its way so the force that made to 1013 might be manageable.

The Federation drove a broad-front offensive against the Romulans, clearly intent on recovering 3509 as well as making a solid attack on 3612, and hitting the end of the Romulan line of BATS near the Tholians. They also attacked the Tholian Border Squadron, while sending a huge force against 1910, doubtless making up for the fact that I’d managed to take it on his last turn.

The Kzinti struck back south, leapfrogging their major fleets to pin the Klingon North Fleet and then assault 1506 and 1407. There wasn’t too much to be done about that; while I’d sure like to retain possession of my own planet 1407, the Kzinti can put way too much force into one spot for it to be practical with the continued Federation offensives.

Hydran offensive.

Kzinti offensive.

Federation offensive.

More Federation offensives.

Gorn offensive.

Battles:
2308: SSC: Klingon: E4 dest
2012: SSC: Coalition retreat
3412: SSC: Romulan: crip SNB
3413: Cloaked evasion
3314: Cloaked evasion
3313: SSC: Romulan: dest SNB
3317: Romulan: dest BATS; Federation: crip CF, FF
0815: Hydran: dest HN
1013: Klingon: crip D5; Lyran: crip STL, DW; Hydran: dest PGS
0516: Lyran: dest CL, crip DW; Hydran: dest NEC, AH
0616: Klingon: crip F5, E4A; Hydran: crip SA
1407: Klingon: dest G2; Kzinti: capture planet
1506: Klingon: dest F5L; Kzinti: capture planet
1405: Klingon: dest D6, F5G, crip D7, D5; Kzinti: dest CM, FKE
1809: SSC: Klingon: dest G2
2108: Federation: dest FF
1910: Klingon: dest D5, crip D5, F5; Federation: dest DN+, FFE
2010: Federation: dest FFS
2511: Klingon: dest D6, D5, crip CVT, D6, D5; Federation: dest NCL, crip NCL, 4xFF; Gorn crip BDE
2615: Klingon: dest D5; Federation: crip 2xNCL, FF
3415: Cloaked evasion; Federation capture neutral planet
3414: Romulan: dest SNB
3114: Romulan: crip SP; Gorn: crip 2xDD
3612: Romulan: dest SKE, crip KE, 2xSP; Federation: dest NCD, DE, crip FF
3512: SSC: Romulan: dest cripK4; Federation: dest POL
3213: Romulan: crip SP; Federation: dest NCL
3516: Romulan: dest BATS
3611: Romulan: crip WE, capture CL; Federation: dest 2xCL, crip FF
3509: Romulan: dest 2xSKE, crip SPB, WE; Gorn: crip CL, BD, 3xDD, recapture planet
4410: Romulan: dest BHE; Gorn: crip 2xDD
4310: Romulan: dest FHF, capture BC; Gorn: dest BC, crip DD

Given the importance of MB 1013 to maintaining a Lyran presence in more than a corner of Hydran space, I expected Byron to come in, take any lumps, and blow the MB. So I accepted approach, and put up a good line, including Stormtooth, the new replacement STL. Byron had actually had no intention of forcing the issue in the face of my two reserves, and left after the first round; sadly, Stormtooth failed its shock roll (which is only a 6, instead of 5-6 on d6, thanks to the DN hull), leaving the Lyrans still down a DN in theater after one was crippled last turn. There was also a little confusion over the CSV; Byron hadn’t properly realized that the Lyrans had built the first scout carrier.

I still have a decent force near a couple of Federation worlds, and naturally they came under attack in 2511. The Allied force wasn’t too much better than mine, but had some important advantages (such as actual CR10 vs my D7C in command), but a good first round had me stick around, and then a poor second round pretty much eliminated what I had gained, and forced excessive cripples.

3512 was an odd little fight with a Federation POL trying to finish off a crippled K4. Both sides rolled an ’11’, so the POL got close for an accurate photon volley, only to find that plasma wasn’t a pseudo, and both ships were eliminated.

The Federation showed how much it wanted planet 3509 back, by sending four ships… and a Gorn fleet. I was holding it with a single battle line, and Byron used the DNT to cripple my SPB group to kill in pursuit (an approach I’ve contemplated a time or two, but I’m usually not in a position to try it). I inserted a BHE into the group, and he was unable to do more than kill the escorts in pursuit.

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Coalition: 413 EP (x2) + 560 (bases) + 804 ships (/5) = 1715.6
Alliance: 368.8 EP (x2) + 460 (bases) + 805 ships (/5) = 1519.6

The slide continues, with the Coalition now only registering a Tactical victory. In some ways, the news may be worse than it looks. The Alliance total is about the same as a turn ago, but this is largely because of the loss of the Gorn SB in 4206. All the Alliance fleets have expanded at least a little, and the Federation by nearly 20 ships. Meanwhile, the Romulans are down 13 ships, thanks to that same assault, though the Lyrans managed to gain 8 ships.

Most critical, the Federation has moved solidly into southern Fed space, and set up a cordon around the Orion Enclave. Beyond the likelyhood of the Federation getting a very important shot in the arm from that, communications between the Klingons and Romulans are probably forever cut, especially with the loss of the only Romulan BATS in range of 2715. The current KR spare parts will last through turn 26….