What to write about today? We'll, now that I've gone through all of the Cadet Training Handbook scenarios, it's time to simulate a tournament. There are ten ships in the CDT, which comes out to four rounds of single elimination. In the first two rounds, one random loser will advance to the next round, to keep the number of ships even from round to round. Naturally, some ships are better than others so they'll have an advantage, and I'm biased for certain ships and tactics so that will favor some ships.

The first duel is the Kzinti Strike Cruiser "KHS Starfire" versus the Orion Raider Cruiser "Queen of Diamonds". At first glance this is quite a mismatch as the Kzinti Cruiser is bigger, has more weapons, shields, internals, and the more you look at it the more you realize that the Orion Cruiser has very little chance of winning. Still, let's examine each ship and the probably tactics to use in the duel.

The Kzinti race is modeled after Larry Niven's Kzin, basically bigger than man- sized cat people. Kzinti first appeared in the Star Trek Animated Series and made their way to SFB via that route. I don't know whether the guys who did STAS knew about the Kzin beforehand, but most people seem to think that there is a definite influence from Niven.

In any case, Kzinti ships are characterized by their reliance on drones (i.e. guided missiles) as their main armanent. The Kzinti Cruiser has two Disruptors, but four Drone Racks and a lot of short-range Phaser-3s. This means that the Cruiser lacks long-range firepower, with only the two Disruptors and two Phaser-1s providing any punch beyond range 3. Even close in, the extra Phaser-3s will only equal the Phaser damage of other ships. The drones are key, as they can move at speed 32 and therefore faster than any ship. They take no power to run, last 3 turns, and can take a bit of damage before being destroyed.

Basic tactic for the Kzinti Cruiser will be to leave the Phasers charged, forget about the Disruptors, and put all power into movement. With a main armament that doesn't require power, this makes the Cruiser the fastest moving ship in the tournament. The Orion Cruiser doesn't have that many weapons, so close in, launch the drones, then rake the Orion with your Phaser-3s. On any sort of even exchange you win, since you have the bigger ship.

Orions are green-skinned humanoids seen in the original Star Trek series. They are members of the Federation, but their illicit operations can be found throughout the Galaxy. Orion Syndicates operate pirate ships, used for piracy as well as to enforce their will in the less-patrolled areas of the Galaxy. In general, Orion ships are smaller and have less firepower than a comparative military vessel. In the main SFB game, Orion ships have Option Mounts and Engine Doubling to help offset the size disadvantage. Orion ships can put different weapons in their Option Mounts, and almost every weapon is available. A captain can configure their ship to suit their style and opponent. Engine Doubling allows an Orion ship to gain twice the power from their engines, at the cost of doing some damage to them each turn. This gives Orion ships a temporary adrenalin boost that can give the Orion ship the edge for a couple of turns.

Unfortunately, the Orion Cruiser in the Cadet game has no Option Mounts nor the ability to double the engines. It has four Phaser-1s, which won't be a match for the Kzinti at close range. Only one Photon Torpedo and two Drone Racks. Few internals, smaller shields, and smaller engines round out the package. At range 5 the Orion Phaser + Photon damage will be more than the Kzinti Phaser + Disruptor damage. At range 9 they equal out and at other ranges the Kzinti has the advantage. So the tactic will be to get to range 5 and hope for a lucky roll to do a lot of damage. Try to make the Kzinti waste his drones, use your own drones to shoot down his drowns, since his Phaser-3s will destroy any drone that you fire at him. Use your superior turning ability to keep away from a close range broadsides.