Round 1 – Andy Palmer (Hydran)

The Hydran may be the single toughest match for the Orion due to its extreme close-up punch power. I figured that in order to win Origins, I would likely have to beat at least one tough Hydran player, as one or two Hydrans usually make it into the final 16 each year. So I spent most of my practice time over the last year playing Orion vs. Hydran. The practice paid off since I was matched up with a tough Hydran player right from the get go.

I took the plasma package against Andy. My overall plan was to herd the Hydran into the corner by doubling both engines on Turn 1 and then start picking off multiple shields with piecemeal plasma and phasers. Close range is not a good option unless the Hydran and the fighters have already fired their gats. I planned to kill the fighters only if I could not get range 5 on the ship without having to get range 3 or closer to the fighters. A big advantage I had against Hydrans was that I had logged in many hours of practice time against it over the past year, while no one, other than Paul Scott, has had a chance to practice against my style of play more than once (if at all).

Turn 1: I doubled both engines and went screaming towards his corner at speed 31. I put 12 reinforcement on my #2, 4 on my #3, 3 into HET, and 3 into tractors. I also held 2 suicide shuttles. Andy corner dodged and decided to end the turn at range 7 with fighters in front two hexes (at range 5 of my ship), his #1 shield to my #2. I was presented with a tough choice on impulse 32 – either fire 5p1s at range 7 on his #1 shield (which I knew was not reinforced based on how he was moving), or try to cripple at least one fighter at range 5. I decided to launch 1 real and 1 pseudo torp and fired 2p1s at each fighter. Sadly, I rolled a 5 and 6 on each fighter doing only 5pts each. Whiffing like I did meant that Turn 2 would not be a very offense-oriented turn as it would need to be spent killing the fighters. A few defensive turns for the Orion against the Hydran and the Orion could have a serious engine deficiency problem.

Turn 2: I doubled both warp engines again, put 11 pts of reinforcement on my #4, 6 into HET and plotted 26 for most of the turn. I did not anticipate getting closer than range 5 this turn. Andy started at speed 23 with a decal to 14 on impulse 5. On impulse 2, I slipped out and was at range 6 of the TLM and 5 of the fighters. On impulse 3, I HETed directly away, and fired the left side p1 that I did not have in arc last turn at one of the fighters. I did 3 pts to cripple it. Andy fired 3p3s from each fighter at the plasma torps (3p3s on each torp) at range 2. I was hoping Andy would also fire his ship’s weapons at my reinforced #4 at range 6, but he wisely did not. On impulse 4, I slipped right in order to allow Andy to get range 5 on my reinforced shield, but again he did not bite. He then fired his last 2p3s from the fighters plus another 4p3s from his ship at the torps (3p3s each at range 1). At this point, each torp was going to hit for 10 pts each next impulse. On impulse 5, Andy took the torps on his #3 shield, taking 10 damage from the real torp.

I sometimes like to launch one real and one fake because if the opponent does not fire on the torps, they at least take 20 pts of damage. If they fire on both, then they probably would fire half on one and half on the other, wasting half of their P3s on a fake. If they weasel, then only one torp is used, and the shuttle dies.

From there, I planned on circling back to hit the TLM at range 5 by end of turn with my 4 unfired p1s and an f-torp. Andy sucked in both fighters for repairs which opened the door for me to get to range 2 or 3 without having to face the fresh fighter’s unfired fusions. Before getting close, Andy took a 20 pt f-torp on his #2. I decided to arrange a range 3 oblique shot on his #1 with the intent of taking it down to 5 boxes or so (I could not get his hurt #2). I considered myself in the lead at this point since I would have already downed his #1 and #2, which would make it very tough on him the rest of the way. I got range 3 at around impulse 24 and fired 4p1s and 7p3s. I rolled extremely well with the p3s (14 damage) and did 32 total. Andy opted not to burn batteries to block the internals and took two, a warp engine and a Hellbore! I then slipped out next impulse in order to continue to face my #6, which I figured he thought was reinforced, so that I could turn next impulse and face my reinforced #4 on a spine. At range 4, Andy decided to fire 5p1s plus a hellbore and left me with 5 boxes on my #4 shield after reinforcement.

Turn 3: On turn 3, I plotted 26 all turn with the plan of circling hard until I got a range 2 shot on his rear shields. With his #1 down, Andy could not afford at any point to HET towards me. It took me all turn to circle in order to get my shot, but I eventually got range 2 on his fresh #5 shield at around impulse 28 or so, which ended the game.