33. The glory device trap gambit.
Using glory devices against non-cloaking ships is problematic, in that the timing of the pop friendly code command can often be off compared to the timing of the target enemy ship's travels. Experienced players facing glory devices might vary their ship position, or timing of arrival at a certain position, unpredictably in order to decrease the odds of being hit by a glory device. However, by having your glory device start at the same point in space as its target, your likelihood of a glory device pop activation catching its target increases.
For this trap, you require a two-engine glory device-armed ship, and a cloaking ship with clans on board. Place both ships over a friendly or unowned planet. Leave the glory device fuelless, and the cloaking ship at the same point in space, cloaked with fuel.
When an enemy ship arrives, he will find himself at the same point in space as your glory device, without combat taking place between the two. There are now several ways to improve your odds of your pop command damaging the enemy target ship (counter in parentheses):
- Have your glory device tow the enemy ship while executing the pop friendly code command. Place sufficient fuel onto the glory device from your cloaker to tow the ship. The glory device can tow the target into the planet's warp well to keep the target in place over the planet, or tow the target to another point in space in range, possibly to damage other targets. (The target ship can break the tow.)
- Have your glory device intercept the enemy ship at warp 9 while executing the pop friendly code command. Again, place sufficient fuel onto the glory device for your cloaker for the glory device to travel its maximum single turn range. (The target ship can move into the warp well.)
- Have your glory device intercept the enemy ship at warp 1 while executing the pop friendly code command, transferring sufficient fuel to the glory device to do so. (The ship can move off of the planet normally at a warp speed greater than 1.)
- The surest way to successfully damage the enemy ship is to tow the enemy ship into the planet warp well with your cloaker set to warp 2 or higher, and intercept the enemy ship with your glory device with warp set to 9, with pop friendly code activated (there are some ways to avoid even this, but they may involve a second enemy ship and exploitation of the ship ID code order; see some of the other ideas in this thread to imagine how!). The enemy ship will either be kept in place with a tow or be intercepted on its run away from the tow; if the former takes place, your cloaker will be damaged by the glory device as well and will come out of cloak for likely combat.
With exception of the last choice, there is a possibility that your glory device will detonate and miss its target. However, your odds of success are better than the odds of choosing the exact coordinate of deep space at the right time at which an experienced player will place his/her enemy ship.
The true benefit of the glory device gambit is that it makes your enemy ship waste a move in an attempted counter to avoid damage. Another choice in addition to the above is to not detonate your glory device; use the clans on board your cloaker to successfully ground assault the planet in question at the same time, while allowing the enemy ship to execute a counter move. As you now own the planet, your enemy will not see what happened with the glory device, public PBP count notwithstanding. Even with no change in your PBP count, perhaps you moved the glory device to another planet....? Regardless, a wasted move on your foe's part, and more uncertainty added to his/her plans of advance.
Other considerations include ensuring that your cloaker is not at the same point in space as the glory device detonation, or having sufficient supplies on board for repair, or sacrificing the cloaker (as above, perhaps to tow a second enemy ship at the location). Also, whether to employ the trg friendly code in the meantime, or whether to place 1 kt of fuel on the non-detonating glory device to prevent tow capture after arrival of an enemy ship, are other potential considerations. These considerations will vary by your circumstances.
Lastly, if your enemy ship has a gravitronic accelerator, then a lot of the above will not work; the silver lining with gravitronic accelerator ships is that, in experienced hands, they are likely to be utilized against you in ways for which the glory device trap gambit will not ever have an opportunity to be applied. |
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