Star Trek Attack Wing Battle Report: Testing the AI

Having got into Star Trek Attack Wing last year, I excitedly bought the co-op conversion Star Trek Alliance when it came out recently. Before playing the campaign properly, I thought I'd try out the AI to get a handle on how it works.

For those who don't know, the AI ships choose their manoeuvres based on where your nearest ship is and a dice roll, meaning that you can never predict exactly where they'll go. They also break the rules a little, given they're not aware of obstacles like a human is and so can manoeuvre a little around them if they're about to crash.

Preparation

To start with I decided to play the first mission (in terms of deployment and enemy ships) without the normal objectives, which means two enemy ships start on the table, an elite one arrives on round 3, and then a final one on round 6.

This was my build, giving the Excelsior torpedoes as it has a rear arc, and dorsal phasers to the Akira as it has such a limited firing arc.

The battle

Round 1 and we all move straight ahead.

Round 2 and I head left to focus on one enemy, whilst the rightmost AI makes an odd choice by continuing to fly forwards. I was in its front arc so it was limited to straights, but it's not a move I'd make as a human.

Focus firing from my ships does exactly enough damage to take out the enemy before it can fire.

Round 3 and the elite comes on, with a 360º firing arc.

The elite randomly came on from the top left, right where I needed it to be, whilst the normal enemy banked rather than turned and so was still out of the fight.

After a lot of shots, the elite had lost all of its shields and one of its three hull. But my Excelsior had taken shield damage as well.

Round 4 and the elite manages to get in right behind the Excelsior, but that is still in its torpedo arc. The normal enemy finally lines up a shot!

The elite does further damage to the Excelsior's shields, but is destroyed by a volley of torpedoes in return.

The Akira is now out of range to shoot (it's 360º weapon is limited to range 2) but manages to evade the incoming damage.

Round 5 and the enemy again fails to land a hit, but only takes two shield damage.

Round 6 and the final reinforcement arrives, whilst the incumbent enemy makes another odd choice.

One damage is done to the starting enemy, and the Akira takes some shield damage.

Round 7 and the reinforcement is destroyed, again with exactly the amount of damage needed, somehow leaving the cowardly enemy from the start as the only opponent left.

Round 8 and it finally grows a pair and decides to joust with the Excelsior, taking one hull damage apiece.

Round 9, and the Akira barrels in and ends things.

My thoughts

The AI works pretty well, all things considered. I followed the logic to move it to avoid obstacles once or twice, but given I also flew onto them during the game that means it's just as cavalier / stupid as a human!

The issue with it is that it can't plan as a whole, hence why in rounds 2 and 3 the rightmost ship failed to turn right hard enough to pin my ships in from both sides. But as a way to play single player or co-op games it works very well, and it'd be easy to up the difficulty by adding extra ships, increasing their spawn frequency, or even including more elite versions.

I also think it's fair to say that I rolled luckier than average, taking out two ships with exactly the damage needed. Plus the elite that spawned never got to use its ability, as it was too good at keeping my ships in its front arc.

Painting: Myrmourn Banshees and Glaivewraith Stalker

I've finished my Nighthaunt!

These are nice models, especially the Banshees, but they are a pain to paint when all glued together due to some very fiddly angles. However, I got them and their scenic bases done, and so now here is the whole warband of 18 models.

Wide formation

Tighter formation to avoid the corners

I don't know what to paint next...

Painting: Grimghast Reapers and Spirit Host

 This is the first batch (of two) of the bigger models for my Warcry warband.

Painting: Chainrasps

These guys are super-quick to do, but I have been distracted by Total War: Warhammer 2 and Stardew Valley so they took a while to get done.

So in terms of models for this warband I've now done 10 out of 19, although all the others are bigger and more complex than these guys.

Painting: Chainrasp

Just a quick one, but I'm very proud as I painted this guy in one short painting session, which is nothing like me.

My wife was very shocked that I'd finished him whilst she'd been sitting painting next to me!

I'll go easier on the Hexwraith Flame (the green) next time, but otherwise I'm very happy with how he looks given the fast painting time. A lot of the time was waiting for things to dry, so these guys will really shine with batch painting. It's just a shame I only have three painting handles ;¬)

Adventures in Contrast: Warcry Chaotic Beasts

I painted my first Warhammer model in 1998. Since then, I have painted over 300 models, covering:

• Over a dozen Blood Angels (when I was starting)
  
• A full 4th Edition T'au Empire army
• A full 4th Edition Space Marine army of my own Chapter
• A handful of random Space Marines from different Chapters over the years
  
• Four Deathwatch Marines
  
• An Ork warband for Combat Patrol
• Three Dark Eldar
• An Orlock gang
• Three Ratskins
  
• Two Saurus Warriors
  
• Random Imperial Guardsmen in different colour schemes
• Two Regimental Advisors
  
• A squad of Tempestus Scions with a Commisar
• Some random Tyranids
  
• A squad of Genestealer Cult Neophytes
• A Goblin Blood Bowl team
• An Orc Blood Bowl team
• One Craftworld Eldar
• Círdan the Shipwright
  
• A Moonclan Grot warband for Warcry
• A Stormcast Eternal warband for Warcry
• Four trees
  

Notice anything? I have never painted a single Chaos model, even though they exist in every. single. one. of GW's settings. I guess I have always been more of a xenos player, but this is crazy. The closest I've ever come is my Space Marine chapter, who use the odd bit of Chaos Marine wargear as they're short of supplies.

So Warcry has given me the chance to finally paint some very naughty boys, and here they are:

Natural

Flash

Yes, my photo-taking set-up is still rubbish.

In order of painting, we have:

• Nurgle Fury, who was done entirely using classic paint
• Khorne Fury, who was mostly Contrast other than the wing membranes
• Dark brown Fury to test out Wyldwood Contrast as skin
  
• Tzeentch Raptoryx, using classic paints
• Slaanesh Raptoryx, which is classic other than on the feathers and the bone / claws
• Fleshy Raptoryx, who is almost entirely Contrast and was a real experiencing in shading up rather than the classic approach
  

They were a lot of fun to do, and I loved the chance to paint similar models in very different schemes.

I aten't ded!

I haven't died, I've just been distracted by many other things since I last posted, which has meant I've not done much in the way of painting.

First, I got distracted by Stellaris, where I met a new friend whom I dubbed 'Bubbles'.

Bubbles!

I then discovered that the Star Trek Attack Wing game isn't a terrible rip-off of X-Wing, but in fact licenced the same engine and has multiple copies of Worf. So I bought into that and ended up playing it with my wife in person, and online through Tabletop Simulator with friends.

Pew pew pew!

Yes, those are Kazon ships. No, I do love my stupid, rubbish children.

My proudest moment on TTS was winning with Bajorans against a Species 8472 ship and a Romulan Valdore class.

Bajorans are bad but fun

Then my PC broke, so I had to buy a new one. Which meant I could finally go from playing Total War Warhammer on the lowest possible settings - and still play it like a slideshow - to playing Total War Warhammer 2 on the max settings.

But I don't have any pictures of that, so here's another picture of Bubbles!

I was so proud :¬)