Okay, here are some screenshots from my latest attempt at Point Blank (which is also my second go, for what that’s worth).
Here’s the initial deployment:
The four Kodiaks (that’s the big stations) in the middle are configured as fighter bases - 8 carrier bays apiece. The outer four are long range - mostly MWMs and plasma. The Terrapin stations (frigate-class) are all set up for long range - frigate plasma, fast missiles, and a couple beam lasers each. These stations are accompanied by 5 squadrons of laser fighters and 5 squadrons of double rocket fighters.
So how did they do? A picture is worth a thousand words:
During incoming wave 6(!) the Unity 'sploders finally managed to close in to get some of the outlying stations. Took out four of them before the next wave jumped in - good work!
Moving on…
When the last ship of wave 16 had been destroyed (where it cycles back to repeat wave 1), I still had 85% of my fleet remaining.
The ships of wave 21 managed to take out one of the long-range Kodiaks. Why did it take this long? More on that later.
Once the long-range beatsticks have been removed, it should be smooth sailing, yes? Au contraire:
With nothing left but four fighter bases, the inner ring of Terrapins, and about two-thirds of the fighters, the fleet finally took off the kid gloves. The carnage seen here is being dealt by the aforementioned frigate weapons, and Cruiser Pulse Lasers. With 8 of the things on each fighter base, that makes for a lot of punch power. The vast majority of Unity ships continued to be destroyed before getting even close to the stations.
Now, I stopped counting when the 41st wave of Unity ships jumped in. Because I had errands to run, I left the computer running and headed out. When I came back 35 minutes later, one of the fighter bases had finally been destroyed, with damage showing on the other 3. (No screenshot for this one, as I flat-out forgot to snap it and there’s no way I’m running this again for just one pic. Sorry.)
Unity did finally prevail. The final score:
Here’s the kicker: this all came about due to a fluke of hull design. Not ship design, mind you, but hull design. Turns out the centroids of the two ships have to be within a certain distance for one ship exploding to hurt the other. And when the Unity ships are up against the “lobes” of the Kodiak hull, they’re not close enough. More than once, I watched as three or four of the little buggers clustered up right against the nose of a Kodiak, all went kaboom, and the station sat there and said “That was cool! Do it again!” The Unity bombs have to work their way down into the corner between lobes in order to do damage. They manage it eventually, but it takes some time.
I had no idea the “cruciform” shape of the Kodiak would do that. Of course, when I slapped it together, I hadn’t messed with Unity. Sometimes, it really is better to be lucky than good.