Spring Y169: Kzinti rearrangements


 This is how everything looks for the Kzinti after they get a chance to reorganise. Moving from left to right as you look at it, i.e. spinward to anti-spinward, you will see that here are no Battle Stations left on the Lyran Border. Here, the Count's fleet has amalgamated with several smaller forces to form a solid defence at the Count's Starbase. The planet immediately behind that has various auxiliaries plus the planet itself ready to send extra fighters to help with the expected attrition at the Starbase.

To the south, or rimward, the Knight's Fleet and the Home Fleet have quite good defensive forces at the two Battle Stations that the Klingons were unable to reduce during their opening offensive. The same is true for the Prince's Fleet at the other end of the border. The Duke's Fleet has concentrated at the Duke's Starbase, and the detachment from the Marquis has garrisoned the important Kzinti planet in hex 1504. The Duke is not expecting the Klingons to attack the Starbase itself, but if they send several fleets against the planet he can react in with his fleet.

The main feature is an unfeasibly large stack of counters at the capital. This is because the Kzinti have retired all of the crippled minor craft - Police Corvettes and various Frigates - to be repaired next turn if possible. In the meantime, more expensive field repairs have brought the larger ships that were also crippled back into the line. Since so many of their fleets had to retreat from fixed installations, this is the only way repairs could be carried out properly, so a compromise has been reached.

Kzinti builds are relatively light at this point in their schedule, and their economy has not yet been too badly reduced by the Coalition assault. The big cats are therefore still able to build everything they could, and have been busy upgrading the capital's defences, rather than using expensive overbuilds. They cannot hope to match the sheer weight of the enemy forces anyway, so it is much better for the Kzinti to make use of the more financially sensible option of building installations. Garrisons in the capital have been augmented, and the Starbase is about to be joined by a newly-built Battle Station. The Kzinti even have 20 Economic Points sitting in their treasury to help convert that to a second Starbase in the capital hex in the autumn.

A bright point is that the Baron's Fleet has arrived at the capital via Strategic Movement, and is earmarked as a Reserve. That will allow it to warp immediately to join one of the main defensive positions. Probably the Count's Starbase, since the Lyrans are expected to throw everything they have at that. A Transport Tug has arrived at the capital with a Mobile Base as part of this strategic movement, so the Kzinti will be able to set that up and start converting it to another Battle Station. Their defence is based on fixed positions plus carrier groups, and the attrition works in their favour as a result. The Klingons are a bit better with fighters than the Lyrans, but even so this is where the Kzinti have a major asset.

The Kzinti expect battles at their three Battle Stations against the Klingons, plus a large campaign at the planet where the Marquis' detachment is stationed. The main event will be a huge conflagration at the Count's Starbase, and the Baron's Fleet is ready to jump there at a moment's notice.

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