How to make the Coalition win all the time

Start by asking who our players are: To give you a background on our play group, the three of us (Chris, Dave, and me) have been playing F+E for years. We are all pretty hardened gaming geeks in our late 20's, play lots of different board games (Adv Civ, 18xx, Titan, Battletech, AoR, etc), and have 5 SFB Rated Ace cards between the 3 of us (4 from Origins). We have played out the Grand Campaign scenario 8 times, with various combinations of the three of us as the Alliance and the Coalition, usually switching every game (we usually played one guy as the Alliance and two guys as the Coalition, and once or twice we played with just two of us).

The first two or three games, when we were figuring out the rules and what to do with stuff, the Alliance did well, even winning once or twice. In the next 5-6 games we played, however, the Alliance got demolished every time. And badly, at that. This was with the three of us each taking turns as the Alliance, and occasionally using various rules tweaks and such. The game we used all the Special Opps rules (salvage, SFGs, AuxCVs, EW), the Alliance was appallingly slaughtered. The time we decided that the Klingon TBS was to be released a turn later than normal (allowing the Kzintis to erect a second SB in the capital), the Kzintis kept their homeworld, but the Feds were smashed anyway.

Granted, we have never played past turn 15. Ever. In every game we have played (other than the first two or three), the Coaliton had such a huge advantage by turns 12-15, that the Allaince sued for peace as it seemed completely pointless to go on. Ok, it is _possible_ that once ec-onomic exhaustion has set in, the Alliance can make a comeback, but in situation where the Hydrans and Kzintis are without a homeworld, and Fed space is reduced to Earth, a bunch of devestated capital systems, an area of core space with a radius of 3 hexes, and they are cut off from their off map zone while the All Star Squadron of the Invincible, the Imperial Standard, and the Red Claw Glory makes regular sorties over Vulcan, it seems unlikely that Economic Exauhstion will make much of a diiference.

How would the Coalition capture both the Kzinti and Hydran Capitols by turn 7. What is the Alliance doing?

The Alliance is doing everyting it can. However, the Coalition has too many ships, too much money, and too much initative to fail, regardless of the efforts of the Kzintis/Hydrans, if they don't squander their advantage with useless fights at protected SBs, major planets, and non homeworld capital systems, and don't fight on the Alliance turn.

Doesn’t the Alliance have the advantage? I assure you that this is simply not the case. Due to the immensity of the game and how many variables are involved (and the fact that you can't just say "Here! I'll show you!" and play a game to a conclusion in a reasonable amount of time, like with SFB), there is only so much convincing I can do. However, if you propose some ideas as to how the Alliance could do better, I would be happy to tell you why I don't think they would work.

Perhaps a different strategy would make a difference. A Coalition attack might proceed as Turn 1 - Kzin border defences fall as do Count's Fllet SB or the minor just behind it.

Even though the Coaliton has the huge advantage, if the Kzintis set up properly, the Lyrans can't hurt them on turn one without taking unacceptable losses. If the Kzintis put reserves on both SBs (as they are required to), and all of the non reserve ships from the Dukes fleet in hex 1003 (including the scout), the Kzintis will have just as many ships as the Lyrans during the first turn border breach, and the Kzintis will have bases to fight behind. The only thing the Lyrans can really do on 1 is to pile every ship they have on hex 0803 and hope the Kzintis aren't onery enough to fight to the very end, and if they are, the Lyrans just retreat. It won't matter than much to the Lyrans. There is no reason to let the Kzintis gain advantage from their bases or attack on turn one when the sides are even. On turn 2, the Kzintis will be so outnumbered that the Lyrans will be far more sucessful.

On Turn 2

Count's SB is lost while the Klingons wipe out Kzin border defences and the Duke's SB and/or the minor toward the Marquis zone. This strategy is one of the main reasons that the Coalition doesn't do as well as it should. These SBs and planets don't need to be killed when they are defended. Attacking them when the Kzintis can afford to defend them is completely unecessary, costs the Coalition dearly in ships, and is playing directly into the Kzintis hands. If the Kzintis defend the SBs/Planets, the Coalition should pin the defending ships with units that can't reach the capital anyway, and blitz the homeworld. The Coalition simply has no need to kill the SBs and Planets if they are defended.

Turn 3

Coalition begins attacks en echelon on the capital to strip defences and devastate planets, system 1 being last."

Which again, is exactly what the Kzintis want you to do. This gives them time to build maximum PDUs, and the Coalition wastes time taking damage on ships that should be nuking Kzintai. If you go for Kzintiai first, and demolish it with a huge fleet as quickly as possible, the secondary systems fall very easily and quickly after Kzintai has been devastated.

Turn 6 or 7

the last major attack on the Kzin capital. If the first strike on Kzintai had come on turn 3 (attacking the capital on 2 is usually not a very good idea, but if the Kzinti leaves the capital wide open, rush it imediately), the homeworld would have been devastated on turn 4, and the capital been evacuated on turn 5. If the Kzintis are really stubborn and refuse to blow up the SB on 5 (which means they will have to cripple their entire fleet to keep it alive), leave when all your D5s are crippled, fix them all at the 8-10 FRDs in hex 1307, come back on turn 6, and laugh at their anemic fleet.

Wouldn’t it be better not to leave fortresses behind, and mount operations against targets so that we can secure lines of retreat or withdrawal? Which seems like it should be important, but it isn't. As the Klingon border is 6 hexes from the Kzinti capital, the Base in 1307 is the only supply/retrograde point you need. The bases only block supply if there aren't enemy ships next to them, and the Klingons have so many E4s that they can easily keep an FF in every hex in Kzinti space, keeping supply open at all times, regardless of the status of the bases.

How, then, should the Coalition offense be developed?

As you can probably tell from the above, the Coalition is always very focused, relentless, and very shrewd. No fighting over defended bases and planets. No fighting on the Alliance turn. No wasting ships on unimportant battles. Go straight on to Kzintai and don't stop until it is flattened. The Hydran capital works the same way, but usually falls on turn 7, but the Kzintis usually lose their capital on 5, so the Coalition has plenty of time to prepare for the run on the Feds. If the Kzintis come back for their capital, the Coalition usually lets them have it, as the cost in repairing the ships it takes to keep the Kzintis away completely nullifies the extra income from the capital system, and the extra points for the Kzintis don't really help them much, as they have no shipyard.

There are plenty of ways to not win as the Coalition; most of them come about by not playing to maximum effectiveness. Yes, it is more sporting to not maximize the Coalition's advantage, but there is no actual reason to do this, other than for sportsmanship (which is a good thing, but not something you can rely on for balance purposes). All things being equal, I would prefer the game to be balanced if both sides play to their maximum effectiveness, which I don't believe it currently is. It seems likely, however, that there is an optimal set of balance options to give to the Alliance that would even the sides (Like in A+A). No one has come up with a standard set of balance rules yet, however, unlike A+A.