But we all know what Zhukov meant. There are a lot of strategies to choose from in BFG and as different ships are better at certain tasks than others, it makes sense that a ship you don't like may actually be pretty good when used in a different context.
For example, I keep hearing about how you have to get close in to IN because they can AAF and shotgun torpedo you first turn and then you can't get away. Orks can do the same thing (really really well). Sigiroth brought up the same issue in the dice probability thread.
Seems like a bad idea to me, since even if you get a turn before they come at you they can clear CAP off one ship and aim all the torpedos at it. This would be even worse with Carnages because they have to be squadroned all together to avoid right column shifts due to blast markers. If the IN targets a Carnage with the torpedo shotgun, you have the rotten choice of letting the Carnage die (1st turn, yikes!) or bracing to save it but nerfing your gunnery for a crucial turn.
Also, getting in close and fighting at broadsides against Orks or IN with Carnages seems like a bad idea as well for the same reason. You can't brace if one ship is going to take a beating.
These tactics don't appeal to me as I'm not a risk taker.
Thing is, I don't play that way. I don't deploy at 60cm away from the IN. I deploy abeam 75cm away from the IN fleet. Even if they roll all 6s on their AAF, I'm still at least 1cm out of range for a torpedo shotgun (unless somebody is fudging it). So this gives my opponent two big decisions to make: Do they AAF or not and do they launch torpedos or not?
If they AAF and launch, I move around their flank and lance the nearest ship. As I move a bit closer they will likely be in 45cm range and could be either abeam or closing. As I have to turn, I can't LO, so the Murder gets better performance than the Carnage at this range. I launch enough fighters to swat down any torps that would be hitting me in the ordnance phase and give CAP on the likely targets of topedos the next turn. The rest are assault boats to park in the way of the near ships so they either run into them, have to turn bad to avoid them, or have to use up fighters instead of putting them on CAP. The next IN turn they have to RO (and I didn't go on SO at all), deal with my assault boats and turn into me to fire torps. Thing is that the ships farthest away from me probably don't have a good bead on me without firing through their own ships, so they either have to forgo some of their torpedo fire or spread their torpedos out. Either way, I've just avoided the shotgun and done some damage.
If they AAF and don't launch, I LO and fire away. They have a good chance of arriving inside my 45cm band. Then instead of launching fighters for CAP I send out waves of assault boats and sit in front of their ships. They can either move forward into my assault boats or stay back. As my assault boats moved 30cm, if they don't touch my waves then they are out of range for torpedos since both ABs and torps move 30. If they do touch my ABs (I take space marines), then there is a chance they will have their prow armament disabled and can't launch torps anyway. This isn't a dodge of the shotgun per se, but it reduces it's effectiveness and I get to cause a lot of damage and havoc in their fleet... which sets me up well for the next turn.
If they move forward and launch torpedos, then I swat the torpedos and LO. There's no chance of them shotgunning now because next turn they can't both AAF and RO.
If they move forward and don't launch torpedos, then I know they may try to shotgun the next turn. In this instance I usually move 25cm straight ahead and turn at the end of my move. I may AAF some ships in the rear of my formation. If they AAF they can't turn to face me to launch them shotgun style, and will be so close I won't be in their forward arc. Maybe I'll be in gunnery range, but their weaponry is halved. If they don't AAF I will still be out of torpedo range (75-40 is 35). Then I can LO and cause havoc with my assault boats same as above.
When a Chaos fleet is turning around a flank wide like this, usually their opponents have to make some tough choices for SO to try and keep up and get their weapons to bear. Do they RO, CTNH or Fire Retros to keep me from getting behind them?
So essentially I dodge the shotgun or counter it while setting myself up for the rest of the game. In case my positioning is bad, my Murders don't have to be squadroned to be effective, so I can brace one without bracing the rest. Most of this fighting is going to be done in the 30-45cm range because the IN or Orks is trying to get to 30 to torpedo me and I'm trying to stay just out of range. Once I'm around their flank they have functionally the same turn radius as I do and will find it hard to get in close. After I come around the back, then I can sometimes get to use my prow lances in addition to my side armor. Abeam at 45cm is the sweet spot for the Murder, and I believe Chaos in general, and the lance Murders have some mathematic advantages over the Carnage at this range. I'm abeam the whole time so nobody is getting closing shots on me.
I play this way. This is why I prefer Murders.
