Here is a battle report with less than 100 ComRat of ships. I wanted to evaluate a design that I am thinking of using for a campaign so I took two of them, 43 points each, and tried to find an opponent of similar value to test them against. I settled on the Arcturan Peregrine class Escort from the Starmada rulebook. They come in at 44 points which is as close as you could ask for. Of course, my ships are -2 tech level in all categories while the Arcturans are +1 weapon and equipment but the points were close to even.

Chuikov Class Destroyer of the Terran Imperial Navy   ( 43 )
Mass: 51 KmT, Crew: 213, TL:   E:-2  W:-2  D:-2  Q:-2
Hull: 4 3 2 1
Engines: 4 3 2 1
Shields: K: 0 | E: 0 | B: 0
[α] Uc3b Laser Emitter [3/6/9, 4+ 2/1/1, Energy, Doubled Range Modifiers]
AB, ACE, BDF
[β] ER-2 Proximity Missile [6/12/18, 3+ 1/1/1, Ballistic, Must Re-Roll Penetration Dice]
AB, AB, AB
Warp Drive [O], Armor Plating, Vehicle Bay
1[Hα], 2[Eα], 3[Hβ], 4[Eβ], 5[H], 6[Q]

VBAM Stats
Cost: 6, Maint: 1/2, DV: 3, AS: 3, AF: 1, CR: 4, CC: 2, Base: 0, Spd: 4, Warp: Y, Notes:

Peregrine Class Escort of the Arcturan Federation   ( 44 )
Mass: 22.1 KmT, Crew: 123, TL:   E:0  W:1  D:0  Q:1
Hull: 2 1
Engines: 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Shields: K: 2 1 | E: 2 1 | B: 2 1
[α] Laser Cannon [4/8/12, 4+ 1/1/1, Energy]
ACE, ACE, BDF, BDF
Warp Drive [O], Armor Plating, Long Range Sensors [O]
1[HEDα], 2[2EQ], 3[HEQ], 4[2Eα], 5[HEα], 6[EDα]

VBAM Stats
Cost: 4, Maint: 1/3, DV: 3, AS: 4, AF: 0, CR: 3, CC: 2, Base: 0, Spd: 8, Warp: Y, Notes: Atmospheric Fast

My ships looked sturdier and better armed but are pretty light on defense. Due to my -2 TL defenses are just way too massive so I was hoping the Armor Plating would help protect me. We have decided to not use the repair rules during combat in our campaign so the battles will go quicker.

Set-up: Opening distance was 21 hexes. Both forces started with their ships adjacent to each other, tucked in tight and straight down a line of hexes towards the other side.

Turn 1: I knew the Peregrines were fast and I wanted to keep them in range of my Proximity Missiles but out of their range as long as possible so both of my ships backed up two hexes. My opponent charged forward and slit up, one ship going a little left and the other going a little right. No shooting, we were both out of range.

Turn 2: Again, I backed up two hexes and the Arcturans flew eight hexes straight towards me. It worked out well as I was just out of range of their Laser Cannons but within range of my Proximity Missiles. Both of my ships fired at Arcturan-2.
Terran-1 fired at range 13 and scored two hits, neither of which penetrated. Terran-2 fired at range 14 but only hit once. This hit also failed to penetrate. It looked like the Must Re-Roll Penetration Dice weapon ability was a bad idea. I assumed that I would be fighting other low tech races who couldn't afford the SUs for defenses like me. However, the Arcturans were packing level two defenses.

Turn 3: Once again I backed up two hexes. I knew my opponent would close into range but seeing how poorly my Proximity Missiles performed last turn, I was now thinking I was about to get reamed. The speedy little Arcturan buggers again poured on the speed and moved eight hexes straight ahead. The Arcturans split their fire, each ship firing at a different one of mine while both of my ships fired at the slightly closer Arcturan-2.
Arcturan-1 fired two Laser Cannons at Terran-1 at range 8, hitting once, and penetrated (of course, since I had no defenses). Terran-1 lost a Hull and a Proximity Missile. Arcturan-2 fired two Laser Cannons at Terran-2, hitting once, and penetrating. Terran-2 lost an Engine and a Proximity Missile. In return, Terran-1 fired three Proximity Missiles and two laser Emitters at Arturan-2, missing with the lasers but hitting with all three Missiles. One of the missiles actually penetrated and took out two Engines and the Long-Range Sensors of Arcturan-2. Terran-2 got into the act and also fired three Proximity Missiles and two Laser Emitters. Again all three missiles hit and this time one laser also hit. Two of the missiles penetrated and both destroyed a Hull, Engine, Defense and Laser Cannon each. Deprived of Hull, despite the Armor Plating, the flimsy Arcturan-2 blew up before the laser hit could register.
Now the tables had turned. Both of my ships had piddling damage but the lone Arcturan was out massed and out gunned.

Turn 4: As this was basically a simulator test and not “real” ships from a campaign, my opponent bored in to get a little payback rather than using his superior speed to try and break off. His lone ship swung wide left (to my starboard), turned and faced back in. My ships turned to the right and closed on where I thought he would be. The damaged engines of Terran-2 meant that my ships ended up in the same hex, with my Arcturan opponent almost straight ahead 5 hexes away. The Arcturan fired at Terran-2 and obviously, both of my ships fired at Arcturan-1.
The Arcturan fired two Laser Cannons and both hit and penetrated. Terran-2 took a Hull hit through her Armor Plating and then a hit that killed another Engine and another Proximity Missile. Terran-1 fired two Laser Emitters and only two Proximity Missiles at the Arcturan. With the worst rolls ever, everything missed! Terran-2 also fired two Laser Emitters and two Proximity Missiles. Only one Proximity Missile hit. At least it managed to penetrate and destroyed two Engines and a Laser Cannon aboard the Arcturan.
If only I could get some hits, this battle would be over!

Turn 5: I thought the Arcturan would fly by my ships so, keeping my ships together, I turned to the right to keep him in arc and crept forward one but he fooled me. Taking a page from my book, he backed up three hexes. Now we were straight down a hex line from him 6 hexes apart and in his A and B arcs while he sat in my A and C arcs. He fired at Terran-2 again while both of my ships tried to nail him.
Arcturan-1 fired three Laser Cannons this time but only hit (and penetrated) with one. Terran-2 lost her Warp Drive.Terran-1 returned fire with two Proximity Missiles and two Laser Emitters. Both missiles hit and the lasers scored two hits as well. The missiles failed to penetrated (of course) but both laser hits went through. The first hit took out two more Engines and a Laser Cannon while the second destroyed yet another two Engines and her Warp Drive. Still no hull hits however. Terran-2 fired only one Proximity Missile and two Laser Emitters at the retreating Arcturan, scoring a hit with the missile and two laser hits.  The missile hit penetrated the still full strength Arcturan defense and destroyed another Engine and the Long-Range Sensor but the Armor Plating stopped any Hull damage. Both laser hits penetrated. The first destroyed a Hull (finally) and the last Engine while the last hit looked as if it would destroy the ship but it was also stopped by the dense Armor Plating. The lamed Arcturan was now dead in space but still retained half of her armament.

Turn 6: Wanting to end this bloody encounter, I turned to port and closed on the enemy who sat and drifted. Terran-2 with her maimed engines was 5 hexes from the enemy while Terran-1 closed to the point-blank range of 3 hexes. The Arcturan fired at Terran-1 this time as both of my ships fired at the lone enemy.
The Arcturan fired two Laser Cannons, both of which hit and did identical damage. Terran-1 lost two Engines and two Laser Emitters. Returning fire, Terran-1 fired three Laser Emitters and two Proximity Missiles. Everything hit! One missile and one laser hit failed to penetrate but the other one missile and five laser hits smashed home. Three rolls into the damage and the Arcturan Armor Plating failed and the tiny ship exploded.

Both of my ships had taken a beating but I was proud of how the design had fared against a higher tech opponent. In retrospect the Arcturan should have approached me straight down a hex rather than splitting to either side. They could have then massed their fire and perhaps won. Maybe we'll have a rematch?</t>

Why do Security Teams have a modifier to the ship's ORat? It seems they only serve a defensive function. Shouldn't Troops also have a DRat modifier as they can help defend a ship as well?

Can the Tachyon Detection and Ranging special equipment lock onto fighter squadrons? I assume no since the rules only refer to ships but one of the players in our campaign is designing what he thinks will be an awesome fighter killer and thinks he can use TDAR to generate hits at long-range.

Just a quick recap of last Saturday's Starmada tournament at Hurricon '06. I ended up being a Klingon commanding three D-7s. The game was modeled on TOS Star Trek, not SFB Star Trek so the weapons were a little different than what I expected. Each of my ships had three Disruptors RNG:1-5/6-10/11-15, To-Hit:4+, ROF:2, PEN:1, DMG:2 arced AB, ABC, ABD and one AB arc Klingon Photon RNG:1-4/5-8/9-12, To-Hit:4+, ROF:1, PEN:1, DMG:2. My cruiser were Hull:8, Engines:9 and Shield:3 with Hyperdrive as their only special equipment. I forget my point values and never did look at the Fed values.
  The scenario was two concurrent games. There were two Fed players against two Klingons in each. During the game, any ship could warp to the other battle but you had to drop your shields and spend a turn warping to do so. Before the battles began each side had the option of moving ships from one battle to the other. The four Klingons, myself included, decided to keep two players per battle. In my battle we had six D-7s versus two Constitution class Fed CAs and four Saladin class Fed DDs. The other battle had both side's heavy hitters: one Klingon C-8 and four D-7s against one Fed DN, one CA and three DDs. The nominal objective was to win control of a planet on our map and tow away a freighter full of diplomats on the other map. As it turned out, our actual objective was to smash some Earthers!
  The guy partnered with me “Steve” was a novice gamer and so asked me every turn what we were going to do. So his three D-7s in true Klingon style acted as a screen for my three D-7s. I think I would have made a good Klingon Commodore. We kept very tightly grouped while the Feds spread out. The Saladins were very fast (over speed 12!) and the Constitutions a tad slower (Speed 7) than us. We had longer ranged weapons so I figured we would keep the range up and plink at them. We used the planet to shield most of their ships so they couldn't fire and we opened up on a Saladin and a Constitution at range 15. The -1 to hit at long range meant we got like 2 hits and it turned out that the Feds shields, even on their DDs, was 4, stopping all of our damage.
  We turned in to close the range and got another surprise. The Constitution class CAs had Long-Range sensors! We got pounded by photons and the Constitution's VERY heavy phaser batteries as we closed. Two of Steve's D-7s were crippled but we pummeled a Saladin at medium range. We quickly turned away from the powerful Fed CA and swung the other direction around the planet and pounced on the other Fed DDs. One of my D-7s was crippled and Steve's undamaged D-7 was shot up but we smashed the other three DDs. Then the Fed CAs ripped into us and ships began to die. Steve quickly lost all three of his crippled D-7s and two of mine quickly followed. In return and at point blank range we finished off three of the DDs and satisfyingly killed the U.S.S. Yorktown. As the two remaining Fed ships, a CA and a DD closed in to kill my flagship, the solitary D-7 was rescued by a DN and two D-7s from the other map. It seems the Klingons over there had totally smashed the Earthers and were coming to my succor. The Feds turned and ran! I would have at least blown my ship up but I guess the namby-pamby Earthers were too gutless to mix it up with my veteran D-7, crippled though she was. All in all, a satisfying and bloody battle that lasted from 2000 to 2240 over two hours.