Dropfleet Commander/Tactics/UCM

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Reconquest

Why Play UCM

Railguns with forgiving firing arcs and damage-spiking lasers with narrow arcs cover all the basics of firepower

Your ships look like Mass Effect/Halo/(200X sci-fi franchise) rifles with engines

Special Abilities

Aegis (X): all friendly ships on the same orbital layer within 4" of this ship (including itself) add X to their Point Defense pool.

Detector: this ship may always use Active Scan orders even if their battlegroup chose a different order this turn. All Detector ships in a group may Active Scan, instead of just one.

Ships of the Line

• Light Tonnage:
  • Santiago-class Corvette:
  • New Orleans-class Strike Carrier:
  • Toulon-class Gun Frigate: Three baby turrets give these little skirmishers three 4+ shots each. A flotilla of these can sweep in to bully the enemy's back line and force a response from your opponent. Just watch out for chain detonations.
  • Taipei-class Missile Frigate:
  • Jakarta-class Defense Frigate: The Jakarta's Aegis rule provides a Point Defense boosting aura to ships within range. Extremely useful against bomber-heavy lists and Close Action battlegroups, but useless against main guns and Shaltari Beam CAWs.
  • Lima-class EWAC Frigate: A little ship with a big claim to fame. As the only ship with the Detector rule, Limas can ping enemy ships with Active Scan regardless of their battlegroup's orders. Use this to light up targets with spikes and make burnthrough alpha strikes that much better. Keep in mind that they can remove Silent Running status on a 4+ as well.

• Medium Tonnage:
  • New Cairo-class Light Cruiser: Armed only with a Cobra Laser, this ship is literally hit-or-miss in combat but comes in twos or threes. A full group of these caps out at 18 damage and is nice for Flash spiking even if the dice gods hate you.
  • Osaka-class Light Cruiser: Carries a single set of heavy mass drivers. Wide arcs and high speed make this an excellent class for flanking.
  • San Francisco-class Troopship:
  • Seattle-class Fleet Carrier: Has Launch 3 and a set of heavy mass drivers for a reasonable price, making this a popular workhorse for UCM fleets.
  • Madrid-class Cruiser: The most cost-efficient bombardment ship in the game. A pair of these can turn even the sturdiest of sectors to rubble in a single volley.
  • Berlin-class Cruiser: Wing turrets and a laser makes for a more durable Cobra platform than the New Cairo. Just don't expect those side turrets to see much use if your opponent is paying attention to your facing.
  • Rio-class Cruiser: Basic gun cruiser with a bank of heavies and two medium wing turrets at just over 100 points. Good at getting stuck in and holding a battle line, though unlike the Seattle it has to go Weapons Free to access its full damage output.

• Heavy Tonnage:
  • St Petersburg-class Heavy Cruiser: Two Cobra Lasers. With some good rolling on Weapons Free, this heavy can cripple a battleship or delete a cruiser outright. If your opponent keeps their ships out of the F(N) killzone, it can take Standard Orders and divert power to a single Laser to boost its Burnthrough cap from 6 to 8. Think of it as a sniper rifle with the option to go noscope.
  • Moscow-class Heavy Cruiser: All the guns. Two sets each of light and heavy mass drivers give it 12 shots in the front arc on Weapons Free. Good at camping over clusters in low orbit and daring other ships to contest them.
  • Perth/Avalon-class Battlecruiser: Proud bearer of the Wave Motion Cannon Viper Superheavy Laser. Faster and sturdier than a St. Pete and able to fire its more reliable handful of Burnthrough dice on Standard Orders, although it does take a Minor Spike for doing so. Makes for a nice aggressive flagship.
  • Johannesburg/Atlantis-class Battlecruiser:

• Superheavy Tonnage:
  • Tokyo-class Battleship:
  • New York-class Battleship:
  • Beijing-class Battleship:

Building a Fleet

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Tactics

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Counter-Tactics

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Common Playstyles

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