2d4chan - User contributions [en]

Dropfleet Commander/Tactics/UCM

2017-09-22T21:59:40Z

2A00:23C4:3702:5500:9178:317C:323A:DE97: /* Why Play 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

ECM shenanigans let you spotlight those pesky Scourge stealth ships before firing the Facemelter Beams.

==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:''' A cheap corvette without any gimmicks. Bring them in large numbers if you go the corvette route, and get them into atmosphere as quickly as possible. Don't be afraid to attack enemy frigates as well as strike carriers
**'''New Orleans-class Strike Carrier:''' Your bread-and-butter scoring unit, don't forget their gun. One New Orleans won't be killing anything, but four of them can defend themselves reasonably well.
**'''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:''' When the UCM build a close-action vessel they go all-in, this little nightmare unleashes massive missile swarms...once it gets into range. Don't expect an opponent to let you do this after the first time he's seen it happen. Can be valuable for sheer distraction value - make sure the enemy has to pick between the Taipeis and something equally painful.
**'''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:''' Big scoring ship with tough UCM armour and no frills. Don't rely on the wing turrets, and use Max Thrust orders to make quick passes over your dropsites.
**'''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 <s>Wave Motion Cannon</s> 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:''' Heavy turrets AND fighters sound potent, but the Atlantis can be a bit hard to use as the guns want you to advance aggressively but the launch assets make you want to hang back. A good cheap command ship if you don't want to spring for a battleship, the Atlantis is best used aggressively as part of your battleline with her fighters defending friendly ships or making quick strikes against targets of opportunity.

*'''Superheavy Tonnage:'''
**'''Tokyo-class Battleship:''' For when you absolutely want every last motherfucker on the ground to die. Loses the main battery weapons of a Beijing and kinda commits you to a bombardment-heavy strategy, but is very good at executing that strategy. Quite popular as a cheap battleship that brings battleship-grade HP and defences, if not the heavy firepower of her cousins.
**'''New York-class Battleship:''' A heavy carrier with a huge launch asset wing (recently buffed to 7) and torpedoes. Torpedoes aren't that great at present but they're supposedly up for buffing in the next FAQ. You won't miss them with those immense hangars. Pair with a Seattle to have the smaller carrier launch defensive fighters while you gut enemy capitals with massive bomber wings.
**'''Beijing-class Battleship:''' An all-rounder battleship with heavy firepower, equally heavy armour, and lots of different weapons. This last is the ship's weakness as it forces the ship to go on Weapons Free orders all the time to actually dish out the pain. Unpopular in the meta simply because the other two battleship classes are so useful, but the Beijing is still a mighty ship - note her increased scan range, which can give Scourge and Shaltari a very nasty surprise.

==Building a Fleet==

Generally with the UCM you can either go for a gun-heavy fleet (Beijings, Moscows, etc) supported by launch assets, and trade mighty blows with the enemy on 4+s...or a massed burnthrough fleet with Limas sending targeting data to melt the enemy's face from a map away. Pick one and commit to it. A gun-heavy fleet has more place for a lone Berlin or some New Cairos if you have some points left over at the end.

==Tactics==

UCM fighters are the worst in the game statwise but you get them in large numbers, and your standard carrier is a solid cruiser even without her wings, Don't be afraid to put your Seattles in your battleline.

Your wing turrets can kill Scourge frigates and this can be worth the points to upgrade from a light cruiser to a full cruiser.

If all else fails, say fuck it and send in a Madrid or a Tokyo to just bomb your enemy's ground troops flat.

Your frigates are very good at killing other people's frigates. A UCM frigate swarm is quite a nasty foe, although it will die quickly.

The Taipei Surprise (a squad of 4-6 Taipeis on silent running sneaking up on an enemy capital or supercapital) is amazing to behold. Accordingly no opponent will let you do it twice. But you can scare him into hilariously overreacting by keeping a few of them in your list and threatening to send them up a flank.

You have a strategy card that gives you a FREE RIO-CLASS CRUISER. Use it.

==Counter-Tactics==
Placeholder

==Common Playstyles==
Placeholder

Dropfleet Commander/Tactics/UCM

2017-09-22T21:58:32Z

2A00:23C4:3702:5500:9178:317C:323A:DE97: /* Tactics */

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:''' A cheap corvette without any gimmicks. Bring them in large numbers if you go the corvette route, and get them into atmosphere as quickly as possible. Don't be afraid to attack enemy frigates as well as strike carriers
**'''New Orleans-class Strike Carrier:''' Your bread-and-butter scoring unit, don't forget their gun. One New Orleans won't be killing anything, but four of them can defend themselves reasonably well.
**'''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:''' When the UCM build a close-action vessel they go all-in, this little nightmare unleashes massive missile swarms...once it gets into range. Don't expect an opponent to let you do this after the first time he's seen it happen. Can be valuable for sheer distraction value - make sure the enemy has to pick between the Taipeis and something equally painful.
**'''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:''' Big scoring ship with tough UCM armour and no frills. Don't rely on the wing turrets, and use Max Thrust orders to make quick passes over your dropsites.
**'''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 <s>Wave Motion Cannon</s> 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:''' Heavy turrets AND fighters sound potent, but the Atlantis can be a bit hard to use as the guns want you to advance aggressively but the launch assets make you want to hang back. A good cheap command ship if you don't want to spring for a battleship, the Atlantis is best used aggressively as part of your battleline with her fighters defending friendly ships or making quick strikes against targets of opportunity.

*'''Superheavy Tonnage:'''
**'''Tokyo-class Battleship:''' For when you absolutely want every last motherfucker on the ground to die. Loses the main battery weapons of a Beijing and kinda commits you to a bombardment-heavy strategy, but is very good at executing that strategy. Quite popular as a cheap battleship that brings battleship-grade HP and defences, if not the heavy firepower of her cousins.
**'''New York-class Battleship:''' A heavy carrier with a huge launch asset wing (recently buffed to 7) and torpedoes. Torpedoes aren't that great at present but they're supposedly up for buffing in the next FAQ. You won't miss them with those immense hangars. Pair with a Seattle to have the smaller carrier launch defensive fighters while you gut enemy capitals with massive bomber wings.
**'''Beijing-class Battleship:''' An all-rounder battleship with heavy firepower, equally heavy armour, and lots of different weapons. This last is the ship's weakness as it forces the ship to go on Weapons Free orders all the time to actually dish out the pain. Unpopular in the meta simply because the other two battleship classes are so useful, but the Beijing is still a mighty ship - note her increased scan range, which can give Scourge and Shaltari a very nasty surprise.

==Building a Fleet==

Generally with the UCM you can either go for a gun-heavy fleet (Beijings, Moscows, etc) supported by launch assets, and trade mighty blows with the enemy on 4+s...or a massed burnthrough fleet with Limas sending targeting data to melt the enemy's face from a map away. Pick one and commit to it. A gun-heavy fleet has more place for a lone Berlin or some New Cairos if you have some points left over at the end.

==Tactics==

UCM fighters are the worst in the game statwise but you get them in large numbers, and your standard carrier is a solid cruiser even without her wings, Don't be afraid to put your Seattles in your battleline.

Your wing turrets can kill Scourge frigates and this can be worth the points to upgrade from a light cruiser to a full cruiser.

If all else fails, say fuck it and send in a Madrid or a Tokyo to just bomb your enemy's ground troops flat.

Your frigates are very good at killing other people's frigates. A UCM frigate swarm is quite a nasty foe, although it will die quickly.

The Taipei Surprise (a squad of 4-6 Taipeis on silent running sneaking up on an enemy capital or supercapital) is amazing to behold. Accordingly no opponent will let you do it twice. But you can scare him into hilariously overreacting by keeping a few of them in your list and threatening to send them up a flank.

You have a strategy card that gives you a FREE RIO-CLASS CRUISER. Use it.

==Counter-Tactics==
Placeholder

==Common Playstyles==
Placeholder

Dropfleet Commander/Tactics/UCM

2017-09-22T21:58:00Z

2A00:23C4:3702:5500:9178:317C:323A:DE97: /* Building a Fleet */

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:''' A cheap corvette without any gimmicks. Bring them in large numbers if you go the corvette route, and get them into atmosphere as quickly as possible. Don't be afraid to attack enemy frigates as well as strike carriers
**'''New Orleans-class Strike Carrier:''' Your bread-and-butter scoring unit, don't forget their gun. One New Orleans won't be killing anything, but four of them can defend themselves reasonably well.
**'''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:''' When the UCM build a close-action vessel they go all-in, this little nightmare unleashes massive missile swarms...once it gets into range. Don't expect an opponent to let you do this after the first time he's seen it happen. Can be valuable for sheer distraction value - make sure the enemy has to pick between the Taipeis and something equally painful.
**'''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:''' Big scoring ship with tough UCM armour and no frills. Don't rely on the wing turrets, and use Max Thrust orders to make quick passes over your dropsites.
**'''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 <s>Wave Motion Cannon</s> 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:''' Heavy turrets AND fighters sound potent, but the Atlantis can be a bit hard to use as the guns want you to advance aggressively but the launch assets make you want to hang back. A good cheap command ship if you don't want to spring for a battleship, the Atlantis is best used aggressively as part of your battleline with her fighters defending friendly ships or making quick strikes against targets of opportunity.

*'''Superheavy Tonnage:'''
**'''Tokyo-class Battleship:''' For when you absolutely want every last motherfucker on the ground to die. Loses the main battery weapons of a Beijing and kinda commits you to a bombardment-heavy strategy, but is very good at executing that strategy. Quite popular as a cheap battleship that brings battleship-grade HP and defences, if not the heavy firepower of her cousins.
**'''New York-class Battleship:''' A heavy carrier with a huge launch asset wing (recently buffed to 7) and torpedoes. Torpedoes aren't that great at present but they're supposedly up for buffing in the next FAQ. You won't miss them with those immense hangars. Pair with a Seattle to have the smaller carrier launch defensive fighters while you gut enemy capitals with massive bomber wings.
**'''Beijing-class Battleship:''' An all-rounder battleship with heavy firepower, equally heavy armour, and lots of different weapons. This last is the ship's weakness as it forces the ship to go on Weapons Free orders all the time to actually dish out the pain. Unpopular in the meta simply because the other two battleship classes are so useful, but the Beijing is still a mighty ship - note her increased scan range, which can give Scourge and Shaltari a very nasty surprise.

==Building a Fleet==

Generally with the UCM you can either go for a gun-heavy fleet (Beijings, Moscows, etc) supported by launch assets, and trade mighty blows with the enemy on 4+s...or a massed burnthrough fleet with Limas sending targeting data to melt the enemy's face from a map away. Pick one and commit to it. A gun-heavy fleet has more place for a lone Berlin or some New Cairos if you have some points left over at the end.

==Tactics==
Placeholder

==Counter-Tactics==
Placeholder

==Common Playstyles==
Placeholder

Dropfleet Commander/Tactics/UCM

2017-09-22T21:57:22Z

2A00:23C4:3702:5500:9178:317C:323A:DE97: /* Building a Fleet */

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:''' A cheap corvette without any gimmicks. Bring them in large numbers if you go the corvette route, and get them into atmosphere as quickly as possible. Don't be afraid to attack enemy frigates as well as strike carriers
**'''New Orleans-class Strike Carrier:''' Your bread-and-butter scoring unit, don't forget their gun. One New Orleans won't be killing anything, but four of them can defend themselves reasonably well.
**'''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:''' When the UCM build a close-action vessel they go all-in, this little nightmare unleashes massive missile swarms...once it gets into range. Don't expect an opponent to let you do this after the first time he's seen it happen. Can be valuable for sheer distraction value - make sure the enemy has to pick between the Taipeis and something equally painful.
**'''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:''' Big scoring ship with tough UCM armour and no frills. Don't rely on the wing turrets, and use Max Thrust orders to make quick passes over your dropsites.
**'''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 <s>Wave Motion Cannon</s> 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:''' Heavy turrets AND fighters sound potent, but the Atlantis can be a bit hard to use as the guns want you to advance aggressively but the launch assets make you want to hang back. A good cheap command ship if you don't want to spring for a battleship, the Atlantis is best used aggressively as part of your battleline with her fighters defending friendly ships or making quick strikes against targets of opportunity.

*'''Superheavy Tonnage:'''
**'''Tokyo-class Battleship:''' For when you absolutely want every last motherfucker on the ground to die. Loses the main battery weapons of a Beijing and kinda commits you to a bombardment-heavy strategy, but is very good at executing that strategy. Quite popular as a cheap battleship that brings battleship-grade HP and defences, if not the heavy firepower of her cousins.
**'''New York-class Battleship:''' A heavy carrier with a huge launch asset wing (recently buffed to 7) and torpedoes. Torpedoes aren't that great at present but they're supposedly up for buffing in the next FAQ. You won't miss them with those immense hangars. Pair with a Seattle to have the smaller carrier launch defensive fighters while you gut enemy capitals with massive bomber wings.
**'''Beijing-class Battleship:''' An all-rounder battleship with heavy firepower, equally heavy armour, and lots of different weapons. This last is the ship's weakness as it forces the ship to go on Weapons Free orders all the time to actually dish out the pain. Unpopular in the meta simply because the other two battleship classes are so useful, but the Beijing is still a mighty ship - note her increased scan range, which can give Scourge and Shaltari a very nasty surprise.

==Building a Fleet==

Your frigates are very good at killing other people's frigates. A UCM frigate swarm is quite a nasty foe, although it will die quickly.

The Taipei Surprise (a squad of 4-6 Taipeis on silent running sneaking up on an enemy capital or supercapital) is amazing to behold. Accordingly no opponent will let you do it twice. But you can scare him into hilariously overreacting by keeping a few of them in your list and threatening to send them up a flank.

Generally with the UCM you can either go for a gun-heavy fleet (Beijings, Moscows, etc) supported by launch assets, and trade mighty blows with the enemy on 4+s...or a massed burnthrough fleet with Limas sending targeting data to melt the enemy's face from a map away. Pick one and commit to it. A gun-heavy fleet has more place for a lone Berlin or some New Cairos if you have some points left over at the end.

UCM fighters are the worst in the game statwise but you get them in large numbers, and your standard carrier is a solid cruiser even without her wings, Don't be afraid to put your Seattles in your battleline.

Your wing turrets can kill Scourge frigates and this can be worth the points to upgrade from a light cruiser to a full cruiser.

If all else fails, say fuck it and send in a Madrid or a Tokyo to just bomb your enemy's ground troops flat.

==Tactics==
Placeholder

==Counter-Tactics==
Placeholder

==Common Playstyles==
Placeholder

Dropfleet Commander/Tactics/PHR

2017-09-22T21:49:13Z

2A00:23C4:3702:5500:9178:317C:323A:DE97: /* Building a Fleet */

A Brief Treatise on Pinko Abandonist Punks

==Why Play PHR==
Maybe you think transhumanism is the future, and extravagant AI-laden vessels are the way to show those baselines the error of their ways. Maybe you think capital ships that are sturdy enough to make broadside battery tactics work in space through brute force are awesome. Or maybe you're just expressing you childhood desire to fuck that robot from Flubber.

Whatever the reason for your technophilia, you've come to the right place.

==Special Abilities==
Calibre (X): Many PHR ships have their standard guns fall into light, medium, or heavy calibre categories. If you target a ship of a tonnage that corresponds to the calibre, your lock value is reduced by 1. Additionally, calibre(H&S) guns only need to roll 1 higher on their lock to get a critical hit, as opposed to the standard 2 higher.

Launch assets: PHR have the only bombers with a 2+ lock, although they have 3" less range than Scourge or Shaltari bombers. Their fighters are second best compared to Shaltari, giving equal PD but having 4" less range.

Assault troopships: While UCM/Scourge troopships are based off their standard cruisers and lacking in weaponry (while Shaltari are their own thing), PHR troopships are the equivalent of their heavy cruisers for the most part, and come equipped with weaponry equal to a standard cruiser. You'll likely see multiple of these in a list due to how good they are.

==Ships of the Line==
*'''Light Tonnage:'''
**'''Echo-class Corvette:''' The toughest corvette, which doesn't mean too much considering it still only has two hull points. The only corvette with a regular gun on top of the close action weapons they all have, it's capable of popping out of atmosphere and posing a threat. The only PHR ship with stealth, although taking advantage of that is difficult considering the ship only has a signature of 2" anyway.
**'''Medea-class Strike Carrier:''' With a single piddly bombardment cannon for armament, this ship won't be scoring any kills against other ships. However, with 5 Hull and 3+ armor it is practically impossible to kill once it gets into atmosphere.
**'''Europa-class Gun Frigate:''' With three shots on each side arc, this frigate does wonderfully in a first-wave linebreaker battlegroup alongside a Theseus, Orion, or Leonidas/Agamemnon.
**'''Pandora-class Laser Frigate:''' One of the few PHR ships with a focus on forward arc firepower, and even a lone Pandora is useful for adding spikes.
**'''Calypso-class ECM Frigate:''' Once per turn, this escort can apply a penalty of +1 to the lock values of one enemy group when targeting a nearby friendly ship. Not only great for causing misses, but a single Calypso can render a ship immune to critical hits from 4+ weapons. Stackable, but you're limited in how many you can take. Either dump multiple of these on a single ship that you plan on diving into the thick of things, or spread them out to protect critical ships such as troopships.
**'''Andromeda-class Launch Frigate:''' Has a happy chin hangar with Launch 1. Great for flanking and getting bombers far down field sooner.

*'''Medium Tonnage:'''
**'''Theseus-class Light Cruiser:''' The only light cruiser that can be taken as a single ship. Can keep up with frigates and has solid broadside weaponry and armor, and it's cheap for PHR. The biggest weakness is awful point defense; frigates have better PD than this ship.
**'''Ikarus-class Vanguard Carrier:''' A mixed gunship-carrier that has a couple shots in each of its F/S arcs to supplement its two bases of fighter/bombers.
**'''Perseus-class Cruiser:''' Bad.
**'''Ajax-class Cruiser:''' While it's not a bad cruiser, it suffers from two things: you often overkill frigates with your twelve dice per side, and for only thirty points more you can get an Orpheus with the same weaponry and troop dropping ability. The Ajax does have linked broadsides going for it, and one more inch of thrust.
**'''Orion-class Cruiser:''' The standard gun cruiser. Eight 4+ dice per linked side isn't too shabby.
**'''Ganymede-class Assault Troopship:''' Bombardment batteries can help clear out enemy tokens in a cluster before you drop your own down.
**'''Orpheus-class Assault Troopship:''' Slightly cheaper than a Ganymede, and you trade out bombardment for light broadsides. Rolling twelve dice per side lets you roll for sixes while attacking strike carriers competing with you for a cluster.

*'''Heavy Tonnage:'''
**'''Bellerophon-class Heavy Cruiser:''' One of the best ships PHR has to offer. Launch assets complement the burnthrough laser very well. They tend to do better staying back.
**'''Achilles-class Heavy Cruiser:''' Can be good for reliably putting a couple points of damage on a target thanks to the heavy calibre broadsides. You're mostly paying for the torpedo though, and torpedoes aren't too great at the moment.
**'''Hector-class Heavy Cruiser:''' An Orion with a burnthrough laser slapped onto it and a few more hull points. The problem with the Hector is the difficulty in using both the linked broadsides and the laser, as going weapons free prevents you from turning and lining up the three weapons systems in an optimal way.
**'''Priam/Scipio-class Battlecruiser:''' PHR battlecruisers are interesting in that they're as fast as their frigates. While the Bellerophon wants to hang back and snipe with the laser, the Priam is different in that with its higher thrust, more hull points, better PD, and light calibre broadsides, it wants to dive in and project bombers as far down the board as possible.
**'''Agamemnon/Leonidas-class Battlecruiser:''' Weapons-wise, essentially two Theseus stapled together in terms of total dice. Each side of the ship has both light and medium broadsides, but what can pose difficulty is in that the two light and two medium broadsides are linked with their counterparts on the other side of the ship, so in order to fully utilize a facing you need to go weapons free.

*'''Superheavy Tonnage:'''
**'''Minos-class Battleship:''' With two torpedoes, heavy calibre cannonades, and a crippling close action weapon, the Minos wants to get up close and brawl. Torpedoes suffer a bit as they do generally, but the neutron missiles go well with the cannonades.
**'''Heracles-class Battleship:''' While the Minos wants to dive in, the Heracles does better hanging back and sniping with its dark matter cannon. It functions as point-and-delete with enemy cruisers thanks to the crippling ability of the DMC. Firing it does give you a minor spike though, and it can be harder to take advantage of your heavy cannonades with a front narrow arc weapon.

==Building a Fleet==
The PHR's uniquely capable assault troopships give them the option to invest points in ground assets and decent combat output at the same time. Be prepared to plug an Orpheus into at least one of your medium slots.

The PHR are "topheavy" in terms of fleet choices. Their frigates are intended to support their capital ships, many of their standard cruiser classes (and their only light cruiser) are best off picking off enemy light ships to keep them from scoring or from harming the heavy hitters. The PHR fleet's real muscle is in their heavy cruiser and battleship classes, and it's them that will be doing most of your dirty work. Buy the big guns first, then pick everything else to compliment and support your choice of flagship.

Your battlecruiser is astoundingly fast. Never be afraid to sail it up the map with a squadron of frigates in support, then throw out linked broadsides on all sides as the enemy are just moving into position.

==Tactics==
Most combat cruisers with broadsides are linked in the L and R arcs, allowing you to fire both with a single weapon allocation. Expect to use Course Change orders frequently, either to drift a single side arc onto a target dead ahead or to slip between two of your opponent's battlegroups for a double broadside.

==Counter-Tactics==
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==Common Playstyles==
Beams and Bombers: One of the weaknesses of PHR is the difficulty in getting the most out of their broadsides. Bombers don't care about facing, and burnthrough lasers aren't as difficult to aim if you don't need to worry about lining up for weapons free. Relies largely on the excellence of the Bellerophon.

Dropfleet Commander/Tactics/Scourge

2017-09-22T21:41:17Z

2A00:23C4:3702:5500:9178:317C:323A:DE97: /* Ships of the Line */

''They talk of democracy, freedom, fairness. Those are the creeds of cowards. The ones who would listen to a thousand opinions and try to satisfy them all. Achievement comes through absolute power, and power through strength! They have lost!''

==Why Play Scourge==
High damage weapons

Wolfpack tactics

==Special Abilities==
Scald: Scourge weapons with this ability reduce armor rolls against their damage by 1 while within the ship's scan range.

Corruptor: Scourge torpedoes that achieve successful penetration unleash a hot, steamy load of Razorworms inside their victim's defenseless hull, starting "Fires" every turn.

==Ships of the Line==
*'''Light Tonnage:'''
**'''Nickar-class Corvette:''' Scald makes these tiny ships very nasty at just what their fluff says they do - hunt enemy strike carriers. They evaporate under return fire though.
**'''Gargoyle-class Strike Carrier:''' Scoring unit and generally unremarkable as strike carriers go.
**'''Harpy-class Gun Frigate:''' Fun sized Oculus Beam platform. Pair with a bigger ship to finish off cripples if the big guns don't quite kill their target.
**'''Djinn-class Close Action Frigate:''' Nasty little killer that can hide in atmosphere before pouncing. Do so; it'll be shot to pieces in moments if you try to make the run in normal conditions.
**'''Charybdis-class Bombardment Frigate:''' The Scourge bombardment platform is this tiny thing. If you go for a bombardment strategy then don't linger with them; shoot, then move on to the next cluster. You have the advantage of being able to bombard while in atmosphere, meaning the enemy will have to send corvettes after you or try to hunt you with strike carriers. Note the UCM strike carrier actually can do this!
**'''Scylla-class "Submarine" Frigate:''' Play tower defense games with your opponent by dropping these into atmosphere and using their Reverse-Grav cannons to act like a mobile Military Sector!

*'''Medium Tonnage:'''
**'''Yokai-class Light Cruiser:''' Scourge light cruisers have paper-thin defences and rely on silent running and speed to get in close, fire their guns, and theoretically get out again. The Yokai doesn't have the hilarious CAWs of the Strix and has the slight advantage of some range on her guns, so is marginally more survivable. Like UCM light cruisers, has the advantage that it doesn't need Weapons Free to get max damage output.
**'''Strix-class Light Cruiser:''' Must be hard to get life insurance if you crew this ship. The Strix puts out a devastating CAW volley and then dies the moment an enemy sneezes on it. Enemy frigates can kill Strixes. Buy them in pairs, don't expect them to survive, and sell their lives dearly.
**'''Chimera-class Troopship:''' Poorly armed but hauling troops, much like the San Francisco. The major difference being that Chimeras are faster and flimsier, so it can be a challenge to keep them alive long enough to drop bulk landers into a midfield cluster over several turns. Handle with care.
**'''Hydra-class Fleet Carrier:''' Scourge bombers have the Scald rule and can be quite nasty; the Hydra that carries them into battle is another paper-thin Scourge cruiser. Remember launching gives you a minor spike, and make sure the enemy has something else to worry about.
**'''Ifrit-class Cruiser:''' Carries a set of the Scourge dual-mode Burnthrough Lasers. Toss a pile of middling dice looking for that sweet 8 damage spike, or throw a single die with pinpoint accuracy to light the target with Flash and possibly land a crit chain.
**'''Wyvern-class Cruiser:''' The standard Scourge cruiser, with decent gunnery and okayish defences but really needs to use silent running until ready to make the kill. Best used so their CAWs can finish off a damaged enemy. The Wyvern's weaknesses are the usual Scourge tinfoil armour and the way it has a shorter scan range than its main enemies.
**'''Sphinx-class Cruiser:''' A less-crazy Strix, cruiser-grade defences mean the Sphinx is more likely to survive an attack run - but they don't come in pairs. Use if you actually need some cruisers to survive for some reason.

*'''Heavy Tonnage:'''
**'''Raiju-class Heavy Cruiser:''' Now we're getting nasty. Scourge heavy cruisers are a BIG step up from their lighter brethren, particularly in defence. The Raiju can actually survive sustained return fire long enough to get shots with the Scourge dual-mode burnthrough weapon. Don't be afraid to take the flash option early in a turn, your occulus-armed ships can benefit greatly from the range boost.
**'''Shenlong-class Heavy Cruiser:''' Covered in Occulus Beam Arrays and packing Stealth + Partial Cloak, it can put out a lot of firepower . But it lack the extra shots and complete immunity to spikes found on the Akuma for 35 points and doesn't have the Daemon's complete Fuck-You package, so for now this class is stuck with the unfortunate title of Third-Best Pricey Beamspammer.
**'''Akuma/Basilisk-class Battlecruiser:''' OMG OVERPOWERED! The Akuma/Basilisk has both Full Cloak and Stealth, making it completely immune to spikes while above 50% Hull and able to fire a 3 shot Phalanx on Silent Running. Because of their ability to strike with a tiny zone of possible return fire and negate most of the risks of going on an all-out offensive, you'll see at least one of these in every competitive Scourge list at the moment.
**'''Banshee/Manticore-class Battlecruiser:''' Plasma Tempest CA bruiser and Scourge Torpedo carrier. Struggles to live up to its brother's hyper-efficient reputation since it pays for Stealth and Cloak but doesn't have to go Weapons Free to fight at full power, and can't utilize a Silent Running+Stealth shot and launch its torpedo in the same turn.

*'''Superheavy Tonnage:'''
**'''Dragon-class Battleship:'''
**'''Daemon-class Battleship:''' Beams, Beams, and more Beams, with a side of two BTLs and Plasma CA. Caps out at a potential 22 damage on Weapons Free before counting Close Action. Its massive damage ceiling and improved armor don't quite make up for lacking the Stealth and Cloak shenanigans of the Scourge Battlecruisers, but it's a good looking ship and a fine bruiser in a less-competitive game.

==Building a Fleet==
Each class of Scourge Frigate is specialized in a particular method of killing, so a wolfpack or two of your choice is effective and encouraged.

==Tactics==
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==Counter-Tactics==
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==Common Playstyles==
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