I figured I'd talk a little about what I thought of each of the different ship types. I've had probably a dozen or so games under my belt now and feel like I'm getting a handle on them better. There are some new tactics I'd like to try out, so all of this is subject to change in the future, but here are my thoughts currently:
We'll start with the Conqueror Class Battleship, the biggest ship on the line so far. This ship boasts a massive 16AD Rail Gun, the best attack dice in the game from a single ship at the moment, and the flexible Gun Racks that allow me to shoot either starboard or port each turn. While it lacks the flexibility of, say, the Aquan battleship, it makes up for it by pricing in at the cheapest ship of its type while still being among the hardest to destroy (best CR and HP) and the hardest hitting with its Rail Gun. It runs into problems in that its main gun is fore fixed only, and it's a little on the low side of crew and assault points making it more vulnerable to boarding actions than most, but between its massive gun and its solid torpedoes, it can pick a target and wreck it pretty solidly. I've had games where a pair of them moved together to blast in 4-6 points in opposing battleships in a single round of firing. However many of these things I can pick up based on points, I'll have.
I feel like where I lose some ground is with the Fury Class Cruisers. They've got a decent gun, but they cap out at three ships per squadron and are outclassed by both the Sorylian Cruisers (due to their better guns and two of them) and the Terran Cruisers (due to their shields and equally solid guns). Even with their disadvantages, though, they'll still make it into almost every fleet I run based solely on the fact that, ignoring everything else, cruisers are the best class of ship in the game. They move fast enough and turn fast enough that my fore fixed rail guns are never a liability, and they combine for enough dice to really hurt any enemy ship. They carry over the high CR of my battleship, so they're not as quick to drop as other ships. Also, starting in band 3 and into band 4, my cruisers have the best firepower. They may not clock in high in band 2, but they'll do a lot before you close in.
Wrapping up the main ships is my Hammer Class Frigate. I'll start with the bad: they cost 5 more points than most frigates, and they're the only faction that can't get more than 3 in a squadron. Okay, that's the bad. Now for the awesome: they have AP 5 main guns with AP 4 secondary guns, they have 2 PD, and they have a CR of 6 instead of 5. That last part means where most frigates get blown up in a single shot, mine are usually taking a point of damage instead. I may have sub par cruisers and a middle-ranged battleship, but I have the best frigates in the main factions, easily.
Okay, on to the second set of ships. The Claymore Class Carrier. Sucks. First, the ship design itself doesn't look all that great. If you take a close look at the back of the ship, you'll see that all the engines are on those top two decks of the ship. The bottom deck, which is more than half of the ship, has no engines. So if I press the engines without any compensation, I'll just be spinning around end-over-end. I'm sure there are some minor compensators spread out among the rest of the ship to allow it to avoid this fatal flaw in the design, but they must not be very powerful because the ship can't move very fast - 5" a turn. That may not seem bad until you realize that due to the fact the ship is large, it must move 2" before taking the 1" turn. So it can turn only 45 degrees each turn. Like the rest of the ships, I have fore fixed guns. But with a single turn, they're easy to avoid. Add to that the guns aren't very good in the first place. The only reason to take this ship is as a holder for six wings of fighters, which you have to buy in addition. 100 points is the cheapest carrier, but still far too expensive for a floating piece of scrap.
My Buckler Class Gun Escort, on the other hand, is another awesome ship, carrying on my tradition of having the best small ships in the game. It's the only escort currently out with guns on it, and the guns aren't bad. Hitting up 4 dice at the port and starboard sides, it can actually do a number against trailing frigates. Also, their PD adds in to help block against those annoying assault runs, shoring up some of my big issues with the Dindrenzi battleship. Finally, they're on the cheap side of the escorts as they don't focus on PD or Mines. All in all, a solid choice. I've only used them once, so I'll have to try some more, but so far I like them.
Finally, my heavy cruisers. Alright, I admit that I have no idea what they do yet, but man, they look awesome. I just had to get a picture of them in my blog again. Compare them to the regular cruiser above. I think these guys are going to come out with very strong port and starboard guns, maybe even hitting as high as 9 AD. Mix one of these into a squadron of regular cruisers and they're going to be pretty harsh.So those are the ships of the Dindrenzi fleet. Hoping to get a quick game in tonight, but we'll see how that rolls.
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