I will be playing a 5 point War Annihilation scenario with standard Abbai against standard Pak'Ma'Ra using the revised FAP with standard rules (including random terrain setup). What fleet would you take? Thanks for you help as I especially need it with the Abbai
Annihalation = Last Ship Standing. That means there's no cunning tricks possible - blast the snot out of everything until it dies.
The Bad News
Range - The pak have you cold on range - expect plasma torpedos every other turn, and trust me those things hurt when concentrated.
Patrol Ships - These things don't just outrange flak, they damn near outrange your warships' guns. Torps from
Por'fatis are not nice.
Armour - pak'ma'ra ships aren't that tough but they can take a beating, especially with Redundant Systems
The Good News
Interceptors - All pak weapons are interceptable, unless caught in plasma webs. The other bit of good news is that there's nothing he can readily use to deplete interceptors without coming within 10" range for lighter guns (where unless he's very good he's going to get quad battery fire back).
Criticals - pak'ma'ra have bloody awful trouble dealing with critical hits and you're quite good at inflicting them. Comm jammers basically leave a ship unable to repair damage.
Inititiative - They're worse than you, if you can believe it.
Dogfighting - the
Kotha has hull 3+, so is unlikely to make it into a dogfight with a
Por'fatis - but if you do you've just found one of the only opponents you can realistically beat. This is important because you can't afford to let them just sit there outside flak range pummeling you with light plasma torps.
In a war priority game you should at least be spared the sunhawk swarm, with the bulk of the fleet consisting of
Pshul'Shi convoy guardians, Hurr Gunships, and a few
Halik frigates or
Urik'Hal supermerchants.
Expect to see at least one point sub-split all the way down to patrol as he can't get
Por'fatis any other way.
In all honesty, there's a lot to be said for a straight set of 5
Jucaya-class dreadnoughts - hull 6 with interceptors is annoying to try and hurt with plasma cannon, you have nasty heavy firepower of your own (and twin-linked armour piercing weapons have much less trouble with pak'ma'ra hulls), but it's also backed up with comm jammers and combat lasers - a nice combination against critical-vulnerable pak'ma'ra.
The Bimith is a bit of a waste - pak'ma'ra fighters don't have to come within flak range. If using the playtest boost it's not a bad gunship, but it's still a bit under-armed, and the difference between hull 5 and hull 6 is a big one against triple damage torpedos.
A Brivoki is another possibility - pak'ma'ra lack precise weapons and with decent shields the criticals aren't too much of a problem. An armageddon-priority ship is also worth buying an admiral for (about the only time) - inspirational leadership helps keep the shields special action in place, and then take your pick from:
lucky (a good generic one)
inspired command (gives you a big initiative edge - an unusual but pleasant situation, and worth it when you have the 'one big ship' to fire first. Technically a big squadron would be the same but you don't want to squadron ships against pak'ma'ra plasma webs)
top gun (kothas with teeth - but not ideal since it's the flak on their fighters that's the big problem)
engineering genius (just in case you take an engines or reactors critical)
Legendary tactician (I think? The two-special-actions one, anyway)
Mostly I'm suggesting that one because I like capital ships and war-priority games are about the only time they'll get used.
Suggestion 1:
Jucaya-class Dreadnought
Jucaya-class Dreadnought
Jucaya-class Dreadnought
Jucaya-class Dreadnought
Jucaya-class Dreadnought
Suggestion 2:
Brivoki-class Advanced Warship
Admiral (Inspirational Leadership, Legendary Tactician, Inspired Command)
Lakara-class Cruiser
Jucaya-class Dreadnought
Jucaya-class Dreadnought
