B5 Campaigne [SHADOW]

[Foxmeister]

So you could easily represent a Stalker with a Scout model

I was under the impression that most Shadow players viewed 2 Scouts as far superior to one Stalker, so they are seldom seen in play anyway!

Regards,

Dave

 

[cadno ap annwn]

So you could easily represent a Stalker with a Scout model

I was under the impression that most Shadow players viewed 2 Scouts as far superior to one Stalker, so they are seldom seen in play anyway!

Regards,

Dave

I'll completely agree with this as a newbie myself, I learnt the hard way that scouts are a better choice, especailly against Whitestars!!!

Rich

 

[MutantHippie]

i will keep this in mind when playing then, Scouts better

 

[AdrianH]

In general, yes, two Scouts are better than one Stalker.

However, against the EA and their interceptors, the Scouts' pulse cannons may be less useful than the Stalker's beam. On the other hand, the Stalker is rather fragile and taking another big ship instead of two Stalkers may be better. So, assuming 5 Battle points of which 3 are already taken by a Ship and two Scouts, is it better to use the last 2 on another Ship, another four Scouts, or a Stalker and two more Scouts?

The problem with converting a Scout model into a distinctive Stalker is that when you're facing a different fleet, e.g. a horde of White Stars, you're going to wish that you had the Scouts back. :lol:

 

[No. 1 Bear]

the way the point split works you could have had 6 scouts and a shadow ship.

 

[locarno24]

i will keep this in mind when playing then, Scouts better

Against white stars, definitely. Against heavily armoured, interceptor-protected EA flying bricks, not so much. But in that case you have to weigh up the stalker against a half of a young ship.....





Right - campaign-wise, here are a few things to bear in mind:

Casualty replacement
Shadow ships are war or armageddon-priority. They're expensive.

They also cost double the normal price to buy as mid-campaign ships (so the normal trick of buying down for your initial fleet and buying up once the campaign is underway isn't appropriate - make sure you bring along some of the heavy mob in your initial 10 point selection).

They also repair all damage and criticals at no cost between games, and have no crew score to need replacing.

This means that a shadow ship which disengages on 1 hit point is basically a free ship in campaign terms because it bounces back bright and happy to bring serious revenge in the next game.

DO NOT LOSE SHIPS!

This sounds bloody obvious at first, but let me lay out the real reasoning:

For an extreme example, assume a battle-priority game with an ancient-priority ship (containing fleet commander) prodding buttock and taking names against a 'normal' fleet of 5-8 ships of mixed battle and raid priority. Between the ship's durability, critical hit repair ability and advanced advanced jump engine, killing it before it can jump out if things go awry is highly unlikely.

We'll assume it guts a reasonable number of enemy ships, takes a right pasting, then runs off the board. The enemy gets to go 'I winned! Yay me!' for a while.

But then you do the post-battle results (it's a campaign, remember!). He won, so gets RR points for that. He either hung onto a strategic location or took one off you, so gets RR points for that.

But then he has to replace the three or so ships you just totalled. Which wipes out all the profit he just made and, since your fleet costs absolutely nothing to bring right back to fighting order, then leaves him the one who made a net loss from the game - even though he 'won'!

In addition, you have another dirty trick for games where you have an advantage - the jump point disruptor is a mild annoyance in one-off games. In a campaign it basically means that he cannot make strategic withdrawls of critical ships to hyperspace without your say-so, and therefore a defeat will quite often become a massacre with heavy ships that can't reach the board edge hunted down and killed.

 

[Burger]

Don't use Stalkers. They suck completely. Just look at the stats... its a scout with hull 6 instead of stealth 5+, a few more initial shiends and different weapon. Take Scouts every time.

 

[Da Boss]

sadly true - hopefully they and the fighters will evolve and adapt to the changing universe in P+P