Sulfurdown
Mongoose
As part of taking on the Drakh as a campaign fleet, I've started to review any information out there on the assets available to me. Big thanks to CZuschlag and his ongoing work with a statistical and applied testing for the Drakh fleet (hopefully the full deal will get put into an upcoming S&P before he has to revise it for 2E)! 
One thing, however, stands out to me. The faction ubiquitous Breaching Pod Wing. So many fleets have the wings and even have options to take flights of them as on-ship auxiliary instead of fighters. Almost universally they seem to be relegated to minor annoyances and written off. I'm hoping that the rest of you will join in with any stories of Breaching pod uses that stand out in your mind and a general trading of tactics, counter tactics, counter counter tactics (ad nauseam) to bring those drifting cans of Troop from "minor annoyance" to "irritating pain in the... "
I've collected some possible tactical uses for them from the forums as well as through correspondence, so let's kick the ball and see where it rolls. (I'm hoping for some of the stupidest and most brilliant uses that I would never have thought of!)
Area Deterrence; By leaving Breaching Pods in a sensitive area to slow down enemy ships or dissuade them from entering a zone. Probably best used by fleets that out range their opponent and so can fire for a few unanswered rounds as the opponent must either clear away the cloud of Pods, sweep wide of them, or barrel through and risk capture. In this case the pods act almost as a minefield.
Sieve Traps; Leaving pod wings in a debris-guarded area* where you can pass your ships through if being perused by enemy ships. This forces the opponent to either pull away giving your ship time to regroup/reload, slow down to the same effect or barrel through and suffers a potential loss of ship due to troop damage.
*Like between two longer asteroid fields.
Direct Hyperspace Insertion;** holding wings in hyperspace and using them to flood ships that end up within three or four inches of the vortex. No fuss, no muss, direct insertion defensible only by Fighters flying escort of the target ship. Useful for ships that have had their engines partially or completely disabled. This seems to me similar to mass-driver attacks.
**This is hedging into the same realm as the JPB so I will not take responsibility for any player’s well-being if they choose to use this. You know your group better then me.
One thing, however, stands out to me. The faction ubiquitous Breaching Pod Wing. So many fleets have the wings and even have options to take flights of them as on-ship auxiliary instead of fighters. Almost universally they seem to be relegated to minor annoyances and written off. I'm hoping that the rest of you will join in with any stories of Breaching pod uses that stand out in your mind and a general trading of tactics, counter tactics, counter counter tactics (ad nauseam) to bring those drifting cans of Troop from "minor annoyance" to "irritating pain in the... "
I've collected some possible tactical uses for them from the forums as well as through correspondence, so let's kick the ball and see where it rolls. (I'm hoping for some of the stupidest and most brilliant uses that I would never have thought of!)
Area Deterrence; By leaving Breaching Pods in a sensitive area to slow down enemy ships or dissuade them from entering a zone. Probably best used by fleets that out range their opponent and so can fire for a few unanswered rounds as the opponent must either clear away the cloud of Pods, sweep wide of them, or barrel through and risk capture. In this case the pods act almost as a minefield.
Sieve Traps; Leaving pod wings in a debris-guarded area* where you can pass your ships through if being perused by enemy ships. This forces the opponent to either pull away giving your ship time to regroup/reload, slow down to the same effect or barrel through and suffers a potential loss of ship due to troop damage.
*Like between two longer asteroid fields.
Direct Hyperspace Insertion;** holding wings in hyperspace and using them to flood ships that end up within three or four inches of the vortex. No fuss, no muss, direct insertion defensible only by Fighters flying escort of the target ship. Useful for ships that have had their engines partially or completely disabled. This seems to me similar to mass-driver attacks.
**This is hedging into the same realm as the JPB so I will not take responsibility for any player’s well-being if they choose to use this. You know your group better then me.
also good for dealing with WSs/BSs.
that falls into the same category for me. whilst its allowed within the rules it really is against the spirit of the B5 universe.
"The Breaching Pod counts as if it had the Fighter trait."
