Choosing a 3rd age EA fleet. Help?!

[Poi]

I love the look of a few of the EA ships, so fancy shifting from Dilgar to EA.

(I've had huge problems winning with Dilgar. Their best ship appears to be the Omelos. Doesn't help that my regular opponent is ISA. Dodging all my shots gets annoying.)

A Clark fleet interests me (Shadow Omegas are pretty) but does the fleet work well?

As I'll be facing lots of WS and soon the new gunship and carrier, will a 3rd Age fleet be able to hold its own against shiny ISA newness?

How about the Poseidon, with the new fighter rules?

And the Nova. Love this model, but not having tried it, is it a good choice?

 

[Locutus9956]

It's Kuiper belt object and the new definitions are silly and self serving... but I digress

The Dilgars best ship is NOT the Omelos. It is by FAR the Targrath. Trust me on this, it is in fact one of the best ships in the game for ANY race.

But anyway: The EA 3rd Age list:

You will want lots of Nova's theyre simply great, they have obscene firepower in all directions at medium range and carry 4 flights of excellent fighters too!

Olympus are also excellent little ships (the basic ones NOT the gunship varient). EA's biggest strenght is being able to chuck lots of dice in all directions with these ships.

Use bigger fish like Omega's to stand off and snipe with their heavy lasers then smash into the enemy with pulse cannons when they get closer.

Shadow Omega's LOOK cool and sound nasty on paper but truth be told theyre not actually all that great as a War choice (still better than the cmnd Omega though, though that IS getting upgraded a little soon....)

The Posseidon I'm sorry to say, even with the new fighter rules is still basically a giant bulls-eye that says 'hey look at me I'm worth loads of Victory points and have cardboard hull armour!' so is very rarely worth taking except for the sheer coolness of the miniature (I'd buy one of the boxes anyway though even if you never use the carrier the fighters you get with it are cheaper than buying that many fighters on their own anyway and you get a free posseidon with them )

 

[Lorcan Nagle]

The EA tend to have AF weapons on most ships, so that should help a lot against the ISA. Also you can mount Anti Fighter missiles in your Olympi and Hermes to help cut down on the dodge rolls.

In terms of general ship strengths and weaknesses, the Omega and Nova will likely be the linchpins of your fleet - they can take a lot of damage and have good interceptor scores to knock down incoming fire (this is especially useful against White Stars, as they only have 1AD on their beams). The Nova is best used to bully its' way into the middle of an enemy formation and blaze away, while the Omega should try and keep enemies in the front arc for the big pulse cannons and decent chance of a boresight.

Hyperions have a nice kick, especially with their lasers (and their increased manouvrability makes them better for boresighting than Omegas), but they pop very easily for a Raid level ship. I prefer to take the variants, but most of the good ones are removed from the 3rd age fleet.

Of the smaller ships, I find the Hermes and Olympus very useful. they both provide much needed missile fire, and the Olympus can be a very good knife-fighter if you can keep it alive long enough to get into pulse cannon range.

While you probably can't match the ISA in terms of fighter quality, the volume of Starfuries carried by an EA fleet make them able to compensate with numbers. Bide your time and hop on small Nial formations to overwhelm them one at a time, and use the surviving fighters to mug White Stars from behind. If you're going fighter-heavy, then an Avenger is a good investment as a carrier, possibly moreso than the Poseidon (though I think it depends on the fleet you face, a Poseidon's massive interceptor score helps keep it alive against beam-weak fleets)

And I don't think much of the Warlock while it's an Armageddeon level ship. Too expensive for what you get.

 

[Locutus9956]

Save the Warlock! Hundreds of Warlocks are lying idle in their carry cases unable to roam their once lush War level habitats before brutal aMongoose deforestation campaign left them with nowhwere to go but the barren Armageddon prioty levels! But you can make a difference! Give just 10 pounds a month (or whatever you can afford) to 'the campaign to bribe Matt into putting the Warlock back to War level' fund and soon we will have our beloved flagships back! :lol:

Disclaimer: The 'the campaign to bribe Matt into putting the Warlock back to War level' fund is in no way affliliated with the 'Locutus wants a new Narn fleet' fund :roll:

 

[LordClinto]

Disclaimer: The 'the campaign to bribe Matt into putting the Warlock back to War level' fund is in no way affliliated with the 'Locutus wants a new Narn fleet' fund :roll:

Very clever! But I think you should have whispered the disclamer!

 

[fluffy05]

In terms of general ship strengths and weaknesses, the Omega and Nova will likely be the linchpins of your fleet - they can take a lot of damage and have good interceptor scores to knock down incoming fire (this is especially useful against White Stars, as they only have 1AD on their beams).

Omega and Novas a pretty damn good. (Interceptors don't stop Beam weapons - I'm sure you already new this)

Interceptors are pretty good though :wink:

 

[Lorcan Nagle]

In terms of general ship strengths and weaknesses, the Omega and Nova will likely be the linchpins of your fleet - they can take a lot of damage and have good interceptor scores to knock down incoming fire (this is especially useful against White Stars, as they only have 1AD on their beams).

Omega and Novas a pretty damn good. (Interceptors don't stop Beam weapons - I'm sure you already new this)

Yeah, I should have been more clear there - as White Stars only have 1AD beam, it makes it hard for them to rack up a lot of hits, and your interceptors will likely take down most, if not all fire from at least one molecular pulsar barrage.

 

[Poi]

Made the mistake of looking at the Crusade ships. Pretty pretty. Might have to flip to the later vessels.

 

[Shadow Queen]

1X Omega

2X Novas

2X Oracles

 

[Shadow Queen]

if its a 5 pt raid there you go

 

[Poi]

A little too brief. Can you explain?

 

[Shadow Queen]

what point and level

 

[CodeofArms]

The EA fleet is all about right selection, unlike the other races (particularly Dilgar and Minbari) you can't just take a fleet of the same ships over and over and expect to win (You will be missed 10 Armag Saggi fleets!).

Anyway the formula that has won me the most games is as such;

Low Priority (Patrol-Skirmish);

Take an Early Era earth fleet against nearly everyone here; lots of decent skirmish ships (Saggis, Oracles, Hyperion variants) and a bucket of Raid level ships (Avengers, Nova's, Olympus Gunships); fighters and anything with rail-guns or flash missiles are you're strength here. Concentrate on targets with groups of vessles and then mop up with the fighters. Most your Raid level ships can pump out several flights and 'scramble scramble' becomes an excellent action to use as you close to fire range since people often worry a little too much about fighter swarms. Until old-skool starfuries come out you're a dogfighting king so use them well. If you really insist on taking an Orestes, or their is an In-service restriction then go ahead; its a good ship in my opinion and your king sniper at this level; but it won't win you games on its own.

Mid Priority (Raid-Battle);

I find some people are split on this one since in Crusade you get Chronos' and a better selection of battle-level ships (Marothon/Appollo team ups are nice); on the other hand 3rd Age you have a little more diverse list that works well with points splitting. As a general rule; look who you are fighting and what they are taking; a heavy escort opponent is best handled with a 3rd age fleet in my opinion who can match them with their own suppourt vessles and by then you have a good hand of snipers (hyperions, omega's etc) to field to engage them at range. If you're opponent fields big ships; go Crusade and do the same old Init Sinking with Hermes and Chronos.

Upper Priority (War-Armageddon)

This is a bit of a contention again; mainly because Warships and Armageddon priority is, for some reason, not EA's forte; the majority of which belong in Crusade themed fleets. If you insist on taking a Nemesis or Warlock stick with Crusade and splash out on a poseidon to win the initiative (which i find quite important at this level); the additional Battle level ships will make perfect escorts and hold their own. If you fancy alot of Omega's/Fighters go third Age and bulk up on a good regular/pulse omega core, backed by Avengers and long range weapon platforms. I advise against taking an Early EA here; yes you get alot of ships but they just don't stand up to the task.

As for your loosing streak with Dilgar, chances are you're being caught out in fleet selection (especially with the omelos). Use tagraths until they actually fix them (it has move firepower than nearly every other ship) and just charge head long, staggering your forces; so that as ships pass you the meet another barrage of fresh faced dreadnaughts (look at the dilgar artwork; it actually makes a bit of tactical sense). Though of course the EA did win that war... :wink:

 

[Tank]

Obviously some people here have missed out on that most glorious of ships..........the Artemis, do not discount these beasties for they are fearsome!
Going into 3rd age, olympus & nova are good at pumping out dice, Artemis, well we loves it!

Omega, altho I havent had much luck with beams (except the Olympus Gunship) they should not be sniffed at, 30" cant be bad!

Hyperion, I dont use the variants because compared to what they try to replace they are pap, as a bog standard heavy cruiser again not to be sniffed at, manouverable, beam dice and lots of other dice, I do have moments of fondness for it.

I'd like to say good things about fighters but I really havent got best use out of them yet

 

[CodeofArms]

I'd like to say good things about fighters but I really havent got best use out of them yet

Early Era Avenger are the best example here. Ignore the Poseidon; its a bullseye disgusied as a futuristic aircraft carrier.

At raid level you get plenty of them. Burn them forward at best speed dropping off your fighters as you go. Then just Afterburn them up to the target, using as many to attack in the same arc as the Avenger or move them to the least vulnerable positions. Gang up on stealthed targets and whatever you do get them into good dogfights cause you normally come off best!

 

[Ripple]

Hey Tank, what makes the Artemis better than a Rail Hyperion? This is something we debated around here quite a bit...the extra ten damage the Rail can take seem to put it well ahead but I would love to be convinced as my 3rd Age fleet would like to feel better about the inexplicable loss of the Rail.

Ripple

 

[Locutus9956]

Well each list has it's suprestar ship for me really:

Early: Clearly the Saggitarius, it may now be fair since its had its toughness beaten with the nerf stick but its still a very VERY good ship.

3rd Age: Novas full of Thunderbolts. Need I say more?!?!

Crusade: Chronos frigates ftw!!! (and the Marathon is very good too)

 

[Tank]

@Ripple

My fondness for the Artemis comes from the fact that they are one of my best hitters and have been known to cripple minbari battle choices with one salvo :lol:
That and the fact that the SofS Rail Hyperion has less Railguns than the Artemis makes me laugh :lol: Obviously the speed of the critter and 2 x 45 turns put it in the useful fast attack role.

Another ship that until recently I had not really used but which is a beauty is the Olympus Gunship 6 beams at 18" double damage and SAP? how can you not want that? :lol:

 

[CodeofArms]

Another ship that until recently I had not really used but which is a beauty is the Olympus Gunship 6 beams at 18" double damage and SAP? how can you not want that?

This ship is by far one of the best snipers in the game because people ignore it! And if they do go after it they are chasing a Hull 4 and allowing me to move my Oretes into position :twisted: !

 

[Poi]

3rd Age is confirmed. Mate got me Omega, Nova and Hyperion for Christmas. Cheers John!

My next purchases will be Starfuries and Oracles.