Crusade Era EA v Drakh 20 point War

R

Right Hand of God

Mongoose
The next battle in our fleet match ups are my Crusade era EA against my mate's Drakh. I have never played any kind of EA fleet before, although I have played against them often enough. I have used Drakh several times and am aware of their strenghts and weaknesses. My opponent is an experienced EA player but has not used Drakh before. So we are in a similar postion.

Looking through the fleet list this is what I have put together. Any comments or advice?

4 Apollo Bombardment cruisers 2 points
4 Chronos + 4 Hyperion Assault Cruisers 1 point
4 Delphi 1 point
The Excalibur Destroyer 2 points
12 Hermes 1 point
4 Hyperion Cruisers 1 point
4 Marathon Advanced Cruisers 2 points
2 Poseideon 2 points
3 Warlocks 3 points
8 Omegas 4 points

that gives me one point left, I am stuck bewteen another Warlock, 2 more Omegas or 12 myrmidons. I am also tempted to take 2 of the Apollos as strike cruisers. I know the fleet is top heavy, but the Crusade era lacks the lower level choices the other EA fleets have. And with no enemy fighters to wory about, my own fighters can go hunting for crits or finishing of ships that have lost geg almost at will.

The fleet so far somes with 126 fighters which will be a split between Badgers and Thunderbolts.
 
oh, I was about to suggest a Poseidon, but I see that you already have 2...
hmm, how many Avengers can you get for that 1 point?
You throw enough fighters at him, you're going to get those crits you need. If you can get more fighters from a comparable number of points by using Avengers, I'd trade in the Poseidons.

But for that last point...
Why not take some allies? A couple Narn with reloadable TD Emines might be helpful...
 
The EA Crusade fleet cannot field Avengers unfortunately. We don't use allies except in the ISA fleet. Even then I prefer not to. I have always felt that any fleet is good enough to win on its own merits and doesn't need allies. My friend wil face my Narn fleet soon enough, and get the whooping he deserves.

@Calistan, why more Chronos?
 
Actually, I would drop the Hermes and the Assault Hyperions, in exchange for more Chronos and Standard Hyperions. The Chronos are tough little ships, Hull 6 does go a long way and it has decent firepower.

If the bulk of the Drakh fleet is raiders, then the Apollo strike might be a good complement. If EA missile variants still exist in second ed, then switching to heavy missiles might be to your advantage.

If anything, flood the field with with fighters, it will force your opponent to use the more light raiders. A third Poseidon might be advisable.
 
I suggest you consider droping the assaults and get some Tantalus Assault Carriers. They have good broadside AD and swap out the Fury/T-Bolts for breach pods bring it up to 4 per ship.
 
Swap out the hermes of Myrmidons. Since GEG is rolled per weapons systems, 1AD of missles, even a TD heavy missle, isn't going to do much, the Multi AD weapons on mymidons should do better.

Leave the Poseidons at home, while the crits would be nice from fighters, the complete lack of damage besides those crits renders them fairly useless. Spend the points on chronos, that 4AD rail gun will get some damage through even GEG 3 on an average dice roll, the Hull 5 of most Drahk ships means railguns work fair good. Alternatively, more standard hyperions in lieu of the Chronos. Since drahk rely so heavily on Beams, hull 5 isn't a disadvantage. More Marathons would work as well, they very fast and can swat raiders with ease with thier boresight beam.

Swap out the Assault Hyperions for Chronos for the above reasons.

For the last point, grab either more Myrmidons or 2 more apollos

I'm going to make a wild suggestion here and give you a radical loadout for the Apollos. Use AF Missles in the P/S/A arcs and Heavy Missles in the Fore Arcs. Reason being is Raiders try to work the flanks and rears of any ship they come against; AF Missles handily negate their dodge and Apollos have enough AD to break through Light and Heavy Raiders GEG. Use the Heavy missles to the Fore against Cruisers and other cap ships
 
Do Anti-Fighter missiles work on anything other than fighters? They don't have the Accurate trait, the book just says they 'will destroy a flight of Fighters with a single successful attack roll, with no dodge roll alowed.'

I agree with swapping the Hermes', though. Espescially since they can't use missle varients.
 
The Hermes are included for two reasons, firstly as an initiative sink and secondly to use their precise missiles to go crit hunting. I know they are unlikely to do damage themselves but Drakh ships only have 1 trait that is superfluous once the game begins, and that's jump engines. If precise missiles can remove GEG or flight Computer then I think it's worth taking a point's worth of them, even if the missiles do nothing they are still valuable as an initiative sink to allow my BS weapons to come into play.

I agree with you, AF missiles are strictly anti fighter weapons. The EA do not have an escort ship but using the AF missile they can create a fairly effective AF ship.
 
Do Anti-Fighter missiles work on anything other than fighters? They don't have the Accurate trait, the book just says they 'will destroy a flight of Fighters with a single successful attack roll, with no dodge roll alowed.'
Click to expand...

Just proving once again I need to RTFB instead of going off of old 1e stats. AF missles used to negate Dodge, apparently the new version is fighter only.
 
My suggestion; an Admiral, and some Firebolt upgrades.

Its probably worth keeping hold of the Hermes (and other missile ships). Precise missiles increase the odds on dealing out a critical hit - thereby bypassing a GEG.

Missile upgrades, I'd likely go for Flash missiles instead of Heavies. Keep the Precise trait (reason above), and maybe add in a few HARM launchers (all you need to do is hit the target - no damage roll therfore no GEG.)

I'd definitely keep a Poseidon, a second (or third) +3 Command keeps the inititive advantage well in your favour, and the fleet carrier should help retrive any fighters that are shot down, or encourage your opponent to just ignore your fighters.

I'd also consider swapping out a lot of fighters for Breaching Pods as the Drakh will need to put effort into shooting them down (no enemy fighters for them to worry about :) ) and upgrading your Badgers to Firebolts.

I'd also consider dropping an Admiral onto the Excalibur if you like the look of a few of the Traits - Engineering Genius, Legendary Tactician, Inspired Command and Revered Leader, Lucky could all be interesting choices.
 
The Badger gers at extra shot in at 4inches enabling me to get more of them in firing range around his ships. I know Geg will take care of most fighters, but having used Drakh numerous times myself, the last theiung you want to see is loads of fighters crit-fishing against you when you cannot respond. Now in 2nd ed that comes with the ability to remove traits like dodge and GEG it becomes even more of a pain. I am hoping my opponent will be forced into countering my fighter threat, lets face it 126 fighters is quite a threat, while he is doing this it leaves the rest of my fleet open to dish out whatever abuse it can.

GEG is a fine defence in low level games, but it is easily overpowered in larger games
 
I'd suggest a Command Omega as it'd be handy for standing off and carving large chunks out of the bigger Drakh ships, or the Myrmidons if you're worried about getting out-initiativesinked.
 
I'll second destroid on both points.
The Command Omega's 8AD DD Beam is nasty and will provide some serious long range punch, as well as providing a great command bonus, more fighters (carrier 2!) and good all around firepower.
the Myrmidons abilty to throw 14AD at one target is impressive for a patrol vessel. Its turrets will counter the raider's maneuverability somewhat. however, you don't get patrol vessels very efficiently at WAR PLs so take it with a grain of salt I suppose.
Also, I wouldn't recommend badgers - I think you're better off with thunderbolts personally.

Chernobyl
 
Destroid said:
I'd suggest a Command Omega as it'd be handy for standing off and carving large chunks out of the bigger Drakh ships, or the Myrmidons if you're worried about getting out-initiativesinked.
Click to expand...

I would take the Warlock over the Command Omega. It only is 6AD, but it's triple damage, faster, bigger, and isn't lumbering. this is very important against the Drakh.


Chern...you indicate that the patrol breakdown isn't that good at war level, however given the size of the battle, taking 2 war points worth of myrmadons should be sufficient. 24 of the little bastages should make sure you have plenty of things to shoot at with your boresight weapons.


Then again, 24 hermes might work better since the weapons are precise and more likely to get through the GEG

Dave
 
Chern I have to have some Badgers in the mix as I only oave 70 Thunderbolts.

The debate between the Command Omega and the Warlock is interesting, I am not sure I am swayed past the triple Damage of the Warlock though.

I know the Patrol level choice gets short changed at War PL, 12 instead of 16, but for 2 points out of 20, and needing the sinks for boresight weapons it's a loss I am prepared to accept. I think I need both points worth as the Crusade Era fleet runs top heavy and I need somethng to counter that.
 
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