super dave
Mongoose
Any Drakh tips? I am in a campaign against Mibari,Brakiri,LONAW,Earth Crusade and ISA. Whos the best target for Drakh?
Drakh Tips vs the League needed
- Thread starter super dave
- Start date
do you know anything about your opponents fleet composition? I would however say crusade EA at a glance, though his fighters will be a problem, you can outmaneuvre his capitol ships easily enough with raiders, whilst pounding him with your bigger ships. However, don't be afraid of the Minbari, your beams are as good as theres, albeit shorter ranged, and with your low level scout, you should do well against them
Pawnographer
Mongoose
super dave said:
I have not been playing B5 ACTA for that long but I started with Drakh and I have branched out to Centauri, Brakiri, League & Vorlon fleets.
My earlier Drakh observations regarding your toughest opponents would be (in no particular order):
1) Earth Crusade - I don't care what people say - Earth Crusade have good ships and those Super AP Missiles are wicked against your Hull 4 and few Hull 5 ships. Fortunately their big ships are killable and your precise beams can do a lot of crits. The Chronos with Hull 6 & Interceptors for a Skirmish Choice are tough too. Drakh have the ability to win but it is not easy.
2) ISA: Load up on Light Raiders. The Lt. Raiders' accurate weapons nullify the Dodge ability of the ISA ships. Be careful of the Blue Stars, their accurate but short range guns are dangerous to your Raiders. Your precise beams can chew-up White Stars. It is a good fight. How well those under-costed Blue Stars do is often the difference. Your Carriers give you a chance to have more initiative sinks if the ISA doesn't take too many Blue Stars.
3) The Brakiri - not too much to worry about except for the Takata Mine Cruiser. Drakh Raiders do NOT like the Emines - especially the Narn triple damage ones. The Takata's mines aren't as bad but it cna throw 16 AD every turn with 4 emine launchers. However, it is a war choice and can't close its blast doors if it wants to use its emines - good target for Drakh Heavy Cruiser - even sweeter when that Hv Cruiser was launched from an Amu Mothership.
4) LONOW: This can be easy or tough depending upon the Fleet Composition. Emines can be dangerous to raiders but the Gaim acrry fewer now thanks to the S&P revisions. Your biggest threat are teh Vree. They are tough for the Drakh because those nasty little gray a***-probers have turrets (tough to out-flank) and antimatter cannons (or missiles) that do much damage and are super-AP (not good for Hull 4 ships like Raiders). The Vree Patrol Boats and Heavy Fighters are BIG threats but killable. Take Light Raiders again with their accurate Beams. The Light Raiders better Dodge makes them significantly more survivable than the Heavy Raiders.
The Vree have their down-side: Their big ships don't take too much damage and loss of arc crits means Vree ships lose all of their weapons and you willing thanking your Shadow Gods for your precise beams.
5) Minbari: Don't worry too much about Stealth. Your Raiders will get within 8 inches and help light-up their ships. The Minbari skirmish ship isn't very good and their bigger ships don't take a lot of damage. Against their big ships, go for crits to knock the engines & weapons systems offline & get many -1 AD crits. One thing to look out for is that some Minbari ships have nasty 4 inch antimatter weapons like the Troligan, so keep alert and for those ships, your Raiders will like to close within 8 inches but stay more than 4 inches away.
I had one game where my light raiders scored a crit against Troligan on turn that knocked the Troligan's engines offline and on Turn 3 I got a vital systems crit where the Troligan permanently lost damage control and I watched it :drift" off into the sunset fairly useless for the rest of the game. [evil Drakh grin :twisted:]
Best to my Drakh Compatriot!!!
Against the Brakiri, you may also want to watch for Kaliva's. It's a Battle choice, and can Close Blast Doors at range. Since 'at range' is 13 to 35 inches, it quite likely won't have to the first turn or two. Only 5 AD, but with SAP TD, even high GEG will feel it, especially with scouting redirects or Concentrate All Firepower. On the other hand the Kaliva is slow (speed 6) and Lumbering, with no defences beyond Hull 6 and high damage/crew.
In lower level scenarios, the Riva may also be a concern. Although it's the slowest fighter in the game (speed 7) and only Dodge 5, the Riva is Hull 6 with 4 AP Attack Dice and 2 SAP Precise. Since your Raiders are only range 8, if a Brakiri player kept a sizable number of Riva with his ships, they could inflict pretty decent damage. Of course, that's pure speculation, since I've yet to actually see any in play.
In lower level scenarios, the Riva may also be a concern. Although it's the slowest fighter in the game (speed 7) and only Dodge 5, the Riva is Hull 6 with 4 AP Attack Dice and 2 SAP Precise. Since your Raiders are only range 8, if a Brakiri player kept a sizable number of Riva with his ships, they could inflict pretty decent damage. Of course, that's pure speculation, since I've yet to actually see any in play.
stepan.razin
Mongoose
super dave said:
In Battles, ISA may be the toughest for you, although your light raider will ignore the dodge on the WS.
Mimbari, well, that depends on stealth rolls.
Crusade can be tough, but your are primarily a beam armed fleet that will give Crusade fits.
LONAW could be customized to give you trouble (a couple of Gaim ships could be nasty.)
LONAW and Brakiri can bring a ton of fighters, and then some of your light raiders have to get into a huddle and shoot down some of those fighters.
If you want to be nasty you will get a large number of carriers and swarm. Although there are some who look down upon this. Also, remember that Macu and Amu can replenish their raiders/ship compliments when you send them back for repairs.
super dave
Mongoose
The Brakiri have around 6 wings of Rivas. In our campaign,the LONAW player can't use Gaim or Vree ships. (in a previous campaign i was Gaim,then Vree-the campaign was over before it began. I had battles when the enemy lost several ships and didnt get a shot off)stryve said:
Now i am the Drakh,i have 4-Ma'Cu'. Its turn 5 and no one will attack me. Seems they are afraid of those Carriers. The other players always go -3 and i +3 and bad luck rolls have got me 3 pt patrol battles each time.
The ISA player has atleast 12 blue stars,2 Narn Dag Kar,an Earth Sagittarius from rolling on other duties. Right now we are awaiting the results of the LONAW and Minbari in two battles,one being Annihilation. After that is over i can choose whom i will attack. The ISA player is our most experienced player. That ISA fleet is nearly 100 pts higher than my Drakh fleet. Problem is the Earth Crusade player attacked the Minbari,and lost miserably on 2 occasions. That same earth player attacked the ISA and lost miserably again. The Brakiri player also has had battles against the MInbari and ISA,and lost both. The ISA is growing very fat from this.
Pawnographer
Mongoose
I believe there was an earlier thread about Drakh tactics that you may also find useful.
I had a Skirmish against the ISA at a tournament where I brought a Ma'cu and 1 Light Raider. The ISA brought 2 White Stars and 2 Blue Stars. He tried to blow-up my carrier on turn 1 (smart move) but just got very average rolls. He made the mistake of continuing to focus on the carrier rather than raiders after that and lost very badly (1 WS & 2 BS destroyed to 0 Drakh losses).
However, in my first tournament and after only playing 2 games against two other beginners, a Macu got hammered by 2 Marathons at its extreme range & the player rolled extremely well and got the carrier before it launched, so it can happen. Lesson learned! Ouch!
I stated in another thread that I believe that the Light Raider is generally a much better choice over the Heavy Raider because it is faster (14 v. 10), turns better (2/90 v. 2/45) and has better dodge (4+ vs.5+ which turns out to be significant. There are times when a Heavy Raider is a good choice but generally the Light Raider is much better. I feel it is substantial enough that the Heavy Raider really should be a Hull 5 but my plea has fallen on deaf ears.
I had a Skirmish against the ISA at a tournament where I brought a Ma'cu and 1 Light Raider. The ISA brought 2 White Stars and 2 Blue Stars. He tried to blow-up my carrier on turn 1 (smart move) but just got very average rolls. He made the mistake of continuing to focus on the carrier rather than raiders after that and lost very badly (1 WS & 2 BS destroyed to 0 Drakh losses).
However, in my first tournament and after only playing 2 games against two other beginners, a Macu got hammered by 2 Marathons at its extreme range & the player rolled extremely well and got the carrier before it launched, so it can happen. Lesson learned! Ouch!
I stated in another thread that I believe that the Light Raider is generally a much better choice over the Heavy Raider because it is faster (14 v. 10), turns better (2/90 v. 2/45) and has better dodge (4+ vs.5+ which turns out to be significant. There are times when a Heavy Raider is a good choice but generally the Light Raider is much better. I feel it is substantial enough that the Heavy Raider really should be a Hull 5 but my plea has fallen on deaf ears.
super dave
Mongoose
hiffano said:
In a campaign each players fleet strength is measured in RR points. Each ship is worth RR points,just total them up and you have the fleets strength.
stepan.razin
Mongoose
Crusade player willingly attacking a Mimbari player? He must be in in for the fun
super dave said:
can't say I ever considered it, each fleet is 10 battle points, any RR you get can be spent on extra ships, repairs etc, and then jumpgates can skew the RR cost of ships anyway. plus new ships from rolls. have to say I have never known anyone tot up their RR's worth of ships in a campaign but each to there own.
in that case of course I think the drakh should take a motre cautious line against the ISA then, because if the ISA knowing they have numerical superiority have +3 and the drakh go +3, and then you get an 8 war point game or somesuch, the drakh will be out numbered as they can't actually field that many ships.
super dave
Mongoose
Heres what is in my opponents fleets:
Brakiri
1-corumi
1-takata
1 avioki
2 kabrotka
1-kaliva
2-brokados
5-brikorta
3-ikorta
1-shakara
5-wings pikotas
1-wing-Riva
Earth Crusade
1-poseidon
3-marathon
4-delphi
6-chronos
7-hermes
a crazy ammount of of starfuries
ISA
1-ws carrier
1-tara lin
1-ws gunship
7-white stars
6-ws 2
2-Dag kar
1-sagitarious(from other duties role services rendered)
14-blue star
4-wings shial
4-wings ws star fighters
minbari
1-sharlin
2-tinashi
2-morshin
6-teshlan
2=ashinta
2-lesath
8-torotha
2 wings tishkat
1 wing nial
league of poorly aligned squirels
2-hurr
1-kaliva
1-brodkatos
2-firehawk
2-halik
2-haltona
2-urik hal
1-brikotas
darkhawks,firehawks,demos,warbirds,strike carrier,guard hawk and 2 wings of fighters sky serpant and porfatis
I could use some strategy ideas.
Brakiri
1-corumi
1-takata
1 avioki
2 kabrotka
1-kaliva
2-brokados
5-brikorta
3-ikorta
1-shakara
5-wings pikotas
1-wing-Riva
Earth Crusade
1-poseidon
3-marathon
4-delphi
6-chronos
7-hermes
a crazy ammount of of starfuries
ISA
1-ws carrier
1-tara lin
1-ws gunship
7-white stars
6-ws 2
2-Dag kar
1-sagitarious(from other duties role services rendered)
14-blue star
4-wings shial
4-wings ws star fighters
minbari
1-sharlin
2-tinashi
2-morshin
6-teshlan
2=ashinta
2-lesath
8-torotha
2 wings tishkat
1 wing nial
league of poorly aligned squirels
2-hurr
1-kaliva
1-brodkatos
2-firehawk
2-halik
2-haltona
2-urik hal
1-brikotas
darkhawks,firehawks,demos,warbirds,strike carrier,guard hawk and 2 wings of fighters sky serpant and porfatis
I could use some strategy ideas.
Hit the squirrels in as big of fights as you can get and go after the EA with low priority fights. Your raiders' beams should do well against the lightly armed, high-hull, high-interceptor EA Skirmish and Patrol ships.
Bring the Light Raiders primarily, though. That way if he loads up on mounds of fighters, you can slaughter them and reap the VPs.
And I think you should be able to take the Brakiri at any PL. Just get those raiders out of your Huge Hangars ASAP.
Bring the Light Raiders primarily, though. That way if he loads up on mounds of fighters, you can slaughter them and reap the VPs.
And I think you should be able to take the Brakiri at any PL. Just get those raiders out of your Huge Hangars ASAP.
I fought Drakh with EA Crusade (10pt War-It was supposed to be a joke, till he said OK) recently; all my fighters (about 42 or so) were Firebolts (upgrade) and probably did more damage than my capital ships by crits. With their dodge and fleet carrier he had great difficulty killing them
His main disadvantage was his shorter range; once he got in range his beams made up for his weaker hulls (on turn 2 he moved his mothership first, and I boresighted it with 3 Marathons and a Warlock, and did about 25 damage total!-the beam dice hated me that game)
His main disadvantage was his shorter range; once he got in range his beams made up for his weaker hulls (on turn 2 he moved his mothership first, and I boresighted it with 3 Marathons and a Warlock, and did about 25 damage total!-the beam dice hated me that game)
super dave
Mongoose
so,wpngjstr said:
How did it all happen? Who actualy won?
Lets see, this is as best as I can remember (this was a few weeks back, and I didn't take notes).
Standard 2d Ed rules, minor terrain on my side of the board
I had:
1 Excaliber
1 Poseidon
2 Warlocks
4 Marathons
2 Apollo
8 Chronos
all fighters were upgraded to Firebolts
He had (roughly):
1 Mothership
2 Carriers
4 Cruiser
8 Light Raiders
8 Heavy raiders
8 something else small
As I said 10 War a side, suggested as a joke-I never thought he'd go for it(-I wasn't even sure I had 10 War EA)
Set up:
My Left Flank: 6 Chronos, 1 Marathon, 1 Warlock
Center Excaliber, 2 Apollos, Poseidin
Right Flank: 3 Marathons, 2 Chronos, 1 Warlock
The bulk of his Raiders were on my left flank, with one carrier and a cruiser, he had a carrier, about half his light raiders and a couple of the other little ship in the center, and the bulk of his cruisers and mothership in the center
First turn. Carrier held position at the back, everyone else advanced
Most of his ship did not get close enough to engage (he thought he had more 10" guns than he did) so I only faced a handful of long range beams, which savaged one marathon and damaged a Warlock. My return fire took out about 5-6 raiders, damaged 2-3 more and hammered his center carrier. My beam dice rarely broke even, but I was critting at the cyclic rate (3 out of 4 for one attack). I damaged 2 of his cruisers on (my) right flank. In the end phase I launched about a dozen fighters, and he made up most of his lossed from his huge hangars.
-My Apollos got 2 salvos off each, producing the best results on a per ship basis hitting a cruiser(port arc) and a carrier (front arc)
-Left flank Hermes generally got 2 arcs of fire and hammered his raiders- GEG and dodges absorbed a lot, but crits happened and they did most of the raider damage.
-Excaliber combined with the Apollos to savage the center carrier, but as was generally the case my beam dice were poor
-Fighter torpedos worked rather well, softening up 3 raiders with crits
On the second turn we again advanced, and my huge fighter waves got in close (about 7-8 flights per target), finishing off one cruiser, crippling a second, totally missing a third, and crippled the wounded carrier. At this point he started pouring a lot of fire into my fighters, some of which he could have targeted on my ships- I think they had a major psychological effect on him
His lead raiders and my Chronos group became mingled, which worked generally in my favor, since most of them could use all arcs, while his were single arc. His dodging was far more effective this turn, so despite greater firepower bought to bear I still only got 5-6 raiders.
For some reason he moved his mothership early, so I boresighted it with my right flank Warlock and 3 Marathons, but did remarkably little damage.
My Marathons traded short range fire with his cruisers and little ships, leading to one dead Marathon, 2 cruisers, and a couple of little ships
I lost the Marathon on my left flank to massed raider fire, and a chronos went with it. Both Warlocks took fire but were still in pretty good shape.
The Apollos now got 3 salvos each; starboard into the Mothership (taking out the command bonus with a crit), front into the center carrier, and Port into the remaining Carrier. The Victory joined them on the carrier, finishing it, and shot up some more raiders
In the end phase I launched the last of my fighters, and he put out a couple more raiders, to mostly make up his losses.
Due to time constraints we called it a draw at the end of turn 2.
My Victory, Apollos and Poseidon were undamaged, both Warlocks and the 2 Surviving Marathons were badly damaged but still combat capable, and my most of Chronos suffered minor damage. I still had about 28-32 fighters on the table.
His Mothership was damaged, but other than crit effects, not too badly
1 Carrier was destroyed, the second crippled. He lost 2 cruisers outright, a third was skeleton crewed. He lost about 6 Heavy raiders,4 light raiders (best estimate, since he kept launching replacements) and all but 2 of the other little ship
I'm pretty sure I could have finished him if time had permitted (revenge for the Earth!), but I would almost certainly have lost my marathons and Warlocks in the process.
Again this is all based on memory so very rough and probably with some huge gaps. Dice-wise I had great crits and lousy beams, while he had great beams (7-9 hits with a 2 AD beam!) and lousy crits. His dodges were about average in turn 1 and well above average in the second
Standard 2d Ed rules, minor terrain on my side of the board
I had:
1 Excaliber
1 Poseidon
2 Warlocks
4 Marathons
2 Apollo
8 Chronos
all fighters were upgraded to Firebolts
He had (roughly):
1 Mothership
2 Carriers
4 Cruiser
8 Light Raiders
8 Heavy raiders
8 something else small
As I said 10 War a side, suggested as a joke-I never thought he'd go for it(-I wasn't even sure I had 10 War EA)
Set up:
My Left Flank: 6 Chronos, 1 Marathon, 1 Warlock
Center Excaliber, 2 Apollos, Poseidin
Right Flank: 3 Marathons, 2 Chronos, 1 Warlock
The bulk of his Raiders were on my left flank, with one carrier and a cruiser, he had a carrier, about half his light raiders and a couple of the other little ship in the center, and the bulk of his cruisers and mothership in the center
First turn. Carrier held position at the back, everyone else advanced
Most of his ship did not get close enough to engage (he thought he had more 10" guns than he did) so I only faced a handful of long range beams, which savaged one marathon and damaged a Warlock. My return fire took out about 5-6 raiders, damaged 2-3 more and hammered his center carrier. My beam dice rarely broke even, but I was critting at the cyclic rate (3 out of 4 for one attack). I damaged 2 of his cruisers on (my) right flank. In the end phase I launched about a dozen fighters, and he made up most of his lossed from his huge hangars.
-My Apollos got 2 salvos off each, producing the best results on a per ship basis hitting a cruiser(port arc) and a carrier (front arc)
-Left flank Hermes generally got 2 arcs of fire and hammered his raiders- GEG and dodges absorbed a lot, but crits happened and they did most of the raider damage.
-Excaliber combined with the Apollos to savage the center carrier, but as was generally the case my beam dice were poor
-Fighter torpedos worked rather well, softening up 3 raiders with crits
On the second turn we again advanced, and my huge fighter waves got in close (about 7-8 flights per target), finishing off one cruiser, crippling a second, totally missing a third, and crippled the wounded carrier. At this point he started pouring a lot of fire into my fighters, some of which he could have targeted on my ships- I think they had a major psychological effect on him
His lead raiders and my Chronos group became mingled, which worked generally in my favor, since most of them could use all arcs, while his were single arc. His dodging was far more effective this turn, so despite greater firepower bought to bear I still only got 5-6 raiders.
For some reason he moved his mothership early, so I boresighted it with my right flank Warlock and 3 Marathons, but did remarkably little damage.
My Marathons traded short range fire with his cruisers and little ships, leading to one dead Marathon, 2 cruisers, and a couple of little ships
I lost the Marathon on my left flank to massed raider fire, and a chronos went with it. Both Warlocks took fire but were still in pretty good shape.
The Apollos now got 3 salvos each; starboard into the Mothership (taking out the command bonus with a crit), front into the center carrier, and Port into the remaining Carrier. The Victory joined them on the carrier, finishing it, and shot up some more raiders
In the end phase I launched the last of my fighters, and he put out a couple more raiders, to mostly make up his losses.
Due to time constraints we called it a draw at the end of turn 2.
My Victory, Apollos and Poseidon were undamaged, both Warlocks and the 2 Surviving Marathons were badly damaged but still combat capable, and my most of Chronos suffered minor damage. I still had about 28-32 fighters on the table.
His Mothership was damaged, but other than crit effects, not too badly
1 Carrier was destroyed, the second crippled. He lost 2 cruisers outright, a third was skeleton crewed. He lost about 6 Heavy raiders,4 light raiders (best estimate, since he kept launching replacements) and all but 2 of the other little ship
I'm pretty sure I could have finished him if time had permitted (revenge for the Earth!), but I would almost certainly have lost my marathons and Warlocks in the process.
Again this is all based on memory so very rough and probably with some huge gaps. Dice-wise I had great crits and lousy beams, while he had great beams (7-9 hits with a 2 AD beam!) and lousy crits. His dodges were about average in turn 1 and well above average in the second
