Drazi and Centauri Campaign Tactics

[Bobbi]

Hi guys, I have two players in my campaign that are having a really hard time with tactics. In case you missed the title, one is Drazi and the other is Centauri. I have tried to help them both in many battles also sitting down with both of them and going over ships and general tactics. However, this has not yet seemed to work.

I have even played in thier games a either one ship or a few. Now the Centauri player is loosing a war with Earth.

If anyone has any ideas as to what to do, please lend a hand.

Thanks,
Bobbi

 

[Target]

Centauri
Patrol- Corvan, some replacement fighters Raziks mainly.
Skirmish- Maximus
Raid- vs EA, Sulust. Magnus is great, Prefect if you want to take a overpowered ship.
Battle- Primus or Beardy Tertius, Balvarix is all right for a Carrier
War- Octurion
Armagedon- Maybe a Adira ( never used one but to be extremly good)

Tactics- Try to play raid games or higher. Raid ships are your friend, use lots.
Vs EA, only take ships with interceptors
Corvans provide rerolls for your Beam weapons & int sinks will need fighter support as T-Bolts & Furies can hurt them easily.
Basically Beam him to death. Concertrate your firepower don't spread it around. I tend too hold my fleets formation at all times. When in range of 1 ships twinlinks you are probably in anothers.
Corvans allow you to turn your fleet easier as you won't have to be CAF. Keep the enemy in your fwd arc.
If its a 5pt raid fleet vs EA i would have
3 Corvans
2 Sulusts
1 Primus
all having Raziks fighters.
The Razik has to stay from enemy ships or they will die even with 2+ dodge. Only attack caps in absolutely positve they won't be fired on or you are really desperate. They are interceptors in the truest sense.

 

[Bobbi]

I should point out that all of our games are at Battle level and between 3-5 points. Except everyone has 1 10 point Battle level fleet. We are playing a variation of Mongoose's campaign rules.

Thanks again,
Bobbi

 

[Target]

3pt Battle
1 Primus
1 Sulust, 2 Maximus
1 Sulust, 3 Corvans
Maximus can Maunever to Shield, the Primus against missles & once the melee start hunt down wounded prey that have escaped the fwd arc of Beam ships.
5 Battle
1 Primus
1 Primus
1 Sulust 2 Maximus
1 Sulust 3 Corvans
2 Sulust
This pretty much what you need vs EA, against anyone else any of the raid lvl ships will do as they are all good.
10 Battle i would throw in a Octurion & Balvarix but basically just a mix of the above. As you can tell i like the Sulust a lot, the model is pretty cool & so is the Dargan.

We play a GW Lustria style campaign, move your fleets around which are 5pt raid, you can purchase extra ships for fleets, the cost varies for what type.
Defenders are the cheapest, they don't move round just guard targets, fleet which must be placed on the board at the start of combat, reinforcements which can jump into any battle. Only these ships can gain exp. The raid fleet if destroyed, go back to your homeworld or nearest jump gate.

 

[cordas]

For the Centauri remember that range is your FRIEND, especaily against earth force. Try and keep them in your front arc and as far away as possible. Concentrated fire power is great, really maximise your beams.

Use a few (well enough to force your oponent to target them with boresight weapons or not get BS) small ships as int soaks Coravans are GREAT at this as they are fast manouverable and don't need to get to close to use their scout ability, they also have that magical stealth so that whatever does get bs on them still misses more often than not.

Also be aware of the power of hull 6 ships *GRRR* nothing apart from stealth beats them.

As for the Drazi thats a bit harder, you need to take loads of small ships to make sure you can always get bs with your bigger ships.

I would also say that limiting yourselves to 3-5 point battles only is a bad idea, in a multiplayer campaign its really easy to cripple a player in a turn or 2 if they have to fight often. When you can have smaller battles it allows you the chance to pick your fleets better and balance them for the entire turn.

1 thing that is very handy is that you only have to take UP to the number of points for the battle, if its not a battle you think is worth fighting then don't. Take a ship in jump it straight out and give it an xp point, yes the enemy wins and gets more, but if its a battle you can't afford to win, or don't need to then discretion is the better part of valour.

 

[Bobbi]

Thanks for the great replys. We are not using Mongoose's campaign rules. We have a galaxy map and each system is one strategic target. You move your fleets around this map, attack other fleets and take planets.

All of the fleets are between 3-5 battle points as most of my players are fairly new to the game. I allowed one fleet of up to 10 battle points just to give them a feel for real fleet combat.

Thanks again,
Bobbi

 

[Centauri_Admiral]

Hi Bobbi,

I can't speak much for the Drazi as I've never used their fleet; and no one in my gaming club uses them. The Centauri are a different matter however. I don't claim to be as experienced as many other on this forum, but out of 15 games with the Centauri fleet, I've lost only 2 battles. In my current campaign I'm winning with the Centauri fleet, with my hands behind my back.

A lot of the other replies are with choosing fleets, however if your friend doesn't have those ships on his roster, then he is stuck. It might be worth you posting what ships he does have; and fellow Centauri players can advise him even better.

Your original message mentioned tactics . . . well here's my opinion, for what its worth, and space combat games are something I excel at.

Firstly he needs to remember that it is continous, you have to move, or attempt to stop and risk breaking formation.

Secondly think in terms of naval combat in todays climate [well perhaps not todays!] ships need formations. Ideally you want to place your ships more than 4 inches away from each other, but obviously within 6 inches, unless they aren't a squadron. I know some people may disagree with me, but DON'T mix squadrons of ships, the more differences between ships you have the more chance you have of forgetting one ships special rules. Massed squadrons of the same ship are perfect for Centauri, and I don't care what any one else says, my success rate proves my theory is correct.

Thirdly, just moving in a straight line is not tactics, outflanking and enemy and using your speed and agility to your advantage is tactical. The Centauri have plenty of ships with good speed and agility, and a devastating close up frontal armament, the TRADITIONAL vorchan is a perfect example. Use your benefits and play to your own strengths, for instance, a slow fleet like the narn will suffer from fast and agile slashing actions from the flanks.

Fourth, use the hyperspace rules where allowed, and don't be scared of the deviation, if you make sure that you put your jump point is more than 12 inches away minus your ships crew quality, you'll be fine. If you place your strike well, i.e behind an enemy formation, by the time they have turned to face you, you will be able to fire again. If you use hyperspace try to draw out as many of your enemy ships by offering one or two TEMPTING targets [I like to use primus for this as they can take some damage.]

Now, specifically against EA, this is one of two fleets of lost to and only once. I was experimenting at the time. Use primus and ELUTARIAN bombardment destroyers to take out any long ranged missile ships he has, as soon as possible, as they will present a problem unless your ship has interceptors.

At battle level 3 or more points, your fleet should absolutely be including at least 1 primus class or tertius depending on your in service dates. Any of the raid level ships are a good choice, the sulust is my favourite, but I'm also partial to the Elutarian, and the Prefect class.

Skirmish level I'd take maximus without exception, use them as fleet defense and support, and allow your bigger ships to what they do best.

PM me if you want more advice, happy to help out a fellow fanhead.

 

[Centauri_Admiral]

With the hyperspace part of what I said; I meant to say place your jump point counter at least 12" away from any table edges, minus your CQ as per the rules. Of course, where you want to put your jump point counter, might be in the middle of the table, in which case those concerns won't matter. It also worth pointing out, that any enemy ships caught within 4 inches of the forward arc of the opening jump point, will suffer some nasty damage.

Just clarifying some of my typos!lol

 

[Ripple]

Target used the older breakdowns...Arm. allows each of the broken down points to produce

1 Sulust, 1 Maximus, 2 Corvans

netting you an extra corvan or extra fighters. (the number of corvans that can be fielded nowdays is one reason I don't entirely buy the Centauri are short fighters arguements.)

Drazi in campaign are hard...you simply lose too many ships.

Ripple

 

[Target]

Target used the older breakdowns...Arm. allows each of the broken down points to produce

1 Sulust, 1 Maximus, 2 Corvans

netting you an extra corvan or extra fighters. (the number of corvans that can be fielded nowdays is one reason I don't entirely buy the Centauri are short fighters arguements.)

Drazi in campaign are hard...you simply lose too many ships.

Ripple

I've always found that i have just the right amount of fighters but thats why i take Corvans & Primus a lot & you can take a Balvarian, use it give you extra fighters ( need lots of scramble scramble rolls) & it's also good at protecting your primus with maneuver to shield.
Attacking ships with fighters is pretty much suicide, Battle lasers are for attacking ships.
Rule of thumb is if for the whole battle your Primus is firing every turn you win. Miss a round or two due no targets then you are probably in trouble.

 

[Black Dragon]

Problem is lack of hard hitting weapons and having the bore arc the Drazi can win but at massive ship lose. Numbers is a good way to go however earth and the centauri can match them with ships.

 

[Ripple]

it's not that Drazi do not win fights...they win a fair number. But in campaign the losses are too hard to absorb, and you cannot afford to remove ships from the field if damaged the way other races do because of boresight mechanics.

Its a slow death of economic starvation as you try to replace the large number of losses you suffer. (As league you field the rather hard to kill Vaarls to fill up the necessary 'initiative sink' slots and suffer quite a bit less.)

Ripple