My first outing with ISA

[Banichi]

Well I had a 4 point battle game tonight, and I thought. What the heck, I have never used an ISA fleet, lets give it a go, 1 war level Victory (we still use ASFOS, not armegedion) and 4 raid level whitestars should do the trick. My friend used Centauri.

On the first turn I fired the big gun at his Octurian for a grand total of 6 damage points!!! The Octurian then savaged me for 33 hull, and zero speeded me. Turn 2 his squadron of prefects pounced on me with consentrate all fire,and that was it for the Victory. It didn't even have the decency to explode all over him. As for the white stars, the have great survivablity for hull 10 ships. But I seemed to have offended the dice gods because that 1 dice improved nuetron laser rolled so many 1s and 2s it was funny. And just to top it off, at the end of the game there were 2 whitestars left that had healed back to full hull, but had no crew left. The centauri would have thought "cool, two ships for us. Whos got the tow ropes?"

Was this a one off lemon of a game? Or does this sort of thing happen often to ISA fleets?

 

[H]

who said you could pinch my dice rolling!!

the ISA are a tough bunch, used cirrectly (not saying you didn't use them correctly) they can usually stand a good chance of beating most races, However, in centauri, you face one of the other best fleets out there!
Your probable biggest mistake was firing the lightning cannon, it's just not worth it unless their is a definate kill around, use your other weapons, and suchlike and save the lightning cannon as a last gasp weapon!
Also, the Octurion is one of the finest warships out there, in either armageddon or SFOS. only the Bin Tak or sharlin could "probably" challenge it for the supreme warship spot in SFOS, although in armageddon you have the G'Vrahn and Vorlon light cruiser challenging as well!

 

[Banichi]

Your probable biggest mistake was firing the lightning cannon, it's just not worth it unless their is a definate kill around,

I know, but I fell into the "Push the shiny red button" trap. :lol:

 

[CZuschlag]

Whitestars die from lack of Crew. So that tow-rope-thing happens a whole lot.

ISA advantages are in ridiculous mobility. I don't like the purchase of Nolotars and Victories, even the old ones. I like the WS on its own, in hordes. You can All Power past tons of fleets in one turn. 2 90's later, and you're on any ships 6 that you want. Then, you play to the endgame, where your superior mobility should get you 1-on-1s where you are in weak arcs vs. your only arc (which is strong) and where your self-repair can be leveraged until you run out of crew.

Remember to use your allied fleet points! It's a marginal cheese selection (in my view), but a competitive ISA player would be totally remiss to omit taking Varrls or Vaarkas from the Vree list. Other options (no so cheesy) are the Shakara (Comm Disruptors can be very useful to limit the number of Come About rolls that succeed), Eyehawks (plural), and the Sho'Kar, which I mysteriously like.

 

[H]

Your probable biggest mistake was firing the lightning cannon, it's just not worth it unless their is a definate kill around,

I know, but I fell into the "Push the shiny red button" trap. :lol:

did you make whhhoommmmm noises as it powered up?

 

[Banichi]

did you make whhhoommmmm noises as it powered up?

No, I forgot. Does it help? :lol: You guys are right about the whitestars mobility. I play centauri a lot, and while a vorchan is nearly as fast, those two 90 degree turns rock. What killed them off was the fact he kept his ships covered by each other really well. (credit where its due) And I was all traumatized by what happened to my Victory.

 

[Apachex]

did you make whhhoommmmm noises as it powered up?

No, I forgot. Does it help? :lol: You guys are right about the whitestars mobility. I play centauri a lot, and while a vorchan is nearly as fast, those two 90 degree turns rock. What killed them off was the fact he kept his ships covered by each other really well. (credit where its due) And I was all traumatized by what happened to my Victory.

[/quote]

I find it is more useful to cry "Fire the Wave Motion Gun" and then humm the Star Blazer's theme when you roll. Usually good for a couple crits.

That said, I'll second the "White Star Swarm" method of attack. I find using a Victory makes me more conservative with everything.