Newbie: EA

[On_DS9]

So, from trolling the forum, I'm gathering that EA is a popular fleet, so please pardon yet another newbie asking for advice on EA fleets.

So I wanted some advice on tweaking the following lists, will they hold their own? Will they got shot to pieces? Please take into account that some of these I'm taking because I like models and I'll mark them with a * so unless they totally eat mulch, I'm more interested in how to make them work & what ships compliment them than removing them.

Third Age 5pt Battle:
2 Omegas*
2 Novas
2 Hyperions
2 Oracles
4 Hermes

I've gleaned the Hermes make good little missile boats, so I'm including them. The guy demoed the game used Minbari and I really hate the stealth, so I think I'm overreacting with the Oracles. Should I drop them?

I very much like the "line up and shoot" of EA ships, and the Omegas are my favorite ship/model in the series/model range. So they stay. Other than that, I've read mized reviews with the Hyperions and Novas. Personally, I like the Novas better on paper because they seem like battle wagons. My theory is to drive them straight foreward into the enemy, hopefully diverting them so I can line up boreshots with the Omegas (god how I hate boresight weapons). Contemplating swapping the 2 hyperions for 2 more novas.


Crusade Era 5 pt Battle:
Omega
2 Marathon*
2 Chronos*
Delphi
3 Hermes

I like the models of the Crusade-era. I really like the Marathon. It seems like a nimble ship, so the boresight wouldn't be as much a problem. Also like the model. Same with the Chronos. I'm not as wedded with the Omega in this list. I mainly took it because I was concerned about fighters. If I could do without it, I'd drop it for another Marathon or something else. I'm also not as wedded to the Delphi, although the model is neat. Basically, I'm thinking of a more fast attack type fleet here.

 

[Itkovian]

Third Age 5pt Battle:
2 Omegas*
2 Novas
2 Hyperions
2 Oracles
4 Hermes

I've gleaned the Hermes make good little missile boats, so I'm including them. The guy demoed the game used Minbari and I really hate the stealth, so I think I'm overreacting with the Oracles. Should I drop them?

I very much like the "line up and shoot" of EA ships, and the Omegas are my favorite ship/model in the series/model range. So they stay. Other than that, I've read mized reviews with the Hyperions and Novas. Personally, I like the Novas better on paper because they seem like battle wagons. My theory is to drive them straight foreward into the enemy, hopefully diverting them so I can line up boreshots with the Omegas (god how I hate boresight weapons). Contemplating swapping the 2 hyperions for 2 more novas..

Problem, such as it is, with Hyperions is that they die really fast if shot at with beams, and tend to get shot at in general because of their armament relative to their PL.
Oracles are not GOOD scouts but not really bad ones, certainly worth using, depends who you will be fighting (And that is true of any EA list)
Novas are good against lowish hull fleets simply because of the obscene number of dice they throw, if nothing else they can batter down interceptors for the Hermes who can act as initiative sinks for boresight ships, which means EA is a pretty interdependent fleet!

Crusade Era 5 pt Battle:
Omega
2 Marathon*
2 Chronos*
Delphi
3 Hermes

I like the models of the Crusade-era. I really like the Marathon. It seems like a nimble ship, so the boresight wouldn't be as much a problem. Also like the model. Same with the Chronos. I'm not as wedded with the Omega in this list. I mainly took it because I was concerned about fighters. If I could do without it, I'd drop it for another Marathon or something else. I'm also not as wedded to the Delphi, although the model is neat. Basically, I'm thinking of a more fast attack type fleet here.

The Delphi is really useful as a scout, Marathons are lethal in combat, the shorter range of the laser is more than offset by the better move, not to mention the LPA. Chronos are great for taking out low hull screening units, and the AP, DD turreted railguns give a lot of ships pause for thought, but, they are a little slow. As far as fighters are a worry, you have enough fighters from your ships, no need to include the Omega, you'd be better off (IMHO) with a third Marathon (Which has two fighters), or even an Apollo.

 

[Triggy]

Generally those fleets aren't bad although you may need a little practice getting the most out of Hyperions in high Priority Level games (as stated, they do tend to die easily but the tradeoff is that they can dish out quite a bit of damage).

The only real suggestion I'd make is to drop the Omega in the Crusade list for more "initiative sinks" (more ships that can move before your big ships, thus allowing you to see where most of the enemy have moved before picking your target and lining up your boresight shots). In exchange for the Omega you could cram in 2 Assault Hyperions, 1 more Hermes and 1 more Chronos. More ships and plenty more Attack Dice!

 

[On_DS9]

Problem, such as it is, with Hyperions is that they die really fast if shot at with beams, and tend to get shot at in general because of their armament relative to their PL.

OKay, so the consensus is to drop the Hyperions, ya? I'm totally cool with that, because when I was flipping through the book after playing a demo my first thought was "why would I ever take a hyperion when I can get a Nova?"

Oracles are not GOOD scouts but not really bad ones, certainly worth using, depends who you will be fighting

My first two games were against the Minbari. As an old B5 Wars players, I hate the way stealth works in this game. I would much prefer the option to shoot, even if it is at some penalty (like reroll any hits, an anti-twin linked). The fluff of that game has the EA pulse cannons developed specifically because of the experience of the Earth-Minbari war.

Novas are good against lowish hull fleets simply because of the obscene number of dice they throw, if nothing else they can batter down interceptors for the Hermes

Ah, I see, thanks. You think they'll do okay against the Minbari? I found them moderately effective, namely because I could wade in and get 3 possible arcs. That way I am making 3 stealth checks, so even if I fail one or two, I've still got other shots.

Chronos are great for taking out low hull screening units, and the AP, DD turreted railguns give a lot of ships pause for thought, but, they are a little slow.

Considering their speed is actually slower than the marathons, I was thinking of using them as rearguard. When the enemy ships manuver behind/beside, the Chronos can run up on the enemy.

As far as fighters are a worry, you have enough fighters from your ships, no need to include the Omega, you'd be better off (IMHO) with a third Marathon (Which has two fighters), or even an Apollo.

Good. It's gone. Is the apollo worth it? Again, maybe I'm showing my stealth-bias but it just seems like the Apollo is a stand-off and fire ship which is bad when fighting stealth. Is it good against other things? I do like the model.

 

[marsa10]

Try the Assault Hyperion, It drops the heavy lasers for pulse weapons which is not a great move but it is shuffled down the priority scale by a point and it makes a tough skirmish ship as opposed to a slightly fragile raid.

It is pretty nasty and occasionally (maybe one game in 10 or 20) the troops will really wind up an opponant.

Marathon's are the best EA ship since sliced bread versatility speaking but check out the others for your specialisations (Apollo is REALLY good against non stealthy types for example).

 

[pwrserge]

From what I've seen the Hyperions make great "cavalry" they are far more manuverable than most people expect out of EA. Just don't expect them to be your "Wall of Battle" ships. Novas have better fighers and survivability, but have a hard time getting into range. (Movement 6 and 1 turn sucks.) For hillarity against boneheads, try Apollos with heavy missiles. They might take a while to get into range, but when they do, PAIN ensues.

SERGE

 

[phoenixhawk]

Well, used the Marathon and Chronos today for the first time. IT was against Drakh so it did not end well, but the Marathon did some good damage before blowing itself off the board in a spectacular explosion and the two Chronos never got scratched and dished out some damage, so I think they are both good buys in the Crusade era EA fleet.

And I reaffirmed my hatred of the Hyperion. One blew up before even getting a shot in and the other got crippled really easy.

Chris

 

[Tankdriver]

Against the Minbari, my limited experience says the list look good. THe point is to try to get him to move first, and react to that. The initiative sinks come in very handy there. Plan to lose ships, but remember, most of the time he will have ships above the PL for the fight, so if you trade smaller ships for his bigger ones, you should come out ahead on points.

 

[Ripple]

Don't underestimate the hyperion. While they do have issues against the big beam fleets they are your best raid level kill ship. The mistake most folks have made over time is they think of them as individual ships. They should be flown as a squadron, moved late and fired first. Even a pair of them putting 8 AD of SAP DD Beam on something will do considerable damage. They make a much better 'kill team' than an Omega at most levels and I highly recommend them in threes or better. Make sure to take as many hermes to offset the initiative.

Nova while having lots of dice, often find themselves chasing helplessly after ships once the opponent learns to manuever.



Ripple

 

[Silvereye]

Third Age 5pt Battle:
2 Omegas*
2 Novas
2 Hyperions
2 Oracles
4 Hermes

I've gleaned the Hermes make good little missile boats, so I'm including them. The guy demoed the game used Minbari and I really hate the stealth, so I think I'm overreacting with the Oracles. Should I drop them?

Up against Minbari, Scouts are always useful and you may wish to consider dropping the 2 Hyperions for a third Omega. (Minbari beams will eat Hyperions).

Against a more general enemy, that is a very good looking fleet, although the second Oracle might be a little excessive. It might be worth considering buying an Avenger and Olympus/Artemis as 'sideboards' to the fleet.

I very much like the "line up and shoot" of EA ships, and the Omegas are my favorite ship/model in the series/model range. So they stay. Other than that, I've read mized reviews with the Hyperions and Novas. Personally, I like the Novas better on paper because they seem like battle wagons. My theory is to drive them straight foreward into the enemy, hopefully diverting them so I can line up boreshots with the Omegas (god how I hate boresight weapons). Contemplating swapping the 2 hyperions for 2 more novas.

Re: Nova/Hyperion. The Hyperions are simply just too powerful to be left to live. Their lowerer damage and crew thresholds make them a good target for the enemy, especially when they are packing similar levels of firepower to an Omega Destroyer. Personally I prefer Hyperion to Nova, but you really need to work your fleet and tactics to get the best out of them. This includes Manouvre to Shield Them with Hermes, hiding them behind dust clouds/planet and asteroid fields until they get into a good position. Remember Hyperions are faster then most EA ships and have two turns to boot, so it is worth spending a turn or two getting ready to pounce. They also have a decent boresight(aft) laser system, so if they can cross the line of engagement from the side you will be laughing as a Nova cannot hope to keep up with that damage potential.

Crusade Era 5 pt Battle:
Omega
2 Marathon*
2 Chronos*
Delphi
3 Hermes

Looks pretty good fleet, as others have said Chronos is a bit slow to go in with the Marathons. Though they could make a good second wave. The Omega makes a good sniper system with its 30" Beams, in this fleet though you could consider swapping it out for an Apollo (which will give you another initiative sink).

 

[cmdtorch]

The Crusade Era fleet I have is:
EAS Kodiak (Marathon Class)
EAS San Juan (Omega Class)
EAS Juneau (Omega Class)
EAS Mars (Apollo Class)
EAS Falcon (Delphi Class)
EAS Astraea (Chronos Class)

This is a 5 point Battle level EA Fleet. I have not played ACTA yet so I do not know how well this fleet will work but it does look cool. I have not done anything with B5 sence AoG closed shop.

 

[Davesaint]

My 3rd Age EA Fleet for 5 Battle is

5 Hyperions(Squadroned)
3 Olympus(Squad)
2 Oracle
10 Hermes

All fighters are T-Bolts. Pick your poison, kill the hyperions, and the olympus/hermes missle team will kill you, Kill the hermes, and 20 AD of DD SAP beam death will do the same.

I never run crusade era, but you could take 5 Assault Hyperions as your skirmish hulls

The Chronos is over-rated.

Dave

 

[Target]

The Chronos is rarely a good ship, 18 crew, only range 12 weapons, needs missles. I'd rather have a Nova or Olympus not that those two are in the same list. You can't take the Chronos against anyone with SAP beams. Limits it a lot. Being a Centauri player mainly, i can't see why you why you would take one, you can ignore for a couple of rounds flick a couple of beams it in direction, it's dead or almost, it's shots bounce off your interceptors. It madness to go against EA without interceptors well Early Era anyway. That only leaves me Octurions, Balvarixs, Primus, Sulusts, Maximus, Morgraths & little old Corvans. The Morgrath is the only one we don't use anyway.

 

[Chernobyl]

OK, so the consensus is to drop the Hyperions, ya? I'm totally cool with that, because when I was flipping through the book after playing a demo my first thought was "why would I ever take a hyperion when I can get a Nova?"

because its a slow pig. The hyperion is faster, move maneuverable, and has 50% more range with its big gun. Theyr'e for two different purposes. The Hyperion is a very viable ship to the EA...just ask any Abbai player...
Those massive laser pulse arrays look neat, but against hull 6 with interceptors they really wither.

Chernobyl

 

[lastbesthope]

Plus, a carefully manoeuvred Hyperion can get you a double boresight, it's great seeing your opponent's face when you manage to pull one of those off.

LBH

 

[On_DS9]

Up against Minbari, Scouts are always useful and you may wish to consider dropping the 2 Hyperions for a third Omega. (Minbari beams will eat Hyperions).

I'm starting to see a pattern developing: there's the fleet you take against the Minbari (i.e. stealth) and their's the fleet you take against everyone else. That's really disheartening for a player who likes to build a "take all comers" list. I don't believe in tailoring fleets for specific enemies.

As far as my assessment of the Hyperion vs the Nova, my opinion came about from playing the Minbari in my intro games: I found that my Hyperion often didn't get to shoot and then were sliced apart. With the Novas I could advance right into the enemy's midst and have 3 chances of making the stealth rolls.

So the Hyperions are effectively fast Cav. I see that point. Okay, so building a "take all comers" list what do people feel about going back to the main list?


2 Omegas
2 Novas
2 Hyperions
2 Oracles
4 Hermes

Use the Hyperions to flank the enemy lines, drive the Novas right up the middle, and put the Omegas on a slant of the main enemy line. If the enemy turns to go after the hyperions they enter into the bore of the Omegas. Easier said than done, I know, but the general idea is the Hyperions aren't line troops.

Maybe drop and Oracle for more Hermes? I took the oracles to ensure that I get that bonus to the stealth roll, but it may be better if I simply took more Hermes and used the fighters (22 of them) with sensors to full.

 

[On_DS9]

2 Marathon
Apollo
2 Chronos
Delphi
3 Hermes

Okay, with the Crusade era fleet, I'm thinking of using this. I like the apollo model. I dunno about this list though. Seems kinda fragile. I heard that there would be some changes to the Chronos and the Marathon in Matt's post about 2e, is that correct? I like the idea of the Chronos going down a PL. Is the Marathon going down a PL too?

 

[Greg Smith]

Is the Marathon going down a PL too?

No. There will be an Apollo varient too. (of course all 2e information is subject to change).

 

[Triggy]

Is the Marathon going down a PL too?

No. There will be an Apollo varient too. (of course all 2e information is subject to change).

This gives a steady progression of EA Crusade ships up the PLs, leaving the Marathon, Command Omega and Poseidon as the War PL representatives and the Omega, Marathon, Apollo (and variant) as the Battle PL representatives.
(with at the moment a single Excalibur as the only Armageddon PL choice)

[same disclaimer as Greg]

 

[Destroid]

This gives a steady progression of EA Crusade ships up the PLs, leaving the Marathon, Command Omega and Poseidon as the War PL representatives and the Omega, Marathon, Apollo (and variant) as the Battle PL representatives.

So do you really mean the Warlock, Cmd Omega and Poseidon as War PL ships or is there a [presumably] Command variant of the Marathon?