Knight of ne
Mongoose
i want to start a EA fleet, but i know absolutely nothing about the game, can you help me to decide what to buy.
noob.
- Thread starter Knight of ne
- Start date
Hmm, well, the rulebook, Skfull of stars and armegeddon are a must, but will set you back a tidy sum straight away.
You could in theory buy the main rulebook and play with standard ships, saving yourself some money, but meaning you wouldn't know new ships, ship stats, and rules that SFOS brought in.
If you buy the latest book, you then need to decide which era EA you want, and do you have a prefered type of tactic, eg stand off and bombard, or fly right down their throat.. then we could help you with ships
You could in theory buy the main rulebook and play with standard ships, saving yourself some money, but meaning you wouldn't know new ships, ship stats, and rules that SFOS brought in.
If you buy the latest book, you then need to decide which era EA you want, and do you have a prefered type of tactic, eg stand off and bombard, or fly right down their throat.. then we could help you with ships
Knight of ne
Mongoose
i would like somehing thats got something that can bombard from a distance and up close, if possible?
Locutus9956
Mongoose
Well first off you should know that the EA since Armageddon have been split into 3 seperate fleet lists:
Early Years, Third Age and Crusade era.
Third age basically is the fleet from the time of the show with the other two sitting either side of it chronologically.
In terms of play style:
Early years tends to rely more on lots of smaller ships with lots of missiles and rail guns and so on.
Third Age has alot more heavy hitting firepower in the form of heavy lasers etc and also has access to the Thunderbolt, arguably the best attack fighter in the game (with the possible exception of the Vorlon fighter)
Crusade era is very high tech but tends to be quite top heavy with very hard ships with tons of interceptors and very nasty weaponry and also several ships with advanced sensors or jump engines.
A good place to start for any of them is the fleet box for the fleet in question.
I personally play crusade era and for that I will offer a bit more advice:
1) You want a couple of Omegas and a Couple of Marathons. Theyre both excellent ships but dont go TOO over the top. The Command omega now its been redone in signs and portents is now actually a very good War Ship. You dont have to buy the seperate model but it is quite cool I must admit.
2) Dont bother with the Posseidon much, though it is a very cool model worth having and the box set is actually probably the cheapest way to buy more starfuries
. In game sadly it still doesnt really pull its weight with even 16 Tbolts not really delivering the same punch as other warships and the carrier itself being very very killable and worth lots of victory points to boot. Shame though cos its a lovely (and not to mention HUGE) miniature
3) Chronos frigates are the best thing in the known universe. Im not kidding here. They may look small and inocuous and certainly dont seem as scary with their mere 20 hit points for a raid ship and no fancy beam weaponry of doom. BUT. They are very maneuverable, can throw quite a scary amount of dice in any direction (and multiple directions at once if you get between the the enemy ships) and at hull 6 with 3 interceptors they are incredibly hard to hurt with non beam weaponry.
4) Delphis whilst expensive are still very useful, especially in bigger games. Redirect the beams from a couple of nasty boresights like 2 Marathons or a command Omega. The results are usually pretty explosive....
5) Dont bother with the Nemesis or the Warlock though in their current versions as frankly there is no concievable situation I can EVER envision where it would not be vastly more useful to take multiples other ships instead. 2 command Omegas is now infinitely better, as is 1 Command Omega and 2 Regular ones or 1 and 2 Marathons or 3 Marathons, etc etc etc You really would have to be stark raving mad to use either of the Armageddon choices. Now if they made the Warlock war level where it used to be and belongs then thats another story... but I digress
Hope that helps a bit anyway!
Early Years, Third Age and Crusade era.
Third age basically is the fleet from the time of the show with the other two sitting either side of it chronologically.
In terms of play style:
Early years tends to rely more on lots of smaller ships with lots of missiles and rail guns and so on.
Third Age has alot more heavy hitting firepower in the form of heavy lasers etc and also has access to the Thunderbolt, arguably the best attack fighter in the game (with the possible exception of the Vorlon fighter)
Crusade era is very high tech but tends to be quite top heavy with very hard ships with tons of interceptors and very nasty weaponry and also several ships with advanced sensors or jump engines.
A good place to start for any of them is the fleet box for the fleet in question.
I personally play crusade era and for that I will offer a bit more advice:
1) You want a couple of Omegas and a Couple of Marathons. Theyre both excellent ships but dont go TOO over the top. The Command omega now its been redone in signs and portents is now actually a very good War Ship. You dont have to buy the seperate model but it is quite cool I must admit.
2) Dont bother with the Posseidon much, though it is a very cool model worth having and the box set is actually probably the cheapest way to buy more starfuries
. In game sadly it still doesnt really pull its weight with even 16 Tbolts not really delivering the same punch as other warships and the carrier itself being very very killable and worth lots of victory points to boot. Shame though cos its a lovely (and not to mention HUGE) miniature3) Chronos frigates are the best thing in the known universe. Im not kidding here. They may look small and inocuous and certainly dont seem as scary with their mere 20 hit points for a raid ship and no fancy beam weaponry of doom. BUT. They are very maneuverable, can throw quite a scary amount of dice in any direction (and multiple directions at once if you get between the the enemy ships
) and at hull 6 with 3 interceptors they are incredibly hard to hurt with non beam weaponry.4) Delphis whilst expensive are still very useful, especially in bigger games. Redirect the beams from a couple of nasty boresights like 2 Marathons or a command Omega. The results are usually pretty explosive....
5) Dont bother with the Nemesis or the Warlock though in their current versions as frankly there is no concievable situation I can EVER envision where it would not be vastly more useful to take multiples other ships instead. 2 command Omegas is now infinitely better, as is 1 Command Omega and 2 Regular ones or 1 and 2 Marathons or 3 Marathons, etc etc etc You really would have to be stark raving mad to use either of the Armageddon choices. Now if they made the Warlock war level where it used to be and belongs then thats another story... but I digress
Hope that helps a bit anyway!
certainly at higher priorities, the EA have longish range boresights. I'm not an EA player, but you really need to consider which ea selection.
you have Early era, this fleet is based around ships that would have fought the Dilgar and Minbari. The third age fleet is what was represented in B5, and then you have the crusade era, with more modern ships.
the early fleet is a low priority bias, the 3rd age is a good spread over all, and the Crusade era, has a trimmed fleet list which is more top heavy
you have Early era, this fleet is based around ships that would have fought the Dilgar and Minbari. The third age fleet is what was represented in B5, and then you have the crusade era, with more modern ships.
the early fleet is a low priority bias, the 3rd age is a good spread over all, and the Crusade era, has a trimmed fleet list which is more top heavy
Locutus9956
Mongoose
Knight of ne said:
Omegas then are your best bet. They have a powerful 30" beam and pack a hell of a whalop with their pulse cannons when they get up close.
Alternately use Apollos to bombard with missiles from afar while you dash a bunch of Chronos into the enemy fleet and blast them appart with turreted rail gunney doom
ps. Chornos also come in a suberb valued 4 pack which only adds to their charms
Alternately you could be a cheesmeister and go early era and buy enough Saggitarius to blot out the sun.....
Knight of ne
Mongoose
i think ill go for crusade era, thanks everyone for the help, this forum is really good and fast to reply, thanks everyone.
Knight of ne
Mongoose
yes, its me from warseer, thanks for pointing this out, this forum is good and the people locator is great, thanks.
hiffano said:
I disagree with the Delphi being the best scout in the game. It is one of the best, but the Vaarl and the Vaarka are better due to their lower PL level.
As far as the EA go, I have been running alot of Third Age fleets recently. Don't discount them. You have a good amount of long range firepower in the patrol level Hermes and the Skirmish level Olympus. Plus squadroned Hyperions are just plain scary.
I also looked at running early EA. It was interesting in seeing just how nasty of a fleet you could build without a single Sag in it. There is a Minbari player out there that was stunned at what 3 Squadroned missle armed Tethys can do. They blow up like popcorn, but have a 4AD missle rack on them. No special missles, but they are all SAP and Precise.
One of the big changes to the rules in Armageddon was that you can now put up to 6 ships in a squadron. In a 5 Battle level game I have been running around with 5 Squadroned Hyperions. That's 20AD of SAP Beam DD. With the hermes to act as an initiative sink, I have never had a problem of boresighting good ships of my opponent.
Dave
hiffano said:
It's the +1 to CQ checks that makes the Vree scouts better. Plus in a Raid level game, I get 3 Vaarls for every Delphi which allows me to get redirection or lowered stealth on up to 3 different targets. Plus they are stealth 5 and supermaneuverable. Thus at range 20+ you will need a 6 to shoot at me. I can live with that.
Dave
The Chronos depends on your opponent.
If they have beams (most your opponents will) it's completely rubbish, 18 crew wrecks it's life.
I play EA a lot with Centauri ( another popular fleet) and can tell you they aren't worth it. Can be ignored for the first couple of turns then dies the instant you look at it.
Nova is a tough ship, brings fighters, nice firepower
Sag is still a awesome ship
Hyperion if it can be protected somehow can bring awesome firepower falls into same category as the Chronos unfortunately.
Olympus another great ship.
If i was going to play EA i'd go early era.
Crusade era lacks the Nova it has the Chronos instead, firepower is worth nothing if you can't use it.
If you like beams of death go Centauri (25"-35") beams or Minbari (20-30") they bombardwith these.
If they have beams (most your opponents will) it's completely rubbish, 18 crew wrecks it's life.
I play EA a lot with Centauri ( another popular fleet) and can tell you they aren't worth it. Can be ignored for the first couple of turns then dies the instant you look at it.
Nova is a tough ship, brings fighters, nice firepower
Sag is still a awesome ship
Hyperion if it can be protected somehow can bring awesome firepower falls into same category as the Chronos unfortunately.
Olympus another great ship.
If i was going to play EA i'd go early era.
Crusade era lacks the Nova it has the Chronos instead, firepower is worth nothing if you can't use it.
If you like beams of death go Centauri (25"-35") beams or Minbari (20-30") they bombardwith these.
