mother/father
Mongoose
I'm new to the game and I have decided to join the Corps. Does anyone have any tactical advice on how to play as the Psi Corps?
Psi Corp Tactics
- Thread starter mother/father
- Start date
No. 1 Bear
Mongoose
Just take motherships and the little scout thing sit back and beam everyone to death. Use your fighters really really offensively. Some might call it stupid but then you have got phsyic crew.
Shadow Queen
Mongoose
welcome, Fighter Carriers are good as well as the Shadowcloak's, Greg converted some a short time ago.
I find I don't like the fighter carrier as a ship. The hunter on the other hand is quite good.
Shadowcloak - take a pair for sinks, not much you have benefits from scout rolls so these are questionable choices.
Fighter carrier - not enough firepower or survivability, it strength is all in it's fighters and you aren't getting a discount on them, either fap or vp wise by playing this ship. I use it as a stepping stone t getting a couple of other sinks.
Mothership - solid ship, but if you depend on it as your main force you may get rushed and dead if you face a quick fleet.
Hunter - best ship native tot he list, it responds well to any enemy choice really, and the beam is your best offensive weapon.
Shadow Omega - very nice looking, but situational. The hunter is so much better you'll have trouble with this one... I tend to say don't buy unless you playing 5 War or hitting ship limits...
Nemesis - lower end Arm stats... but still fun.
Allies - this is where to go for you bulk killing power (and to get ships that can use your scout rerolls sadly). Hyperions are a nice buy, but the Olympus/2 Hermes block give a nice bombardment grouping with decent fighter support. I tried a pair of those (2 Olympus and 4 Hermes) with a mothership and a hunter at five raid... seemed like a nice idea, but need some more time against other players. Still think buying up to the hunter was questionable... but buying up always is.
Ripple
Shadowcloak - take a pair for sinks, not much you have benefits from scout rolls so these are questionable choices.
Fighter carrier - not enough firepower or survivability, it strength is all in it's fighters and you aren't getting a discount on them, either fap or vp wise by playing this ship. I use it as a stepping stone t getting a couple of other sinks.
Mothership - solid ship, but if you depend on it as your main force you may get rushed and dead if you face a quick fleet.
Hunter - best ship native tot he list, it responds well to any enemy choice really, and the beam is your best offensive weapon.
Shadow Omega - very nice looking, but situational. The hunter is so much better you'll have trouble with this one... I tend to say don't buy unless you playing 5 War or hitting ship limits...
Nemesis - lower end Arm stats... but still fun.
Allies - this is where to go for you bulk killing power (and to get ships that can use your scout rerolls sadly). Hyperions are a nice buy, but the Olympus/2 Hermes block give a nice bombardment grouping with decent fighter support. I tried a pair of those (2 Olympus and 4 Hermes) with a mothership and a hunter at five raid... seemed like a nice idea, but need some more time against other players. Still think buying up to the hunter was questionable... but buying up always is.
Ripple
Greg Smith
Mongoose
Psi Corps doesn't get shooty until you get up to raid level.
It tends to rely on luck and tricks. The stealth is low but can save your ass just when you least expect it, the hunter and mothership tend to rely on beam luck. The fighters can rely on psychic dodges. And psychic crew won't swing the battle in your favour.
The Shadowcloak isn't that great on its own, but it does let you JP bomb. It is a patrol-level scout that gets +1CQ making scouting easier. While your ships don't benefit too much from the scouting, your fighters can - especially Shadowfuries and allied T/Bolts.
The fighter carrier isn't that great a ship or carrier. But it can jump in shooting. And every time I say it is no good, it winds up killing ships right, left and centre.
Mothership, a beam turret that perfoms better at range but really fragile if the enemy gets close.
Hunter, great if you can get the beam rolls and don't get a no-weapon crit.
Shadow Omega, it struggles to get in range before it dies. It always seems to be a big fat target for the enemy. It's side arc wepons are nasty. Especailly when Shadowcloaks scout for them.
Nemesis. Not a good Armageddon-level ship, in my opinion.
It tends to rely on luck and tricks. The stealth is low but can save your ass just when you least expect it, the hunter and mothership tend to rely on beam luck. The fighters can rely on psychic dodges. And psychic crew won't swing the battle in your favour.
The Shadowcloak isn't that great on its own, but it does let you JP bomb. It is a patrol-level scout that gets +1CQ making scouting easier. While your ships don't benefit too much from the scouting, your fighters can - especially Shadowfuries and allied T/Bolts.
The fighter carrier isn't that great a ship or carrier. But it can jump in shooting. And every time I say it is no good, it winds up killing ships right, left and centre.
Mothership, a beam turret that perfoms better at range but really fragile if the enemy gets close.
Hunter, great if you can get the beam rolls and don't get a no-weapon crit.
Shadow Omega, it struggles to get in range before it dies. It always seems to be a big fat target for the enemy. It's side arc wepons are nasty. Especailly when Shadowcloaks scout for them.
Nemesis. Not a good Armageddon-level ship, in my opinion.
mother/father
Mongoose
greg, if you dont mind my asking what do you think makes the nemesis so weak, it looks good to me
Greg Smith
Mongoose
It should be worth two Shadow Omegas, or two Warlocks and it isn't close.
It doesn't have damage levels or special defences worthly of an Armageddon-level ship. It needs around 140 damage. Its beam is good but its secondaries don't have enough AD.
It is a nasty, powerful ship, but it falls somewhere between War and Armageddon in power.
It doesn't have damage levels or special defences worthly of an Armageddon-level ship. It needs around 140 damage. Its beam is good but its secondaries don't have enough AD.
It is a nasty, powerful ship, but it falls somewhere between War and Armageddon in power.
EDFDarkAngel1
Mongoose
The local Psi Corps player is new, and the most difficult to beat in our area. He typically uses Motherships and Hunters in combo, never uses a fighter carrier, and he borrows either an Apollo, a Marathon, or Warlock from EA.
Very dangerous, and you will almost always have the fighter superiority.
Dark Angel
Very dangerous, and you will almost always have the fighter superiority.
Dark Angel
I always felt that self repair was poorly represented on younger race ships as the crew score just became the ticker. Shadow tech should always have been about the spines, which is not done by shields.
So the shadow omega should have gotten shields or stealth, same with the nemesis. The hunter got stealth, and was a step in the right direction.
Give shadow omega a 3/3 shield, nemesis a 5/5 and much better.
Ripple
So the shadow omega should have gotten shields or stealth, same with the nemesis. The hunter got stealth, and was a step in the right direction.
Give shadow omega a 3/3 shield, nemesis a 5/5 and much better.
Ripple
Personally I was never a fan of shadows getting Shields in the first place, There is no onscreen evidence of anything absorbing hits before it reaches their hull. The Thirdspace aliens clearly had shields of some sort but we never saw anything similar on the Shadows.
I would rather that their semi-organic hulls had given them Adaptive armour. Their is no reason that this should be a Vorlon-only trait. The way I see it, shadows and vorlons use differnt means to achieve the same ends (the point of the show really).
Then you could have represented Shadow Omegas by having similar stats to normal Omegs with adaptive armour and uprated weapons. This would have been much closer to what we saw on screen as their was no evidence for the Shadow Omegas having self-repair, just as their was none for the shadows having shields.
Shields are Trek-tech and should have been reserved only for the Thirdspace aliens who actually looked like they had some kind of shields.
I would rather that their semi-organic hulls had given them Adaptive armour. Their is no reason that this should be a Vorlon-only trait. The way I see it, shadows and vorlons use differnt means to achieve the same ends (the point of the show really).
Then you could have represented Shadow Omegas by having similar stats to normal Omegs with adaptive armour and uprated weapons. This would have been much closer to what we saw on screen as their was no evidence for the Shadow Omegas having self-repair, just as their was none for the shadows having shields.
Shields are Trek-tech and should have been reserved only for the Thirdspace aliens who actually looked like they had some kind of shields.
Lord David the Denied
Mongoose
I agree. In fact the Abbai "shields" should actually be represented by the GEG trait. The fluff I read says they use gravitic defences to slow down incoming shots so they do less damage, not negate a number of hits then shut down.
Grimbart_Kriegsaxt
Mongoose
I actually always liked the absence of shields in the Bab 5 universe. I believe it ruins the atmosphere if everyone and their dog has shields. And Shadows didnt have them as far as i remember... or beams go through shields unhindered.
sidewinder
Mongoose
Shields represent what the spines do. You can call them something other then shields if you like. Energy dissapators would work.
sidewinder is right, the term 'shields' isn't the relevant part.
Vorlons have some form of active defense in one episode, where they intercept an incoming shadow beam with the energy they normally fire. It's been called a cgi mess up and other things but as much evidence either way as most things we have.
Shadows got the energy absorbing tendrils (lots of surface area to release the energy to space I guess) based on the effect we see when the e-mines hit them. That was back under AoG, but, as is often said, the author of the universe signed off on their work as being the canon for the fleets. Adaptive armor was never actually seen at all, as in we never saw a ship react to a hit and change in any way, certainly not in a way that showed it was tougher after it adapted.
Abbai had a number of defensive systems, some slowed things, some intercepted, some re-directed away from the ship. It's one reason I objected when I saw that they traded away interceptors for limited crit immunity. They had a number of layered defenses... that's what made them tough to kill. They also specifically had shields (no not trek shields, grav shields) so sticking with the name wasn't a bad move.
But all that was aside from my point... I just felt that shadow tech adaptions should use the same rules as shadows. (The shield rules have issues in my book, geg was better idea... but that's just me.)
Oh - self repair - its mentioned that the whitestars have it, and I thought a regular omega had 'automated repairs' mentioned. But the one shadow we see damaged by the narn has to be carried away by a friend... hardly self repairing... but eh...
Ripple
Vorlons have some form of active defense in one episode, where they intercept an incoming shadow beam with the energy they normally fire. It's been called a cgi mess up and other things but as much evidence either way as most things we have.
Shadows got the energy absorbing tendrils (lots of surface area to release the energy to space I guess) based on the effect we see when the e-mines hit them. That was back under AoG, but, as is often said, the author of the universe signed off on their work as being the canon for the fleets. Adaptive armor was never actually seen at all, as in we never saw a ship react to a hit and change in any way, certainly not in a way that showed it was tougher after it adapted.
Abbai had a number of defensive systems, some slowed things, some intercepted, some re-directed away from the ship. It's one reason I objected when I saw that they traded away interceptors for limited crit immunity. They had a number of layered defenses... that's what made them tough to kill. They also specifically had shields (no not trek shields, grav shields) so sticking with the name wasn't a bad move.
But all that was aside from my point... I just felt that shadow tech adaptions should use the same rules as shadows. (The shield rules have issues in my book, geg was better idea... but that's just me.)
Oh - self repair - its mentioned that the whitestars have it, and I thought a regular omega had 'automated repairs' mentioned. But the one shadow we see damaged by the narn has to be carried away by a friend... hardly self repairing... but eh...
Ripple
sidewinder
Mongoose
A lot of what mongoose has done was just carried over from the previous game. They made their own rules, but the basic feel and loadout of the ships is the same (granted it took them untill 2ed to get the centauri right).
I dont like that the only thing psi corp got from the shadows was self repair and MSB's. I love the weapons but self repair is mostly useless on a ship with a crew (I did say mostly, it is handy in campaigns), but I'd trade most, if not all of my self repair for shields. I'd give the psi corp ships self repair 1 or 2 just so they fix themselves in campaigns, but give them shields 10 or 15. Especially for the hunter and nemisis. The hunter has tons of spines, so does the omega-x for that matter. The nemesis not so much but it needs something to make it more worth its level.
And if you ever read Star Trek fluff, their shields are gravitic based. There's more to it then that but they do use gravitons for their shields. At one time I tried stating a Galaxy class ship just to fight some B5 ships. Very tough shields, slow recharge and low hits for its level. It had beams all over though so it was pretty mean. This was before the new beam rules though.
I dont like that the only thing psi corp got from the shadows was self repair and MSB's. I love the weapons but self repair is mostly useless on a ship with a crew (I did say mostly, it is handy in campaigns), but I'd trade most, if not all of my self repair for shields. I'd give the psi corp ships self repair 1 or 2 just so they fix themselves in campaigns, but give them shields 10 or 15. Especially for the hunter and nemisis. The hunter has tons of spines, so does the omega-x for that matter. The nemesis not so much but it needs something to make it more worth its level.
And if you ever read Star Trek fluff, their shields are gravitic based. There's more to it then that but they do use gravitons for their shields. At one time I tried stating a Galaxy class ship just to fight some B5 ships. Very tough shields, slow recharge and low hits for its level. It had beams all over though so it was pretty mean. This was before the new beam rules though.
EDFDarkAngel1
Mongoose
I don't think Psi Corps need anything additional. They are extremely powerful on their own. They don't need their own carrier, it was just there because it was in the show!
Dark Angel
Dark Angel
mother/father
Mongoose
I would definantly give up all but say 1 of my self repair for shields, it would make more sense as the shadow spines act as dissapators, and would make the Psi Corp into a tough fleet, especially if they retain their interceptors.
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