Pwned by my own Canteauri

[cthol24601]

I just had a test run of my Early EA fleet against my own Centauri fleet (wielded by a friend) and got my arse pwned big time, He lost 1 Demos and 1 badly damaged with inconsequential damage to other ships to most of my whole fleet. Normally I run the Centauri (or Dilgar my Favourite) to great success. Any thoughts on running an effective EA fleet? Usually the EA give my Dilgar Headaches but my Centauri slay them from my normal game experience. (My Dilgar conversely seem to disintegrate the advanced races my Shadows, Minbari and Vorlons even at 7 point war)

Fleets were

Centauri
1 Primus
3 Demos
1 Maximus
1 Balvarinn

EA
1 Nova
2 Hyperion
2 Olympus
2 Sagitarius

Any thoughts or experiences of effective use of the EA?

 

[CZuschlag]

The stock Demos is commonly considered outright broken.

Rerun the fight again, but consider the Demos to only have 6 AD of Ion Cannons.

This is under playtest, so we are really interested in the results. Report back with how it goes!

 

[No. 1 Bear]

First use more ships. Skirmish is where Early EA kicks but. The EA gunship is nasty as hell so 2 of them instead of one of the hyperions. Secondly add 2 hyperion rail cruisers. And possibly switch out the nova for an avenger or explorer for scouting and damge soaking ability.

For tactics jump the rail cruisers and ordinary olympusses in armed with heavy missiles and blow things up from behind. Charge the olympus gunships forward under CBD's. When they get into range make sure you get that boresight.

Thats all the advice i can really give.

 

[Locutus9956]

1) The regular hyperion whilst good is in my eyes simply too fragile for raid level. The RAIL hyperion on the other hand is an absolute gem of a ship and should be used liberally!.

2) The Olympus gunship is a horrible ship but personally I would say the regular Olympus loaded with heavy missiles is a much better choice.

3) The Saggitarius is horrid individually and verging on broken used in large numbers. Used in a swarm theres no getting around the fact that it IS broken but in small doses it's merely a very very handy asset!

4) As noted the Demos, as per the 2nd Ed fleet book is just too heavily armed. Period. The playtest version has been nerfed to 6AD Ion Cannons (I'm not sure if this is a step too far until I've tried it but we've been using them with 8AD for ages which seems much better. But the full 10 IS over the top)

5) Using the Nova well is a very refined art and takes some practice, I still cock it up about as many times as I get it right myself. Against an ultra fast maneuverable fleet like Centauri I'd actually consider dropping ti for some more Olympus and Rail Hyps.

Oh and lastly consdier dropping one skirmish choice for some Tethys. They may be puny and fragile but theyre actally quite respectable in firepower and are a real blessing when it comes to initiative sinks! (for now, if the playtest rule goes through this trick will soon vanish though (which to be honest, is fair enough, it's a tad cheesy but I dont have any particular problem using ships like that when fighting other fleets I consider a bit on the good side like Demos swarms or Dilgar (ANY Dilgar, I don't care what anyone says I consider the Dilgar to be one of the nastiest fleets in the game and bordering on overpowered)

 

[Ripple]

Drop the Nova, it's too tricky to use as a starter ship with EA.

The two Hyperion's won't pack quite enough punch for this fleet, I'd consider just one (maybe command variant) and get the two Rails.

The Saggitarious is a tough cookie, but a third is needed against any interceptor fleet.

Take an Oracle... scouting is nice and it has that turreted missile for fun.

Olympus - just one in this mix... supports the Sagg fire and plays blocker for the Command Hyp.

Two Hermes or Four Tethys (pair of each flavor)

biggest mistake I see EA forces do is split too much between missiles/rail/pulse and beams... go one way at a time and go big... Against interceptors, going to light means you didn't do anything at all.

Ripple