Since Democratus started a very good series of threads, I thought it might be worthwhile if people do a similar briefing on their own fleets. In my case (in case the avatar wasn't a giveaway) the pirates of the piece. Yarr.
The Raiders
Amongst the most enduring antagonists of B5, appearing from Midnight on the Firing Line right the way through to To Live and Die in Starlight. Originally a 'specialist' fleet (read: woefully underpowered) they are now at least vaguely dangerous after the upgrades in Powers and Principalities.
Game Size
Raiders are bullies. Not meant to cast aspersions on the crews themselves (but they are pirates, after all) but their design concept. Raiders tend to do better engaging targets smaller or less loaded with technology than they are, with the sole exception of the Battlewagon, which is almost exactly the reverse.
A good way of describing Raider ships is as 'Pocket' versions of ships a priority level larger. Unfortunately, you tend not to get the numerical edge you might like because your fighting ships are raid and battle. Your biggest numerical edge is the ridiculous numbers of fighters you can field.
Durability
Raider ships are tough for their priority and are easily made tougher still. However, their durability comes in the form of hit points, like 3rd age EA, Narns, and Brakiri - this makes them very good against laser fire but struggle against critical-inducing missiles, or hull-shredding bolter, railgun and ion cannon fire.
Flexibility
The most important thing to get used to with raiders is the ships' customization options. With the various combinations of upgrades you can produce a knock-off version of any specialist or generalist ship you like (except a scout), and the ability to buy in allies improves this further.
Always take your custom ship options - if nothing else, take the expanded hull, because it ups the durability of your ships from just being 'good' to Narn-esque levels of toughness.
Weapons
All raider weapons are relatively short ranged. Whilst a missile battery can be fitted, it's short ranged compared to EA, Drazi, Centauri or Dilgar counterparts, and it's a waste on larger ships. This makes long-ranged fire from allied ships quite tempting.
Auxilliary Craft
Breaching Pods: Fieldable in fairly large numbers, These guys are something to go for en masse or not at all.
Delta-V: Utter chaff. Unable to act as Interceptors, and pretty lousy in the superiority role, their main role is to act as supporting flights - but with low initiative, you'll often find them getting jumped. I would only ever take them free with ships, and then only if you want both refit slots for something.
Delta-V2: Now this is more like it. Advanced Fighters lets you access these guys for free on your ships, and you should make sure that the bulk of your force is of V2 standard. With Fleet Carrier support they can engage most line fighters of the league.
Double-V: The only Raider fighter I would spend points on (because you can't get it free...), the Double-V provides, allocation point for allocation point, just about as much firepower as you've got going for auxilliary craft. Bringing it all to bear is difficult, though, especially given its speed. If intending to field a pack of these (and they are nasty), then a Point Defence System-tooled ship is a good idea.
Patrol Priority
Modified Freighter: Slow, reasonably tough, unmanouvrable and reasonably well armed at close range to the front. The modified freighter is your source of numbers and a good chassis to hang upgrades off. Afterburners are good, given its low speed, and then a 'mission' upgrade - either a Missile Battery, Boarding Party or Point Defence System are good.
Alternatively, if you know that manouvrability isn't important compared to surviving, consider Heavy Armour and an Interceptor Grid. The resulting ship is, at patrol level, ridiculously tough unless the enemy can turn laser fire on it. Of course, a short ranged, very slow ship will have problems unless its target is equally slow, or their destination is predictable - where there is an obvious 'objective' - planet, convoy or whatever, these baby armoured gunships actually become rather dangerous.
Skirmish Priority
Strike Carrier: A staple of the fleet, the strike carrier is likely to form a large numerical portion of a raider force. It's a tough but badly-armoured hull, meaning Heavy Armour generally isn't worth it (going from 5 to 6 makes a much bigger deal than 4 to 5), whilst Expanded Hull gives you even more bang for your buck. As a fighting ship, it's pretty second rate - as with all carriers, I guess - and that cheap Fleet Carrier and Carrier 4 make it a very specialiesd version. Unless taking Breaching Pods, Advanced Fighters is a must, giving you a sizeable wing of effective superiority fighters. Increased Hangar is nice, adding a fifth V2, but usually having your fleet carrier survive longer will do you more good in the long run than another flight, so Expanded Hull is probably better. A Missile Battery isn't a bad pick, especially if twin-linked (Advanced Targeting), but you'll never really turn this hull into a fighting ship.
Enhanced Bridge is a very good idea - in a large game, initiative tends to become less and less important, and +1 command is hardly a game-winner, but at raid-to-skirmish games it's worth it, especially in a fighter heavy fleet given the all-or-nothing initiative win with fighters. Taking two carriers, one with Enhanced Bridge, and one with Point Defence System, and using a patrol point to buy them V2s instead of the Advanced Fighters upgrade can make for a nice carrier group.
Raid Priority
Battlewagon: The only wolf in the fleet, the battlewagon is a 'proper' warship. A big forwards pulse battery and a decent forward laser, wrapped in a chassis that allows it to ignore its target's escorts and fighters whilst it concentrates on its target. I'd reach for the battlewagon when expecting battle priority ships or above to make an appearance.
Hull 6 and Interceptors are very, very good, and it's a tough hull. Twin-linking the pulse battery is nice - probably just out-edging a Missile Battery in terms of damage potential against most foes.
Expanded Hull is very nice, and I'd say choice 1, turning this ship into a true brick outhouse (notice a running theme?), whilst most other defence upgrades are less useful - the Battlewagon is already hull 6, and increasing interceptors is much less impressive than adding them in the first place. Afterburners are situational - as with all raider ships straight-line speed sucks but then so does manouvrability, and as a big-game-hunter, the battlewagon will generally be aiming itself at prey just as unwieldy as it is.
Fighters are a bit of an afterthoughts - yes, you get three flights but getting them off the ship requires a Scramble! Scramble! order. Advanced Fighters is still nice, but moving three Vs to V2s is probably not worth the same as the huge chunk of durability you get by applying Expanded Hull to a big ship.
Given the existing durability and the fact that it doesn't need much to be a good ship, an Enhanced Bridge sits even better here than on a strike carrier; fielding one or more Battlewagons means you're playing a game where lining up boresights is going to matter.
Battle Priority
Dreadnought:
Poor Range, massive firepower. Lots of hit points, badly armoured hull (for a battleship). Large fighter wing, slow to launch them. The raider Dreadnought is full of contradictions. If it can manage to fire its plasma cannons in multiple arcs simultaneously, it's bloody hideous. The laser is nice but don't obsess over it - it's no more effective than a battlewagon's main gun. Getting into the middle of a formation of enemy brawlers and matching them punch-for-punch is what the Dreadnought is about.
Once again, Expanded Hull is a must. 72 damage and 102 crew, covered by Interceptors 4, means that you laugh in the face of most attacks (until you take critical hits to everthing on the ship!). Heavy armour makes for the ultimate 'screw you' ship, but at speed 3", range 8" it's only viable if you can jump in from hyperspace on top of an essentially stationary target. These ships are ideal for messing up planetary defences in an invasion, though (especially if this means engaging multiple patrol boats or platforms at once).
On top of expanded hull, if you still need the speed then Afterburners are an obvious one. Advanced Fighters are nice but getting the wing in the void takes too long for my liking. Either the Afterburners or Enhanced Targeting to twin-link the forward heavy plasma cannons are probably your best bets.
Allies
Raiders can use league allies to cover their weaknesses. Broadly speaking, these weaknesses are:
1) Agile flankers/flank protectors
2) Long ranged snipers
3) Scouts
4) Heavyweight warships
1&2 are best met by Drazi - Darkhawks are superb ships provided you have something to keep the enemy's attention off them. Vree torpedo saucers do pretty well, too.
The same races work well for 3 - Vree scouts are the best value. The more Double-V flights you have, and the more Missile Battery armed ships, the more tempting the fire redirection becomes.
Number 4 is situational. Since you can spend entire points on allies this only becomes really important in war priority games (something you should avoid fighting if you can!). But if you must, then a warship - or a battleship that's better armed than a Dreadnought - is a good pick.
The Raiders
Amongst the most enduring antagonists of B5, appearing from Midnight on the Firing Line right the way through to To Live and Die in Starlight. Originally a 'specialist' fleet (read: woefully underpowered) they are now at least vaguely dangerous after the upgrades in Powers and Principalities.
Game Size
Raiders are bullies. Not meant to cast aspersions on the crews themselves (but they are pirates, after all) but their design concept. Raiders tend to do better engaging targets smaller or less loaded with technology than they are, with the sole exception of the Battlewagon, which is almost exactly the reverse.
A good way of describing Raider ships is as 'Pocket' versions of ships a priority level larger. Unfortunately, you tend not to get the numerical edge you might like because your fighting ships are raid and battle. Your biggest numerical edge is the ridiculous numbers of fighters you can field.
Durability
Raider ships are tough for their priority and are easily made tougher still. However, their durability comes in the form of hit points, like 3rd age EA, Narns, and Brakiri - this makes them very good against laser fire but struggle against critical-inducing missiles, or hull-shredding bolter, railgun and ion cannon fire.
Flexibility
The most important thing to get used to with raiders is the ships' customization options. With the various combinations of upgrades you can produce a knock-off version of any specialist or generalist ship you like (except a scout), and the ability to buy in allies improves this further.
Always take your custom ship options - if nothing else, take the expanded hull, because it ups the durability of your ships from just being 'good' to Narn-esque levels of toughness.
Weapons
All raider weapons are relatively short ranged. Whilst a missile battery can be fitted, it's short ranged compared to EA, Drazi, Centauri or Dilgar counterparts, and it's a waste on larger ships. This makes long-ranged fire from allied ships quite tempting.
Auxilliary Craft
Breaching Pods: Fieldable in fairly large numbers, These guys are something to go for en masse or not at all.
Delta-V: Utter chaff. Unable to act as Interceptors, and pretty lousy in the superiority role, their main role is to act as supporting flights - but with low initiative, you'll often find them getting jumped. I would only ever take them free with ships, and then only if you want both refit slots for something.
Delta-V2: Now this is more like it. Advanced Fighters lets you access these guys for free on your ships, and you should make sure that the bulk of your force is of V2 standard. With Fleet Carrier support they can engage most line fighters of the league.
Double-V: The only Raider fighter I would spend points on (because you can't get it free...), the Double-V provides, allocation point for allocation point, just about as much firepower as you've got going for auxilliary craft. Bringing it all to bear is difficult, though, especially given its speed. If intending to field a pack of these (and they are nasty), then a Point Defence System-tooled ship is a good idea.
Patrol Priority
Modified Freighter: Slow, reasonably tough, unmanouvrable and reasonably well armed at close range to the front. The modified freighter is your source of numbers and a good chassis to hang upgrades off. Afterburners are good, given its low speed, and then a 'mission' upgrade - either a Missile Battery, Boarding Party or Point Defence System are good.
Alternatively, if you know that manouvrability isn't important compared to surviving, consider Heavy Armour and an Interceptor Grid. The resulting ship is, at patrol level, ridiculously tough unless the enemy can turn laser fire on it. Of course, a short ranged, very slow ship will have problems unless its target is equally slow, or their destination is predictable - where there is an obvious 'objective' - planet, convoy or whatever, these baby armoured gunships actually become rather dangerous.
Skirmish Priority
Strike Carrier: A staple of the fleet, the strike carrier is likely to form a large numerical portion of a raider force. It's a tough but badly-armoured hull, meaning Heavy Armour generally isn't worth it (going from 5 to 6 makes a much bigger deal than 4 to 5), whilst Expanded Hull gives you even more bang for your buck. As a fighting ship, it's pretty second rate - as with all carriers, I guess - and that cheap Fleet Carrier and Carrier 4 make it a very specialiesd version. Unless taking Breaching Pods, Advanced Fighters is a must, giving you a sizeable wing of effective superiority fighters. Increased Hangar is nice, adding a fifth V2, but usually having your fleet carrier survive longer will do you more good in the long run than another flight, so Expanded Hull is probably better. A Missile Battery isn't a bad pick, especially if twin-linked (Advanced Targeting), but you'll never really turn this hull into a fighting ship.
Enhanced Bridge is a very good idea - in a large game, initiative tends to become less and less important, and +1 command is hardly a game-winner, but at raid-to-skirmish games it's worth it, especially in a fighter heavy fleet given the all-or-nothing initiative win with fighters. Taking two carriers, one with Enhanced Bridge, and one with Point Defence System, and using a patrol point to buy them V2s instead of the Advanced Fighters upgrade can make for a nice carrier group.
Raid Priority
Battlewagon: The only wolf in the fleet, the battlewagon is a 'proper' warship. A big forwards pulse battery and a decent forward laser, wrapped in a chassis that allows it to ignore its target's escorts and fighters whilst it concentrates on its target. I'd reach for the battlewagon when expecting battle priority ships or above to make an appearance.
Hull 6 and Interceptors are very, very good, and it's a tough hull. Twin-linking the pulse battery is nice - probably just out-edging a Missile Battery in terms of damage potential against most foes.
Expanded Hull is very nice, and I'd say choice 1, turning this ship into a true brick outhouse (notice a running theme?), whilst most other defence upgrades are less useful - the Battlewagon is already hull 6, and increasing interceptors is much less impressive than adding them in the first place. Afterburners are situational - as with all raider ships straight-line speed sucks but then so does manouvrability, and as a big-game-hunter, the battlewagon will generally be aiming itself at prey just as unwieldy as it is.
Fighters are a bit of an afterthoughts - yes, you get three flights but getting them off the ship requires a Scramble! Scramble! order. Advanced Fighters is still nice, but moving three Vs to V2s is probably not worth the same as the huge chunk of durability you get by applying Expanded Hull to a big ship.
Given the existing durability and the fact that it doesn't need much to be a good ship, an Enhanced Bridge sits even better here than on a strike carrier; fielding one or more Battlewagons means you're playing a game where lining up boresights is going to matter.
Battle Priority
Dreadnought:
Poor Range, massive firepower. Lots of hit points, badly armoured hull (for a battleship). Large fighter wing, slow to launch them. The raider Dreadnought is full of contradictions. If it can manage to fire its plasma cannons in multiple arcs simultaneously, it's bloody hideous. The laser is nice but don't obsess over it - it's no more effective than a battlewagon's main gun. Getting into the middle of a formation of enemy brawlers and matching them punch-for-punch is what the Dreadnought is about.
Once again, Expanded Hull is a must. 72 damage and 102 crew, covered by Interceptors 4, means that you laugh in the face of most attacks (until you take critical hits to everthing on the ship!). Heavy armour makes for the ultimate 'screw you' ship, but at speed 3", range 8" it's only viable if you can jump in from hyperspace on top of an essentially stationary target. These ships are ideal for messing up planetary defences in an invasion, though (especially if this means engaging multiple patrol boats or platforms at once).
On top of expanded hull, if you still need the speed then Afterburners are an obvious one. Advanced Fighters are nice but getting the wing in the void takes too long for my liking. Either the Afterburners or Enhanced Targeting to twin-link the forward heavy plasma cannons are probably your best bets.
Allies
Raiders can use league allies to cover their weaknesses. Broadly speaking, these weaknesses are:
1) Agile flankers/flank protectors
2) Long ranged snipers
3) Scouts
4) Heavyweight warships
1&2 are best met by Drazi - Darkhawks are superb ships provided you have something to keep the enemy's attention off them. Vree torpedo saucers do pretty well, too.
The same races work well for 3 - Vree scouts are the best value. The more Double-V flights you have, and the more Missile Battery armed ships, the more tempting the fire redirection becomes.
Number 4 is situational. Since you can spend entire points on allies this only becomes really important in war priority games (something you should avoid fighting if you can!). But if you must, then a warship - or a battleship that's better armed than a Dreadnought - is a good pick.
