The great hull debate!

[emperorpenguin]

The more and more I read on the boards (and the more and more I play) it seems that people try to take as many hull 6 ships in their fleets as possible.
Sensible enough given the numbers of super AP, x damage weapons out there.
Most of the ships bemoaned by others (and me!) seem to suffer by being hull 4 and die too easily.

What do you think?
Do you choose hull 6 ships where possible?
Do you disagree and swear by some hull 4 ships?

Is the tiny range in hull numbers a weak point of this game?
Would you prefer to see a target value as used by Victory at sea?
Do you think a D10 to hit would give greater flexibility?

 

[H]

hmm, It is all down to ship types. I mean ALL things being equal, then of course a hull 6 G'Quan wins out over a hull 4 G'Quan, but all things are not equal. for instance, the Rothan or a T'Loth? It depends on your opponent and situation. the T'Loth is only hull 5, but look at it's ability to soak damage, and the detterent it offers in your opponent being scared of it's troops and never all stopping. whereas a rothan can't take as much damage, but then is harder to damage in the first place, and offers better weapons. And then if you are the drakh, Masters of the swiss cheese hull, then Hull 4 is your constant companion, apart from on the undercrewed Cruisers. A D10's worth of hull would of course allow you a lot more variation, so renowned tough hull babies like the narn and EA could be very distinctive to weaker hull fleets such as centauri. but then how do you so the weapons, do you change all the dynamics of the game to D10? Personally, odd quirks and broken bits aside, i thik it works quite well as it is

 

[Greg Smith]

Personally I like the Olympus and G'karith. A good ship can have one flaw and a hull 4 instead of 5 can be that flaw.

 

[thePirv]

Well, i mostly go with hull 4's, but that's because i'm a Drakh player and as Hiff said, there's not a lot of choice for the Drakh.

If i'm not playing as the Drakh though, i generally go with Hull 6 as much as possible, only straying into Hull 5's when no better option presents itself. I never willingly choose a Hull 4, no matter what.

 

[Malarion]

I try to stack on Hull 6 ships, because i prefer the extreme opposite of Drazi tactics, no need for extra weapons, when youre simply around long enough to whittle em to death. Ok i play Narn so Hull and damage are plenty.

My gripe with Hull4 hips is theyre total weakness to beams (that is partially due to having 2 ISA and 1 Minbari player around).

Hull 5 is ok, but comparing a Rongoth and a T'Loth, while the T'loth balances the lower hull with more damage, it also means an extra number of crits....
I prefer not to be hit at all, instead of actually soaking that damage, along with potential crits.

 

[Benjamen the Wolf]

I play ISA and mainly play the White Star fleet, so I don't have alot of choice in what Hull my ships are. In larger games, yes I'll take a Victory, but for the most part White Stars make up my fleet. I do use ships from other fleets as allies, and it really depends on what I'm wanting to accomplish with the allied ship. At the moment, I'm taking a Leshath Heavy Scout, which is Hull 4.

I might take a bunch of the Vree scouts, the ones with Hull 3. That way I just get alot of them to compensate for the low hull score.

 

[prelude_to_war]

Depends on your fleet, opponent and tactics. With EA, one sacrifices all hull 6 ships for greater flexibility. Fleets which don't have hull 6 more than make up for it via offense, strong defensive traits and/or maneuverability.

 

[Tank]

I dont really have a preference as I like fielding Hull 4 Olympuses and have completely gone off Hull 6 chronoses and most of my raid choices are hull 5 anyway

 

[Reaverman]

I dont really have a preference as I like fielding Hull 4 Olympuses and have completely gone off Hull 6 chronoses and most of my raid choices are hull 5 anyway

Chroni, its Chroni

I suppose its all dependant on what purpose you are using the ship for, you could easily have a hull 4 ship, but the wepon it carries has a 30" range. So to dismiss the ship, purely because its got a low hull value is daft. I like the G'Kariths in my Narn fleet, they are Hull 4. But the pulse lasers, and E-mines are a good pay off.

 

[Chernobyl]

Hull 6 is the only defense against beams. its as simple as that.

Chern

 

[Malarion]

I dont really have a preference as I like fielding Hull 4 Olympuses and have completely gone off Hull 6 chronoses and most of my raid choices are hull 5 anyway

Chroni, its Chroni

Actually as its Greek and not Latin, you'd have to go with a Chronoi

So you have a fleet of Chronoi coming at ya.

 

[Triggy]

I dont really have a preference as I like fielding Hull 4 Olympuses and have completely gone off Hull 6 chronoses and most of my raid choices are hull 5 anyway

Chroni, its Chroni

Actually as its Greek and not Latin, you'd have to go with a Chronoi

So you have a fleet of Chronoi coming at ya.

Actually as it's a proper noun (and using the English pluralisation), it's Chronoses

I actually like hull 4/5 as "all things being equal" means that if I go for the lighter hulls I generally get ships with more manoeuvrability and firepower... My style is to hit hard and fast rather than try to survive the enemy

 

[Hash]

Well now, that fancy "stealth" stuff may save your skin from time to time, and great big guns are all well and good (very good in fact) but nothing beats a good solid hunk of pewter between you and the object of your fury...Hull 6 all the way baby!

 

[Celisasu]

Generally hull 6 although if you offer big enough guns I could probably accept a hull 5. Hull 4 is death waiting to happen. I'll accept scouts with it sometimes but I try and avoid it if possible.

 

[Lord David the Denied]

Strong armour is nice, but victory belongs to the first round kill. My Centauri vs EA game with Triggy taught me that. Triggy hamstrung my Centurion with his Omega, then I slagged the Omega with my Primus. One shot, one ship out of the fight...

 

[Locutus9956]

All things being Equal I prefer high hull and a good number of interceptors over sheer hit points for one reason alone. Crits. All the hitpoints in the world wont save you from a spd 0 no special orders crit. But not being hit in the first place certainly helps

 

[Chernobyl]

"Once the rock has spoken, it is too late for the pebbles to decide."

 

[Geekybiker]

Ill take hull 6 please.

Couple of things
- The way beams work make taking low hull ships very dangerous. Well, more that fact that most beams are SAP as well. I personally think beams should be limited to AP and it would help the problem.
-Crits as previously mentioned. Crits are a HUGE factor in the game and if you dont get hit, you dont take em. Part of what makes dodge on the Whitestar so nasty. It avoids crits.

If I take hull 4 ships I almost expect to get 1 turn use out of them 2 max before they pop. However I think its the appropriate hull for most long range support ships (dag'kar, Sag should be here too I think.)

 

[lastbesthope]

If all things were ever equal then obviously higher Hull scores are the way to go. but things are never equal are they :lol:

LBH

 

[emperorpenguin]

Personally I choose hull 6 where possible.
as Chern said hull 4 versus beams is just asking to be destroyed

My primary fleet is Centauri and not surprisingly I find many people prefer the Prefect, Maximus etc
The Darkner for me is too weak at hull 4