Updating to 3rd Age or Crusade Era EA

[Lone Gunman]

I'm presently an early Era EA player and thinking of updating either to 3rd age or Crusade Era but until now, I did not find a reason why.

EA looses all variants of the Hyperion, the Sagittarius completely.
During a tournament last weekend the standard Hyperion regularly exploded or were one-shot wonders.
Also, the Omega is not the front line warship of the EA that it should be imo. 6 AD beam dd are ok, but are boresight and its secondary batteries are merely a joke, slow loarding mini beams and 8 ad twin linked, when compared to even a G'Quan. The Hyperion suffers from the same problem. It has its beam and then only a few ad of pulse and plasma cannons, nothing great but also as many hit points as some skirmish level ships. Ok, it somehow has to compensate for the interceptors but that much? The Haltona offers the same, only with no fighters and interceptors but with 8 ad ap in most directions.
None of the newer EA ships seems to have some kind of "backup heavy weapon". The Warlock has some rail guns and missile racks, but wouldn't the Omega and Hyperion then not also have some of those?
And in Crusade, where EA is almost forced to take high priority ships, most heavy weapons are boresight. But then again on lower levels aren't any real good ones. The Myrmidon is ok for a patrol ship, the Cronus is a sucker but cannot do what one must do in war (namely to kill other ships), and the Hyperion is as it always is, wiht no back up when it cannot lineup its boarside beam.

So, please explain to me. Why should I update do 3rd or Crusade Era? Sagittarius (although fragile) have a good long range punch. Hyperion Rail and Artemis frigates are cheap, have no fixed arc and can do good amounts of damage. The Avenger is a solid carrier and the Nova with its short range but ap, DD Plasma Cannons a real brawler.

 

[H]

well, their are many would say the Saggi is a bit ott..

the omega is as good as a G'Quan, indeed a better choice in many respects, and it is agreed that the G'Quan is actually sub par. The Hyperion has a 4 dice beam, in the right scenario it will pay for itself with ease. The Chronos could do with a couple more dice, but against beam light fleets it's absolutely fine with it's hull 6 and interceptors.

what you do get at crusade is the apollo, Poseidon, Firebolts, Marathon and quite probably a new ship this summer.

 

[Da Boss]

Warlock

 

[Davesaint]

I would upgrade to 3rd age for one reason - T-Bolts. :mrgreen:

 

[Lord David the Denied]

I think the 3rd age fleet is just cooler. You keep most of your ships and gain the Omega which is just the iconic ship from the screen. You get the Thunderbolt which is a nasty fighter, equalling a lot of races' dogfighters and smacking ships about pretty easily. You also get the Badger for similar duties. You get the Warlock which is among the best war units and just superbly cool on top of that. You get the Poseidon, an awesome carrier. You still have the Artemis which is a nice skirmish ship.

Basically, you don't lose much, weapons fits change but they're in no way shafted, and you gain some really decent ships and fighters. You can just buy a few ships and fighter blisters and run both fleets with the models you already have.

 

[phoenixhawk]

I agree with Lord David the Denied. While I enjoy the Crusade era, there is almost no overlap between Early and Crusade. Third Age is the bridge between the two and will offer you the most "bang for the buck" so to speak in terms of ship selection. the only thing that 3rd Age is missing, and this seems important since you seem to like your saggi, is a missile ship. Early has the Saggi and Crusade has the Apollo. You can buy a few new ships and some TBolts and still have a nice fleet of Early ships to use as well.

In fact, the old original EA fleet box is a nice mix of new and old (the one before they split the eras) with 4 Omega, 4 Hyperion, a couple Tethys and a couple Artemis, and a Nova. 4 Omega are probably too many, but the rest is good.

Grab a couple Omegas, some TBolts, a Poseidon if you want a challenge (and a centerpiece), and you're good to go.

Oh yeah, and a Warlock too. Those are cool!

Chris

 

[Tolwyn]

Mhm, I have to admit that EA has become a rather weak fleet. EA lost nearly every battle at our campaign weekend end.

I agree with LG that EA misses some powerfull secondary weapons and relies to much on beams for damage output. The Hyperion is indeed a one shot wonder as it no longer has the stable firepower it had under the old rules. His example of the Haltona is very good. It has better cover and AD with it's Graviton Pulsars. In addition it has more Hit Points.

 

[Shadow Queen]

my 3rd age went well at the weekend.

 

[Ripple]

But the haltona has no interceptors...

The hyperion does need to shoot early, as it is fragile, but compared to the haltona it has much more beam firepower (4 every turn vs 5 every other is a big difference.)

And I don't think either the hyperion or the omega is missing out on secondaries. The only folks who really beat them out across the board is the Centauri, where their secondary weapons are the mains really.

Ripple

 

[Prophaniti]

my 3rd age went well at the weekend.

As this is the fleet I'm using, do you have any tips re. good ships and essential tactics? I've managed to lose vs Gaim and Centauri and scrape a tiny win against Drazi. So not many games under my belt so far and not feeling too confident using them.

If there is a good thread to answer this could you refer me to it instead?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Shadow Queen]

my 5 battle points were

1 warlock (was never killed)
1 omega
1 avenger
1 nova
2 oracles
2 olympus

 

[Lone Gunman]

To say the truth, I do not plan to field a standard Hyperion any time soon. They are imo fragile and under gunned. They have 4 ad beam, ok, but they are boresight as many other ea main weapons and I need something to line them up. And it has no good secondaries to speak of. The Omega is iconic, yes, but is pulse cannons are so week... They seem to be much harder in the show.

And returning to the Haltona, yes, it may have slow loading beams but they are forward and quite easy to line up. And due to the new beam rules even only 2.5 beam ad can produce 10+ damage dice. So I don't think there is much difference. And for intereceptors, the Falkosi can easily compensate for them and I can get them in swarms with Brikortas.

I just can't see how the iconic ships with their reliance on beams(i.e. lucky dice rolls with them) can keep up with reliable plasma weapons or bolters (when speaking of other races) who have a set amount of ad which can be relied on.

 

[Lord David the Denied]

EA pulse cannons are not weak. They're single damage, twin-linked in most cases. They may not be major shipkillers but they negate adaptive armour and they're not wasted against shields like DD weapons are.

I'd like to see heavy pulse cannons pick up AP, since they're based on Dilgar technology and Dilgar heavy pulsars have AP. They don't however, have AP and TL at the same time on any ship I'm aware of.

 

[Da Boss]

EA pulse cannons are not weak. They're single damage, twin-linked in most cases. They may not be major shipkillers but they negate adaptive armour and they're not wasted against shields like DD weapons are..

Only on the last point if it is an odd numbered shield as they still knock down 2 shield points................

 

[Lord David the Denied]

No, one hit one shield, regardless of traits, unless I'm very much mistaken. I'll check when I have clean hands...

 

[Burger]

No, one hit one shield, regardless of traits, unless I'm very much mistaken. I'll check when I have clean hands...

You are mistaken, double damage takes off 2 shields, triple takes off 3 and quad takes off 4. If it's the last box of shield then the entire hit is blocked, so if you have 1 left and hit for double damage, the entire hit is negated. Same goes for having 2 shield left and getting hit by triple damage, and 3 shields hit by quad.

that can probably be said quite a lot more consicely!!!

But you are right, single damage are better for stripping shields because you don't get short-changed.

 

[Lord David the Denied]

Well then, like a man in orthopeadic shoes, I stand corrected. I'd still like to see the heavy pulse cannons pick up AP... :wink:

 

[Foxmeister]

No, one hit one shield, regardless of traits, unless I'm very much mistaken. I'll check when I have clean hands...

You're a Centauri player - you'll never wash those hands clean!!

 

[Lord David the Denied]

You Narn needed to be put back in your place...

 

[Tolwyn]

Narn and Centauri. I wish I had some of the toys they have.

The Pulse Cannons on most EA ships are a joke, perhaps exept for the Omega and Hyperion Pulse how have sheer quantity. And you can no longer rely on the lasers as primary weapons. I'm lucky if I can get 4 shots out of 4 AD from the Hyperion.