Vorlon fleet

[Abraxas]

Well... I bought a Centauti fleet and was considering to play them... but I MAY go to the Vorlons. They are completely against my usual strategy when it comes to wargames (I prefer fast, and effective) but Vorlons seem (if nothing else) slow and perpuseful.

They seem severely limited by the number of ships in their repitoire as well as the ships they can bring to standard games. Not to mention the ships they DO possess have less than diverse weapons, limited to a single heavy weapon per ship (aside from the cruiser).

Well, as a 5 pt. raid I was thinking:

1 Destroyer
2 Transports
3 patrols of Vorlon Fighters (9 wings)

The Destroyer can act as a sniper while the transports and some fighters strike forward. Depending on the enemy I may keep some fighters behind to protect the Destroyer.

Well, how's it sound? If it's not a good idea, what are the alternatives? I see very few threads about the Vorlons. What can people say about them?

 

[Triggy]

With the new anti-fighter 1" effect Vorlon ships have, I'd recommend against fighters if playing in larger than a Skirmish PL game. This isn't essential, but it is what I'd do. Other than that, these are fairly typical Vorlon fleets that will tend to do well:

5 Transports
1 Destroyer, 3 Transports
2 Destroyers, 1 Transport

Good luck on your decisions.

 

[timeslip]

That's 2" AF. That is the fleet I'm actually going to be using in the Chicago tournement.
George 8)

 

[Locutus9956]

or 1 Light Cruiser and 1 Transport. May not sound nasty but trust me those things are a nightmare to kill with a 5 pt raid force

 

[Abraxas]

or 1 Light Cruiser and 1 Transport. May not sound nasty but trust me those things are a nightmare to kill with a 5 pt raid force

I could just see 5 White Stars wiping the floor with that fleet.

I DO want to by a heavy or light cruiser though. If nothing else they are stunning models.

 

[Triggy]

or 1 Light Cruiser and 1 Transport. May not sound nasty but trust me those things are a nightmare to kill with a 5 pt raid force

I could just see 5 White Stars wiping the floor with that fleet.

I DO want to by a heavy or light cruiser though. If nothing else they are stunning models.

It's not such a bad proposition as you'd think, firstly the Vorlons will often win the initiative, secondly, they still have one initiative sink and thirdly, one (or maybe two) White Stars will be destroyed before they even get to grips with the Vorlons (i.e. at least one ship behind the Cruiser). The Light Cruiser is actually manoeuvrable enough to be able to get one target more often than not, even if nailing the last White Star is tricky. All this not to mention, you can often retreat if about to die and sometimes still win the battle!!!

 

[Abraxas]

Well, I'll give it a try... as well as the 1 Destroyer and 3 Transport fleet... if I ever play.

Now I am considering my Vorlon campaign fleet. How's this:

10 pt BATLE

1 Hvy Cruiser
3 Lt Cruisers
6 Destroyers
4 Transports
18 Vorlon fighters

Is this any good? What does a campaign Vorlon fleet look like?

 

[Triggy]

Well, I'll give it a try... as well as the 1 Destroyer and 3 Transport fleet... if I ever play.

Now I am considering my Vorlon campaign fleet. How's this:

10 pt BATLE

1 Hvy Cruiser
3 Lt Cruisers
6 Destroyers
4 Transports
18 Vorlon fighters

Is this any good? What does a campaign Vorlon fleet look like?

Sorry but that's 10 War points :shock:

As a suggestion for a Vorlon campaign fleet, I'd probably start without the Heavy Cruiser as they're a relative bargain if you buy them during the campaign (even if they still cost a fortune, Battle and War purchases with RR are better value than Patrol and Skirmish choices). Here would be my choice:

1 Light Cruiser
4 Destroyers
6 Transports
6 Fighter wings (18 flights)

 

[Alexb83]

I've also just bought a Vorlon fleet - I'd mirror Triggy's recommendation; avoid fighters. You get plenty for your money, but they can't dogfight at all, are slow as sin and many of the younger races can outnumber your fighters quite easily for the same points. Yes, they have the best weapons of any fighter in the game... unfortunately you'll very, very rarely get to fire it.
The best way to use them is to have them hover around your transports/destroyers to keep them alive (rarely will enemy fighters risk flying in against a Vorlon ship because they take casualties as soon as they do - and /then/ have to deal with your fighters). Get the transports in close (you have to anyways, just to fire) then detach the fighters and let them do their thing.

The 2 destroyer/1 transport mix is good, as the destroyer has a decent step up in range from the transport, as well as a rare privelige of getting twice the AD for the equivalent points value of 2 transports. Range is a big problem for Vorlons (they dont reach parity with the other races' big guns until Armageddon PL ships) so Transports are a clear winner.

Also, against a hull 6 ship (there are sooo many of them!), you really do need 8 AD of AP beams to have a remote chance of doing any real damage.

 

[Abraxas]

Is this any good? What does a campaign Vorlon fleet look like?

Sorry but that's 10 War points :shock:[/quote]

I just realized I was using SFoS priority levels :? . Oh well...

As a suggestion for a Vorlon campaign fleet, I'd probably start without the Heavy Cruiser as they're a relative bargain if you buy them during the campaign (even if they still cost a fortune, Battle and War purchases with RR are better value than Patrol and Skirmish choices). Here would be my choice:

1 Light Cruiser
4 Destroyers
6 Transports
6 Fighter wings (18 flights)

Thank you. I think I can do this. I just got a Vorlon fleet off eBay and already have one Transport. Looks like I'll be short a Transport... which I can get easily enough.

Do I want that many fighters?

I've also just bought a Vorlon fleet - I'd mirror Triggy's recommendation; avoid fighters. You get plenty for your money, but they can't dogfight at all, are slow as sin and many of the younger races can outnumber your fighters quite easily for the same points. Yes, they have the best weapons of any fighter in the game... unfortunately you'll very, very rarely get to fire it.
The best way to use them is to have them hover around your transports/destroyers to keep them alive (rarely will enemy fighters risk flying in against a Vorlon ship because they take casualties as soon as they do - and /then/ have to deal with your fighters). Get the transports in close (you have to anyways, just to fire) then detach the fighters and let them do their thing.

This all makes a lot of sence. Thanks.

The 2 destroyer/1 transport mix is good, as the destroyer has a decent step up in range from the transport, as well as a rare privelige of getting twice the AD for the equivalent points value of 2 transports. Range is a big problem for Vorlons (they dont reach parity with the other races' big guns until Armageddon PL ships) so Transports are a clear winner.

Do you mean "Destroyers" are the clear winner? From what I saw, Destroyers have the AD of 2 Transports but better range... so did you mean Destroyers?

 

[LordClinto]

Is everybody sure that buying a Vorlon Light Cruiser or Heavy Cruiser is a bargain during campaign play?

Don't Vorlons & Shadows pay double the cost to "manufacture" ships during campaigns?

For a campaign I personally would take:
1 VHC (4 Battle)
1 VLC (2 Battle)
2 Destroyers (1 Battle each)
3 Transports (1/2 Battle each)
3 flights of 3 Fighters (1 Patrol/flight of 3 // 1/2 Battle total)

Get some of the big ships right away, so as not to pay the hefty RR cost later on.


And I am probably just repeating what previous posters said but:

Also I don't see what all the fuss is over Vorlon Fighters. Yeah they are slow & suck at dogfighting, so what their 3" range 2AD AF/AP/B/P Discharge Guns can do some serious damage to anything.

Only use them to support your ships. If a enemy fighter base wants to dogfight them they still get attacked by the 1AD of AF Charge directly after moving.

I could see taking a Raid point worth (9 fighter bases) just for support. For example I had this come up in a game a while back where my 3rd Age EA opponent only took T'bolts. He kept them outside the 2" Charged (whatever) range and pounded me with 4" ranged missiles. If I had some Fighters supporting my ships their 3" range 2AD AF/AP/B/P weapons would have come in very handy for those T'bolts lurking right outside the 2" mark.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Triggy]

Is everybody sure that buying a Vorlon Light Cruiser or Heavy Cruiser is a bargain during campaign play?

Don't Vorlons & Shadows pay double the cost to "manufacture" ships during campaigns?

Thing is, they're still a relative bargain as every ship costs double after the initial build. This way to build the same "mixed" fleet that you could have later on, you save RRs by building the smaller ships first and the bigger ships later!

As for taking the fighters - I'd take that many as otherwise your opponents will be queueing up to take you on in small games and you'll have hell to pay if you run out of fighters (they'll still want to play small games but this way at least you'll have something). With this fleet hopefully you won't have to build many (if any) fighters again in the campaign!

 

[Alexb83]

Do you mean "Destroyers" are the clear winner? From what I saw, Destroyers have the AD of 2 Transports but better range... so did you mean Destroyers?

Sorry, yes - slip of the keyboard. Destroyers are the winner - the damage/self repair increase isn't great from transport to destroyer, nor is the loss of speed a good thing, but double the firepower is a rare treat when bumping up from one PL to the next.

 

[Triggy]

Do you mean "Destroyers" are the clear winner? From what I saw, Destroyers have the AD of 2 Transports but better range... so did you mean Destroyers?

Sorry, yes - slip of the keyboard. Destroyers are the winner - the damage/self repair increase isn't great from transport to destroyer, nor is the loss of speed a good thing, but double the firepower is a rare treat when bumping up from one PL to the next.

This advantage is particularly notable the higher the PL you go as the Self-Repair score becomes more important. At Raid level, the two are roughly equivalent and it depends on your playing preferences. One Destroyer is *slightly* better than two Transports but there are certain other advantages to having two ships over one such as initiative sinks and "eggs in one basket" syndrome...