Who do the ISA fear?

[Poi]

I use Dilgar, and playing ISA isn't all that much fun.

I've managed to win a couple of games against boon_huh's ISA, but only in Recon Run.

Claimed today's game in spite of losing my entire fleet.

All their traits makes them very hard for me to take down.

Which other fleets can manage to face them down?

 

[katadder]

narn, Gaim, drakh for definate. just depends on the fleets on both sides. any fleet can beat any other.

 

[Da Boss]

All fear the Lion of the Galaxy!

The Shadows are good against them........ Scouts vs Stars and Stalker vs Gunship is interesting

 

[Ripple]

hmm...any fleet may be able to beat any other...but some fights really slant one way or the other.

ISA vs Dilgar was always a tough fight for the Dilgar due to the sort range of the primary weapons. The ISA could often get out of you primary arcs while still firing their beams. Second ed should make this a bit better as the Whitestar went to boresight and the Dilgar's ranged punch increased.

Basically to beat the ISA reliably you need to be able to negate dodge or do truly massive damage in one turn. Plicking the whitestar down generally is not effective as the ship will flee the fight if it gets close to hurt possibly returning late in the game (if it was able to lurk in some corner) to fire a few long range laser shots.

Minbari do well vs the ISA due to all round firepower at similar ranges to the whitestars main guns. All the area affect races...there are a few now... Maybe a few others.

Ripple

 

[katadder]

who told you WS went to boresight? this hasnt happened, its still front arc.

 

[Poi]

It's the dodge that gives the problems, especially as the few hits get cut by reactive armour and then repaired.

Dilgar don't have much that's beam. (just one weapon in 1e, waiting to see if we get any more in 2e)
They also suffer with limited fire arcs on many ships.

I haven't tried assault ships yet. That's one of my next buys, probably a pentacon of Rohrics.

 

[tneva82]

It's the dodge that gives the problems, especially as the few hits get cut by reactive armour and then repaired.

Well to be honest I don't expect nor plan to get anything more than 1 hit through. But since adaptive armour would nerf the result pretty much anyway that's all right.

I have never been good at causing signficant damage at once. Nibble them to death though works better.

Good thing about facing white stars is that once you take few out their firepower gets reduced enough that the threat they possess is dramatically reduced.

All you need to do is nibble few to crewless state...

 

[thehod]

Narn are tough for me in 1e with all the Contiuous E-Mine Spam. I also have to say Vree because of their ability to negate my main tactic of denying my opponents their main arcs and as with Vree they are just as Manuverable as ISA and can fire on all Arcs vs my regular 1 arc.

 

[Itkovian]

Well in 2e the Dilgar have no beams at all, but a lot more long range torpedoes!

Oh and more fighters too!

And I think the Gaim will give them real problems as whitestars are horribly vulnerable to being whittled by fighters and energy mines are always a worry.

Pak'Ma'Ra and Abbai are difficult enemies too as they combine all round firepower and good defences.

The Dilgar are a fleet the ISA will do well against though less well under 2e I think

 

[EDFDarkAngel1]

I fight the ISA primarily with my EA. Their low hull scores can rack up alot of AD hits on them. The Victory is a nasty piece of work, but you make them useless with a good weapons crit or two.

Dark Angel

 

[Ripple]

The boresight comment was based on the pdf we were sent to comment on... the final version may not have had that. Sad if that is true as we thought it was a decent nod to the canon material and actually balanced the 2 AD laser, which is otherwise a straight upgrade of a ship that was already winning most fights.

But hey...big, better, faster more is the theme...

Ripple

 

[katadder]

on a 50/50 beam 2AD isnt a major upgrade. 1AD beams are generally not so good in 2e unless fighting hull 6 ships as initial dice there is the same. imagine doing the scenario of 1 WS versus raiders when you need 4s to hit the strike carrier with 1AD beam. not gonna die very quickly.

 

[Da Boss]

Various bits on WS boresight before -its not in the fleet book - problem as noted before is that the WSs are not able to (on their own) target anything that matters and hence you reduce massively the possibility of WS fleets - another aspect of Canon...............

The 2 AD is not overwhelming as the 4+ to hit anything works both ways - can equally often miss big as hit big.

 

[Calistan]

I would think that the White Star would be super maneuverable compared to most of the ships in B5.

 

[katadder]

agile with 2 90 degree turns is very manouvrable anyway, doesnt need much more than that. although occasionally have used come about.

 

[Bostich]

Not surprising that the Dilgar have a tough time against the ISA though .. since by the time there is an ISA there aren't any more Dilgar

 

[Triggy]

on a 50/50 beam 2AD isnt a major upgrade. 1AD beams are generally not so good in 2e unless fighting hull 6 ships as initial dice there is the same. imagine doing the scenario of 1 WS versus raiders when you need 4s to hit the strike carrier with 1AD beam. not gonna die very quickly.

Given Beams vs Hull 5 are 85% as effective and vs Hull 6 are 140% as effective and you can choose what you shoot at, 2AD is roughly a 100% upgrade in firepower from 1AD of SAP 1st ed Beam.

 

[katadder]

am just saying that a 1AD beam in 2e would not be as good against hull 4 or 5 as it was in 1e. in 1e to get that initial hit is 2 or 3+ depending on if hull 4 or 5. now making it 50/50 is one of the reasons WSs needed a 2AD beam.

 

[Triggy]

am just saying that a 1AD beam in 2e would not be as good against hull 4 or 5 as it was in 1e. in 1e to get that initial hit is 2 or 3+ depending on if hull 4 or 5. now making it 50/50 is one of the reasons WSs needed a 2AD beam.

Not to mention, can't use CAF or Scout to benefit the Beams either. It's a tough call isn't it :?

 

[katadder]

yep that too. 1AD beam just didnt cut it for WSs, much as it would have been nice to leave it at that.