Yesterday I posted up a list I'm toying around with. Here it is:
Koranak 26
Gul Dukat 5
Boheeka 2
Cloaking Device 4
Dorsal Weapons Array 3
Dominion Flagship 10
Jem'Hadar Attack Ship(20)
Suicide Attack 5
Jem'Hadar Attack Ship(20)
Suicide Attack 5
So
it's Dominion Pure, the Attack Ships will get a boost to their defense
dice. I would also consider the Independent Flagship which allows a ship
to perform a white or green maneuver for free- thus getting it in range
for a suicide attack. The ind flagship that boosts defense dice would
also not be bad. Should the Attack Ships just use dominion photons?
I'm also thinking that I'd rather swap out Boheeka and the dorsal weapons array to toss Engage on the Koranak- which could improve the maneuverability of the ship.
In almost every list that I'm running a big ship, I consider using Engage.
Rich, a frequent poster and very thoughtful individual, posted up the following:
If you're really trying to get the
most out of Suicide Attack, the Indie flagship that grants an extra
maneuver to a nearby friendly ship would probably be a lot better choice
- it's much easier to get in position for a ram when you can grant a
free green or white maneuver almost every round. Same stat bumps on the
card as the Dominion one (so no +Attack, sadly) but it gives a free
Target Lock, which means you'll get (potentially) Battle Stations +
Target Lock + Scan or Evade every single round for the Koranak,
depending on whether you need offense or defense.
OTOH, you've
got 50 points tied up in one ship with Agility 2, a disable-to-use
cloak, and a total of 9 hits to kill - and only 4 while cloaked. That
won't last long even when the cloak's up, and it'll melt in no time if
they catch you without it unless you quick-kill enemy ships - which,
admittedly, suicide attack is very, very good at.
I don't think it'll work well against an optimized tourney fleet, even if your opponents stay in-faction.
If you're willing to cross-faction yourself, something like this would probably be better:
Koranak 26
Picard 7
Sulu 4
Dorsal Weapons Array 3
Indie Flagship (Dominion flipside) 10
Jem'Hadar Attack Ship 20
Suicide Attack 5
Jem'Hadar Attack Ship 20
Suicide Attack 5
Similar
play style, but spamming Sulu's action gives better overall durability
than the cruddy disable-required cloak does (since your shields stay up)
and Picard gives you first shot against almost anyone, which is
meaningful when you're throwing 5 dice with free Target Lock and
Battlestations.
You might also try:
Keldon 24
Dorsal Weapon Array 3
Kraxon 26
Gul Dukat 5
Sulu 4
Dorsal Weapon Array 3
Indie Flagship (Dominion flipside) 10
Jem'Hadar Attack Ship 20
Suicide Attack 5
I
still don't think it's great, but flagship Kraxon will help keep the
other ships alive a bit longer, it's still fairly hard to kill with Sulu
running, the Dorsal Arrays will keep the Cardassian ships plinking away
for a while even after they're inevitably outflanked, and the
flagship's granted-move ability will help the Keldon come around much
more quickly than usual as well as delivering the Jem'Hadar suicide
strike.
I'm very interested in the first fleet, and moderately uninterested in the second fleet. Part of the list's strengths, I think, is that the opponent will probably not be able to avoid suicide attacks, and that should create some perceived threat that may cause the opponent to evaluate threat differently than they have in other games. I'm actually less interested in the Dorsal Weapons Array without Engage. The Kraxon has a few problems that we'll eventually get to. Here's another list I'm thinking, which assumes that Dukat has stolen a Romulan ship:
Valdore
Dukat
Engage
Indie Flagship (dominion flipside) 10
Jem'Hadar Attack Ship 20
Suicide Attack 5
Jem'Hadar Attack Ship 20
Suicide Attack 5
The Valdore can stay alive for longer, and will have 7 defense dice with battlestations. You'll have target lock every turn as well- I really like this build and it's fairly simple- not too many moving parts.
Since writing this article up yesterday, it has come to my attention that there are individuals around the internet that think that the Suicide Attack is a terrible upgrade. Remember that you don't need to drop your Suicide Attack on the first turn! With every turn that these ships stick around, the Suicide Attack becomes a larger threat. The ability to perform an extra white or green maneuver is not simply to get your suicide ships into position to alpha attack with suicide attacks, but to get decent positions to make attacks. With every hull point/shield that comes off of the opposing ships, your opponent will be weary of the suicide attack. If they start focusing on the Jem Hadar Ships, well, the Valdore with Dukat, Engage and the Flagship upgrade is going to be chasing down other ships, taking them out. The Valdore is very difficult to bring down at 7 defense dice with Battlestations. Finally, at skill 1, these Jem Hadar ships can be used as blockers as well- blockers that will become HUGE threats as the attack phase opens up! I'm not saying that it's an amazing build, but one that could get some mileage out of the Suicide Attack.
Me, thoughtful? I've got an ex-girlfriend who'd contest that point. :)
ReplyDeleteThe Valdore-based list looks like the most effective one to me. It's still got an awful lot of points tied up in one target, although the threat of the suicide attacks is high enough to complicate priorities. There are some serious threats to the build - beware of Ferengi EMP or Positron Beams dumping multiple aux power tokens on Valdore at once, watch out for Chang disabling Dukat (mostly for the effect it has on shifting initiative sequencing), and Stasis Field Generator is always rough on single-big-ship fleets. Even an untimely collision preventing actions is pretty awful, but the flagship ability triggers regardless, which helps a lot.
Biggest single danger is probably having to face a Klingon fleet that can put out 9-10 die Barrage of Fire strikes over a couple of turns. That's too much shooting even for Valdore.
On the plus side, you're extremely resistant to Cloaked Mines, which the Valdore should easily avoid and the attack ships can safely plow through (once) on their way to glory. Valdore with lock and BS should reliably generate 5 hits, which punches even cloak defense rolls often enough. Suicides are absolutely brutal against cloakers too, very strong (at least in my local meta).
In tournament play, you'll want to be careful about how your point-trading goes. If you can trade 2 attack ships for 2 of anything else in most fleets, you can probably manage a win just by keeping the Valdore alive. If you lose the Valdore, you'll need to play to the scenario for a winning draw unless you can manage a wipeout without using the second suicide attack.