Cardy Scum! Dominion Week!

 

It's going to be jokes like this... all week long.

This week, I'll look at the Wave 0 Dominion releases and their upgrades. I want to start by saying that I understand why they didn't include a fourth ship in the initial release, but it had the effect of delaying the dominion being able to be played competitively. Sure, some people have had some success with playing the Dominion, but the initial ships were more in the "advanced" column than in the "beginner", and I think this turned a lot of people off of the faction. Furthermore, I think they got the order of the ships wrong, and should have first released the Keldon instead of the Galor. While the Galor is more iconic, that's kinda pushing the definition of the word. Let's not even get into the discussion about how the Cardassians should have probably been their own faction apart from the Dominion, but I get why they wanted to lump them together, for the sake of not having to include a whole bunch of text on the bottom of each of these cards saying "faction penalties do not apply etc.,"

So we'll start with the Galor itself. The model is great. The ship has a number of odd choices built in, which I think hurt it from the beginning. 

Kraxon (Cardassian Galor Class)/ Dominion Starship (Cardassian Galor Class) Front Firing Arc: 180° Rear Firing Arc: NA A: 4 E: 1 H: 4 S: 4(3) Whenever a friendly ship within Range 1 of your ship receives damage you may transfer any amount of that damage to your own Shields, if possible. Actions: Evasive Maneuvers, Target Lock, Sensors Upgrades: Tech, Tech, Weapons, Crew Points: 26 (24)

The front firing arc is great. I like that cardassian ships generally have a 180 firing arc, and aren't as unfocused as the Federation. It really gives Cardassian ships a unified feel. Where I think this thing falters, is in the movement dial. Given that the Neg'Var has an amazing turning dial, can cloak, has 5 attacks and is only 4 pts more expensive for the generic version, I don't understand why the Galor doesn't have a better movement dial. The 180 firing arc is not SO good that it couldn't have used a few better maneuvers. 

The Kraxon is the only ship in the game that can act like a tank, but isn't strong enough to do so, and requires you to go off faction to really get the thing working. It's like they had a great theme, but didn't want to commit. The ship seems unfocused. 

If you're using the Kraxon as a tank, you have to do some solo practice (or multiple practice tests with an opponent) on range bands. If you can master staying out of range bands while still being within range 1 of other ships, I think this ship can be pretty good. It is definitely not a ship that can be effectively run by a beginner. If you're running a dominion fleet, the time you spend practicing with the Kraxon will pay off. 

It should have had battlestations. I don't get the choice to leave it up to Gul Dukat to provide that particular action. 

Finally, I'm reticent to advise really beefing this thing up. I think you have to either be committed to the tank strategy, or forego that and keep the ship simple. They'll give some builds a run for their money, but it's a very comparable ship to a Vor'cha, and the Vor'cha completely outclasses this thing. The firing arc is not that big of a deal on a ship with a great maneuver dial. 

One way to run a beefy Kraxon is the following

Kraxon

Mirok

Scotty

If you're outside of firing arcs, you can use scotty to give you some serious firepower, or if you've taken damage, you can use scotty to repair shields and keep you in the fight. Same with Mirok. 

This strategy could work well in a three Galor build, or even with some smaller attack fighters.