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| The Awards of the Federation! |
Most
Flavourful Card: This award has to go to Captain Kirk. His ability is
unseen anywhere else in the game. Sure you have to pay 12 points for it
(15 if off faction), but it really is awesome to flip around "Cheat
Death" and announce that you don't believe in the no win scenario. The
picture is bright, and he has the highest skill you can get in the game.
Fantastic card that really captures the essence of what makes Kirk such
a great character. His cheeky smile reminds us that he always has
something up his sleeve.
Best Ship: This one is really tough to decide. I
like the 360 arc on the Enterprise D, but I have to give the award to
the Vorcha Class Klingon ship. It has a great maneuver dial, fantastic
attack rating and really doesn't need any upgrades to make it viable. It
really doesn't need any upgrades to be viable. This pick could have also been the Valdore, but the fact that the Vorcha comes in at 26 points while still being a heavy hitter, really makes it shine. You can't fit 4 into a list, but you can at least toss some decent upgrades/captains onto your three Vorchas that you wouldn't be able to add into a Valdore list.
Worst Ship: I wouldn't put any ship into this category in Wave 0. I actually think each ship is decent and can be played effectively. Don't let the haters tell you otherwise!
Worst Ship: I wouldn't put any ship into this category in Wave 0. I actually think each ship is decent and can be played effectively. Don't let the haters tell you otherwise!
Best Captain: Picard. Hands down. The extra action
is amazing. The extra action on any ship in the game is even better
still. Picard is the best overall captain in the game right now (and
will be for several waves to come!).
Card Most Likely to Completely Change How You Play
the Game: Engage. If you haven't played with it, you really need to do
yourself a favour and test it out. Engage can turn games right around. A
Valdore with Engage is probably one of the most versatile ships in the
game. It is one of the cards that gets better the more you use it, and
forces you to think a bit more strategically about your play. It's a
great card.
Best Crew Member: If you can get it off, Klingon
Boarding Party is pretty amazing, but you and I know that that is never
happening. Sulu is also a prime contender for this spot, and given the
number of builds I've seen him pop up in, I'd give it to him, if he
didn't have Drex breathing down his throat. What Sulu is to Federation
Builds, Drex is to Klingon Builds- almost always there. I still think
that Sulu wins this one, if only for the fact that he is a decent mini
cloak that can go on any ship.
Best Secondary Weapon: I think the best secondary
weapon is Antimatter Mines from a rear firing arc, but more generally,
I'd have to say Photon Torpedoes- pure attack and a bit of manipulation.
Not very good, but also not very bad- will generally do what you need
it to do and it doesn't make you a complete attack magnet. A decent way
to spend 5 points, especially if you have a rear firing arc.
Best Faction: Klingons. They're so well designed, so
elegant in use and so hard hitting. At the end of Wave 0, the Klingons
are the faction to beat.
Worst Faction: The
Dominion. The Dominion continues to search for a Raison D'etre, aside
from the fact that they were a major antagonist in the show. The
Romulans are also searching for identity in this wave, but the Valdore
gives them some very good versatility. The Dominion really is the
hardest faction to play.
Needs To Do Better: The art department. They really
need to brighten up these cards. Space is dark, but these cards don't
need to be.
Best Ship Sculpt: The Gor Portas. It looks very interesting and has a decent paint job. Very well done.
Worst Ship Sculpt: I suppose I have to give this to
the Enterprise A, but my real issue is with the Miranda. It should have
been smaller, and then the Tinyprize wouldn't actually be so bad.
Hindsight Vindication Award: Cloaking. When this game
dropped, people were shouting about cloaking being broken. From where
I'm sitting now, cloaking is hardly busted, and there is plenty of
argument against one of my main rules "always cloak". Watch for cloaking
to get less good as the months go by.
Anyway, I'd imagine that there are some that disagree with the above. Let me know!
I agree with you on all counts. I do feel that it was a bit of a missed opportunity to not include a Dominion ship in the starter so that each faction was on (relatively) even ground from the start.
ReplyDeleteBest Ship: I want to say IRW Valdore (it’s definitely better than the Enterprise-D), but I think you’re right. The unnamed Vor’cha is an excellent ship that can hold it’s own in a 1-on-1 fight with any other ship in the game without any upgrades. It definitely punches well above it’s weight.
ReplyDeleteBest Captain: Martok8. Yes, Picard is awesome, but his ability only gives 1 of 4 actions: Evade, Target Lock, Scan, Battlestations. If Picard’s ships crashes, gets an Auxiliary Power token, or somehow loses it’s Action Picard doesn’t get an Action either. On the other hand, Martok8
1) Grants any kind of action a ship can do. Need a ship to Sulu & Engage both? Martok8 can do that, Picard can’t. How about Cloak & Sensor Echo in the same turn? Martok8 allows that too.
2) Grants that free action to any ship in range 1, so is more flexible as to which ship needs the extra action in the heat of battle. Picard is limited to the ship he is on.
3) Doesn’t lose his ability if his ship loses it’s action. Since most fleets have more than 2 ships, if Ship A crashes and loses it’s action, Martok8 can still give the bonus action to Ship B. Martok8 is on Ship M, of course. :D
The only thing Picard does better than Martok8 is shoot first. Otherwise Martok8 is much more flexible than Picard. It’s because Martok8 is a Changling, isn’t it?
Worst Faction: The Ferengi. Okay, maybe not technically a Wave 0 faction. :) Otherwise yes, the Dominion. They’re just too disjointed to really work together like the other factions do.
Also, thankfully the art department has learned it's lesson. The images from Wave 1 and later are much better. Is that supposed to be the Scimitar on the square token from the Valdore expansion? It just looks like a black piece of cardboard.
Picard is great because he gives Battlestations to ships that don't normally have it. Martok8 adds great combo flexibility, but he can't give a cloaked Valdore a Battlestations token to use for its 6 defense dice. So from my perspective as a Romulan player, Picard (Shinzon) is the best.
DeleteI typically fly Romulans too and haven't missed using Battlestations very much. Mathematically, the Tactical Officer is actually slightly better than Battlestations because it gives a chance for a Crit whereas Battlestations only converts to Hits. Otherwise they are the same averages when attacking.
DeleteI concur. I am eagerly awaiting my second starter box in the mail so I can begin to rain double Engage Valdore doom upon the locals. >:D
ReplyDeleteMartok8 tops Picard for me as well. More versatile to start with, far more powerful effects possible when used in combination with the right upgrades, and Picard's ability to hand out battlestations has been duplicated at lower cost by Gull Dukat (holy cats, a good Dominion card - what's that make, about four now?) and with greater effect by several of the new flagship cards. Picard's still very good, but Martok gets better every time a new card with a strong action comes out. Like Kirk, he'll only keep getting better.
ReplyDeleteAntimatter Mines are great, especially with Uhura, but don't forget to put them on a ship with an actual rear firing arc. I managed to embarrass myself by sticking them on a Negh'Var at the OP4 tourney last night. Took first without losing a ship all night, but that was not the best six points I've ever spent. Still, got me a Southerland to send to ebay, so I guess it wasn't that bad a mistake - and at least I caught myself before I actually used them illegally in a game. :)
Behind AMM, I think I prefer the 4-attack Fed/Klingon photons to the 5-attack version, at least for wave 0. Much cheaper, and they still provide enough punch to be worth thinking about. If Dominion had something similar in-faction there might actually be a decent multi-photon/Thot Gor/Gor Portas build available. OTOH, Lojur changes the efficiency picture on the larger photons and quantums, so they're less good now.
So the big disagreement, although not too strongly, is that Martok is a better captain than Picard.
ReplyDeletePart of why I rank Picard higher is part of my playstyle. I don't need to run Picard in a squadron at range 1. Aside from bumping, Picard will always work. I don't have to run in a squad to use him effectively.
The other part is just as Dave has said above. Battlestations. Picard on a Valdore, like Dukat, is really good. Up to Wave 0, there's no Dukat, so I didn't take him into consideration for these awards. Believe me, you'll see Dukat ranked later on! I don't typically use the battlestations on cloaked ships for their attacks- it's really good on a defense roll to keep ships alive.
"Aside from bumping, Picard will always work."
DeleteAux Power tokens also shut him down hard, and Chang slows him down some by eating his ship action to re-enable him fairly often (especially with Chang in combo with Martok or two of the indie flagships). Those threats aren't as bad in wave 0 but they've gotten worse over time.
Like you said, a lot of it comes down to play style. If you're running in a tight formation to exploit Donatra, Terrell, or some of the indie flagship effects Martok is at his best. If you're playing loose hit-and-run tactics, Picard (and Martok9, and the faction flagships) are more effective.
Both approaches are equally valid, although the OP scenarios so far have tended to be a little cluttered with scenario-related tokens - I find that makes it harder to dodge around with sensor ghost than it is on a more open table, while tight juggernaut formations don't seem to trip up as often. OTOH, cloaked mines are much nastier against tight formations, so there's that to consider too.
Battlestations, like with Drex/N'Garen without needing a token?
DeleteTonight I flew Picard on a Valdore w/N'Garen & Tac Officer alongside Dukat on a Negh'var w/Drex & Tac Officer. It was a brutal combo, but still a ship went down way too easy. I lost a 3 Klingon Martok, Gowron, Worf build. I left Mah'ta w/Martok on the board, untouched. It would have been really, really hard to me to beat that build.
What other upgrades/resources were you running? I play with two-ship "hero" fleets a lot myself, and it's the selection of defensive stuff that usually makes or breaks a build, especially against Klingon attack fleets.
DeleteOriginal art would have been amazing for this game, but it seems like WizKids were too eager to save a buck for all of that.
ReplyDeleteOriginal art would have been fantastic. Artistic interpretations of the crew, and weapons, in the same vein as X-Wing would have been fantastic. I would kind of prefer that the OP participation awards be alternative art cards instead of ships you can't get in regular rotation.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely. As I said, Wizkids aren't really splurging over this. Good things it's still a fun game!
DeleteI can see it being a bit of a risk. X-Wing has been selling well, but I'd imagine that Star Trek Hero Clix are a very niche line for Wizkids. I'd imagine that the reason X-Wing has original art has to do with the licensing rights to the movie clips. I think Wizkids has a carte blanche license with Paramount to the shows, which is why we're getting actual stills.
DeleteThe stills would be FINE, if they brightened up the cards a bit. There's no reason why the Wormhole token should be as dark as it is. The original series enterprise crew is very well captured. I wish they would do the same for the non-federation crew.