A Little Gothic Progress

[CrusherJoe]

Got a little burned out on painting Star Phantoms, so I finally got around to figuring out what ships I actually have for BFG (as I puchased the lot of them for a few bucks on Ebay a while back).

Anyway, as it turns out, here's what I have:

Chaos:

Heavy Cruisers:
Styx x2
Acheron x1

Cruisers:
Devastation x2
Murder x2
Slaughter x1


...and...

Imperial Navy

Battleships:
Emperor x1

Cruisers:
Mars x1
Overlord x1
Gothic x1
Dictator x1



So, looking at it, it's a pretty mixed bag. I'm thinking the Chaos fleet -- with just a little tweaking -- might actually be play-able (though I'm thinking that Acheron is going to have to become a Hades somehow, as the whole Murder-Murder-Hades thing just sounds like too much fun!).

The IN fleet, sadly, needs...a lot of work.

So, input time!

What would you guys do with these raw fleet building materials? What would you add? Squadon up? Drop and never use -- maybe not even ever look at! -- again?

[the_killer23]

Turn that Overlord into a Dominator.

[CrusherJoe]

So...loose the two dorsal turrets to gain the nova cannon?

Hmm, ok, easy enough.

[ThePov]

Either way, you need escorts. But the IN fleet does have a good combo in the Dominator/Gothic pair, and definetly has enough AC to keep itself covered, not to mention two Nova Cannons. Honestly, put two Lunars in there and a squadron or two of Cobras/swords, and thats actually a pretty solid base for a fleet, though I'm not sure on the points of that off hand.

Chaos fleet also needs escorts, but as you say, the Cruisers are generally a pretty solid Core as is.

[JamesP]

Agree with the other posters.

The Chaos fleet is playable as it is, especially as your Styxes will enable you to counter enemy Escorts well with Assault Boats. As Chaos cruisers are faster than their Imperial counterparts and have lances and weapons batteries that can cover the forward fire arc, you don't need Escorts as much as Imperials do.

You should still get some at some point though.

As has been said, your Imperial fleet does need some Escorts and a couple of Lunars. I agree that the Overlord should be converted, the Dominator is a very nasty piece of kit at close range, or if you have the points you could make a Tyrant and give it the range upgrade for its batteries.

Try a few games with the Overlord proxying for the Dominator and the Tyrant and see what suits you best - engaging at slightly longer range and having torpedoes, or blazing away at close quarters and having a second nova cannon.

The Mars is your friend. Its batteries can be useful but it's great at hanging back and pumping out fighters & bombers while cutting loose with its dorsal lances and the nova cannon. I've found the upgrade where its batteries find it easier to hit to be very useful but it depends on if you have the points spare.

[Myu]

Why get lunas? I'd pick a Gothic over a luna any day. Better at shooting abeam and don't have to care about blast markers. Plus against a 6+ armor fleet it'd be better at everything.

[ElectricPaladin]

Why get lunas? I'd pick a Gothic over a luna any day. Better at shooting abeam and don't have to care about blast markers. Plus against a 6+ armor fleet it'd be better at everything.

I'm not fond of lunars. The trouble is, what happens when one dies? Each lunar is half gunboat, half lance boat. Together, they are as good as one full gunboat and one full lance boat. However, when one dies... all you've got is a single half-assed ship.

On the other hand, if you take a dedicated lance boat and a dedicated gunboat, well, when one dies, you've still got a decent ship.

Back a heterogenous pair with some escorts that can do one or both jobs (ie. firestorms and an endurance, cobras with a dauntless), or a battlecruiser, and you've got a solid fleet that can survive losing a ship or two!

[Myu]

Yeah focus is good. I've never been able to use escorts though, they just seem so... ineffectual for their cost. What are the best ways to use them?