First time post and first time Pentastar Alignment...are you kidding me?!

[Darth Revan]

First time being on here and I'm lovin' this mod.  SO....after "somewhat" doing decent with the IR on FTGU campaign, I spent a week trying to beat Reunification with the IR on admiral difficulty.  It was tough, but it felt good watching Yavin 4 fall and winning the GC.  So I decided to try the PA for the first time on The Art of War GC on admiral difficulty.  Let me tell you, the AI didn't disappoint......well, at least in the beginning.

Before I could finish building tax collector buildings, forming up my two massive fleets centered around the Reaper and the Vengeance, and forming up my massive ground army, the IR starts chipping away at two planets.  Alright, so what.  I took them back no problem.  Then Isard attacks Ithor and takes away my space station there.  So I deployed the Reaper and the Vengeance and killed Isard easily since she dropped in with only Krennel as an escort......Era 1 finished.  It didn't let up.  IR continued to chip away as I played a game of lose a planet here, gain it back a minute later.  Then Thrawn throws in two of his heroes and they too get destoyed, but Thrawn gets away.  He then reemerges and I take down Thrawn....Era 2 finished.  At this point I'm getting ready to take Cuitric (The EoTH nor the NR haven't attacked me yet) when Palpatine and the IR launches a huge attack with all of his heroes at Borosk.  Right before I group up Reaper and Vengeance for another counter attack, Palpatine himself leads a ground attack and takes the planet away just before my main fleet arrives.  After the space battle, all of his space heroes are dead and I only lose a Muun frigate.  I launch a ground attack to take the planet away and not only did I counter attacked so quickly that the IR didn't build any buildings, but the Emperor was caught on the ground as well.  Two LaaT's then killed the Emperor....Era 3 finished.  Then just to add a cherry on top, the NR shows up with Ackbar in a fleet of himself and one other MC90 over a planet that has a HVG and down goes the Admiral.

All of this happened between half an hour to an hour of playing this GC on admiral difficulty.  Now, is the PA REALLY this good or am I just getting lucky?  The only difficulty that the AI is doing every now and then is that the IR sends a SSD and maybe one or two other escort ships at a planet in which I then take it down with either the Reaper or Vengeance.  I haven't really gotten into an actual fight with the NR or the EoTH yet so I can't really gauge how they will be at this difficulty.

All and all, first time playing with the PA and wow I am just blown away on how fun and powerful this faction is to play.  It's like a cross between the Empire's awesome capital ships and the NR's ability to bring in a ton of star fighters.   I have always been an Empire fanboy, but WOW.  However, again I ask this, after reading what has transpired so far in this GC, am I just getting lucky or has the worst yet to come?  Keep in mind, I haven't really expanded beyond my borders because of the constant having to go back and retake a planet I've lost.  I have one planet specifically for making ground vehicles and another for infantry.  The rest have TC buildings and some with HVG's at a planet that has limited build space in the front line and one barracks on Bastion to train up more Dark Jedi.  What do you think?

[StarBornMichaelh165]

Yes the Pentastar Alignment is a Badass Faction but they can be overwhelmed if you have a Small Territory then you be in Trouble if you can't Expand out Ok man. (And try to play as them in FTGU to see how good you are ok.)

[StarBornMichaelh165]

Yrs the Pentastar Alignment is a Badass Faction but they can be overwhelmed if you have a Small Territory then you be in Trouble if you can't Expand out Ok man. (And try to play as them in FTGU to see how good you are ok.)

And then go in to the XML files to give you The Executor and Vengeance to play with. (Or Eclipse and Sovereign) Like What Andrew Hester would do.

[Revanchist]

First off, welcome to the boards. You are definitely correct, the PA is enormously powerful, provided you utilize their strengths (space: sniping damage sink + carriers, ground: LAAT, Floating Fortress, Hailfire). They do however, have relatively weak fighters, most of their frigates are weak in direct combat, and only have two SSDs. Lose one and you don't get to rebuild. Against late game NR spam you may start having trouble (depending on how well they're faring). The BAC/Viscount/Sacheen fleets are no joke. For some fun, do PA on From the Ground Up. Nothing says fun like fending off multiple Spvereign fleets.

[kucsidave]

First off, welcome to the boards. You are definitely correct, the PA is enormously powerful, provided you utilize their strengths (space: sniping damage sink + carriers, ground: LAAT, Floating Fortress, Hailfire). They do however, have relatively weak fighters, most of their frigates are weak in direct combat, and only have two SSDs. Lose one and you don't get to rebuild. Against late game NR spam you may start having trouble (depending on how well they're faring). The BAC/Viscount/Sacheen fleets are no joke. For some fun, do PA on From the Ground Up. Nothing says fun like fending off multiple Sovereign fleets.

Without any SSDs I might add to the end.
But welcome to the boards. I hope you will have a pleasant time here.

[Illidan Stormrage]

Without any SSDs I might add to the end.
But welcome to the boards. I hope you will have a pleasant time here.

Indeed welcome to the boards, but I would argue in 2.1 PA is pretty powerful. However once 2.2 comes out things will change drastically.
PA will no longer have lukerhaulks and We will have the warlords and New GCs

[Darth Revan]

Thanks for the replies gentlemen.  Quick question though, in FTGU for the PA, what capital ships do you utilize the most of?  I've only played as the IR in that GC and know about the Sovereign strategy and the Viscount and BAC spam.  How about the PA?

[Revanchist]

Thanks for the replies gentlemen.  Quick question though, in FTGU for the PA, what capital ships do you utilize the most of?  I've only played as the IR in that GC and know about the Sovereign strategy and the Viscount and BAC spam.  How about the PA?

Praetors, lots and lots of carriers, some IPVs to shred enemy fighters, and VSDs for fire support.

[Illidan Stormrage]

Praetors, lots and lots of carriers, some IPVs to shred enemy fighters, and VSDs for fire support.

yeah I would go praetors and when you take the cooperate sector get lukerhaulks. Use Ventors and VSDs and get some ISD lls

[Revanchist]

Lucrehulks just aren't worth the population points IMO. I use them only when I'm financially and territorially stable and am goofing around with underperforming units.

[tlmiller]

Lucrehulks just aren't worth the population points IMO. I use them only when I'm financially and territorially stable and am goofing around with underperforming units.

Seconded.  Useless ships for their price & pop cost.  This is subject to change in 2.2 however....

[Revanchist]

Seconded.  Useless ships for their price & pop cost.  This is subject to change in 2.2 however....

Indeed. They're halfway decent in Ascendancy because they're a Skipray platform. If they launched those in ICW they'd be more interesting.

[tlmiller]

Indeed. They're halfway decent in Ascendancy because they're a Skipray platform. If they launched those in ICW they'd be more interesting.

Totally agreed.  Also in Ascendency they've got those very beefy shields that make them somewhat useful just as a damage sink.

[Illidan Stormrage]

Totally agreed.  Also in Ascendency they've got those very beefy shields that make them somewhat useful just as a damage sink.

when the next update comes out I will use some preators and bellators and secutors

[Revanchist]

when the next update comes out I will use some preators and bellators and secutors

Yeah, I am pretty interested to see how the Secutor fares in combat. In Ascendancy it's my favorite cap ship for the PA.

[tlmiller]

Yeah, I am pretty interested to see how the Secutor fares in combat. In Ascendancy it's my favorite cap ship for the PA.

Totally agreed.  It just needs the ability to be stocked with skipray's and it'll be the most perfect balance.

[Helix345]

I'll be doing my best to spam as many bellators and secutors as possible.