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Author Topic: Faction Guide 2.25  (Read 22924 times)

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August 21, 2018, 09:16:37 AM

Offline Zardnaar

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Faction Guide 2.25
« on: August 21, 2018, 09:16:37 AM »
 I thought I would redo my old faction review thread and try and make it more concise and update it. The last time for example the Yevetha were removed form the game and I did not get as much playtime as I wanted with them. Also I have figured out a few new tricks.  So the game has 8 faciotn, the imperials, Yevetha, New Republic, Empire of the Hand and the 3 warlord factions. All Imperial factions share basic units but they often vary their fighter load outs. This for example makes Greater Maldrood ISD II's better than the default imperial ones. Not all factions can build basic units such as strike cruisers.

 I use the following terminology when referring to my ships fleets.

Capital. Large ships 6+ points
Cruisers. Game calls them frigates, generally 4 point ships.
Frigates. 2 and 3 point support ships.
Corvettes. Generally 1 point ships.


Balanced
 A balanced fleet is usually something like 4 capital ships, 5 cruisers and the remainder a variety of support ships. To many capitals in one place tends to create issues ships spinning or tripping over each other.

Carrier Fleet
This fleet is built around carriers. You will have more fighters and bombers than a balanced fleet but less firepower. The main advantage is it doesn't matter what type of map you are on, fighters and bombers can zip around the map.

Kill Fleet.
 These fleets are generally pure firepower. Any fighters and bombers are incidental. Generally built around Allegiances, PraetorsTectors,  and Procursator star destroyers. Usually has more AA corvettes than the other fleets and very few if any fighters and bombers relative to the other fleets.

Super Fleet.
 Built around SSD as a key component.  Includes Bellators, Eclipse, Sovereign, Executor type ships and the Star Defender.
« Last Edit: August 21, 2018, 09:20:31 AM by Zardnaar »

August 21, 2018, 09:16:52 AMReply #1

Offline Zardnaar

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Re: Faction Review 2.25
« Reply #1 on: August 21, 2018, 09:16:52 AM »
Yevetha

 The  Yevetha are not a very interesting faction to play due to a very limited unit roster. They only get 2 exclusive ships the Aramadia thrust ship which is a 2 point frigate and the type D fighter. The rest of their roster is very basic imperial units including the ground units. In space that is fine you will probably only use 3 units anyway. Now 2 point units are usually very squishy and often not worth building unless they carry some fighters and/or bombers. The Aramadia thrustship is nothign special in terms of fire power although is does pack missiles. Its tough as guts. If you are used to your imperial fleets having squishy VSD's, strike cruisers and similar ship types well look no further. The thrustships might not deal much damage but they have the engine boost ability and make great front line units as they are also really cheap. If you build the black shipyard on N'Zoth you can get them for 1000 credits each or 1250 full price. In practice this means Yevetha fleets can take very light casualties relative to other Imperial factions.

 The other nice thing with the Yevetha is the D class fighter. Its the only strike craft unit you have and it leans more towards the fighter side of things but once again it seems tough.  Since your ships do not carry TIE bombers this means you have 100%  D class fighters. IDK the stats of these things but they seem comparable to X-Wings maybe a bit tougher but they can deal the pain. This means the Yevetha often have air superiority and ponce shields are down the D class makes an acceptable fighter/bomber as well. Thrust ships are decent enough at chewing up other frigates and corvettes but en masse combined with the D class they can also chew up capitals as well. The final synergy is the basic Victory class star destroyer. They have concussion missiles which are good at wrecking shields. And the Yevetha ones seem to be less squishy than the imperial ones as tou have the thrust ships to act as bullet sponges.

 Finally the Yevetha have the Pride of Yevetha SSD as a starting unit. Only Zsinj and the Empire has one of them at game start. You can't build any new units yet due to force limits but you can build buildings and the Empire of the hand is right next door with multiple rich planets and Syca can build new capitals. Eat their stuff, go and capture Coruscant and place your capital their is the basic Yevetha strategy. Being aggressive is key you won't be as rich as some of the other factions but your navy is cheaper. The basic balanced fleets is very good as the 2 unique units basically cover up the traditional Imperial weakness of weak fighters, bombers and squishy. The Yevetha can expand very aggressive and very fast using the same basic fleet/ SSD and eating the EotH. The Empire is close as well but they also have a SSD so going for the easy and rich expansion is a no brainer and the SW section of the galaxy is generally poor.

Fleets.

Balanced.

4 ISD II's
5 VSD I's
8 Aramadia Thrust Ships

Kill Fleet
2 Allegiance Class Star Destoyers
2 ISD 2's
2 VSD I
7 Aramadia Thrustships
4 CR 90 corvettes

Super Fleet.

Pride of Yevetha
3  VSD 1's.
6 Aramadia Thrustships
1 CR 90

 All of the above are 60 point fleet. I often go to around 90 points now adding in more frigates and cruisers to replace losses in battle.

Pros

Start with an SSD
Aramadia Thrustships
D Class fighters
Can build Black Fleet shipyards on Nzoth
Good starting location.
Easy to defend location- 3 ways into the cluster, defend (1 on land, 1 in space) attack the other direction.

Cons

Sub par admirals
Not a very diverse unit roster options are very limited
Weak on the ground.
Poor starting planets
Boring and repetitive play style due to lack of units.
No economic advisers






« Last Edit: August 22, 2018, 05:16:58 PM by Zardnaar »

August 21, 2018, 09:17:28 AMReply #2

Offline Zardnaar

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Re: Faction Review 2.25
« Reply #2 on: August 21, 2018, 09:17:28 AM »
Pentastar Alignment

 The game rates the Pentastar Alignment as easy and it is basically right even on Admiral level. The Pentastars niche is carriers due to the unit roster containing a large number of carrier tyope vessels and a they tend to have V-19 Torrents on them over normal TIE fighters. For example they have Secutors, Venator class star destroyers, Acclamator and munificent frigates which carry a pair of skipray blastboats. The trade off is a relative lack of quality cruisers and capital ships although they get the Procursator Star Destroyer as another option over the VSD 's. In other factions the Acclamator tends to be a so so ship, in the PA it is their equivalent of the strike cruiser. Cheap, packs a OK punch but carries 2 V-19s, a TIE and TIE bomber squadrons. ALso good as a sacrificail pathfinder unit and HVC can target that unit over a SSD or capital ship. Even better they have replacements fighters and bombers unlike say VSD's.  Put simply early on you should focus on carrier fleets as the units are cheap and you start with enough units to defend the border vs the Empire of ther Hand and send a 60 point fleet under grant to take over the corporate sector to the east. Your carrier fleets can be built around pure carriers such as the Secutor, Venator and Acclamator'swith perhaps a few munificent (3-5) or throw in a few ISD'S and VSDs rounding out with carriers for some extra punch (3 ISDs, 2 VSD,s + carriers or something similar). I tend to use the starting Munificent in a fleet with Grant and build replacements while future fleets are built around Secutors, Venators and Acclamators with the surviving Munificents perhaps being sent to garrison a fortress world with HVC.

 Generally PA carrier fleets use quantity over quality but casualties can be very light since your ships do not enter combat until the enemy has been weakened via your swarms of fighters and bombers. One option is to make Stain proud and use waves of fighters and bombers and once the carriers are depleted use them up as weak cruisers and send in fresh ones. Once shields are down however even quantities of Acclamtors, Venator and Secutors can  do double duty and actually shhot things just don't send them in 1st unless you can bully isolated capital ships and/or you out number the AI locally.

 In week 20 Kaine turns up with his SSD and some more commanders. They are not particularly great but Kaine and Grant are good, the others are OK. The other thing the PA is good at is going big as they can build Praetors, along with a Kuat Drive Yards subsidiary on the planet beside Bastion. They can summon another hero unit SSD and build 2 Bellators which means they can field 4 super fleets. A Bellator and 11 Acclamators (or replace some accalimators with a commander)  works well enough and the SSD commanders generally benefit from Secutors or Venators to back them up along with Accalmators. SSD type ships and Praetors are not that good on certain maps, generally I prefer smaller ships due to path finding issues and Praetors ae not as good as they were a few patches ago (range nerf IIRC).

 As an added bonus the PA can also build Validusa class space stations for 20k, real cost 15k with economic adviser.  The ideal location for a Validusa class station is on a border world with 5+ slots and income of 855+ per month. This means you can have a fortress/banking oworld with 3 income buildings and 2 high velocity guns (HVG) defending it. Putting them on high income worlds like Bastion, Coruscant, and Munnilist is also a good idea as it provides a small income boost to those world and they are easy to defend wix X2 HVGs with a 60 point fleet. Any border world where you want to turtle for a while on is also good.


 In FTGU the PA is not as good as some of the other factions but they are good enough and in the larger GC such as the Art of War they have a good start location with a moderate amount of wealth. Not as good as the EotH or Zsinj but its not that hard to expand into the Corporate sector early on or you can turtle up until Kaine arrives and develop your planets and go tall for the 1st 20 weeks or so. Several of your planets offer excellent defensive maps where you can defend using cheap ground units vs expensive space units. On the ground the PA has clone wars vintage units  and hail fire fdroids but they lack a dedicated long range artillery unit and are nothign special with air units. Still hail fire droids are very good but not as good as a few pacthes ago as they lack the range. The downside is the droids are reasonably expensive and kinda squishy/stupid and need a bit of micromanagement.

Pros
Excellent Carrier units.
Good star location, decent money, defensive ability, AI tends to leave most of your land alone.
Good heroes and lots of them week 20
Economic Adviser week 20 (cheap spam)
Can field 4 SSD
Praetors
Can build Validusa class stations


Cons (generally minor)

Nothing special in mid range capital units.
Not much in the good Cruiser/Frigates either (except carriet types)
No escort carriers (not that they are needed)
Not very good kill fleets.
Slow land units, nothing special on land except hailfire droids.
Meh AA corvette
Only 1 Admiral early on.

 Suggested Fleets

Carrier Fleets
3 ISD II
2 Secutors
2 VSD I
4 Munificent or Acclaimators (Munificent vs Empire, Acclaimators vs NR/EotH)
Low quality freebie bomber units (TIE bombers but lots of them)

Carrier Fleet II (Quantity)

5 Secutors (or-1 Secutor +2 Venator)
2 Venators
4 Accalmators

Super Fleets

1 Bellator
11 Acclamtors

1 SSD Comamnder
3 Venators (or +4 Acclamrtors)
4 Acclamator
1 Raider Corvette


 
« Last Edit: August 21, 2018, 10:22:20 PM by Zardnaar »

August 21, 2018, 09:17:39 AMReply #3

Offline Zardnaar

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Re: Faction Review 2.25
« Reply #3 on: August 21, 2018, 09:17:39 AM »
Greater Maldrood

I might be a bit biased here but GM is one of my favorite factions and they have the best unit roster in the game IMHO. They have lots of good cruisers, carriers,frigates, and mid range ships and super heavy ISD's along with the ability to build 2 Bellator SSD's. They can build very good kill fleets, balanced fleets, super fleets and carrier fleets. They also have very good commanders with good skill levels and they also start the game with an economic adviser and its very easy for them to over run Antemeridas and get another one with more heroes and the ability to build Loronar Corporation there for cheap(1180 credits) strike cruisers. 

 This assumes things go ell for GM, in some ways they are high risk and high reward on Admiral difficulty in the Art of War. Your leaders such as Treutan Terdoc are squishy and your starting lands only have a modest income and you can't build anything new until you annex Antemeridas and Garos. Antemeridas is your number 1 priority whole your capital, Thanos and Garos are good to develop into banking worlds. Your starting units are what you have unfortunately Zsinj  tends to send modest sized fleets into your stuff but even worse is the Empire. For whatever reason the Empire loves invading Thanos with a 100+ point fleet early into the game. Ideally you want to build X2 HVG on Thanos and leave a 90 + point fleet there and this limits your expansion early on and you are kind of poor as well. This tends to happen very early i the game perhaps before you can start spamming Strike Cruisers. This means you want to leave most of your navy at Thanos and have a modest expansion fleet to capture Thanos and break through to the north and gut Zsinjs empire of the Corporate sector. Much like Germany in WWIi you are gambling everything on that blitzkrieg, a wrong move, a dead Treutan or getting slammed by two large fleets can very quickly resulting the loss of Garos and Thanos with not much hope of a final redoubt or turtling up unlike say the Empire and PA which have those options if something goes wrong. If you can over come this you one of the best factions in the game, if not you will either be defeated or have to claw and scramble your way out of a very deep hole.

 So assuming you survive the early game (on Admiral), and probably push north to kill Zsinj (gets you Kosh Terdoc) and eat Zsinjs lands GM has a very deep unit roster. They get the usual imperial cruisers but get to play with Providence class, crimson command VSD's and Procursator star destroyers. For carrier type ships you have the Secutor class SD, the Neutron Star and the Providence class along with the normal imperial escort carrier. YOur ships also have upgraded squadrons overdefualt imperial ships as your ISDs have TIE Avengers along with the Neutron Stars while you can build ARC 170's and they are also on the Providence cruisers. ANd you also get the Allegiances as well along with the Bellator SSD but you do not get the Executor class or any executor class SSD and can only builkd 2 Bellators so you are one ot he weakest imperial factions in terms of SSD options only beating the Eridu Authority (Zsinj can get 3, PA 4, Imperials Excuttors+ Sovereigns+ Dark Emperor). SSDs are mostly a win more unit anyway IMHO if you can afford them you have probably already won. GM can go with quality but a key strength of theirs is alos quantity as they have 2 economic advisers once they get Antemeridas and can build Loronar Corporaiton on Antemeridas which lets them build strike cruisers for 1180 credits. The other cheap spam unit the can do is the ARC-170 which has a base price of 300, real cost 225.

 Early on this means you cna build 3 or 4 strike cruisers for every VSD/CC VSD type ships and you can build 15-20 ARC 170's. A good (and cheap) defensive fleet in being for a location like Thanos is 4 ISD IIs along with 12 strike cruisers and perhaps 20 ARC 170's. The AI doesn't like attacking into 90 point fleets backed up with HVG's and if they do it tends to end badly for them and even if victorious you lose some cheap and cheerful fighters and strike cruisers while they probably get a pyric victory (at best). Not only is the strike cruiser cheap but its also very effective, long range, agile, fast and has ion guns and enhance fire ability. A 60 point fleet of strike cruisers only costs 22160 credits and if you need them on the attack they are also good there as well.  Dathomir for example is often a tough nut to crack with Rancor Base, Zsinj in the Iron FIst+ other units and defensive buildings and star port. Losing 10 or 20 strike cruisers is an inconvenience not fatal and dropping a few behind a SSD with shields down works well. GM can also build Validusia space stations, Thanos is a great place along with the corporate sector and you may want to move your capital up there.

 Quality, quantity, heavy, light, whatever fleet composition you want the GM more or else does it all. It even gets some of the best imperial fighters and bombers carried on its ships. It alos has one of the best AA corvettes, the best frigates, best carrier, best SSD optipn etc etc etc. The only thing it doesn't get is a heavy 6 or 8 point capital ship and its best option here is the ISD II (which carries a TIE avenger) so they have the 2nd best ISD II in the game after Zsinj who gets TIE Raptors in his (TIE Raptor> TIE Avenger). In temrs of pure firepower it is the only faction that gets Allegiances + upgraded 4 point cruisers such as the procursator and CC VSD. 3 allegiances (02 2 + commander), 5 procursators and 7 IPVs is pure firepower n strike craft at all.

Balanced Fleet

4 ISDs (this is a good fleet for Kosh or Treuten to command replacing an ISD II).
5 CC VSD's
4 IPVs
2 Strike Cruisers
3 Escort Carriers

Carrier Fleets

3 ISD II
2 Victory Class Star Destroyers/CC VSD
2 Secutors Star Destroyers
6 Strike Cruisers/Neutron Stars

TIE Avenger

3 Secutors (or 4 ISD II's)
X12 Neutron Star Bulk Cruisers

Arc 170 fleet

4 ISD II
6 Providence Class Carriers
5 Escort Carriers
1 Admiral Lan/2 IPV's

Super Fleet

1 Bellator
11 Strike Cruisers

Kill FLeet

3 Allegiance
9 Strike Cruisers (or 5 CC VSD or Procursator + 7 IPV's)

Cheap FLeet
4 ISD II's
12 strike Cruisers


 This fleet is more or less all about the pure firepower with a token amount of TIEs to keep the skies clear. A more expensive version replaces the strike cruisers with X5 CC VSD and 7 IPV's.

Pros
Very good admirals
Crimson Command VSD's
Excellent carriers
Bellator pocket SSDs (faster I like them more than an SSD)
Allegiance super heavy ISD's
Excellent unit roster (Procurators, IPVs, Providence, Secutors etc etc etc)
TIE Avengers

Cons (not a lot)

Not the best starting location (can be rough)
Can't build anything at the start (over unit cap)







« Last Edit: August 21, 2018, 10:59:45 PM by Zardnaar »

August 21, 2018, 09:17:51 AMReply #4

Offline Zardnaar

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Re: Faction Review 2.25
« Reply #4 on: August 21, 2018, 09:17:51 AM »
Zsinj

 Previously I rated Zsinj towards the bottom of the various factions to use. This was mostly because while they had a lot of great units individually they had no synergy compared with other factions. For example they can build allegiance class star destroyers but do not get strike cruisers or a better cruiser option than the VSD's that every imperial faction gets gets. Similar problem existed with the carrier fleets.  At least Zsinj could field some decent carriers and the TI Raptor was a stand out enabling that in effect having the best ISD II's available to any faction with the possible exception of the Yevetha. Since then however one of their units received a buff. The somewhat underwhelming Zsinj Nebulon B frigate now can launch a TIE fighter and a TIE Razor similar to the New Republics version which can launch 2 X- WIngs. On a one point unit. The Zsinj version may actually be better than the NR one, its more affordable at least due to the better starting postilion and extra money.

 Unlike the New Republic Zsinj more or less has the richest starting position in the game with east expansion into the unclaimed corporate sector which allows you to pick up 4 or 5 very rich planets (Kauron, Telos, Bonadon, Ession etc). This allows you to construction Luchrehulk's at Telos and Ession which cost 4000 credits (or ore likely 3200 with the Hutt economic adviser). Between the Nebulopn B's, Escort carriers, ISD I's, Gladiators, and the Lucrehulks Zsinj is more than capable of fielding great carrier fleets now and can be compared to the Pentastar Alignment, and Greater Madrood. TIE Raptors may not be as good as ARC-170's they are better than TIE Avengers and you can field a hell of a lot more of them. However Nebulon B's are stupidly expensive for a 1 point unit (2200) and fielding a large number of them is comparable (22000 for 10) to building a couple of SSD's. Early on for a rapid fleet expansion the Lucrehulks and Escort carrioers are vastly cheaper (1 point vs 2 fleet  points) and good enough Escort Carriers to round out a fleet or fill up a new one. Even with discounts via Rancor base on Dathomir or your economic adviser spamming large numbers of them is not really viable with perhaps 6 or them and a similar number of Escort carriers rounding out most Zsinj type fleets you should build. You also get the Iron Fist SSD via Zsinj who is also a level 2 leader which is more or less the best in the game with the exception of Thrawn and Ackbar and only a few admirals can match that skill. Unfortunately the rest of your adirals are skill IV and V beauty school drop outs who are marginally better than no leader at all and even that is debatable depending on what ship type they are in.

 In addition to potato commanders your starting units are a fine selection of left over junk from the clone wars probably also made out of potato. Point of pride must be the large numbers of Nebulon B2 frigates which are complete junk and you are better off using them to turtle somewhere and gradually selling them off to build new ships. Sell them all off early on and one of the AI might decide to jump on you. While you have rich worlds your starting postion is also in the middle of the PA, IR, GM and NR all of which will want a piece of you. I recommend turtling east at Ession (build 2 HVG's there). Leave Zsinj there and have some small fleets in being to the west while you what to spam out some Lucrehulks and recruit the new Lucrehulk commander. Build incoe buildings and ports, Lianna,  Etti IV, and Dathomir can be used to build new capitals while Ession and Etti IV can produce Lucrehulks. The Lucrehulks ar e not amazing as such but they act as good bullet sponges and are dirt cheap. Backed up by HVG and a cloud of fighters/bomber and with a few TIE raptors they can hold Ession easily except vs the largest fleets and 1-2 of them added to Zsinj with some Nebulon B and Escort Carriers is very dangerous early on. he AI can't really blow them up very fast and even if they do they are only 3200 credits. parking units like VSD I's behind them while they get shot is also a decent idea.

 The other Option Zsinj has is to go big with Super fleets. You start with the iron fist and you can build an Executor at the usual price. Additionally you can drive on Kuat capture it, and recruit the Razors kiss their which comes with a mediocre commander but its a 3rd SSD. Kuat is also another planet where you can KDY on for cheap Star Destroyers while Mon Calamari is close and can be used to build Rendilli Star Drives for cheap VSD's.  Odds are Dathomir, ETTI IV, Essio and Lianna will build most of your nacy as bouncing the hutt adviser back and forth between Etti IV and Lianna is easy enough. Crushing the New Republic or Greater Maldrood are important as they are a bigger pain to deal with than the Pentastar Alignment or Empire but as long as GM doesn't eat you its really only the New Republic which can be annoying mid to late game if they tech up and if you drive on Kuat you may kill Isard and/Or Thrawn. Zsinj kill dfleets tend to be sub parr as you really on have the allegiances but without the support units to back them up unlike the Imperial Remnant and Greater Maldrood.


Pros

TIE Raptor  can be built of various ships.
Cheap Lucrehulks
Strong Carrier fleets
Rich starting location
Start with an SSD commander
Quality carrier type units
Nebulon B's comparable to the New Republic
ISD II's.
Can field 3 Super Star Destroyers executor class.

Cons

Poor quality starting fleet
No special unit cruisers unlike PA/GM or strike cruisers
No mid range ships in the 6-8 point range
Kill fleet options are a bit limited.
Below average admirals and land leaders (exception Zsinj himself)

Suggested fleets

 Zsinjs fleets need to run more TIE Raptors IMHO regardless of what type of fleet you are building. The ones below are only suggestions you can easily run more nebulon B's and escort carriers assuming you can afford them or you PC can handle something like 20+ nebulon Bs and the fighter spam. Note escort carriers carry replacement fighters/bombers while Nebulon B's do not.

Balanced

4 ISD's
2VSD II
2 VSD II
8 Nebulon B
6 Escort Carriers

Carrier

3 ISD II's
3 VSD's I
2 Lucrehulk
4 Escort Carrier
6 Nebulon B

5 Lucrehulk
6 Escort Carrier
8 Nebulon B

Super

1 Executor
1 ISD II
1 Lucrehulk
5 Nebulon B
3 Escort Carriers

Kill
3 Allegiances
5 VSD I or II
7 Nebulon B





 







 
« Last Edit: August 24, 2018, 02:46:03 PM by Zardnaar »

August 21, 2018, 09:18:04 AMReply #5

Offline Zardnaar

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Re: Faction Review 2.25
« Reply #5 on: August 21, 2018, 09:18:04 AM »
 Imperial Remnant

The Emperor and Vader are dead, long live Sate Pestage!! Erm I mean the Empire. IMHO the Empire is the most interesting faction to play. In effect it is choose your own difficulty level on top of Admiral or captain etc. The Empire has a decent starting position but tends to suffer a little bit from a relative lack of funds. Zsinj for example is a lot richer due to the corporate sector wolds, its easy for the NR to grab them as well along with Greater Maldrood (a bit harder for GM oh well).  However you do control several choke points and several woirlds with key abilites such as Wayland, Kuat, and Corellia. You also kind of have 7 eras as era 1 and 3 is split in two. You are one of the best factions in the game in era 1 and 3 and decline compared to the New Republic in era 5. Do you beelinw for the NR ASAP on campaigns such as Art of War, or do you play the other campaigns and pick an era. For a challenge the Orinda campaign is difficult the NR has more resources and better ships than you do. On the larger sandbox campaign a late game New Republic and/or Greater Maldrood make for some interesting boss fight factions. Do you go for a blitzkrieg or settle in for some epic fights vs 200 and 300 point fleets where 4 SSD's may not be enough (and they die). In FTGU you are locked at Era 3 which is not a bad place to be IMHO. Generally the Empire is a bit weak at carrier fleets and is very good at inflicting damage and spamming units due to the Kuat Drive Yards on Kuat and Loronar Corporation on Corellia and Coruscant is the most valuable planet in the game (although Elrood comes close go figure). Early on Wayland is also very good  to build 100% infantry barracks on and 20-30 Plex troopers, storm troopers and army regiments are enough to chew through most maps (although casualties an be excessive).

 Your land units do not change to much and new things like the XR-85 are not that good. Infantry spam, 2M tanks and AT-PT and the TIE tank are your go to land units with a bit of artillery support. Fortress worlds generally want a barracks, light and heavy factory with additional heavy factories for more 2M tanks which are useful to kill artillery as they have the speed to reach them without dying 1st although it may be a one way trip. I prefer more factories over turbolasers on most maps. AT- AT walkers can be useful on the defensive, but I only have 1 or 2  production worlds for them (1 heavy factory and 4 or 5 walker buildings).  Most of my infantry is produced on Wayland, Lianna can be used to spam TIE tanks but its not really needed as they are cheap anyway. Carida is usually a heavy factory, worlds with 2 or 3 production slots are usually for light factories or 1 each for barracks, light and heavy factories. border worlds are fortified with full garrisons and production buildings (rarely turbolasers). Major fortress world will have full garrisons, 2 HVG, fleet, validusia+golan defenses although such worlds are usually rare (Kuat, Coerrila, Coruscant, Etti IV, Thanos etc).

Return of the Government: A New Hope

Era 1. At the game start your income is nothing special. You want to build mines and relocate some mines onto rich planets (85 credits+). You also want to sell any ISD I, Carracks and dreadnoughts you have. Don't get the Tector above Carida confused as an ISDI though. Generally I like to keep Sate Pestage around to build mines and production facilities in the deep core. Thyferra and Kessel are also worth building mines on along with Orinda, odds are you will lose Kessel but 2 weeks income pays for the 2 mines there. Withdraw your fleets on the border regions. Sent Pestage to Kuat and Corellia to build KDY and Loronar Corporation. Some planets on the borders (Orinda, Honoghr etc)might be best building 4 units of flex troopers/storm troopers along with a light vehicle factory. Deep core worlds (Kalist, Hassk etc) are for mines or factory worlds- you want a light factory worlds, a heavy factory world, and maybe a heavy one although that might take a while. Eventually pay the money and Recruit Isard.

The Empire Strikes Back
Era 1.1.
 With Isard you get a SSD for cheap. At this point of the game relative to the other eras this is about as good as it gets for the empire as the EotH and New Republic lack their late game toys whie you have Isard, can build another executor, and you have the Tector+ strike cruiser advantage. You can probaby over run the galaxy whatever you do. I tend to turlte up and take some money worlds. Hitting the PA early is often a good idea and you can push all the way to Muunilist. hell you can probably grab all of the PA or head for the Corporate Sector either way is kind of easy mode. Jaemus gives you another world with production facilities while Bastion and Muunilist along with Garos are good for banking worlds (mines+ trade ports). Getting the Corporate sector or PA before Kaine turns up is easy enough along with an aggressive push into the EotH. Going est or north tends to give you a harder late game though if GM blobs and the New Republic eats the south (hutt SPace and CSA are rich). As I said I tend to turtle take some key worlds and defend while playing tall- developing my stuff I want the AI to be a challenge. The EotH AI tends to be passive at best pushing into the PA while Eridau Authority/Rebels tend to come out on top in the south and Zsinj or GM get the NE. The EA, NR and Gm make the best opponents in terms of a late game challenge as Zsinj and EotH tend to be to passive and fall over once you kill the key leaders. Assuming you want to actually play the other eras (or things go pear shaped) letting the AI blob may be a plan. Eating the EotH is probably one of the better plays, its rich but doesn't give you to many advantages over eating Zsinj or striking at the PA before Kaine turns up. Sooner or later you will likely pay the money and recruit Thrawn. Note you will not be able to build Tectors or Executor SSD's again until era 4.  The default Imperial fleets here probably should be something like this.

4 Tectors (-1 +1 ISD II commander)
12 Strike Cruisers (-1 +3 lancers)

Super Fleet
1 Executor
1 Tector
5 Strike Cruisers
4 Lancers

 ISD II fleets and carrier fleets I do not bother with but its an option and when they work losses tend to be minimal (free starfighters). Of course you can use your starting units but I do not tend to build any new ISDs (replacements maybe) or VSD's, the ones you have are better kept as defence fleets saving them for era 2. Note when you change eras you might lose some worlds, usually the ones up near Wayland and deep core worlds.

 Era 2. Thrawns Revenge.
The only new units you acquire in era 2 are the scimitar assault bomber and you get a down grade from the Tector to the Allegiances. A subtle change however is to the VSD I and II which now carry 2 scimitar assault bombers and the ISD II and Escort Carriers also pick them up. While subtle this lets the empire to be a carrier based faction if you like and not be crap at it relative to the other factions except the Eriadu Authority who are roughly in the same boat (maybe Yevetha but the D class is better than TIE fighters). The scimitars are faster and more durable than TIE bombers and they launch their payloads from a greater distance (I think). You can also run allegiances with any left over Tectors you have as you do not tend to lose many of them.

Balance/Carrier Fleet Hybrid
4 ISD's (or a commander)
2 VSDs
2 VSD II
5 Escort Carriers
4 Lancers
2 strike cruisers or 6 scimitar assault bombers

 I tend to go over strength as well often adding an additional 10-15 scimitars to the fleet to act as reserves. Compared to the TIE bomber the scimitar is amazing and between them and the VSD I's you can strip away shields and I hear Thrawn is a good commander along with any surviving era 1 grand admirals + the 2 extra captains you get with Thrawn. This is about as good as it gets for imperial carriers.

Kill Fleet (assuming you have some left over Tectors, you can't build them,)

2 Allegiances
2 Tectors (or ISD IIs lack of choice)
7 Strike Cruisers
5 Lancers

 If you just want to melt face the IR is the only faction that can field Allegiances+ Tectors although you won't be able to replace Tectors for a while. To get to Era 3 either kill Thrawn or pay the 65k. THe game appears to be bugged with the transition if Thrawn gets killed but if you pay the money it seems you get the Eclipse. At least I have not had the eclipse. For fun I like the scimitar fleets and carry a few bombers forward as "museum pieces" that eventually get relegated to Byss guard duties along with the other units you can no longer replace through the eras.

Era 3: The Dark Empire

This is the height of imperial power apart form era 1 and its mostly due to super weapons namely the Eclipse and Sovereign class SSD. In this era you can field 3 SSD's assuming you have carried an Executor forward from era 1. A Soveriegn class can 1 shot another SSD Bellatro or Executor class while the Eclipse can one shot anything else in the game. I normally save Dathomir for this and Zsinj gets to see the effects of a Sovereign class up close while the Eclipse gets used on Rancor Base. They are also both good at clearing out Empress, Oto, and Validusia level space stations. They are weaker than Executor class in terms of sheer beat down and can be vulnerable to sufficiently lare fleets. I recommend using a 90 to 100 point fleet with them and something as simple as forgetting to use a pathfinder unit and getting stuck with a swarm of CC 7700  Interdictor frigates vs the NR can lead to a dead SSD due to clouds of fighters and bombers. In era 4 and 5the Sovereign is unique and irreplaceable. You pick up the XR-85 which is a bit meh, build 2 2M tanks instead IMHO along with the Modular Task Force Cruiser. The cruiser i theory shold be good, its chepa, 3 points carries 2 TIE bombers and two TIE droids but in practice a swarm of TIEE bombers still sucks and they make meh escorts for the SSDs for example vs say Strike Cruisers and lancers. I like using a single tectors+ strike cruisers and lancers as a suitable escort as if things go wrong you have abetter chance of shooting your way out vs gambling on TIE bombers. If you want to much around with droid fighters and TIE bombers use them on Tector and ISD II fleets perhaps replacing strike cruisers with them. Those carrier fleets are not as good as era 2 but you have more fighters and TIE bombers can be OK if you have enough of them and air superiority. You can also build world devastators, they seem crap/bugged and not worth building but I often build 2 of them to send to Byss to keep my various collections company. From an optimisation point of view you can probably conquer the galaxy in era 3 but I am assuming you want to continue the era progression. I tend to be cautious withthe Eclipse and Sovereign, if you get the Eclipse killed you go to Dark Empire II, otherwise you can pay 1000 credits to recruit Carnor Jax.

Era 3 Dark Empire II. The Council of Blood

 IN this sub era you replace the clone emperor with members of the ruling council which if you have surivingin heroes form era 1 you can end up with a lot of heroes None of these carry forward so it doesn't matter to much if the admirals die and they are not particularly good by imperial standards and the ground commanders are also meh. Several worlds seem to secede form the empire with decent defence fleets as well. you do get 3 economic advisers, the two blue ones give you cheap frigates and fighters while the other one gives you a credit boost on a planet so send him to Coruscant or your best planet if you have lost that. The red skinned one also gives you cheap buildings to rebuild some of the recaptured planets or to dev up your empire or expand it. Dark Empire 2 is mostly about using those advisers to boost your production and you can spam some Task Force Cruisers if you want to carry them forward into era 4. Either way the Dark Empire er is about big derpy ships or droid fighter and TIE bomber spam.

 Sovereign Fleet

1 Sovereign SSD
1 Allegiance
9 Modular Task Force Cruisers (or 8 Strike Cruisers + 3 lancers)

Era 3 also allows the Empire to field a nasty Carrier Task Force (CTF). It looks something like this.

X4 ISDs (or 3 ISDs + 3 escort carriers)
X3 VSD II's
8 Modular Task Force Cruisers


TIE Droids+ Bomber spam. Main problem with this fleet is the Task FOrce Cruiser is debateably no better than an acclamator.

Era 4. Visions of the Future

Era 4 you pick up the Crimson Command VSD, Venators, and Tectors come back and Allegiances go bye bye. Your ISD II's also upgrade and launch 4 A-9 Vigilence Interceptors, a Howlrunner, TIE and TIE bomber. Venators also launch a single A-9. This era is all about the cruisers- basically the Crimson Command VSDs and the Tectors its like the Eriadu Authority and Greater Maldrood had a baby. Daala, Pellaeon and Makati and Takel are your admirals (assuming the latter 2 survive). You can also build Venators but unlike the PA youtend to lack things like Secutors and better bomber options. Still quantity has a quality all of its own and escort carriers and left over task force cruisers can offer a swarm of various TIEs.  This is about the only era where cruisers are competitive with Strike Cruisers due to the CC VSD's. just replace an early era balanced fleet VSD's with CC VSD's. Daala is rocking about in the Knight Hammer which means you can field that, a left over Sovreign and you can now build Executors again so you can field 3 SSD super fleets.

Suggested Fleet (balanced)

4 Tectors (or 3 + Admiral)
5 CC VSD
4 Lancer Frigates
4 Strike Cruisers

Or

4 Tectors
3 Venators
8 strike Cruisers (or 7+ 3 lancers)

Suggested Fleet (kill)

4 Tectors
5 CC VSD
4 Strike Cruisers
4 Lancers

Super Fleet
Same as Era 1

7500 credits gets you Pelleaon and era 5. Era 5 is arguably worse than era 4 but you gain the Praetor and Pelleon in an SSD Executor class. You can also end up with 2 Daalas due to a bug but the old one can carry forward and a new one turns up in a Venator. This means you can field 4 SSD- Daala, Pelleaon, an Excutor and a Sovereign which lets you equal the PA 4 SSD's but 3 Executors+ Sovereign> 2 Executors+ 2 bellators. You can build I-7 Howlrunners (junk) and Preybirds (excellent), your ISD IIs also upgrade to carrying a single Howlrunner although ISD IIs are well obsolete. This is the era for epic fights especially if you have not expanded that much. Tectors are basically your main ship, the strike cruisers soldier opn and if the New Republic is a blob they are the biggest threat and your "overpowered" Tectors and Praetors get to face swarms of K wings, Bothan Assault cruisers, new class star destroyers etc. Your default fleets should be 90 points (maybe 60 on the defensive) and key fortress worlds might need fleets in the 90-120 range+ validusia+golan+ 2 HVG's as I have seen AI fleets of 11 allegiances turn up+ huge amounts of support ships an the imperial economy may be stretched to the limits if you are getting slammed by 2 main AI factions (GM+ NR is fun). Vs the New Republic carrier type fleets are complete junk the TIE bombers get shot down by everything. They an be somewhat useful vs other factions.

Suggested fleets

Super Fleet
Same as era 4.

Fighters

30 Preybird
15 TIE Defenders

Kill Fleet
1 Praetor
3 Tectors
6 Strike Cruisers
3 Lancers

30 Point top up fleets

8 TIE Defenders
14 Preybirds

Cheap 30 point fleet to rush somewhere.

2 Tectors
4 Strike Cruisers
3 Lancers

This fleet is for adding to a 60 point or 90 point fleet or just to act as reinforcements to a defensive fleet. Vs the new Republic just double, triple or quadruple this fleet. Vs the other imperial factions yo have the edge as you have some of the best units from each of the warlord factions and they are not the New Republic. Te ISD II is well obsolete, I only use/build them in some narrow cases or with massive lancer and fighter support. On the defensive with HVG vs the NR target their Bothan Assault cruisers they are squishy. Don't be to surprised if you lose an SSD or 2 120 point fleet. Howlrunners and Preybirds can be cheap reinforcements.

 Overall the IR is relatively weak with carrier fleets only being better than the Eriadu Athority and the Yevetha with perhaps era II being an exception. This is because they are not the New Republic or the EotH and do not get units and fighters the PA, GM and Zsinj get. Even in Era 2 you just suck less. You can cobble something together using ISD IIs. strike cruisers, acclamators and escoprt carriers its just nothing to get excited about. The ISD 2 is also a bit obsolete as each era has better options. I use them mostly for defence and tend to only build replacements for the fleets that use them. They do not compare that well to tectors, super weapons, allegiances and the New Class ships of era 3+. They are marginally better era 4 and 5 but so are their opponents. I use them but do not build massive quantities of them.

Pro

Interesting to play with era progression (that you have control over)
Very good starting position (beaten by Zsinj and the Empire of the Hand).
Best and numerous Admirals in the game (Thrawn, Pelleaon, numerous skill 3 ones that last right through the eras).
3 planets with cheap production (Kuat, Corellia, Wayland)
High damage units
Tectors
Strike Cruisers
Very strong on land era 3+
Easy to tech up- you have more control paying credits to gain the next era.
Diverse unit roster with decent if basic units- Strike Cruisers, VSD's, lancers, ISD II, Escort carriers, Acclaimators. Gives you options on fleets (spam, carriers, cruisers, heavy etc)

Cons

Lack of economic adviser most eras (Sate doesn't last long usually, Isard is better as an SSD, otherwise era 3 Crimson Empire).
Squishy capital ships (except Tectors, Allegiances, SSD)
Below Average Cruisers  (VSD I and II)
Outclassed by the other factions era 1
Outclassed by the New Republic late eras
No unique units era 1 (except TIE defender)
Weak bombers
Weak fighters (on ships) quantity helps.
Weak Carriers
No jumbo unit era 1 (Allegiances, Praetors)
Other warlords have unique units era 1 (that are better than yours).
Triangle ships not very manoeuvrable.






« Last Edit: August 26, 2018, 09:28:30 AM by Zardnaar »

August 21, 2018, 09:18:19 AMReply #6

Offline Zardnaar

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Re: Faction Review 2.25
« Reply #6 on: August 21, 2018, 09:18:19 AM »
Eriadu Authority (EA)

 The Eridu Authority is an interesting faction to play and it is one of the harder ones due to being unable to build any new units and a poor starting location strategically and in wealth. And most of the New Republic fleet is in your vicinity. There are not many nearby easy to get to planets with much in the way of credits and a lot of your units are expensive. The EA is all about tough as guts capital ships as they get the Tector and Praetor and for exclusive units they get a 1 point escort carrier, torpedo spheres, and the Tartan cruiser form the base game. On the ground they also get the Lancet from the base game but otherwise are very similar to the era 1 empire. The Torpedo spheres cost 8 points and are very good at collapsing shields with an impressive range. If you think of it as an expensive VSD with uber range and less squishy you will have a rough idea what its about. insteasd opf 4 VSDs you run 2 topedo spheres once you can afford them. The downside is the spheres do slow your fleets down in hyperspace so it can take a while to reach some planets.

 The EA has a decent selection of average to below average admirals and you can get some more. Not the best in the game but you have a large amounts of them with Delvardus being level III. He drives a Praeter that seems to have spinning issues.   

 Money can be an issue as Eriadu as you do not have the richest worlds. They also do not get much in the way of decent bombers but they are very good at fighter spam as they get TIE Hunter Escort Carriers and the Acclamator and the generic escort carriers. IN general I would not bother to much with carrier fleets, the EA is even worse at it than the empire which at least gets strike cruisers and era specific bombers or new fighters in the ISD IIs.

 Your opening moves should be to seize Glova (its a freebie), and then Elrood which gives you additional heroes including an economic adviser. The next goal is to nab Sullust and Moorja ASAP as it links up Yag Dhul and Adye Prittick a commander of an ISD II. Even with a moderate income you have 2 foundry worlds which you build Rendali and the Tarkin Estates on (25% off with your adviser) in effect a 3rd one via your advisers. put 3 mines on Elrood. Utapau and Glova I turn into troop production worlds and I try to seize Thyferra and perhaps Fonder and the NR worlds to the west (Hoth, Endor etc). Eridu can be turned into a factory world wonce you move your capital probably to Elrood. Nabbing Thyferra, Bespin and Hutt space gives you a nice income.

 Your location is not the best and you can expect to be slammed by the NR and he Empire early and often. Have fortress worlds with a HVG + fleet defend the shipyard worlds like Fonder while low income worlds are defending on the ground- turn them into fortress worlds.  Directly north of you you have the galactic core and Corellia+Kuat+Coruscant are great additions.

 Once you get rolling the EA has perhaps the most powerful imperial fleet options available due to unit roster. I like the Torpedo spheres and Tector class star destroyers which are basically tough ISD IIs with no starfighters ( build TIE Hunter carriers). The Torpedo sphere is a long range platform , a pair of them can reduce Oto and Empress class space station to rubble in 4 or 5 minutes (on fast forward). Want to use ISD I/II use torpedo spheres instead, want to use victories for fire support use torpedo spheres instead. Build the right fleet, use torpedo spheres. Have a fleet of Praetors or Tectors add torpedo sphere etc.  Torpedo spheres are decent on the defensive as shield strippers, but I think the interaction between the TIE Hunter Escort carriers and the Tector are key along with some VSDs. The 1 point escort carriers have 2 TIE hunters each and enhance fire and they are capable of wolf packing weaker units and finishing off wounded one.

 The EA also gets more use out of basc units such as VSDs and the Acclamator. This is partly due to lack of better options such as strike cruisers but also because of the interaction of the Tartan, TIE Hunter carrier and the Tector. The Tectors can take the hits while the VSDs can function as fire support. The empire can also do this as well but the Empire doesn't get torpedo spheres and the TIE hunter escort carrier. Out of all the Imperial factions the EA is perhaps the best vs the New Republic as the TIE hunters seem to be very good and often clear the skies which is something most imperial fighters can do and 3 or 4 Tartans helping the works as well. The Tector and TIE Hunter carrier are some of the best units in the game IMHO.

 For fleets you can build around your admirals using the generic fleet template replacing ISDII with Tectors and adding in some 1 point escort carriers. 2 or 3 Torpedo spheres seems to be the magic number and combined with some VSD you can annihilate shields and the spheres are great on the defence as well, not the best on the offensive and horrible pushing into a defended world with a HVG as it can destroy your engines and recharge another once or twice before your expensive space junk can cross the map to engage. Otherwise build around Delvardus and his Praetor (that loves driving in circles and otherwise being useless). During era 4 you get the planet of Kalist with anothr Delvardus so you can have 2 of him+ the Knight Hammer SSD.


Balanced Fleet

1 ISD Admiral 6 Points (or replace with a Tector)
3 Tector ISD 18 Points
4 VSD I/II 8 Points
1 Torpedo Spheres 16
8 TIE Hunter Escort Carriers 8 Points
4 Tartan Patrol Cruisers (or 4 more TIE Hunter EC's)

or
4 Tectors
12 Acclamators

Kill Fleets

Praetor Fleet
 This may be the nastiest Praetor fleet in the game. The idea is simple 2 Praetors+ fire support from the VSD II's. TIE Interceptors and hunters cover you from fighters, if they get overwhelmed (perhaps vs the NR) retreat.

Delvardus +Praetor  (or 2 Praetors)
3 VSD I/VSD IIs
4 Tartan patrol Cruisers
12 TIE Hunter Escort Carriers 4 Points

Super
1 SSD
1 Tector
4 Tartan Patrol Cruisers
5 Acclamators/15 Escort Carriers

This fleet is very simple, SSD+ fire support from topedo spheres and a pile of TIE hunters+ whatever the SSD spits out. Replacing a Torpedo Sphere with 4 normal escort carriers is also an option.

Moral of the story build torpedo spheres but remember to support them.

Carrier Fleet (if you must)

3 ISD's
4 VSD
6 Acclamators
4 Escort Carriers

 The Eridus Authority niche is a heavy cruiser faction with Torpedo Spheres, Tectors and Praetors backed up with lots of TIE hunters via the TIE Hunter Escort carriers. They can go big with a single SSD and Praetor Pocket SSD's.  On the land they have the typical imperial units but pick up the lancet from the base game. They are a bit weaker vs infantry (no AT-PTs) but have stronger air units- 2 of them. I like them a lot as they more or less do what I want the imperials to do- hit hard with heavy ships (as opposed to SSD's). The EA can build a single SSD through to Era 4 SSD's era 1 or 2 not sure if that changes later. Then again you don't need them they have a very nice combination of units.

Pros
Tartan Patrol Cruisers
Torpedo Spheres
TIE Hunter Escort carriers
Eridau
Tectors as a default ship

Cons
Can't  upgrade your ground buildings in land battles.
Below average cruisers/frigates
Below average admirals
Bad starting location
Can only build 1 SSD with another hero unit era IV ( Pentastar can field 4, Zsinj 3, Empire 1-4, Greater Maldrood 2)
Only 1 capital shipyard (Sullust is nearby though).
« Last Edit: August 28, 2018, 07:42:44 AM by Zardnaar »

August 21, 2018, 09:18:33 AMReply #7

Offline Zardnaar

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Re: Faction Review 2.25
« Reply #7 on: August 21, 2018, 09:18:33 AM »
Empire of the Hand

 Well I thought about trying to do an in depth thing but there is a problem with the EotH. Its completely bonkers. You can stay inside your a starting borders and make over 8k credits per week. And you can build Syca Fleet Systems on Syca for very cheap (4350) Syndic destroyers. You also start with Thrawn who is more or less the best Admiral in the game (Akbar is equal in skill, ISD I vs Mon Cal YMMV). You can more or less roll your face on the keyboard and do alright with the Empire of the Hand

 You also start with a very good starting fleet, not as good perhaps as the Empire but its one of the best in the game. Compared to most of the factions you're looking good. Anyway I threw togather a starting fleet and built mines.

Thrawn
2 Syndics
1 Ascendency Star Destroyer
4 Chaf
3 Carriers
3 Frouro Cruisers (renamed Kariek)
3 Ormos Class carriers

 Perhaps not the ideal fleet but its what I had out of the starting units. I turtled for a bit and built some ships for the blue lady Chiss Ar'lani. The Pentastar alignment was just sitting there pants down so I did some aggressive negotiations for Yaga minor. and turtles for a few weeks.

 The EotH is fairly rich and no one really attacks you you can play passive. If you are aggressivey ou can wipe the Pentastar alignment off the map before Kaine shows up and building mines on Bastion and Munnilist you can get over 10k a week. THis may crash the game however on week 20 if the PA is wiped out YMMV.


 So what makes the EotH OP? The space units retreat in 5 seconds instead of 10, they are to fast, hit to hard and your empire is to rich. Compared to slow and clunky imperial ships and not much better off rebels they are very mobile and its not like they give up much in the way of durability, your Syndics are way tougher than an ISD and hit hard enough although I think the damage is average but it seems enough. Probably in the middle of the NR and Empire but way more mobile.
 The other thing that puts them over the top are the quality of the fighters and bombers or perhaps the quantity. It feels like you are playing an era 4 or 5 New Republic game. Furions are similar to E Wings and spawn out of several ships, 8 of them hurt while you launch clouds of fighters with 5 types spawning out of the various ships. I think some of them are new not even sure what the exact roles are except 2 of them are bombers.

 They get some new units, the Peltast Star Destroyer which might even do something (its a long range sniper it may have 1 shot a shipyard not 100% sure), and the new Afthonia fleet tender spits out 4 ships like the Acclaimator but its 2 clawcraft a furion and perhaps a TIE equivalent. Its better and its cheap. Even the cheap 1 and 2 fleet point units seem to hurt or spit out stuff and they are fast and manoeuvrable. Basically grab an Admiral , 3 capital ships, a few support ships perhaps some of the new peltasts to compensate for loss of cruisers and spam cheap stuff that carries great fighters and bombers.

Sample Fleet
4 Syndics (or 3+ Thrawn)
2 Peltasts
6 Ormos Carriers (or 4 more Afthonia fleet tenders)
4 Afthonia Fleet Tenders

or

 Balanced Fleet
4 Syndic Star Destoyers
1 Ascendency Star Destroyer
5 Chaf cruisers
5 Ormos Carriers

 A carirer fleet is some combination of Ascendency Star Destroyers and the Ormos and Afthonia Fleet Tenders perhaps with a pair of Syndic Star Destroyers.

Pros.
Best cruiser in the game (Chaf)
Best capital ship in the game for the price (Syndics built on Syca)
Excellent fighters and bombers. Roughly equivlenet to giving a faciton TIE Raptors, X-Wings, A-Wings and B wing equivalents
Fast hyper drives for retreats
Fast capital ships

Cons (very minor easy to compensate for)

Below average admirals era 1 except Thrawn.
No big uber ships, heavy ISD, super heavy ISD , pocket SSD or SSD equivalents.
No Plex troopers or equivilent
Expensive buildings such as mines and heavy factories.
« Last Edit: August 27, 2018, 07:44:49 AM by Zardnaar »

August 21, 2018, 09:20:04 AMReply #8

Offline Zardnaar

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Re: Faction Review 2.25
« Reply #8 on: August 21, 2018, 09:20:04 AM »
 The New Republic has a lot of high quality units throughout all eras. It starts off as a spam X-Wings type factions and finishes with some of the best units in the game. Generally the NR has very high quality carriers, frigates and capital ships, but weak direct fire cruisers and frigates (at a cheap prcice anyway) and it doesn't really get to play with SSD equivalents to Era 5 or so. A lot of their units are also expensive or cost an odd amount of fleet points as well so generally the NR will have less ships fielded than the empire except maybe for 1 and 2 point frigates where they are generally the best in the game although the EotH can also put in argument up there. Their unit roster is also a bit schizophrenic in the later eras for example the Majestic Cruiser doesn't have any carried craft and cost 5 points. The varying point cost is also kind of annoying, Majestics cost 5 poitns, MC 90's cost 7 points, the Nebula class costs 8  points, Home Ones cost 10 points. They also have some of the best 1 point units in the game with the Marauder class and Nebulon Bs but they cost more money  than the 3 point imperial strike cruiser. Its the old Quantity vs Quality, a 60 point NR fleet is likely better than a 60 point Imperial fleet but the Imperials might have 2 or 3 fleets or lots of strike cruisers in reserve in a 90 point fleet. The 60 point Imperial fleet on the defensive is also likely good enough as well unless the NR fleet is something like 60 Nebulon B's which have a price point of roughly 2 SSD's. Combined with a worse starting position in the larger sand box campaigns such as the Art of War the NR doesn't have the explosive starts some of the other factions can do and they will probably be forced to use some cheaper units anyway such as assault frigates built on Mon Calamari. New Republic ships are also far more resilient than imperial ships as the Mon Calamari series can soak huge amounts of damage with a few exceptions such as the Imperial Tectors and Allegiances. Unlike the Empire they also have a lot less control over when they can advance eras although in FTGU and the smaller campaigns this doesn't matter as much. This is a breif overview now I will examine the eras.

Era 1.

 Era one you have several great units such as the MC 80b and Nebulon B frigates to use. Mass Nebulon Bs however are expensive so cheaper units such as assault frigates and escort carriers will likely bulk out your fleets. Generally I would recommend focusing on the MC 80b as your go to capital ship, the MC 80 mas your 4 point cruiser and filling out the rest of the fleet with Nebulon B, Assault Frigates, and a handful or marauder cruisers. You probably won't need to much in the way of CR 90 corvettes for star fighter defence as your X-Wings tend to make a mess of TIE fighters, just prioritise blowing up competing AA frigates such as lancers. I normally key my most numerous fighters or AA corvettes, to the 1 key (X-WIngs) the high speed interceptors to the 2 key (A-WIngs), fighter. bombers 3 key (B-Wings), bombers (Y Wing) 4 key. The guts of a Era 1 NR should probably look something like this.

4 MC 80b
4 MC 80's
4 Marauder Corvettes

With the remaining points on some combination of assault frigates, quasar fire carriers and Nebulon B's. Early on probably 8 Nebulon B's. I would recommend Quasar fires, 8 of them You can use Dauntless ships instead of the MC 80's,and the rebels start with several home ones  which are decent flag ships but I am unlikely to build more and I like using 1-2 in a fleet and they also carry B-wings. MC 80's carry ion cannons and missiles so are very good at stripping shields.  You have commanders in Home Ones and the Sullustan in a Dauntless. As you get more money you can add in more Nebulon B's while the Marauders offer the NR the best ship killing capacity for point cost, 6 of them can rip apart an opposing ship faster than a MC 80'b They just cost a lot to field en masse fo 4-6 as fire support early on is nice however. Otherwise is just mix and matching your units to build fleets you like. Home Ones and MC 80's offer B-Wings, Quasar FIres carry 1 A, X and Y wing + replacements and Neblon B's carry 2 X-Wings (no replacements) for a 1 point unit. I like the Mon Cal sample fleets as Assault Frigates for example are squishy and suffer casualties but they can be constructed for cheap on Mon Calamari assuming you build the manufacturing building which allows it. If you need a cheap sacrificial ship to bulk out fleets in a hurry the Assault Frigate is the NR strike cruiser equivalent. On the ground I recommend spamming AAC1's or T1-B's if you need something with a bit more armor. NR infantry is a bit weak but they have the best artillery in the game with the

Era 2.
 Era 2 is basically the same as era 1 except you get E-Wings.  You can do the old spam 60 E-Wings for a cheap fleet (useful vs planets with HCG) but I like using them to add a few reinforcements to a 60 point fleet on the defensive. Have a dozen or so be available as reinforcements is also nice but I don not generally devote a huge amount of resources to building E-Wings as they cost money while X-Wings spawn out of carriers and capitals for free.

Era 3.
 Now the New Republic gets some upgraded opitions the most important being the Majestic Cruiser and the MC 90. This lets you build a NR kill fleet which they kind of struggle with era 1 and 2. The Majestic costs 5 points but is a long range unit and is good at fire support. You don'tt really need it though as you can continue using the Mon Cal ships. You can start replacing MC 80'bs with MC90's or do a 2/2 split. YOu can also build the Saachen Frigate now which is kind of inferior to the Nebullon B as a carrier its fine for some cheap fire support for a 2 point point and carries the Defender star fighter. Sachens are better at mopping up other frigates or swarming things like VSDs and Strike cruisers that have lost their shields. While not a perfect kill fleet this gives you more fire power than most NR fleets along with a token amount of fighters but you will need to add some Corellion corvettes to the mix as you have less fighters than a more typical NR fleet.

 Also during Era 3 you can recruit Wedge Antilles who is a Tier Ii commander in the Lusankya SSD. With 25 points left over you can assign a large pile of Nebulon Bs and Marauder corvettes to make up a fleet and they all benefit from his command skill. Or if you are a bit poorer probably a single MC 90 and support units like assault frigates, Sachens, or Quasar Fire but I lean towards escorting SSDs with more firepower over more fighters and bombers as sometimes you get swarmed and need to shoot your way out.

 Kill Fleet

3 MC 90's
4 Majestics
9 Marauder Corvettes
4 CR 90 Corellion Corvettes
6 Nebulon B's

SSD
1 Wedge
15 Marauder Corvettes
10 Nebulon B's

Era 4.

The New Class ships start coming online now. Ironically the Corona replace the Nebulon B but the Nebulon B is actually better due to 1 point vs 2.  You also pick up Bothan Assault cruisers which are very squishy. ANd this is where things get a bit odd for the NR as the New Class ships arguable are not any better than the Mon Cal ships although they do carry things like K-Wings. You traditional tough as guts ships are now joined by squishy Bothan Assault Cruisers, your majestics carry 0 fighters/bombers. Personally I make 3 types of fleet now- a carrier fleet a kill fleet and a balanced fleet.

Kill Fleet
3 Nebula Class Star Destoyers
4 Majestics
4 CR 90 Corellion Corvettes
12 Marauder Corvettes

Balanced Fleet
2 MC 90's
2 MC 80'
1 Endurance Class Fleet carrier
4 Bothan Assault Cruisers
4 Corona Class Frigates

Carrier Fleet
4 Endurance Class Carriers
1 Nebula Class Star Destroyer
4 Bothan Assault Frigates
4 Corona Frigates
3 CR 90 Corellion Corvettes

 BAC become fire support hiding behind Mon Cals or they are used after things like K-Wings and fighters deal their damage. The kill fleet is about as firepower focused as the NR can get and it has minimal fighters.

 Era 5.
 This is much like era 4 but you can build the Viscount Star Defender although you only get one and I don't think you can replace it if it gets destroyed. It also costs you 45 fleet points so fitting in some support ships and a commander is difficult.








« Last Edit: August 30, 2018, 08:15:16 AM by Zardnaar »

August 21, 2018, 02:58:14 PMReply #9

Offline baharr

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Re: Faction Guide 2.25
« Reply #9 on: August 21, 2018, 02:58:14 PM »
Looking forward to these, I enjoyed your previous thread!

August 22, 2018, 11:28:06 AMReply #10

Offline Zardnaar

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Re: Faction Guide 2.25
« Reply #10 on: August 22, 2018, 11:28:06 AM »
Looking forward to these, I enjoyed your previous thread!
Cheers Zsinj will b going up tomorrow. He got a major buff.

August 24, 2018, 06:54:59 AMReply #11

Offline Vlado87

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Re: Faction Guide 2.25
« Reply #11 on: August 24, 2018, 06:54:59 AM »
When will we see NR and EOTH

August 24, 2018, 10:24:37 AMReply #12

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Re: Faction Guide 2.25
« Reply #12 on: August 24, 2018, 10:24:37 AM »
Discord: Discord-Chan#2051

I dont have multiple personality disorder im just crazy(its the good crazy)


also admiring my senpai

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August 24, 2018, 01:07:58 PMReply #13

Offline baharr

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Re: Faction Guide 2.25
« Reply #13 on: August 24, 2018, 01:07:58 PM »
Also, do you have thoughts about some of the ground unit rosters? I'm always curious to see how people fight on the ground.

When playing as the Empire, I like to use either a wall of stormtroopers and AT-STs backed up by SPMA-Ts and AT-ATs to slooowly grind across the map, or use a mix of  XR-85s and 2M tanks to zip speedily along and bypass resistance to wreck generators and factories.

When playing as the Pentastar Alignment, my strategy is a lot more uniform - two A9 fortresses, some Pentastar Enforcers to capture stuff, LAAT gunships and Saber tanks to scout ahead and clear infantry, and AT-APs and Hailfires behind the A9s to do the heavy lifting when it comes to blowing stuff up.

I've generally found AT-TEs to be completely useless.

I also like your assessments of the factions, generally I think you're spot on and there's definitely some useful tips in there (like how Acclamators are great for the PA because they get V19s and actually have fighter reserves to deploy, I didn't know either of these things and had been ignoring them!)

August 24, 2018, 02:47:01 PMReply #14

Offline Zardnaar

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Re: Faction Guide 2.25
« Reply #14 on: August 24, 2018, 02:47:01 PM »
When will we see NR and EOTH

NR will be last I could do the EoTH soon if I wanted to but it will likely be second last.

August 24, 2018, 02:57:52 PMReply #15

Offline Zardnaar

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Re: Faction Guide 2.25
« Reply #15 on: August 24, 2018, 02:57:52 PM »
Also, do you have thoughts about some of the ground unit rosters? I'm always curious to see how people fight on the ground.

When playing as the Empire, I like to use either a wall of stormtroopers and AT-STs backed up by SPMA-Ts and AT-ATs to slooowly grind across the map, or use a mix of  XR-85s and 2M tanks to zip speedily along and bypass resistance to wreck generators and factories.

When playing as the Pentastar Alignment, my strategy is a lot more uniform - two A9 fortresses, some Pentastar Enforcers to capture stuff, LAAT gunships and Saber tanks to scout ahead and clear infantry, and AT-APs and Hailfires behind the A9s to do the heavy lifting when it comes to blowing stuff up.

I've generally found AT-TEs to be completely useless.

I also like your assessments of the factions, generally I think you're spot on and there's definitely some useful tips in there (like how Acclamators are great for the PA because they get V19s and actually have fighter reserves to deploy, I didn't know either of these things and had been ignoring them!)

 I'm not a fan of units that cost much more than 900 odd credits with an adviser. AT-TEs are not that great, AT-ATs are ok and have a role. I use a lot of infantry if I have Wayland. I usually have 3 or 4 factory worlds dedicated to the production of infantry, light, heavy and the very heavy units. Wayland will have 100% barracks on it, planets that have 3 or 4 building slots on it will have light factories, 5 or 6 slots will be heavy and very heavy factories. MOre buildings of the same type= faster construction times. Fortress worlds will have a variety of buildings with an extra heavy factory or two+ turbolasers. I like having hover tanks as imperials to suicide into artillery units if needed and their speed helps.

 EoTH I used the Giz tank spam a lot+ cheap infantry. I'll use artillery and bombers/bombardment on turbolasers or a wave of infantry with some rocket men scattered in there.

 New Republic that cheap and cheerful AA spam tank its like a Hailfire droid at 1/6th the price.

 I also have a tendency to use auto resolve a lot for ground battles and pay the butchers bill. Exceptions are early on and if I know a planet has turbolasers which auto resolve is terrible at dealing with. I don't like slow units that much though and AT-PTs and TIE tanks are my go to units for imperial factions. I don't use much artillery either at elasdt on the attack my fortress worlds usually have 2 of them, 2 AT-AA+ whatever. I'll use those worlds to defend when I can't afford to station a fleet there. Generally I have specialised planets-  factory, money, fortress worlds although sometimes they overlap for example a rich fleet world like EttIV will have 3 mines, 2 HVG, a trade port, validusia station and at least a size 60 fleet there (unassuming I have the money or time to develop that).

 Sometimes I play sub optimally either to stress test something or to make the game harder. The other day I accidentally left the game running after saving and went and had a shower, ate something and came back after half hour or so and the AI had not attacked me and I had 200k credits.  The NR and GM had blobed though they kept on attacking BOthwui a fortress world and I was having trouble holding it with size 90 fleets and 4 Star SSD's rotating in and out while trying to hold Rodia, Nal Hutta and Da Soocha as well. I think they got 2 of the SSDs in the end but some of those incoming fleets must have been 200 or 300 points. One of the GM fleets had 11 allegiances in it. the HVG and Sovereigns lasers gun could not fire fast enough.
« Last Edit: August 24, 2018, 03:10:17 PM by Zardnaar »

August 26, 2018, 09:16:46 AMReply #16

Offline Zardnaar

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Re: Faction Guide 2.25
« Reply #16 on: August 26, 2018, 09:16:46 AM »
Added the Imperial remnant a few subtle changes from 2.1.

August 26, 2018, 01:56:17 PMReply #17

Offline t78

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Re: Faction Review 2.25
« Reply #17 on: August 26, 2018, 01:56:17 PM »
You can build I-7 Howlrunners (junk) and Preybirds (excellent), your ISD IIs also upgrade to carrying a single Howlrunner although ISD IIs are well obsolete.

Apologies, but I think the ISD II gets the Preybird in era 5. At least mine do.

August 26, 2018, 05:42:36 PMReply #18

Offline Zardnaar

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Re: Faction Review 2.25
« Reply #18 on: August 26, 2018, 05:42:36 PM »
Apologies, but I think the ISD II gets the Preybird in era 5. At least mine do.

 They do its just not enough of an incentive to build them over the Tectors. Tectors, Praetors and SSDs re your era 5 work horses with maybe some Venators. I like Preybirds but if you want a lot of them you need to build them manually.I just don't build that many ISD IIs as the Empire. mostly because of the Tector.
« Last Edit: August 26, 2018, 05:47:47 PM by Zardnaar »

August 26, 2018, 06:31:22 PMReply #19

Offline t78

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Re: Faction Review 2.25
« Reply #19 on: August 26, 2018, 06:31:22 PM »
They do its just not enough of an incentive to build them over the Tectors. Tectors, Praetors and SSDs re your era 5 work horses with maybe some Venators. I like Preybirds but if you want a lot of them you need to build them manually.I just don't build that many ISD IIs as the Empire. mostly because of the Tector.

Oh absolutely, I was merely pointing out a discrepancy. I played Orinda this evening, and ended up with mostly tectors... but the NR didn't really attack me, so they weren't really tested. I think that by era 5 the IR is simply too outclassed to do anything but outnumber the NR if it wants to win. Their one good capital has no fighters, which means you have to spend precious fleet points on independent fighters.

I must admit I'm wondering if the ISD II could get a slight buff. Just to make it a better support capital in later eras. Squadrons are canonically fixed... maybe armour ? Maybe a point reduction to 5 (more automation)? Even that doesn't seem like much, and it would be overpowered for earlier eras.

Hmmmm. It should probably be left as it is. Too many professional AAA game companies obsess with everything being "balanced" to the detriment of lore and flavour.
« Last Edit: August 26, 2018, 06:33:52 PM by t78 »

 

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