Wow, looks like I'm the only one here now. I have a question for any Vudar players. I read in the rulebook that a good tactic for Vudar ships is to bring down a shield late in the turn with phaser fire, and fire Ion Cannons early in the next turn for Mizia attacks. Given that, does all Ion Cannon fire count as a seperate volley, or is fire from each Ion Cannon count as a single and seperate volley? I just received Module F2 last week, and from what I've seen, the Vudar have some nasty ships. The main race I fly is Klingon, so I had to see what these traitors are all about. Any feedback would be appreciated.

By Scott Moellmer (Goofy) on Monday, June 08, 2009 - 06:18 pm: Edit

===
IC's have no special volley advantages, Sidney,
so all count as one volley.

By Michael C. Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Monday, June 08, 2009 - 08:55 pm: Edit

Vudar are kind of in a strange place. They have no seekers, nor big crunch power.

The IPG is excellent to kill drones and fighters if you can get them swarmed together, less so when they are strung out.

And the EW thingy is nice if you shoot the wad and then switch it on before the other guy. Makes playing "who shoots first" a bit more stressful for the enemy IF you keep your Vudar in a position to disengage for the turn without getting TOO much closer.

But if you shoot at range 5 or so, then rely on the IPG EW to keep you safe, the Klinks will cruise to range 0 and ruin you if they can...

By Mike Strain (Evilmike) on Tuesday, June 09, 2009 - 12:31 am: Edit

I think the primary tactic of the Vudar is always make sure you fight in ion storms.....

By Michael Kenyon (Mikek) on Tuesday, June 09, 2009 - 12:09 pm: Edit

The ISG may well be the single best weapon in the game. Okay, so you need a base to use one, but still, it makes them very strong defensively and not particularly strong offensively, which is really the position that they were in by the background.

By Timothy J. Bruce (Khorrah) on Saturday, August 29, 2009 - 01:25 am: Edit

Does not the ISG affect all ships equally, Vudar and non? Would this not imply that while some might consider it ``best'', does it not limit activation unless and until all Vudar vessels have disengaged, or docked with the generating base?

By Timothy J. Bruce (Khorrah) on Saturday, August 29, 2009 - 01:33 am: Edit

A note on ``phoruptors''.

I would assert IC's might beat the ISG in terms of ``best'' since it offers better range-brackets than Disruptors and comparable damage to Photons. The compromise between Photon Toropedo damage and Disruptor range in terms of availability surely must prove a better value than the ISG, which only appears on bases.

Such an efficient piece of technology, although it requires Ion Power, deployed so widely surely must trump the ISG. Considering the IC is also the Vudar heavy weapon, it is ubiquitous. Vudars always have an IC, and it is always pointed at you whereas very very few units will ever field an ISG.

By Andy Vancil (Andy) on Saturday, August 29, 2009 - 11:10 am: Edit

An ISG affects all units, but has only a 60° arc, so the Vudar ships just need to be out of that arc.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Thursday, February 04, 2010 - 11:48 am: Edit

Do the Middle Years Vudar ships work well together with Klingon ships of the same era?

(Say, if someone tried to use the kind of one-in-three ratio that Baduvai fleets can take Uthiki ships in.)

By Jacob Karpel (Psybomb) on Saturday, April 10, 2010 - 09:14 pm: Edit

I've noticed that the Vudar range brackets tend to have breaks 1-2 hexes further out than most enemies. Firing from range 5, for example, is no great hardship for the Ion Cannon but is not as close as other empires would prefer to be.

This plays in perfectly into the IPG use. If you are moving quickly and/or are ready to scamper out of lethal arcs, those four impulses of protection can be insane. Remember that, in the absence of an enemy scout, a 4-point jamming burst plus 4 generated ECM will force a 3 shift no matter what they do, or a 4-shift if they don't have ECCM going.

I also wouldn't really say that they lack crunch (though they're certainly not as crunchy as a Fed or Hydran), but they are more of a finesse and timing empire. Learn to love the IPG, or you'll hate it and its soul-sucking power demands if you're using it actively :D