I know that generally Omega Sector and Alpha Sector ships are not really meant to mix, but the group I play with is very open about that sort of thing and I am thinking of playing a Souldra ship in our next game and I had a few questions about that.

First off, is the BPV between Omega and Alpha sector ships still a reasonable source of comparison. For example, is the Souldra light cruiser at 135 BPV comparable to other 135 point war cruisers from the Alpha sector races?

Second, assuming that the points do match up reasonably, I am very new to the Souldra (and Omega in general), and while I have a reasonable idea of how they are played, I am wondering how they play against certain Alpha races. In the free-for-all I expect to play in (4-6 players, each with one ship), I know that two of my opponents will be Klingon and Romulan, is there any advice people can give against those two players.

By John Smith (Johnsmith) on Tuesday, August 04, 2009 - 01:57 am: Edit

Due to the way Souldra shields work, I'd recommend against them in a free for all. You'll either have weak shields all around, or strong shields facing some and no shields facing others.

By Andy Vancil (Andy) on Tuesday, August 04, 2009 - 02:21 am: Edit

BPV-wise, the Souldra are strong in duels, mediocre in squadrons, and weak in larger engagements. I would agree with John that they would be very difficult to use in a free-for-all as you will end up giving someone a weak shield. Your best bet would be to keep your distance, keep a steady stream of torps going to discourage people from closing, and hope that the others fight amongst themselves.

BTW, note that a Souldra CL would weigh in at 151 or more once you account for the Shards.

As for specific tactics, against the Klingon, you are in good shape, as the Souldra have some big advantages in attrition battles, namely good long-range firepower and regenerative shields. The Klingon (well, almost anyone, really) would want to get close. At that point, you phase out and run away. Keep a good supply of dark matter bombs to take care of drones.

Against the Romulan, DMBs are going to be even more important as they can be used like PA mines against plasma.

By Kevin Humar-Barrett (Cheethorne) on Tuesday, August 04, 2009 - 08:58 am: Edit

Why do the Souldra get weaker with larger engagements? Is it because the enemy can force more damage through on a single shield facing or more damage through several adjacent shields.

Although they regenerate nicely, it seems that the shields are the major sticking point for the Souldra is how they function in different conditions.

By Andrew Harding (Warlock) on Tuesday, August 04, 2009 - 09:47 am: Edit

It's not so much that Souldra get weaker with larger forces, it's that they don't stack as well as long range direct fire does. It's been a while since I played Souldra in fleet strength but I think they handle fleet engagements reasonably well. They might not get to regenerate much but it takes a harder hit to force one below fleet speed and their torps have long legs and arm quickly.

By Michael C. Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Tuesday, August 04, 2009 - 12:56 pm: Edit

The Souldra should have issues with

1) Big crunch

2) Enveloping weapons

IIRC

By Jim Davies (Mudfoot) on Tuesday, August 04, 2009 - 03:40 pm: Edit

In general, a similar BPV should translate provided the effective year is similar as well. By "effective year" I really mean combat speed of ships and how well they deal with massed seeking weapons. Fixed/floating map and EW will also have a large effect.

It's the same in the Alpha quadrant: 500 BPV of EY Hydrans or Kzintis would get plastered by a single D5 on a floating map, and a Y185 Kzinti FF would probably kill a Y160 Fed CL on a fixed map.

By Kevin Humar-Barrett (Cheethorne) on Tuesday, August 04, 2009 - 03:50 pm: Edit

Well, Jim's point makes sense. I just wanted to make sure that Omega Sector BPVs, while presumably comparable to other Omega Sector BPVs, would also be comparable to Alpha Sector BPVs. It seems people think they are (with the comparable year stipulation as well).

I think I'll try them out even if they don't do as well in a free-for-all as they would in a duel. The other players have never seen one in action yet and should be in for a few surprises.

By Andy Vancil (Andy) on Wednesday, August 05, 2009 - 01:18 am: Edit

I haven't found a major problem with BPV balance between Omega ships and GW-era Alpha ships. There are some cases where races won't match up well - in particular, if you are using an open map or facing heavy plasma or a lot of drones, the lower max speed of the larger Omega ships will be an issue.

A larger issue is that some of the races are overly weak or strong, or have flaws that are fatal in certain situations, or advantages that are overwhelming in others.

I wrote up an analysis of the Omega races some time back. It is still in the archives at http://www.starfleetgames.com/discus/messages/12031/11614.html?1127020883 (Friday, September 16, 2005 - 01:46 am). Several other players raised good points in the subsequent discussion. At some point, I should go back and redo it, based on insights I have gleaned since then.

By Kevin Humar-Barrett (Cheethorne) on Saturday, August 08, 2009 - 08:00 pm: Edit

Two other races I've been looking at for the free-for-all battle are the Ryn and the Branthodons. They both seem interesting and offer an important feature I want: possibility of reaching speed 30-31.

In a free-for-all scenario with 4-6, mostly against Alpha Sector races and an expected CPV value of 125, 155, or 180, how do people think they would play?

For the Ryn, they would definitely not be playing near their nebula, so they wouldn't have the huge regenerative armor capabilities, nor the transporter link. That hits them with some limits, but their movement and weapons are still very interesting.

As for the Branthodon, their ships and rules are quite interesting, especially the Mature and Adult dragonships. But I'm not sure how they would play if any single internal has the potential to take out any system in the infrastructure (once the armor is gone).

Any advice?

By Andy Vancil (Andy) on Sunday, August 09, 2009 - 12:55 am: Edit

Either race has the potential to be truly devastating in a free-for-all.

Free-for-all scenarios are often about maneuver, and the Ryn has amazing capabilities in that regard. Realize it's not just that you can go 30 hexes in a turn. You can go 30 hexes without giving up anything power-wise. And you can move those 30 hexes over the course of 20 impulses.

Another thing working for the Ryn in the free-for-all: The TEMs. These are drones that shoot you. Again and again until you shoot them down. Sic a few of these on someone who is busy dealing with someone else, and they have a real problem.

A third thing the Ryn have going for them is that it takes a lot of damage to crack an armor belt. No one is going to want to make that initial exchange with you because they will come out behind on internals. This can work against you, though - if that armor belt goes down, you have 180° unprotected, which in a free-for-all, means you are shark bait.

The Branthodon have some maneuver advantages as well. In the free-for-all, the fact that they don't need to worry about shield facings or (for the most part) firing arcs works to your advantage. One big disadvantage is they generally need to get close to do much, and the close-range exchange tends to leave both you and your opponent as an easy target for the other players.

By Kevin Humar-Barrett (Cheethorne) on Sunday, August 09, 2009 - 08:12 pm: Edit

I guess my biggest worry with the Branthodon in a free-for-all is that with no shields and every shot having a chance of hitting something relatively useful (once they get through that section's low armor), I'll be shot at by every player with a stray extra shot near the end of the turn.

But I really do like how the dragons operate. I would agree with your conclusion in the other thread that the large number of 360 degree weapons and lack of shields does take away some tactics and maneuvering, at least at first, their unique play would be really interesting.

By Andy Vancil (Andy) on Monday, August 10, 2009 - 01:20 am: Edit

The amount of armor is very minimal, but the amount of damage required to have any real effect on the dragon is not as low as you think. Dragons are big.

Consider that 72 damage on a cruiser is going to do about 40 internals, knocking out the hull, probably the batteries, about 6 power, several phasers, likely a torp and a drone. Depending on the ship, you might see damage to the shuttle bay.

That same damage on a Mature dragon is going to take out the armor, and do about 12 damage to the exoskeleton - probably just a couple p3, a couple power, and some fluff. You'll be down to 50 wing factors - still able to go speed 30. The main loss will be an average of 4 vitals boxes. But you'll still have all your main weapons.

Now consider a second hit of the same size. If it hits the same shield on the cruiser, the cruiser is dead. On a different shield it leaves the cruiser a crippled wreck. Meanwhile, the dragon may have lost a claw, probably a couple p1s, but still can move speed 16 or so, and still has its breath, its eyebeams, and its tail.

This is assuming some pretty hard hits. Sniping is not going to do much of anything. Mizia is mostly meaningless on a dragon.

By Sidney G. Kanouse (Konus67c7) on Tuesday, December 08, 2009 - 06:55 pm: Edit

Awhile back I asked what would be some good "classic" fights in SFB. The feedback was appreciated and noted. I have the same question for Omega. I have just recently began goofing off in the Omega Octant, and would like to get into some "classic" duels. There seems to be alot of nasties running around in this part of the galaxy. Thanks for the input.

By Jonathan Jordan (Arcturusv) on Tuesday, December 08, 2009 - 07:41 pm: Edit

Well, Omega has been nice to me in that ships across a class type tend to be unique to fly, but fairly equal against each other, even if they're not historical enemies. Not like say, Gorn vs. Kzinti which gets pretty ugly for the Gorn in my experience.

There are some notable exceptions. One is the Branthodon Regime Dragonships. Pound for pound the most deceptively tough things you will ever fight. If you get someone that knows how to fly them you usually need about a 50% BPV advantage to win, in my experience. Ryn shouldn't be used against any seeking weapon based race. Not unless you want to learn the true meaning of Frustration.

My favorite Omega Matchups have actually been: Kolighar and Hivers, Maesrons and Probr, Vari and Drex, Alunda and Qixa.

Some are pretty basic matchups, not going to tactically surprise you. For example if you ever played say, Feds against Hydrans than the core of Kolighar and Hivers isn't going to be too much of a shock to you. One that was the most interesting to me was the Qixa vs. Alunda. I was playing the Qixa ships and was mostly unaware of the Alunda, barely interested in them. So there was a lot of twists that popped out in our battle that I didn't see coming.

I'm actually hoping I can find someone to play a Sigvirion Fleet against me. But then again it was the Qixa Infection Historical Scenarios that really drew me to the Sigvirion as an interesting opponent.

By Kevin Humar-Barrett (Cheethorne) on Friday, January 08, 2010 - 08:30 am: Edit

Does anyone have experience playing the Branthodon in fleet engagements? I would imagine that they would play somewhat similar to most plasma races where the small ships have only short range capabilities, while the larger ships do the heavy lifting if you want to maintain range from the enemy.

The Branthodon don't seem capable of putting enough plasma on the board to overwhelm opponents either, until you get to really large fleets.