Fed CA vs Fed NCA

[Sebastian380]

Hello All,
I notice that the Fed NCA has two drone racks as opposed to the CA single rack. Are the two drone racks on the NCA still split 2/4 (drones/ADD) and can we assume that ALL Fed racks are split 2/4?
Thanks.

[Dal Downing]

Yes the NCA has 2 Fed Hybrid Racks which in SFB are known as Type G racks which is the 2/4 split.

No, not all drone racks on Federation Ships are this kind of Hybrid Rack, most but not all. The BCG for example has 2 Hybrid Racks and 2 Regular 4 Space Drone Racks.

[Sebastian380]

thanks. Surprising that the extra drone rack and 2 extra energy points on the NCA add up to only a difference of 3 BPV. CA=147, NCA=150

[djdood]

Point Values measure more than just weapons loadout. The NCA has less "padding" than the classic CA, to protect those weapons.

[storeylf]

The NCA is noticeably superior to the CA, a 3 pt difference is a definately out. The CA has 7 extra 'padding' (yellow and hull boxes) but the NCA has an extra drone and 2 extra power (so only 4 boxes extra overall) plus far better phaser arcs.

Extra padding is nice, but it is situationally useful, it only really helps once you have taken a bit of a pounding, and by that point in a game those extra boxes might not be of any practical help, i.e. except in very close games. Always starting with more power and having better phaser arcs and an extra drone is, on the other hand, always good. The extra power is a huge gain for a ship that struggles to hold overloads and move fast, and the phaser arcs provide much better coverage against those who can outmanouver you (just about everyone), plus extra firepower up front.

[Sebastian380]

hmmm. Lee, I'd like to change my usual choice of ship for our next meeting. I'll be flying the NCA.

[marcus_aurelius]

Forget the NCA or CA, take a Strike Cruiser!

It has the best power curve / fastest of the Fed cruisers with a 3/4 movement, almost the power of a heavy cruiser and almost the padding of a heavy cruiser. It can run at speed 32, hold 4 overloaded photons and still fire 2 phasers every turn without having to burn any batteries. Neither the NCA or CA can do that. You need that sustained speed 32 to close with saber dancers, etc.

If I have a choice I always take the CS.

[Nerroth]

To be fair to the Constitution-class, by the time the NCA was entering service, the older hulls (be they CAs or CCs) were getting upgraded into Gettysburg-class CBs instead. If you haven't seen the Ship Card for it yet, there's a low-toner version of it in Communique #71.

Although, if you did want to switch to the newer hull type, I might note that one of the New Command Cruisers listed in the Naval Construction Contract file might be of interest; have a look for NCC-1673...


And as for the Strike Cruiser, I can't help but feel that the ship benefits a little too much from its conversion to FC. (In SFB, the CS SSD has a very unorthodox movement cost of 5/6, which was rounded down to 3/4 on the Ship Card.)

[Sebastian380]

Thank you gentlemen for the information--it's all very interesting. Thank you especially for pointing out the CS.

[storeylf]

There is some benefit to using the CA - if you get used to that then you will find almost any other Fed ship a lot easier.

I'm easy with what you want to play with next time, I'll choose my ship accordingly, CA vs some older cruiser, NCA vs some newer cruiser.

[Sebastian380]

Thank you gents. I'm really enjoying this thread. This kind of ship analysis is a real eye-opener for me and is a good indication of the depths of this game.
My declaration to switch to the NCA was made tongue-in-cheek. I should have used a smiley or something.

By the way, Lee is too polite to point out on a public board that my game has a lot of glaring weaknesses including power management and maneuvering; looking for a cheaper ride, more maneuverability, more weapons et c, wouldn't really be addressing the problem. I will be sticking to the CA because I think it's a good way to learn about those parts of the game.

Sebastian

[Kang]

Forget the NCA or CA, take a Strike Cruiser!

It has the best power curve / fastest of the Fed cruisers with a 3/4 movement, almost the power of a heavy cruiser and almost the padding of a heavy cruiser. It can run at speed 32, hold 4 overloaded photons and still fire 2 phasers every turn without having to burn any batteries. Neither the NCA or CA can do that. You need that sustained speed 32 to close with saber dancers, etc.

If I have a choice I always take the CS.

What he said

[Steve Cole]

Without a timeline, per se, FC tends to favor the latest/greatest ships, like the NCA. In reality, there were few CAs left by the time NCAs were built, which is why NCAs were built. CAs were converted into CCs, CBs, CVs, CDs, SRs, and other things.