Federation Commander

Got some questions for some of these races.
1. With Lyrans should I always get PH-Gs.
2. What's some good loadouts for Orion? So far I been using Dis/PH-G. Thinking about using plasmas.
3. ISC. Just say back and use PPD's. If they get close use plasmas? Is that about it or am I missing something?

Only LDR gets Ph-Gs
Orion load out is personal preference (depending on your opponent also)
PPDs being multi-turn weapons you just can't sit back, when you've use them your foe will close to his weapons range (ISC with plasmas does have a better backup than Feds with Photons) --

Weapons options for Orions really depend on what you will be fighting and on what kind of map (fix or semi-fixed location)

Can you stay at long range?

Over do you need to close or will the enemy?

How many ship do you have? Drone boat, Photons & Gatling for close range etc.

2. What's some good loadouts for Orion? So far I been using Dis/PH-G. Thinking about using plasmas.

In a squadron game, taking a bunch of plasma F torps is a powerful option. You can turn loose a mass of plasma to turn the enemy and make him defensive, and then carronade the F torps once you've made him defensive. Since plasma F's start the game charged, this is very energy efficient, and you have lots of reserve power available for chasing your victim down.

All phaser loadouts are also a powerful option in a squadron game. I've only played Orions a couple of times with this loadout, but I won both games handily. One advantage of this loadout is that because phses take less power than heavy weapons, you can easily run the weapons and still keep your speed up without doubling engines. This allows you to remain stealthed.

If I had to pick a loadout for an Orion ship, and I expected to be in mainly dueling scenarios, and did not know who I would be fighting, I'd be strongly inclined to go with disruptors and a phaser-G. The phaser-G gives me some drone defense, and may be useful offensively if I can work in close.

I have only tried using photon torpedoes once when playing Orions, and got badly shot up. Photons may force an Orion to get too close to the problem. I do not claim that it is impossible for Orions to win with photons. Other players may be better than I at using this weapon.

I am not big on any weapon that takes up two option mounts.

3. ISC. Just say back and use PPD's. If they get close use plasmas? Is that about it or am I missing something?

In my experience of fighting against ISC (Which I have done a quite a few times), that can be a very successful approach. It certainly worked on me more than once. It's even better if you have a ship that can pack an S torp. If someone gets inside your myopic zone, you can make them suffer.

I do not consider myself qualified to address your first question as I have little experience of playing Lyrans.

As pointed out above, There is no such option for Lyran. If you are referring to the ship cards showing the changes that apply to the LDR then you are looking at 2 different empires - Lyran or LDR, and not an option for Lyrans.

The other 2 questions are not easily answered. There are to many ways of playing FC to give a 'one fits all' answer, the answer will rely on context that you haven't mentioned. Do you know your opponent or not? Are you talking one vs one, or squadron actions? Are you talking a simple kill the other guy style battle or some other victory conditions? Are you on a small fixed map or a floating map? Is there terrain or no terrain? etc. Is it a campaign or a one off game?

Most of the games I play locally are campaign based, which throws up a variety of differing scenarios to handle with a fixed set of ships, that means very different choices compared to choosing a squadron for, say, the online tourney.

Sorry my phone keeps me from posting a long question. What I was asking is can I/ should I use the Ph-G option on my ships.?

computerarif wrote:Sorry my phone keeps me from posting a long question. What I was asking is can I/ should I use the Ph-G option on my ships.?

It's not an option.
If you're flying Lyran ships, they have Phaser-1s; not Phaser-G's.

If you're flying LDR [Lyran Democratic Republic], then you get Phaser-Gs; not Phaser-1s.

Scoutdad wrote:

computerarif wrote:Sorry my phone keeps me from posting a long question. What I was asking is can I/ should I use the Ph-G option on my ships.?

It's not an option.
If you're flying Lyran ships, they have Phaser-1s; not Phaser-G's.

If you're flying LDR [Lyran Democratic Republic], then you get Phaser-Gs; not Phaser-1s.

You mean Phaser-3's, not Phaser-1's, right? Or, maybe I've been reading my ship cards wrong....!

The only ships that I can think of that get an option to use PhGs are the orion ships (and maybe Wyn in the latest rules that I've yet to buy?).

Can you - yes, they have the option.
Should you - no idea. they are a good option in many cases, but they may not always be.