Federation Commander

With the publication of Captain's Log #49, the Romulans now have four distinct hull types of dreadnought to choose from in the Main Era: the Eagle-series (King) Vulture, the Kestrel-series KC9R Behemoth, and the Hawk-series Condor and DemonHawk. (I should be clear that I am referring to "regular" DNs, as opposed to light and heavy types.)

Are there any particular pros and cons you see in selecting one DN hull type over another? Be it in size, Turn Mode, phaser suite, plasma output, cloak efficiency, the ability to absorb damage, or some other metric, which generation and hull type would you take over another, and for what role?

And speaking of the DemonHawk, are there any of the modular configurations the ship can be outfitted with over in SFB that you'd want to see worked up as disticnt Ship Cards here in FC?

(One infamous type is the REDHawk, which uses a pair of SparrowHawk-E PF modules and a SkyHawk-C gunboat module to enable the operation of two full flotillas of fast patrol ships and a quartet of special sensors to back them up with - which would have made for a fine RTN hunter had it been built. If/when we see gunboat rules done up in FC, I wonder how much trouble the REDHawk might cause in this game system...)

I haven't got much actual experience with the Condor. The problem with the K9R is that while it's a superb ship in many respects it's bloody expensive, and that makes it really hard to work into a squadron. It's heavily shielded, packs lots of plasma and phaser 1s, and it turns like a heavy cruiser. What's not to like? You just can't afford it.

The Vulture is the bargain basement dreadnought of doom. It's got massive shielding, and two, count 'em folks, two R Torps. No, it hasn't got much in the way of phasers, but you're taking it for the R Torps, not for the phasers. And for the Romulans, R Torps are what count. And Vultures cost less than a KRC, which has two S Torps. Admittedly, the KRC is more agile, has broader phaser arcs, is turn mode B, and has D racks for drone defense. It has many advantages over a Vulture. But the Vulture has more plasma throw weight for less point cost than just about anything else out there.

Remember that guy in Jaws saying that the shark was an eating machine? Well, the Vulture is a wrecking machine. All it does is fly through space, and wreck ships and bases with plasma. And that's all.

It gets even worse when you get into the Middle Years, and the Vulture costs less than a Klingon D7 of the same period. And I think it still has two, count 'em folks, two R Torps. (A friend of mine lent me his copy of Briefing #2, which has gone back, so I can't check this. I must get a copy of my own. Middle years looks interesting, and it looks like the Romulans have some interesting advantages in that time period. Romulan Kestrels in the Middle Yearslook like tough customers, but that's Off topic)