Greetings denizens of Aziza Prime! SeerK here to talk Relthoza in Firestorm Armada. Specifically I am going to be talking about my list development at the Patrol and Battle Fleet levels. The events taking place at the Nova Open this year got me thinking. Since I am not running things at Nova I have the opportunity to play. Bill and Mike are giving us a whole slew of events at Nova this year and I am planning on playing in at least one of them. The Singles GT tournament on Saturday of Nova is what I am planning on playing in. This is an 800 point 4 round tournament. This presents a little bit of a challenge. You can do quite a bit at 800 points, but playing in a competitive environment and the nature of the missions dictates your selections. I have a few thoughts and potential lists to share. The Relthoza have gotten quite a boost with the addition of the Task Force ships. The new fleet guides have also opened up a ton of new possibilities in terms of fleet building. You can put a lot of hull points on the table now, even in smaller games. his has changed the meta, especially in at the home base of the Michigan Crew Lets take a look!
As many of you know I have never been a fan of the Shunt Matrix MAR. I have never liked each ship rolling separately for their shunt movement. This adds a weird random element to the game I think is a detriment when the intention of the MAR is to showcase the stalker and hunter nature of the Relthoza. The improved shunt matrix MAR that is included on the Gunships and Light Cruisers has pretty mush addressed the issues I have with the Shunt Matrix MAR. Improved Shunt Matrix allows one roll for distance for the whole squadron. It also bestows this upon any ship being escorted by a ship with Improved Shunt Matrix as long as it has a regular Shunt Matrix. This leads me into the first list.
800 points does not allow you to go Tier 1 heavy. If you do, it puts a lot of eggs in one basket in regards to Battle Log. It also limits the number of activations in your list. Typical strategy for padding out your activations is maxing out the number of Tier 3 squadrons.Using cheap Frigate and Corvette squadrons Being able to out activate your opponent is pretty clutch, especially if you can maneuver your big guns into optimal range. There is a different approach though. Stocking your list with as many cruiser hulls as possible gives your fleet some bulk and some more resiliency. With the addition of the Light Cruisers from Task Force we now have a cheap cruiser hull that costs as much as some of the bulkier frigates. The Iramon Light Cruiser is DR 4 CR 6 just like the normal cruiser. It also has 4 hull points. At a base cost of 35 points you can have a squadron for only 105 points. That is only 5 points more than a fully kitted squadron of Nidus Frigates. Firepower is comparable and the squadron is much harder to kill. The Iramon can also be taken as an escort for the Battleship, Carrier and Assault Carrier. This gives you a cheaper option than the standard cruiser escort for the Carrier and a heavier option for the Assault carrier. Lets look at a couple of Cruiser heavy lists.
The first list is based around a Carrier.
Tier 1
Carrier
+1 command distance
Stealth Systems
Self Repair
6 wings of Bombers
2 wings of Interceptors
2x Iramon Light Cruiser Escorts with Stealth Systems
Tier 2
3x Cruisers
Corrosive Primaries
Corrosive Torpedoes
3x Cruisers
Corrosive Primaries
Corrosive Torpedoes
Tier 3
3x Light Cruisers
Corrosive Primaries
This list has 11 cruiser hulls in it. The only real weak spot in it is that is only has 4 activations. There is a lot of hull points to chew through, The list can be tweaked to include a 5th activation pretty easily by removing all the Corrosive weaponry. I personally like loading up on Corrosive weapons to give my fire a little extra spice. The second list is a variation of the Carrier list. This includes the System Wars Assault ships. This list is geared towards assaulting and plays to the close in fighting strength of the Relthoza. It also Includes some Allies.
Tier 1
Assault Carrier
Biohazard Primaries
Stealthsystems
5x bomber wings
2x Light Cruiser Escorts
Biohazard Primaries
Tier 2
2x Assault Cruisers
stealth systems
self repair
6x assault shuttles
3x Ba'kash Cruisers
Tier 3
3x Light Cruiser
biohazard primaries
4x Nidus Frigates
4x assault shuttles
This list can be tweaked a bit, but it is very focused on boarding. The Biohazard weaponry helps you strip down crews. This allows you to use your assault shuttles on the frigates. They can move into position more easily than the other ships or shunt deploy. Long range fire is very lacking though. You need to really use the terrain and plan your movement carefully. Cloaking fields and stealth systems help mitigate fire, as does driving the Ba'kash cruisers into the heart of your enemy. they are tough and make an excellent decoy that your opponent really cannot ignore.
I do have one more list, but it is probably the one I am going to bring to NOVA. So I am not going to post it. Keep your ears open in the next couple weeks. The NOVA FSA event organizers will be talking all things FSA and NOVA Open on Firebase Delta soon.
Thats all for now. I am getting all the last minute things done for Origins next week, The Columbus Incident is going down next Saturday and the Columbus Brawl ITS is going down next Friday. The North American Champ will be on hand to educate you on the finer points of FSA as well as teaching people the game. I will be running a couple Infinity Boot camps as well.
until next time crush the Alliance and as always...
REMEMBER DRAMOS!!!!!!!
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