/dcg/ Dropzone/Dropfleet Commander General

UCM newbieanon back again, having just won a bid for 4 PHR cruisers and 12 frigates. How shall I build them, barring the obvious 4-6 Medeas and almost certainly a Bellephoron?

There's not really much point to a limit nobody would reach anyway, user.

whatever the skirmish and battle limits are, I'd say that clash needs to be 10-12, if only to prevent Shaltari players from taking 4 motherships and a battleship.

>10 limit
5 troop carriers
4 troop carriers, 2 strike carriers
3 troop carriers, 4 strike carriers
2 troop carriers, 6 strike carriers
1 troop carrier, 8 strike carriers
10 strike carriers

3 motherships, 1 battleship

>12 limit
6 troop carriers
5 troop carriers, 2 strike carriers
4 troop carriers, 4 strike carriers
3 troop carriers, 6 strike carriers
2 troop carriers, 8 strike carriers
1 troop carrier,10 strike carriers
12 strike carriers

3 motherships, 1 battleship
4 motherships

Two troopships.

>and hell maybe two Bellerophons

Bellerophon
Orpheus
2 Theseus

6 Medeas
2 Calypso
2 Europa
2 Pandora

The Tokyo feels like the first UCM battleship I'm going to build. Does a decent job lasering things as it flies at the cluster I washed my hands of at the start, blows the shit out of it when it arrives, and if it needs to go weapons free to use its side guns thats still decent shooting. That plus it being so cheap in comparison to its sisters really makes me want to run it.

This; it's perfect for sitting on critical locations, too.

Bump

so with a new faction coming would you prefer them solidly evil like the scourge, dickish and probably evil but with room to maneuver like the Shaltari, right but fuckers like the PHR, or wrong but respectable for sticking to their guns like the UCM?

Another primitive race previously fucked over by the Scourge and Shaltari, looking to carve out their place in the universe and protect themselves forever against alien menace. Only problem is, the Scourge up and left before they could do their reconquest.

Basically non-human UCM, just to show that the Scourge have been around for a long, long time.

Also,
>right but fuckers like the PHR, or
>wrong but respectable for sticking to their guns like the UCM?
BALLSUCKERS FUCK OFF

I wouldn't be so sure about the PHR being right. Even if the sphere is trustworthy and isn't merely using humanity as a tool for its own secret agenda, its creators are definitely untrustworthy as fuck.

It seems likely that the new faction will probably come to kick the shit out of the UCM, in order to stop that momentum and keep Scourge and Resistance relevant. Something advanced with a totally alien mindset might work there.

That could work if the Scourge get reinforcements or something. At this point if another faction tries to join the jelly hunt they'd steamroll the Scourge immediately.

>That could work if the Scourge get reinforcements or something. At this point if another faction tries to join the jelly hunt they'd steamroll the Scourge immediately.
That depends; has it ever been said (in lore or from Dave's mouth) that the Scourge have only one "fleet", or are their multiple Scourge swarms harvesting the galaxy?

We don't know.

How's this looking, thread?

--------------------------------------
lolTokyoPerth - 1237pts
UCM - 3 launch assets

SR15 Flag battlegroup (220pts)
1 x Tokyo - 220pts - S
+ UCM Commodore (40pts, 3AV)

SR12 Vanguard battlegroup (269pts)
1 x Perth - 195pts - H
2 x Lima - 74pts - L

SR7 Line battlegroup (196pts)
1 x Seattle - 132pts - M
2 x New Orleans - 64pts - L

SR8 Line battlegroup (207pts)
1 x Berlin - 105pts - M
2 x Toulon - 70pts - L
1 x Jakarta - 32pts - L

SR9 Pathfinder battlegroup (239pts)
1 x San Francisco - 111pts - M
2 x New Orleans - 64pts - L
2 x New Orleans - 64pts - L

SR3 Pathfinder battlegroup (66pts)
3 x Santiago - 66pts - L
------------- dflist.com -------------

Not sure why you've got a Jakarta with a lone Berlin. That seems odd. Maybe switch it to Sanfran or Tokyo. If you want to protect valuable snipers then Perth makes more sense.

It's to guard the Toulons, actually; frigates are especially vulnerable to bombers.

Toulons aren't worth protecting. They're especially vulnerable, but they're also bottom priority targets that will only be attacked by bombers if they have nothing more important to do.

My New Orleans will pretty much always be in atmos, same for my Santiagos.
Seattle has enough fighters to neuter the bomber wings of better factions.
Berlin, Sanfran, Perth, and Tokyo all have enough PD, along with fighter bonus, to deal with them.

Even still, the Jakarta can be within 12" of any ship in that group, it's more than possible for it to stray out to protect some other stuff, and it's in there for the sake of SR.

Fighters can only be used once per turn. If somebody combines close and long range bomber waves or has CA ships handy then they can be bypassed. There's also a good chance they'll just be overwhelmed by something mean like a Hydra or Bellepheron, and they'll get seriously fucked up if people combine waves from multiple carriers. Of course the Jakarta can also be overwhelmed by weight of fire, but it's still better to have it attached to ships that are likely to be targeted by things like CAW and bomber waves.

All true, but again, the flexibility of that 12" BG range is more than enough to move the Jakarta around. Even if I move it out of coherency, the group will still only be 9 SR and thus able to beat double cruiser groups.

bump

Rio or Berlin? Wyvern or two Strix? [Spoiler]Should the PHR sink into specialized cruisers like the Orion and Ajax when they have access to a lot of solid carriers and hybrid ships? [/spoiler]

>Rio or Berlin?
Very different ships. Better questions are Rio or Seattle (Seattle usually wins) and Berlin or New Cairo (harder choice, Berlin is tougher with guns and can be taken alone but NC is cheaper and faster)

>Wyvern or two Strix?
Either two Wyverns or two Strix, jelly CA cruisers work best in pairs.

>Should the PHR sink into specialized cruisers like the Orion and Ajax when they have access to a lot of solid carriers and hybrid ships?
Orion yes, it's a staple of broadside mouthfucking teams and is not really specialized since it kills all targets. Ajax maybe not, but only because Orpheus is fucking ludicrous for its price. If they make PHR super troopships more expensive or let Ajax split fire like in the fluff then it will be better.

Really though, I only compared them now but Orpheus is crazy compared to other faction troopships. For 20 extra points over the most easily comparable San Francisco it gets:
>+3 hull points
>+2 scan
>on approach, gun with 66% chance to add a spike and a decent chance to deal good damage
>when it gets stuck in there's a broadside that deals more than both San Francisco turrets combined against any target, and deals double that damage against frigates
>cruiser tier CAW that does more than double the damage of San Francisco frigate tier CAW
>laser, 2 broadsides plus CAW can be used in weapons free
>there are a couple of minor downsides, -1 thrust and cannot fire on targets that are in front arc but not narrow arc
Spamming 3-4 of them with some support seems to be an A+ strategy with no real downside, maybe mix it up and replace one or two with a Ganymede if you like. They are brutal frigate killers that do decently against cruisers and can mark targets for snipers, so why not take a bunch?

I just got my kickstarter shit last week, but the Orpheus did stick out to me as being very good. I hate the wide-chinned look and indended to take an Ajax to hunt for frigates, but it seems like the Orpheus can do that and drop bulk landers at the same time.

Local scene will be starting soon, as I finally got my rewards in the mail.

You need to make a troopship at some point, but it's not like having an Ajax around is going to fuck you over. It's a good ship.

I've yet to see the OPness of the Diamond.

I understand it, theoretically, but in every face off I've had with it my Heracles has blasted it to bits while the megadoomer particle cannon struggles to punch through the pair of Calypso trailing behind.

I personally think the Theseus does what it does way better.

I mean it's nice having a burnthrough, but the Theseus' ability to target four ships at once before PD makes it the premier frigate fucker.

The pair of calypso are the whole reason why you've been doing well against it. They'll effectively neuter the main gun, making the ship as a whole much less useful. Sadly my scourge don't really have any way of doing that outside of our battlecruisers; every other ship is basically just fodder for the particle triad. UCM are a bit better off with their limas to widen the engagement range for their own burnthroughs, but I generally can't get to grips with the damn thing without heavy casualties courtesy of my bloated sig.

Considering it can see my Daemon from over two feet away, it basically neuters it.

I guess you need to go full stealth, silent running for lyfe.

I wouldn't bring a Scourge battleship to a game where the enemy has a Diamond. More cloak cruisers or battlecruisers are probably more useful.

To be fair, I build all comers. And until battlecruisers come out, I don't have any, sadly.

Has anyone tried Frigate skew, and by frigate skew I mean taking a disproportionate number of your combat vessels as frigates rather than cruisers. Seems like it might give you an advantage against certain lists, like shatlari Diamond fuckery lists.

I've got an introductory DFC game set up tomorrow for someone new to wargaming, and the other party is interested in PHR. Does this look like a decent matchup, or should I make it smaller?
--------------------------------------
Scourge Icebreaker - 737pts
Scourge - 5 launch assets

SR10 Line battlegroup (245pts)
1 x Chimera - 105pts - M
1 x Hydra - 140pts - M

SR5 Line battlegroup (105pts)
1 x Wyvern - 105pts - M

SR5 Pathfinder battlegroup (193pts)
3 x Djinn - 129pts - L
2 x Gargoyle - 64pts - L

SR7 Pathfinder battlegroup (194pts)
2 x Harpy - 84pts - L
1 x Ifrit - 110pts - M

--------------------------------------

PHR Icebreaker - 731pts
PHR - 2 launch assets

SR5 Line battlegroup (130pts)
1 x Orpheus - 130pts - M

SR5 Line battlegroup (115pts)
1 x Ikarus - 115pts - M

SR12 Pathfinder battlegroup (258pts)
2 x Europa - 80pts - L
2 x Theseus - 178pts - M

SR5 Pathfinder battlegroup (228pts)
2 x Medea - 78pts - L
3 x Pandora - 150pts - L
------------- dflist.com -------------

I learned about Dropfleet Commander last night when a friend showed me the rulebook that he got with the kickstarter. I love everything about this game so far, but I know next to nothing about the factions or how they play other than it boils down to Space Assholes, Cyber-dicks, Brain Slugs, and Humanity Fuck Year.

Both fluff and general modus operandi are almost as important to me as aesthetic when it comes to whether or not I'll enjoy a tabletop army. So can I get a general breakdown on what each faction is about and their general fleet doctrines and tactics?

Also what is the prospect for future growth and expansions? Are there any plans for new factions, scenarios, ships, ship classes, game types, etc.?

Thanks in advance bros.

Scourge are fast glass cannons that usually go stealthy then jump out and do loads of damage at short range.

PHR have broadsides that need a bit of clever manoeuvring to get the most out of. Also very tough ships.

Shaltari try to keep their distance to take advantage of their long range and have a bunch of weird gimmicks.

UCM are the 'normal' faction, they are pretty tough with good weapons and versatile ships. Great bombardment too, and they get a special frigate that makes them better at marking targets than any other faction.

The game is going to be supported. An expansion is planned for the future and if DZC is anything to go by there will be new ships, new scenarios and maybe new rules like environmental stuff. iirc a new faction is planned to be released relatively soon as well. Only one new ship type is known for now, and that is the dreadnought.

>The game is going to be supported. An expansion is planned for the future and if DZC is anything to go by there will be new ships, new scenarios and maybe new rules like environmental stuff. iirc a new faction is planned to be released relatively soon as well. Only one new ship type is known for now, and that is the dreadnought.

This is really great to hear, I've been wanting a space-based table top to play for a while, and this game looks like it'll suit my fancy just fine.

Could you perhaps tell me more about the marking targets and stealth? How effective is long range combat vs. short range combat? Any serious drawbacks of preferring one to the other that aren't immediately obvious (like short range ships potentially getting blown to bits at range)?

the ranges in the game are dynamic, there arent exactly short vs long range ships in the traditional sense.

There are essentially 2 broad weapon ranges in the game, Normal, and Close Action. Normal has a variable range, Close Action is usually short.

Range is determined by taking your ships Scan and adding the targets Signature and adding them together. Scan is static for a given faction and ship, but Signature can vary depending on whether the ship has performed special actions.

Normal weapons use the sig + scan to determine range, Close action weapons only ever use your scan. You can however use the silent running special order to reduce your signature to 0 temporarily. The scourge have several ships which can make the best use of silent running as you are normally not allowed to fire, however ships with the stealth rule may fire.

Alot of the tactical depth comes from managing signature on your ships and your opponents via the use of special orders

Where can I actually buy this game? None of the stores I've looked at seem to have anything.

I liked the warstore.

Seconding Warstore, they've been pretty great all the times I've dealt with them.

Though I've also found that random stores post stock on eBay all the time with free shipping, which can end up cheaper than Warstore if you aren't ordering in bulk.

Gonna jump on in.
-2x PHR starters
-1 battleship.
- Rulebook

Do I need to buy anything else? Command cards come in the boxes? Gonna just make my own launch assets and tokens.

Command cards aren't out yet. You should be set otherwise.

Loyal comrades of the Sphere! I'm having issues dealing with Shaktari. My Big Belle and Orpheus can't crit because any hedgehog worth his spines just pops Opal'd shields, and his Aquamarines keep fucking with my Theseus squad. Any advice on how to damage Shaltari as glorious a e s t h e t i c master race?

Basically, they work out like this.

>UCM
HUMANITY FUCK YEAH combined with a moderate touch of FUCKING XENOS, the UCM are FUCKING PISSED at everyone. They're pissed at the Scourge for killing or infesting 95% of their population, they're pissed at the PHR for being filthy fucking traitors and cowards, and they're made at the Shaltari for being mischievous little puppetmasters. Everyone is on their shit list, and they've been working on it for nearly two centuries. Pic related.

They're the jack of all trades fleet, but a bit better in a few areas.
They have the second best armor, right after the PHR.
They have the most efficient/specialized/prolific beams.
They have the outright best arcs and firepower distribution in the game, with their side arcs being nearly as powerful as their front, as compared to the Scourge and Shaltari.
They're launch assets are a bit meh, but their carriers are simple, tough combat vessels in addition to that.

>Scourge
ALIEN BODYSNATCHERS FROM SPACE that are not!Yeerks, they're the "galactic superpredator" that fly around the galaxy bullying up and coming sapients, stealing their men, women, other sexual morphisms, and children for use as hosts. They are ostensibly the bad guys of the setting, through both biology and their eager willingness to embrace their biology, and almost (but not quite) a hivemind. Their ships are controlled by a terrifying amalgamation of dozens upon dozens of hostless pure scourge into a slimy ball of gestalt space slug terror.

They're one of the fast fleets, the other being Shaltari.
They have the second worst armor, right after the Shaltari.
Their signature is actually bigger than most other factions, but only by +2" beyond frigate sized vessels.
Pretty much all of their weaponry has scald, which increases the armor value of a target if they're in scan range.
They have the best general CAW on their ships, as well as arguably the best specialist CAW (Shaltari with their CAW(beam) fuckery are contenders)
Almost all of their firepower is concentrated in the front arc, and have little presence in the sides.
A single one of their carriers puts out swarms of launch assets, but is not a combat vessel on its own.

>PHR
ANIME AS FUCK cyborgs that abandoned humanity before the Scourge invaded on the advice of an Alien AI (that looks like a white tennisball), the PHR returned right as the UCM prepared to go kick Scourge ass as posthumans and told them basically "This is fucking stupid, you'll get fucked". UCM tells them to fuck off, PHR shrugs their aesthetically perfect shoulders, and they go on to be not!Eldar along with the Shaltari to go fuck with everyone and absolutely anyone, including the Shaltari. We don't know the rest of their story, but they have lots of bodysuit clad women.

BROADSIDES
Have about 50-100% more firepower than any other fleet, but this is spread amongst their side arcs.
Clever target picking and maneuvering allows them to outdamage most stuff without needing to go double broadside.
Beams are equivalent to the UCM, but are less prolific.
The best bombers in the game, will utterly fuck shit up.
Slightly better scan than the UCM and Scourge.
Best armor, near universal 3+ save.
Also have a universal +1 hull on all their ships, except the battleship which has +4
Best troop carriers in the game, are pretty much fully combat capable cruisers with heavy cruiser tier hull stats.

>Shaltari
MANIPULATIVE LITTLE FUCKERS, the Shaltari are an ancient race of not!Eldar hedgehog greys that have mastered immortality, moving their minds into vatgrown clones upon nearing death. All of their shit is several millennia old, they're broken into several dozen different factions (some of which are building into two major coalitions), most have beef with humanity, some almost like us (or used to), and it's possible they're responsible for the Scourge in some way. Like the PHR, they fuck with everyone.

Fastest ships in the game, along with Scourge.
Best point defence in the game.
Worst armor, near universal 5+
Worst hull, universal -1 hull.
Tiniest signature, their battleships only have 4" sig while everything else has 3", their frigates have 2"
Best scan, universal 12" scan.
A huge chunk of their shit is in the front(narrow) arc, but they also have solid guns.
Shields give them 4++ armor, blocking critical hits as well, but removes their PD and gives them a HUGE signature.
Their troop deployment is BULLSHIT FUCKERY.

Thanks, user.

I think I'm gonna buy into Scourge. The fish ships are kinda cool looking to me, and I've always liked an up close and personal "fuck you" style of play. And I did always like playing the bad guys.

Ajax blow up a lot more usefully.

>Another Jellyhead joins the fight
Buddy you are going to have fun. Hope you enjoy having the most versatile frigates, the undeniably best battlecruisers and the coolest looking battleships.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, the Scourge battlecruisers are I N S A N E

[angry Lima noises]

>only a 50% chance to break it out of silent running
[smug scourge]

I forget, does the Lima still light up like a christmas tree if it fails? That feels rough if they do.

yes

you active ping you get a major spike, it doesnt matter what happens to the target

Yepl; Limas don't get any bonus to active scanning besides being able to do it whenever, regardless of other orders, as well as having no limit as to have many detector ships can do it per activation.

BTW UCM anons- a pair of Limas and a pair of Rios? Nasty module.

4200 turret (banks) are linked on all UCM ships, along with a slight, 1-2 point increase.
Yes or no?

I kind of wonder how viable combine arms BGs for the UCM are.

Example; Rio, Berlin, and 2x Toulons

A pair of Limas with anything that can dish out damage is nasty, that goes without saying. Limas+Rios, Limas+Perth, Limas+Berlins, Limas+Moscow, Limas+Beijing, they're all good.

I'd keep the laser snipers by themselves, they tend to stay further away from the action and prefer orders like course change rather than weapons free. Brawlers, bombers, carriers and troopships can mix with absolutely no problems though, I find it's pretty common. Seattles might go well with snipers too if you want them to do long range support rather than close range work.

>page 8
>in only one and a half hours
>past midnight in the US
Holy fuck Veeky Forums, slow down

They need it. Those shoulder guns are pretty unusable outside of opportunistic weapons free fire.

Sure, why not. They're auxiliary weapons and even linked would not be very good, but they are not meant to be. Some ships like Rio and Moscow would not benefit at all, but Sanfran and Madrid would be improved. Would this effect battleships as well? It would be very good for New York, right now it is worse than a Seattle at direct shooting without weapons free.

Am I alone in thinking that Osakas are pretty underrated?

It'd marginally effect the gunships, allowing them to target two ships on standard orders that don't warrant a full 6400 battery.
It'd make beamships far more versatile when out of position.
It'd certainly benefit support ships, further cementing the idea currently present in Seattle's of not having super specialized support ships.
It'd also effect battleships and the avalon/perth, I'd say, but 8 4+ shots is certainly something to be reckoned with.

I want to say they are, but at the same time the munchkin in me says that there's no reason to ever take them over Cairo cheese.

>friend tells me Scourge are the stealth faction
>all scourge ships have larger signatures for their class than any other faction

Unless you're fighting Glasses or something the 6400 battery is pretty much always the better option. A single 4200 turret is complete dogshit and can't reliably kill anything. For battleships it is a bit better though, it really helps New York and Tokyo while being a legitimate option on Beijing.

They're pretty good. I think they tend to be ignored because they don't have a laser and aren't made for big brawls.

Different roles. Osakas flank and harass, while NCs kill priority targets until someone decides to fuck them up. I find that the lack of armour on Osakas bothers me a lot less, probably because they get shot a lot less.

They're the stealth faction because Scourge ships need to be stealthy and go in silent running, otherwise they get the shit kicked out of them.

The frigates, heavy cruisers and battlecruisers also have abilities that help with sneaking.

Have you considered the careful balance between stealth and balls-out aggression?

youtube.com/watch?v=VJGtFv2Q5q0

Since I'll never be able to find an opponent where I'm at, what point range should I be theorycrafting my lists at?

>but for now I'm going to put these aside and start building the hundred condors

>Unless you're fighting Glasses or something the 6400 battery is pretty much always the better option. A single 4200 turret is complete dogshit and can't reliably kill anything. For battleships it is a bit better though, it really helps New York and Tokyo while being a legitimate option on Beijing.
True, combined fire the 6400s are always better than their 4200s, even the 3x 6400 on the Beijing vs its 4x 4200.
anydice.com/program/ac7c

The thing where this'd most come into play is giving their beam ships a semi reliable weapon when they get in close, making their support vessels into almost combat ships, and generally giving the UCM a way to deal with almost-dead-ship swarms.

999 and 1250.

Solitaire games are actually pretty good for honing your edge, particularly if you have a second faction.

>Scourge battlecruisers are amazeballs

New Jellyhead user here, I didn't know that the Scourge BCs were considered really good. What makes them so good?

Also, you make your own opponents. Get somebody interested. Spot them models.

It's a combination of good weapons, stealth, and full cloak. They're damn hard to spot, can fire a weapon system while on silent running, and are decently priced as well, points wise.

Honestly, I'd consider the Scourge BC's and their HC's to be the best in the game, for the simple reason of cloak and stealth. We'll start off with the heavy cruisers, simply because it'll put the battlecruisers in perspective.

>Shenlong
Three identical primary guns, capable of putting a max of six two damage 3+ attacks in the front and a max of two in the sides, twelve damage in total on weapons free with about eight of that hitting, four of that being crits. It puts out a huge amount of solid firepower, but that's not what makes it good, since the Amber does the exact same thing with longer range.
Partial Cloak allows for it to go weapons while only gaining up to a minor spike; with the Scourge having slightly bigger signatures, this is a godsend in allowing it to just let loose and outright delete shit every single turn.
Stealth allows for it to get it close, and with its arcs, can still put out a respectable amount of damage. Enough to blow away a full health frigate or heavily damage a larger vessel.

>Raiju
Not much to be said about the stats, it's an Ifrit with an extra occulus attack, but it synergizes perfectly with its specials.
Partial Cloak, funnily enough, will rarely come into play for the Raiju. It doesn't gain enough extra firepower for weapons free to be worth it, and partial cloak doesn't effect stuff that only gives minor spikes unless you're already at a minor spike.
Stealth
Unlike the Shenlong, a vast majority of the Raiju's firepower is concentrated in a single weapon, and can thus be fired while on silent running. It's a bit of a bitch to line up without being able to turn, but it can easily buy you another turn or two of reprisal free beams.

And now we get to the battlecruisers, where the cheese gets insane.

>Manticore/Banshee
Same crest weapon as the Shenlong and Raiju, along with CAW weaponry, as well as a torpedo. Forget the torpedo because it's shit.
Full Cloak; the ship will NEVER gain a spike until it's crippled, which means you're free to do as you will in regards to full thrust, course change, active scan, etc etc. It gives an immense amount of tactical flexibility to a CAW ship.
Stealth; technically speaking, the Manticore only has ONE primary weapon system, the rest is CAW, meaning that it can use the entirety of its firepower while on silent running.

>Basilisk/Akuma
The real OG of the lineup, the Basilisk is the Shenlong but turned up to 11. It's armed with the same gun profiles as the Daemon, meaning a possible 16 damage per turn spread across 8 attacks, and it has the usual battlecruiser fuckery.
Full Cloak; unlike the Manticore, this WILL be used for weapons free, without fail. A Basilisk in range to use all its toys can do so without worry, and can just chew through lines of ships.
Stealth; not quite as efficient as the Raiju and Manticore, nonetheless the Basilik can put out 6 damage over 3 attacks while on silent running, which is more than enough to heavily wound or cripple a cruiser, light or otherwise.

Basically, they have the firepower to really take advantage of how cloak and stealth works. The Basilisk itself is probably the outright best gunship in the game, if not the best lineship.

>Shaltari have the best battleships
>Scourge have the best battlecruisers
>either Scourge or PHR have the best heavy cruisers (on account of the bell)
>??? for cruisers
>UCM has the best light cruisers
>PHR or UCM have the best frigates
>PHR or Shaltari have the best corvettes

Who has the best cruisers?

That's really cool! I can't wait to start blowing my friends' shit into space dust.

The Amethyst is the real thing, user. Taipei is on net a better example of its kind, but the Amethyst is right up there with it.

Best standard cruisers? Probably UCM. Only because it really feels that the heavy laser is way better than any other cruiser armament, and the UCM 8 Thrust, 10 HP, 3+ Armor is a solid profile.

Of course, this doesn't consider the stupidity of the Shaltari bombardment cruiser, that can roll heavy cruiser levels of CAW firepower very easily.

No problem user, rememember, when in doubt, double Akuma.

As much of a sphere-licker as I am, I have to agree. UCM cruisers are the most dependable and accessible of the cruisers in the game - good fire arcs, reliable firepower, versatile, and good points cost.

UCM definitely for best cruisers.
I would contend that PHR aren't even close to matching UCM for best frigates, though. They have a dud or two, while every UCM frigate is a good frigate.

>They have a dud or two

Which ones? Basically all the PHR frigates are useful, some are indispensable. Their shared durability is also pretty amazing, as the firepower you'd generally use to kill them often JUST fails to cripple.

The guys who play PHR around here have had little luck with the burnthrough frigates. Not that they lack potential, but they just can't reliably live up to it. More to the point the launch asset frigate seems less than useful when you could instead get either more medeas, calypsos, or gun frigates. There's far better and more useful launch platforms in the PHR roster.

I'm not so much trying to say any of them are bad mind you. Just that they don't live up to the universal excellence of the UCM frigates.

I'd argue that the Pandora is probably the best combat frigate simple for its utility and power.
The Calypso is also amazingly useful for its ability to neuter Diamonds, focused Scourge beams, all the UCM stuff (especially the Avalon/Perth), and generally big guns.

It's not quite as versatile as the Jakarta, Lima, or Opal, but it's damn powerful.

I don't have much experience, but I really think the Moscow is competitive for #1 heavy cruiser, possibly excepting Bellerophon.