/dcg/ Dropzone/Dropfleet Commander General

The descriptions of the Avalon and Atlantis state that new hulls were constructed after the experimental battlecruisers proved their worth. Does this mean that the Perth and Johannesburg classes will get their own sculpts eventually like with the Saratoga?

Correct; the Perth and Johannesburg will be the "general sale" versions of the Avalon and Atlantis, since those two are exclusive to the kickstarter.

How will autists deal with having a personal version of what is supposed to be a unique ship? There was only ever one Atlantis class built iirc.

The same way 40k players deal with having legendary character minis, I'd suppose.

What's the general perception of the Scourge frigates? I just started putting jellyfish together and took a glance at their small stuff. The Scyllia seems very interesting with its submarine gameplay, but I've never heard anything about them.

If you have an airbrush, iridescent ink is good as a layer. The Facebook has a picture album called "Pearl PHR" which outlines it.

Djinn are hogging all the attention for the time being since they're straightforward and hard-hitting. Their other frigates are either hyperspecialized or a bit redundant - why take a Harpy pair for two Oc shots when you could get a full cruiser for twenty extra points?

Every Scourge frigate is a bit more durable than you'd think at first glance. With good PD, signature and speed, they can really nicely avoid fights they don't want. The ability to go into atmosphere gives them the ability to be very scary as well. Harpies feel a bit underwhelming, but Charybdis are great for their ability to really mess with sectors. Having that tool on a frigate chassis opens a lot of options. Scyllas are weird and I have an urge to run 4 just to see what would happen. Djinn feel like the kings of close action frigates thanks to scald and a 3+ roll to hit leading to lots of tough to beat hits, and their little Nickar brothers can really lay the hurting down.

Are any of you drilling out the engines on your ships? I think it would add some nice detail.

Eh, a little, probably. Not too much I'd say.

Harpies are decent enough flankers. Don't take them with cruisers, that makes it harder to take advantage of their low sig and atmospheric. Some dumb Yokai isn't going to survive doing the work these guys are meant for. Go for rear targets, especially defensive frigates or Limas.

Djinns are the main event. They're a practitioner of the classic Scourge tactic of getting close sneakily and then shooting white-hot plasma all over your opponent's face. Shorter ranged and higher priority than Harpy, but more useful against big stuff with that big damage.

Chars are some nice bombardment. Take a group of 4 and erase sectors with the best of them. A group of 3 can be acceptable if you really can't find the points, but 4 is best. Never take only 2.

Scyllas are a fucking weird ship. Great gimmick for setting up defensively and annoying the shit out of the enemy, but lacking in firepower. They seem to work best in big groups like Char, so either go big or go home I guess.

Just saw the Cairo variant Hawk is teasing. Think we'll get a whole range of alternate cruisers? I hope that culminates in the alternate battlecruiser sprues we're waiting on.

I honestly hope not, because I wouldn't be able to stop myself from buying full squadrons of each of them.

That said, one alternate cruiser model per fleet would be pretty cool. I'd like to see an alt-wyvern, an alt-thesus, and an alt-turquoise.

I would really enjoy that. The Saratoga looks a lot like a less advanced Cairo, so I could see a couple cool ways they could take that.

>Alt-Wyvern is battle scarred and missing fins, and a section of her hull that seems to have been melted by a near miss of plasma fire complete with missing laser PD eyes
>Alt theseus is designed before the rest of the modern PHR fleet was built, meaning its more angular and didn't use the rounded plates its sister ships adopted. Angry space pyrmaid looking to shoot.
>Alt Turquoise is from a shaltari tribe that doesn't have its powerful weather control bombardment tech. they've had to make do with a relatively more primitive/bloody heavy harpoon array that fires harpoons large enough to breach atmosphere. This ship could also be a bit more vicious looking to represent the crueler nature of the weapon.

Personally, I feel like the Saratoga looks like a more advanced Cairo, one that was special built to mount the laser than having it slapped on where guns would normally go.

really? I figured the Saratoga represented a testbed design since the gun is hanging off one prong instead of integrated into it. I figured the Cairo having the gun slapped on where the gun goes represents them moving from the Saratoga's need to have a specially built frame to being able to put a cobra laser on a standard frame, which I have to imagine helps in the shipbuilding process.

Nah man, if you look at it, the laser is connected to both prongs with some significant cooling bits in the lower.

I agree.

The image we have it looks like the Saratoga is scaled down lacking standard essentials. The New Cairo is the design that uses the same proven methods as the other ships in its class and fits into the modular design UCM loves.

It could be a testbed for a fancy new cooling system. Overheating after repeated firing seems to be a problem in fluff.

I do like that it's got an underbite instead of an overbite.

I want my light cruisers to look more distinct than the standard cruisers.

As an aside, we need a better name for 'standard cruisers', as it feels weird to not put a descriptor in front of 'cruiser'. IE, historically it's stuff like 'heavy cruiser', 'protected cruiser', etc. Rarely just 'cruiser'.

Medium cruiser. It's not particularly inspired, but it works.

Line cruiser / Fleet cruiser

Line Cruiser, maybe?

Line Cruiser seems very reasonable. Of course Dave might call another ship line 'line cruisers' but until then that seems like a decent phrase for it.

>bump question time
Dave has gotten an animation company bought/ managed to make a deal with BBC to produce a drop commander universe show. the main plot is charted but the contract calls for 12 episodes and he's only using 8. I want 4 episode suggestions that can be anything in the drop universe. Keep in mind they should be pretty easy to follow, with a simple intro explaining the details that'd be needed for the episode aside from general universal details that would be explained in the show's main arc. For instance, if you wanted to make an episode about Jungle Waifu you'd need to explain the scourge and UCM conflict on her planet a bit and her role, but not the general idea of the reconquest or the conflict between the scourge and the ucm.

The episodes can be linked, but be warned. the episodes will be distributed by the studio fitting their needs, and could be aired with large gaps.

You have no idea how much my beer addled mind wanted that to be real, user

Don't get me excited like that user, my heart skipped a beat.

shit, my bad. I clearly worded that first bit badly. Man could you imagine how fucking insane it would be to just suddenly get a dropshow commander?

>episode about a lone Scourge warrior surviving a battle with some important intel and trying to regroup with the rest of its kind, all the while avoiding nearby humans and going completely mad from the isolation (or starting to think independently, or whatever happens to jellies who spend too long away from their leaders)

>one-off shipgirl episode

Sympathetic PHR walker pilot is rescued by just-out-of-high school Legionnaire recruit, Juanno Reco.

Together, they meet up with a resistance scout seperated, who is a tough as nails but soft once you know her girl.

They then defeat Eden's Dinosaur, before being left in the wreckage of a battle site with the wounded Jungle Devil.

It becomes a Harem show, as Marcus Barros and Caine are like Team Rocket trying to fuck everything up. They hang out with the Kinslayer Shaltari, who is their meowth.

Y'all motherfuckers need to step up your game, this shit is way too strong.

>PHR arc starring HOTSHOT Apollo pilot and his AI copilot waifu
>first episode split between briefings on their Medea-class carrier to establishing the PHR's extreme hardware integration and unusual culture, and a raid on UCM forces to snatch intel
>leads into urban battle with Scourge forces over [Plot MacGuffin], during which our protag's pantheon gets blindsided by Birdeaters and shot down forcing him to save the day by dragging around data cores and trolling Firstborns (see my dead fanfic folder for details!!!)
>segues into climactic arc in which UCM teams up with PHR and oddly cooperative Shaltari coalition to bully opposing hedgehog fleet responsible for many nasty things and upset their duplicitious machinations
>corner the Shaltari down a gravity well just as Race X shows up to haymaker them into a nasty cliffhanger
Free new faction hype ahoy

YES THIS IS GOOD TOO

Biggest question;

what animation style, and who voices Chad Cybercock?

One-off episode from scourge point of view showing a more sympathetic side and detailing their need to find more species of intelligent life set at the time of the original scourge invasions or during the occupation before the Reconquest.

>Subtle implications that scourge without hosts have no individuality and few if any motivations beyond the genetically programed "find viable hosts."

>Show that Shaltari dickings, poor resource/host management, resistance to becoming hosts, and the inevitable counterstrikes from previous host species has lead to the scourge's continued existence depending on weathering the brutal UCM counterstrike with a sizeable human population under control.

>Reveal that scourge leadership may have been open to negotiations and peaceful co-existence where humans are given to scourge as hosts at or just before their time of natural death.

Basically scourge economics.

>Subtle implications that scourge without hosts have no individuality and few if any motivations beyond the genetically programed "find viable hosts."
They seem to have some level of individuality, but there are also mentions in fluff of constant pain and I can't imagine that being stuck in vehicle storage or a factory system for your entire life is much fun.

I don't think the image of the Scourge as massive scumbags can be damaged too much though, they're downright sadistic towards other species and generally conduct themselves like massive scumbags. It's not without reason though; if jellies started seeing their hosts as actual people it would most likely emotionally destroy them. Remember that hosts are awake and in horrid pain for as long as a Scourge is attached, and it is acutely aware of this.

The way I see it, the Scourge are like a drug addict. They were probably decent at one point, but then someone (probably the fucking hedgehogs) got them hooked on stealing bodies. They suddenly felt really great and were much faster and stronger as well, and all they had to do was learn to ignore the agonized screams of their hosts. Eventually they could even learn to enjoy those agonized screams, which explains their callousness and cruelty towards host species.
The Shaltari, of course, encouraged this habit for their secret Shaltari reasons and supplied them with new host species, making the Scourge into even worse dickheads. This kept on going until we arrive at the current Scourge, who don't give a shit about anything except for getting their next fix.

Bumping with question; when do you think we'll actually get info on the PHR and Shaltari?

Phase 3?
The first expansion of fleet?
DZC core 2.0?

>implying cute ships doing cute things wouldn't be popular enough with the weebs to warrant its own 12-episode animation.

PHR will probably be at 2.0, I'm guessing the new faction will have something to do with the tennis ball, either its creators or its enemies.

Shaltari are definitely going to end up in a civil war at some point, but I'm not sure when.

Its doubtful the other factions go through as many design changes as the UCM compared to their level of tech and commitment to the war.

>Marcus Brorros trying to mess shit up

The Borros' only role in a harem show is being that one guy who encourages the main character to go for harem end.

In that case maybe an episode (or a special that airs after the series has ended) could show the scourge before shaltari dicking.

Everything in the fluff of the game seems to paint the shaltari as the true enemy of man.

They're the true enemy of everybody, especially themselves. They're so advanced, divided and ancient that pretty much everyone has been fucked over by some group of Shaltari at some point, even if they don't know it.

Trying to wipe out the hedgehogs for pointing the Scourge at humanity is kind of silly though, because that was one scheme from one tribe. Even if it was a bunch of tribes working together, chances are that there are a bunch of other tribes that fucking hate those guys and didn't support their decision.

As a jellyhead who's building a fleet for his first game, how good are scourge frigates? What ships do I want to focus on building first and foremost? How many Djinn is too many? What would be a good ratio of cruisers and frigates for the two lowest two point brackets?

Do ships in a group add all their attacks together for overcoming PD?

Start with 4 Djinns and 4 Gargs imo. Read for an overview. Only Shaltari have truly bad frigates.

For ratios I recommend around 2:1, it gives you the freedom to skew either way.

>Do ships in a group add all their attacks together for overcoming PD?
Yes.

Ships in a group do add all their CAW attacks together for overcoming PD, which makes scourge at close range downright terrifying.

>Scourge Frigates
I'd argue they're just behind UCM for best frigates. The harpy is an excellent flanker, send it up the sidelines to prey on backline units or ships that are alone or wounded. The djinn is an outright powerhouse and is the standard by which CAW frigates are measured, the Charybdis in groups can be an effective platform for scouring sectors of life and the scylla is a weird little bastard that can make trying to camp critical locations hazardous for the enemy.
The biggest advantage scourge frigates have is they're damn near unkillable if you want them to be, since every one of them can dive for atmosphere to dick over all but corvettes from shooting them down effectively. A flock of djinn racing up the middle for two turns then submerging makes a horrible little landmine that forces an opponent to keep outside a 14" radius or else death.
>Djinn
Groups of four tend to be the magic number, i find. Six is overkill
>Ships to build
Gargoyles and Djinn are a good start for frigates, then expand from there once you've got four of each. For cruisers, i'd say a hydra, a wyvern and either an ifrit or a shenlong. The ifrit isn't as good as the berlin for its burnthrough, but it can still work well for you, and while the shenlong is outclassed by her older sister akuma, she's still a good ol' girl who'll do you a solid every time.

Also, get some leftover bits and make nickars. Their model isn't out yet, but they're deliciously good at bullying voidgates. I don't run with any less than six of them anymore, split into groups of three. They're fast, sneaky, and will absolutely murder the shit out of strike carriers. Bonus points, they can act like djinn-lite and punch on bigger ships once their main diet of SCs are gone.

How terrible is this as a base scourge skirmish fleet?

--------------------------------------
Test Fleet - 578pts
Scourge - 0 launch assets

SR5 Line battlegroup (110pts)
1 x Ifrit - 110pts - M

SR6 Pathfinder battlegroup (236pts)
4 x Djinn - 172pts - L
2 x Gargoyle - 64pts - L

SR6 Pathfinder battlegroup (232pts)
4 x Scylla - 168pts - L
2 x Gargoyle - 64pts - L
------------- dflist.com -------------

Bump

If you're using it to teach people, double Gargoyle might be a bit heavy on ground launch. Gotta give people a match or two to get used to the idea of sector objectives.

Where does the bottom left picture come from?

...

For such a fairly niche game, D*C art has some wonderful reaction images.

...

I've never actually played a game yet, and am planning on playing with a few friends who all bought in soon.

I'm usually the worst at wargaming in my group of friends and want to at least go down swinging

...

That resistance design is so good.

I'm more proud of these than anything I've ever painted.

>End of the pipes not cleaned
Bruh

I haven't even washed them yet dude. I'll worry about cleaning paint off the pipes after I've gotten all the paint on the models. No point in needing to clean twice.

Loking pretty damn good, user. Those Djinns are great!

Are two motherships, a battleship, and nine voidgates enough at 1250?

--------------------------------------
Shaltari Test - 1250pts
Shaltari - 4 launch assets

SR15 Flag battlegroup (270pts)
1 x Diamond - 270pts - S
+ Star Elder (40pts, 3AV)

SR12 Vanguard battlegroup (290pts)
1 x Adamant - 200pts - H
2 x Topaz - 90pts - L

SR12 Line battlegroup (280pts)
1 x Emerald - 100pts - M
1 x Emerald - 100pts - M
2 x Opal - 80pts - L

SR5 Line battlegroup (145pts)
1 x Basalt - 145pts - M

SR9 Pathfinder battlegroup (135pts)
3 x Voidgate - 45pts - L
3 x Voidgate - 45pts - L
3 x Voidgate - 45pts - L

SR5 Pathfinder battlegroup (90pts)
5 x Glass - 90pts - L
------------- dflist.com -------------

>9 voidgates
I don't know how Shaltari work, but that seems like a lot.

3-4 voidgates per mothership is the recommended amount, +1 for the BB.

I'd say yes, but only just. 3 Emeralds is preferred, but with the BB there it could work. Just make sure to protect them.

It's pretty much average.

I'd personally suggesting cutting a glass and the topazs for a third emerald if you can. Would really let you overwhelm in the troop game.

I would, but I don't want too much stuff with only disruptors.

Is a Basalt even necessary for the Shaltari? I'd take a Platinum, but that'd mean giving up my Diamond.

They provide 2 very useful utilities. Firstly, they let you use PD with shields, which is helpful for surviving CA ships and stopping bomber waves. Secondly they let you more easily attack small targets, since you don't have that much anti-frigate firepower unless you plan on lots of weapons free.

What's best to clean the widgets? I've been seriously contemplating how the fuck to hold the models whilst painting without them, and 3 mm stands just do not fit, blu-tack is messy and very unstable and drilling a hole also seems unstable and will lead to spinning model.

Voidgates only transfer 1 troop per round. To even make basic use of an emerald, you need 3. Plus you need chain voidgates to keep your very fragile Emeralds out of the line of fire. Not to mention the spares from the inevitable losses your Voidgates are going to take.

Saratoga is an American place isn't it? What's with the UCM and yank cities, nearly a third of their ship names are USA. There's a bunch of pretty significant countries that don't have a ship to their name. India and the UK are particularly conspicuous in their absence, especially since Hawk are poms.

Come on, when are we getting a CA ship with Beast named the Glasgow-class? Or the Dublin-class, they're basically the same.

Evidently the UK doesn't matter to humanity any more 600 years in the future than it does now.

>poos in space
The Scourge's Pajeet bulk lander already made its debut forever tainting Aluminia with curryshits

I'm disappointed, /dcg/. It took you two whole hours to insult both the countries I mentioned. I expect more punctual shitposting next time.

re: PHR linked broadsides guns rumors.

I don't think that's quite it to fix internal balance, but it is in the right area (weapons free reliance and maneuvering reliance compounding to make a conspicuous relative disadvantage). Specifically looking at the Hector/Bellerophon situation, the linking that will resolve that is giving the Hector Burnthrough something like Link 1, Link 2 and giving one medium broadside Link 1 and the other Link 2.

Saratogo is also a UK battle, though. Probably one of its most important ones also although by now the Glorious Continental British American tail would be wagging the cold rain-soaked island shithole dog something fierce(r).

Protected Cruiser, or Cruiser, Armored.

UCM ship classes are all towns or cities, not battles.

Pretty sure that if you're calling a ship the Saratoga, you are referencing the battle and not the town. It's like Lexington that way.

It's the rule though. UCM ships are cities or towns. It's like if you had a bird naming theme and decided to name something Robin after the batman's sidekick. It just doesn't work, you have to name it after the bird.

It's not a rule, it's a trend.

>Ticonderoga

Given a choice between
>the battle is more famous
>the town fits the scheme that every other ship adheres to
I think I'll lean towards the latter. Not that it really matters, the name is the same either way and it still fits the naming scheme. Even if it's named after the battle it's still an American battle on American soil, claiming it is British would be like claiming that a ship named Stalingrad counts as German. Yes, they fought there, but it was not their territory and they were driven off.

>USS Bataan
>USS Corregidor

Then again, maybe Americans are weird that way.

They named a ship "The Sullivans". I.E. That One Time We Had To Put Some Escort Ships Up Against A Battleline And Most Sunk and an Entire Family of Sailors All Died this is the Family Referenced.

>who does that????

Americans are pretty weird. What the seps are doing is besides the point though, I'm more interested in the UCM. They know how to keep a naming scheme going. Except for the Ferrum, not sure what happened there. It's not a tank, an aircraft, an artillery piece or a wheeled vehicle so I guess it just didn't fit into any categories they had.

I don't know if it's best but I always use mineral spirits, a small toothbrush, a damp rag, water, and an exceptional amount of care.

I really hope they standardize the firing systems on all the PHR ships. It'd be nice as well to change the Orion, Hector, Achilles, Ajax, and Orpheus (and to a lesser extent, the BB's) to allow for split broadside fire.

If I couldn't atmosphere-fish with a Light Broadside on a standard order, I wouldn't even consider that until corvettes drop.

You would still be able to? It's just that the Thesus can target up to 2 things on standard orders, while the Orion, Ajax, and pretty much everything else only gets 1 target.

In many cases, it's total overkill; the Theseus is a better frigate killer than the Ajax, simply because it can shoot two at once and have a decent enough chance of killing the one shot at by its mediums.

UCM naming schemes for ground units is consistent

Tracked, Armored Vehicles: edged weapons ( Katana, Sabre, Rapier, Broadsword, Gladius, Scimitar)

Wheeled Combat Vehicles: Combatative land mammals (Bear, Wolverine)

Fixed Field Guns: Ancient ranged weapons (Crossbow, Longbow)

Close Support Aircraft: Angels (Seraphim, Archangel)

Gunships: birds of prey (Hawk, Eagle, Osprey)

Dropships: Long distance flying birds (Raven, Condor, Albatross)

Mobile field bases: UCM planets (Ferrum-class, Chromia-class)

Seems pretty consistent to me.

>Mobile field bases: UCM planets (Ferrum-class, Chromia-class)
Have we confirmed that the Chroma is based on the Ferrum chassis?