Caveat Emptor: A buyer's guide to Dominion

The Dominion haven't got a lot of love lately. That coupled with the odd nature of the dominion's three factions in one means that they are sometimes a difficult faction to get into. In fact, many people see cardassians as a faction in their own right, and that makes creating a buyers list for Dominion even more difficult! 

The other factor against Dominion is that they don't have a ship in the starter setup you are basically starting off from nowhere when you begin a dominion collection. 

If I was starting from scratch the first thing I'd get would be the Koronak. Almost every card in this expansion is good and it contains some key pieces for fleet building in the Keldon class, Gul Dukat and Boheeka. Even the elite talent (captured intelligence) and the second captain (Gul Evek) see play. A very well done expansion and well worth the price.

Following this I'd go for another Cardassian ship in the Reklar. As with the Koranak, basically every card is good, and the Aft Weapons array is an upgrade to the Dorsal Weapons Array from the Koranak. The Reklar's named ability is great and makes up for one of the weaknesses that the Generic galor class has. Gul Madred is a high level competitive piece, who pairs well with Gul Lemec and Corak, although Corak isn't all that great. Third captain Gul Ocett isn't awful and the elite talents coded messages and standard attack formation come in useful sometimes.

My next step would be Fighters, and possibly two sets. Just with the generic fighters and one or two upgrades and the other two ships you already have, you can make a pretty competitive fleet straight off the bat -and you'd be Cardassian pure too!

The first non-Cardassian ship I'd add to my burgeoning dominion fleet would be the 2nd Division Battlecruiser expansion. The ship itself is pretty good, although the named ability isn't amazing. Two of the captains suffer from being lesser incarnations of their better selves: Weyoun 8 isn't as good as Weyoun 6 or 7 and Dukat 8 isn't anywhere near as good as Dukat 7. The Third captain, Keevan, has good potential for messing with your opponent, but suffers from low CS Where this expansion shines is with crew: Amat'igan is a good upgrade in his own right that also adds some protection for your other crew and Remata'klan offers some good attack and CS boosting ability, although he is a discard.

As with the Romulans, there are some expansions worth getting just for one card, and the 5th Wing Patrol ship is one of those expansions - although this may be a bit harsh on my part. The best card is Weyoun 6. Weyoun featured in the winning build at last year's world championships, and in cross faction play he really shines. Even in faction pure play, Weyoun allows cards like Remata'klan and Glinn Telle to become much better value for money (or value for SP as the case may be). Omet'Iklan and the two gankers that come with this pack are good but not great, and the various tech and weapons upgrades nothing to write home about.

The Dominion Battleship was the first ship in the game to feature a PWV of 6 but paid for that with a terrible manoeuvre dial. It is worth getting though, and with the aft weapons array from the Reklar expansion can do much to make up for its horrible dial. Upgrades wise the standouts are Shroud and Ixtana'rax, whilst captains Weyoun 7 and Gelnon are both useable. 

The Kraxon has a nice named ability, but none of the crew or captains really set the world on fire. The Galor class is a good platform to build on though. 

Thus far the only retail Breen Ship is the Gor Portas and whilst it has good health (4/4) and a good dial, its PWV of 3 is a let down. The upgrade slots confuse me as well, with a mighty 4 weapon slots but only 1 crew and no tech. This expansion is best for Breen Aide and the Breen Energy Dissipator, but the BED is best in ships other than this and you pay a premium for that. 

Last of all is the Dreadnought. I don't hate this ship, since a 180 arc and PWV 6 aren't to be sneezed at, but with no captain options it will struggle for efficiency in fleet pure. The Dreadnought is also a miles better expansion than the worst Romulan or Klingon expansions. 

As for prize ships, I'll do what I usually do here and cover them briefly: The Rav Laerst is better than the Gor Portas but still a Breen Battlecruiser, the Trager is great and comes with Gul Macet and Glinn Daro, both of whom I like, the Aldara and 3rd Wing have some nice cards with them, but aren't vital. Essentially there is nothing you need in the prize ships for a good dominion fleet.

So my dominion shopping list is:

1. Koranak

2. Reklar

3. Fighters

4. Fighters 

5. Battlecruiser

6. 5th Wing

7. Battleship

8. Kraxon

9. Gor Portas

10. Dreadnought 

Have I missed anything? Is my analysis hogwash? Let me know, I won't be offended, I'm not Picard!