It might seem like a moot point, but I've been thinking about a comment I made on my last post about "the best 4 point captains" and I thought I'd expand on that. Often my strategy when choosing captains is based first and foremost on Captain Skill (I have been known to take Shinzon or Locutus just for CS9) but assuming I only had 4 points, what are my options?
Bajorans:
Krim is a good choice here, since his extra crew slot can be easily filled with a bajoran militia. The other part of his ability is of limited utility, mainly thanks to the Bajoran faction having low hull values to start with...but when you consider DS9, it gets a whole lot more interesting.
Shaakar Edon is also another great choice, the free re-rolls in a faction with access to BS actions? Yes please!
Borg:
Korok is fun, and can make matters worse for a ship you managed to sneak a hit through on.
Dominion:
Gul Damar is lovely, particularly as he nullified cloaked mines when combined with a scan- and the dominion have so many upgrades that trigger off a scan token (Breen Aide anyone?)
Weyoun 6. If you don't know why, I envy you.
Federation:
Mr Spock the free action captain? TL and BS every turn? Yes please.
Hathaway Riker is great on low hull ships, like the Defiant. Wish Sisko had this ability...
Ferengi:
Nope.
Independent:
Alpha Hirogen gives a great ability that offers good dice quality without having to use an action.
Gen Khan is perhaps the rarest card in the game, but offers cheap high CS.
Lore adds a crew slot, and allows you to take Vulcan High Command. He's a great combo building card.
Kazon:
Cullah has game, adding defence dice onto a faction of low agility ships
Rasik also adds action economy at the cost of disabling crew
Klingons:
Chang 7 makes the ning'tao a really annoying ship.
Gowron is a good captain for swarm (or semi-swarm) fleets
Kargan offers good action economy when paired with Drex or N'Garen
Kor 6 is great for drawing fire
(It's interesting how many good 4 point captains the Klingons have, that may be worth another look at in a separate post)
Mirror Universe:
ATP Riker was the king of Mirror Captains for a long time, but his battery ability is still good
Romulan:
Donatra is standard issue for most Romulan Builds
Mendak is probably better as an admiral than a captain
Taris gives Romulans access to 360 fire
Liviana Charvanek pairs well with Romulan Security officers.
Valdore 6 gives a tech slot, which is so useful for Romulans
Vulcans:
Solok is an action economy captain, although he pales in comparison to most of the other options
Sopek is brilliant for combo building, much like Weyoun, but is better in cross faction play.
So there you go, a quick run down of the 4SP captains for each faction. Nothing too detailed or in depth, but an interesting exercise in spending 4 points.
Think I've missed something or am rating something too highly? Call me out! I always welcome comment and criticism.
Top 5 4 SP captains (in faction pure play):
1. Mr Spock
2, ATP Riker
3. Gen Khan
4. Alpha Hirogen
5. Hathaway Riker
No Picard though, his 5 and 6 SP versions are lightyears better.
...and I'm not Picard.
Showing posts with label Top 5. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Top 5. Show all posts
Sunday, 29 November 2015
Sunday, 4 October 2015
I'm not Picard, what if you are not Picard too?
It is a truth universally acknowledge, that a Federation player with a good fleet must be in want of Picard.
I recently asked a question on the ST:AW Facebook group in order to try and discern what the best single card in the game was, my choice was Picard 9. Picard 9 provides high CS, and great action economy all in the same 6 point package. The trouble is, once you get past Picard 9, in fleet pure play at least, you have to choose a second captain.
...and the truth is, the second best federation captain after Picard 9, is Picard 8. I love Picard 8, and probably make more use of him than Picard 9. Picard 8 is one of the most thematic cards in the game, and I often start muttering "call me Ishmael..." under my breath as I write his name down on my fleet roster. I really wish that Picard 8 WAS Picard 9, and that Kirk 9 had Picard 9's ability. As it is, both Kirk's have mediocre abilities, whilst all three Picards have top tier abilities.
Anyway, I digress, the whole point of this post was to discuss where to go next once you have a Picard as a captain on one of your three ships, and I suggest that your next port of call be "Picard-lite"; Mr Spock. Spock is CS6 rather than 9 and doesn't have access to the all-important BS action for free (which is why I'd rate Spock behind Dukat 7) but he allows you to do the same sort of thing as Picard, and with a few Upgrades (Pegasus Riker, Disobey Orders, HESS) he can do the same thing as Picard.
But what if you want to be different to Picard rather than a pale imitation of him? After Picards and Spock, the next captain I'd go for would be Sisko 6, from the defiant expansion. The single re-roll might not seem much, but being as it can be used on defence as well as offence, it's a pretty neat trick to have in your back pocket.
Following up swiftly behind Sisko, with an inexplicable CS of 8 (because Sisko never lost his entire ship to a race of people who thought that water was a rare commodity, did he?) is Kathryn Janeway. Janeway's ability to double up on actions goes really well with both the Enterprise (TOS) and Crew Spock and Valtane. She makes for some pretty nice combos, and can really help out with those hard to kill cloaked ships.
Next up is Jonathan Archer: Archer's named ability lends itself towards a ship with lots of crew that disable, and it isn't out of the question for Archer's ship to be swinging 8 dice a turn with BS and re-rolls at CS 9.
My last choice for top 5 federation captains who aren't picard is probably a little more controversial, as I'd go for Robert DeSoto. DeSoto lends himself to defensive builds, as he has a re-roll for each crew on the ship, up to 3. Not gamebreaking, and his low CS lets him down somewhat, but he's a reasonable choice for the 5th best captain in the fleet.
So that's what I'd do if you too are not Picard.
TOP FEDERATION CAPTAINS (that aren't Picard):
1. Spock
2. Sisko
3. Janeway
4. Archer
5. DeSoto
As always, ideas are appreciated, thanks for reading!
I recently asked a question on the ST:AW Facebook group in order to try and discern what the best single card in the game was, my choice was Picard 9. Picard 9 provides high CS, and great action economy all in the same 6 point package. The trouble is, once you get past Picard 9, in fleet pure play at least, you have to choose a second captain.
...and the truth is, the second best federation captain after Picard 9, is Picard 8. I love Picard 8, and probably make more use of him than Picard 9. Picard 8 is one of the most thematic cards in the game, and I often start muttering "call me Ishmael..." under my breath as I write his name down on my fleet roster. I really wish that Picard 8 WAS Picard 9, and that Kirk 9 had Picard 9's ability. As it is, both Kirk's have mediocre abilities, whilst all three Picards have top tier abilities.
Anyway, I digress, the whole point of this post was to discuss where to go next once you have a Picard as a captain on one of your three ships, and I suggest that your next port of call be "Picard-lite"; Mr Spock. Spock is CS6 rather than 9 and doesn't have access to the all-important BS action for free (which is why I'd rate Spock behind Dukat 7) but he allows you to do the same sort of thing as Picard, and with a few Upgrades (Pegasus Riker, Disobey Orders, HESS) he can do the same thing as Picard.
But what if you want to be different to Picard rather than a pale imitation of him? After Picards and Spock, the next captain I'd go for would be Sisko 6, from the defiant expansion. The single re-roll might not seem much, but being as it can be used on defence as well as offence, it's a pretty neat trick to have in your back pocket.
Following up swiftly behind Sisko, with an inexplicable CS of 8 (because Sisko never lost his entire ship to a race of people who thought that water was a rare commodity, did he?) is Kathryn Janeway. Janeway's ability to double up on actions goes really well with both the Enterprise (TOS) and Crew Spock and Valtane. She makes for some pretty nice combos, and can really help out with those hard to kill cloaked ships.
Next up is Jonathan Archer: Archer's named ability lends itself towards a ship with lots of crew that disable, and it isn't out of the question for Archer's ship to be swinging 8 dice a turn with BS and re-rolls at CS 9.
My last choice for top 5 federation captains who aren't picard is probably a little more controversial, as I'd go for Robert DeSoto. DeSoto lends himself to defensive builds, as he has a re-roll for each crew on the ship, up to 3. Not gamebreaking, and his low CS lets him down somewhat, but he's a reasonable choice for the 5th best captain in the fleet.
So that's what I'd do if you too are not Picard.
TOP FEDERATION CAPTAINS (that aren't Picard):
1. Spock
2. Sisko
3. Janeway
4. Archer
5. DeSoto
As always, ideas are appreciated, thanks for reading!
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