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So, my gaming group has decided to get into Dystopian wars and focus on the naval side of the game. I picked the Empire of the Blazing Sun faction, and have bought a starter and the giant squid ship thing (sorry, can't remember the real name). We will have all factions represented except Antartica so I will need to make all comer lists. What would be a good next purchase/ starting point for the rest of my fleet?

Welcome to the war admiral squall!

First off, I'm going to drop this here http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/525431.page

The starter and Ika are a very good starting point for a fleet. If you don't mind using the Ika blister as two seperate Ika's (Seeing as they give you submerged tokens anyway I don't see why you shouldn't other that aesthetics) this is 3 larges. I would try a few games with using both on their own (The battleship and the squid). Reason being the battleship isn't for everyone (I can never get it to do anything but catch bullets for instance), where as the Ika is cheaper but gives you one fixed tactic that it does disgustingly well. Eating other ships.

As for from there, well on the smalls front the frigates in the starter are already top notch. They work well using swarm tactics or just as support for chasing down destroyers/other frigates. They can make a good go at scratching large vessels to death or even killing mediums with their guns layout. Never forget you can combine the ships broadsides and turret for four 7AD attacks, or a 16AD attack at RB1. You could always add in another blister of frigates as swarming them is a fairly common EotBS tactic. Wouldn't overly recommend the japanese destroyers as with their fixed channel rockets you will spend most the game micromanaging them more than you want to. Their AD output isn't that much more than the frigates too, and those rockets will be taking defensive fire. The corvettes are worth a thought though, you will be getting more of them than frigates and they exchange a bit of fire power for speed and getting hit on 5s and 6s.

The Main parts you want to be looking to for expanding though is your mediums. By all means try the Nakatsu's, don't believe the net hype of them being instantly bad because they're not. They just aren't gunships. For some reason the EotBS gunships are cheaper than other factions, scarier and get a +1 unit size. And all for only a few points more than the cruiser. So a box of Tanuki gunships should really be on your list.

You have the large navels covered, though depending on how much you like the tiny fliers consider getting a carrier. Carrier fleets again are a good tactic if you can get the hang of cycling the wings and relying on the tokens.

One thing I will say though is GET ESCORTS. 60points of escorts makes the difference between a prized battleship or not, and that +9AA on your Ika's will keep them alive from their biggest threat, torpedo bombers. I will say again just in case, GET ESCORTS. Even if you don't have 60 points they're a good way to spend a loose 20 points after you made your list. Even one is better than nothing.

From there thats pretty much everything on the sea. Do not however discount Japanese air power. They have one of the strongest air fleets in the game, and it just keeps getting scarier. The 2 Heavy bombers in the starter are a nice start even with an understrength squadron, however give some thought to the other ships.

The small Tetsubu airplanes are a bit pricey for a full unit, but unlike the Ika they can prize what they board, and they will board well above their weight. The two medium gyro variants are a steal too, the Inari scout gyro is only a few more points than the bomber, so it's a similar thing to the cruisers-gunships. Its just as fast as the bomber, has just as many bombs, but swaps the fore rockets for an incendiary rocket broadside and a fore turret, as well as a nice bonus if you keep them obscured and at all stop (they can't be shot at). If you get them, consider the other gyro too. You add one to the scout gyro unit and it gives them a defensive generator and turns the turret attack incendiary too.

As for the large air units, its mostly the same as on the sea. The EotBS benefit from having a literal flying battleship unlike some other factions (The KoB have a glorified bomber), and the sky fortress is in fact even a bit better than the naval carrier.

Beyond that you're all set really. Will say here and seperatly though, don't honestly recommend the dreadnought. I'm loath to say there are "bad units" in DW, but the EotBS really pushes the boundary there :/ Looks pretty, joy to paint but it's honestly probably going to sit on your shelf after one use. Anyway any other questions feel free to voice them and i'll answer if i can.

Wow, thats the single best answer I've ever gotten to a question. Thanks for all your advice. I just ordered the Tanuki gunships and escorts. My gaming group is playing our first game in 3 weeks so I'm trying to get ready. I think you covered plenty to get me started!

Glad I could help and hope you enjoy the game. If your group invests in the expansion rulebooks mix up the tanuki and nakatsu squads, they become a rather beastlike mini-deathstar with a disgusting amount of AP.