Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I'm looking to embark into this game in a big way. I would appreciate any and all advice on running a pure fleet of Romulan ships.

Especially keen to know how to get the best from the D'Deridex class? Which of the named and the differing unnamed versions are recommended? How to give it real teeth to match it's onscreen presence.

The Old ships, green and white, what's good and what's not?

I seem to be reading that basically, the Valdore's the star of the show and everything else is basically relegated to spewing out cloaked mines, what are the strengths of the little ships, the OS/ENT era birds of prey?

Donatra seems to be the one captain I see again and again in lists, is anyone else worth a second look? What crew upgrade combinations are good?

What tactics should I be looking to adopt vs other pure fleets? I'm reading Romulans at the bottom of the pack, is this true?

Good topic MGS. I'm interested to hear more about the Praetus myself.

Romulans are great faction and have just as many strengths & weaknesses as the other factions.
Pros:
-Very maneuverable ships packed with white and green moves
-lots of attack mitigation, ex Interphase Generator, Polarized Hull Plating, Varel, Selok, Jarok
-CLOAKED MINES!! Your friends will hate you but they are very well themed for Romulans
-Good at both swarms & 2-3 ship builds

Cons:
-missing that “auto include” captain that other factions have
-more reliant on secondary weapons than other factions
-best ships are 28+ points
-fewer captains and crew than the other factions


Romulans have trouble with the Borg, but so does everyone. In faction pure games they have all the tools to go head to head with the Klingons, Federation, and Dominion.

There are 3 things I generally recommend to new players interested in Romulans:
1)Don not over rely on Donatra. She has a great ability, but it requires you ships to fly in close formation and often leads to you movement being predictable. Donatra is better for builds of 3 or more ships. She is waste of points in a 2 ship build, once the other ship is destroyed she does nothing. For the same points you will get more advantage out of Toreth or Letant.

2)Don’t be afraid to use secondary weapons. Other factions have big primary weapons to rely on, Romulans don’t, it’s a fact. The D’Deridex and Birds of Prey can be very effective with torpedoes. Khazara with 6 shot torpedoes or 4-5 BoP with plasma torpedoes can be very deadly.

3)Know when to cloak and when not. Shields can be you friend, you pay the points for them, so use them. If you ship has taken damage to more that have its hull, raise the shields and hang in another round or two.

http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2014/09/star-trek-attack-wing-starter-klingons.html

From BoLS, not sure if this would be some help to you or not.

I mostly agree with Mr Baldrick. I think that they are a bit underpowered because they do rely on their upgrades more than most other factions. This issue is compounded by the fact that there is a big gap in points costs on ships (14-18 for cheap ships; 28/30 for big ships and nothing in between). This leaves very little room for upgrades for big ships, and the small ships are quite fragile when cloaked.

As far as good captains, if you're running Donatra (and plan on sticking together), Mirok is a great option. I really like Valdore, especially on either the Gal'gathong (with 5 point plasma torpedoes) or the Vorta Vor with its free sensor echo. I like Letant, but haven't had a chance to use him yet. Toreth is nice because she helps maximize your damage potential with your limited attack dice. I keep thinking the Romulan commander will be good, but I think you'd need to reach out of faction and take Martok to get the most use out of him.

Last thoughts; don't underestimate Counter Attack (the cpt upgrade) and, if you can get it, the counter attack die.

What role (if any) does the Praetus and/or generic 22nd-century BoPs play in a Romulan fleet?

The way cloaking is handled in this expansion seems show-accurate but also shows how designing a game to cover centuries of technology is problematic.

I primarily play Romulans and do quite well with them (have won ships in the last 2 OPs)

The Valdore is indeed great but lacks a tech slot.
The D'Deridex is often looked down upon but it is quite agile, white 2 and 3 turns and it's only red is a reverse. Very few opponents expect non-Federation ships to be able to do that!

Those two types are damage sponges and don't even need to run cloaked! Everyone seem,s to auto-cloak as Roms but I've had some success running them uncloaked and saving those actions for evades and target locks (very useful on low attack dice Roms)

The birds of prey are great flankers, they can't stand up to much punishment so get them out of arcs and unleash plasma torpedoes!
The Vorta Vor can sensor echo for free and the Galgath'thong can fire plasmas without a target lock.

The Praetus runs the risk of damaging itself by cloaking so a great tech choice is "advanced cloak" or captaining it with Mirok for repairs. The cloaked mines are a great equaliser for Romulan fleets and because of the weapon slot you can upgun this ship with plasmas/photons or my favourite the additional weapons array.

Best captain for me is Toreth. Donatra as mentioned before requires formation flying. Valdore is a great flanking captain but in general we lack great captains.

What about the tiny ships? The science vessel and the scout?

I like the ability on the science vessel, and the fact it can take cloaked mines. Otherwise...

The scout vessel...well, I've never taken it, and it's been underwhelming when I've seen it run.

Honestly, I can't really recommend either of them very highly, but if you're gonna take either, I suggest the Science vessel with cloaked mines. Once the mines are down, you can pop its action and damage (hopefully) a bunch of ships.

Like Mr Penguin said, Mirok on the Praetus is a nice pairing. Super cheap, even with a weapon upgrade.

The science vessel or scout are really only good as either "Donatra chariots" (the extra evade dice of the scout helps here) or as flagship light warships with a weapon slot

The Apnex with its muon token isn't much good but Interphase generator is a great card.

The Vo has no good cards really (except for massacre)

So, both the little ships are junk. I hope they'll come up with other names for them and redo the models with some better stats or cards...

I keep coming back to these threads for MGS' signature. It grows in epicness by the day.

 MeanGreenStompa wrote:
So, both the little ships are junk. I hope they'll come up with other names for them and redo the models with some better stats or cards...

They both have their uses. The science vessel can be very useful when up graded with tech. I don't care for 5 point discards, such as the muon feedback. However EM Pules whether Ferengi, Dominion, or Klingon are very effective on small nimble ships

The science vessel is good if you want to save points. The scout ship can do anything that the science vessel can do, but it is a little more survivable.

If they ever make the scout ship Pi, I hope it has a weapons slot. That is all the scout needs to be a staple of the fleet.

Mr. S Baldrick wrote:

 MeanGreenStompa wrote:
So, both the little ships are junk. I hope they'll come up with other names for them and redo the models with some better stats or cards...

They both have their uses. The science vessel can be very useful when up graded with tech. I don't care for 5 point discards, such as the muon feedback. However EM Pules whether Ferengi, Dominion, or Klingon are very effective on small nimble ships

The science vessel is good if you want to save points. The scout ship can do anything that the science vessel can do, but it is a little more survivable.

If they ever make the scout ship Pi, I hope it has a weapons slot. That is all the scout needs to be a staple of the fleet.

Given WKs love of reusing and repackaging, I would think it's a given. It's just a ways off. What would be amazing is if the non-named version would also carry that weapon slot as well, for less points, for my fleet-building.

If you had to sacrifice either the crew or tech slots, which would you ditch to add in the weapon?

Eldarain wrote:I keep coming back to these threads for MGS' signature. It grows in epicness by the day.

I do love these animated ST battle gifs, but alas, I am awaiting requests to take them down due to slowing the threads up. (which I will do if pm'd to do so).

We could get a second of both the science vessel and the scout. TNG episode "The Enemy" the scout Pi. Voyager episode "Eye of the Needle" had the science vessel Talvath.

I would gladly give up a crew slot on either of these for a weapon slot. Though they really need some kind of Romulan faction tech that is reusable like the EM Pulse.

Does the Romulan fleet do better at high pts battles or low? How does that compare with other factions?

They can do well at low points due to their cheap ships. They can do well at larger points values due to being able to afford secondaries to offset their poor attack values

The D'Deridex does better in larger games because you can then afford torpedoes and defensive tech. Valdors and the smaller nships do just as well in both.Swarms of 4-5 BoP in 100pts is a lot of fun.

Whenever I play Romulans, I find that I'm most successful when I do hit and run attacks. I'll cloak, go in and hit something when it is most advantageous to me, cloak again, run away and come back again.

The only problem is that it makes for a longer game then as you keep running back and forth.

I know the Warbirds are not as popular as they only have a 3 attack but I find that they are quite beefy and can soak up quite a bit of damage. Plus I usually pair one up with Toreth and try to get point blank attacks to maximize damage before flying off again.

The Aj'Rmr is fun with a Counter Attack as I'll throw it in front while cloaked, let it take hits, uncloak to get shields back and then get re-rolls when I attack.

Gal Gath'Thong with Valdore and a Plasma Torpedo is a fun flanker/glass cannon.

I have actually yet to use Donatra as I find with STAW, you only have a couple of ships and I find it's not as effective to fly in formation, unlike X-Wing. I prefer spacing them out, making it easier for me to pull off pincer maneuvers to get flank shots.

I agree with Redeemer31, Romulans work better when you don't fly in formation and you choose your shots wisely. Khazara w/plasma torpedoes is no joke. Aj'Rmr with photons is also nice when its getting a few re rolls.