We had nine people show up. My blind pull was the IRW Belak. We played 90 points for your fleet, +40 points for the blind- total 130 points. The 90 points had a two ship minimum and fleet pure. Here was my list:
Assimilation Target Prime (Galaxy)- 30
Borg Queen (8 token)- 6
Borg Assimilation Tubules- 8
Borg Missile- 6
Assimilated Vessel 64758 (Galor)- 30
Korok- 4
Vinculum- 5
IRW Belak- 30
Lovok- 2
Tallera- 3
Aft Disruptor Emitters- 2
Total: 126
Round One: Faced the guy at my club that always has these... esoteric? builds. In this case, it was a Ferengi Fleet, and he managed to pull the Blind Ferengi ship (talk about luck!). He had three Maruaders and two Ferengi Shuttle craft, with Officer Exchange: Federation. His fleet was basically designed to be able to move... and move again with Geodesic Pulse, and move again with with another card, and of course shuttle craft shenanigans. We set up in opposite corners and right off the bat, he had problems maneuvering his fleet. Bumping into his own ships, bumping into the planet, and then his fleet got split around the planet as I went clockwise around the planet. I managed to assimilate his Geogesic Pulse and took out one of his key crew members with Tallera, then blew up a shuttle that was stuck hitting the planet for two turns. Then I smashed one of the Maruaders that was way behind the rest of his fleet. Then the planet blew, and I was closest so I got the points, he lost his second shuttle, and then he conceded the game. I didn't lose one ship, though my Belak had some damage and was basically trying to run away at the end. He was a bit frustrated with the way he maneuvered his fleet. I think for him he was planning on a straight on joust, and when I started to maneuver to keep the planet between us, it really screwed him up.
Round Two: Federation, with Stargazer, Hathaway, Defiant, MU Vorcha. LOTS of upgrades on the ships- Picard (9), Riker (You have a bigger ship? Kewl, I'm +1 to everything...
LOL), Spock. Type 8 phasers, tactical stations, Elizabeth Shelby, Scotty, dorsal phasers... like I said, each ship was loaded to the gills with upgrades! We set up in opposite corners with the planet between us. First couple turns, he went straight, but I angled counter clockwise closer to the planet. He set the Vor'cha and Defiant on a head on joust course, while his Stargazer and Defiant went around back. During that joust, my Galaxy took a lot of damage, and I did a bit to the Defiant and the Vor'cha ship. The planet blew up, destroyed his Defiant, and hurt his Vor'cha some more. The Belak then finished the Vor'cha off with the Aft Distruptor Emitters. After that, we started to just fly around the planet. I totally forgot about Regeneration and the ships ability to repair itselt, so my Galaxy class limped around the planet for the next four turns with only 1 hull left... while I was using Vinculum on the Galor to repair shields. I finally blew up the Hathaway and time was called. Again, I didn't lose a ship. I did manage to assimulate the Vor'cha big weapon before he could use it on me (does like 6 dice of damage and more special stuff?), assimulate Elizabeth Shelby, and again, Tallera and Scotty had a romantic rendezvous- I have no idea what her back story is, or what exactly her ability is simulating, but... another win for me. My opponent saw his mistake when he separated his forces, and he admitted he had no idea what to do with the Vor'cha- I told him instead of using target locks and evades, he should have cloaked and used the super weapon. Was a fun game!
Round Three: Federation again! Prometheus, Defiant, and the Vulcan ship. His fleet: Riker on Defiant (Riker with the "Your ship is bigger! +1 for me!), and Picard (9). Defiant was loaded to the gills with
Tac Stations, Type 8 Pahsers, Checkov (reroll blanks), Elizabeth Shelby. His Prometheus had Regenerative Shields, Dorsal Phasers, some other stuff- again, both ships loaded with stuff. I set up the Belak in the corner again, and he set up exactly opposite me with the Vulcan ship and Defiant. I looked at him and said "Are you sure you want to go head to head with me in a joust? You won't win that way. I'll get mauled, but I can repair just about everything, and I'm going to steal upgrades from you, disable your crew, and give you aux tokens. So are you really sure?" I guess I freaked a bit, looked at my fleet again, and then set up the Prometheus on the far side of the planet. So we both basically run straight to the planet, he started to go clockwise around the planet, and I go counter clockwise because again, my opponent "feeds me" the Prometheus. My Galaxy gets mauled, I assimulate his Dorsal Phasers, and the planet blows up. I get the points again being closest, and I lose my Galaxy. Things are not looking good. In front of me is the Defiant and Vulcan ship. Behind me is the heavily damaged Prometheus. I get a lucky shot with my Belak again and blow up the Prometheus. I blow up his Vulcan ship, and he manages to blow up my cloaked Belak- bad, bad dice rolling on my part, plus it already had hull damage from the planet. So now it's down to my Galor and his Defiant. I'm hurt, but I can repair myself, and we both can throw five attack dice. He gets to mitigate all my crits thanks to the Defiant's ship ability. So now we play this game of cat and mouse until time is called. He gets 87 Fleet Points from me, and I get 88 from him. I won by one fleet point! Except I got the points from the planet, so I technically won with 21 points.
This was the best game of the night for me! I had a blast. Managed to assimulate Dorsal Phasers (blew up before I could use them), Tallera had another romantic rendezvous with Seven of Nine. Assimulating the Dorsal Phasers may have been a mistake, but I was looking at future turns of the upcoming furball with the Defiant. If I had assimulated the Tactical Stations or Regenerative Shields instead... but oh well. I should have transferred the Borg Queen to the Galor after the Galaxy blew up- the skill 8 would have been a deciding factor against the Defiant later in the game.
My MVP: The Belak. Even though it had no synergy with the rest of my fleet, and only threw 3 attack dice, the Aft Disruptor Emitters and Tallera really helped. The Belak was always behind the Galaxy and Galor, and basically cleaned up.
After Action Fleet Report
My fleet construction: I should have looked up the rules for Borg Missile- it came out when Borg had a 360 fire arc. Being restricted to the front arc at range 1-2... I used it once during the first game. They would have been much better on the Galor with it's 180 arc. The Borg Missile would have been much more effective on the Galor.
Found out after the event that I could have used the "dual faction" on my Borg ships- in which case my Galaxay would have had Aft Phaser Emitters. Wish I had the RIF
OP Queen or Locutus. I think they would have maybe been a better choice. Still, the potential ability to spend two drone tokens on the Galaxy to Regenerate and use the ships ability (Action: spend a drone repair hull or shield and this Queen- spend a drone token to perform an action on the ships upgrade bar as a free action) was too good to pass up. I really liked this fleet build and glad I didn't pull a stinker blind ship in the blind. If I had gotten the Bioship Omega.. it would have been a ROFLMAO Stomp.
Having captain skill 8, 6, and 3 didn't affect me as much as I thought it would. Indeed, many times it got me into a position to move my Galaxy first, use my Assimulation Tubes, steal an upgrade, and watch my opponent flounder as I just disrupted his game plan for the round. Tallera was able to do the same thing.
Having a terrain feature on the board made this fleet way more effective in my opinion. Driving to the planet and maneuvering around it really threw all my opponents for a loop. My meta is so used to just flying straight at each other and jousting, then trying to pick up the pieces afterwards, that I think they really couldn't deal with someone actually maneuvering and stealing/disabling upgrades on their ships. I was kinda bummed at pulling the Belak, but it turned out to compliment my fleet very well. Assimulation Tubules are VERY powerful- the ability to not only steal an upgrade, but use it later...! All the fleets I faced were very heavy on the upgrades, and they all depended on a lynchpin upgrade. If I took that upgrade, it significantly affected the performance of that ship.
This was a fantastic
OP for me. Except for my first opponent, the other two games were great. My fleet was a bit inefficient, and I recognize that now, but it was so much more fun then my typical builds where I plan on flying straight at my opponent, jousting, and hoping I came out on top.
Surprisingly enough- no one had mines or fighters.
What is with the Ferengi fleet? Sounds like he didn't have a chance.
