Dropship ratio and ground combat

[Sparika]

Hi,

I wanted a bit of feedback on your dropship ratio. I played mostly with one opponent, so we may be lacking in diversified fleet list. But what I tend to observe is that we rarely have fighting on the ground. Droping troops is the main objective of the game, but in our game it is mostly a race to capture sector, and then, nothing much happen...

I don't have the exact fleet composition, but we usually have something like two troopships and four strike carriers on each side. It is impossible to drop something before turn 2 because strike carriers must go into atmosphere, i.e. down two levels and troopships are slower.

So, I would say we drop on turn two and three and then there is few possibilities for the following turns:
- the carrier is destroyed in the process ...
- the sector is uncontested (usually on sides): combat will defo not happen here. The carrier must move somewhere else, but it will probably not be in position before turn 5. If that happens, its troops could only fight on turn 6.
- the sector is contested (usually in the middle): a few troops have landed, the carrier needs to stay here to further deploy units. If the space is uncontested, then bombardment would be efficient to remove ennemy, no need for ground combat.

The way I see things is that unless I double my number of carriers, there will not be much combat. But in that case, the actual fleet would be pretty weak. Keeping in mind my last battle was a first game with Shaltari and I had difficulties managing the gates/probably not enough motherships...

What's your experience with this part of the game?
Do you take a different approach to fleet composition in terms of troops?
Did you test a scenario where one side would already be on the ground?

[Dread2005]

Some more info would be helpful, how much Points are we talking about 1000 or 1500 p?

Well it all depends, i do have lots of ground fights. i relay on heavy Troopship lists at 1500 4+ with UCM or PHR. I dont like Strike Carrier never did even as they wehre Meta at the beginning. But now with Corvettes and Destroyer Strike Carriers do have a hard time.

It all depends, a Fleet which only focus Ground Game will win by normal Victory Point conditions! Even if you lose your Orbital Fleet after deploying with 12 Strike Carrier or something like that. Sit there and win by VP.

[NiciusMax]

I tend to spend about a third of my points into drop- capable ships. I tend to focus more on strike carriers then on troopships because the still are a bit safer then Troopships.

Destroyers have changed this though. But for UCM it tends to center arround 12ish Strike carriers amd 1-2 troopships at 1500 points.

[Dread2005]

This is a example list of my play stile:

According to Troopships vs Strike Carrier. A Troopship wins by mass! VP is gained by more ground tokens then your Enemy!

With my Troopships i want to deploy ground tokens as late as possible. To avoid close combat! So you need 4 Strike Carrier to outnumber a Troopships Infantry with Tank tokens, makes Troopships the better and cheaper choice!

--------------------------------------
_______ucm with dreadnought- 1250pts
UCM - 15 launch assets

SR30 Flag battlegroup (450pts)
1 x Washington - 450pts - S2
   + UCM Admiral (Dreadnought) (0pts, 5AV)

SR10 Vanguard battlegroup (195pts)
1 x Perth - 195pts - H

SR11 Line battlegroup (254pts)
1 x San Francisco - 111pts - M
1 x San Francisco - 111pts - M
1 x Jakarta - 32pts - L

SR5 Line battlegroup (111pts)
1 x San Francisco - 111pts - M

SR5 Line battlegroup (111pts)
1 x San Francisco - 111pts - M

SR4 Pathfinder battlegroup (130pts)
2 x Kiev (exp.) - 130pts - L2
------------- dflist.com -------------

[Dread2005]

This is one of my Tournament Lists! I Made 4/10 Place! And this because of me saw to late, that i could shoot down the enemy Flagship... then i could get at 2/10 place...

The only enemy's which made me a total Lose was "shaltari" Fleets, but you know its shaltari...

So yeah its about 500/1500 Points for the Groundgame! 2x Trooper and 6x Strike Carrier

--------------------------------------
T 2018 - 1497pts
PHR - 10 launch assets

SR17 Flag battlegroup (359pts)
1 x Minos - 285pts - S
   + Director (20pts, 4AV)
2 x Calypso - 74pts - L

SR22 Vanguard battlegroup (494pts)
1 x Scipio - 210pts - H
1 x Scipio - 210pts - H
2 x Calypso - 74pts - L

SR5 Line battlegroup (135pts)
1 x Ganymede - 135pts - M

SR5 Line battlegroup (135pts)
1 x Ganymede - 135pts - M

SR6 Pathfinder battlegroup (234pts)
2 x Medea - 78pts - L
2 x Medea - 78pts - L
2 x Medea - 78pts - L

SR4 Pathfinder battlegroup (120pts)
2 x Echo - 60pts - L
2 x Echo - 60pts - L
------------- dflist.com -------------

[Sparika]

Ok, that's definitely more than what we bring. I will try something like that on my next game. It also appears we forgot about strike carriers droping armored units ...

Speaking of which, as you mention Shaltari, can they only launch infantry tokens?

[Stompzilla]

I have never seen Shaltari drop infantry tokens!

They can drop infantry or armour but why would you want to drop infantry?

[_ghost_]

In case there are Sektors only endangered by bombarding...

Infantry is a lot tougher against this

[NiciusMax]

This is a example list of my play stile:

According to Troopships vs Strike Carrier. A Troopship wins by mass! VP is gained by more ground tokens then your Enemy!

With my Troopships i want to deploy ground tokens as late as possible. To avoid close combat! So you need 4 Strike Carrier to outnumber a Troopships Infantry with Tank tokens, makes Troopships the better and cheaper choice!

--------------------------------------
_______ucm with dreadnought- 1250pts
UCM - 15 launch assets

SR30 Flag battlegroup (450pts)
1 x Washington - 450pts - S2
   + UCM Admiral (Dreadnought) (0pts, 5AV)

SR10 Vanguard battlegroup (195pts)
1 x Perth - 195pts - H

SR11 Line battlegroup (254pts)
1 x San Francisco - 111pts - M
1 x San Francisco - 111pts - M
1 x Jakarta - 32pts - L

SR5 Line battlegroup (111pts)
1 x San Francisco - 111pts - M

SR5 Line battlegroup (111pts)
1 x San Francisco - 111pts - M

SR4 Pathfinder battlegroup (130pts)
2 x Kiev (exp.) - 130pts - L2
------------- dflist.com -------------

That is a bit light on combat ships even for my tastes. Although I think a dreadnought at 1250 pts will be a pretty though target. I think I will replace it with a New York and some more BTL ships.

Definately interesting list. Don't you find the troopships a bit an easy target? Mine tend to die quickly, and I find strike carriers to be the more safe approach even with the increase of anti-atmo weapons

[Phil Black]

Very early on my opponent and I came to a 'Gentleman's Agreement' to limit Drop, and here's the guidelines I wrote up (I think we've reached them once as we tend to use even fewer than 'allowed'):

Code: Select all

Game Size	  Bulk Landers	Dropships         
Skirmish          4	                6	         
Clash	          6	                8	         
Battle	          8	               10	         

Bear in mind that a 'Troopship' has 2 Bulk Landers.
Shaltari bring Gates and Pungari Thresher Hives to the same maxiumum Infantry Drop capacity.