The Arborec - I'm a big fan of the Arborec. I have played as them twice and not only do I find them to have a very unique style of game play but I really feel that they are one of the best races in the game. Albeit not good enough to be amongst the lofty few in the top tier. By the way not sure why but these things remind me of the aliens in the move The Thing but they do. Great movie by the way if that trailer doesn't convince you to check it out you have problems beyond wasting your time reading this blog ranking fictional races in a ridiculously involved and epically long board game. The Arborec's home system is solid with three resources, two influence, and a green tech bonus. The green tech bonus is amazingly good for this race. In fact it is possible for the Arborec to research nothing but green tech, racial tech, and XRD transporters and be in position to win games. The Arborec's starting tech is Antimass Deflectors and Stasis Capsules. Both of these are perfect starting tech for the Arborec. They allow them to quickly research XRD Transporters and then move along the line of green tech while also helping them during early game expansion. As for starting units they are descent nothing to get excited over but definitely adequate for the task at hand especially as their Cruiser with Stasis Capsules can help to take control of another system during the first turn. However its their special abilities that really make this race interesting. Their Space Docks cannot produce Ground Troops. Instead their Ground Troops have a production capacity of one. Two if you research their Spore Acceleration racial tech. Which really is a must buy. This allows them unprecedented flexibility when it comes to production. The Arborec can take control of systems and the next turn instantly turn around and start producing on them. It also allows them to ignore the resource value of planets when producing units as its the Ground Forces building them not Space Docks. I would never purchase more Space Docks for the Arborec unless you need to complete a Space Dock objective or you are going Fighter heavy for your fleet. Otherwise I would stick with Cruisers, Destroyers, and Dreadnoughts. In this case the slow movement of the Dreadnoughts is offset by being able to be built where ever they are required. Lastly Arborec Ground Forces can build units while in space on a Carrier... How fucking cool is that? Finally their last racial ability is to place one Ground Force on one planet you control during your status phase. This can be very useful as you can only build Ground Forces from Ground Forces thus insuring you can always rebuild or cover any mistakes that you might make. Played imaginatively and properly using its racial abilities this race stacks up well against all of the other races thus rightfully earning its spot amongst the "Usurpers."
The Naalu Collective - Hot serpent female telepaths what's not to love? Haha ok so they have the lockdown on sex appeal in Ti3. But what do they bring to the gaming table? Well lets jump in. Quite simply they are the best Fighter race in the game. Their Fighters receive +1 on all combat rolls. Combine that with Cybernetics and possibly Advanced Fighters and you are looking at fighters hitting on 7s or 6s! No wonder the Death Star was destroyed! Can anybody say "lock S foils in attack position?" Besides amazing fighters the Naalu always go first in every round. Their strategy card counts as having an initiative order of 0. This is a great ability. Not only does it give you the initiative during the action phase but it also allows you to always score your objectives first. Making it potentially a game winner during close games. Their final ability is useful but very situational. The Naalu are allowed to retreat before the beginning of a space battle rather than after the first round like every else. Easily summed up as its a neat ability that is potentially very useful in the right situation. On to their starting tech and units. They start with Antimass Deflectors and Enviro Compensator. Both of which are essential for Fighter heavy fleet builds. Enviro gives you a better build capacity and Antimass allows the further research of additional blue techs. From there you can get XRD Transporters then go for Sarween and Cybernetics to give you those free and harder hitting Fighters. Naalu's racial techs can be potentially very useful. But I feel that they are too expensive and the resources used to purchase them can be used for more efficient purposes. The Naalu's starting units are amongst the best in the game. They are the obligatory Space Dock, four Ground Forces, PDS, Carrier, Cruiser, Destroyer, and four Fighters! It's a large number of units and has good variety. The inclusion of a PDS seems odd for this race but remains very useful. Good at both expanding early and defending or attacking as needed. The only real weakness they have is their starting home system. Truthfully though its really not that bad. A two planet system with their planets being a 0/2 and 3/1. It gives you the flexibility of adding another space dock there for production capacity purposes if there are no other suitable systems. The 0/2 planet gives you a guaranteed extra command counter a turn during leadership. While your 3/1 planet can be saved for resources and production. Not bad at all. In fact its damn good because of how the resources and influence are split amongst the planets. This is one of my favorite races to play and also one of the best. "Good hunting!"
Barony of Letnev - These guys are the racial expression of the military industrial complex. Barony's racial abilities can be useful however its really their home system which is their greatest advantage and racial ability. Their home system is a two planet system with a staggering 4/0 and 2/1! Its a monster system! With Enviro Compensator and a space dock on both planets their home system can turn out a massive 12 units per turn. There are no other systems in the game that can produce more units only several that can match it. Simply put Barony's home system is the best system in the game especially when comparing its resources to others that can match its unit production. It allows them to overwhelm their enemies with massive fleets. As for their starting tech it is adequate. Hylar V Assault Lasers and Antimass Deflector are good building blocks but they really would have benefited from a basic yellow tech as well. Their starting units again are adequate. A Dreadnought, Destroyer, Carrier, a Space Dock, but only three measly Ground Forces! Fortunately you will be able to build up your forces quickly in order to compensate. Their racial ability to expand trade goods for bonuses in combat can be good but must be used sparingly and only in decisive battles. Their last racial ability is passive and very useful. Their fleet supply always supplies one more ship that there are command counters. This is a nice bonus ability and is certainly useful. Allowing them to field larger fleets then their fleet supply would indicate and not have to worry so much about command counters. Barony also has interesting racial tech. Disruptors make invasion combat much easier but is expensive and limited to that role. Noneuclidian Shielding their other racial tech gives their sustained damage units the ability to take two hits before being destroyed. This can be game breaking when combined with Duranium Armor and repair action cards. By the way don't forget that this also applied to Mechanized Units... Probably hadn't thought about that have you? Of course theis racial tech is expensive to purchase and relies on the very expensive and slow Dreadnoughts and Warsuns. Then again if there is one thing Barony is good at its producing units! I know I'm going to get a lot of anti fighter barrage for rating Barony this high. But seeing them in action in the hands of competent players is scary! There really is not all that much more to say about Barony. Just remember with them to keep it simple stupid!
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