Firestorm Armada players were in for a treat this month as reinforcements arrived in local gaming stores. A new Faction was released (The Directorate) and Heavy Cruisers were also released for all the major races. I hit the local store and picked up some of the Sorylian Heavy Cruiser for my slowly growing Sorylian fleet.
The heavy cruisers for all races come in single blister packages and run about $14 US. Considerably more expensive then a Package of 2 standard cruisers at about $15. If you are planning on a squadron of these bad boys be prepared to outlay significantly more cash then you would over regular cruisers.
the Sorylian Heavy Cruiser comes in two pieces, the Resin ship and a Metal engine cap. This is an improvement over the standard Cruiser and battleship which were challenging to get them to line up straight during assembly.
(Un-assembled)
The Ship itself is a beautiful little model. As befits it's name it is a substantially beefier version of the Cruiser. With two additional pods along port and starboard sides and a bulked up mid and engine section. The resin is crisp and none of mine had and casting issues.
Stylistically the ship fits in well with the current fleet (The Escort being the only oddball in the group so far) The Armor plating, the exposed gun deck and external ribbing all look great. The only design element I would question are the incredibly large tubes (energy conduits, exhaust ducting, whatever you want to call it) on the outside of the ship. They exist on the smaller cruiser as well but are much smaller. On the new Heavy Cruiser on of the larger tubes runs almost half the length of the ship. For such a well armored ship these exposed areas are a little congruous.
(Comparison between Cruiser and Heavy Cruiser)
(Size difference is more noticeable from the top)
Caution! You are entering the Nerd Zone. Extreme nerd content ahead, read at your own peril!
Game Terms: As a model I had no issues paying more for the Heavy Cruisers. They are beautiful little ships and significantly larger then their cruiser brethren.
Sadly in game terms their value is not so clear cut. The Sorylian Heavy Cruiser stats are a little underwhelming. The Heavy Cruiser is an additional 25 points over a standard cruiser for a total of 85 points. What do those extra 25 points buy you? Essentially a pip increase in most areas. CR (Critical Rating) is increased to 8, extra assault crew and an extra Hull point. Weapons are beefed up, usually by a single point increase. A subtle but not inconsequential upgrade is that the guns now reach out to Range band 4. Something that normal Cruisers can't do. Rear firing Torpedoes round out the ship, though surprisingly there are no obvious rear facing torpedo mounts on the miniature.
Single ship stats don't tell the whole story in Firestorm Armada. Squadrons are the bread and butter of the game as ships can only combine Weapons fire with other ships in their own Squadron and this is necessary to damage larger ships in the game.
So lets compare
3 x Heavy Cruiser Squadron (255 Points)
4 x Cruiser Squadron (240 Points)
Weapons: These are Hard to analyze so we will break this down by Range Band.
Range Band 4:
Torpedoes - Cruisers 10AD, Hvy Cruisers 9 AD. (of course the heavies can also throw torpedoes to the rear, for what it's worth)
Direct Fire - No contest here, The Cruisers can't fire at Range band 4. The heavies are throwing out 8 AD.
Winner: Heavy Cruisers.
Range Band 3:
Torpedoes: Both are putting out 4 at this RB so the Cruisers take the advantage with 10AD of torps versus 8 AD for the Heavies.
Direct Fire: To the forward the Cruisers again take the advantage putting out another 10AD versus 9AD for the heavies. To the Port/Starboard the Heavies put out 8AD, one more AD then the Cruisers.
Winner: close but Cruisers
Range Band 2:
Torpedoes: Again Cruisers win here with 10AD versus 5AD for the Heavies!
Direct Fire: Cruisers and Heavies have the same stats at that band so the Cruisers win Forward 16AD to the Heavies 13 AD. To the sides 20AD to the heavies 16AD
Winner: Cruisers by a large margin
Rang Band 1:
Torpedoes: Cruisers get 5AD and Heavies get 4AD. Though the Heavies do have rear firing torps, that are hard to us
Direct Fire: Forward the Heavies throw 12AD and the Cruisers11AD. To Port/Starboard the Heavies get 13AD Cruisers get 15AD.
Winner: Cruisers, not quite the advantage as RB2 but still a win for the cruisers.
Other considerations.
HULL: The Cruisers have 16 hull points between them, the slightly harder to damage Heavies have 15 Hull points. However the Heavies higher Critical Rating (CR) means they will be taking less damage overall. Slight advantage to the Heavy Cruisers.
Rear Firing Torpedoes: The Rear torps on the Heavies are hard to evaluate since they are hard to employ with any regularity. Slight Advantage to Hvy Cruisers
Point Defense: Heavys carry rating of 4PD versus 3 for each Cruisers. so when combing PD the Heavies actually have the advantage, 8PD versus 6PD.
Crew and Assault: The Cruisers have the advantage of 1 more Assault crew.
Conclusions For 15 points more three heavies seem to be less flexible and are able to inflict less damage across in most situations. Crucially, it is at the all important Range Band 2 where the difference in firepower is greatest. In most situations the Cruiser squadron is the better buy.
So my overall review for the Sorylian Heavy Cruiser
The Miniature: A
Value in $$: C
Value in Game: D
The great miniature is reason enough to own one, but right now, for the points there are much better options in the game.
So any Firestorm players out there let's hear your opinion. What do you think of Heavy Cruisers? How would you improve them or are they fine as is?
Until next time!
Buck
Sorry, I could only read up to the 3rd sentence before the nerdiness got to me! Cool ships!
ReplyDeleteI can't comment on the rules - having not played - but definitely have to agree the models themselves look really sweet. Great paintjob on them, as usual! Your fleet looks awesome.
ReplyDeleteI would imagine that the Heavies aren't going to be in a squadron all of themselves. I would imagine that you would buff a squadron of Cruisers by adding in a Heavy, while at RB4 you're not going to be doing much as you close in using the Heavies as your primary to link from might tip the balance.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this. I've been looking into the viability of running heavy cruisers and the breakdown in extremely helpful, thanks!
ReplyDeleteI think I may just run them as sudo "Unit Leaders" in my cruiser squads.
Single heavies with 3 regular cruisers is what I tried, and it seemed to make a slight difference. The Heavy lead the way, seemed to take less damage than a regular cruiser. But it could just be the "first battle" excitment of the great looking model.
ReplyDeleteSorry for posting so late.
ReplyDeleteBut i think you forgot ship positionning.
If Heavies have less firepower, tehy are more compact.
Depending the game and ships around, it is easier to fire at full power with 3 ships instead of 4.
I think it is more flexible to move and fire with less ship than managing the positionning of 4 ships.
And for more point you can make a unit of 4 heavies but you cannot make unit of 5 or more cruiser.
Let's say you play 4 Heavies: 4 x 85 = 340 pts
For 360 pts you can have 6 cruisers but you will probably split them in two unit of 3.
Since we are activating a unit alternatively, having lot of unit can be at disadvantage.
Let'ss say you have 2 x 4 Heavies cruisers versus 3 x 4 Cruisers, the heavies cruisers will unleash their full power before the cruisers.
Think about a large fleet game and you will consider having less unit to activate.
Easier to position, easier to activate.
I think the Heavies cruisers and cruisers are well balance.
In a small point game, you will prefer cruiser to heavies.