Federation Commander

Well, I like just about all the 3rd gen Roms, but my favorite ship (or more accurately squad of ships) is the K5R. Probably the best of the Kestal class and really fun to fly in a group of three.

My favorites are the War Eagle and Warbird. Nice classic lines with big guns.
For a quicker ship I would take a Federation Frigate, any variant of them will do.

Solfe

I wanted to add that when it comes to Triangulum ships (from the limited range we have in print so far), the Helgardian C looks like a neat ship to go exploring in, though its stablemate the CA might be something I'd sooner want to take into a fight.

I've only been playing SFB (or my mutated SFB/FC conglomeration) for about a month now, but my favorite ship has got to be the Klingon D7.

Its a classic cruiser design with a fudge load of Ph-2s, and I put the finishing damage on a Fed DW to make it explode using DERFACS (or DEFRACS, forgot :L) Disruptor Bolts with a D7.

Some of the most fun battles I have had I have used the F5L.

It's DERFACS:
Disruptor, Extended Range, Fire Accuracy Control System

I play Fed Commander mostly now (much harder to find SFB players for me).

When I played SFB in the late 80s/early 90s my favorites were:

1. Ships that can launch Enveloping Plasma-S.
I have a fond memory of crushing a Fed NCL with a Gorn HDD. It was a long game. I refused to follow the NCL when he attempted to retrograde and sniped at him at 11-13 hexes. Eventually the NCL conceded when he had multiple down shields and was starting to take significant internals.

2. Kzinti CC.
I would follow in 2 volleys of medium speed drones (8 drones) and engage at close range. Then I would launch fast drones as we broke apart again. I would then use ScatterPacks as circumstances allowed.

I am not sure if my tactics would still work in modern SFB.

marcus_aurelius wrote:I play Fed Commander mostly now (much harder to find SFB players for me).

When I played SFB in the late 80s/early 90s my favorites were:

1. Ships that can launch Enveloping Plasma-S.
I have a fond memory of crushing a Fed NCL with a Gorn HDD. It was a long game. I refused to follow the NCL when he attempted to retrograde and sniped at him at 11-13 hexes. Eventually the NCL conceded when he had multiple down shields and was starting to take significant internals.

2. Kzinti CC.
I would follow in 2 volleys of medium speed drones (8 drones) and engage at close range. Then I would launch fast drones as we broke apart again. I would then use ScatterPacks as circumstances allowed.

I am not sure if my tactics would still work in modern SFB.

The Kzinti CC is a very nice ship. Great disruptor and phaser 1 arcs allow it to play a medium range game with drones as a phaser sponge and deterrent, and if you want to get close, the drones still are a phaser sponge and you have all those Phaser 3's. I'm still partial to the Kzinti MCC and DD as my two favorite Kzinti ships. Kzinti in general are very forgiving ships, and if I teach any more newcomers, I'll put them in Kzinti ships early.

I'm not sure about the Medium and Fast drone mixes... unless you're remembering tournament games. While there can be a time period where both are present it's usually only for a couple of years 'historically'. Unless an older version didn't force you to have the right speed drones for the time period.

thebart wrote:I've only been playing SFB (or my mutated SFB/FC conglomeration) for about a month now, but my favorite ship has got to be the Klingon D7.

Its a classic cruiser design with a fudge load of Ph-2s, and I put the finishing damage on a Fed DW to make it explode using DERFACS (or DEFRACS, forgot :L) Disruptor Bolts with a D7.

Here's the thing with the excellent D7;

1. Disruptors with UIM and/or DERFACS really give about the best to-hit ratio in the game. Add to the fact that it can be used every turn is just icing on the cake.

2. Phaser arcs that can't be beat. Oblique brings nearly every phaser to bear while every phaser fires to the rear to discourage pursuit. Additionally, the wing phasers can fire all over the board for the most part. I often have to consult the rule book just to make sure of the special arcs, but more often than not the target is in arc of the wing phasers. Much to the chagrin of some of my tourny opponents.

3. Drones and the ability to use SP and also get in some type IV's. Won one of my tourny games sending a pair of type IV's in through a down shield after the opponent had shot his phaser wad and didn't have any battery juice to use the tractors.

And of course, it's the baddest looking ship in the game

And with the D7 do not forget that it has more tractors and transporters than its Federation counterpart. That can come in handy from time to time.

Especially the 7 transporters on the D7C variant (well, 7 in Fed Commander at least). This was used to great effect in our group a couple of months ago in fighting the Juggernaut. We did 7 hit and run raids at once on 7 Ph-4s on the Juggernaut.

my favorites are romulan warbird, tholian and old gorn ships. the 2300 klingon d7 is a runner up, there is a slight difference with the 2400 line, i use 2300 line as d6 heavy cruiser

This is about which ones you fly when gaming, not the mini's, theres a thread for that under Miniatures I believe --

Always loved war cruisers, particularly the D5 and the SPA+ as they are fast and well armed.

Sneaky Scot wrote:Always loved war cruisers, particularly the D5 and the SPA+ as they are fast and well armed.

Not always the best min-max ships, but:

Rom SPA+ -- FHK is better armed, but it always felt like cheating. SPA was a good, challenging fight for like BPV ships. I also love the Snipe-A ( I think--2-F/1-G variant). 60 points of plasma on a cheap-cloaker with a good turn mode. Giant slayer.

Fed CC+ -- Classic ship. Durable. Flexible.

Hydran Lancer. Yes, the lancer. Any medium-sized Fusion/Hellbore hybrid fleets I would include one to haul in a few more fighters. The look on peoples faces with the little destroyer gutted their CC/BC was always priceless. Favorite Hydran CA is the Dragoon. Yes I know the firing arcs suck. Still like flying the ship.

Favorite Klingon ship is the F5 series. Great mismatch ship. The D5s are fun to fly too. Great firing arcs.