Federation Commander

So were the Howler PFs really so powerful that they got snubbed in the Captain's Edition? The Tholian Arachnid-P is really nasty too, How much more powerful was the Howler?

Believe me they were --

The early version with 4 gatlings, would slaughter most anything that allowed them to get close ---

Paired with the pf scout, the safest place to be was in a different quadrant ---

With their speed and firepower, they could change how a fleet maneuvered:
Scouts had to have escorts, drone bombardment ships needed escorts ----

If you recall the "This is your D7, This is your D7 after 3 Stingers" -- imagine that as a B-10 after 6 Howlers --

Four Ph-G will do 48-64 points of damage at range 0-1. You have five of them, supported by a scout PF. The scout PF (and potentially the tender) make it very hard to kill them on the way in. If even two of them make it to range 0-1, that is 100+ points of damage on the target. Assuming you can't kill them, too, (which is a safe bet, or they wouldn't be there) that is another 100+ points of damage on Impulse #1 of the next turn. No other combination of two PFs is gonna match that.

And the current Howlers are still extremely nasty with three Ph-G. That'll still do 36-48 points of damage for one PF. That's 80-90 points of damage from two PFs, with another 80-90 on the following turn's impulse #1.

This is, of course, all predicated on getting those PFs to range 0-1. If you can keep Howlers outside range 3, they are virtually toothless. But, given their numbers, speed, maneuverability, and EW cover, it should be virtually impossible to keep them out of range 0-1.

Ok then, I guess I will issue a warning when I use them. Though I must say, as a long time Hydran player, I never thought one of our units would be feared like this.

Fly a squadron of PFs like that into a fight running 8 - 12 pts of ECM -- even without that firepower someone is soiling their pants --

Getting to range 1 not that difficult -- possibility of getting operational kill on 2 is about the most any target can hope for --

Now the fair and balanced gamer in me is thinking, "Yes, that is a broken unit."

The Hydran fan in me is saying, "You say that like it's a bad thing."

Ofcourse we also have the Hunter frigate. Kind of balances things out, doesn't it?