Gunboat Politics - FSA Battleship

Lets have a look at the FSA Battleship the "Independence" Class. This is the biggest ship in the naval starter pack. So it should be the centre piece of the fleet until you get your Dreadnought. But I have yet to paint mine so I am starting here.

 FSS HYPERION

   So what is it like.....


   ....It is very average in all respects. 


   Its offensive capabilities with its 2 main guns are unrivalled in RB4. You will be putting 9 dice out with linked fire to either side. Along with 7 rocket dice too. You also have a broadside which is only up to RB3 but when the little ships come swarming in this will be doing some work for you. Your also have some fwd and aft guns but you may as well be shouting rude words at the enemy as they are about much use. Sharpshooters is an annoyance for your enemy up close and the loss of 1AP can be decisive, especially if the enemy have got that close.

   The Independence's higher DR give it a bit more survivability over others in its class. It is going to need it if torpedoes are fired at it as the ships CC is quite low at 4, not terminal but weak. Its AP and AA are average and do not leave it vulnerable to boarding or aircraft attack. Again as it has 2 high powered turrets it can still fight on when damaged when others are having to link guns to try to equal your attack dice output and even then at RB2 after 5 damage they will struggle.

   What really sets it apart from other battleships is the fact that you can remove the rockets and place a SHIELD or a KINETIC generator in its place. A shield generator will give the ship great survivability and is the way I usually run it. It allows the battleship to close to shrug off damage that along with its high DR will stop the ship being chipped away by losing HP and firepower too. Putting a Kinetic generator on it give the ship an extra D6 which means this is one fast ship. Allowing it to keep away from those evil Prussians who want to steal our donuts. This is a fun way of running the battleship as it allows it to kite around blasting away. Of course this comes with the loss of the rockets but the payoff of the loss of those attack dice is worth it in my opinion.

   So overall this is an average ship hence the no PRO and CON columns as it has no great weaknesses and no amazing abilities, it is just good at what it does which is sail around and promote freedom from the barrel of a gun. FSA!FSA!

Later