Dropfleet Commander/Tactics/PHR

A Brief Treatise on Pinko Abandonist Punks

Why Play PHR

Maybe you think transhumanism is the future, and extravagant AI-laden vessels are the way to show those baselines the error of their ways. Maybe you think capital ships that are sturdy enough to make broadside battery tactics work in space through brute force are awesome. Or maybe you're just expressing you childhood desire to fuck that robot from Flubber.

Whatever the reason for your technophilia, you've come to the right place.

Special Abilities

Calibre weapons: Many PHR ships have their standard guns fall into light, medium, or heavy calibre categories. If you target a ship of a tonnage that corresponds to the calibre, your lock value is reduced by 1.

Launch assets: PHR have the only bombers with a 2+ lock, although they have 3" less range than Scourge or Shaltari bombers. Their fighters are second best compared to Shaltari, giving equal PD but having 4" less range.

Ships of the Line

• Light Tonnage:
  • Echo-class Corvette: The toughest corvette, which doesn't mean too much considering it still only has two hull points. The only corvette with a regular gun on top of the close action weapons they all have, it's capable of popping out of atmosphere and posing a threat. The only PHR ship with stealth, although taking advantage of that is difficult considering the ship only has a signature of 2" anyway.
  • Medea-class Strike Carrier: With a single piddly bombardment cannon for armament, this ship won't be scoring any kills once it gets to atmosphere. However, with 5 Hull and 3+ armor it is practically impossible to kill once it gets there.
  • Europa-class Gun Frigate: With three shots on each side arc, this frigate does wonderfully in a first-wave linebreaker battlegroup alongside a Theseus, Orion, or Leonidas/Agamemnon.
  • Pandora-class Laser Frigate: One of the few PHR ships with a focus on forward arc firepower, and even a lone Pandora is useful for adding spikes.
  • Calypso-class ECM Frigate: Makes the lock value of enemy groups +1 when targeting a nearby friendly ship. Not only great for causing misses, but a single Calypso can render a ship immune to critical hits from 4+ weapons. Stackable, but you're limited in how many you can take. Either dump multiple of these on a single ship that you plan on diving into the thick of things, or spread them out to protect critical ships such as troopships.
  • Andromeda-class Launch Frigate: Great for flanking and getting bombers far down field sooner.

• Medium Tonnage:
  • Theseus-class Light Cruiser: The only light cruiser that can be taken as a single ship. Can keep up with frigates and has solid weaponry and armor, and it's cheap for PHR. The biggest weakness is awful point defense; frigates have better PD than this ship.
  • Ikarus-class Vanguard Carrier:
  • Perseus-class Cruiser: Bad.
  • Ajax-class Cruiser:
  • Orion-class Cruiser:
  • Ganymede-class Assault Troopship: Bombardment batteries can help clear out enemy tokens in a cluster before you drop your own down.
  • Orpheus-class Assault Troopship: Slightly cheaper than a Ganymede, and you trade out bombardment for light broadsides. Rolling twelve dice per side lets you roll for sixes while attacking strike carriers competing with you for a cluster.

• Heavy Tonnage:
  • Bellerophon-class Heavy Cruiser: One of the best ships PHR has to offer. Launch assets complement the burnthrough laser very well. They tend to do better staying back.
  • Achilles-class Heavy Cruiser: Can be good for reliably putting a couple points of damage on a target thanks to the heavy calibre broadsides. You're mostly paying for the torpedo though, and torpedoes aren't too great at the moment.
  • Hector-class Heavy Cruiser:
  • Priam/Scipio-class Battlecruiser:
  • Agamemnon/Leonidas-class Battlecruiser:

• Superheavy Tonnage:
  • Minos-class Battleship:
  • Heracles-class Battleship:

Building a Fleet

The PHR's uniquely capable assault troopships give them the option to invest points in ground assets and decent combat output at the same time. Be prepared to plug an Orpheus into at least one of your medium slots.

Tactics

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Counter-Tactics

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Common Playstyles

Beams and Bombers: One of the weaknesses of PHR is the difficulty in getting the most out of their broadsides. Bombers don't care about facing, and burnthrough lasers aren't as difficult to aim if you don't need to worry about lining up for weapons free. Relies largely on the excellence of the Bellerophon.