Babylon 5 A Call To Arms 2nd Edition Earth Alliance Early Years Fleet Review

The Earth Alliance Early Years fleet very broadly represents Earthforce as it was during the Dilgar War and the Earth-Minbari war and has the most flexibility of any of the Earth Alliance fleets given the large number of ships and variants available. Possessing lots of fighters and powerfully armed ships the fleet is quite slow and in general has quite limited long range options. Their ships are well protected by Interceptors but tend towards being able to take less damage than comparable ships in other fleets. They are resistant to most weapons, but Beams, which ignore interceptors entirely, will seriously threaten them. You will also note that they lack a few of the more distinctive ships from the Babylon 5 series, these will come in later fleet lists.

The priority system used by A Call to Arms for fleet selection is intended to make each ship of a given priority level be of equivalent strength. In practice this is not the case and some ships will be obviously more capable than others. This leads to be being able to rank ships against each other within a list, and against similar ships in other lists. Here is the ranking system I am using. Note I am only comparing ships in the Earth Alliance Early Years fleet against each other, please consider my rankings in that context. I am also only considering ships from the official mongoose publications from second edition, those being the Fleets book and Powers and Principalities.

Tier Rankings

S Tier: Reserved for ships that either significantly undercosted or have a combination of rules that perform well above ships in similar roles. These ships are often called “auto includes” as any list stands to be made better with their inclusion.

A Tier: These units are some of the best the fleet has to offer. They excel in their specific roles and commonly help form the core of most lists. While not auto include, they are great in almost any list they are taken in and will be seen frequently.

B Tier: These ships have a mix of strengths and weaknesses that make them very playable but balanced. These ships work great with specific roles in mind; however, their weaknesses mean they do not help every list. In a perfect world, all ships would fit into this category.

C Tier: C tier ships may still shine in niche lists and roles; however, they will feel underpowered when compared to similar units in the fleet. Decidedly suboptimal, you could make them work but frequently will see other things that are just better.

D Tier: Ships that need some considerable love and attention. You will struggle to find any role for this ship that another ship couldn’t do better. Very often you will see these ships labeled as “unplayable”.

S-Tier

Aurora Starfury - Fighters are one of the signature units of the Earth Alliance, and the Aurora is one of the better ones in the game. They will be present in almost any force you field, and they will be present in large numbers. Out of the 3 options available to Early Earth, the Aurora is the one you will want to take in the majority of cases. Fast, well protected, well armed and with a high dogfight value,  this is what you will be bringing, unless you are playing with in service dates and you will bring lots of them.

 

Hermes - At first glance the Hermes doesn't look to be too impressive. It isn't particularly tough, although it does have Interceptors, nor is it particularly well armed compared to comparable ships in other fleets. Look beyond your first impression and you have a ship that is one of the best Patrol level choices in the game. The ship brings a flight of fighters in addition to itself, and it has a respectable range on its missiles allowing it to stay out of trouble and act as a very effective initiative sink. What pushes the Hermes to being amazing is the Jump Drive. One of only 2 Patrol level ships in the game with a jump drive, it allows you to open jump points to and from the battlefield without having to sacrifice the firepower of higher tier ships. In a fleet of Skirmish level or above, you will want to take at least 2 of them every time.

Nova Dreadnought (Early) - This is the Gold standard of Raid level ships. I would contend that the Early Earth version of the Nova is the best ship of its tier in the game. The main feature of the ship is its firepower. The Nova boasts more firepower than a lot of higher tier ships with its AP double damage plasma cannons.. While its true you will not often be able to use all its weapons as they are split between various arcs, when you do, your opponent will really feel it. It is also incredibly resilient having Interceptors, a very healthy damage threshold and a fairly significant crew into the bargain. These factors combined mean that you have to very nearly destroy the Nova to prevent it firing at full effectiveness as it is only reduced to a skeleton crew once it has 3 damage points (and 12 crew) remaining. Adding to this the ship carries 4 flights of fighters for extra punch. There are some downsides though, the ship isn't particularly fast and it is lumbering meaning maneuvering the ship can be tricky. The weapons range is also a little limited at 12" for all the weapons, but these factors aside you have an incredibly potent platform. For extra punch consider forming them into a squadron, and then taking an Oracle scout cruiser to give their weapons re-rolls and there isn't much the Nova cannot simply roll straight over.

A-Tier

Artemis - If the Early Earth Nova is the best raid ship in the game, the Artemis is very close to being the best Skirmish ship in the game. One of the fastest ships in the Earth Alliance fleet, it has very punch Railguns and a decent amount of protection from Interceptors and a very surprising anti-fighter 4. 
Like the Nova the armament is spread over all its firearcs and that means its best suited to engaging multiple targets. Also in keeping with the Nova you have to practically kill the thing to stop it firing at full effectiveness. In smaller games the Artemis will more than pull its weight, but be wary in larger games as its just a skirnmish ship and so has relatively low damage and crew values.

Hyperion Rail - The standard Hyperion isn't a great ship but the Rail Variant is incredible. It has the same reasonably tough hull as the Hyperion, but its a skirmish level ship, this makes it an incredibly survivable platform in comparison to other front line skirmish level ships. As a trade off the ship has a weaker armament with a shorter range. It still packs quite a punch with the forward rail guns having 6 AP double damage shots. slightly slower than the Artemis it is still reasonably quick and able to get where its needed. The single flight of fighters is a small bonus on top.

Olympus - The Olympus is a very solid all round skirmish choice. It can engage enemies at all ranges since it has a mixed armament of missiles, railguns and plasma cannons. Overall the ship has less firepower than an Artemis but it can put more damage on to a single target than the more heavily armed ship. This comes from the fact it is equipped with weapons in turrets giving a full 360 degree arc with them. As a trade off though, the Olympus is more poorly protected than the Artemis and slower. It is an excellent choice in any fleet as it can fill a variety of roles. You can enhance this multi role capability by using the variant missile types it has access to.

Oracle - Early Earth Alliance ships run quite heavily armed but generally lack any twin-linked traits. There are some, but the majority of the weapons you will field will be plasma weapons and so have AP and possibly another trait. Using an oracle to scout an enemy ship will allow you to gain re-rolls against them and quite seriously amplify the amount of damage you will do. They are extremely fast and incredibly resilient ships thanks to the combination of their stealth and massed interceptors. You will probaly want a couple of these in larger games to improve the odds of getting an 8+ on a crew quality check. 

B-Tier

Avenger - This is the dedicated fighter carrier of the early earth alliance fleet bringing a full 8 flights of fighters. The ship itself is reasonably tough and has a respectable amount of close range firepower which means closing to close range isn't without a little risk. The fleet carrier trait is what makes this ship so worthwhile. Earth fleets will run with lots of fighters and the fleet carrier not only improves all fighters on the board by increasing their dogfight value, but also allows you to recycle them should they be destroyed. An added bonus is the +1 command they bring to the fray. The Avenger is not strictly required since you will usually have fighter superiority anyway but it does allow you to skew very heavily into fighters if you want to.

 

Hyperion Assault - Like the Railgun armed variant of the Hyperion, the assault variant is a Skirmish choice. This makes it tough for its cost but at the price of offensive firepower. The reason you would take this ship is because it has a higher than average number of troops, and in keeping with its role, that of an assault ship, assault shuttles. In any scenario requiring the use of troops such as landing them on a planet this is the ship yu want to bring. The offensive firepower is also more potent than you might expect but at a relatively short range. If you are wanting to take a Hyperion as a skirmish choice, the Railgun armed variant is definitely the better choice

Hyperion Command - The Earth Alliance Early fleet suffers from having a quite pedestrian Initiative value of +0 but the Command version of the Hyperion gives you a +2 bonus. This is the best in the fleet and its available at a very affordable Raid point. In other respects the ship is a worse Hyperion, and the Hyperion isn't the best ship by any stretch of the imagination. You are taking it for the +2 command, that is it.

Orestes - The highest priority ship in the Early Earth fleet as the only Battle level choice, and the only one with hull 6. The Orestes brings a powerful Beam weapon, and powerful secondaries to the fight. The ship is the toughest and most powerful ship in the fleet but compared to similar choices in other lists is a bit lacking. It can put more damage into a single target than any other ship in the fleet though, and take a beating in return.

Sagittarius - This is a dedicated missile ship with an impressive array of missile launchers. These give the Sagittarius the longest ranged weapons in the fleet. They can be quite potent if massed in numbers as the ship is a skirmish choice. Unfortunately the ship is slow and not particularly tough. Long range comes at the cost of overall firepower and should an enemy ship make it into close weapons range, it will be a losing fight for the Sagittarius. It does open up some interesting fleet possibilities though and is great for some early game damage. Precise missiles can really lay on the pain when you have lots of them.

Tethys Laser Boat - One of the smallest ships in the game the Tethys Laser Boat is poorly protected and has an almost laughable damage threshold. In its favour though, you get 2 of them for a single patrol choice, and it has a reasonably long ranged, albeit slow loading, Medium laser cannon. Beam weapons can be very swingy and you get effectively the same primary armament as a Hyperion-class heavy cruiser for a quarter of the price. They can also be used as initiative sinks or to sacrifice with the 'Maneuver to shield them!' special order. You will just need to be aware that in games of Raid priority or higher they have to be in squadrons either with each other or with other ships and they can't leave them.

Tethys Missile Boat. - This version of the Tethys is very similar to the Laser boat. The distinguishing feature is that it has long range missiles as opposed to the more punch y laser cannon and that lends it towards being a longer ranged initiative sink. It can shield your larger ships in a pinch and the decision on which version to take, Laser or Missile will depend very much on how you envision using them.

Tiger Starfury - The Tiger is the Early Earth strike fighter boasting a long ranged missile armament. This allows it to stay out of anti-fighter range while dealing damage. It also has a decent dog fighting score allowing it to take care of itself against enemy fighters. It is quite slow though and only has a dodge of 3+ as opposed to the 2+ dodge the Aurora gets. These weaknesses aside, the extra range makes it a valid choice

C-Tier

Artemis Escort - In any other fleet this would be a solid ship to take. The weapons loadout is markedly inferior to the standard Artemis but in return you get the escort trait. This combined with the anti-fighter 4 means it can seriously threaten enemy fighters. Unfortunately this is an earth alliance fleet so you should have plenty of fighters and not need this ship at all. there are some games where you might want it though. If you are facing fighter heavy Dilgar or the Gaim it will certainly be worth it.

Explorer - The Explorer is an incredibly unusual Raid level ship. It has a ludicrously high damage threshold, a much lower but still very high crew. It carries lots of fighters, Its a scout, has a jump engine and command +1. These are all features that are desirable in a ship since it combines a lot of things other ships do into a single package. On the negative side the ship is slow, has a low hull and the weapons are very short ranged. short ranged weapons and being slow and lumbering mean that you are unlikely to shoot your weapons in anger. It can come as a shock to people though as it is quite an unusual pick and it will at least ensure that your scout ability will persist.

Hyperion Heavy Cruiser - The Hyperion is a reasonably tough, reasonably fast and agile and has a respectable amount of firepower. It carries a single flight of fighters as part of the whole package. With 2 turns you can fairly easily get the Medium Laser cannon into action and the secondaries can add to the damage.

As a package though, the Hyperion is mediocre at best. It looks like it will be better than it is, it's just missing 'something'. I'm inclined to think that the Beam weapon is valued more highly than perhaps it should be. Its not terrible but if you look elsewhere you will find ships in the list that do the job you have in mind better. If you can't decide what role you have in mind, its a reasonable choice as it has a good amount of flexibility that other, single role ships might not. Temper your expectations with this one.

Hyperion Pulse Cruiser - A variant of the standard Hyperion with a lot of the same advantages and disadvantages. This ship trades the Beam weapon for massed pulse weapons. The ships forward arc has a frankly ludicrous number of shots with the remaining fire arcs also having a respectable amount of firepower. It can put a lot of shots into a single target and will easily deal with smaller ships but lacks much in the way of actual punch. You also need to get in close, and in that environment a Nova is just better. Still worth a look if you are wanting it to fill the role of hunting lighter ships.

Olympus Gunship - If you take an Olympus, make it slower, remove all its weapons and then replace them with a single Medium laser cannon, this is what you get. It is a single role ship since it has a single weapon. Beam weapons are very swingy, so when the dice spike in your favour, your opponent will know it. other wise the standard Olympus is a better choice.

D-Tier

Breaching Pods - Breaching pods are, interesting. They are slow, lose dogfights automatically, are fairly easy to kill, but on the other hand, boarding actions, when they occur, can be devastating. Ordinarily, when you launch a boarding action the criteria are fairly hard to meet. Breaching pods skip every step you would otherwise have to take and you just have to contact an enemy ship with them. On the downside, If you take them they are either cost you a patrol point, and in most fleets almost anything else will be a better choice, or else you have to use carriers to carry them and they replace fighters. they also take up troops from your own ships when deployed in this way. Avoid.

Hyperion Missile - This is simply a bad ship. it has a mixed armament that want to be at range and up close at the same time. The main selling point of the ship is the missile armament, and that being the case, the Sagittarius is a much better choice. you get 2 Sagittarius for the price of 1 missile Hyperion. Avoid.

Nova Starfury - The Nova Starfury is actually rather good. its not up to the same standard as the Aurora but it is competitive with a lot of the fighters belonging to other factions. The reason its in the D-Tier is simply because the Aurora exists. You will only take the Nova in special missions or lists where you are using the in service dates. In any other situation, you will take the Aurora or Tiger.

Tethys Cutter - The baseline version of the Tethys. It has a lot of the utility of the variants and a more rounded armament. combined the 2 Tethys Cutters outgun almost any other Patrol choice. The weapons are very short ranged though. It is slightly faster than the Laser and Missile variants but lacks their special armament. Unless you really need the extra 2" of movement for your Tethys, you will not be taking the base version.

Do you agree with my tier rankings? what would you change. let me know

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Miniature STL's by Tyrel Lohr and Badqueen creations
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