Say Hello To My Little Friend

Is the Shaltari Diamond-class Battleship overpowered?   

          So I played my first game at 1750 points, using Shaltari. This was also my first time playing with a battleship. For this game I opted to use the Diamond. The other primary fire support for this was was an Onyx, Amber, Obsidian, Jet, and six Amethyst frigates. With a very similar profile to the Obsidian with three particle lances, but instead of having to go weapons free to fire three shots, the Diamond is able to do this on a standard order.

          As stated by Hawk, the particle lance is consistent damage. With every Shaltari particle lance, with the exception of the Diamond, hit on three up. And the particle special rule states every hit is a critical hit. Now the Diamond with its lance triad hits on a two up, and also has the crippling special rule. While the PHR Heracles, and Minos both have weapons systems with crippling special rule, in order for this rule to take effect the target ship must take a critical hit. This is where the power of the Diamond comes into question in my opinion, even being a Shaltari player. If the Diamond hits, that hit is automatically a critical, and the target is rolling on the crippling damage table.

          So let’s start breaking down some numbers, on a d6 on any given roll you have a 16.6% chance to get any number depicted on the die. To roll three one's with the particle lance triad is 4.5% chance. Rolling three hits, anything not a one, you have a 57.8% chance to deal 6 damage. Those are pretty good odds in my book, and better than any odds you will find at the gambling tables. To put this weapon in a better light, you have a 69.4% chance of dealing 4 damage, quite frankly i like those odds.

          Now lets compare this weapon to the Dark Matter cannon on the Heracles. To deal 6 damage with it and cause a roll on the crippling damage table, the Diamond has a 57.8% chance of doing, the Heracles only has a 25% chance of doing this. Using the same number of 57.8% to hit with all of the shots, not even deal damage just hit, the Heracles also has a 57.8% to hit with all of the shots. Since the Diamond auto crits due to Particle, this next number is irrelevant to the Diamond. If you roll, the attacks that hit with the Heracles only have a 36% of being a critical hit, which if they are not a crit, your opponent gets to make an armor save to stop the hit. On top of that if it is a successful hit, your opponent will not have to roll on the crippling damage table, because it is not a critical hit, but let’s expand on this idea a little more.

          The only other ship with three particle lances is the Shaltari Obsidian-class Heavy Cruiser. To hit with all three shots is only a 29.5% chance, and you have to go weapons free which gives the ship a major spike. The Diamond only receives a minor spike from firing the Particle Lance Triad because of its Bloom ability. If it does go weapons free, it has 8 more shots hitting on three up, giving it more chances at dealing more damage.


          While i do play Shaltari, and I do love my Diamond, I think the damage output that this ship is capable is a little unbalanced.

                ~GeorgeFromWy