Mayson VS. Risner

Share and discuss your gameplay strategies.
posted on December 30th, 2012, 1:15 am
Discuss tactics and why you like them!!


Or if you want to hear my side of it first, here it is:
I like Mayson. Mayson is a good avatar, strongest at the beginning of the game with great turrets and some bonuses toward the mid-game, but falls woefully short in the late game. The defensive bonus is good, specially for newbies and the bonus and specials on E" basically ensures that you don't need to move pass chassis lvl 1 if you don't want to, but on the other hand, the nova class rewards players that utilise her immensely and is a great reason why to move to chassis lvl 2. But alas with 1200/600 cost on chassis lvl 3, no bonuses on Sovereigns and Defiants and the extreme effectiveness of E2 make chassis lvl 3 an unnecessary endeavor. Most of my games are mayson just for those reasons and because I like to tech up, I usually take Mayson (60-75% of the time) adn here's what i like to do (mostly). After I set up a second yard I set up warpins (or the second yard if I rushed warp-ins). some time after that I will usually cut production on one of my shipyards in order to afford chassis lvl 2, after which I will research fleet supply and defensive patterns. Once chassis lvl 2 hits I will que up akiras at forward yard (as they are slower) and novas at back yard. If the game still lasts and I manage to get a third dil moon, I will research guided quantum torpedoes, build and euradi yard and begin constructing E2. At this point, if the game persists, I will usually look toward mix-tech rather then chassis lvl 3.

Risner: She is much harder to play. I like her also because of my innate affinity for high tech, but with her I often ask myself: Why? Teching up with her is a breeze and the bonus she gives to some early game ships is nice, but form my experience the shines the most once chassis lvl 3 is reached, which never happens for me on a normal basis. Sure I had some team games where I tech rushed because I had good teammates, who could hold the line ( ;) stargazerrr) or I played against less experienced players, who didn't attacked at the right time and allowed me to tech up, but the point is: in regular games going Mayson is much more useful and simpler than going Risner and if I do go her, it usually indicates an akira rush and a will to tech up to euradi yard ships. Additionally her ships are great, but not great. Avalon is a costly ship, that eats 50 supply a piece and in addition to that it's extremely slow (slower that the teutoburg IIRC), which means that she is there as a moveable static defense or as an support in a final push, that cannot go wrong*, because if it does, ther's no way she will be able to make an escape, additionally the slow speed of avalon makes her impossible to catch up to enemies for a killing blow. The phalanx on the other hand suffers from overlapping, as I have no ides when to use her adn not use defiant/sovereighn. With its magnan phaser array and pulse weaponry it tries to be a defiant, but it's 500 dil costlier and takes about a third more to build than defiant, who also excels at this job and while not providing an AOE, it provides a weapon disabling effect, that is excellent when fighting other big ships, specially borg. When I play her I usually go for akira rush into early euradi, as going double antares before you got euradi doesn't feel optimal for her. Alternatively I go for warp-ins, but build the antares at expansion with an euradi at my main (sometimes vice-versa). Sometimes I tech-rush and go for 1 expansion defiant-intrepid/monsoon (cheaper) or 2 expansions sovereign-akira-warp-in, but even if I play normally with her I usually do not use chassis lvl 3 and that's the time I feel that mayson would be better. I admit she's harder to play and I'm still trying to figure her out entirely (after which she will probably become my to-go avatar over mayson), but I am asking for some input here. Maybe I need another game with Dominus spectating so he can kick me in the ass and tell me, NOW you can tech up t gain an advantage (like he did for chassis lvl 2 and akiras :thumbsup: ).
posted on December 30th, 2012, 9:34 am
EDIT: Why are there 2 topics... I only posted one. :blink:
posted on December 30th, 2012, 2:58 pm
i havnt been able to get online with fo so i can only comment on playing against the A.I.

but i agree that mayson is far easier to play, with his turrets and ship bonuses

risners good stuff is harder to get to (and like you say harder to save those expensive ships)
posted on January 3rd, 2013, 9:32 pm
Mayson's ship bonuses are very synergistic with the base Federation design. The extra Defense on Monsoons and Intrepids really amps up their ability to stay alive under fire, something vital in the early phase of the game. Risner's Offence bonuses just don't seem to work as well.

Also, while I've been disparaging of the Nova, I still think it's a better Avatar bonus vessel than both the Avalon and the Phalanx.
posted on January 3rd, 2013, 9:40 pm
Since I pretty much just build Defiants once I get to that point I am going to have to go with Risner. :D

For turret defense which I only really rely on against the Borg and the Dominion late game because of their ship swarms I don't see that much of a difference between Risner's turrets or the Quantum ones. Four turrets of either will destroy small fleets and hold of larger fleets long enough fro me to get some ships there. I actually tend to build alot of starbases instead of turrets anyways because they are a hell of a lot more cost effective.

I agree that the Phalanx's are not particular great for their cost although I do like the fighter carrier one.
posted on January 11th, 2013, 10:06 pm
Defiant's are great up until to the Borg strip all the crew numbers, :-( . Ahah, forward brave defiants.... wait why are all my ships floating in space.. ah good there powering up with borg modules? Aw nuts.
posted on January 11th, 2013, 11:18 pm
True about the assimilationthing. Although they can only focus on one defiant at a time per ship and I attack with 90 of them. :P
posted on January 15th, 2013, 11:22 pm
Well that would work :thumbsup: .
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