Playing as Klingons, By Boggz

Share and discuss your gameplay strategies.
1, 2, 3
posted on January 25th, 2011, 6:35 pm
Last edited by Dominus_Noctis on January 25th, 2011, 6:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
    [align=center]The Imperial Klingon Empire

      A little overall gameplay advice....

    By Buggzy :D[/align]




    CONTENTS:
    • Overall Observations
      - Offensive vs. Defensive Traits
      - Supply and Aggression
      - Part of a Team
    • Baseline Vessels
      - Auto-Targeting
      - Vessel Pairings
    • Teching Up
      - When to Climb
    • Economy
      - The Long Game
      - To Pop, Or Not to Pop
    • Specialists
      - The Qaw'Duj
    • Vs. Cloaking Races
      - Sensor Station
      - B'rel
      - Vutpa




    1.  Overall Observations

    [align=center]Offensive vs. Defensive Traits[/align]
      Klingons ships have the weakest average of defensive values compared to their offense of all the factions.  Defensive passives work on a higher degree of damage adjustment than do offensive values, so it's important to know when to use your "Glass Cannons" and when to use your sturdier warships.

    [align=center]Supply and Aggression[/align]
      Klingons are not very good shoppers ... they buy their supplies from the DUMBEST FUCKING PLACE IN THE GALAXY.  Thus, their supplies are much more expensive than any other race to purchase.  Luckily, they gain supplies back any time their ships increase in rank.  This is a super duper important thing to remember when deciding when and where to attack.  It may seem like "you HAVE to be attacking all the time to stay floating on supplies", but that's not always the case.  I'll elaborate on this in a bit.

    [align=center]Part of a Team[/align]
      Let's face it:  in team games you are going to lose your fleet first.  This is the way of life.  Klingon ships, along with a few Dominion and Romulan ships, have the highest ratio of Offense over Defense of all the races.  This means that your fleets will almost always die first in team games when you are paired up with other races.  Keeping open communication with your teammates and knowing what ships they plan on building will help you choose your own.  Along with that, having your ships die first also means they have less chance to rank up and return supplies.  This is EXTREMELY important to note as you rely on your ships ranking to provide you with the supplies you need.  A handy solution to this issue is to not use your most fragile ships in major fleet engagements.  If you've got on your team:

      - 4 B'rel
      - 6 Vor'cha
      - 7 Intrepids
      - 5 Monsoons


      Don't bother attacking in the fleet with your B'rel.  They will simply get ruined from the outset of battle.  Instead, find something else to do with them - LIKE EATING MINERZ  :badgrin:  !!!!  Either that, or wait behind the enemy fleet under cloak and pick off damaged ships that are trying to repair.  This will get you kills from your little B'rels without sending them to Sto'vo'Kor empty-handed :D.


    2.  Baseline Vessels

      Klingons have two excellent baseline vessels with defensive traits.  They have the K'BeajQ in the small yard and the Vorcha in the second yard.  Both are standard medium range beam-armed vessels with good traits that help them survive to fight another day.  I recommend these vessels in team games more often than not.

    K'BeajQ
      Extremely strong subsystems increases the overall hitpoints of the the KBQ once the hull is exposed.  Damage will get spread onto the subsystems with little chance of disabling them, making the final blow very difficult in the early game.  19-19 stats with an extra strong hull?  Oh yes, we'll be seeing you around for quite a while :D.

    [u]Vor'cha

      Defense of 30 with half of that in it's hull, the Vor'cha also has Ablative Armor that frustrates a lot of the early game interceptors.  Until well into the game it's just about impossible to finish off without investments in cloak detect.  VERY strong vessel for multiplayer games.

      Much like the Romulans, the Klingons have an enormous portion of their playstyle locked into their ability to cloak.  However, since their cloak takes 4 seconds to hide them, they are vulnerable for much longer and have to keep this in mind.  Since both their supply and their ability to generate supply are locked forever into their vessels, keeping them alive is a very important part of playing the mighty warrior race :badgrin:.  Loosely this translates to:

    [align=center]"Play the 'smart' Klingons from Star Trek VI and not the DS9 Klingons"[/align]

      :D  Wasting ships means that, you'll not only be wasting supply and giving ranks to your opponent, but you're also not recouping the supplies you need to make more vessels.  Now you may say, "But god damnit, Boggz!  All the Klingon ships are so low in Defense compared to some other races".  You're right!  :thumbsup:, but you've got the ability to decide how your vessels match up against your opponent due to your cloaking ability.  There's a very important part of doing that which we'll discuss now.

    [align=center]Auto-Targeting[/align]

      Ships in FleetOps target the lowest-defense vessel first in any engagement.  If a ship with 30 defense is at 1/4 health they will target it before a vessel with 22 defensive value.  They always go for what they see as the easiest to kill first.  This does NOT hold true for passives.  Passives are not taken into account by auto-targeting and much firepower can be wasted in this way as well.  However, this also offers you a benefit in that your vessel choices help dictate what absorbs damage first among your own ships.

    [align=center]You want your most defensively-oriented ships to be targeted first![/align]

      A KBQ as a natural defensive value of 19.  This puts it underneath all other Klingon warships aside from the B'rel, the K'tinga, and the Veqlaragh.  This means that your K'vorts, Sangs, Charghs, and QawDuj with defensive values of 20 will not be targeted first by enemies relying on auto-targeting.  That's great because your KBQ are the best at absorbing damage amongst the smaller vessels the Klingons have at their disposal.  Use this to your advantage!  Let your KBQ be more aggressive in attacks on enemy mining and fleets while your specialist units like Kvort's and Sangs can wait a moment until they are in the proper position to best utilize their own skills.  Also this means that KBQ can perform distraction and defense with less risk of dying than B'rel or K'vort would.

      Vor'cha have one problem in this field: they have one of the highest natural defense values of the ships you will most likely be fielding.  With 30 defense, Ablative Armor, and cloak, the Vorcha are exceedingly difficult to kill in their own right, but they also won't attract a lot of firepower from your opponent's vessels.  The only thing a Vor'cha will tank for is the Negh'var or the Luspet.  Keep this in mind when you are choosing unit combinations to make.

      Since Vorcha are RARELY the first to be auto-targeted, adjust your usage of them away from the same as the KBQ and think of them more like the Ogres from Lord of the Rings :badgrin:.  They are enormously strong ad difficult to kill, so throw them into battle and get them right into your opponent's fleet (as long as you feel it's somewhat safe to do so).  This keeps your Vorcha near their short range ships that haven't gone after your Sangs / Kvorts / etc ... and attract weapons fire from them.  Be smart and know the strengths of your vessels!  In small engagements use your Vorcha to drag an enemy's faster interceptors or cruisers away from their slower long range vessels, then pounce on the Bombers/Breen/Excels/Sangs with your B'rels or Neghvars!  RAWR!  It takes micro, but Klingons don't like things to be easy  :naugthy:.

    [align=center]Vessel Pairings[/align]

      Going along with knowing which ships will tank the auto-targeting is deciding which combination of units will best exploit that.  Clearly the KBQ is your choice early on for tanking auto-fire, but later on the KBQ starts to falter and becomes a MAJOR drain on supply (24 supply to make a KBQ).  Vorcha nicely pick up the Standard Baseline vessel role, but they won't tank auto-fire for your specialist units anymore :(.  Never fear!  The answer exists in intelligence and tactics!

      I haven't really mentioned the difference between 1v1 matchups vs. 2v2+ games.  Hopefully these considerations I've brought up will encourage people to see how they fit into the race and indeed the game as a whole.  Single Player offers you much more flexibility in your units because you should be able to keep track of everything your opponent produces and not worry about being countered by another player.  However, certain combination choices will yield some very nice results.

    • KBQ / Chargh:  KBQ tank for the Charghs and the Charghs lock down fleeing ships :pirate:
    • KBQ / Sang:  KBQ tank, Sang provide heavier firepower at 360 long range
    • B'rel / K'vort:  Against other cloakers this gives you early cloak detect and strong firepower
    • B'rel / Vorcha:  Vorcha fight while B'rels raid!  Against cloakers the Vorcha fight and B'rels decoak to manually target when needed

      Obviously those are just a few.  They are not exceptions to the Guide's build orders.  Keep that in mind: that the Guide's build orders are really the way to go, but once you progress beyond the initial stages these are some good matchups in general!  Multiplayer games always benefit more from these matchups as there is more time to get the needed units and also they are more fluid against varied opponent choices.

      Yeah lemme say that again: stick to the guide's build orders when beginning a 1v1 but in team games these combos will help you cover more ground overall and be flexible against multiple opponents.


    3.  Teching Up

      Teching up is a major consideration for Klingon players.  It's not easy to do and it costs a LOT of resources to field the heavier vessels alone, not to mention their specials.  Taq'ro'ja is even more difficult to climb ladder as she doesn't receive the discount on her yards.  A good overall thing to keep in mind would be:

    [align=center]"Don't tech up if you don't have to"[/align]

      By this I don't mean "never tech up", but arbitrarily throwing down research stations and bigger yards when you're not going to get an immediate use out of them can be a critical mistake.  Some builds make strong use of Chargh / Sang and should not be ignored based on what I said.  You just really need to be sure that what you're progressing towards is something that will do you a lot of good since you're sinking resources into it.  Feds and Dominion are much more flexible in this regard as many of their large-yard ships have better across-the-board usability.  Klingon heavier ships require science stations that will further slow down your production and prevent you from being able to buy supply if you end up needing to do so.

    [align=center]When to Climb[/align]

      Reason #1 to climb the tech tree:  T-15's :D.  Vessels with Ablative Armor will pretty easily counter most of the Klingon Field Yard vessels.  B'rels, K'vorts, and Su'sa will all be basically hard countered by ships with Ablative Armor, so if that ends up being a possibility (most likely from T-15 or Vor'cha) then you will desperately need to be ready for Sangs, QawDuj, or Vorcha production yourself.  Using your cloaked scouts to watch your enemy's production is a critical part of knowing what you will need to field.  Sangs can, in many situations, help you counteract vessels designed to stop short range as both Ablative Armor and Fast Tracking Computers have penalties against long range.  They will also allow KBQ to tank for them as their defense is 1 point higher than the little damage-sponge KBQ's. 

      Climbing the tech tree is also a very important thing to do if you notice that your opponent is able to consistently kill your ships before they can escape under cloak.  Romulan Frigates will build up numbers quickly and do very well across the Klingon Field Yard options.  Sangs and / or Vor'cha make for a great response to Frigate spam. 

    • Disruptor Rhienns
      A lot of people have asked me how Klingons can best deal with massed Disruptor Rhienns.  I'm afraid that there really is no great way.  If you are playing a 1 v 1 then your best bet is to harass constantly with KBQ and B'rels.  Try and keep the Rhienns always using their phase plates and once they do disengage and run after their miners.  Then the Rhienns will have to face you without the Uber-Plates :D.  If you let them get the resources the D-Rhienns will dismantle basically anything you can field out of the small yard.  Most ships in the Battle Yard don't really work well either and the Neghvar is far too high in the tree to make an effective 1 v 1 counter.  If you can field them - great - but you're likely to be facing a much larger force of D-Rhienns and your torpedo will miss 40% of the time.
      In team games there is really nothing you can do to effectively counter them.  Coordinate with your teammate and devise a strategy to utilize something like Monsoons, S-2's, Cehlaer's, Frigates, or something like that.  In a team game it's much more practical to actually reach your Vutpa and get the Decloak Ability, but just remember that it's defense is 24 and will often be one of the first things targeted.
      In short, if you come up against a player spamming Disruptor Rhienns in a 1 v 1 matchup, I recommend trying to either overwhelm their dilithium production as quickly as possible, or teching up to something stronger like Vorcha and using your small yard vessels for mining harassment almost exclusively.  There is no real great option, so don't feel like it's going to be easy.


    4.  Economy 

      Klingons don't have the best economic setup.  Their mining stations are the most expensive of any race and their science tech tree is set up like it's run by Guinea Pigs.  But never fear!  Their miners are not as pathetically weak as those treacherous Romulans and have the strongest defensive value ) along with Dominion miners) of the non-Borg races.  On top of that the creaky old K'tinga's can show their true colors once more by popping their resource baskets and firing away with their dusty disruptors which brings us to ...

    [align=center]"To Pop, or Not to Pop"[/align]

      Worst thing you can EVER do:  Pop all your miners when you hear "we're being attacked" and find out that you got hit by auto-fire from a scout.  Hit yourself in your ridged Klingon forehead and use those little buggers to attack while you have the benefit of many small and fast ships.

       So let's be honest here: K'tinga's are the weakest (in a tie with the C-11) dedicated warship in the game.  This is just a fact :D.  On the bright side, they are also your miners :woot:!  This means that you have the ability to pop and fight off harassment from small groups of weak ships.  Additionally, instead of giving experience to your opponent you can pop your miner and scurry away to repair.  There is a lot of consideration to be done when evaluating whether or not it's better to pop your miner, send it to repair, or risk continuing production.

    Cons of Popping:
    •   Resource gathering immediately stops.
        The defensive value drops by 6 and then by a further 3 if no kills are gained soon.
        The K'tinga is not a strong fighter once it's Bloodlust runs out.
        Miners will have to be replaced.

    Pros of Popping:
    •   Yarr!  Ya get a fuckin' K'tinga HHAHAHAAAAARRRRRRR!  :pirate:
        Additional firepower is instantly available for nearby battles or rush strategies.
        K'tingas make for excellent scouts once they can cloak.
        Denies experience to opponent if you can scurry away in time.
        "K'tinga Rush" is a popular strategy for the Taq'ro'ja Avatar

      Play experience and time will show people when the best times to pop miners is, but generally you should pop a miner if you need to either gain a very small amount of firepower immediately to win a battle near your mining, if you know you are going to lose the miner and are going to try and run yourself back to a safe area, or when you think you can make a decisive strike on your opponent with the aid of some extra K'tingas.

    [align=center]The Long Game[/align]
     
      Supply is the bane of the Klingons.  Their supply starts at 1100 di/tri and only gets worse from there.  This roughly translates to: Klingons are not suited for the long game.  The longer the game goes, the more your opponent reaches a critical mass and prevents your ships from being able to retreat.  In long games Klingons feel the resource crunch as their supply just gets more and more expensive.

      In short: your chances of victory diminish as the game drags on.  Losses become harder and harder to replace as critical mass of enemy ships means you are unable to cloak out before your vessels die.  You need to do the critical damage early on that will let you continue to press your advantage and save your ships as the game progresses.  Instead of sacrificing your early game B'rels come mid/late game, adjust their function and use them as dedicated raiders/hunters.  4-5 B'rel can eat a miner and run away with ease.

    Continued on Page 2 as there is a 20,000 character limit per post
posted on January 25th, 2011, 6:36 pm
Last edited by Boggz on January 25th, 2011, 6:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Continued from the Original Post....


5.  Specialists 

  The Klingons have a LOT of specialist units.  Along with the Romulans they are full of units that don't especially perform well against ships they were not designed to counter.  A few can bridge the gap and perform decently against a number of units, but most are pulse or Torp armed and thus do not perform that well all around the board.  The units they do have though for special tasks do very well :).  Part of the reason is that Klingons are full of Offensive passives and will thus be more at risk when not facing units they are designed to counter.  Defensive passives make a ship more all-around flexible while offensive ones make them more specialized.

B'rel
  Ahhhhh the B'rel.  It's gone through so many adjustments to try and make it worth using.  Back in 3.0.7 it could be massed like crazy and wipe things off the map.  No longer.  The B'rel is too fragile to use in fleet combat after the beginning phase of the game and is targeted first by auto-targeting unless you have K'tinga around.  They die quickly and cost 12 supply, so if you're not careful you can end up wasting a lot of precious supply on them.  However, they are also your first and only form of mobile cloak detect.  I'll leave that long discussion for dealing with cloaking races.  Basically, the B'rel has a REALLY hard time countering the majority of the units that it's supposed to counter (long range), so it's best used as a raider to gain ranks attacking miners when not being used for it's manual targeting.

K'vort
  More of a baseline unit than the B'rel, Taq's K'vort can be used more frequently than Martok due to her splitting of firepower between pulse and torp.  I still recommend using KBQ in most cases over the K'vort unless your opponent is specifically fielding something that will fall like grass before K'vorts (A-20 Bugs for example).  K'vorts are indeed a great unit to use as raiders also, as they can cut down miners much faster than B'rel can.  Keep in mind that because Martok's K'vorts have no torpedoes, they actually perform BETTER against some units (like bugs) than Taq's will even though they are 'weaker'.

Veqlaragh
  Reeeeeally situational.  They're so fragile and require a 40 supply investment just to get the yard.  use them only if besieging something is critical or if you are facing small numbers of poewrful ships that can fall victim to the engine-disabling torpedo like spheres or warbirds.

Su'sa
  Underrated this patch because Last Ditch Assault was nerfed quite a bit, the Su'Sa is still an AWESOME structure-destroying ship.  3 or 4 with LDA can pop up and wipe out entire mining stations before scurrying off.  They also do great work against Borg and Feds as they tend to have a good number of large-sized ships.

Sang
  Another 'bread and butter' ship, the long-range 360 torpedoes make Sang excellent defensive units and do a great job at fighting just about anything medium sized that doesn't have High Density Shields.  They will do wonders against large numbers of medium-sized units like Leahvals and Intrepids, but will absolutely perform worthlessly against ships like the Saber (with or without Hyper), the Monsoon, and the Vutpa.  Rarely a bad choice though in most cases and an absolute terror for Borg.

Chargh
  Ahaaaa ... one of the most frustrating ships to be caught by.  Charghs actually will become your best friend once they have combat tractor.  In terms of a ship, Extra damage to short range with a slow firing torpedo from medium range actually does not do much for you.  The ships you'll actually face all have some kind counter back towards you:  Leahvals do extra to Charghs, S-2's / B'rels / Kvort's / Su'sa / Monsoons dodge torps well, Intrepids have ADAI ... the best thing actually countered by Chargh are Scout Cubes, Neghvar, Defiants, Breen B5's, and Ambassadors.  So clearly the Fast Tracking computers is not their strength, but the Tractor is!  The tractor does SO much good it's hard to even really explain.  It suddenly lets your ships get extra kills.  That's just critical.  You can hold ships from running, from attacking if they're short range, or if you need to run you can tractor a ship following you and it will have to accelerate from 0 again.

Vutpa
  Well we'll talk about the Vutpa's anti-cloak uses in a bit, but there's another aspect of the Vutpa that people overlook often: it's ability to dodge torpedoes.  It is hit by only around 35% of torpedoes.  That's INSANE!  Ships armed with only torpedoes do almost nothing to these guys.  The one thing about them is that they hae a defense of only 24, so they will not tank and are shot before your Vorcha.  I generally say that Vorcha and Vutpa are not the best combo unless your Vorcha are being countered by Sang/Excel II.  That's the best non-anti-cloak use of the Vutpa in my opinion: to tank the torpedo-heavy ships that counter Vorcha.

Luspet
  Hey!  Another Klingon Heavy Cruiser/Battleship with a defensive passive!  Wheee!  Oh wait ... it costs 42 supply to build ... yikes ... well the Luspet is a very cool battleship but it sits bizarrely in between the Vorcha and the Neghvar.  It's a large-sized, short range battleship like the Negh'var, but it's got a defensive passive and is built from the battle yard like the Vorcha.  On top of that the passive causes it to cost considerably more than a non ADAI vessel, so it's supply cost is incredibly prohibiting in my opinion.  Best used against Borg or Romulans using Frigates / Warbirds as the anti-medium range will help considerably.  Otherwise, it doesn't tank and it costs too much supply.


Cho'naq
  Please ....

Negh'var
  Again, another one of those "if you've come to a point where you HAVE to tech up so high to get it, you've already lost" ships.  Really only designed to hunt Dodes, Diamonds, S-7's, and some Federation battleships, the Negh'var really doesn't do anything that earlier ships can't handle.  The cost of teching up to it and not having a cloak is really discouraging.  If somehow you manage to get it, don't hesitate to invest that extra money into researching Weapon Overload.  Overload is one of those abilities that lets a specialist ship branch out and be effective across the board.  1 Overload and suddenly a lot of things look a lot more inviting to attack :D.  10 Overloads and you'll kill half a Cube :badgrin:.  Mostly Neggies just show up on the board as a kind of "hahah look what you let me get" thing.

[align=center]Qaw'Duj[/align]

  And lastly we come to the Qaw'duj.  I set this aside on purpose because the Qaw'duj really fulfills an odd role in the lineup and it's not what you might think.  You're thinking: "Well it's the Klingon's only support ship so it must be great for handling ADAI units!  Wrong.  It's also medium range so it ends up not actually doing more damage to them, albeit they will NEVER die to an ADAI unit itself.  The Qaw'duj fulfills a funny role because it is buildable from the starbase at double the normal time.  This is hard to know how to use effectively, but it's a very strong ship when using Imperial Stance so it's use can be done well by skilled players.

[align=center]I highly recommend consulting Dom's Guide on how best to begin with a Qaw'Duj build.[/align]

  Qaw'duj are slow and not suited for really handling the majority of ADAI units that come along.  They won't tank for KBQ / K'vort / B'rel but will still never die to ADAI units like Bugs and Intrepids.  Use them to pressure the enemy in engagements by getting them right into the thick of those ADAI units and forcing them to make decisions based on YOUR actions.  ALWAYS use Imp. Stance in combat because it just rocks.  They do, however excel at fighting strategies pitting heavier units against you early on.  The Qaw'duj along with KBQ will do very well against B-8 rushes, Warpin Rushes, and Scube / Probe rushes.  Again consult the guide's build order for a good idea on when to use it.

  Almost more importantly the Qaw'duj is what suddenly allows your existing forces to be effective in later game battles.  The Klingons are not good late-gamers in my opinion.  Supply problems will reduce the total number of ships you can field while most other races can keep chugging along and your AoE deficiencies will tell on you once you're facing hordes of Baseline units like Akira's and Generix. 

[align=center]And then the Klingon God said,
"Let there be Polaron Field"

:D[/align]

  Polaron Field is absolutely critical to the continued success of your early game ships like the K'vort.  Polaron Field will disable large groups of vessels and prevent them from kiting your K'vorts and other forward-firing vessels.  It bolsters your Fleet's effectiveness by an indeterminable amount, but basically denies order amongst your opponent's fleet.  Again, just a critical ability to have if you were unable to prevent the buildup of a large enemy fleet.  This ability allows you to remain a late-game power with the ships you used in the early game.  Never discount it.
posted on January 25th, 2011, 6:37 pm
Last edited by Boggz on January 25th, 2011, 6:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
6.  VS. Cloaking Races

[align=center]Sensor Station[/align]
  Klingons have crap cloak detect.  Them's the brakes, folks.  Crap supply and crap mobile cloak detect.  Solution:  The Sensor Turret!  One (AWESOME) advantage vs. other Klingons and the dreaded Romulan cloak.  That advantage is a super cheap and quick to build sensor turret that can be set up easily in networks that do several things.

  1. Detect cloaked enemies.
  2. Act as early warning systems.
  3. Force cloaked enemies to take certain routes to avoid them.

  By this what I mean is that a sensor platform in between your enemy's base and your mining casues your opponent to have to make a choice:  go through and be seen, decloak and attack the station, or go all the way around it.  Any one of these options is good for you as the defender!  If they go through it they are visible and have no shields.  If they attack the station, you lose less than 100 of each resource and they lose the element of surprise (and you learn the location of their cloaked fleet).  If they go around it and attack your mining then they will likely have to go back through your station when they retreat.

[align=center]"...your opponent to have to make a choice:  go through and be seen, decloak and attack the station, or go all the way around it."[/align]

[align=center]B'rel[/align]
  The little B'rel has one very important use beyond raiding and that's the use of manual targeting.  Manual targeting from the B'rel is really only something you'll be able to use effectively in the early game as the B'rel will simply get swatted away mid-late game (auto-targeted first).  What this means is that a B'rel or two in the beginning used solely as cloak detect will help you kill that extra Leahval or that KBQ or Vor'cha earlier on and swing the balance into your favor.  It's TOTALLY worth it to sacrifice a B'rel to keep a Leahval visible long enough to kill it.  Absolutely worth it.  Keeping the little guy cloaked until you're sure the enemy is about to cloak and run is very important.  I'll try and find a YouTube replay demonstrating this.  Please skip to about 6:16 and you'll see.

[align=center][youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHbgbCf4WUc&feature=related#t=6m16s[/youtube][/align]

  So clearly here was maybe not the best time to fight, but the principle behind using the B'rel to decloak something else is present.  Against Romulans you really have to be paying attention in order to make sure you can fire on them before they disappear.

[align=center]Vutpa[/align]
  The only mobile click-to-decloak ability that Klingons possess, the Vutpa is exorbitantly expensive to equip with it's cloak detect.  In order to get the decloak ability you'll need to research:
  • Call to Arms (Ordnance)
  • Mass-Seeking Missiles
(Ordnance)
  • Refit the Vutpa itself into a Troopship
  All this will get VERY spendy.  I honestly don't recommend it as a first choice.  In my opinion you're far better off using Sensor Stations aplenty and better tactics to force your opponent to play by YOUR rules.  Making use of split fleets of raiders/combat ships and strategically placed Sensor Platforms will help you avoid the need for the horrendously expensive Vutpa Tech that will also hamper your ability to buy supplies should you need to.  Use the money you'd spend on Vutpa Research to get special weapons like the Shield-Breaking Torpedo, the H.Disruptor/Torp Drone, the Polaron Torpedo, or even the necessary research for the FAR more flexible Qaw'Duj Polaron Field that can also double as cloak detect.
  All this about the Vutpa is assuming one thing:  your opponent is not massing torpedo ships.  If your Klingon opponent is dumb enough to mass Sangs- by all means get those Vutpa.  Sangs will NEVER kill a Vutpa.  It's amazing.  Try it.  Romulans don't have torpedo ships beyond the Torp Rhienn or Eresis/D'Deridex so that is unlikely to be your main use of a Vutpa.
posted on January 25th, 2011, 6:54 pm
Until Doca can set the replies after these first three, the replies will be located at this page. I apologize for the inconvenience - apparently merged threads are always organized by age of posts  :whistling:
posted on January 26th, 2011, 11:38 am
hm, i cannot influence the display order of the posts either. they are always shown in chronological order
posted on March 30th, 2011, 7:09 pm
thanks for this guide! I'm still practicing against the computer trying out my microing and not losing units like I saw you do against Old Time Pro in a video.
posted on March 30th, 2011, 9:19 pm
Great!  :)

  Glad the little gameplay overviews I did are doing some good things for people ^-^.

  The AI can be hard to play against as Klingons because they can just make SO many ships  :wacko: but if you start to get a feel for which ships require what research and such you'll be in a MUCH better position for playing a good multiplayer Klingon ;).

  If you haven't already, check out the replays page in the guide.  HERE.  It was set up to help you search specifically for thing you want :).  I'd recommend searching for games with Clintsat or Myself (Boggz) playing Klingons as those are our preferred races (and we're pretty good with them :D)
posted on April 5th, 2011, 11:45 pm
Last edited by godsvoice on April 5th, 2011, 11:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I like this outline.

I thought I might just add something for reasons to pop miners.

I sometimes have it where all I have at my expansion is the constructor. I'm finishing up my second refinery or whatever and in comes a saber, or a monsoon or one of each etc.. but I have enough to build a turret.

I start building a turret and sometimes they target my chor, other times they go for the miners... depending on which way they came in, how long theyve been there. Also, I always get topmeys built a plenty from my kahless station and have four on their way before I even finish the mining stations. So I often have a bunch of topmeys sometimes sitting and doing nothing waiting for the next station to go up.

What you can do is pop the miners, and have them engage the attacking fleet. Pop enough to make a difference. If it is one saber, pop one at a time until you finish building your turret. If you have a monsoon and two sabers, pop a few of them, and then pop additionally. Make sure you can finish the turret in time. In this case, you keep your constructor, and your expansion, and simply have to replace miners. But you get that turret built, and you hold the expansion, most likely with at least one or two still mining. So I guess, pros for popping, stalling the enemy to a get a turret built.

Besides that, if you are playing against AI looking for practise, or just like it and looking for tips. Don't build brels against AI. Since you are guaranteed to be outnumbered, they generally don't do a lot in the game. As was already pointed out, kbeajqs are a great ship to have. I have even grown to not building my brel extension, at least initially. If I choose to bring in the Kvorts, it will be later on. The main ships that are good, are kbeajq and qawduj from kahless are great to start.
posted on April 5th, 2011, 11:58 pm
Oh, and! As per the resource problem, very true. But if you can get a couple Vorcha out, and have Kbeajq and Qawduj for support, I great thing you can do, especially against Federation is capture the first Akira and or Excelsior (or a warship from another faction).

It already happens that you should target and destroy the weakest ships first. When it gets down to the last Akira or E2, (or if you happen to get one attacking alone, or cross paths with one) get its shields down and board it. There is a decision here... go for rank up or extra ship, for smaller ships a definite choice to rank up. But especially when its the first one you come across, the enemy just spent the money on getting that sucker out, so take it over. It doesn't cost you a thing. Then, bring fleet back to yard and repair. And presto bingo, you just gained an Akira.

Can't really do this very well against Romulans and Borg, Roms cloak out, and borg crew is just way to high. So ideal for Federation and Dominion games. Will give you extra fire power, you save on resources, and can put a dent in your enemy by taking the ship. and if your opponent is a human, theyll get a reminder of it when they face that akira again later on. dont forget the intimidation and psych-psych-psych factors!
posted on April 6th, 2011, 12:13 am
you know... I think Imperial Empire is redundant... :D
posted on April 7th, 2011, 4:00 am
@ Tok'ra:  Yah I wrote this as an online Multiplayer outline so AI games won't be helped TOO much by this.  My recommendation for AI games - KBQ spam till you drop :lol:


@ Zax:  Don't be a smartass :badgrin:  :lol:
posted on April 8th, 2011, 2:01 am
Boggz, I know your a busy person but can you update ALL your guides with a section on how to fight vs other race matchups along with links to videos? I think it would be even more comprehensive! :)
posted on April 8th, 2011, 4:59 pm
Maybe when 3.1.6 comes out :).
posted on April 15th, 2011, 5:07 pm
Is 3.16 going to add anything special to the Chonaq? Thats one ship that seems useless! It needs something to make it more useful.

Oh I was playing around with both avatars and wow you are right, the Chargh with tractor beam is awesome! Love that special and so useful!!
posted on April 18th, 2011, 5:25 pm
If you look through the Forum you may realize that the ChonaQ is being discussed already. :)

The Chargh... yeah I love it, too. Her only problem is that many short ranged units are small and she has a low firing rate. Because of that every shot is a little gamble. But when she hits... :badgrin:
Also she has nice costs and the incredible tractor.
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