Everyone gets something!

The Lighters are out today! All factions have some neat little new ships to add to their fleets. Should we even call them all Lighters? Only 2 are technically called that. Oh well.

The UCM gain the sneaky drop capabilities of the Lysander Stealth Lighter. Perfect for sneaking in and deploying units to the ground with very little chance of getting hit by long ranged weapons (a signature of 0″ will do that for you), this is a lighter option and couples perfectly with the more numerous (and sturdier) New Orleans.

The Scourge get access to the Hiruko Boarding Cutter. While the UCM are busy playing the conventional game, Scourge players now get the chance to ram their ships straight into the enemy! With a deadly ram attack, the Hiruko puts out a lot more damage than its size would suggest, and disgorges Scourge troops into enemy ships at the same time.

The Resistance see the arrival of the Seneca Detonator. This chunky boi is loaded up with explosives, and very few crew – just in case. Able to launch 3 Fire Ships a turn, the Seneca also detonates in a wide radius when destroyed. Tricky to use right, but if you do, this becomes a real thorn in your opponent’s side.

The PHR gain the equal parts brilliant and frustrating (for you and your opponent respectively) Harpocrates Guerrilla Lighter. A tiny ship with no damaging weapons, this can still become a really pain for anyone daring to oppose the enlightenment of the White Sphere. Armed with an EM Warfare Suite, the Harpocrates can shut down an enemy ship for a turn. It’s risky, but when it pays off, it pays off big, making this tiny ship a massive priority target.

And the Shaltari… well the Shaltari were trailing behind a little to be honest.

Shaltari Helium Voidflyer

In playtesting the Helium started off very dangerous, especially for Shaltari’s cheapest proper ship. The ability to zip all over the board can be extremely useful, allowing you to react quickly to your opponent’s plans, getting exactly where you need to be. So the poor Helium got whapped with the nerf bat a bit too hard, and came out the gate limping.

So after some brainstorming, revisiting of playtest notes (I knew those would come in handy) and a few intense playtesting sessions, we’ve given those lucky space hedgehogs a bit of a buff.

We heard the community’s feedback and cries for help from Shaltari players, so here’s V2 of the Helium.

We’ve upped the Pulse Blaster to a 3+ Lock, so crits are definitely a thing that can happen now! It’s also gained Beam, which means enemy Point Defence isn’t going to stop it. This thing is meant to scare your opponents away from getting too close to Voidgates, and hopefully these changes will do just that!

Now, it’s not all buffs, since this is closer to the powerful playtest version and we don’t want anything being too good. So to balance it out, every time the Helium does a Void Skip, it gains a Minor Spike. After you jump out half way across the battlefield and wreck an enemy ship, your opponent is going to want to blow these things up, and now they’ll be a little more vulnerable from that, so be careful!

 

The rules for the Shaltari Voidflyer have been updated in the Resources section of the webstore and also on the Fleet Builder. As always, having digital rules means that we can make adjustments as things go, so get some games in with the new Lighters and send us your feedback so we can balance things out nicely.

And to get some games in, don’t forget to pick up your Lighters, available now! We’re still working in the post-lockdown-mid-virus conditions, but the warehouse team is getting through all the orders so it’ll be very soon that everyone can get some weird asymmetric warfare going in their Dropfleet games!