Clan of Saar

Starting units: 1 Space Dock, 4 Ground Forces, 2 Fighters, 2 Carriers, 1 Cruiser

Starting techs: Antimass Deflectors, XRD Transporter

Trade Contracts: 1, 2

Leaders: 1 General, 1 Admiral, 1 Agent

Racial traits:

1. Gain 1 TG every time you acquire a new planet.
2. You may fulfill Objectives even if you don’t control your Home System.
3. Your Space Docks have a movement of 1, but may not build units during the same activation in which they move. It may transport up to 3 Fighters.
4. Your Space Docks are never placed on planets and have a production capacity of 4. GFs and PDSs are placed on any planet in the system or on a Carrier/War Sun (or Dreadnought/Cruiser if applicable).
5. Space Dock is destroyed if ever present with an opponent’s ship without any of your ship present (in other words, if it’s blockaded, it is destroyed).
6. Your Space Docks are not ships, therefore do NOT count toward Fleet Supply and do NOT participate in Space Battles.
7. Other players may not use Clan of Saar for the “Merciless” Secret Objective.
8. IMMUNE TO: “Cultural Crisis” and “Multiculturalism” cards.

Racial Technology: Floating Factory (cost +3): Your Space Docks have a production capacity of 5, a Fighter capacity of 5, and receive +1 movement.

Home Planet(s): Lisis II - 1/0 Ragh - 2/1

PLUS

1. Fast early expansion . You start with 2 carriers with move 2, 4 GFs
2. TG flow . Due to racial trait and fast expansion.
3. Hard to stop . In some games I played there were the only one way to stop the VP leader -- occupation of his homesystem. Clan of Saar is immune to this.
4. Mobile production . You can move your SDs - close to the borders, deep into your territory. You could even move all your 3 SDs to Mecatol Rex and build there a huge army! Note : your production capacity does not depend on planetary resourses, you could build even in the empty system. Note 2 : you shouldn't defend your docks when your main fleet is in raid. Move them too!
5. 3SD production . You are the second race, that could place all your 3 Space Docks in one system (first is Hacan), and the only one, that could place them in any system. 12 production capacity w/o bonuses +3 Enviro +3 Floating Factory, add to this Sarween bonus: +3 free res. Note : you should be aware of Signal Jamming if your docks are not in your homesystem. It's better to save a Sabotage action card for this case.
6. Leaders for War . You have the best set of leaders for attacking your foes in the Space and on the ground.

MINUS

1. Poor Home System. 3 res, 1 inf. Solution: You should compensate this by TGs from acquiring planets.
2. Vulnerable Docks. Even small destroyer could ruin your SD, if it left w/out space defence. Solution: never(!) left your SDs w/out defence. Note: Mines will not save you, even if attacker explode, your SD will be ruined too.
3. Hard to defend your planets. You have no SD on the planet. So, if you lose Space Battle, you are not able to build GFs on the planet. Also, you have no other ways to defend such as diplomat leader. Solution: you shouldn't concentrate on you planetary defence, instead build a lot of space units. Don't lose Space Battles!
4. You are not Fighter. You have no fighting bonuses. So, battles with any fighter race - N'orrs, Mentaks, Naalu, L1z1x, Letnev, Yin - could be very hard to you. Solution: You are nomad. Attack with all your swarms. Retreat if you have equal or even worse fleet. Build a huge fleet!
5. You are not Trickster. You have no skipping tricks like Yssaril or CC spending races - Sol, Muat. Solution: Pay attention to those races and calculate their possibles moves in the end of round.
6. You are not Strategist. You do not specialize in Strategy Cards like Jol-Nar(Tech), Xxcha(Dip), Hacan(Trade), Winnu(Tech). Solution: this is not real Minus, this is a Plus! You are just not dependent on SC choice of other players, and you will not say: "Please, take this card! Please, play this card!"
7. Poor Image. All your neighbours think that you are scum. Solution: You are not a scum, you are Nomad! You have Harley Davidson and mobile repair shop!

GENERAL STRATEGY

BUILD! MOVE! GRAB! BUILD! MOVE! GRAB! BUILD! MOVE! GRAB! BUILD! MOVE! GRAB! BUILD! MOVE! GRAB! BUILD! MOVE! GRAB!

Look for week opponents and conquer them. Don't conflict with strong ones. Give them a system in exchange of peace - you'll get two or three on the other border.

RESEARCH

I think, that Saar are very simular to Letnev. Both of them have great resourses and shouldn't research a lot, fighting just with swarms (but of course, Letnev should get XRD)

On the other hand, it's very tempting to use all the power of 3SD Production and you could try to get Enviro , Sarween and your racial . In this case, you should get them as early, as you can.

You could also think about Cybernetics for Fighter Swarms and Hylar for light ships. If you are in long play and grab enough you could research toward War Sun or Tipe IV Drive (for fast Dreadnoughts).

NOTE ! When you purchase Tech for 6 res just think about Carrier with 6Fs(or GFs) and saved CC. And think about planet or two that you could grab with it.

OPENING

With XRD you could grab system near Mecatol or near another Home World. Check you secret objective. Plan you future expansion, attacks and SDs drifts.

Strategy Cards - your choice:

1. Leadership . Good for counters, since you have no influence at the start.
2. Diplomacy II . You could peacefuly annex additional planet 3 system away of your HS in the first round! (not Mecatol Rex)
3. Assembly. Without influence you should better control Political Agenda. Also, 2 Action Cards will make you more tricky.
4. Production. For fastest expansion you could build 3rd Carrier and more GFs. Note: every planet acquired gives 1TG!
5. Trade. 3TGs are valueble to you. Also, you could change you 1,2 contracts for something valueable. Even more, if you wise enough, you could plan the future conflicts.
6. Warfare II. With this SC you could grab Mecatol or neighbour's Homesystem. If you are lucky and your opponents are stupid enough.
7. Technology II. Get Enviro!
8. Bureaucracy. You could plan your advancement better, if you know Public Objectives.

It's hard to choose. You choice should depends on your neighbours, you Secret Obj, your sector of map e.t.c.

I think that Diplomacy II , Warfare II or Bureaucracy is not a good choice. All other SCs are good.

Technology II and Production more versatile, universal and easy choice, while Assembly and Trade require careful planning. Leadership is a good choice for grabing planets before Assembly , and then refresh them. Also, in 4-, 8-players game counters are more valueble, since there are more Secondaries.

Strategy Cards - others choice, your secondary:

1. Leadership. It's a pity, but you have no influence. You could change you 2Political Cards(as TG) and 2TG from the conquering planets for the CCs.
2. Diplomacy II. Annex a planet for CC and 3 res while you could just grab it is a bad idea!
3. Assembly. Refreshing you HS-planets is a bad idea, but if you already have grabed some good planets (think of Abyz/Fria!) you should spend CC.
4. Production. Build Carrier (for planet res) and 2GF (for TG from planets or for Political Card).
5. Trade. Do your best to get contracts and agreements.
6. Warfare II. nothing to do.
7. Technology II. You have no resourses for it. And even if you have, think about Carrier, 6GFs(Fs) and CC!
8. Bureaucracy. Change of CC for Action Card and Political could have a reason, if you get CCs with Leadership or you plan to play Assembly .

So, save CCs in Strategy Allocation for Assembly and Production , maybe for Bureaucracy .

TO BE CONTINUED...

Production

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Gambits

(I would like to know your ideas and your experience with Saar)

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Reserved for future text

Fighter swarm. the Saar can have a huge fighter fleet. Four full carriers=24 fighters three full space docks=15 fighters so a 39 fighter fleet(you could get warsuns for another 12 but you shouldn't bother).

The biggest problem with the Saar is that they are very vulnerable to freindly fire and signal jamming. Signal jam on your space dock system is awful and freindly fire is a pain against your huge amount of fighters. This is why their agent is precious and drawing sabotage is a really big deal.

I just wanted to point out that you cannot use the Diplomacy II strategy card to annex Mecatol Rex. It is in the Shattered Empires rule book.

Nevron said:

ups! exactly!

The Saar are a formidable race, if only for their powerful nomadic ability. Aside from preventing other players from achieving Objective cards, there is no reason to hang on to your Home System. This allows for a very fluid and adaptable method of expansion and conquer. Strongholds and beachheads for the Saar can be established virtually anywhere.

Their speed in expansion is somewhat awe-inspiring. Given the right circumstances, the Saar could conceivably expand to FOUR separate systems in the first round.

Finally, their ability to float Space Docks from one system to another is truly frightening. In a single fleet, the Saar could control no less than 39 fighters...a devestating force, to be sure. Taking into account the available upgrades for fighters, as well as the "Sabotage Run" addendum, a fleet of such proportions would be nigh unstoppable.

I have played the Saar for three consecutive games, and I intend to play them again...and again...and again. With such stochastic change at my fingertips every time, why not?

flyte412 said:

Did you win? )

first off, Saar should be constantly on the move. little to no reason why to stick aroudn anywhere in particular. blue tchologies are by FAR the most valueable thing the Saar could get + Cybernetics/ Neural Motivators. No reason to buy anything red and they only need Sarween Tools in the yellows.

If the Haccan are in play, it's to your advantage since Action Cards are your only true weakness. You need as many Sabotage, Skilled Retreat (It DOES actualy allow your spacedocks to withdraw from combat.), Flank Speed and Friendly Fire (If you have it, that means they don't) cards as you can get. naturaly, you'll always have what they want - more TGs.

Strategy Card wise your best call would be Production+warfare II in a 4- player game, and Production/Assemby in a 5+ player game. The Production+Warfare combo is doubly lethal with the Saar, as their weakness is circumvented - building units and moving the spacedocks in the save round, along with a swarm of units for vast distances.

Assembly should always be your second priority when avaliable since you NEED thoe action cards. Not to mention you will usualy rely quite often on your strategy selection, so getting the speaker assuers you'll get what you need NEXT turn (Production or Warfare).

Whenever your fleets are fully supplied and complemented - skip Production and take Technology, as certein techs (you recial tech and... *frightened shudder*... Nano tech) can make you an even deadlier opponent.

If you have a Secret Ob involving Mec-Rec, Make sure you get your hands on the Warfare II strategy as often as possible. Better Mobilitiy and attack power for your mobile fighter swarm is crucial and would assure your hold on Mec for several turns. Remember, SD have a capacty of 3 - meaning they can also carry PDS and GROUND FORCES for you - not just fighters. Consider using them as a mobile invasion platform. Again, Warfare II being crucial here.

If your SO involves conquest of other players (or any other form of payer agression) make sure you get Light-Wave Deflectors. And, again, Warfrare II. If possible, try to drop Advanced Fighters for the sake of Graviton Negators to have your Fighters join in on invasion combat.

If your Secret Ob involves holding certein key locations (wormholes, research bonuses, systems etc...) then make sure you get the Advanced Fighters and drop Light-Wave deflectors.

Urliam, space docks can only carry fighters.

blarknob is correct. Nothing in the race ability indicates that they can carry anything but fighters. They have a PRODUCTION capacity of 4, but that's just the limit of how much they can build. Their race sheet says nothing about capacity - thus, they just have the standard FIGHTER capacity of 3.

On page 6 of the SE rules, where it talks about Saar, it even says this: "If you do not have a planet or Carrier in the system to place Ground Force or PDS units on, you may not build them", thus emphasizing that Space Docks themselves cannot carry GFs or PDS.

The Race Tech for the Saar specifically increases the FIGHTER capacity to 5, also.

that's interesting.. I was pretty sure the production section of the rac sheet states Space Docks have Capacity: 3. Possibly forgot the fighters-only addendum.

The race sheet's production section regarding Space Docks does specifically say "Fighter Capacity" also (This is true for all race sheets, including the Saar)r

Urliam:

I want to state that the Assembly approach is not a good one. Yes, it may work occasionally, but you are relying too much on luck of the draw and not enough on planning and skill. I, personally, don't want to possibly ruin my chances of winning the game by luck of the draw. A much better combo would be Production/Tech. The Saar need every resource they can get and saving 6 resources on tech means another carrier full of fighters. You also want to be able to use the Assembly secondary to refresh your planets and build again. (especially if you have Production) This will help you get a lot of fighters out fast even with limited production capacity early in the game.

I also think there is a space for one red tech in the Saar plan. This is not a necessary tech, but I have seen Hylar V decide the fate of far too many battles to overlook it so fast. Your fighters may be hitting on 8s with Cybernetics, but you really do need some ships with more a punch. Say something like 1 Dread with the ADM and 2 Cruisers with Hylar V for 2 dice at 5 and 2 dice at 6 with a sustain damage.

You also fail to mention that the Saar need to purchase another yellow tech (Enviro Compensator) to even reach Sarween Tools.

All in all, Saar should end up with the following techs by endgame (Racial, Enviro, Sarween, Cybernetics) and possibly have these techs (Hylar V, Gen Synthesis) but only if you get a bunch of free techs. After the first four I usually spend all my money on ships and acquire Hylar V if tech falls to me.

flyte412 said:

I'm trying to figure out where in the rules it says this - I've read the rulebook 2 times looking for this, but haven't found it. As it's mentioned on the Saar card I assume it's a rule, but I can't find it. Anyone able to point me to it? Thanks!

On Page 14 of the main rulebook, righthand column, there's a paragraph in bold red letters:

Important Exception: A player may never qualify for a Public or Secret Objective Card if he does not control all the planets in his Home System.

(Apparently this crappy forum doesn't allow you to change the text color, so I couldn't put it in red!)

Mentak_first said:

Isn't this a general strategy for all racesnot just the Saar?

sigmazero13 said:

Thank you! I was going mad looking for this - Funny how it's not important enough to warrant mention in the page long explination of what a objective is and how to score points with them later in the book.

Important Exception to Important Exception: The Saar are in fact able to claim objectives even without control of their home system, says it right on their race card. They get to say "nyah nyah, you can't stop me from winning!"