Okay.....

So. We've only had the one game so far and thought it was a blast. The game only went about half-way through the turn counter due to the World Eaters stealing their objectives very quickly.

I thought it might be worth pooling some strategy thoughts with other players before we start on 'free deployment' games rather than the starter set-up. This is going to be very race-specific, though, because whilst the differences between factions aren't huge, they will make a big difference in game.

Feel free to throw in any thoughts.

1. Evil Sunz: Your biggest weakness at deployment is that you don't have any warships. That means that until you get some built and in position (which either means Deploy and Advance from your home system, or Deploy and Deploy to built a manufactorum and then the ships at the target system) you can't send your units across voids.
2. Ultramarines: Your faction Dominate ability is one of the best early on in the game. Using the dominate order repeatedly in the early game gets you Space Marines before anyone else gets access to their heavy units, and also yields a hefty harvest of tokens (not least because of the Ultramarine's home system's double reinforcement token world). Combining access to tier 1 units early with a good screen of disposable reinforcements means you can hit hard, early, without investing in cities or combat card upgrades.

The ORK ROKS order upgrade card solves a lot of the deployment weakness. You do not need warships to move through one uncontrolled void.

Also the Ork's Dominate ability is similar to the Space Marine Dominate ability allowing you to rapidly build units without needing a factory.

The ORK ROKS order upgrade card solves a lot of the deployment weakness. You do not need warships to move through one uncontrolled void.

Also the Ork's Dominate ability is similar to the Space Marine Dominate ability allowing you to rapidly build units without needing a factory.

Keep in mind Ork Roks only work on one advance order a turn. Orks can get upto three with some luck so ships a important for the long game.

Ork Roks is fantastic for a stop gap early play. Or a way to fight against naval supremacy.

Orks can get upto three with some luck

With even more luck they can get up to four (2 Advance Orders + The Green Tide + Mob Up!).

Is Ork Roks a Tier 0 upgrade?

Yes, it is (0 Command Level / 2 Materiel).

The ORK ROKS order upgrade card solves a lot of the deployment weakness. You do not need warships to move through one uncontrolled void.

Also the Ork's Dominate ability is similar to the Space Marine Dominate ability allowing you to rapidly build units without needing a factory.

Keep in mind Ork Roks only work on one advance order a turn. Orks can get upto three with some luck so ships a important for the long game.

Ork Roks is fantastic for a stop gap early play. Or a way to fight against naval supremacy.

Yes, ORK ROKS only works for one advance order but combined with ORC SPORES during a dominate action provide the Orcs with an early deployment advantage not a weakness. In the early game other factions are limited to only crossing voids where they have ships. The Orcs can cross any void so it makes their movement more unpredictable. And a single ship allows them to cross two voids and then build units with Dominate without the need for Deploy or Advance orders.

I agree that eventually you are going to want ships but my response was more to the point made by OP. Depending on the Map build the Orcs can have a early deployment advantage not a weakness.