So what's with the Sabre? It's quite possibly the *worst* option a group could take, is built with a horrifically awful hull class that appears nowhere else in the book, and has values that don't add up. Was this designed before the Ship Rules were completed, or what?

I was adding the Firestorm Hull to my list, and backing out the values, and was shocked at just how completely horrible it turns out to be.

The Firestorm class is "The Ship" its the only frigate which can mount a lance and a battery who can fire 270° around. Its armor maneuver speed and scan value are ony average, but the package is the best availible for frigates.

The Saber is only medicore built, but its a sample ship so what do you expect. The weapons are topnotch, and its setup to be a "Jack of all Trades" ship. Also the profile doesnt include the boni from the special equipment.

I'm just not that impressed with the Lance to consider switching from a Sword.

A lance and a battery in the same arc rock. If you hit with both the battery takes out the void shield, and you take out a system of your choice with the lance....

The Firestorm is somewhere inbetween the Sword and the Tempest, the only big advantage is it Lance capability

Fire Storm Class Frigate

Speed: 8
Detection: +13
Armour: 18
Space: 40
Weapon Capacity: Dorsal 1, Prow 1
Manoeuvrability: +20
Hull Integrity: 36
Turret Rating: 1
SP: 39

Ancient Wise says it gains a +10 to Manouvre Actions it perform, but not to Manouvre as in the Stat like other modifiers say, so I kept it at +20
So pretty much the same as the other 2 Frigates, the only thing is that the designers failed in their math...the frigate use 47 out of 45 Power and 39 out of 40 space instead of 38/40.

This vessel is perfect for making slow suicide chicken runs straigth a the enemy after that the enemy will out of range of the Lance and is it unlikely to penetrate enemy armour.

Check this thread out:

www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp

It breaks down the stats of the Firestorm class frigate hull. It only has a 7 Speed, for example, because the Sabre has archaeotech warp drives give it +1 equalling 8 total. Still, do not underestimate the power that a Lance weapon provides.

You are correct, speed should be 7, didn't read that...

Santiago said:

I would like to know how the enemy is going to out range the lance and still stay within range and arc of it's own weapons. Remember that big guns don't shoot behind you in 40k. This hypothetical enemy is going to be hard pressed to make an attack run in which it is not exposed to at least two turns of shooting from the lance, no matter how fast it is.

In my opinon the only other comparable weapon setup would be 2 sunseer batteries, everything else is not really competive.

Even light cruisers need to spend a lot more ressources to get to that lvl ( prow lance, left macrobattery , right macrobattery) and also need to be lucky in their rolls to be able to outdamage the firestorm in their bradsides and still have less firepower to the front.

I also dont see how you can outmaneuver the sabre without getting returnfire from the lance, and even if so the sun needs just 4 degrees of succes to crit.

I prefer the Sword with a pair of dorsal Sunsear batteries. It seems quite effective.