Cruisers?

Hey, folks!

As I'm sorting through lists and trying to figure out how to construct my PHR cruisers, I have to ask:

Which ones do you guys prefer, and why? Battleships and frigates are relatively easy, but with cruisers, we've got piles of options of varying utility and use characteristics, sooo.

What do you swear by? What do you find yourself always taking? What role does it play in your usual fleet?

Disclaimer: I'm not a primary PHR player.

If you are open to magnetizing, you can setup a cruiser body to work with any light/normal/heavy configuration. I've kept each chin as a single swap-able part, and the weapons as 1 part per side. If you wanted less work, you can glue the chins, and swap weapons around and get some flexibility. The Hector + Bellerophon share the same chin, and the Ikarus + Perseus + Orion share the same chin.

Beyond that:
- the Bellerophon and Ikarus are both great ships if you like bombers/fighters.
- both of the assault troopships (Orpheus and Ganymede) are great at what they do.
- I really like the Theseus. I has pretty high damage potential and durability for it's points, and it's fast for PHR. It's also the only light cruiser in the game that can be taken as a single. I think it's a better pick that the Perseus.
- the medium turret guns on the front of some of the cruisers is trash. Just ignore it when picking ships.
- it's really hard to get maximum value from the cruisers with a F(n) and broadsides. It can be done, but takes careful planning.

A pair of Orions makes for a good base, as does a couple of Orpheus. The Theseus is a pretty good ship when used in pairs too. Not overly sold on the Ikarus but Bellerephons are pretty nasty too.

I've tried and am happy with everything but Perseus and Theseus (I magnetized).

I mean to start trying Perseus.

Personally I think the PHR are a frigate navy, all the goodness seems to be found in the "light" section, with some gems in the "Heavy" options (namely the Battleships and Bellerophon), and that's where the points are best spent (given the choice of not using Cruisers at all I would go for a fleet consisting of only Echoes, Pandora's, Calypso's, Andromeda's and Medea's personally).

Alas, we need Cruiser's however, so Bellerophon (Big laser and FA) is a standout, and the Orpheus is also good (front firing laser, and troop drops). I don't see the point in many of the others, most of the "fighting cruisers" are too easy to kill, don't output enough reliable damage and on a points basis are nowhere near as efficient or good as there lighter equivalents.

Why would you ever chose an Ikarus for example at 115 points, when two Andromeda's run in at 84Pts for the same launch or just 11pts more for launch 3 (with cumulatively have more hit points and are harder to kill). Ok the Ikarus has more offensive capability, but not enough output to do any real damage - but if your buying it for offense, the extra 65 pts for a Launch 4 Bellerophon is a much better option. The only reason I can see for choosing it would be if you had only 115 points left and had to fill a cruiser slot.

Orpheus and Ganymede are super-awesome.

Belerophon is quite good too.

Every other cruissr chassis... Meh. You'll be wondsrring why didn't you take one of these 3 or more frigates. Because PHR frigates absolutely ROCK! All of them.

Battlecruisers are okay due to speed and tougness but not superamazing.

Heracles can do good work. Minos is quite a big disappointment.

I love the orpheus.

Also the theseus has very good firepower for cost, though it is rather soft, and tends to die early.

I like the bellerophon, and the scipio is also fantastic.

Overwall, the cruiser tier is the weakest for PHR, I think, as it tends to be a little diluted. It isn't horrible, certainly, but I tend to run at least half of my cruiser hulls as troopships (3 of 6), and the rest are carriers or theseus.

• Bellerophon
• Orpheus
• Ganymede
• Scipio
• Ikarus

Those are my favorites, but I tend to run Troopship-heavy and Launch-heavy, and haven't branched out into the shootier kinds of cruisers yet...

So, sounds like everyone can agree on the Bell and the troopships! And there's a bit of mixed opinion of the Theseus, the Ikarus, the Orion. The major trap is the whole broadside vs. front or front(n) guns issue, which is sidestepped in the cases of the Bell and Orpheus, and general poor performance of PHR weapons against targets not of the appropriate class.

Good to know! I'll hopefully have more to report once I've had a chance to get more games under my belt.

My personal favourite is the orion, it is brutality effective from 3 turn specially. My second choice is the teseus. In a battlegroup with a pair of Europas are a great flanking group.

The troopships are great options too.

I am not a real fan of the belle. It is a good cruiser but I prefer other options.