Tactics: Post Human Republic

Popular styles: Launch Asset swarms, Massed batteries

General Characteristics: The PHR are a counterpoint to the Scourge in that they have better armour and hull than most fleets and are in turn slower as well. Their weapon arcs are also very restrictive with below average lock values.

With large numbers of linked batteries with fullisade and different calibres though they can inflict a lot of damage to an opponent. Unlike other factions who rely on weapons free orders to bring the full might of their weapons to bear, the PHR’s firing arcs mean that they use those orders to get additional shots with the fullisade rules.

As you may have noticed, PHR vessels need to carefully plan where they are in relation to the enemy fleet in order to maximise their firepower. The first of these is an old naval tactic referred to as “Crossing the T” where you turn your broadsides to face the enemy vessel and shoot at them while they close. The other is to rely on your superior armour and hull and plow right through a group and fire both batteries at enemies to each side.

PHR bombers are another favourite amongst players, due to their good lock value they easily score critical hits. Many players consider the Bellerophon or Scipio a vital part of their fleet. The average point defense in the fleet however means that sometimes these ships are forced to rather launch fighters to protect the ships in the fleet.

Romulus - Dreadnought
Role: The Romulus is a powerhouse, with a lot of high powered shots and the ability to bring down even other dreadnoughts in two turns. The issue here is that your weapons are split between three different arcs, making it impossible to focus your fire into valuable targets. Due to the sheer power, it is still a viable option to charge it down the middle of the field, go weapons free and fire upon whatever happens to be within its reach. Generally though, it’s high cost means it is hardly ever worth fielding.

Matchups


 * UCM: the ship against UCM
 * Scourge: the ship against Scourge
 * PHR: the ship against PHR
 * Shaltari: the ship against Shaltari
 * Resistance: the ship against Resistance

Synergies: ships that work well with this ship, typical battlegroups

Remus - Dreadnought
Role: Dedicating a dreadnought to bombardment is very hard to justify. The strategic benefit of destroying sectors or weakening enemy ground troops just isn't valuable enough to be worth the cost, especially not when the PHR has access to some very good carrier/bombardment ships.

Matchups


 * UCM: the ship against UCM
 * Scourge: the ship against Scourge
 * PHR: the ship against PHR
 * Shaltari: the ship against Shaltari
 * Resistance: the ship against Resistance

Synergies: ships that work well with this ship, typical battlegroups

Heracles - Battleship
Role: In short, the Heracles struggles to be worth fielding, simply because its weapons want to focus a single target but are unable to do so since they’re literally mounted in three different arcs. The Crippling attribute is powerful and can be quite effective, but simply isn’t worth the resources spent.

Matchups


 * UCM: the ship against UCM
 * Scourge: the ship against Scourge
 * PHR: the ship against PHR
 * Shaltari: the ship against Shaltari
 * Resistance: the ship against Resistance

Synergies: ships that work well with this ship, typical battlegroups

Minos - Battleship
Role: The close action Neutron Missiles of the Minos is a very potent weapon, mainly due to being Crippling. The issue is that the Minos’ torpedoes, missiles and a single broadside (due to arcs) simply isn’t enough firepower to be worth the price tag and can’t compete against its counterparts within other fleets.

Matchups


 * UCM: the ship against UCM
 * Scourge: the ship against Scourge
 * PHR: the ship against PHR
 * Shaltari: the ship against Shaltari
 * Resistance: the ship against Resistance

Synergies: ships that work well with this ship, typical battlegroups

Pungari Thresher - Hive Ship
Role: Description of what the ship does

Matchups


 * UCM: the ship against UCM
 * Scourge: the ship against Scourge
 * PHR: the ship against PHR
 * Shaltari: the ship against Shaltari
 * Resistance: the ship against Resistance

Synergies: ships that work well with this ship, typical battlegroups

Bellerophon - Heavy Cruiser
Role: The Bellerophon is an excellent ship, and compliments any PHR fleet very well. Its fire power is split between bombers, a close action weapon and a single twin laser, which means the Bellerophon can stay on standard orders without any loss of its power. In addition, you’ve only got a single weapon arc to consider, giving you excellent chances to fire every single one of its weapons, every turn, against a preferred target. This also includes the ability to focus the entire barrage against a single target, something the PHR fleet often struggles to do.

Matchups


 * UCM: the ship against UCM
 * Scourge: the ship against Scourge
 * PHR: the ship against PHR
 * Shaltari: the ship against Shaltari
 * Resistance: the ship against Resistance

Synergies: ships that work well with this ship, typical battlegroups

Achilles - Heavy Cruiser
Role: The Achilles design is a bit of a contradiction. Its weapons are powerful - 12 Calibre (H&S) lock 3+ shots - and they are well designed to pile onto the enemy’s heavy ships, but due to the broadside configuration you can never focus fire with the Achilles. The result is a ship that wants to hunt and focus its weapons onto a heavy foe before it can fight back, that's forced to split its fire due to weapon configuration.

Matchups


 * UCM: the ship against UCM
 * Scourge: the ship against Scourge
 * PHR: the ship against PHR
 * Shaltari: the ship against Shaltari
 * Resistance: the ship against Resistance

Synergies: ships that work well with this ship, typical battlegroups

Hector - Heavy Cruiser
Role: The Hector has its assets split between all arcs of fire, making it very tricky to use the ship efficiently. The fire power is there on paper, but in reality you will be forced to split that fire against multiple targets in widely different parts of the field, if you can even find targets within each arc at all. This becomes even more of an issue if you want to make use of Fusillade, lowering your chances to position properly even further. In short, the Hector can perform well, but you’re almost always better off taking other, more specialized, ships instead.

Matchups


 * UCM: the ship against UCM
 * Scourge: the ship against Scourge
 * PHR: the ship against PHR
 * Shaltari: the ship against Shaltari
 * Resistance: the ship against Resistance

Synergies: ships that work well with this ship, typical battlegroups

Priam/Scipio - Battlecruiser
Role: The Priam and Scipio are the same ship configuration, the difference between them is purely cosmetic.

In many ways the Priam/Scipio is very comparable to the Bellerophon, and it’s all about the power of the PHR Bombers. The main difference between them is that the Priam/Scipio comes equipped with arrays of broadside Calibre(L), which can be difficult to use effectively on a carrier. The Priam/Scipio does its best work as a companion to Bellerophon, where rather than attempting to use its broadsides, they serve as a deterrent and protection for the battlegroup.

Matchups


 * UCM: the ship against UCM
 * Scourge: the ship against Scourge
 * PHR: the ship against PHR
 * Shaltari: the ship against Shaltari
 * Resistance: the ship against Resistance

Synergies: The Priam/Scipio wants to be paired with other carriers, such as the Bellerophon, to serve as additional protection while also benefiting from the protection dedicated to your carrier group, such as the Pollux or Calypso.

Agamemnon/Leonidas - Battlecruiser
Role: The Agamemnon and Leonidas are the same ship configuration, the difference between them is purely cosmetic.

The Agamemnon/Leonidas delivers a lot of shots - up to 58 in fact - spread between 6 weapon arrays on its side arcs, the majority of which are Calibre(L). This means the ship often serves as a threat too impactful to ignore, and hence becomes a great distraction while the rest of your fleet carry out their objectives. Generally speaking, the goal here is to get the Agamemnon/Leonidas into position to cleave directly through the enemy fleet on weapons free, taking full advantage of a late+early activation, before going up in a blaze of glory - possibly taking a few more ships with it in the ensuing explosion. It is important to understand that due to its guns and their spread placement, the Agamemnon/Leonidas cannot brawl it out against ships of its own size.

Matchups


 * UCM: the ship against UCM
 * Scourge: the ship against Scourge
 * PHR: the ship against PHR
 * Shaltari: the ship against Shaltari
 * Resistance: the ship against Resistance

Synergies: ships that work well with this ship, typical battlegroups

Pompeius - Battlecruiser
Role: Description of what the ship does

Matchups


 * UCM: the ship against UCM
 * Scourge: the ship against Scourge
 * PHR: the ship against PHR
 * Shaltari: the ship against Shaltari
 * Resistance: the ship against Resistance

Synergies: ships that work well with this ship, typical battlegroups

Agrippa - Interference Cruiser
Role: Description of what the ship does

Matchups


 * UCM: the ship against UCM
 * Scourge: the ship against Scourge
 * PHR: the ship against PHR
 * Shaltari: the ship against Shaltari
 * Resistance: the ship against Resistance

Synergies: ships that work well with this ship, typical battlegroups

Resistance Centurion - Grand Cruiser
Role: Description of what the ship does

Matchups


 * UCM: the ship against UCM
 * Scourge: the ship against Scourge
 * PHR: the ship against PHR
 * Shaltari: the ship against Shaltari
 * Resistance: the ship against Resistance

Synergies: ships that work well with this ship, typical battlegroups

Theseus - Light Cruiser
Role: The Theseus is a very well designed ship at a very good price; the choice of guns, their placement and separately linked broadsides gives you options: one safe, another more daring. The first of these is to have the ship move up the side of the board, facing one of its sides towards its targets and then pivot at an angle to lay down a barrage of shots each turn, moving in toward the late game and going weapons free where it's most needed. Your other option is to fly straight down the field, dive in amidst the enemy fleet, and go weapons free, firing 30 shots plus drones at up to 5 different targets. Combining this tactic with other ships executing a similar do-or-die maneuver, such as some of the PHR battlecruisers, you can deliver a decisive blow to the enemy fleet in the early turns.

Matchups


 * UCM: the ship against UCM
 * Scourge: the ship against Scourge
 * PHR: the ship against PHR
 * Shaltari: the ship against Shaltari
 * Resistance: the ship against Resistance

Synergies: ships that work well with this ship, typical battlegroups

Ikarus - Vanguard Carrier
Role: On paper the Ikarus appears strong, but its value is split between launch assets and guns and therefore often finds itself in danger while it attempts to utilize its guns, or ends up simply wasting them. Although it’s a tempting idea to fly it up the board and unleash broadsides and PHR bombers, it’s generally a better idea to take other smaller ships, and separate your launch and broadside arsenals.

Matchups


 * UCM: the ship against UCM
 * Scourge: the ship against Scourge
 * PHR: the ship against PHR
 * Shaltari: the ship against Shaltari
 * Resistance: the ship against Resistance

Synergies: ships that work well with this ship, typical battlegroups

Perseus - Cruiser
Role: This ship combines Calibre (L) and Calibre (H&S) gun batteries, making it able to tackle a variety of other vessels. The main issue is that the split of focus between the guns means its damage is often lacking, especially against larger ships. Though flexible, the Perseus often struggles to really perform, often wasting one type of shots against the wrong targets.

Matchups


 * UCM: the ship against UCM
 * Scourge: the ship against Scourge
 * PHR: the ship against PHR
 * Shaltari: the ship against Shaltari
 * Resistance: the ship against Resistance

Synergies: ships that work well with this ship, typical battlegroups

Ajax - Cruiser
Role: The Ajax is a fearsome ship, able to output 36 (!) Calibre (L) shots on a weapons free order. If you manage to position this ship properly, often straight up the board between two clusters, it is not uncommon to destroy 4-5 enemy frigates in a single activation. However, due to all the gun batteries being linked together, it does well on standard orders in most cases. The weight of fire presented here even makes sending hails of fire into the atmosphere a viable option. The front-facing laser is a bit of a dud - despite having Flash, it's generally not worth attempting to fire it if you can instead position those broadsides better.

Matchups


 * UCM: the ship against UCM
 * Scourge: the ship against Scourge
 * PHR: the ship against PHR
 * Shaltari: the ship against Shaltari
 * Resistance: the ship against Resistance

Synergies: ships that work well with this ship, typical battlegroups

Orion - Cruiser
Role: This ship outputs a lot of shots, and a lot of damage, if you manage to get it to where it needs to be. The Orion wants to be hunting medium-sized ships, which generally will outmaneuver it, making it a tricky thing to utilize your broadsides effectively. As a whole, it’s a very solid ship, but hard to use and hence there are often better options within the Grand Fleet.

Matchups


 * UCM: the ship against UCM
 * Scourge: the ship against Scourge
 * PHR: the ship against PHR
 * Shaltari: the ship against Shaltari
 * Resistance: the ship against Resistance

Synergies: ships that work well with this ship, typical battlegroups

Ganymede - Assault Troopship
Role: The Ganymede is a very strong troopship that really excels at dominating clusters. With 2 Bulk Landers and Bombardment batteries it’ll weaken the enemy’s ground presence while strengthening your own. Generally speaking this ship does very well targeting any mid-field cluster where you expect your opponent to attempt to fight for control of the sectors.

Matchups


 * UCM: the ship against UCM
 * Scourge: the ship against Scourge
 * PHR: the ship against PHR
 * Shaltari: the ship against Shaltari
 * Resistance: the ship against Resistance

Synergies: ships that work well with this ship, typical battlegroups

Orpheus - Assault Troopship
Role: The Orpheus is an excellent choice to fill the role of a mid-field cluster dropship. Its Calibre (L) guns and weight of fire will take care of enemy troopships and strike carriers, even when hiding in atmosphere, and its Flash laser poses enough of a threat to anything in its arc, all the while its two bulk landers win you the objective game. The Orpheus does its job, and it does it well.

Matchups


 * UCM: the ship against UCM
 * Scourge: the ship against Scourge
 * PHR: the ship against PHR
 * Shaltari: the ship against Shaltari
 * Resistance: the ship against Resistance

Synergies: ships that work well with this ship, typical battlegroups

Castor - Monitor
Role: The Castor is decidedly average, offering a large amount of shots when going weapons free on a front arc. It's held back by being slow - while its 10” scan alleviates that somewhat, its ability to actually reach targets can be an issue against clever opponents. However, since the Castor relies on number of shots rather than Calibre or raw power, it excels at hunting down whichever enemy ships the rest of your fleet might struggle with, which often means medium sized ships.

Matchups


 * UCM: the ship against UCM
 * Scourge: the ship against Scourge
 * PHR: the ship against PHR
 * Shaltari: the ship against Shaltari
 * Resistance: the ship against Resistance

Synergies: ships that work well with this ship, typical battlegroups

Pollux - Escort Frigate
Role: The average point defense of PHR ships is middling at best, and with the best bombers in the game you'd really prefer to not be launching fighters to protect against incoming enemy threats. The solution to this dilemma is the Pollux - when combined with your carriers, its Aegis (7) can keep them safe from enemy bombers while you launch your own, deadlier, squadrons.

Matchups


 * UCM: the ship against UCM
 * Scourge: the ship against Scourge
 * PHR: the ship against PHR
 * Shaltari: the ship against Shaltari
 * Resistance: the ship against Resistance

Synergies: The Pollux is a great companion to your carriers, such as the Bellerophon and Andromeda, allowing you to maximize the use of your bombers rather than launching fighters for protection.

Electra - Destroyer
Role: The Electra combines the overall solid PHR ship statistics with some decent front arc calibre H&S guns, something that is somewhat rare within the faction. The only issue here is that apart from those front guns, the Electra offers very little - even though it's not bad, it's often overshadowed by other options. Alongside a smattering of other front-facing weapon options, the Electra offers the potential to soften, or eliminate, key targets as you maneuver your broadsides into position.

Matchups


 * UCM: the ship against UCM
 * Scourge: the ship against Scourge
 * PHR: the ship against PHR
 * Shaltari: the ship against Shaltari
 * Resistance: the ship against Resistance

Synergies: ships that work well with this ship, typical battlegroups

Ariadne - Destroyer
Role: The Ariadne is a very solid choice that fills a similar role to the Medea in that it prefers to find a closer, safer cluster to drop its assets. However, the Ariadne has one crucial advantage: front arc Calibre (H&S) guns. The Ariadne delivers consistent damage against its preferred targets, making it excellent at finishing off enemy ships that happened to survive an earlier onslaught, all while sitting back and utilizing its bulk lander.

Matchups


 * UCM: the ship against UCM
 * Scourge: the ship against Scourge
 * PHR: the ship against PHR
 * Shaltari: the ship against Shaltari
 * Resistance: the ship against Resistance

Synergies: ships that work well with this ship, typical battlegroups

Jason - Blockade Runner
Role: The Jason is an aggressive and specialized ship, delivering front arc Calibre (H&S) firepower and sporting reasonable thrust and a small signature. This means that the Jason excels at hunting enemy carriers. Generally, its main drawback is that it in turn will be a high priority target for your enemy, so be sure to maneuver multiple other threats up the field at the same time or the Jason will be focused down before your main fleet can become engaged.

Matchups


 * UCM: the ship against UCM
 * Scourge: the ship against Scourge
 * PHR: the ship against PHR
 * Shaltari: the ship against Shaltari
 * Resistance: the ship against Resistance

Synergies: ships that work well with this ship, typical battlegroups

Odysseus - Blockade Runner
Role: The Odysseus is a weak choice when compared to other options available. The main reason for this is that attempting to utilize its bulk lander means putting it into harm’s way, where its average-to-poor defenses often result in it becoming nothing more than expensive scrap. The Odysseus can’t hide at range or in atmosphere and be effective either.

Matchups


 * UCM: the ship against UCM
 * Scourge: the ship against Scourge
 * PHR: the ship against PHR
 * Shaltari: the ship against Shaltari
 * Resistance: the ship against Resistance

Synergies: ships that work well with this ship, typical battlegroups

Harpocrates - Guerrilla Lighter
Role: Description of what the ship does

Matchups


 * UCM: the ship against UCM
 * Scourge: the ship against Scourge
 * PHR: the ship against PHR
 * Shaltari: the ship against Shaltari
 * Resistance: the ship against Resistance

Synergies: ships that work well with this ship, typical battlegroups

Echo - Corvette
Role: The Echo is one of the strongest corvettes in the game, but its price tag keeps it from being a solidly great choice. The Echo’s power comes from the combination of its two average weapons deployed against the same target, meaning the Echo always wants to be within 8” of its prey. Generally you can send them to hunt lighter ships in atmosphere and threaten enemy light carriers. It’s worth mentioning that this ship can stay in Silent Running and still fire both its weapons, due to Stealth and Close Action.

Matchups


 * UCM: the ship against UCM
 * Scourge: the ship against Scourge
 * PHR: the ship against PHR
 * Shaltari: the ship against Shaltari
 * Resistance: the ship against Resistance

Synergies: ships that work well with this ship, typical battlegroups

Medea - Strike Carrier
Role: The Medea is an excellent ship - with its heavy armour, 5 hull, and ability to hide effectively in atmosphere, it can be very hard to get rid of and will often draw fire away from your damage dealers when they start dropping onto objectives. Its bombardment turret is decent, doubling down on its objective game.

Matchups


 * UCM: the ship against UCM
 * Scourge: the ship against Scourge
 * PHR: the ship against PHR
 * Shaltari: the ship against Shaltari
 * Resistance: the ship against Resistance

Synergies: ships that work well with this ship, typical battlegroups

Andromeda - Escort Carrier
Role: The Andromeda makes good use of the best bombers in the game. Ideally you want these close to the action so as to launch as many bombers as possible while sending your drones to harry your enemy. The issue with the Andromeda is that this playstyle makes them unlikely to survive for very long. They’re especially valuable when paired with some of the heavier PHR carriers to really overwhelm the enemy’s PD.

Matchups


 * UCM: the ship against UCM
 * Scourge: the ship against Scourge
 * PHR: the ship against PHR
 * Shaltari: the ship against Shaltari
 * Resistance: the ship against Resistance

Synergies: ships that work well with this ship, typical battlegroups

Calypso - Frigate
Role: The Calypso is a great ship for protecting your important ships thanks to its unique ECM suite - a fantastic tool that often negates the opponents' ability to score a Critical Hit against Calypso-protected battlegroups. Said battlegroups should be constructed so as to favor standard orders or silent running, which will prevent your opponent from targeting the Calypso while your carriers begin their drops in relative safety.

Matchups


 * UCM: the ship against UCM
 * Scourge: the ship against Scourge
 * PHR: the ship against PHR
 * Shaltari: the ship against Shaltari
 * Resistance: the ship against Resistance

Synergies: ships that work well with this ship, typical battlegroups

Pandora - Frigate
Role: Counting on the Pandora's burnthrough laser to do damage to your opponent's fleet only leads to disappointment. That said, a role this frigate does excel at is that of a marker ship thanks to the Flash rule on its laser. While you might only do one or two points of damage with each shot, you can light up the target to enable your heavy hitters to go to town on the now-exposed ship. The Pandora's thrust of 10" allows it to roam far ahead from the rest of your fleet, probing for optimal firing arcs.

Matchups


 * UCM: The UCM fleet frequently relies on adding spikes to their targets and staying just outside Lock + Signature range. The Pandora can Flash targets that your opponent is trying to keep out of range, making them more vulnerable than your opponent may expect.
 * Scourge: The fleet's frequent reliance on Stealth and Running Silent can be countered easily with Flash. Cloak can however limit the impact to just removing the effects of Silent Running.
 * PHR: The lower signatures and fewer options to deal with spikes make other PHR fleets good targets to be marked by a group of Pandora..
 * Shaltari: Use the Pandora to add spikes to ships that the Shaltari player tries to sneak up on you without activating its shields.
 * Resistance: The ability to remove major spikes means that the Pandora is less effective against the Resistance than other fleets.

Synergies: Ships such as the Romulus and the Heracles with high damage potential, but tight firing arcs, pair well with the Pandora.

Europa - Frigate
Role: The Europa is an all around solid ship with a good amount of firepower. A group of them are excellent at splitting their fire across a number of other light tonnage vessels. You generally want to take advantage of its small signature to skirt the edges of the field, hunting other light ships, but you can also head them straight between the enemy fleet and fire those Linked broadsides! When the enemy retaliates, good placement might deliver a little extra as they explode.

Matchups


 * UCM: The average nature of the UCM fleet means that the Europa do well against both Light and smaller Medium-tonnage ships. Split your fire against the smaller ships, but combine it against the larger targets.
 * Scourge: Scourge fleets frequently have large groups of light tonnage vessels that a group of Europa can move into and rip to pieces.
 * PHR: Good armour saves and higher hull values make other PHR light vessels less ideal targets. Europa are comparatively fast however and can get into a good position to combine their firepower on a larger target.
 * Shaltari: The speed of the Europa means that you can sneak up and force a Shaltari vessel to raise their shields before they are ready. Their powerful weapons means that while they can easily destroy a single Europa, dealing with a group before they can inflict damage is a lot harder.
 * Resistance: Resistance light vessels can be on par with PHR ships damage-wise while having better toughness. However, their low Scan range means you can stay out of their way easier.

Synergies: Europa don't have any specific synergies, and can function well on their own. They do however frequently get ignored in favour of juicer targets, and you can capitalise on that.