A 100 point game isn't an easy game to get organized, but this fleet is the perfect excuse to nag every pirate player you know until you get one scheduled. I personally stayed away from playing sea monsters as I found them near impossible to make useful in real deathmatch games, except for an outlier or two. Looking through the Frozen North set, I examined the Serpent's Fang more closely. a ship that gives a sea monster + L to it's movement; essentially a way to overcome their often slow movement limitation. I then looked into a way of giving sea monsters extra actions, so they could not only move in a single turn, but shoot as well. I found the answer built into another sea monsters, Seleucis, "Give this monster a move action, but move another sea monster instead." The rest was finding the right sea monsters to fill out the points, and I found 100 points just about the minimum required to really get this fleet operating perfectly.
How it Works
This fleet has two core operations running through it. If your opponent manages to eliminate one, the other still operates (although the fleet is hampered a bit). Firstly, Seleucis' ability is intrinsic to surprising your enemy when a sea monster from across the board appears between his ships and fires in one turn. You'll almost never need to move Seleucis away from your home island, as almost all of its move actions will be to move other sea monsters. Behemoth is there to copy Seleucis' ability, so that another sea monster will be able to move twice per turn, before using its own action to shoot.
The second core component resides with the Serpent's Fang, and the Sargasso Nightmare (aboard the Nightmare). These ships should never stray far from your home island. They shouldn't have to since as long as you're sending your Sea monster Torpedo's out to meet your opponent's fleet, that fleet shouldn't be able to get break through your torpedos. Each ship will give a sea monsters that begins its movement within L of either ship + L to it's movement. That is a lot of movement. Take Shaihulud for an example, position it nicely between Nightmare and the Serpent's Fang, and use Seleucis to give Shaihulud a move action. With the two L bonuses and it's base movement, it'll be moving S+L+L+L, then use Behemoth to copy Seleucis' ability, and do the same for an aditional S+L. And if you want to start the turn with Shaihulud submerged and only want to get it in position for the next turn, you can give it additional S+L by using it's own action to move. That's S+L+L+L+S+L+S+L in a single turn.
But to get the fleet operating at it's peak, it requires a bit of forward thinking. Sometimes using Seleucis and Behemoth to move your sea monsters into range isn't the best option: you'll want to make sure you get them out of there when they shoot. Most of the time this means using Seleucis to get the sea monster out to your opponent's fleet, and then using Behemoth to move it back and out of danger. Maxehebel has this ability built in, with a reverse captain. Send it out to your opponent's fleet with Seleucis (and in between Nightmare and Serpent's Fang for two + L's) for a distance of L+L+L, give it its own shoot action then move it L away due to it's own ability, then use behemoth to move it another L, hopefully out of the way.
Lechim Namod is there merely for another Torpedo to send out. All 2-rate cannons with a built-in re-roller is a nice sea monster to send out to get a first shot at your opponent's ships. The fact that the cannons are short range won't matter (as it wont' for most of these sea monsters), as with the speed they'll be moving distance won't be much of a problem.
And should it come down to a loss of the torpedo's you've sent out, and your opponent's fleet starts heading towards your home island, Behemoth is there to protect you. The main reason (apart from being unnecessary) that Serpent's Fang should never stray far away from your home island, is that when it comes down to your opponent bearing down on you and your remaining ships, you want behemoth to be able to copy the longship ability. So that when your opponent's fleet is close enough, you can use Seleucis to give Behemoth a move action, have Behemoth copy the longship ability, and use his own action to fire a full 10 shots (2 from each mast) into the oncoming fleet.
Weaknesses
There are some. This fleet operates on the principle of getting your ships there and back fast. But if your opponent's ships are faster than you can get your sea monsters back, you'll likely be losing them one by one after they've done their damage. But if you miss your attack rolls with the sea monsters, you might be looking at those ships taking minimal damage.
Cancelers are another thing to look out for. If you move your sea monster in range submerged of your opponent's fleet, they can cancel the keyword to make it pop out of the water and take their shots on it during their turn. In addition to that, if they cancel the keyword, you won't be able to move it with Seleucis or Behemoth, as it won't be a sea monster any more.
Seleucis and Behemoth remaining at the home island most of the time is mostly a safe position, but they will be susceptible to ram attacks, and if they start losing segments, they won't be able to repair.
The sea monsters should be able to handle most anything else. Behemoth keeps things versatile, being able to copy whatever your opponent starts using against you, and Shaihulud will be able to handle any pesky submarines.
Calim, right. I thought about putting him in instead of one of the others like Lechim Namod. But his cannons are just horrible (two 2's and three 4's). And even though he moves S+S+S, that extra speed doesn't matter that much with the two +L's coming from nightmare and serpent's fang.
OK, I think you are officially the Ned Lands Representative. You seem to have enough knowledge about all of the sea monsters in the Pirates oceans to know exactly what they are capable of. Wow! This is an amazing fleet idea. I think if I played against it, I would be so frustrated about it, that I'd just stay at my home island, whimpering and pining to get to the open sea.
Excellent description and analysis! Very well thought out, which was apparent when you mentioned that Behemoth could use the Longship keyword. I never would have thought about!
My only thought is: You would have to be a hard-core spender in order to get all of the ships. Serpent's Fang is LE and I think you mentioned two SRs in there. A lot of Rares, too! Those are all hard to come by. And, if you're going to use SRs, you might as well break out Mist Walker with the L+L speed and really good cannons. Thats my favorite sea monster.
Again, I am impressed. Especially since this is the first fleet you've submitted. I can't wait to see more. This is an excellent example of the awesomeness that crashed the MT server!
Hi!
Great fleet, sure, but not as effective as a 100 points ship fleet.
Still, you managed to get a 5 from me! ;-) That's because i like innovation as well as fleets that count over two cores to win, so that if one is eliminated, you could still manage to outcome your opponent-and this fleet satisfies both of the two requirements!
Anyway, the weak point is that the + L bonus only work for SeMos within L...once you send the torpedo, it will lose its speed when coming back. For example, let's say you want to sink a ship of mine using Lechim Namod (moves L). You send the torpedo L+L+L away using Seleucis' action. Then you shoot with LN action. then you come back using Behemoth action...hey! you can only move L from the ship you sank! you will need another turn to return to your starting point, and if your opponent keeps his ships together, no doubt you will be chased and sunk!
Anyway, great new fleet!
Hope i've been clear in my comment (english is not my first language!)
Anyway, the weak point is that the + L bonus only work for SeMos within L...once you send the torpedo, it will lose its speed when coming back. For example, let's say you want to sink a ship of mine using Lechim Namod (moves L). You send the torpedo L+L+L away using Seleucis' action. Then you shoot with LN action. then you come back using Behemoth action...hey! you can only move L from the ship you sank! you will need another turn to return to your starting point, and if your opponent keeps his ships together, no doubt you will be chased and sunk!
It depends on how you play the fleet. You can set it up so that your Nightmare and Serpent's Fang are 3L away from your opponent's fleet after they move their ships in.
Send in Maxhebel using Seleucis for L+L+L in movement, he'll get his 4 shots in, then he can move L away towards Nightmare and Serpent's Fang, still within L of both ships.. Then use Behemoth to move him again to behind the ships, and then use both ships' move actions to send them back L and L+S.
That's just if you want to run away though. This fleet isn't particularly designed for that, although it will adapt itself if needed. What makes this fleet great in a 100-point game is that you don't have to fill the sea monster's with crew. In a 100-point game, you might be facing 4-5 really good ships with some really good crew. But this fleet will be able to send at least 13 shots from an L+L+L+L distance, before ever having to move Behemoth or Seleucis, or the ships. That means getting the jump on the other person's fleet before they can use their own shots on yours.
Miniature Trading
