Introduction to Gaming in the Drop-verse

Hey everyone! Truthiness here again to talk Drop-verse. We got a huge swell of interest on our Discord about Dropfleet Commander with the new edition of the game. In any case, Snipafist asked me to expand on the basics of the game and the now six factions to help out any prospective new players interested in this awesome universe. 

Dropfleet Commander is all about objective-focused gameplay. The game focuses a good portion of their objectives in ways that the major damage dealers often cannot directly impact. There is no “line up and kill each other” format. Instead, every game is intended to be played with a scenario. The new rulebook gives us not only standard scenarios, but also ways to randomly generate scenarios as well. Each scenario requires you to secure something. That something always includes ground dropsites, but also often includes space stations. Some also have features that add elements to the game. For example, a military base gives the cluster an improved save and  can shoot back into space. You get victory points based on your control of these clusters, Ground clusters are based on size. The bigger the cluster, the more it is worth in victory points.

There are a bunch of different ship classes as well as some key capabilities you’ll need to balance to be successful in DFC. Starting with ship classes, there are lights, mediums, heavies, and collassals. These are generally separated not just by model size, but also hull points. Hull points are very important in DfC, not just for how much damage they can take, but also a couple other effects. First, when a medium or bigger ship is reduced to half hull, they have to roll on the crippling damage table. These results vary, and might be repairable, but are almost always quite hindering. In addition, all ships in this game have a chance to explode when destroyed. The smaller the ship, the less likely it is to cause collateral damage to nearby ships. 

Small ships have the highest amount of diversity. This can range from Corvettes (usually around 2 hull points) mainly intended for atmospheric combat, to your standard Frigates (generally around 4-5 hull points), to your Cutters, Destroyers, and Monitors (usually around 5-6 hull points). Smalls are generally lighter armed and armored, faster, and have a reduced signature value (more on what that means later). 

Medium ships are your line cruisers. These usually come in the light or standard variety. Light cruisers are often a bridge between smalls and mediums. They usually have similar weapons and armor as your standard cruisers, but with less hull (usually around 8-9 hull points). They have a larger potential explosion radius than your small ships. Standard cruisers are usually your bread and butter. They are often your best balance between efficiency, toughness, and firepower. Heavy cruisers, formerly some of the most lackluster cruisers in the previous edition of DFC, are where the big guns come out to play. They have been almost universally helped by rule changes in the new edition.

HBattlecruisers and Battleships are your heavies. The firepower on these bad boys is usually significant, and their hull points quite high. However, if you compare these ships with their medium and small counterparts, you should usually start to notice you’re getting more firepower and hull with the other ships. It usually also usually comes at the cost of a higher signature value (I promise, I’ll get to that). That’s not to say Heavies are a bad investment. Again, they usually have some of your nastiest capabilities and most concentrated firepower. They've also been almost universally buffed in the latest edition. You also need a good spot for your commander, and this class offers some excellent safety.

Collassals, aka Dreadnoughts, are the apex predators of DFC. They have not just higher signature values, but also generally higher scan ranges than your faction’s standard value (I swear, it will all make sense down below). This is where the insane guns and capabilities come out to play. Just wait until you get hit by a PHR dark energy cannon. They are usually rather inefficient, but they are also extremely hard to kill with this edition’s changes to armor.

In addition to ship size, you also have launch capabilities to consider. There are three types of launch assets. First there are fighters and bombers. A ship that is able to launch one of these is typically able to launch the other. You just have to choose which to launch in a given turn. A ship with launch capability has a per-turn limit, so if a ship has “Fighter and Bombers- 2,” that means you can launch 2 fighters, 2 bombers, or one of each in the launch phase. Bombers blow up ships and fighters defend against kinetic weapons attacks and take out enemy bombers. Second, there are torpedoes. These are more rare, but quite brutal. They can hit quite hard, but are usually limited to 1-2 shots per game. 

The third type of launch deserves its own section, as it is probably the most important asset in the game. That is your drop capability. This is the way you get units on the ground or onto space stations and start scoring on those critical objectives. There are now four types of drop assets: dropships, drop pods, boarding pods, and bulk landers. Boarding pods are pretty rare, but are exactly what they say: they land troops on stations and ships. Dropships and Drop Pods are similar. Both are usually the most efficient drop assets for contested clusters. They are also usually on faster ships able to get to clusters faster. Bulk landers put more troops on the ground but put a reduced number down if there are already enemy troops present. Ships with drop assets are usually lightly armed, so you need to balance your combat needs with your scoring needs. If you go too high on drop assets, you might not be able to protect your drop assets. Go too light and you risk getting out-fought on the ground. 

DFC has much simplified its fleet building process in 2.0, but it still has some rules. You buy ships in groups, which vary in size based on their stat sheet. You can have as many medium ships as you like, but you cannot have more points in heavy ships than medium. You also cannot have more points in lights than the combined total of your mediums and heavies. Finally, Collassal ships are restricted to no more than a certain point based on the size of the game. How you manage your fleet in the game has also changed in this edition. It is now alternating activation of groups.

Movement is pretty restrictive in DFC. Without special orders, a ship can generally only turn 45 degrees, which is done at the beginning of movement. First you turn however far you intend to turn and then the ship moves in a straight line, the distance of which is based on thrust value. There are multiple special orders that can adjust this, but that’s the mechanic at its core. Movement is intertwined to a degree with orbit layers. There are now only two layers: orbit and atmosphere Ships all start in orbit. Technically all ships can move down into atmosphere, but only “descent” ships can do so without serious danger. Moving down has no penalty to movement, but moving back up a layer costs 4” of movement. There are penalties for firing between orbital layers, and there are crippling damage results that can cause you to lose orbital layers.

Finally, let's finish off the DFC’s rather unique shooting system. Orders and some other effects either allow you to remove or force you to add spikes. Each spike adds 3 inches to your ship's signature. To attack a ship, you add the target’s signature and the attacker’s scan value. If you are equal to or closer than that distance, the attacker is in range. It takes time to get a feel for sig management, but the mechanic makes for very fun and dynamic engagements.

There are many more aspects to the game. For example, there are command abilities that adjust your capabilities in the fly . That’s for when you start to get more advanced, though. For now, just remember: objectives, objectives, objectives. You can easily lose a game of Dropfleet if you focus on nothing but destroying enemy ships. The game rewards a balanced approach, which is one of my favorite aspects. 

That’s all for today! If you have questions, feel free to jump into the Steel Strategy Unnamed Place Discord at https://discord.gg/77EQzSF. We’ll do our best to anwer your questions there. Thanks for stopping by!