UCM Light Ship Guide

Welcome to part one of our UCM deep dive series. Here, we’ll be exploring the smallest ships in the UCM fleet. These ships are typically the most flexible in the fleet when it comes to making your list: fast, flexible, and maneuverable options. UCM light ships aren’t generally combat power houses, but they include your critical dropships, as well as a bunch of nice support capabilities. Our goal here is to give you an idea of how strong these ships are, where they slot into your fleet, and how you should use them on the table. We give each ship a 1-5 rating based on...look I’d like to tell you there’s a metric, but let’s not kid ourselves. It’s a totally arbitrary rating based on how I feel about these ships. You can and should disagree as you gain more experience with these ships, and these ratings should by no means deter you from at least trying out a ship. We’re using a unique symbol for each faction. UCM gets explosions to represent their “when in doubt, apply more firepower” approach and generally brutal looking aesthetic. A ship rated with five explosions is something we consider extremely good, probably a “must take” in a competitive sense. On the other end, one explosion means you’re probably going to struggle to justify bringing the ship. Let’s dive in.

We start off with a bang. Don’t let the fact that the Santiago is the smallest ship in the fleet fool you. This is a pretty great little ship. Of the various corvettes in the game, the Santiago might very well be the best blend between speed and firepower. They took a small hit to their firepower in 2.0, largely because of the changes to armor, but they make up for it in efficiency. Four of these now cost you only 80 points, dishing out 16 4+ kinetic hits. If you’re comparing costs just for hunting descent ships, they are able to dish out triple the average damage of a Kyiv, and with much less swingy results. They just have the downside of being only useful at close range. They are also the most capable Corvette against other Corvettes, outclassing others in either firepower, toughness, or both in a head to head clash.

When using them, keep in mind they still can’t particularly take a punch. They can be wiped out pretty easily if they’re caught outside of atmosphere by bigger ships, so be mindful of when you’re activating groups of these. You probably also shouldn’t really expect them to leave atmosphere once they’re there. It’s a problem all corvettes have: once you’re down in atmo and the big boys start rolling in, it’s very dangerous to pop back up. 2.0 also brings the added problem of bombardment ships also being able to go after Santiagos. That said, don’t be afraid to pop back up if you have an opportunity at a critical target with a relatively lower kinetic save. It is well worth going after a Shaltari Mothership, for example, that has drifted into range of a Santiago group sitting in the safety of atmosphere. Trading Sanitagos for a critical target is the name of the game. Don’t sweat it too much if they don’t trade up in terms of points value. If you yeet some enemy dropships out of existence quickly, they’ve earned their keep. If you can get the jump on opposing corvettes, prioritize those over dropships. You can clean up the dropships after you’ve dealt with the other corvettes.

The New Orleans is your bog standard dropship for UCM. And boy did it get a glow up in 2.0. I don’t think any other ship got quite as much of a benefit from the changes to armor as the New Orleans and the PHR Medea. Criticals used to largely negate the New Orleans armor save. With armor becoming so much more valuable, however, it now as a clear role over the Lysander (move on that in a minute). As a descent ship, it can park in the middle of the board without worrying too much about orbital-focused firepower. It is also quite resilient to kinetic bombardment, reentry, and air-to-air weapons. Even against energy-based versions of those same weapons, its 4+ save is still pretty good. 

Thanks to that new found durability, the New Orleans excels in contested clusters. Deploy these where you expect the fighting to be thickest. They can take a punch while you work to make the skies safe for them long term, all the while keeping up a steady deployment of dropships. You can largely feel comfortable activating these early in the turn to buy time for ships that want to wait to activate. The balance between Lysanders, New Olreans, and the San Francisco is damned near perfect. You’ll always want some New Olreans in your fleets, regardless of the type of weapon damage you expect coming your way. The bane of their existence, however, is going to be Scourge Nickar. While already more vulnerable to energy weapons, the Nickar’s scald-2 on top of doing energy damage is a death sentence to the New Orleans. If you’re going to win against Scourge, hunt any Nickars on the board with extreme prejudice. 

The Lima is an absolutely fantastic asset. In a game where range is dictated by spikes, the “Detector” keyword is an absolute must. Since there is no longer an active scan order, Limas I feel have gone from great to mandatory for UCM. If you have two Limas together, it means you can put four spikes on an enemy ship of your choice, instantly adding 12” to your range. There is rarely a UCM fleet that doesn’t bring at least some Limas. They have the standard UCM frigate stats, though none of those really matter. The Lima’s job is to hang in the backfield, constantly throwing out spikes and plodding along at your 5” minimum move. 

The key to effective use of Limas is timing. They are most valuable early in a game, where ships are still running relatively quietly. Limas help you pick out key targets in the backfield. Avoid using your scan against a ship that hasn’t yet activated in the turn. Otherwise, the ship can just clear two spikes on general quarters, and clear all of them by running silent. As such, Limas are going to take patience and timing. Delay their activation as long as you can, using the Limas only when you are confident you can pounce. Follow that up with your heavy hitters for maximum profit. 

The Jakarta is a solid support ship. It provides the rare Aegis ability to nearby ships in a 4” bubble. This reinforces UCM’s already impressive kinetic saves. It also has the added benefit of allowing you to skimp a bit on fighter coverage if you’re facing a faction with kinetic bombers. Aegis is a great bonus to bring to your fleet. It is, however, very expensive. The Jakarta clocks in as by far the most expensive UCM frigate. My biggest sticking point with Jakartas is the minimum group size of 2. With only a 3” coherency range, you can only effectively cover a 11” oval, but you’re paying for 16” worth of Aegis. You also can’t split that Aegis up to cover a different section of a board and have to time your activations to ensure you don’t leave Aegis coverage range. Were Jakartas able to be a group size of one, and thus able to cover larger swaths of the board, my opinion would quickly swing. As it stands, it is very hard to justify the investment in such an expensive asset with negligible firepower.

Of all the UCM frigates, the Taipei is probably the best positioned to take advantage of recent changes to Dropfleet. If you want some small ships that contribute in the ship to ship fight, then you’ll want some Taipeis. These ships are all about close action and man do they bring a lot of it. Their natural 4+ lock isn’t all that impressive, but those 6 attacks are, especially when you consider they can be taken in groups of up to six. 36 attacks even on a 4+ can overwhelm even the best kinetic saves. While not a 2.0 change, the change to standardized amounts of attacks for close action is fairly recent, and a welcome one for the Taipei’s reliability. They are also massive winners with the upgrades to armor. They now have equivalent armor to cruisers, including the best kinetic save in the game. No longer are these fragile throw-away ships. They are now true brawlers, wanting and willing to get mixed in early. That said, they are outclassed significantly by Havanas. They really need to be about five points cheaper.

Toulons attempt to bring ship to ship firepower in frigate form, just like Taipeis. Unlike the Taipeis, they can do so from a comfortable distance, theoretically allowing them to keep their sig down and more likely to stay out of danger. I want to like Toulons. However, they’re just...not great. In exchange for that stand off, they get literally half the firepower of the Taipei. They are cheaper, but not by much. It doesn’t help that the UCM light category is extremely competitive. I’ve yet to make a UCM fleet that doesn’t maximize its light ship allocation. With so many other stand out options, the Toulon just doesn’t make the cut for me. 

When compared to New Orleans, Lysanders are faster, really hard to detect, and come in at a considerable discount. They are, in fact, so much cheaper that you can effectively get 2 dropships from Lysanders for only 5 points more than a New Orleans. So why not load up entirely on Lysanders? Well, because armor really matters now. Lysanders are paper thin, with only 2 hull and negligible armor. They will die to a stiff breeze. Enemy corvettes are the bane of their existence. As such, they don’t really want to be in the thick of the fighting. Their best use is to leverage their speed and cloak to get some early drops into critical clusters, and then try to sneak into the enemy’s backline once your New Olreans and San Frans arrive to take over contested spaces. There is an edge case to be made when fighting against Scourge and their scalding Nickar corvette to flip all your New Orleans to Lysanders. While the New Orleans still has the advantage in terms of hull, their armor advantage entirely evaporates. If you don’t feel confident in quickly eliminating opposing Nickars, flooding the board with Lysanders is another option.

This chassis is the newest addition to the UCM light ship category. Despite the “heavy” in its name, it may not look any more durable than a standard frigate. However, because fighters and Aegis can reinforce the kinetic save, you will probably find that the improved energy save makes this and the Detroit noticeably more durable. The Shieffield brings the excellent Taipain Laser Turrets. These are excellent energy weapons, which get very deadly up close. Combo these with the UCM Rear Admiral’s Overcharge Lasers ability, and you have yourself 8 2+ energy shots that can reduce energy saves up close. The Sheffield might be a hair overcosted, but they are a solid choice regardless.

The Detroit is the Taipei’s angrier, meaner, big brother. It has the same number of close action shots, hits on a better lock, and brings Scald-1 to play. While slightly slower than the Taipei and flipped energy and kinetic saves, I think the biggest difference between the two ships is actually group size. The Detroit is only able to come in groups of 1-2, while the Taipei can still run around in swarms of up to 6 ships. As such, I think there’s room in fleets for both ships, especially since the 10 point difference is pretty much right on the nose. The Taipei and Detroit I think are about five points overcosted in comparison to the Havana, but that 10 point separation between the two is just about right.

The Vienna is a really solid ship all around. They marry the Aegis ability, like the Jakarta, with a pretty decent burnthrough laser. The burnthrough value isn't particularly high, but it's paired with the flash keyword as well. That makes Viennas really solid support ships for your fleet, painting enemy targets with their Mamba (yes, really) lasers for your bigger guns, while also providing Aegis protection with their presence. Their escort keyword pairs fantastically with their energy save, covering a significant weakness for a friendly big boy. Their major downside is their speed and cost. To keep up with everyone and cover things with Aegis, you will probably need to spend at least a turn on max thrust, thus upping their signature values on approach. Their combination of powerful keywords also combine for a very expensive four hull ship. That said, bringing just one of them alongside a battleship will make that big boy exceptionally tough. You can leverage that 2+ energy save to cover one of the UCM battleships’ weaknesses. Another great use is to opt to take big volleys you expect to do considerable damage to your battleship. Dreadnoughts HATE this, as it forces all their big nasty guns onto your little Vienna. If you’re bringing a battleship, an escorting Vienna is well worth the investment.

This ship is an absolute monster with firepower. When you compare it to a Madrid or Glasgow cruiser, two Istanbuls can cause significantly more bombardment damage for only about 10-20 points more. Those same two Istanbuls can pump out 6 shots at 3+ lock doing 2 damage per unsaved hit into ships. The big catch is that poor 6” move and no ability to max thrust yourself closer to the fight. It’s nearly impossible to get these guys far enough onto the table to bombard anything on the other side of the board. Oftentimes that is something you really need from a bombardment ship. Another downside is that the Istanbuls, despite their 2+ energy save armor, are more vulnerable to kinetic shots than most UCM ships and likely to go down quickly compared to a Madrid or Glasgow. They only have a combined 8 hull. It doesn’t compare well to a cruiser’s 10 hull and 3+ kinetic save. They’re not a bad choice, but they aren’t standouts either. 

Havanas have taken a bit of a hit in the new edition. Their Light Torpedoes lost a lot of range, and the changes to armor means their torpedoes aren’t sticking damage nearly as well. They are, however, now quite cheap. Their best use now is as a close range brawler, launching torpedoes and using close action on general quarters. They are, quite frankly, a straight upgrade from Taipeis at only five points more. They are faster, have more hull, and add torpedoes. That comes at the cost of only a slightly worse kinetic save and one less attack on their close action weapon. 

The Vancouver was always the least appealing ship out of the destroyer pack to me. It saw some use in the wider DFC meta because it was the cheapest point for point source of launch for the UCM. Even that is no longer true. That title now belongs to the Seattle, compared to which a pair of Vancouvers is hilariously undergunned. Vancouvers have no real weapons worth using, which can be a kind of benefit. Unlike many other UCM carriers, the Vancouver has no need or desire to get into the main fight to maximize its value. Just sit back and launch away. It is just going to cost you a premium. In my opinion, the Vancouver leaves much to be desired, even with the escort keyword pulling some shots away from your heavies. Again, this is a very competitive category for the UCM. Spend your points elsewhere.

Oh how the mighty have fallen. Kyivs used to give people nightmares in 1.0, at which point they were the only ships in the whole game that could hunt ships in atmosphere from beyond scan range. They still do this, and still do it pretty well. They can still pump out some significant amount of firepower that can be directed both into both atmosphere and orbit. In this edition, however, they have a few problems. First, because damage is now applied after saves, Kyivs are quite swingy. They can just as easily do zero damage as four, and that can be determined by just two dice. They’re also dealing kinetic damage. With fighters and Aegis, it can be hard for Kyivs to get damage to stick. Second, they now have some major competition in the form of bombardment. Glasgows and Madrids aren’t all that much more expensive, bring some extra weapons, and have even more targeting flexibility. Santiagos are also much more efficient against descent targets. The Kyiv isn’t bad by any stretch, but it has some major competition in this edition.

The Caracas is another new ship that is hard to pin down right out the gate. It’s role is pretty apparent straight away. It wants to get to a dropsite and maintain superiority over that dropsite with close action weapons and bombardment. Exactly how good it is at that job is hard to say. The bombardment weapon is identical to the Istanbul’s. Since it’s not a monitor, teh Caracas can bring that weapon into play a lot faster than the Istanbul. The close action weapon can also stack up significant damage with lucky criticals. However, I think it remains outclassed in this role by the Glasgow, which is well worth the 30 point differenc

This is another ship that got kneecapped real good after flying high. Let’s start with the good parts of the platform, though. The cutter is designed to deliver damage deep into the opposing side of the board. It has great speed, the awesomely updated Vector keyword, and just enough durability to deliver a turn or two of pain to a key support ship. The Reyk unfortunately suffers from much of the same problems the Kyiv has in this edition. Its kinetic damage is going to be swingy and hard to stick, but without the Kyiv’s Reentry flexibility. It is also outclassed considerably by the other cutters. 

I’m still not entirely sure what to think of the Nuuk yet, but man is there a lot of potential here. Again, the platform is fast and agile, able to get that Haywire Blaster pretty much anywhere you want it. It’s also juuuuust durable enough to reliably hit a key target. The wild card is the Haywire Blaster itself. This weapon was quite poor in 1.0. In 2.0, however, it is quite intriguing. The Status keyword applies your choice of three crippling damage tokens, all of which are AWFUL. Need a ship to die a horrible death? Defense Systems Offline hits the off button on both kinetic and energy saves. Need something to not shoot at you? Scanners Offline will badly hurt most big ships with higher scan values. Want something to stay right where it is? Yup, Navigation Online can do that. The catch is that you need other parts of your fleet to leverage the advantages created by the Nuuk, since the Nuuk itself does no damage. At only 70 points for a group, though, I could see these becoming fairly popular in UCM fleets for their utility.

This is where the cutter chassis really comes into its own. The Oslo has all the advantages of the cutter platform I’ve stated above: fast, agile, and reliable. What it has that the Nuuk and Rekjavik do not is a hell of a nasty weapon in the form of the Adder Multi Laser. Energy is overall a more reliable damage dealer compared to kinetic. That alone puts its over the Reyk for me. Add in the Scald-2 keyword, especially on a platform that can get in scald range from 14” back, you have yourself a nasty damage dealer. If that wasn’t bad enough, the Oslo absolutely loves being under the command of the UCM Rear Admiral. They can pump out absolutely horrific amounts of damage under the Overcharge Laser command. This is another ship that is all but stapled to my 2.0 UCM fleets.