OLD:Grimdark Future Universal Tactics

These are a collection of weapons, upgrades and ships available to all factions of Grimdark Future Warfleets

Heroes

Heroes and Titles are paid upgrades that can considerably change how a ship operates. Each hero is unique to their army, while each ship can only carry one title and hero each.

• Tactical Master: This ship can hide in reserves at the start of the game instead of being deployed. Instead, it can arrive at any turn, at any place, so long as it is at least 9" away from an enemy.
• Ace Carrier: Made for a squadron-heavy army. A number of squadrons equal to the number of upgrade slots available on this ship can be hidden in reserves at the start of the game instead of being deployed. Once per game when this ship activates, you can also activate any squadrons within 2" of it.
• Expert Sapper: Whenever this ship is activated, you can deploy a mine within 4" of it. Enemies that move within 2" of this mine take 2 damage. Great for keeping rammers at bay or forcing distances.

Titles

• Avenger: Whenever this ship activates, they can immediately teleport anywhere within d3+1". Excellent for keeping a ship constantly within prime range.
• Defiant: At any point when a friendly ship within 6" is destroyed, this ship can immediately heal 2 damage, which might be what you need to restore a system or take a damaged one out of the red.

• Vanguard: This ship can immediately move straight ahead when it's deployed. This is more worthwhile for short-ranged guns than anything else.

Upgrades

Unlike Heroes and Titles, Upgrades and Weapons are completely free to you.

• Ablative Armor: The ram-tank's choice. Any enemies ramming this ship suffer 1 damage, and this ship suffers no injuries from overlap.
• Armored Plating: This particular upgrade is for ablative HP. Rather than 3, this upgrade takes 4 points to be disabled.
• Gravity Bumper: When this ship rams, any ships it pushes add +1d6 to their shove distance. If you plan on being in a cluttered arena, then this is not going to waste.
• Nuclear Ammo: +1 Strength to the ship's turret.
• Pulse Engine: Boosts speed for slow ships or makes faster ships that much harder to catch. Adds +2" to the ship's move speed and +3" to the ship's cruise/ram speed.
• Reinforced Ram: Add +1 damage to any ram damage this ship inflicts. Pair with the Gravity Bumper for special cruelty.
• Repair Bay: When activated, you can remove 1 damage from a friendly ship within 4" of this ship. Very necessary for smaller fleets.
• Shield Booster: Adds another save against damage. If you fail the Toughness check to negate damage, you can roll another die and block the hit on a 5+.
• Stealth Rig: Any enemies targeting this ship from over 12" away treat it as if this ship's hiding in cover.
• Tracking Servo: This ship's turret gets +1 to hit.
• Tractor Beam: The tool of choice to halt stragglers. Once activated, an enemy ship within 8" can be dragged 1d6+1" towards this ship.

Weapons

• Energy Cannon: An Anti-Ship gun with some decent range and Strength. Something of an all-rounder.
• Giga-Cannon: A short-range gun with one shot, but that shot's Deadly and has a massive Strength to rip through ships.
• Linked Railgun: Better range than the energy cannon, but suffers from Overheating, which can put a damper on things.
• Missile Cluster: Only one shot with 1 strength, but it's blast, so that 1 hit can cover more than just one ship. Just be mindful of who's in the splash zone.
• Plasma Cannon: A pretty devastating gun with good range, but also suffers from Overheating.
• Pod Launcher: Deploys short-ranged boarding pods, which bypass ship defenses for some delayed damage.
• Precision Cannon: Long ranged with Sniper so you can pick what you want to disable.
• Tsunami Cannon: The FTL equivalent of a sniper rifle. It can only be fired when the ship's stationary, but this gun's got Deadly and Strength 2 to pop most ships.
• Weapon Batteries: Short-ranged Broadside weapons, but 2 attack and 2 strength make it more than welcome for a close-quarters ship.

Ships

Heavy Ships

• Cruiser Ship: A big bruiser of a boat with 4 slots and the best defense out there. Its turret is also a potent gift, though it's hamstrung by the ship's glacial speed. Also, beware of that measly 2+ evasion, because that means you're just as easy to hit whether or not you move this ship.

Medium Ships

• Destroyer Ship: Slightly weaker in every respect with a turret with 1 strength and 3 slots. While not as well-armored, it's more mobile and can evade a few more hits.

Light Ships

• Corvette Ship: The most nimble of your ships, but also your least protected. It only has two slots for upgrades, so you're likely to rely on your turret with 0 strength. Having a 5+ toughness also means that if you get hit, you're likely to feel that blow

Squadrons

Each of the squadrons are similar in some way. All of them enjoy the best speeds in the game as well as turrets with only 2" range. This means that you'll often be relying on your squadrons' turrets to do any manner of damage, and that means relying on their evasion to make their way. As a reminder, squadrons cannot take any upgrades or weapons.

• Gunship Squadron: The all-rounder squadron. With no special rules, they can be taken to target any ship they wish. However, their static loadout means that they're not well-equipped to face down heavier ships.
• Fighter Squadron: Anti-Squadron variant. These ships have a worse Toughness, but deal an extra attack and the benefits of Anti-Squadron. Naturally, these are so you can shut down any enemy squadrons before they can do any harm.
• Bomber Squadron: Anti-Ship variant. Though their turret has only one attack, that attack has 2 Strength to dent ships and Anti-Ship and Deadly make those hits deadlier. Do beware their weaker evasion though, as this will definitely hurt you when facing Fighter Squadrons.