The United Colonies of Mankind
The UCM would be considered the heroes of DZC. The protagonists of the story if you will. Mankind was driven from the cradle of civilization by the Scourge. 200 years later they have amassed a war machine of epic scale with the sole purpose of retaking their home worlds and driving the Scourge out. DZC begins on the eve of Reconquest - the retaking of Eden.
Pros
* Strong Armor - almost all of the UCM tanks have an armor of 10
* Articulated weapons - most of the UCM tanks can lift their weapons over obstacles and remain in cover
* They pack a punch - Main Battle tanks have cannons of energy 10 - shredding lower armor units
Cons
* Low damage points - Most armor only has 1 DP. Armor 10 is nice but enough fire will still shred your forces
* No skimming or passive saves - the UCM does not have anything to mitigate hits or damage. This is not a complaint just a statement.
* No Demolition - their weapons have no extra impact when trying to destroy buildings.
Play style for the UCM
I play aggressively with the UCM but you have to be careful. Moving your units to far ahead and spreading them out can leave them exposed. Plus the UCM has decent range to reach out and touch someone.
The Scourge
If the UCM are the protagonists of DZC then the Scourge would be the Antagonists. The Scourge invaded the Cradle of Humanity close to 200 years ago. They are a parasitic species who take over their hosts. The upside to this is the Scourge try to take as much intact instead of laying waste to their opponents. The cities of Mankind are mostly up and running instead of a desolate landscape.
Pros
* Fast - the Scourge are fast! They have the ability to cross the battlefield and take the fight to their enemy.
* Skimming - when Scourge skimmers move 6 or more inches in a turn they can skim -making it harder for their enemies to hit
* Hard hitting - the UCM have energy 10 weapons. The Scourge have some weapons E11 or higher.
Cons
* Short range - while the Scourge have hard hitting weapons they have to get into your face to use them. That means exposing themselves to lots of fire
* Weaker Armor - that speed and skimming does come at a price. Their vehicles can be taken down by weaker weapons
Playstyle
If you like aggressive, fast moving, driving down your enemies throats then the Scourge are for you!
The Post Human Republic
Just before the Scourge invasion a small white orb landed on earth. It was more advanced than anything humanity had encountered. This orb connected to every computer terminal, network, device, and told humanity to go to a set of coordinates in space. It warned of a coming threat. A small percentage of Humanity went to this rally point. They were branded traitors as they fled. 200 years later, on the eve of Reconquest the UCM were approached by a technologically superior race. They looked human, but were almost more human than human. They revealed themselves as the decedents of those who fled and became the PHR - cybernetically enhanced humans. They are mysterious and have an agenda - though it has not been revealed. The UCM treat the PHR as traitors and despise them.
Pros
* Demolition - many of the PHR weapons have Demolition, meaning that if you need a building destroyed these are your units
* Long range - most of the PHR weapons can reach out and smack someone.
* Multiple damage points - a lot of their heavier units can take more punches than the UCM or Scourge
Cons
* SLOW - many of the PHR units will only move 3 inches.It can take them a while to get to a Focus Point unless dropped.
* Expensive - the PHR have some of the most units on the game. They'll have fewer units to fight and contest, despite their blistering arsenal.
Playstyle
Slow and steady wins the race. The PHR can remove buildings with objectives. They can also make you think twice before infantry move into a building. Falling masonry is a pain.
The Shaltari
The Shaltari are the elder race of the game who have plied the space ways for centuries. I explain them as the Minbari from Babylon 5 - they are the oldest race, ancient, highly advanced technology, and mysterious in their objectives. Unlike the Minbari the Shaltari are not unified. They are broken up into different tribes. Those tribes don't always get along.
Pros
* Gates - unlike the other races who have dedicated transports for their units the Shaltari have gates. These gates allow them to teleport units back and forth. The gates are not tied to a specific unit so two different units could potentially use the same gate at some point.
* Passive saves - The Shaltari have point defense systems and shields that can allow them to shrug off a shot. If you hit a Shaltari unit with passives they make a die roll and if high enough ignore the hit.
Cons
* Expensive - their units pay for the privileged of Gates and passive saves.
* Can get Stuck - the Shaltari cannot teleport objectives off the board. The objectives remain with the gate. Destroy the Shaltari Gates and their units are stranded and forced to try and walk objectives off the board.
Playstyle
The Shaltari are a fast deploying force who can move whole units from one side of the board to another using their gates. This gives them immense flexibility to handle incursions and help get them get into place to stop enemy infantry from taking objectives.
The Resistance
I know only a little about the Resistance. When humanity was driven from the Cradle Worlds they became the UCM. Those who were left behind fled underground and formed their own society. The Resistance. The Resistance found that the Scourge could not travel underground very far and moved deep and began to rebuild. Some remained organized and had social order. Others turned to the their more primal nature and became warlords, the Ferals.
Pros
* high armor and damage points - a lot of the Resistance have thick armor and can take a punch or two
* UCM Plus - the Resistance have access to some UCM units, only they are better
* A drill - since the Resistance are underground they have a drill that can come up anywhere on the battlefield to disgorge units.
Cons
* No countermeasures - the other four races have countermeasures - point defense systems, ablative armor, whatever you want to call it, that means you have to be in a certain range to hit them. not so with the Resistance. That UCM railgun that normally only has a 24" range against countermeasured units can strike with impunity anywhere within line-of-site
Playstyle
I'm not sure about the play style, yet. So far I've only seen a handful of BatReps with the Resistance. I'm hoping to go against them soon, however.
There it is - my quick impressions of each of the DZC factions. I'm sure I've left things out or glossed over them. If you have any comments or questions please let me know!
No comments:
Post a Comment