Fleets: The Pleiad Conflict is a Science Fiction Board Game from FryxGames, in which players take the role of corporations battling for control of the resource-rich Pleiades... and no, this isn't a corporate sim.
The game centers on the players building fleets around various flagships and then deploying them to the various planets. If, at the end of a round, only one player has a fleet in a given system, that player receives a victory point, and the first to seven wins.
Fleets: The Pleaid Conflict can contain examples of:
- All Planets Are Earthlike: Averted. Only Eden, Hera, and the moon of Altax III appear to be earthlike.
- Asteroid Thicket: Averted. Battling in the Merope Asteroid Field poses no obstacle.
- The Battlestar: All ships are capable of deploying fighters as well as boasting considerable firepower of their own. The Nebuchadnezzar VI, the Ezreel, and the Goliath are the best examples, being specifically set up to deploy large numbers of fighters.
- BFG: The Goliath can spend energy to increase its attack from 8 to 12. Its artwork even shows it firing a gigantic laser.
- Boring, but Practical: Cruisers are the only consorts that have no special abilities, but they can both dish out and take considerable damage.
- Cool Starship: All of them. Except The Can.
- Corporate Warfare: The focus of the game.
- Earth Is the Center of the Universe: Not for long - the back of the box states that the Pleiades' rich resources will soon lead it to overtake Earth as the center of human civilization.
- Faceship: The Sparta has the shape of an ancient Greek helmet carved into the bow.
- Fragile Speedster:
- The Hunter has very low initiative values and a strong attack. However, it only has three health, the lowest in the game. Fortunately, each attack against the Hunter does one less damage than normal, so it can survive multiple hits, but if a battleship or enemy flagship gets a shot off and the Hunter can't use an interceptor, the Hunter is probably doomed.
- If the Hunter gets the "Bulk" upgrade, its health is effectively doubled, making it surprisingly resilient, and moving it more into Lightning Bruiser territory.
- The Odysseus has only five health and five attack, but it can also support a lot of consorts and has very low initiative values, meaning it has a good chance of destroying the enemy before he can reply.
- The Hunter has very low initiative values and a strong attack. However, it only has three health, the lowest in the game. Fortunately, each attack against the Hunter does one less damage than normal, so it can survive multiple hits, but if a battleship or enemy flagship gets a shot off and the Hunter can't use an interceptor, the Hunter is probably doomed.
- Glass Cannon: The Zealous has only eight health, but its special ability gives it an effective attack value of twelve. Adding Heavy Weapons tech brings it up to twenty, matching the might of the Goliath.
- Joke Character: The Flem BX, aka "The Can". It has no weapons, its initiative scores are crap, and its special ability is a weaker version of a refinery.
- Lethal Joke Character: Played with. While it would take immense luck to actually win a battle with the Can, no matter how it is equipped, the ship's low cost makes it the only truly expendable flagship.
- Lethal Lava Land: Tartarus appears to be volcanic.
- The Mothership: All flagships are this, although if a flagship is destroyed, its undamaged consorts do escape. The damaged ones, on the other hand, die.
- N.G.O. Superpower: All the corporations, who are rich enough to finance private navies of considerable firepower.
- Non-Action Guy: The Amalthea, Flem BX, New Babylon, and Themis are relatively weak in combat and have abilities based around acquiring resources rather than combat. The Flem BX and the New Babylon aren't even armed.
- Numbered Homeworld: Altax III. Given that there is both a gas giant and a moon visible in the picture, it is unclear whether the gas giant is the third planet in the Altax system, or the moon is the third moon of the planet Altax.
- Standard Sci-Fi Fleet:
- Space Fighter: Fighters, natch.
- Taking the Bullet: This is the entire purpose of interceptors. An interceptor can burn 2 energy to block an incoming attack. A lot of the game's strategy revolves around taking out enemy interceptors so your flagship and battleships can focus fire on the enemy flagship.
