Escort Vessels

[Stitch_Reloaded]

G'day to all,

While thumbing trough the Rule Book for Dystopian Wars, one of the ship types has puzzled me.  The Escort Vessels for all but one of the given factions in the book has no weapons listed but clearly there are weapons modeled on the miniature.  I'm assuming the Escort is nothing more than a shielding vessel from boarding assaults and the high Ack-Ack fire for larger units.  However for the EotBS the cruiser which is 60 points instead of the 20 for the Escort has the same Ack-Ack, higher damage resistance, one inch more Mv and double the hit-points a better choice for this?

How is everyone using this ship class and is there something that states I can add weapons to the ship to make it more useful?
I don't physically have the EotBS Kitsune Escort but it appears to have a crap ton of launchers at midships.

Stitch

[Ruckdog]

That is nominally their main purpose, though the stats and hence their role are a bit different for each faction. Look at the Prussian escorts; they are essentially frigates. Not much defense there at all! As for using them, I have on a few occasions. They seem like they mostly get used when you have a little chunk of points left over after building a list.

[MajorMcNicol]

I agree - I'd rather just have more Frigates (and for the Russians, they are the same model).  However, escorts are pretty good for combining any auxiliary weapons (AA, CC) with the capitals.  So against boarding, tiny fliers/other fliers and rockets, combined (rather than linked) AA is great; same for torpedoes and submarines and CC.  Some escorts, like the Prussian and Russian also have guns to provide some additional firepower. 

[Pendrake]

...I'm assuming the Escort is nothing more than a shielding vessel from boarding assaults and the high Ack-Ack fire for larger units.  However for the EotBS the cruiser which is 60 points instead of the 20 for the Escort has the same Ack-Ack, higher damage resistance, one inch more Mv and double the hit-points a better choice for this?...

...I don't physically have the EotBS Kitsune Escort but it appears to have a crap ton of launchers at midships.

Stitch

The key to remember is that the Cruiser cannot serve as an Escort.

The Escort rule allows the small ship to be part of the bigger ship's squadron; so they move simultaneously, they can combine AA fire and defensive CC with the Large Capital they are attached to. The cruiser is not eligible to serve as an Escort and will be part of a different squadron.

Those Kitsune's (I have six) do look like little floating fireworks barges. (I am forced to believe that their AA consists of unguided air-bursting rockets that throw up a mess of shrapnel.)