Every faction in Dropfleet Commander has its strengths that make it unique. The latest faction Im looking at (simply because I am building the models), is the UCM. They have great armor, decent movement, and a wide variety of weapons. There are a couple ships that really stand out at least at this early look, that I wanted to discuss.
St. Petersburg Heavy Cruiser. No other ship has two seperate entries for a burnthrough laser. This one does it, and does it well. Two Cobra Heavy Lasers quite literally slice through enemy ships. Bringing both to bear can quite easily get up to maximum damage potential as each burn through has the following stats
Lock 3+ Attacks:2 Damage:1 Burnthrough (6), Flash
So yes, any ship hit with this gets two minor spikes.. equaling a major spike if it somehow survives a round of getting cut in half with the twin heavy lasers. Hitting on a 3+ insures that quite a bit of the damage will end up as criticals. Granted that you will have to weapons free to bring both of these weapons to bear, but the ship also comes with two UF 4200 Mass Driver Turrets able to throw a total of 4 additional shots downwind + it's d6+1 close action shots.
The St. Petersburg is a high damage dealing Heavy Cruiser. The downside of course will be making certain that you are pointing directly at your target, since the two burnthroughs have a Front Narrow arc of fire. No to mention... it just looks hot with both the burnthroughs on top and bottom.
Next UP....
Taipei Missile Frigate.
This ship matches up quite well with the Scourge close action weapons, as this little beast has its Piranha Missile Turrets laying a whopping d6+4 shots per frigate. So yes, a squad of 6 (max) is dropping 6d6 +24 shots of close action. This is big for the UCM, as it gives a heavy punch frigate that can take down the biggest of adversaries.
How does this compare to the slightly more expensive Scourge version? While the Taipei outshoots it, the lock on the Taipei is only a 4+ while the Scourge Djinn has a 3+ but with less shots. In the end they hit about the same number of times, however with the Scourge Djinn you get Skald + more critical hits since the lock value is lower.
Even with that comparison, the Taipei Missile Frigate in large numbers can easily take down most opponents, quite possibly even being a little overkill on most frigates you are attacking in mass. Simply fly in silent running until within striking range, and unload.
Of course I have more favorites, as these two ship types can find a lot of synergy with the heavy hitting Mass Drivers to take down any ships with major spikes on them. I like all of the UCM frigates, Aegis, Detectors, and even the Toulon have their place.
