Oberon: The long-range jack-of-all-trades support ship.
#Battle fleet gothic armada emperor class upgrade
Oh, and if you chose the power rams upgrade this thing will make FREAKIN' ORKS cry when you get off a ram. Great centerpiece "tank" to your fleet because almost nobody other than perhaps Orks, Nids and maybe Space Marines can afford to let it just roll up into brawling range unscathed, so its mere presence can act as a distraction. Retribution: A brutal wrecking ball in a melee and can do some nice work at longer ranges.
#Battle fleet gothic armada emperor class how to
Never take one of these just because you can, you absolutely need a plan on how to fit them into your overall fleet strategy. You're basically never going to field more than one of these and they're all decent to good in their own niche, though they really need to be supported and used together with their fleet to truly shine. This thing is about as subtle as a sledgehammer to the face, and can wreck an inordinate amount of face for its cost.
OTOH, it's short-range broadside firepower is even greater (half damage per salvo per battery compared to the Dominator, but it has double the batteries and they fire faster this also means more consistent DPS at medium range and more resilience against weapons crits), as are its boarding and ramming attacks. It doesn't have the Dominators' prow armor or nova cannon. 10 points more than a Dominator, which means it is DIRT CHEAP for a Grand Cruiser. This bad boy can throw around enough long-range firepower to rival actual BBs. Think of it more as a smaller, cheaper battleship with cruiser-like mobility rather than a super-sized cruiser. Sit around at 13.5-18k on Lock On! and volley away those big plasma+lance broadsides all day. Thick shields, lots of hp, no prow weapons or armor. Vengeance: This is my personal mid-long-range broadside monster of choice. The smaller of your two supercarriers, faster and cheaper than the Emperor and with enough of a broadside (identical to the Dominator!) to give cheeky escorts and cruisers that try to rush it down a nasty surprise. Exorcist: This thing is basically two Dictators bolted together, minus the torpedo tubes. They also all got ramming spurs, so in a frontal ram the only thing that hits even harder is going to be the freakin' Retribution itself. They have mobility and turret values on par with cruisers and BCs, hit as hard as battleships in boarding actions and fall between the two in terms of resilience. Still got only the same capacity as the Defiant, but also comes with a nova cannon and respectable stand-off firepower to back up its strike craft. Mars: Good battlecarrier/long-range support ship. I'd personally take the Armageddon between the two. The gunship BCs are IMO both rather outmatched by the Vengeance. Gothic: Rather niche, but this boy really shines vs Space Marines and Necrons in particular. Just be aware that it's the only cruiser without a ramming spur. Dominator: A nova cannon and vicious close-range firepower. Solid all-rounder that will serve you well in just about any situation. Lunar: The mainstay of the Imperial Navy's cruiser line in the fluff, and for good reason. The lesser secondary armament isn't really meaningful especially given that even the Dictators' macrocannons aren't really enough to be a deterrent against anything closing in. Yes, it's more fragile, but it's also faster and you want to keep your carrier away from the fighting anyway. This thing renders the Dictator all but obsolete given it provides the same amount of strike craft capacity for ~50 points less. Defiant: Super-cheap carrier? Hell yeah. Dauntless: Still your all-purpose fast light cruiser of choice, beats out the two Voss-prow gunships by a mile IMO. Sword: The old standby if you want a screening force that requires next to no micro. Falchion: Small deathsquads of these can be surprisingly effective at picking off weak enemies, and they're a decent screen. Cobra Widowmaker: Your best disposable scout if you want to reserve fighter squadrons. The old standby is still the IN Old Guard build, with emphasis on forming up a deathball that closes in on the enemy while softening them up and disrupting formations via torpedoes and nova cannons before putting in the boot with massed medium-short-range broadside fire, while carriers are mostly relegated for a support role in providing scouting, fighter cover and picking off enemy stragglers. IN is by its very nature a very flexible force that can be tailored in most directions.