by KAM1138
Hello,First Impression Disclaimer: I played a game with and against the Exiles. I honestly have no idea how they are intended to be played.
I think that the Combination of the Orbitals and Star Bases resulted in the worst of both worlds. Your Orbitals are more expensive, and the Starbases are FAR inferior (double cost and 3 slot ship).
The strategy that I though might work would be to maintain a small footprint--a few core sectors that are of high value (+1 Victory from Orbital) and an extra population cube. I thought you can essentially build a growing resource chain...but that was until I realized that you can't grow your minerals...which you need to build Orbitals...so THAT chain ends quickly.
If you CAN'T take good advantage of Orbitals, then I'm not sure what advantage this race does have.
If the Orbital/Station was not so weak, or it was cheaper, or if you could make it AND Starbases, or any combination of those things. With only 3 slots it seems the best combat option is Missiles and a Computer (or two), but that's an all or nothing proposition.
The Cloaking device is potentially very powerful, but I'm unclear what the concept is in combination with the Orbitals. The Orbitals SEEM to lend themselves to turtling, but this Weak Ship is not able to defend itself well at all. The Cloaking device lends itself to running around the board...so again, I'm unclear on how they work together.
The negatives seem to outweigh the positives with this faction. This was the race I was really looking forward to, and I'm disappointed at this point.
I'm eager to see what other ideas people have figured out for the Exiles.
KAM