Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale 1 being the worst.
3 ... average. 5 is the highest rating.
Date Reviewed - 10.04.07
Cadet-Captain Mike
Name: Empress
Card: CA #009 (Rare)
Points: 10
Faction: Pirates
Masts: 3
Cargo: 4
Moves: L
Guns : 2S, 2L, 2S
Hit %: 200 (S), 67 (L)
Link : Sao Feng
Keyword: Junk.
Ability: This ship gets +1 to her cannon rolls
against English ships.
My first thought on seeing the Empress' stats is
that she's slow for a junk, but she has plenty of
room for a Helmsman. Her guns are good, her cargo is
adequate, and her price is fair. The +1 against
English is in character with the movie ship.
The link to Sao Feng is also in character, but I'm
not sure I'd use it.
I'd rather pay one more point and get Griffin, who
gives the same reroll as Sao Feng plus a move/shoot,
and since Griffin also replaces a Captain, he
actually saves two points and takes up no more cargo
spaces than Sao Feng does with his link. The only
advantage to using Sao is if you also want to use
his links to Lian and Park, and if you use all
three, you can't put a Helmsman on board (crew cost
can't exceed ship cost).
The Empress can't go toe to toe with a big gunship,
but she can plow through most small fighters,
especially English ones. My question is, "Are there
any small English ships in this Pirates release?" So
far, she's the smallest ship that we've seen in
Caribbean; even the Interceptor could give her a
hard fight. If all you're using is ships from the
Caribbean release, the Empress might be a solution
in search of a problem. But in overall terms, she's
a decent ship.
