While I mostly agree with Phil's assessments of the capabilities of the vessels in Imperium, I have to take exception to his criticism of the Terran monitor relative to the Imperial monitor. Kosnett has obviously been reading Imperial training circulars and taking their morale-boosting propaganda for gospel.

On the first combat round (automatically at long range) the high defense factor of the Terran monitor makes it immune to attacks from anything smaller than an Imperial light cruiser. Even a light cruiser has to burn all of its missiles to have one chance out of six of splashing the monitor. Heavy cruisers have two chances out of six, but again have to empty their missile racks to do so, and without burning their missiles have no chance at all. Only a strike cruiser and capital ships have a chance of hitting the monitor and keeping anything in their racks for subsequent combat rounds or planetary bombardment. (And there are few things more depressing for the Imperial player than having to face a truly mediocre Terran force with a splendid fleet with empty missile racks.)

On subsequent combat rounds (assuming the Terran monitor survives the first round, a good bet), the monitor has a good chance of picking its range, since in most cases it will represent the smaller fleet.

On the rare occasions the Imperial player has the initiative and chooses long range, the monitor will be facing either a few ships shooting at long odds or ships with empty racks.

At close range, the monitor's beam batteries are awesome, with a 50% chance or better of taking out anything up to a strike cruiser and at least a chance of hitting anything that flies, up to and including a battleship. The low beam factors of Imperial ships put them at a terrific disadvantage at close range against heavily shielded ships like the monitor; only the improved dreadnought and the BB have even a chance of hitting it with beams, and they have to make suicide runs to do so.

As to close range missile attacks, only Imperial strike cruisers and capital ships have a chance of hitting, and all but BB's have to empty their racks to do so. The BB has one chance in six of hitting at close range without emptying its racks, the same chance as the monitor has of hitting it with beams. Considering the fact that the BB costs over three times as much, that's not very comforting. The Terran monitor is so well shielded against beam batteries that it is the only vessel that can regularly make suicide runs and live to tell the story.

The Imperial monitor, on the other hand, is much more vulnerable to a first round kill, since a Terran missile boat has a 50% chance of splashing it by emptying its racks. Sure, the monitor is probably going to nail the missile boat, but who cares? All things considered, the Terran monitor has a much higher chance of surviving the first combat round and will cause more damage throughout the battle than its Imperial counterpart, and probably constitutes the single biggest headache for the Imperial player in the game.

More Tactics in Imperium

Sci-Fi Strategy
Player's Notes
Monitors: Imperial vs. Terran