Ten-masted junks are in a league of their own. Twice
the size of the biggest "normal" ships in most
factions, and even dwarfing the 6-masted junks
available to a select few fleets, it's hard to
compare them fairly to other ships. So I'll look at
this one without comparing her to others.
The Delusion was available only in a RF "Plunder
Pack," and she holds the dubious title of being the
most expensive ship in the game. 35 points buys you
a lot, though: seven cargo, ten fair-to-middling
cannons, and five abilities of varying quality. With
a Helmsman on board to speed her up, she becomes a
superb (but expensive) gold ship. Add a Captain, and
she's a magnificent (but costly) fighter. That same
Helmsman lets her catch and ram other ships, and
she's an awesome (but
pricey) boarding ship. The Ghost Ship keyword means
she'll never get towed home by an enemy, and the
Eternal keyword means that sinking her is a lost
cause. Yes, the Delusion can do it all.
She'd better be able to do it all, for that price.
Add her linked crew, Fitzgerald, who makes her even
nastier at boarding, and that takes care of your 40
points in a basic game (or spend the 5 points on the
Helmsman and Captain instead). She's obviously meant
for larger-than-standard battles where players can
spend points like a drunken buccaneer spends
doubloons. All her many attributes pale in
comparison to that sky-high point cost. And if the
enemy hits her with a Canceller, she's just a big,
expensive target.
This is a ship somewhat akin to a Star Destroyer in
the Star Wars universe -- it's so big and powerful,
it can achieve as much by intimidation as by
actually doing anything. Using her in battle is a
kind of conspicuous consumption; you're saying, "I'm
using her just because I can." But her cost means
you're putting all your eggs in one basket, which
usually isn't the way to win at Pirates. By all
means use her at least once, if only to scare the
willies out of your opponents and make them worry
about when you might do it again. But if you can't
afford some support fighters and smaller gold ships
to help her out, she'll never win a battle all by
herself.
The Delusion was the only ten-masted
ship I had ever received, and she is rather unique
compared to the other 10-masted ships issued. She is
only available in Plunder Packs and glows in the
dark, and her rather unique texture can be
attributed to the chemicals that make her fluoresce
in the dark. Most of the abilities of this ship are
not listed in the typical instructions manual, but
they can be found on the tiny flap that comes with
the sealed
Delusion.
However, she does have quite a few cons. For
starters, she’s a whopping 35 points, and she’s not
very decent at fighting aside from blasting a large
hole in several ships. Even though 7 cargo spaces is
a lot, the ships Pandora and Dark Hawk II
both have equal or greater cargo spaces than this
ship. Plus, they are cheaper and a lot more
efficient than this ship. In a large Deathmatch,
this ship is above-average, for she can cram a large
quantity of crew such as El Phantasma (OE), El
Phantasma (DJC), Helmsman, Oarsman, Cannoneer, Davy
Jones (DJC), and 2 more oarsmen. For 70 points, you
get a ship with 3L’s and 2S cannons, and that’s
always a plus in my book. Alternatively, if you
don’t have the cheaper ships with this large of a
cargo space, then this ship can be used as a
treasure ship with her terrifying abilities (you
need the sheet to remember all of these) as a gold
runner (steal treasure from any ship you touch,
reveal all cargo within L of this ship), and for
sure any ship that comes across her is doomed. The
last notable feature of this ship is her Eternal
ability, which means that this ship is invincible
unless sunk by being canceled or towed and then
scuttled. The Delusion will always have a
impression in my mind, and I hope the same remains
for all.
Fighting Ship: 4/5
Gold Ship: 3.96/5
Boarding Ship: 5/5
Raiding Ship: 3/5
Point Efficiency: 3/5
Guerilla Efficiency: 2/5
Speed Efficiency: 3/5
Average: 3.45/5
Draco
Starcloud
Delusion
Ooooh....it's the glow-in-the-dark 10-mast Junk from
Rise of the Fiends! But is this Junk all bark and no
bite? She's got a lot of keywords to help her out
but most of them are oriented towards boarding
enemies, which will be utterly unable to resist this
behemoth unless the enemy is a 10-mast Junk as well
or the Delusion is injured.
Powers: I needed a new section just to talk about
Keywords. Delusion has the "Eternal" keyword, so
your investment will never be lost except to ability
cancellers. She also has, obviously, the "Junk"
keyword. She's got the "Ghost Ship" keyword that
will let her move through islands to catch boats to
board. "Unholy Light" allows you to look at the
treasure on every boat and island with "L" of the
Delusion after it moves, allowing you to pick the
best prey or to see if an island is worth stopping
at. "Filching Gold" lets you have a single gold from
any ships Delusion is touching, which is fine if you
decide to kill a crew with your boarding party or
don't use linked crew Fitzgerald, who lets you take
as much gold as you can hold from your boarding
victim. What she lacks that some of the other Junks
had is an ability to make crew not take up cargo
spaces.
Cargo Space: 7 spaces is about what you'd expect a
Junk to have.
Masts: 10 masts with three 3S, three 3L, two 4S, and
two 4L cannons. While almost half her guns only have
33% accuracy, the rest of the guns are still good
enough to warrant a captain if you decide shooting
will be her duty.
Base Move: L is what you'd expect from a fighter. A
Helmsman is almost necessary if you want to board
enemies, even if he does take away a spot for gold.
Point Value: At 35 points, the Delusion is the most
expensive 10-mast Junk of them all and the thing
she's best at is boarding. Her speed's tied for the
best of 10-mast Junks but her guns are also the
worst, having more 4s than any other 10-mast Junk.
Delusion can still serve as a gunboat, but you can
get a lot of smaller gunboats with captains for the
same price as Delusion and 35 points is a lot for a
giant boarder.
