Romulan Unit Analysis

Counter Table

Lists the units that the vessels of this faction counters. To see what units counter the listed vessels, visit the other Unit Analyses.

Note: A counter is considered a unit that deals superior damage to its foe (or takes less) – not one that does extra damage, yet is still more readily damaged. Only strong counters are listed as weak counters are useless unless taking into consideration superior micromanagement, which cannot be accurately predicted. An example of a weak counter is a Canaveral versus Canaveral: both take increased damage.

Blank spots do not indicate that the vessel is useless, just that it is a generalist and does not have a special passive which enables it to do more to a particular unit.

Staryard Vessels	Borg	Dominion	Federation	Klingon	Romulan
Rhienn (check Analysis for Phase Plates)		A-26 Bomber, Breen Cruiser	Canaveral	Chargh	Shrike
Rhienn Disruptor Refit		A-26 Bomber, Breen Battleship, Breen Cruiser	Canaveral	Chargh	Shrike
Rhienn Torpedo Refit	Scout Cube, Adaptor, Sphere, Pyramid	A-26 Bomber, Breen Cruiser, B-8 War Frigate, T-15 Heavy Cruiser, Breen Battleship	Canaveral, Intrepid, Akira, Excelsior II, Excelsior, Nebula and Refit	Chargh, K'Vort, Sang', Vor'cha, Cho'naQ	Shrike, Griffin, Generix, Serkas
Shrike	Interception / Beam / Regeneration Scout Cube	S-2 Escort Cruiser, Battle Cruiser (Breen)	Monsoon, Defiant, Ambassador, Norway	B’rel, SuS’a’, BortaS, Negh’var	Leahval
Leahval	Probe, Sphere, Adaptor, Pyramid, Cube	A-20 Attack Destroyer, C-11 Interception Destroyer, S-2 Escort Cruiser, C-17 Siege Cruiser, V-13 Battleship, B-5 Battlecruiser (Pure)	Intrepid, Excelsior, Nova, Akira, Nebula and Refit, Galaxy, Descent, Remore	B’rel, K'beajQ, Vutpa', Negh’var, LuSpet, Qaw’Duj	Griffin, Norexan, Eresis, Generix Support, Generix Spectre, Tavara, D'deridex
Griffin
Generix
Generix Specter Refit	Probe	A-26 Bomber, C-11 Interception Destroyer, S-2 Escort Cruiser, B-8 War Frigate	Saber, Monsoon (Risner), Canaveral, Defiant	B'rel, K'Vort, K'beajQ, Veqlaragh, SuS'a'	Rhienn, Rhienn Torpedo Refit, Shrike, Leahval
Generix Support Refit		A-20 Attack Destroyer	Intrepid, Excelsior	LuSpet	Eresis
Serkas

 

Warbird Yard Vessels	Borg	Dominion	Federation	Klingon	Romulan
Cehlaer	Dodecahedron, Diamond, Assimilator	A-26 Bomber, Breen Cruiser, Breen Battleship, B-8 War Frigate	Saber, Canaveral, Excelsior II, Excelsior, Phalanx, Avalon	Chargh, Sang’, Cho'naQ	Rhienn, Rhienn Disruptor Refit, Rhienn Torpedo Refit, Shrike
Eresis	Probe, Adaptor, Sphere, Pyramid, Cube	V-13 Battleship, B-5 Battle Cruiser (Pure)	Sovereign, Nova, Descent, Nebula and Refit, Akira	Chargh, K’beajQ, Vor'cha	D'deridex, Norexan, Generix,  Tavara
D’deridex
Norexan	Dodecahedron, Diamond, Assimilator	A-26 Bomber, B-8 War Frigate, T-15 Heavy Cruiser	Saber, Phalanx, Avalon, Canaveral, Excelsior II	Sang’, Cho’naQ	Rhienn, Rhienn Disruptor Refit, Rhienn Torpedo Refit, Cehlaer
Tavara

 

Units of the Romulan Star Empire

Talon Class - Starbase

When playing as the Romulans it is very important to have scouts scattered across the map - preferably at choke points - so that you can attack ill protected freighters, construction ships, and scattered vessels as they move between fleets/mining bases. With its large sensor radius and small size, the Talon fulfills its scout role very nicely, especially as it has an Advanced Cloak (which allows it to evade all Tachyon Pings). Having at least two scouts is very important as you will need to know the whereabouts of your opponent’s forces at all times so that you can make hit and runs without losing vessels. Be sure to place these scouts on green alert and low movement autonomy, so that if for some reason they are decloaked, they do not immediately engage nearby foes and get blown to bits. The Romulan Technology tree is usually not that flexible, so it is important that you control the situation with quick strikes on unsuspecting prey, which relies on constant scouting.

The Talon Sensor Refit causes the scout ship to lose its cloaking device, but gain improved stats and a medium ranged Graviton-Tachyon Ping. If you are facing cloaking factions, keeping at least one of these with your uncloaked fleet (or near your cloaked fleet) at all times is extremely useful. Being last on the targeting list means that these scouts will not automatically be hammered when your other vessels are engaged in combat. However, do not be too sure of your position, as a wise opponent will target these vessels first. Therefore keep them off to the side when battling, but use them to quickly follow your opponents retreating vessels. Note that by carefully picking when you upgrade each Talon refit, you can make it so that each scout's ping covers the other. In other words, one ping may activate five seconds after the other, allowing you much better coverage if you use these scouts in tandem.

Rhienn - Staryard

A relatively fast, small sized destroyer, the Rhienn is equipped with long range pulse weaponry. Although this unit is not equipped with exceedingly powerful weaponry, and may seem to be countered by many early game units, the Rhienn is an excellent distraction unit. Usually an opponent who tries to counter Rhienns is not going to be prepared for a Leahval or Generix ambush, and vice versa. The Rhienn can effectively harass with its pulse weaponry, but it serves much better in a position of long ranged bombardment, while your other units tie up enemy forces.

The Rhienn is the first Romulan chassis that can be refitted, improving all values as well as the crew complement. However, upon being refitted, the Rhienn can no longer make use of the Phase Plates ability.

Bought at the Research Institute, Phase Plates is designed to be most effective against short range vessels, as it reduces the amount of incoming damage by 70%. However, it also reduces the amount of damage received from medium ranged weaponry by 50% and 30% for long ranged sources. However, because the Phase Plates ability is a replaceWeapon, it will cause your opponent’s vessels to switch targets if activated in the midst of battle. Consequently, it is often necessary to activate the ability for all your vessels slightly before engaging in battle, in order to prevent wayward shots from destroying your unprotected Rhienns. As the ability lasts for 30 seconds and affects shields and hull, it can also be used to allow Rhienns to fight on after losing their shields, and even to retreat under heavy firepower. Always keep track of the time however. Since the ability is quite cheap, it is advisable to purchase it regardless of whether you plan on building Rhienn just for their refits or not. If you don't have the ridiculous amount of funds to upgrade all your Rhienns, this ability will save them should they come under attack.
 

Rhienn Disruptor Refit - Staryard + Upgrade Facility

Gaining a large defensive, system - and to a lesser extent - offensive boost, this refit has costs en par with most other faction’s heavy cruisers. With its beam and pulse based weaponry, this refit is excellent at destroying freighters as well as your opponent destroyers and cruisers. Due to the technology requirements, this refit will either appear early, or after your battleships have made their entrance. In either case, the refit is well worth it as it will do very well against destroyer counters. Likewise, in the late game the Rhienn Disruptor Refit serves as an excellent escort, as it will quickly pick off those destroyers armed with weapons that can make quick work of your expensive battleships (such as the SuS'a', K'Vort, Leahval, Intrepid and others).

The Multi-Targeting Disruptor is researched at the Upgrade Facility and allows the Rhienn to unleash a barrage at up to four of your opponent’s vessels. The warship has almost enough special energy to be able to unleash two successive attacks with this weapon in close succession. Since this ability dramatically boosts the power of your vessels, does not require much micromanagement at all (just remember to click the weapon every once in a while), and makes good use of the Rhienn’s high system value, it is quite wise to purchase this special weapon if you have Disruptor Refits.

Rhienn Torpedo Refit - Staryard + Upgrade Facility
(passive: Extra Energy Stores, Anti-Cruiser Warheads - strong versus structures, cruisers)

Yielding an incredible amount of damage per shot with its large offensive boost, this refit is best suited for destroying your opponents cruisers as well as stations as a result of its passive and torpedo armament. Due to its relatively weak defensive capabilities as well as reduced shield regeneration, the Rhienn Torpedo Refit should be kept at the extremities of battles and should primarily be used for hit and runs. Let your opponent's slower vessels trail after it as you flee, only to cloak when they begin to get in range. In fleet battles this vessel can be used as an artillery style unit, in order to assault defensive structures from long range, while your other units absorb damage up close. Be wary of units equipped with Tactical Weapon Systems, as they will be able to close with these refits without receiving too much damage and destroy their weak hulls.

The Vector Torpedo is purchased at the Upgrade Facility and allows your Torpedo Refits to fire a special torpedo which does damage to an additional two units. Simply a damage special, the ability can be put on full weapons autonomy with no real concern. If you are building Rhienn Torpedo Refits, this ability should be purchased.

Shrike - Staryard
(passive: Fast Tracking Computers - strong versus short ranged, weak versus long ranged)

A small sized and medium ranged unit, the very fast Shrike is equipped with passive that causes it to disable the weapons of its main target (provided it is a destroyer) as well as deal increased damage to short ranged units, while receiving more damage from long ranged vessels. As a consequence, this vessel is extremely useful in dealing with most factions' early game units. Likewise, the vessel is quite good at harassment, as its pulses do tremendous burst damage to freighters. Even in the late game these units should be used to hunt your opponent's mining operations due to their speed and weaponry. Likewise, when going with an early Warbird strategy, the ability of these units to directly oppose destroyers that would easily damage your battleships should not be underestimated. Note however that Shrikes are not the most durable of vessels and thus it is usually inadvisable to use them in extended fleet action.

The Unstable Plasma Torpedo is researched at the Research Institute and equips the Shrike with a special anti-support vessel weapon. The torpedo has no miss chance and deals high damage to support vessels. However, the real value of the torpedo is that it disables engines of enemy support ships for many seconds. This torpedo may be fired while the Shrike is cloaked and thus can be used to great effect for scattering your opponent's forces and keeping them where you desire, assuming they wish to keep those ships intact. Due to its effects it is also excellent in fleet battles, especially if you are retreating and want to disperse your opponent's firepower. It cannot target normal vessels.

Griffin – Staryard + Research Institute

A medium ranged and sized cruiser, this beam based vessel is an effective warship against all sizes of enemy vessels if you are playing Helev. Although it is cost effective enough that it can be produced in numbers, it is not as specialized as other Romulan vessels, and is thus usually best used in a supporting role with its special ability. Note that with a high crew complement, this vessel is effective against assimilation.

The Sensor Jammer is researched at the Research Institute and grants the Griffin the chance to disable weapons or sensors of up to eight vessels within range for six seconds. It also deals a fair amount of damage to certain vessels - Saber, Canaveral, A-26 Bomber, Breen Cruiser, T-15 Heavy Cruiser, Sang, Veqlaragh, Dodecahedron, Rhienn. Most other vessels take several times less to no damage at all. It is recommended that you use the Griffin to close with the enemy to best exploit the effects of its special weapon. Make sure to use low weapons autonomy and trigger the Griffin’s ability every time your opponent’s weapon systems become active again to ensure that they cannot retaliate. Griffins can also be used to allow your forces to retreat if you are beginning to lose a battle. By triggering all available Sensor Jammers and cloaking (even in the midst of an enemy fleet), you can ensure that your forces will take the least amount of damage possible. As stated before, the Griffin is cost effective enough to supplant other Romulan cruisers, although its unspecialized nature can make this a liability at times. If you are building this vessel just as support, researching the special very quickly is important.

Leahval - Staryard + Research Institute
(passive: Single Stage Energy Conduits - strong versus medium range)

A short ranged, and fast support vessel, this medium sized vessel is equipped with a passive that enables it to deal increased damage at the expense of having fragile subsystems. Due to its beam based weaponry and quite effective special abilities, the Leahval will remain useful throughout the course of a match. Since its abilities do not directly affect allied vessels, Leahvals easily act as lone sharks on the battlefield. Even one or two of these vessels can be a nasty threat to a relatively defenseless mining expansion. Note that the Leahval acts as an excellent counter to units equipped with the Autonomous Defense AI passive.

The standard ability for this vessel is the Metaphasic Disruptor. Although it deals relatively variable damage, the Leahval can fire this ability two times before running out of special energy. As a “burst damage”, the Metaphasic Disruptor can be used to destroy vessels before they have the chance engage special weapons - such as Regeneration, or Defense Patterns. In fleet action, usually the safest bet is to use these units in groups of three or four so that you ensure that you are not wasting firepower when you select your the Disruptor's targets. As said before, the Leahval is an excellent predator, as it has the unprecedented ability to quickly regenerate special energy and deal burst damage to hapless mining vessels before slipping into the shadows. After a successful strike, it is often wise to slink off to a corner and decloak so as to regenerate your special energy.

The Auto-Repair is the researchable second tier ability of this support vessel. Quickly repairing subsystems, hull, and shields, this ability should be triggered just before the vessel loses shielding. If it should lose its shields, you run the risk of the weapon subsystem being taken offline (due to fragile subsystems), which means the vessel cannot even make use of the Auto-Repair! Unlike other abilities, Auto-Repair will not cause your opponent’s forces to automatically switch targets. As a result, if your opponent is not paying attention, they will keep firing at the repairing ship and do no lasting damage. When entering battle with Leahvals, do not engage the Metaphasic Disruptor from the get-go, but pay close attention to the first Leahval that is being attacked, hit Auto-Repair, and then select your other Leahvals and use their Disruptors to your heart’s content. As a result of these bonuses, the Auto-Repair should be researched immediately. Ideally the first Leahval you produce should be equipped with this system.

The tertiary ability is Energy Reeling. Increasing both the offensive and defensive capabilities of your Leahvals, as well as boosting the effectiveness of the Metaphasic Disruptor and Auto-Repair, Energy Reeling should ideally be activated at the onset of fleet battle. That being said, Energy Reeling is somewhat situational. If you are making hit and runs, where you aim to do as much damage as possible in a short time period and then get out, using Energy Reeling is not wise. Since you aren’t being attacked by very much, the defensive bonus is wasted, and it will only serve to deplete your energy stocks (which are much better used for a few successive discharges of the Metaphasic Disruptor to quickly destroy structures and units). Similarly, if you are making hit and runs on juicy targets (such as battleships) burst damage is more important, as Energy Reeling is designed to be useful throughout the course of a battle. In battles where you are facing large numbers of your adversary’s forces, survivability of a unit is dependent on total defense.

Consequently, activating this ability en masse as you enter battle is best. Note that even with the greatly depleted energy reserves, the Auto-Repair is exactly as effective as if it had a full energy supply. In both cases your Leahval will be left depleted, but having repaired the exact same amount of damage. As a consequence, use the same strategy as mentioned previously when entering combat - activate Auto-Repair on Leahval’s that are being attacked, and use Metaphasic Disruptor for the rest of them (in small groups). Note that Leahvals can cloak without using energy when Energy Reeling is active.

Generix - Staryard

A medium sized and ranged unit, the Generix is equipped with torpedo weaponry. This load out enables it to deal high damage to large sized vessels as well as many medium sized ships - such as those the Borg would field. Bear in mind that it bears weaponry of a limited attack arc and it is thus important to consider this in fleet composition as well as hit and run attacks. Often it should be deployed against structures, as well as in engagements where you will not be forced to rely on kiting. The Generix is moderately powerful in defense and offensive capabilities, but is no vessel for dealing with small sized units. The unit is also relatively slow for an early game warship, and it is important to understand that you will not often be able to retreat from cloak detection without other vessels providing a distraction.

The other great strength of this vessel is that it is the second of the Romulan Star Empire’s refitable vessels. As a consequence, the chassis can also be turned into an additional warship which should usually make up the bulk of your fleet. Whereas the Leahval is primarily a quick strike vessel with good staying power once its special weapons are researched, Generix refits can stay in a battle far longer due to their unique abilities. Note that is is very important not to refit Generix where they might be attacked. It takes time to refit these vessels and their defenses will be much weaker, as well as having no active weaponry and no engines.

The Arlterium Disruptor is researched at the Tal'Shiar Institute and grants a chance to drain special weapons energy and disable the weapons of a hostile enemy vessel. This allows the vessel to be of great use against vessels that rely on their energy reserves. Since the Disruptor always hits its target, it allows the weapon to be effective against all classes. Furthermore, due to its energy draining weapon, it can even be "poorly" micromanaged to great effect, especially when against a Borg vessel that is in need of such energy.

Generix Specter Refit - Staryard + Research Institute + Upgrade Center
(passive: Particle Weapons, Refractive Shielding, Fast Tracking Weapons - strong versus short range, early game, Defensive Value <20)

A powerful anti-small ship vessel, this medium sized and ranged cruiser is equipped with a variety of exotic abilities. Dealing much of its damage in the form of particle weaponry (though it also has a disruptor), the Frigate Refit deals increasing damage to units with a Defensive Value less than 20. It is important to bear in mind that particle weapons do not deal reduced damage to larger sized units. Likewise, the refit comes with a passive which reduces the damage it takes from individually weak attacks (such as the pulse weapons used by B'rels, Federation phasers, or the adapted torpedoes on Borg vessels). On top of these capabilities, the vessel carries the passive, Fast Tracking Weapons, enabling it to do highly increased damage to short ranged warships. All in all, this makes it a superbly powerful vessel against most early game units of every faction. It is especially powerful against the early game lineup of Klingon and Federation vessels, and to a lesser extent, pulse-armed Dominion warships. Note however this vessel is not very fast, and thus it is important not to make it the bulk of your fleet. It is a specialist harasser and early-game-unit killer, and although it can be used in fleet combat succesfully, all of its weapons are of a limited firing arc and the vessel is a large investment.

Refractive Shield Dome is researched at the Research Institute and renders the Generix Specter Refit invulnerable to pulse weaponry for 15 seconds. After the ability has expired, a variable amount of damage will be incurred to the shields (or to the hull/subsystems, if cloaked or the shields are down). Similarly to Phase Plates for the Rhienn, the nature of replaceWeapon means that activating just one Generix's ability causes your opponent's weaponry to autotarget the next closest unit. For this reason, it is often necessary to activate all Refractive Shield Domes to ensure coverage. Note that this ability is excellent in allowing the Specter to flee from persuing ships, as it may activate the ability, cloak without receiving pulse damage, and live to see another day.

Generix Singularity Refit - Staryard + Tal'Shiar Institute

The Transmitter Refit equips the Generix with a very weak, medium ranged pulse weapon, which will not serve you often in combat. Defensive capabilities are boosted and the refit is able to withstand extreme amounts of damage. The unit is limited to three, but is cheap enough to construct relatively early on. While this vessel is quite slow, it carries a mobile version of the Singularity Transmitter and allows you to regenerate the energy on all ships of the Star Empire. Stations and Defense Batteries are not affected by the base ability.

The Transmitter Refit thus acts as a mobile power station. By sending it to key choke points near to your opponent’s nerve centers, you can replenish the reserves of your Romulan forces and quickly reenter combat. Note that the refit must remain decloaked to provide energy, but nearby ships do not require this in order to be affected. In other words, even if your opponent is keeping an eye on the Transmitter, he or she can be kept from knowing the full extent of your forces. Building at least one Transmitter Refit early in the game is key to providing your fleet with the means to mount hit and run attacks, as well as allow vessels to return to fleet combat quickly.

The Harmonic Implosion, available at the Research Institute, gives the Transmitter Refit the ability to trigger many consecutive waves of shield replenishing energy, while continuing to give normal energy to other Romulan vessels as well as Defense Batteries (not Transmitter Refits). Although the refit is immobile for the duration of the ability it gives it the capacity to recharge shields in the midst of battle, provided you keep your ships within its area of effect. This also gives an alternative to simply cloak-retreating your damaged ships.

Note that the Harmonic Implosion can be manipulated to provide even greater shield regenerative capabilities through careful micromanagement. If you have all three Transmitters (highly recommended if you can spare the paucity of their weapons), you can trigger one Implosion at a time to gain many additional waves every time energy is regenerated by a nearby Transmitter Refit. Although triggering all three Implosions at once is simpler and may appear to be better at first, you will get much more from your refits if you micromanage them to this effect.

Serkas - Staryard + Tal'Shiar Academy

A weakly armored medium-sized vessel, the Serkas can lob omni-directional extremely damaging torpedoes at artillery range. Note however that these torpedoes are rather like mortars and thus they will not seek out your enemy. Likewise, the torpedoes generate a large blast radius that can also cause friendly fire damage. A smart opponent will often lead his or her slow vessels directly into the midst of your Serkas, only for you to blow up your own ships in the expanding quadcobalt discharge. Conversely, fast vessels can simply dance around your Serkas while they helplessly fire at empty space. Obviously, against most vessels that are moving it is thus necessary to “lead” your shots.

If you do not have the element of surprise (aka, you aren’t attacking a static fleet – especially just after cloaking and recloaking to fire a round of shots), it is best to set your Serkas to green alert, low movement autonomy, and low special weapons autonomy. Using the force-fire setting (“a”), select areas into which your opponent is moving for maximum destructive effect. On the other hand, if you are engaged in large fleet battles, you can easily set red alert (and low movement autonomy) Serkas in Fluid or Mutara nebulae, while you engage the enemy fleet with your standard vessels. Thus, as you retreat away from your adversary’s fleet, he or she will be pounded by torpedoes, and be forced to either enter the nebula (and drop shields - an easy target), or try and skirt around the barrage. You can also manually target a chokepoint to possibly goad your opponent into striking your main fleet. It is also very possible to use the Serkas' overwhelming firepower to lure enemy fleets into a precarious position with only one or two of these vessels. Having your Serkas attack one side of a base, when the enemy fleet is on the other side, or having the Serkas simply unleash a volley and then run are two tactics to ensure that you force your opponent to do exactly what you want. While the enemy ships are away chasing the Serkas you can simply destroy undefended mining or pounce upon the enemy fleet as it leaves its protected position.

The force-fire setting can also be used to attack artillery range structures while remaining ever so slightly out of range due to the blast radius. A group of 3-4 of these vessels can easily “crack” strong structures, like starbases, without moving into the range of fortifications. In general, few numbers of expensive Serkas reduce the risk of friendly fire as well as you losing too many funds if an attack fails. Remember that even a solitary Serkas can do an enormous amount of damage.

The Silent Resolve special weapon is researched at the Research Institute and allows the Serkas to fire a single torpedo while cloaked (or while uncloaked). This is best used if you can manage to catch an opponent’s fleet off guard. By moving a large quantity of Serkas-class vessels in range, and then using this ability, you have the potential to soften your opponent’s fleet so that your main fleet may attack. Since it is quite probable that your opponent will bring a unit with active cloak detection (having seen your torpedo shots), it is necessary to engage your opponent with other starships before your artillery ships are slaughtered. Note that this tactic becomes even more powerful against opponents who cloak their fleets, because if you use your Talon refit to find a cloaked fleet and strike with Silent Resolve, you can quickly eliminate these unshielded enemy vessels.

Cehlaer - Warbird Yard
(passive: High Density Shield Generators - strong versus long range)

A long ranged and large sized battleship, Mijural's Cehlaer is armed solely with beam armament. As a consequence, it will do fairly well against destroyers and cruisers until you are able to build the Norexan. The vessel also comes standard with a passive which reduces the amount of damage taken from long ranged sources. The Cehlaer will only fire a single beam when retreating, so be careful before engaging your opponent's forces. Due to its long range, the Warbird can be used as a turret of sorts when at your base.

If you notice that your opponent is fielding mainly battleships (or big defensive structures such as starbases and Dominion Perimeters), the first thing you should research is Disruptor Bombardment, which allows the Cehlaer to keep a target from moving, using special abilities, firing, or transporting for about ten seconds. This will allow well micromanaged Cehlaers to keep these high priority targets from doing anything, while the rest of your vessels engage your opponent’s active warships. Understandably, this ability is a must when facing the Borg (and it can also be combined with the Serkas to obliterate high priority vessels). If on the other hand your opponent is fielding many small or medium sized vessels, Disruptor Bombardment research is relatively useless as you will simply be swamped with small starships.

Eresis - Warbird Yard
(passive: Autonomous Defense AI - strong versus medium range, weak versus support vessels)

The fastest of the Warbirds, Helev's Eresis is equipped with a torpedo and beam weapon as well as a passive which allows it to take less damage from medium ranged warships, but deal less damage and take more from support vessels. Due to its speed, it can easily be used to conduct quick forays to destroy your opponent's structures and get out in one piece.

The Radiation Array is not exactly a "special" ability. Researched at the Tal'Shiar Academy, it simply allows you to deal a small area of effect damage that will cause significantly greater damage to one of those targets. Since it does not have such a large area of effect, it is best to use it on clumped destroyers or cruisers to get the most bang for your buck. Since it allows you to make better use of your expensive Warbirds, purchase this ability as soon as it is affordable. In an early Warbird strategy, this ability is indispensible for dealing with the destroyer hordes you will face.

D’deridex - Warbird Yard + Upgrade Facility

The namesake Warbird herself is a medium ranged unit equipped with beam weaponry and the uncommon Romulan torpedo. With a rather robust offense, defense, and shield regeneration rate, the D'deridex is still the mainstay of any late game fleet. The vessel does well as a battleship and station killer and is a fearsome sight when decloaking. Like all Romulan Warbirds, the ship is a bit ungainly and does not clump well with other vessels. Bear in mind that due to the extremely good regenerative capabilities of this battleship you will often notice it repairing its hull after battles, even on the way to allied shipyards.

Another lackluster ability, Stealth Field is researched at the Tal'Shiar Academy and simply decreases the firing rate of several of your opponent's vessels. Trigger it from each of your Warbird's every ten seconds to blanket your opponent's ships. Since any firing rate decrease is good, always purchase this ability if you are building a few D'deridex.

Norexan - Warbird Yard + Tal'Shiar Academy
(passive: Tactical Weapon Arrays – strong versus long range, weak versus short)

A large sized but medium ranged vessel, the Norexan relies on beam and pulse based weaponry to pulverize destroyers and cruisers. With efficient engines, this battleship is adept at making quick strikes. Note that its akward size makes it difficult to pack well, so the warbird is best used in small groups to make attacks on improperly guarded mining facilities, or small destroyer fleets. The Norexan is equipped with as passive that allows it to deal increased damage to long range warships, at the expense of taking much more damage from short ranged vessels.

Purchased at the Tal’Shiar Academy, Multipurpose Weapons allows the Norexan to fire devastating pulse weaponry in lieu of its disruptors. Each shot uses up special energy, and although it will revert to its normal weaponry after using up its complement of energy, the regeneration rate will be slowed until the ability is switched off. For this reason, as soon as all shots have been fired, immediately switch off the Multipurpose Weapons so that you may make use of them more rapidly.

Always keep in mind that this pulse-based weaponry is very powerful against small (and to a lesser extent, medium) sized vessels, but much less so against large targets. Nonetheless, because the pulses from the Multi-Purpose Weapons deal high amounts of damage in quick succession, the ability is still useful against large targets. If you can access this warbird early into the game (or if you wish to use the vessel to make quick strikes on mining operations) you will undoubtedly require the extra pulse-based offense immediately.

Tavara - Warbird Yard + Tal'Shiar Academy + Upgrade Facility

The Romulan dreadnought, this pulse, torpedo, and beam armed behemoth can be upgraded to increase Defense, Offense, and System Value. If used in fleet action, it is wise to upgrade just its defense and offense at first. If you do have a glut of resources, try to upgrade the System Value as well, because the 20 extra points cause the Tavara to regenerate shields and armor that much faster. If you are planning on harassing with the Tavara (an excellent choice) upgrade the System Value first, as this will give you access to a one second cloaking time, as well as causing the Tavara to be invisible to normal Tachyon pings. As lone sharks, these vessels can ensure that no expansion will be safe - not even ones that are defended by a turret or two. Even without the upgrade, the Tavara has a very strong hull, and can effortlessly slip into the shadows in the midst of battle. Mijural gets access to two Tavaras, while Helev is limited to a single vessel.

The Rei'karansu Covert-Ops team special ability (researched at the Tal’Shiar Academy) grants you the capability of transporting 75 marines to any enemy vessel - with or without shields - without even lowering your own shields. Obviously, this unprecedented capability to capture all destroyers, and many cruisers in a single usage is quite powerful. Although the ability is expensive, it is well worth the cost and should be researched as soon as possible. The ability will not draw crew from the Tavara's own pool.

Romulan Special Stations

Intelligence Center

This building is the only station in Fleet Operations that can gain experience. It will rank up after great use of the Sleeper Agent special abilities. When it reaches officer rank you will gain a new ability which allows you to spy on all of your opponent’s fleets and bases for roughly one second.

As mentioned previously, the Intelligence Center has two abilities. For one supply, the Sleeper Agent plants a spy aboard your opponent's stations and vessels which in and of itself does no damage. It does, however, grant you the units line of sight, which is an enormous strategic boon for determining where your adversary's fleets are. For six supplies, the Saboteur Agent on the other hand activates one of the Sleeper Agents and causes the infiltrator to attempt to damage the hull of the vessel or station. Although a station cannot get rid of a Sleeper Agent, any vessel can remove the effect of an agent by repairing (or using the Refresh Cycle ability for Borg units).

The Sleeper Agent ability is useful at all stages due to the intelligence it provides, and the Sabotage ability can be quite useful to destroy your opponent's destroyers outright, as well as damage your opponent's larger ships so that they will be forced to repair or face destruction upon the battlefield. You are limited to one Intelligence Center and its construction precludes you from building a Cloaking Generator.

Cloaking Generator

Since the Cloaking Generator does not require any special research to be used, it can be quite useful due to its ability to cloak all structures (and Romulan freighters) save the Singularity Generator that are not researching or building units - without dropping their shielding. You may queue up research or build units once the cloak is active. Defense Batteries automatically and permanently cloak when the Cloaking Generator is constructed. You are limited to one Cloaking Generator and its construction precludes you from building an Intelligence Center.

This structure can thus be helpful in a few critical situations. Although freighters only have enough energy to cloak for 13 seconds, this gives just enough time to retreat these vessels from your main base mining to the comfort of your own Starbase, especially if you have not been actively scouting for hostiles, or a few cloaked vessels decide to prey on your resource capabilities. Likewise, the Mining Colony can cloak for 33 seconds, which will often give you enough time to send warships to protect your assets. Even if you lose your mining vessels at your expansion, this capability can allow you to save that expensive station - it takes time and resources to send a constructor to initiate rebuilding. Similarly, other stations can remain cloaked for extended periods of time, which can give you valuable opportunities to defend yourself without losing a critical piece of infrastructure when harassed.

Likewise, when facing the Borg’s Devastating Attack or the Remore’s Precision Volley for instance (both of which destroy shields very quickly), the Starbase and any other cloaked defenses will continue being able to fire (and will remain cloaked) because your opponent’s units will not be able to target the cloaked structure (unless of course a mobile cloak detect is used). Using the Cloaking Generator wisely is not so much about hiding from your opponents, but using its capabilities to provide you enough time to send your fleet to where it is needed and to prevent effective harassment against your weak miners and refineries. Similarly, if you are just too far away to get back to defend your base (and are busy crushing your enemy's own mining), the Cloaking Generator allows you to waste your opponent's time, as he or she will have to either wait for each station's cloak to expire, or use valuable cloak detection systems on the affected units.

Romulan Turret System

Singularity Generator

Slowly regenerates the special weapon energy of all nearby allied Romulan units, even while cloaked. This can come very much in handy for helping out units which rely heavily on special weapons to survive, such as the Rhienn's Phase Plates ability. The station itself has a high defense, but is rather expensive, making it difficult to justify using it at expansions unless you are using it as a forward base with a shipyard.

Obtainable at the Research Institute, the Singularity Implosion shuts down the Singularity Generator for over a minute but recharges the special weapon energy of allied vessels in its vicinity. Any damaged Defense Batteries will be returned to full shield strength as well. This is best purchased if you plan on building multiple Singularity Generators in the same location, as it can allow you to quickly power up any depleted Romulan vessels. Of course, it can also be used as a last ditch defensive maneuver, and thus it is wise to purchase this ability if you think that you will need to rely on ships that only slowly regenerate their special  weapons energy.

Defense Battery

The Romulan defense turret, this vessel uses special weapons energy to fire and comes fully charged. This means that Helev may fire 8 shots and Mijural's may fire 16 shots before requiring a recharge. As a consequence, these turrets may be built to provide some discouragement to the first harassment bout without additionally constructing a Singularity Generator. They have decently powerful attack and defense, but to get the most out of these turrets it is wise to build a Singularity Generator. The Defense Battery can be upgraded to fire artillery range Projectile Weaponry, which will deal increased damage to units with a defense of less than 20 with no penalty against larger sized units, thus increasing the longevity of these turrets in later game stages.

Similarly, the Prefabricated Components research at any Romulan yard permanently drops the supply costs of Defense Batteries to zero. To earn its keep, building at least two additional Defense Batteries is necessary. Since the research is very long and you are unlikely to be making a myriad of these turrets, it is generally unwise to research it as it will simply prevent you from building additional vessels.