I had my first game with huge ships last night, and it was pretty one-sided. The transports were extremely effective, and I think that had more to do with the way the other side was flying more than how we handled the transports.

Here are some simple do's and don'ts for fighting a transport:

1. Don't automatically try to focus it down first. Transports can be built to be very tanky. They can also be built as very effective support ships, but they are rarely both. Take the transport's build into consideration just as you would any other ship.

2. Don't EVER fly in front of it. Seriously, it will plow through your ships and hardly notice. Give the transport a wide berth, especially in its direction of travel.

3. Split your fire between aft and for section. This helps mitigate the effect of reinforce. Reinforce is a great tanking ability, but can only affect one section. If you split your force to attack both sections, or even better attack from the sides of the transport so you can choose which section you shoot as you make the attack, you can circumvent reinforce easily.

4. Don't attack head-on. The ideal angle of attack is from the side, passing behind the huge ship. This gives you shots at either section, and allows you to pass safely behind the ship after the attack run.

5. When you do decide to take down a huge ship, concentrate all firepower on that ship! The regeneration capacity of huge ships, through abilities and upgrades, is formidable. If you try to chisel away at the health of a GR-75 over the course of several turns, it can regenerate lost shields. If you hammer it down in one pass, it will not have the chance to recover shields.

What do you guys think?

What other tactics can generally be applied to fighting huge ships?

Am I wrong about any of these points?

I haven't faced them yet, but it sounds like even one ship with an Ion cannon can drastically aid you by chipping away at its energy. For every point of energy it doesn't gain, that's a shield it didn't regen or a ship it didn't jam/slice, or a turbo laser that may not have fired.

I haven't faced them yet, but it sounds like even one ship with an Ion cannon can drastically aid you by chipping away at its energy. For every point of energy it doesn't gain, that's a shield it didn't regen or a ship it didn't jam/slice, or a turbo laser that may not have fired.

I agree with everything Baba has said, but I think you can pretty easily manage a tanky support build. Comms Booster is an amazing support card. Between that and being able to action pass the Transport is more than support capable enough.

I haven't faced them yet, but it sounds like even one ship with an Ion cannon can drastically aid you by chipping away at its energy. For every point of energy it doesn't gain, that's a shield it didn't regen or a ship it didn't jam/slice, or a turbo laser that may not have fired.

Hitting with an Ion is about the same as hitting with two hits. On bigger ships with guns they will be more effective, as they will cut away the ability to sustain fire. But on the Transport. Probably not so much. At least not compared to leveraging a 3 dice attack.

I agree with everything Baba has said, but I think you can pretty easily manage a tanky support build. Comms Booster is an amazing support card. Between that and being able to action pass the Transport is more than support capable enough.

My thinking was that in order to Tank well, you need to be performing the reinforce action most turns, forgoing better support actions, and spending energy on recovering shields.

Buying equipment for support and tanking makes an expensive ship, so I wouldn't expect to see them often. You can definitely build a ship that can do both; it's just going to cost you.

Another interesting question with huge ships is how to run their escorts. You have to be wary of colliding, so tight formations are out of the question unless you're supremely confident in your maneuvering. My current thinking is to start the match behind the transport, and as the match develops to move the escorts to whichever side the enemy fighters are massed on to engage them there.

If you start on one side or the other then you may have to cross the freighter to engage, which is dangerous.

I haven't faced them yet, but it sounds like even one ship with an Ion cannon can drastically aid you by chipping away at its energy. For every point of energy it doesn't gain, that's a shield it didn't regen or a ship it didn't jam/slice, or a turbo laser that may not have fired.

Hitting with an Ion is about the same as hitting with two hits. On bigger ships with guns they will be more effective, as they will cut away the ability to sustain fire. But on the Transport. Probably not so much. At least not compared to leveraging a 3 dice attack.

I agree with everything Baba has said, but I think you can pretty easily manage a tanky support build. Comms Booster is an amazing support card. Between that and being able to action pass the Transport is more than support capable enough.

My thinking was that in order to Tank well, you need to be performing the reinforce action most turns, forgoing better support actions, and spending energy on recovering shields.

Buying equipment for support and tanking makes an expensive ship, so I wouldn't expect to see them often. You can definitely build a ship that can do both; it's just going to cost you.

Another interesting question with huge ships is how to run their escorts. You have to be wary of colliding, so tight formations are out of the question unless you're supremely confident in your maneuvering. My current thinking is to start the match behind the transport, and as the match develops to move the escorts to whichever side the enemy fighters are massed on to engage them there.

If you start on one side or the other then you may have to cross the freighter to engage, which is dangerous.

I try to run the Transport behind a pair of tight formations at first. Then split the two formations off and bring the Transport through, splitting my enemy or ramming something as they close in. The last game I played(200 points) Looked like a fish jumping out of water. My opponent split out to the sides, looping around. My escorts followed, and the Transport came up through the middle. Worked fantastically. Didn't lose a ship.

The best way for a Transport to tank is to not be worth the effort to shoot. Chewbacca, a Title, a repair droid, and Comms Booster handles this well. You shouldn't need to reinforce every turn, especially early game, and by the time your opponent is attacking your transport reinforcing will be replaced by shield regenning most of the time. But hopefully you've weakened your opponent to the point getting a good shot in is tough.

I love ionization, my plan to use the transport is to have a squad of y-wings equipped with ion canons and then ionize as many enemy ships as possible to ensure that I know where they are going to be and to break up any formations. The transport then follows up and rams any of the ionized ships.

Reinforce is a cute idea until the Empire brings Bombers loaded with Homing missiles! I'm gearing up for an epic battle tomorrow night. Three players will man a 100 point squad each for the Empire. I'm going to be running a squad against the Huge ship. Here is my list:

x2 Scimitar+Homing+Homing+Proxy

x2 Tempest

I think Epic will be the place the Bombers shine and the Advanced can take advantage of their durability. I might move a missile over to the Tempest though for the possibility of four missiles launched in a single round.

Reinforce is a cute idea until the Empire brings Bombers loaded with Homing missiles! I'm gearing up for an epic battle tomorrow night. Three players will man a 100 point squad each for the Empire. I'm going to be running a squad against the Huge ship. Here is my list:

x2 Scimitar+Homing+Homing+Proxy

x2 Tempest

I think Epic will be the place the Bombers shine and the Advanced can take advantage of their durability. I might move a missile over to the Tempest though for the possibility of four missiles launched in a single round.

Reinforce is not an evade token, it adds a evade result. Homing missiles will not help outside of higher hit %.

Reinforce is a cute idea until the Empire brings Bombers loaded with Homing missiles! I'm gearing up for an epic battle tomorrow night. Three players will man a 100 point squad each for the Empire. I'm going to be running a squad against the Huge ship. Here is my list:

x2 Scimitar+Homing+Homing+Proxy

x2 Tempest

I think Epic will be the place the Bombers shine and the Advanced can take advantage of their durability. I might move a missile over to the Tempest though for the possibility of four missiles launched in a single round.

Reinforce is not an evade token, it adds a evade result. Homing missiles will not help outside of higher hit %.

I agree. Reinforce action works against homing missiles.

Reinforce is a cute idea until the Empire brings Bombers loaded with Homing missiles! I'm gearing up for an epic battle tomorrow night. Three players will man a 100 point squad each for the Empire. I'm going to be running a squad against the Huge ship. Here is my list:

x2 Scimitar+Homing+Homing+Proxy

x2 Tempest

I think Epic will be the place the Bombers shine and the Advanced can take advantage of their durability. I might move a missile over to the Tempest though for the possibility of four missiles launched in a single round.

Reinforce is not an evade token, it adds a evade result. Homing missiles will not help outside of higher hit %.

I agree. Reinforce action works against homing missiles.

I see where you both are coming from, and think you might be right... but its worth submitting to FFG. Personally, I'll be upset if Homing missiles do not cancel Evade effects from reinforce.

Homing missiles only prevent you from spending an evade token. Reinforce does not give you an evade token.

Homing missiles only prevent you from spending an evade token. Reinforce does not give you an evade token.

I see that, and agree. But I think there is a chance that FFG will rule in the favor of the Homing missile. Otherwise, Reinforce as an action could be a bit too powerful. Something has to be the paper to its rock.

Homing missiles only prevent you from spending an evade token. Reinforce does not give you an evade token.

If I'm not mistaken that is exactly what the Reinforce action does.

Homing missiles only prevent you from spending an evade token. Reinforce does not give you an evade token.

If I'm not mistaken that is exactly what the Reinforce action does.

I'm reading it this way too, that Reinforce is an Evade token that doesn't go away until the end of the round. But it still is a TYPE of Evade Token.

Homing missiles only prevent you from spending an evade token. Reinforce does not give you an evade token.

I see that, and agree. But I think there is a chance that FFG will rule in the favor of the Homing missile. Otherwise, Reinforce as an action could be a bit too powerful. Something has to be the paper to its rock.

Well, it's "paper" is that you shoot at the other half of the ship...

Homing missiles only prevent you from spending an evade token. Reinforce does not give you an evade token.

If I'm not mistaken that is exactly what the Reinforce action does.

No it does not.

A reinforce token is not an evade token. It adds an evade result which is not an evade token.

Homing missiles only prevent you from spending an evade token. Reinforce does not give you an evade token.

I see that, and agree. But I think there is a chance that FFG will rule in the favor of the Homing missile. Otherwise, Reinforce as an action could be a bit too powerful. Something has to be the paper to its rock.

Well, it's "paper" is that you shoot at the other half of the ship...

I understand the argument that Reinforce IS NOT an Evade token, and will play as such. I have submitted my question and argument for Reinforce being considered a TYPE of Evade token. I'll post the response when I get it.

I understand the argument that Reinforce IS NOT an Evade token, and will play as such. I have submitted my question and argument for Reinforce being considered a TYPE of Evade token. I'll post the response when I get it.

But you're also not SPENDING your reinforce token. So even if it was a type of Evade token (which btw, there are no other "types" of tokens, just names), you wouldn't spend it to add an evade result, and as such, HM wouldn't deny the use of Reinforce.

Between EM Emitter, Engine Boost, and various Crew choices a Huge ship can make for a very effective support & Tank vessel. Taking it down requires a fully concentrated effort. The night I got my GR a buddy of mine sat down and outlined the possible turn foot prints. The trick for escorts is to stay 1 small base away/behind the blue line. Conversely for attacking ships the best advice I can give you is to stay out at Range 3 in the forward arc and yes, attack the vessel from either the sides or Rear. There is no reverse/k-turn for a Huge vessel so following it's thrusters till it goes down may be predictable but guaranteed to avoid instant death.

I understand the argument that Reinforce IS NOT an Evade token, and will play as such. I have submitted my question and argument for Reinforce being considered a TYPE of Evade token. I'll post the response when I get it.

But you're also not SPENDING your reinforce token. So even if it was a type of Evade token (which btw, there are no other "types" of tokens, just names), you wouldn't spend it to add an evade result, and as such, HM wouldn't deny the use of Reinforce.

I agree; it seems clear that HM have no effect on reinforce's added evade results. For reference:

Huge ship rules: http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/ffg_content/x-wing/support/X-Wing-Huge-Ship-Rules.pdf

Homing Missile: http://xwing-miniatures.wikia.com/wiki/Homing_Missiles

I understand the argument that Reinforce IS NOT an Evade token, and will play as such. I have submitted my question and argument for Reinforce being considered a TYPE of Evade token. I'll post the response when I get it.

But you're also not SPENDING your reinforce token. So even if it was a type of Evade token (which btw, there are no other "types" of tokens, just names), you wouldn't spend it to add an evade result, and as such, HM wouldn't deny the use of Reinforce.

I agree. The wording is there and that's the way I'm playing. But I think I have an argument for a clarification at the very least. Doesn't hurt to attempt to get a rule changed to the way you think it should be. Who knows... FFG could be sitting around right now thinking that everyone is playing it the way I think it should be played and not the way you and others are pointing out. Or, I might get them to change their minds about the wording of Reinforce. One has to knock before a door opens right?

I think, based on what Evade and Reinforce are supposed to represent (jinking your ship extra hard versus adding reinforcements to the shields), that homing missiles are not going to ignore them. Basically, the missile would home in just like it would on a fighter, but it wouldn't cause any extra damage any more than it causes extra damage on a fighter. The reason it ignores evade tokens is because it is too maneuverable for jinking to work, but as the Transport doesn't jink when it's using a Reinforce token, it wouldn't be affected by the homing missile's ability.

If they meant it that way stone.... why did they word it so clearly the other way?

If they meant it that way stone.... why did they word it so clearly the other way?

Yeah, the way Stone is wording it would mean homing missiles basically ignore evade rolls, because that's the same thing, an evade effect.

I don't mean to sound mean, he has every right to get a clarification... I just don't see why one is needed here.