I just don't see why one is needed here.

It's not that he doesn't get the rule. He just doesn't think it's balanced and wants FFG to take a look at it. Which seems completely fair to me.

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.

And as I've said... I understand where you are coming from, but I want FFG to visit this issue and see if they feel it is balanced. If I have concerns, then they might as well once someone has pointed it out to them. For all I know, they didn't think about Homing Missiles when creating this action.

Personally, I feel the Assault Missile (or some sort of missile) should be extra effective against Huge (and possibly Large) ships. According to the Assault Missile card, the weapon was designed to be used against Huge ships in the first place!

Not that this is the rules clarification forum, but the transport doesn't roll defense dice unless it's obstructed or at range. Homing missiles directed at the reinforced section not through an asteroid will deal straight damage -1 (2 with the title on fore section). How is that imbalanced?

More on topic, I was amazed during our club's first run of an epic team game with the transport at how they seemed insistent on attacking it head on instead of flanking or sideswiping it...even after the first wave of ships repainted the transport's prow.

even after the first wave of ships repainted the transport's prow.

Because next time it will work **** it!

I think many people are stuck in jousting mode, so they fly at the transport the same way.

Its by all means OK for him to submit the question, no one should berate him for that. Personally though I believe it clearly written. If we use past examples we can see that the wording is like that for a reason. Let's take dark curse and marksmanship. It isn't a focus token but changes the dice similar to focus, yet dark curse is affected by it, why? Because its not a focus token, it is another ability similar in function. So if we use this as a reference for the evade granted by reinforce to an evade token, we can see that even though they are similar they are different for triggering effects.

More on topic, I was amazed during our club's first run of an epic team game with the transport at how they seemed insistent on attacking it head on instead of flanking or sideswiping it...even after the first wave of ships repainted the transport's prow.

My experience was more or less the same. The instinct to joust is strong.

Why not just run clusters instead? 2 extra attack dice and you saved a point per missle.

If it helps, think of it like this... reinforce isn't about "evading" attacks, it's more like putting extra power to front/rear shields making it harder for you to punch through them... homing missiles wouldn't change anything about that.

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.

Ding ding ding

If it helps, think of it like this... reinforce isn't about "evading" attacks, it's more like putting extra power to front/rear shields making it harder for you to punch through them... homing missiles wouldn't change anything about that.

Ding ding ding

But I like the image of my Transport Bunny Hopping lasers at range 3.

That feeling when you want to read a thread about strategy and instead it turns into pages and pages of semantic arguments.

I don't even think you could qualify any of that as an actual argument. One party just wants the card to say something different.

Meh. They're all back-and-forthing about something I don't care about because I can already see how the rules state it. The important thing is that no one is talking about tips for fighting huge ships anymore. Since I've not yet had the pleasure, that's what I came here to read. Not watch someone be unwilling to let go of a misconception, blatant as it may be.

even after the first wave of ships repainted the transport's prow.

Because next time it will work **** it!

I think many people are stuck in jousting mode, so they fly at the transport the same way.

More on topic, I was amazed during our club's first run of an epic team game with the transport at how they seemed insistent on attacking it head on instead of flanking or sideswiping it...even after the first wave of ships repainted the transport's prow.

My experience was more or less the same. The instinct to joust is strong.

That feeling when you want to read a thread about strategy and instead it turns into pages and pages of semantic arguments.

Okay, so let's talk strategy (and for the parts of this that are rehashed, I apologize). So far, it seems, a lot of people have used conventional wisdom in approaching the transport and it has backfired terribly.

You need to understand what the transport's role is in your opponent's list, and its limitations. This may seem obvious (and it's the same in any game), but it's critical in deciding whether or not it needs to be attacked before dead last.

1. The transport is sloooooooow. Imagine you put the transport, an x-wing and an ORS side-by-side and they all do a 1 forward. The x-wing will actually move 2 small base-lengths (1 for the template, 1 for its own base), the ORS will move 3 small base-lengths (1 for its template, 2 for its base), and the transport will move (drumroll) 1 small base-length. That's right. A 1-forward on a transport is a nudge. Even their max speed (engine booster + full-speed forward) isn't that impressive. So, if all your opponent has done is build a self-repairing battering ram (something like Bright Hope, Backup Shield Gen, WED Repair, Engine Booster, Combat Refit) then just stay away from it... it won't catch up to your ships unless you let it. Back to our point before, don't be the fly to the transport's windshield.

2. The only ways the transport can deal damage to you are (1) directly via slicer tools (so don't K-turn in front of a transport with that upgrade) or (2) indirectly via Dodonna. In both cases, I would probably try and limit my opponent's ability to use these upgrades efficiently by drawing his escort fighters away. To use slicer tools consistently your opponent will need ways to put stress on you, so he may have bought the jamming upgrades. But if he's doing that then he isn't using any of the transport's other great abilities, and he will be foregoing those to drop maybe a damage or two...and you may be able to nullify that just by staying at R3 of it (there are a lot of maybes in this sentence because it depends on upgrades. When you see the cards you'll understand). For Dodonna, you'll want to draw the fighters out of the transport's aura. Try a wide flanking maneuver so that the escort can't simply coast alongside and defend it, but has to peel off to stop you from tearing new holes in its aft section. Ideally you would want to bring your low PS in to bear on the transport as one wave, and higher PS behind them so they could bring down the escort before your lower PS fighters take fire.

3. Transports can get expensive, especially when your opponent is drunk on power. The transport has a lot of upgrade slots, and maxes out around 70 points currently. If your opponent is spending that many points on it, look at what they have flying around it. Frivolous upgrades are no different at 300-400 points than they are at 100 (yes, fly casual, but fly functional) so their escort is going to pay the price. If you bring can overwhelm the escort first, then cleaning up the transport won't be a problem. I mentioned sweeping flanking maneuevers, but it's relevant here too: the transport doesn't turn, it fishtails. If you can come around behind and draw off it's escort then you may have neutralized the transport if it is deadset on coming around to face you (which takes several turns, limits energy generation and you will be long gone by then). Basically you'd be flying your full list against part of their list, and that's a favorable position to be in.

4. Back on the topic of gluttonous transports, let's talk about actions. The transport can use any number of energy abilities (which all come from upgrade cards) and ONE action per turn. It has four useful actions built in, and a number of its upgrades give it more action choices. Think of it like an A-wing or Interceptor in that regard. However, it cannot EVER use more than one of those actions per turn. No elite pilot skill for PTL, and it can't receive free actions or benefit from the action economy in rebel lists with Garven, Dutch, Lando, Kyle, etc. Putting heavy fire into the transport may force your opponent to use an action to recover shields instead of whatever else he wanted to do next round. And to maximize slicer tools he/she really needs two rounds of actions (jamming round 1, slicer rd 2). More broadly, you may be able to throw off your opponent's gameplan by forcing him to take actions that don't fit into the transport's designed role just to stay alive, and that makes those upgrades wasted points (ie a win for you).

5. If you decide the transport needs to die, attack it from the side and split your positioning between the fore and aft sections. The transport can only reinforce one (max) so by doing so you can blast away with the group firing at unreinforced section(s) and pick other shots if your opponent has reinforced. Or fire at it anyway, reinforce only blocks 1-2 damage per attack. Oh yeah, I guess I should mention (in case you didn't know) that the transport doesn't get defense dice except from obstacles and R3. An unreinforced section at R1-2 is like firing Wedge at a similar Y/B/Yt/Lambda...it's sickeningly sweet straight damage.

6. The ability to deal face up damage cards to the transport is huge. About the least threatening crits in the deck, in my opinion, are double damage cards. So, things like Marksmanship, Proton Torps, Proton Bombs, Mercenary copilot (dare I say Maarek Steele? let's not get carried away...) all become more interesting. The bombs would be trickiest to use, because of how you would have to engineer placement, but pretty effective nonetheless. Next to crits, the best thing you can do to it is to drop ion tokens on it. Ions mean it doesn't generate as much energy next turn, and energy fuels a lot of what the transport does.

That's all I've got for now. We have another epic game scheduled next Thursday so I may be able to add some further thoughts then.

I have played the entire Hoth campaign solo just for kicks and here's what I found out:

- Targeting priorities should be in the following order sides, rear and lastly front. If multiple ships attack from the side, it nullifies the benefit of reinforcing either part of the ship. It's easier to follow the ship and stay at range 1 if you're coming in behind it and the front is just too risky overall.

- Many critical hits (especially on the back section) are downright nasty! On the defense, I would seriously consider having a pilot with "draw their fire" on standbye to take the hits, especially in the scenarios.

- Repair droid is probably useless in anything except a scenario because it takes an action to use. If you're taking hull or worse, crits, then you'll want to recover shields instead of just cancelling one damage.

- When making your initial attack run, avoid taking pilots with abilities that cannot be used while stressed within jamming range (Vader). Maarek Stele becomes... interesting.

- A navigator is an interesting personel upgrade when moving in a straight line EDIT: crap, I just found out it can't be equipped.

- When piloting the transport, I would consider heading straight towards a Lambda shuttle (provided it's not upgraded for maximum mobility).

- I'll experiment with Biggs, but I bet there's something interesting to do with him and a transport, provided you keep him safelyl between the transport and the edge of the map.

That's what I can think of the top of my head.

Question: if transport reinforces the fore section, can you target the aft section even if the front of the ship is closer?

I"m sure it's explained very well in the rules, but I haven't googled it yet.

It would make it extremely important, as baba mentioned above, to split your force and attack multiple sides/areas of the ship.

Question: if transport reinforces the fore section, can you target the aft section even if the front of the ship is closer?

Yes you can.

Note: Your shot cannot cross the blue line.