9 hours ago, Celestial Lizards said:

Eventually Photoshop will get an upgrade where what you edit becomes real...

Wouldn't they just have to photoshop it happening for it to be upgraded?

10 hours ago, Celestial Lizards said:

Eventually Photoshop will get an upgrade where what you edit becomes real...

I feel sorry for the back issues most celebrity women will be getting from that.

5 hours ago, flyboymb said:

I feel sorry for the back issues most celebrity women will be getting from that.

Not just the women but the men and the children too

*waits impatiently for Gunboat shipping status to change*

When it's reasonable to start asking for veteran/aces pack, with a red Gunboat??

2 minutes ago, Malasombra said:

When it's reasonable to start asking for veteran/aces pack, with a red Gunboat??

After the first official announcement of the expansion pack?

Just now, Odanan said:

After the first official announcement of the expansion pack?

I was hoping for the first DOA comment after it hits the stores...

1 hour ago, Malasombra said:

When it's reasonable to start asking for veteran/aces pack, with a red Gunboat??

Already happened, I think. The moment Maarek Stele wasn't announced as a pilot!

31 minutes ago, FTS Gecko said:

Already happened, I think. The moment Maarek Stele wasn't announced as a pilot!

Mareek Stele Expansion pack, now!

Probably worth starting to figure out pure gunboat squads...

After all, triple T-70s has a 31 page thread, and frankly Gunboat squads have a lot more options.

The simplest squad seems 4 XG1s with advanced SLAM, linked batteries, and flechettes - the result is tough, manouvrable, able to shoot at range 3....and rather toothless because the squad does a maximum of 4 damage per turn unless you can catch someone at range 1 without SLAM-ing.

Beyond that, I'm a bit lost at sea. Their maneuverability is amazing - SLAM with speed 3 turns and the ability to fire whilst on 'weapons disabled' sounds amazing - but whilst it's easy to build a 'control' gunboat with ion pulse missiles, flechette cannons, all the jamming weapons going, or whatever, I'm not sure what the 'standard combat version' should be.

A Cruise Missile/Harpoon Missile boat has a fair kick, but I suspect it's going to come off worst against the high PS missile crowd (Vader, Quickdraw, VI Inquisitor, etc). If you can pack four of them with Long Range Scanners, it might work; losing one isn't the end of the world, and it'd probably take three harpoons on the same target to kill a gunboat with a focus token.

45 minutes ago, FTS Gecko said:

Already happened, I think. The moment Maarek Stele wasn't announced as a pilot!

11 minutes ago, Malasombra said:

Mareek Stele Expansion pack, now!

I agree that a PS8 Maarek Stele was not only set for a future Aces pack, but Soontir Fel PS9 himself will also be included as a Gunboat pilot; now that's an Aces pack!

How about a Maarek Stele that is actually worth taking?

38 minutes ago, Jo Jo said:

How about a Maarek Stele that is actually worth taking?

Manglerek Stele? A Score To Settele?

20 minutes ago, FTS Gecko said:

Manglerek Stele? A Score To Settele?

This

I thought VI Mangler/Flechette Stele..... sweet.

1 hour ago, FTS Gecko said:

Manglerek Stele? A Score To Settele?

Mangler is loathsomely inefficient

The only way he's worth taking is if he's like his defender version, cheaper relative to his ps

3 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

Probably worth starting to figure out pure gunboat squads...

I've been looking at all the generics and both titles, and I think I'm going to try these squads. My hunch is that cannons are best, and Rhos are better than Nus. Also note that from a purism perspective, XG-1 is a real GUNBOAT and OS-1 is a fake MISSILEBOAT.

I like this list for pure cannon spam, but Linked Battery and LRS are somewhat redundant, so I might consider ditching Linked Battery for Flechette Cannon:

Quadruple GUNBOAT (Cannons) (100)

Nu Squadron Pilot (25) - Alpha-class Star Wing
XG-1 Assault Configuration (1), Long-Range Scanners (0), "Mangler" Cannon (4), Linked Battery (2)

Nu Squadron Pilot (25) - Alpha-class Star Wing
XG-1 Assault Configuration (1), Long-Range Scanners (0), "Mangler" Cannon (4), Linked Battery (2)

Nu Squadron Pilot (25) - Alpha-class Star Wing
XG-1 Assault Configuration (1), Long-Range Scanners (0), "Mangler" Cannon (4), Linked Battery (2)

Nu Squadron Pilot (25) - Alpha-class Star Wing
XG-1 Assault Configuration (1), Long-Range Scanners (0), "Mangler" Cannon (4), Linked Battery (2)

This one is pretty much what FickleGreenDice has been suggesting for a while. I like using the spare points for Seismic Torps, because the action efficiency lets you have some free actions to turn rocks into bombs.

Triple GUNBOAT (Cannons) (100)

Rho Squadron Veteran (32) - Alpha-class Star Wing
Crack Shot (1), XG-1 Assault Configuration (1), Long-Range Scanners (0), Heavy Laser Cannon (7), Linked Battery (2)

Rho Squadron Veteran (34) - Alpha-class Star Wing
Crack Shot (1), Seismic Torpedo (2), XG-1 Assault Configuration (1), Long-Range Scanners (0), Heavy Laser Cannon (7), Linked Battery (2)

Rho Squadron Veteran (34) - Alpha-class Star Wing
Crack Shot (1), Seismic Torpedo (2), XG-1 Assault Configuration (1), Long-Range Scanners (0), Heavy Laser Cannon (7), Linked Battery (2)

I think this has potential. The action efficiency is the hard part (that's why I have PTL+ASlam), but then you sacrifice LRS/GC. Luckily you can still use target locks for rerolls with Harpoons.

Triple GUNBOAT (Missiles) (99)

Rho Squadron Veteran (33) - Alpha-class Star Wing
Push The Limit (3), Harpoon Missiles (4), OS-1 Arsenal Loadout (2), Advanced SLAM (2), XX-23 S-Thread Tracers (1)

Rho Squadron Veteran (33) - Alpha-class Star Wing
Push The Limit (3), Harpoon Missiles (4), OS-1 Arsenal Loadout (2), Advanced SLAM (2), XX-23 S-Thread Tracers (1)

Rho Squadron Veteran (33) - Alpha-class Star Wing
Push The Limit (3), Harpoon Missiles (4), OS-1 Arsenal Loadout (2), Advanced SLAM (2), XX-23 S-Thread Tracers (1)

Not sure there's a viable quad-MISSILEBOAT build. This one was the best I could come up with (spoiler: it's bad and SLAM does nothing for you). The one boat with Thread Tracers is a huge target and I've known Tread Tracers to whiff, leaving other ships high and dry. Probably ok for casual games:

Quadruple GUNBOAT (Missiles) (99)

Nu Squadron Pilot (27) - Alpha-class Star Wing
Extra Munitions (2), Harpoon Missiles (4), OS-1 Arsenal Loadout (2), Guidance Chips (0), XX-23 S-Thread Tracers (1)

Nu Squadron Pilot (24) - Alpha-class Star Wing
Extra Munitions (2), Harpoon Missiles (4), Guidance Chips (0)

Nu Squadron Pilot (24) - Alpha-class Star Wing
Extra Munitions (2), Harpoon Missiles (4), Guidance Chips (0)

Nu Squadron Pilot (24) - Alpha-class Star Wing
Extra Munitions (2), Harpoon Missiles (4), Guidance Chips (0)

Edit: forgot to put this in. For full GUNBOAT spam, five of them is in fact possible. I doubt it's good, but after a few tractor beams hit, your enemy has no agility and those 2-dice primaries get a lot scarier. You could put some Jamming Beams in there too, to deny defensive tokens or something.

Quintuple GUNBOAT? (100)

Nu Squadron Pilot (20) - Alpha-class Star Wing
XG-1 Assault Configuration (1), Long-Range Scanners (0), Tractor Beam (1)

Nu Squadron Pilot (20) - Alpha-class Star Wing
XG-1 Assault Configuration (1), Long-Range Scanners (0), Tractor Beam (1)

Nu Squadron Pilot (20) - Alpha-class Star Wing
XG-1 Assault Configuration (1), Long-Range Scanners (0), Tractor Beam (1)

Nu Squadron Pilot (20) - Alpha-class Star Wing
XG-1 Assault Configuration (1), Long-Range Scanners (0), Tractor Beam (1)

Nu Squadron Pilot (20) - Alpha-class Star Wing
XG-1 Assault Configuration (1), Long-Range Scanners (0), Tractor Beam (1)

You forgot Rho Rho Rho Your Boats!

3 with Expertise, Harpoon, title, Slam. Also a variate im testing with HLC, LRS instead.

Honestly I don't know if it would be effective but there needs to be an archetype with a Palpmobile and gunboat escorts called "The Emperor's Nu Clothes"

Rhos (Crackshot linked HLC XGs with LRS) are 32 a pop

Karsabi is 35 with the same loadout

99 points

2 hours ago, MegaSilver said:

You forgot Rho Rho Rho Your Boats!

3 with Expertise, Harpoon, title, Slam. Also a variate im testing with HLC, LRS instead.

Yeah, I took PTL instead of Expertise there for those times you need SLAM+Reload+Target Lock.

And I think I have the HLC LRS (the FickleBoat) version on there.

41 minutes ago, Ktan said:

Honestly I don't know if it would be effective but there needs to be an archetype with a Palpmobile and gunboat escorts called "The Emperor's Nu Clothes"

Maybe before Palp's nerf it could have worked. As it is, he's always been better with a smaller number of extremely-effective/valuable ships. Post-nerf, basically exclusively, as you cannot risk the current method of guessing in advance whether you need him or not for a roll when you are making so many rolls.

Old-Palpy? Maybe 3x Nu w/ XG-1 and Linked Battery (and LRS because why not) - 2 with ion, 1 with flechette, plus the Palp shuttle. Not sure it feels effective enough to use, and building Nus up to the low-30s in points is really only throwing good money after bad.

56 minutes ago, Ktan said:

Honestly I don't know if it would be effective but there needs to be an archetype with a Palpmobile and gunboat escorts called "The Emperor's Nu Clothes"

How's this?

The Emperor's Nu Clothes (100)

Omicron Group Pilot (30) - Lambda-Class Shuttle
Tractor Beam (1), •Emperor Palpatine (8)

Nu Squadron Veteran (24) - Alpha-class Star Wing
XX-23 S-Thread Tracers (1), XG-1 Assault Configuration (1), Long-Range Scanners (0), "Mangler" Cannon (4)

Nu Squadron Veteran (23) - Alpha-class Star Wing
XG-1 Assault Configuration (1), Long-Range Scanners (0), "Mangler" Cannon (4)

Nu Squadron Veteran (23) - Alpha-class Star Wing
XG-1 Assault Configuration (1), Long-Range Scanners (0), "Mangler" Cannon (4)

36 minutes ago, Kieransi said:

Yeah, I took PTL instead of Expertise there for those times you need SLAM+Reload+Target Lock.

And I think I have the HLC LRS (the FickleBoat) version on there.

I meant Expertise/HLC/LRS

59 minutes ago, Kieransi said:

How's this?

The Emperor's Nu Clothes (100)

Omicron Group Pilot (30) - Lambda-Class Shuttle
Tractor Beam (1), •Emperor Palpatine (8)

Nu Squadron Veteran (24) - Alpha-class Star Wing
XX-23 S-Thread Tracers (1), XG-1 Assault Configuration (1), Long-Range Scanners (0), "Mangler" Cannon (4)

Nu Squadron Veteran (23) - Alpha-class Star Wing
XG-1 Assault Configuration (1), Long-Range Scanners (0), "Mangler" Cannon (4)

Nu Squadron Veteran (23) - Alpha-class Star Wing
XG-1 Assault Configuration (1), Long-Range Scanners (0), "Mangler" Cannon (4)

Interesting sir.

Due to the fact that you guys are in the trenches and possibly using proxy, and vassal, etc....

Question for the gunboat-lovers: with cannon boats, why LRS? Yeah, I know it’s a dumb question ?

5 hours ago, clanofwolves said:

Interesting sir.

Due to the fact that you guys are in the trenches and possibly using proxy, and vassal, etc....

Question for the gunboat-lovers: with cannon boats, why LRS? Yeah, I know it’s a dumb question ?

I guess for the alpha strike, so that they reach the first round of combat with focus+target lock.
After that, I have found it not so useful, especially if equipping Linked Batteries. A target lock is better than a linked battery reroll, but a linked battery reroll doesn't cost you one action while you are trying to SLAM to perform another run, and focus to attack/defend.
The gunboat is kind of starved of action economy. Even more if it is a missile boat, that wants to SLAM to get a shot, target lock to be able to fire, focus to be able to modify, and reload to get another shot.
I don't think its aces do anything to mitigate this. Karsabi just lets you fire after SLAM or reload, but without giving you the chance to get actions. Vynder's ability feels just like a placeholder.