Been thinking about this and at first I disagreed with most who suggested that the Tantive for the point cost is just not vialbe enough in an epic game, and instead it's better to field small ships.

I'm now kind of starting to agree with this.

Of coarse I'm sure it's not the same for lots of people, but when your opponent comes at you with 3 shuttles and a firespray with Heavy Laser canons, that's a lot of fire power that can really hinder your tantive. Plus not counting his ties, squints and god knows what else.

In the few epic games I've played I tried fielding the Transport and Tantive, but that didn't leave me with much of an escort so now I'm thinking one or the other.

But still with the Tantive on the board that's roughly 120 points depending on what you have on there, and maybe 6-7 ships to escort it.

Where the imperials are probably coming at you with 12 or more, so that's 2-1.

Now my suggestion. If anyone from FFG maybe reads this I don't know, probably not, but want to say it anyway. See if others agree.

When they come out with the imperial huge ships they should make it mandatory that each side has to field at least one epic ship, up to the max allowed points which is 5.

I just worry that if they didn't and people wanted to play epic in a tournament setting that players will probably just play imps and maybe not use their huge ships in favor of mass numbers.

Why have 1 huge ship at the cost of so many expandable ties?

WHen you can swarm the crap out of the tantive or transport.

As I mentioned I found in games that I've used it, I would find that the imperial player would just out gun me.

The long range shots are nice on the tantive but again it's not easy to hit.

Once it starts taking a lot of damage you then starting using what energy you have to regen shields and not putting it into the weapons, which again it's not attacking.

120 points plus is a lot of points if it's not attacking anything.

At least if it become mandatory for one ship to be in play then the imperials won't be coming at you with 2-1 to your escorts.

Make for some really good battles.

Of coarse we have no idea what their huge ships are, but I have a feeling it'll be costly for what it does.

It'll probably be a beast, but I think it'll cost a little more than the tantive. It will probably have more hull and equal shields and maybe even more hardpoints.

Like I said, I just worry that in epic play in the tournament scene that what if players just decided to go with numbers over using the huge ships?

I mean we have them, it would be nice to use them

The thing is Krynn, it's better to make a ship underpowered then slowly improve and balance it through upgrades than it is to make it so powerful it dominates every game.

As it stands, the Transport is an amazing (and relatively cheap) support ship, but the Tantive isn't quite as effective as a gunboat. That can be attributed to what it is generally facing - the Corvette's main gun and single turbolasers are great against low agility ships, but against the Imperial's 3(+) agility swarms they're nowhere near as effective. Ironically, it's weaponry would be much more effective against Rebel Y's, B's and YTs at present. We'll probably find the Corvette comes into it's own when we see Imperial huge ships (and the Decimator) hit the table.

I've seen some of my FLGS' run Epic play tournaments and campaign weekends, but in general I think the lack of huge ships on the Imperial side of the board has held back epic play so far - once we can field a huge ship or two on the Imperial side of the board we'll see it become a bit more widespread.

EDIT: I'm still of the opinion that FFG should really have made the CR90 usable by both Rebel AND Imperial forces. The Tantive IV is an iconic ship from the OT, and widely recognised as a Rebel ship, but the CR90 Corellian Corvette was historically used by both factions and when you're paying $70 for a ship you really want to be able to use it much as possible.

I understand FFG wanting the two current factions to retain their individuality, but with the more limited (and expensive) options in Epic play, it would have made sense to allow the huge ships to be shared around a bit. No Imperial titles, Imperial upgrades & Imperial pilots in the Tantive pack was a bit of a mistake, in my opinion.

the transport and the tantive are blockers, not firepower

you are bringing to the table a pair of things that can oblirerate anything just by overlapping

that is as powerful as it gets

if you place them correctly the opponent have only 2 options either moving careful and be predictable or moving unpredictably and risky

That can be attributed to what it is generally facing - the Corvette's main gun and single turbolasers are great against low agility ships, but against the Imperial's 3(+) agility swarms they're nowhere near as effective.

No, the corvette's failure as a gunboat is because of its crippling lack of energy. If you take turbolasers you can't shoot them every turn, if you take quads you can't take any maneuver other than a 2-straight or use energy on anything besides your guns. If the corvette's guns didn't cost energy to fire it would be an awesome gunboat.

If you take turbolasers you can't shoot them every turn, if you take quads you can't take any maneuver other than a 2-straight or use energy on anything besides your guns. If the corvette's guns didn't cost energy to fire it would be an awesome gunboat.

You mean if you take three sets of turbolasers you can't shoot them all every turn, and if you take three sets of quads you can't take any maneuver other than a 2-straIght or a 1-bank or use energy on anything besides your guns unless you have an Engineering Team as well, right?

Just trying to cut through the hyperbole here...

I would think that any Epic tourny is going to have rules about a mandatory fielding of ships - otherwise it's not Epic Play, just a big swarm of smaller ones (with the 8 limitation, a few swarms of smaller ships).

The VT is going to be a Tantive killer, and the Turbolasers are going to be aiming at the VT for sure.

From a gameplay point of view, Rather than seeing 400pts with 5 Epic Points, it would be interesting to see: 225pts + 175pts for Epic 5 Value. That sort of says, I must use apprpriate ships.

I also play the (formerly known as) LOTR miniature game, and there is a reason why you have a maximum number of ships you can utilise: It becomes just too cumbersome.

Armada looks like the answer to 'squad play'. That's why I see a breaking up of the ratios (maybe not as I have suggested though) to keep the differentiation between dogfight (which is the selling point of X-Wing and 'big stuff' play.

You mean if you take three sets of turbolasers you can't shoot them all every turn, and if you take three sets of quads you can't take any maneuver other than a 2-straIght or a 1-bank or use energy on anything besides your guns unless you have an Engineering Team as well, right?

Just trying to cut through the hyperbole here...

If people played B-wings the way I usually see Corvettes played, people would be complaining that for some reason Ten Numb + Marksmanship + Advanced Sensors + Heavy Laser Cannon + Proton Torpedoes + Proton Torpedoes doesn't seem to be earning back his cost.

If people played B-wings the way I usually see Corvettes played, people would be complaining that for some reason Ten Numb + Marksmanship + Advanced Sensors + Heavy Laser Cannon + Proton Torpedoes + Proton Torpedoes doesn't seem to be earning back his cost.

Yep. There's no reason to treat the Transport or the Corvette any different from any other ship. There's a shedload of options available to Epic players, but you don't need to use all of them to field an effective ship.

Decide what you want to accomplish with your Epic scale ship, and upgrade it accordingly. Have a plan. Stick to that plan. Profit.

I understand what you guys are saying but don't you feel that for what it does, it just isnt enough.

To say ran your opponent with it is just a poor strategy. The guys I play with are smart enough to stay out of its way.

They are very good a at these type of games and they don't come from just one Angle. It's two or three angles.

Sure the thing is a beast at first but with only 6-7 escorts to fit in he is usually comin with 2-1 and they are not all low PS ships either.

Anyway back to my point

I'm just worried that when they release the new ships for imperial, what if it's like the Tantive and turns out that is better to go in shear numbers instead of one expensive ship.

I do hope they find a way to tweak the Tantive.

One good round of ficus fire and your guns are near useless as your now using all your resources to recharge your shields.

Maybe I'm crazy but I just thought that if they updated the epic tournament ruling that each side has to have one huge ship in play, then that would prevent a player coming at you in shear numbers.

Really what do you guys think?

2 players of equal skill. One playing with the Tantive 300 pt squad and the other imperial just small and large ships, 4-5 of them Ywith heavy Laser canon and couple more with missles.

Who do you think will win?

they don't need a rule telling me to bring a star destroyer. I'm pretty sure I will use it no matter how bad it makes my squad.

Epic is a game that is played for how cool it is to play with and against the huge ships. It is more of a casual game.

I also think it lends itself better to scenarios. People on this forum worry too much about what happens at the world competitions, and if a ship is viable at the highest level. Sometimes we forget that we are meant to just have fun with it.

2 players of equal skill. One playing with the Tantive 300 pt squad and the other imperial just small and large ships, 4-5 of them Ywith heavy Laser canon and couple more with missles. Who do you think will win?

Difficult to see. Always in motion is the future.

People on this forum worry too much about what happens at the world competitions, and if a ship is viable at the highest level. Sometimes we forget that we are meant to just have fun with it.

See, that's absolutely what Epic play should be about. Big ships, crazy battles, the rule of cool, and fun.

Krynn I am with ya

IMO the Vette at a base of 90 pts should have had 2 turrets, 1 long, 1 short range 360 arc, no energy cost. Then it would seem to be more consistent with say 2 Falcons point wise.

Either that or boost energy production or reduce energy or point costs for the hardpoints.

Though I think what they will do (and probably should do) is offer some hardpoints with either more dice or require less energy.