My Epic Findings

By hothie, in X-Wing

Would you like to have a game some night on vassal?

Not sure when, but if I can learn a thing or two then that is s good game.

I've never used Imps so I'd like to use them to see how it goes.

Maybe this Wednesday or Thursday with my group I'll give it a try a well

Despite the ability to save games and come back to them later, i fear epic on vassal due to the enormous time commitment. I was planning on taking pics of scrappy and my game, then making a post in the battle reports section and linking it here. Maybe that would help?

I thought you could save games.

Guess not

Ya sure.

I thought you could save games.

Guess not

You can save games. In fact, I started an epic game against silentubiquity just yesterday night. We played 2 turns before saving for later. It helps that we send IMs on google chat - it's going to be very easy to set up the next session.

Edited by Mu0n

You can, its just that I have seen regular dogfight games go 3+ hours on there. I can't even imagine how much time an epic game would take. It would just be a large time commitment, that I'm just not sure I want to try and make. And, I know Mu0n will yell at me, but loading the new vassal mods is such a pain for me. I loaded .12, but have to reload all of the maps, which I haven't done yet. And now there is a newer module out, so I have been avoiding vassal lately.

I thought huge ships moved and fired last?

They set up first.

They move last.

They fire in PS order.

Unless I have been playing it wrong.

They set up as normal during the set up phase so they would go out accordingly to ps.

Unless I missed something in the rule book

And also maybe I am misunderstanding you and this is not what you meant.

The only time they do something different is during the activation phase in which they move after all small and large ships have moved

They also attack as normal

The secondary weapons are only used during the combat phase.

Again unless I misunderstood Juggler's comment.

When they move there is 3 steps.

Gain energy

Allocate energy

Use energy

So the last step is for abilities that require the use of energy, but weapons don't count on this phase.

The secondary weapons header reads "attack [energy]" so this is during the combat phase

Using gas supplies or the ionization reactor can be used during this step.

After which combat begins

Edited by Krynn007

Check the epic rules pdf. I'm certain huge ships set up first. Posting from my phone so I can't link it easily to you.

I have found that regular TIEs are a bad idea in Epic games. If the Huge ships reinforce it become extremely difficult for TIEs to damage them. The named Transport can Reinforce with two tokens, so it is impossible for TIEs in range 2-3 to hurt it so that is very annoying.

Things that rely on arc-dodging are sub-optimal for epic because there is nowhere to go to dodge arcs, usually. I have found that named ships aren't worth it as Imperials because more bodies is better, with a few notable exceptions. A Jonus-led Bomber squad with Advanced Proton Torps and Assault missiles just murders Epic ships and the blast-radius of the Assault Missiles is very large for good splash damage.

You have to focus-fire on those huge ships to bring them down. If the Rebels have a lot of stress-inducing huge ships, bring them down quick. Nothing is worse than flying around with 4 stress tokens.

Krynn, Huge Ships are really set up before small and large ships. I think it's another one of these new changes because it surprised me when I read it last night. I saw it in the epic tournament rules, from July 16th. Check out steps 6 and 7:

6.  Players place any huge ships in ascending order of pilot skill. Each huge ship
must be deployed with at least part of its base touching its player edge.
7.  Players place their small and large ships in ascending order of pilot skill
fully within Range 1–2 of their player edge.

Check the epic rules pdf. I'm certain huge ships set up first. Posting from my phone so I can't link it easily to you.

Ya I'm doing the same thing on my phone lol.

Page 3 of huge ships pdf.

Set up

"huge ships follow all standard set up rules"

That's all it says about that.

The rest just goes on about having the ship set up outside the range one area.

Feel free to check when you can, unless there it is mentioned somewhere else, that's all I see about it

Krynn, Huge Ships are really set up before small and large ships. I think it's another one of these new changes because it surprised me when I read it last night. I saw it in the epic tournament rules, from July 16th. Check out steps 6 and 7:

6.  Players place any huge ships in ascending order of pilot skill. Each huge shipmust be deployed with at least part of its base touching its player edge.7.  Players place their small and large ships in ascending order of pilot skillfully within Range 1–2 of their player edge.

They really should make mention of these things in the rule book.

A player who may not check for this stuff online may go into a game not knowing and when told otherwise of coarse would argue that until shown the correct ruling on another file / thread

Edit

Thanks for pointing that out.

I would not have thought of checking in that pdf to see that ruling.

So I've been doing they wrong lol.

Which actually I think will help my next game because during set up I often think "I wish I could put this out first "

Let's me claim my side of the board before my opponent.

Usually he puts or first since he has a lot of academy pilots

Edited by Krynn007

MajorJuggler, my understanding about the secondary weapons is you allocate energy during the activation phase, then activate the weapons during the combat phase, but I could be wrong. Ill check that when I get home.

MajorJuggler, my understanding about the secondary weapons is you allocate energy during the activation phase, then activate the weapons during the combat phase, but I could be wrong. Ill check that when I get home.

The only time they do something different is during the activation phase in which they move after all small and large ships have moved

They also attack as normal

The secondary weapons are only used during the combat phase.

Again unless I misunderstood Juggler's comment.

Yup, you're right, I stand corrected. Now I know for next time!

Combat Phase
The following sections describe how huge ships operate during combat.
Huge Ship Attacks
During the Combat phase, each huge ship may perform one attack with its
primary weapon and may perform one attack with each of its secondary
weapons. Each attack must be fully resolved before it begins another.
Edited by MajorJuggler

R.I.P.

Here Lies Bakura 83.

He died attempting to read this post.

I will try and read it later and make a real reply, I had no idea how big it was when I clicked it.

Possibly the best post I've ever read. Thanks for the laugh

It seems to me that the transport is definitely worth it. try running a rebel squad without the CR90 but with the transport. dont set it up with slicer tools. stack some comm boosters on there and let it buff your ships and stress theirs. I think it is highly effective. still undecided about the CR90 but 150 points of rebel ships cant be bad. Garven, dutch, a falcon loaded out, perhaps an outrider when it comes along, and some a wings with assault missles to disrupt imp formations, or throw one on the falcon. the imp player may forget you have it, then...bazinga!

Rebels currently have the bet epic piece. Etahn is a wrecking crew in epic. Throw in a transport with just Jan Dadona and it gets crazy. Turning 1 or two of each of your hits into crits causes crazy damage. The rest of the squad is just generic ships. Throw as much pain at the enemy as possible. CR-90 isn't bad, but it takes a bit of luck and not overloading it to make it worth its points. Few ships are worth their points when overloaded so that should be no surprise. One thing that is good with the CR-90 though is anything that pushes its PS up. Roark or one of the EPT's that can bump it higher in the order can be good. Keep it simple and keep your ship numbers high. Do that and epic will be easier.

So, against Scrappy playing this 300 point list tomorrow:

5X Shadow Squadron Pilots
Rexler Brath with HLC
Jonus with Squad Leader
Rhymer with Ion Pulse Missiles and Cluster Missiles
Gamma with Ion Pulse Missiles and Cluster Missiles
Bounty Hunter with Engine and Seismic

I made up this list:

CR90-Fore with Single Turbolasers, Quad Laser Cannons, Gunnery Team, Han Solo (70)
CR90-Aft with Toryn Farr, Quad Laser Cannons, and Backup Shield Generator (or possibly Tibanna Gas Supplies, for use with Toryn) (55) total-125

Corran Horn with FCS (37)
Etahn with Sensor Jammer (36)
Airen Cracken with Vet Instincts ((20)
Dutch with Ion Cannon Turret (28)
Roark with Ion Cannon Turret (24)

Blue with HLC (or Wedge)

Tons of action economy, generally high PS, 299 points, fairly good offense, not a whole lot spent on the CR90, which can shoot early with Roark.

What do you think? Can I pull off a win?

Edited by hothie

Rexlar + Maarek, bane of all Huge ships.

So, against Scrappy playing this 300 point list tomorrow:

5X Shadow Squadron Pilots

Rexler Brath with HLC

Jonus with Squad Leader

Rhymer with Ion Pulse Missiles and Cluster Missiles

Gamma with Ion Pulse Missiles and Cluster Missiles

Bounty Hunter with Engine and Seismic

I made up this list:

CR90-Fore with Single Turbolasers, Quad Laser Cannons, Gunnery Team, Han Solo (70)

CR90-Aft with Toryn Farr, Quad Laser Cannons, and Backup Shield Generator (or possibly Tibanna Gas Supplies, for use with Toryn) (55) total-125

Corran Horn with FCS (37)

Etahn with Sensor Jammer (36)

Airen Cracken with Vet Instincts ((20)

Dutch with Ion Cannon Turret (28)

Roark with Ion Cannon Turret (24)

Blue with HLC (or Wedge)

Tons of action economy, generally high PS, 299 points, fairly good offense, not a whole lot spent on the CR90, which can shoot early with Roark.

What do you think? Can I pull off a win?

I don't know about the single turbo; shooting at R3-5 is nice, but will you be able to hit anything?

Consider a weapons engineer for the corvette; it works really well on that ship since it can make multiple attacks per turn. Also works well with Dutch. I suggest dropping the gunnery team in favor of the weapons engineer. Sensory team might also work well if you're trying to maximize the use of TL and/or you keep the single turbo.

I usually like Corran but I feel like he's not living up to his potential in Epic, because it's less likely he can dodge out of arcs on the turn after he triggers his ability. And he could get focused down easier before the end phase.

Maybe you should switch him out for his Rogue Squadron buddy Wes Janson. Wes is great against bombers because he can take away target locks before the bombers have a chance to shoot the missiles/torps. He can really de-fang them before they bloody your corvette. Toryn is also great for this, of course.

Yeah, I was wondering about Corran, honestly. I'll tweak and look at it more.

Okay, how about this:

CR90-Fore with Single Turbolasers, Quad Laser Cannons, Gunnery Team, Sensory Team, Weapons Engineer (75)
CR90-Aft with Toryn Farr, Quad Laser Cannons (52) total-127

Wes Janson with Vet Instincts (30)
Etahn with Sensor Jammer (36)
Airen Cracken with Vet Instincts ((20)
Dutch with Ion Cannon Turret (28)
Roark with Ion Cannon Turret (24)

Wedge with Opportunist and R2 Astromech (34)

I found too many ships with synergy can go down fast when you lose one.

Try gunnery team, but I think you'll find its not worth the points.

I like sensory team with Han and weapons engineer.

Especially with dutch once he can target lock.

The single turbo lasers I found for dmg output not all that great.

Definitely made for low agility ships, but even then when you roll like I do sometimes with them makes me wonder if they are really worth it

I've tried using Cracken before in epic play but I find he dies way to fast. Just like a Bandit Squadron Pilot.

I also find that you almost need engineer team in there. You'll find you go through energy pretty fast and to get that extra one when you do a straight maneuver helpful.

If your opponent focus fires on the Tantive you'll be using your energy next round to regen shields.

Which may or may not leave you with much to allocate to weapons.

I also like to have the gas supplies on there because they are great when your low, and or want to do a 2 bank or 4 straight but worried about not gaining enough energy.

Edited by Krynn007

thanks hothie! cool breakdown!

Would you ever recommend opportunist?

And do you see any use of ints or t/fs?

--

also, would making the board 6x6 help at all? When we played epic small ships on a 6x5 table it seems to create real multiple theaters of combat and felt more like being a true general.

But that being said, all of these same elements apply to the imperials as well. So it goes both ways. I think huge ships starting with energy has made them much more playable.

Wait, sorry, did they edit the rules so that huge ships start with energy?

Yes, they did. Huge ships start at filled energy. The upgrade cards which can also store energy are empty in the beginning, though.

I remember hearing about this, but I'm not sure where this rules change is black-on-white (or black-on-blueish-hue). Could someone direct me to the rule? I'm flipping through the 2.1 FAQ, and I'm not seeing it.

On an other note, I wonder if the epic ships suffer because we play so much more with the non-huge ships, that we're generally much more skilled with the non-huge ships. I also think that the Transport is really the hidden gem here because it's so cheap. Also, I think that Darthfish may be right about the slicer tools. They sound so awesome, because they're the one thing that can deal direct no-dice-rolled damage. But energy and actions are really at a premium with the Transport. That said, a Transport+Slicer Tools flying close to Lando or Cracken might be a real beast.

Edited by Mikael Hasselstein

I remember hearing about this, but I'm not sure where this rules change is black-on-white (or black-on-blueish-hue). Could someone direct me to the rule? I'm flipping through the 2.1 FAQ, and I'm not seeing it.

Huge ships now start with full energy. Page 2, point number 8 in the Squad Deployment section of the Epic rule PDF.

That said, a Transport+Slicer Tools flying close to Lando or Cracken might be a real beast.

Huge ships cannot take free actions. It's in the huge ship insert that comes with them.