NOVA Squadron Radio – Episode 8 “Wave 1 Review: Part 2 and Doug Kinney Interview”

Welcome to NOVA Squadron Radio! This week we are rejoined once again be Sean and Major Juggler as we finish our review of Wave 1: The Imperials! We kicked off the show by discussing what we have been flying lately, and then moved on to some news including Wave 5 not being available for Worlds and Rebel Aces. We then did the Imperial side of our Wave 1 Review, and close out the show with an amazing interview with 2012 World Champion, Doug Kinney!

NOVA Squadron Radio is:
Ed Horne – Host
Kris Soehnlin – Co-Host and NOVA Squadron founding member
Ronald Brannan – Co-Host and NOVA Squadron founding member
Chad Brown – Co-Host/Editor

Sean Dorcy – Guest Host
Bob Randall – Guest Host

Here are the show notes from Episode 8:

[0:00 – 1:10] Show Opening

[1:10 – 12:52] The Flightdeck – We discuss the lists we have been playing, league games, and local events!
MNX Twitch Channel http://www.twitch.tv/mnxwing
Outer Rim Smugglers https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvHnCDH9OhDKiIt8zHuRgag

[12:52– 26:05] The News:
2014 Worlds Tournament Update: http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=5083
Join the Aces: http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=5081

[26:05 – 1:32:45] Main Topic: Wave One Reviews: Part 2- Imperials!

-Major Juggle Recaps the Rebel side of Wave 1

-The TIE Fighter and all its upgrades
-The TIE Advance and all its upgrades

[1:32:45 – 2:13:20] Tactical Readouts: 2012 World Champion, Doug Kinney
Let ‘Em Fly Campaign http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/110555-let-em-fly-campaign-support-our-troops/#entry1150502

[2:13:20 – 2:14:50] Show Closing

Musical Credits go out to the band ‘Insane Ride’ and their songs ‘Sound of Rock and Roll’ and ‘Wrong or Right’ found on the Free Music Archive at http://freemusicarchive.org/

Thanks for listening, and talk to you again in two weeks!

Here is the link: http://novasquadronradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/NOVA_Squadron_Radio_Episode_08_final.mp3

www.novasquadronradio.com

Awesome! Downloading now, I'll listen on the way home from work this evening

Perfect for that commute home, for sure!

Doug has seen the scum HWK pilots? Sounded like he had! Also the interceptor-required card!

What's the point of doing reviews on ships that came out 2 years ago?

What's the point of doing reviews on ships that came out 2 years ago?

It's good to review all cards in the current game environment. May as well start there.

NOVA Squadron Radio – Episode 8 “Wave 1 Review: Part 2 and Doug Kinney Interview”

Downloading, can't wait to hear Doug's interview!

What's the point of doing reviews on ships that came out 2 years ago?

Well, hopefully there is some helpful information in there! There are also a lot of new players getting into the game, so reviewing the old ships is good. Feedback is always welcome, we will be doing wave 2 in a couple more episodes, so if you can think of anything that would be good to go over let us know. There is always more MathWing that can be done!

Edit: the math on Howlrunner rerolls is interesting. Quantifying that can help you make better tactical decisions.

What's the point of doing reviews on ships that came out 2 years ago?

It's good to review all cards in the current game environment. May as well start there.

Aside from reviewing ships for new players to the game, which I feel is part of our job at NOVA Squadron Radio, I also feel that with each new expansion to the game changes the way old ships interact with the the current meta. The Y-Wing was all but gone from the meta pre-Wave 4 and they started popping up again. New upgrades can breathe new life into some of the older ships. Plus, some older ship are very much a part of the meta today.

Sun Tzu once said "“Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win”. I feel to have a complete grasp and understanding of this game, and to compete in it at the highest level, one must posses the knowledge of every ship in the game. One must know each ship's offensive and defensive capabilities, and know their strengths and weaknesses. So, when they are faced in a competitive environment, on the battlefield, one is already armed with the knowledge and tactics of how to defeat it. Hense, winning the battle before it starts.

On that note, we plan to review every ship, every expansion, and every upgrade over the next couple of months. It is my hope to help make better and more educated X-Wing players.

That's my short anwser... and thanks for listening!

Always a good listen. I do need to find and listen to the Rebel breakdown for wave one. I seem to have skipped an episode.

Great job guys!

And yes, I am a playtester (you should read the entire inserts more often...) So I do know and have tested the upcoming ships. Looking forward to getting them on the table for real and playing against others and seeing what they can do with their squads.

Great show, guys. I really loved the conversation with Doug Kinney.
I like to say I try to "Fly casual.", but from time to time, I'll have to put on my "try-hard flight suit".

Keep up the great work. . . . And fly casual.

Thanks for all the kind words guys!

Doug, you were an amazing interview! I am really looking forward to next show!

Spoiler Alert! Doug and Paul will be on next time!

I really enjoyed Doug's soapbox moment. It's something that I've been noticing lately and has made these boards less enjoyable. I've been meaning to write up a post about it, but feared I didn't have a strong enough voice and it would simply turn into a flame war. Let's take our first world champs mantra to heart. Truly 'fly casual'. It's just a game. List can be beaten. Fly what you like. Dice even out in the long run, especially if you are using tokens and epts to enhance them. Good luck and have fun.

Yeah, Doug and I had talked about that prior to the interview and he was looking forward to getting the word out on that topic. We have scene it here too, in out forums, where there are some among us who are not too kind to their fellow gamers.

I was just happy to help him get his message out!

Thanks for listening!

I'm sure the show is purposely targeted to the hard-core meta-focused audience. That's your guys' choice. If you care to increase your listener-ship, you might want to consider toning down the meta language and having at least one segment geared toward new players. I had difficulty listening to it as a new player because it comes off as one giant inside joke that only the creators and the competitive community understand. It has a very "unless you play competitively, we're not interested in talking to you" vibe. I know you probably don't intend that (I hope). I just feel it is the responsibility of experienced players to grow games, and if you want to be part of that goal, you can't shut out new players.

Now, I realize I'm probably going to get the "this show isn't intended for noobs" response. That's fine. If you want actual constructive criticism, rather than a pat on the back, there it is for you to decide whether to listen.

Thank you for the feedback. To be honest it was my hope to appeal to both the new X-Wing player and the competitive player as well. We would never want to exclude anyone from the game or the show. I will admit that we lean more toward the competitive and experienced players but did not realize the lean was that far.

We started the show off with reviews on the rules themselves, what the tournament rules were like, and these Wave-by-Wave breakdowns are intended to get the new players up to speed as well as review of the more experienced players. I will admit that it is possible we may have missed the mark some.

So I will take your words to heart my friend, and thank you for the feedback. On that note, what would you like to see different in the show? What is it that you feel we are not doing to appeal to the new player? I will most certainly take any suggestions to try to implement them into our format.

I know you don't know me personally, so I will say that I am very approachable and very open to hear new thoughts and ideas. So hit me with them. If you as a new player felt that the show was not targeted to you, then we missed our mark. Help us correct our aim!

Thanks again, and thanks for listening!

The best segment for new players is by far your ship reviews. You should stand by your decision to review all of them, even though people above disagree. With those reviews, don't lose sight of what the ship is GENERALLY good and bad at, not just in the current meta. A wide segment of players play the game casually. In a casual game, any ship can be good, but they are best in certain roles. Talk about GOOD synergies with upgrades, even if they aren't the BEST synergies in the current meta.

I don't think your stat discussion that accompanied the ship reviews is a bad part of the segment. I have a minor in Stats and I could follow the discussion pretty well, despite not having direct experience with your variables. But most people won't have that experience. At the very least, be sure you define terms that you use. What is jousting efficiency? What are the definitions of the ratios you talk about? When I listen to that, I can figure out where you are coming from, but many people won't, and will just switch it off at that point. I know it takes more segment time to define those things, but with a 2+ hour show I think you could find the time to always define terms.

Podcasts should be very natural in terms of manor of speech. The inherent danger of that is that when you get experienced individuals that are used to speaking the "language" of the game, it is easy for them to forget about the fact that there is a wider audience out there. Keep it natural, but also remember your possible audiences.

All outstanding suggestions! We will definitely take that into account in the future ship reviews.

Looking back, you are right in that we could have done a better job of 'this is what the X-Wing is good at' as opposed to basically dismissing it in the current meta. In future reviews we will keep in mind that not everyone is playing the game at that top competitive level and that casual players could use the information as well.

I really do appreciate the advice. Thank you.

I'm sure the show is purposely targeted to the hard-core meta-focused audience. That's your guys' choice. If you care to increase your listener-ship, you might want to consider toning down the meta language and having at least one segment geared toward new players. I had difficulty listening to it as a new player because it comes off as one giant inside joke that only the creators and the competitive community understand. It has a very "unless you play competitively, we're not interested in talking to you" vibe. I know you probably don't intend that (I hope). I just feel it is the responsibility of experienced players to grow games, and if you want to be part of that goal, you can't shut out new players.

Now, I realize I'm probably going to get the "this show isn't intended for noobs" response. That's fine. If you want actual constructive criticism, rather than a pat on the back, there it is for you to decide whether to listen.

Hi, welcome to the game, and thanks for listening to the show and providing feedback!

I'm just a pseudo-regular on the show now that Ed has graciously offered have me on the show to review ships, but since I'm on, I want to do as good of a job that I can do. I'm new to podcasting, so thanks for the feedback, and if you can think of anything specifically, that would really help!

The goal is really to provide something for both the experienced players and the new players. So, we have room for improvement!

Also, everything that Ed said.

The best segment for new players is by far your ship reviews. You should stand by your decision to review all of them, even though people above disagree. With those reviews, don't lose sight of what the ship is GENERALLY good and bad at, not just in the current meta. A wide segment of players play the game casually. In a casual game, any ship can be good, but they are best in certain roles. Talk about GOOD synergies with upgrades, even if they aren't the BEST synergies in the current meta.

I don't think your stat discussion that accompanied the ship reviews is a bad part of the segment. I have a minor in Stats and I could follow the discussion pretty well, despite not having direct experience with your variables. But most people won't have that experience. At the very least, be sure you define terms that you use. What is jousting efficiency? What are the definitions of the ratios you talk about? When I listen to that, I can figure out where you are coming from, but many people won't, and will just switch it off at that point. I know it takes more segment time to define those things, but with a 2+ hour show I think you could find the time to always define terms.

Podcasts should be very natural in terms of manor of speech. The inherent danger of that is that when you get experienced individuals that are used to speaking the "language" of the game, it is easy for them to forget about the fact that there is a wider audience out there. Keep it natural, but also remember your possible audiences.

I actually think that most of the "definition of terms" was covered, but the episode was so long that we cut out a lot of content, and so it was only available in the "extended" version that is available on afewmaneuvers. So, next episode that I'm on, I will see about defining the basic terms / values that I calculate over for each ship, and why it matters in real games. As you pointed out, what are things like:

• "jousting value" and "jousting efficiency"
• "glass cannon" vs "tank"
• "normalized attack"
• "normalized durability" and its "standard deviation"

None of these are really unique to X-wing, especially the last 3. They actually apply to many strategy games. But it is helpful to define them for people that are new to these concepts, or to miniatures gaming. Target priority in X-wing is (usually) determined by the attacker, not the defender, so concepts like "glass cannon vs tank" are important to understand. For example, most everybody understands intuitively that the TIE Interceptor is a glass cannon, but actually getting tangible comparisons between the ships can be helpful.