I'd like to see a writeup from the guy who ran the fortress. Maybe i'm not as bright as I fancy but I don't see how that list actually works. I don't understand draw thier fire on wedge or what cracken is doing hanging around with naked x wings which seem to me like the rebel ships least optimized to working along side him. Whenever i run kraken i prefer him with B's or sometimes A's, ships where late round actions benefit them, only way i'd pair him with x's would be if R5p9 or R7's were involved

DTF is on Wedge, as Wedge has R2-D2, so the crit that he pulls away from Biggs hits a shield and regenerates.

Cracken is in the fleet to give someone an action, as they're all colliding instead. He's great in a Fortress.

Richard's list wasn't a fortress list. It was a tactic he had up his sleeve for a desperate situation but that list normally flies classic Wave I style.

I've written numerous threads about fortressing and it is now becoming more of an issue with widespread attempts at viability. I hope someone does come up with a combination that leads FFG to make a change.

I myself have also being studying this formation. I am toying with 4 B with crew list but it is still experimental. I am curious to what else people come up with.

Bottom line the original, with pilots chosen, was really quite good in its own right. Hard to improve upon the original.

I didn't see what the XXXX's pilots were, sadly. What were they?

XXXZ actually

Wedge R2D2 DrawFire

Craken VI

Biggs

Rookie

To make a run for "ultimate fortress build", here's my take:

Colonel Jendon

-Adv. Sens.

-ST-321

-HLC

-Hull Upgrade

Rear Admiral Chiraneau

-Dauntless

-Rebel Captive

-Tactical Jammer

Total 95 points

It's a strong initiative bid at 95.

Setup is this: pick a corner. Set up the Lambda in the corner, angled 45 degrees so that its arc covers both edges of the game area. First turn, do a 0.

Set up the Decimator so that a 3-turn will make it kiss the Lambda.

You now have a setup where the Lambda and the Decimator will do 1 Forward all day and not budge, with the Lambda rolling 2 evade dice for almost every attack and 4 attack dice on all its shots, and no vulnerability on the backside. No blind spots from the Decimator, who is fed TLs from Jendon, plua a partial focus from his ability.

Weapons Engineer and Gunner are good alternative choices for crew, too.

Dauntless title might be omitted because 1 Forward is not green for the Decimator, so it should be used only in reserve.

Killing the Lambda means the Decimator likely flies off the board, but killing the Lambda may prove difficult with Tactical Jammer in the way.

I really hope this "strategy" doesn't become widespread. For casual play anyway, if I'd see my opponent start the game this way, I think I would just say something like: OK, you win. Can we start over and actually play now?

If the player with initiative is doing the fortressing, then I guess it isn't as bad. He's just really forcing the other to get closer and engage first. But without initiative, it can lead to a very long and boring match (like the one at Worlds).

Somewhere in a galaxy far far away a little x-wing just died!

I find it extremely disheartening to find a thread on optimising this tactic. Hope this remains a theoretical discussion or for use in your own casual games. Proliferation of this in any level of tournament will (in my humble opinion) be very bad for the game, forcing the designers to outlaw it in some way and as Alex D said the cure can often end up being worse than the disease.

I don't think you have too much to worry about. There's a reason that only 1 guy did it in 1 game out of hundreds played at World's. Most of these fortress lists that people are talking about will only work against phantoms and then only when you fortress. If you practice a few times against it you can see how it would just fall apart most of the time.

To make a run for "ultimate fortress build", here's my take:

Colonel Jendon

-Adv. Sens.

-ST-321

-HLC

-Hull Upgrade

Rear Admiral Chiraneau

-Dauntless

-Rebel Captive

-Tactical Jammer

Total 95 points

It's a strong initiative bid at 95.

Setup is this: pick a corner. Set up the Lambda in the corner, angled 45 degrees so that its arc covers both edges of the game area. First turn, do a 0.

Set up the Decimator so that a 3-turn will make it kiss the Lambda.

You now have a setup where the Lambda and the Decimator will do 1 Forward all day and not budge, with the Lambda rolling 2 evade dice for almost every attack and 4 attack dice on all its shots, and no vulnerability on the backside. No blind spots from the Decimator, who is fed TLs from Jendon, plua a partial focus from his ability.

Weapons Engineer and Gunner are good alternative choices for crew, too.

Dauntless title might be omitted because 1 Forward is not green for the Decimator, so it should be used only in reserve.

Killing the Lambda means the Decimator likely flies off the board, but killing the Lambda may prove difficult with Tactical Jammer in the way.

If you do truly stick the shuttle in the corner, I don't think its likely the Decimator will fly of the board, I think it will.

Really all the opponent has to do is chew through the 11 hitpoints of the shuttle and its all over. It will be tricky to kill the shuttle but 11 hitpoints even with 2-3 agility die isn't a whole lot.

If I ever have the bad fortune of flying against a fortress build, I'll just fly my ships in the other corner and wait for the timer to go out.

If fortressing becomes a thing, FFG might be forced to implement a similiar rule as the threefold repetition rule in chess (which results in a draw). Maybe something along the line of if a player's ships has not moved in 3 turns and no shots have been fired during that period then the player with moving ships has the option of declaring the game a draw.

Really all the opponent has to do is chew through the 11 hitpoints of the shuttle and its all over. It will be tricky to kill the shuttle but 11 hitpoints even with 2-3 agility die isn't a whole lot.

Still...that's 11 HP to get through, with 4 attack dice from the Shuttle, plus 3-4 from the Decimator. Is it that straightforward? Depends on what you bring, I guess.

The problem with this build is, I have a not-so-great imagination. I thought it would be trivial to park the shuttle at an angle where the Decimator could bump right on top of it, but that's not the case. I did some Vassal work.

It takes two turns to get the Decimator in position, by my best estimate, or you won't have a great position for Tactical Jammer to work; and the Shuttle requires a bump before its movement on the second turn, so its 0 cannot work so well.

Even then, the alleys remain free from the Shuttle's arcs, so it's not as ideal as I pictured.

How about just 4 blues with advS?

Pretty good in or out of a fort.

Because the most important part of a list is a horrible pun in the name, Biggs Whacks the Dogs.

Static strategies broadcast not only your intent, but your planned positioning to your opponent.

It's easy to see coming, and you've got time to plan on what to do. Often...the only thing "to do" is sit in the opposing corner until time is called or your opponent gets bored.

That or attempt to break the formation...but in doing that you're playing the fortresser's game...so it's on you if you lose.

Fortress beats noobs. There, I said it. I fail to see what the fascination is.

Ooh, can I add fuel to the fire?

Okay well I already posted a thread about fortress builds but it got overshadowed and buried by the last 30+ page thread about this. So well I was doing more of a YT thing.

So these are 2 of the builds I have came up with.

1st one (Falcon Heavy)

• Chewbacca + C-3PO + Luke Skywalker
• Wild Space Fringer + HLC + Outrider + Mercenary Co-pilot + Shield Upgrade

Now while the falcon is sturdy as ever and has firepower the smaller YT-2400 seems a little exposed with a low pilot skill and of course the range 1 blind spot. Hopefully Luke (crew) can cover that.

2nd one (more focus on YT-2400)

• Lando Calrissian + Determination + C-3PO
• Leebo + HLC + Outrider + Saboteur + Shield Upgrade.

Now took a bit of firepower out by removing luke however I make up with higher pilot skill and an action. As for Leebo he adds a little more survivability and the saboteur can cover the range 1 blind spot as long as I have a focus token courtesy of Lando Calrissian.

My problem with the large-based ship fortresses is the substantially larger area of non-overlapping firing arcs. That's part of the reason that the XXXZ build sparked this interest in me.

If fortressing becomes a thing, FFG might be forced to implement a similiar rule as the threefold repetition rule in chess (which results in a draw). Maybe something along the line of if a player's ships has not moved in 3 turns and no shots have been fired during that period then the player with moving ships has the option of declaring the game a draw.

I'm not convinced FFG is worried about it at all since there are plenty of elegant and easy solutions like this that would have zero effect on the rest of the game play while some actually could deepen it strategically. Since their only solutions so far have been "cure worse than the disease" I don't think they've really put much brainpower towards it yet (well maybe in the past week now or so).

Lando 44

Tactical Jammer 1

Draw Their Fire 1

Biggs 25

R2-D2 4

2x Bandits 24

Total 99

Free actions and a little bit of regeneration to split up your opponent's attack. Tactical Jammer for giving Biggs cover. 99 points to make it a little bit less likely that you need to abandon it.

This is the small ship fortress that caused the all the controversy at worlds. This player did not have initiative and it was an elimination game. He was playing his roommate and phantom + mini tie swarm and felt that to joust it would be bad. He popped out of the formation with 5 mins left and killed a tie to take the win. The tie player rolled 3 blanks followed by 4 blanks to lose the tie fighter. If he hadn't he would have won.

Fortressing is still a valid strategy to play, just not a very thematic one. Having ships use the parking brake for a near entire match goes against the idea of what the game is supposed to be. It is, however, not unsportsmanlike conduct to use it. High level play involves using all available strategies, including the rarely seen or stranger ones.

Remember, if both players could use it, it's a valid strategy. It just isn't a fun game to watch.

This is the small ship fortress that caused the all the controversy at worlds. This player did not have initiative and it was an elimination game. He was playing his roommate ...

That's an important piece of information. I suppose both players knew before the game whether or not the other player considers that strategy bad sportsmanship. I'd like to know if those two players practiced fortressing against each other earlier?

This is the small ship fortress that caused the all the controversy at worlds. This player did not have initiative and it was an elimination game. He was playing his roommate ...

That's an important piece of information. I suppose both players knew before the game whether or not the other player considers that strategy bad sportsmanship. I'd like to know if those two players practiced fortressing against each other earlier?

They didn't. from what i read, the roommate and imperial player was actually considerably upset.

Here is one more thing.

Those of you out there that think this is an actual problem or bad sportsmanship that needs to be reigned in....

...you guys need to go watch that interview with Alex Davy.

He addresses this whole issue very eloquently and with a designers stance that I agree with 110%. He goes on to explain how this isn't really a problem right now but the designers are watching it and it IS on the radar in case it actually BECOMES a real problem. He also mentions how in high level tournament play these things can happen and that it is just because good players know the rules...and in some cases know how to best take advantage of them. Boring game? Perhaps, but well within the rules.

Go watch that interview. One of the designers responsible for this game that we all love so much. He might know what he's talking about.

This is the small ship fortress that caused the all the controversy at worlds. This player did not have initiative and it was an elimination game. He was playing his roommate ...

That's an important piece of information. I suppose both players knew before the game whether or not the other player considers that strategy bad sportsmanship. I'd like to know if those two players practiced fortressing against each other earlier?

They didn't. from what i read, the roommate and imperial player was actually considerably upset.

Link, source, or just gossip ?

Either way, what about if we stop turning this thread into another discussion about what you think about the player who uses that kind of tactics and continue with what the OP started ?

This is the small ship fortress that caused the all the controversy at worlds. This player did not have initiative and it was an elimination game. He was playing his roommate ...

That's an important piece of information. I suppose both players knew before the game whether or not the other player considers that strategy bad sportsmanship. I'd like to know if those two players practiced fortressing against each other earlier?

They didn't. from what i read, the roommate and imperial player was actually considerably upset.

Link, source, or just gossip ?

Either way, what about if we stop turning this thread into another discussion about what you think about the player who uses that kind of tactics and continue with what the OP started ?

Yay!

So, after refining my ideas, I've determined that the "Ideal" fortress includes at least 1 small-ship, as the gap between arcs of Large ships is just too large.

I'm a bit fascinated with the idea of Interceptors doing it, honestly, as they can EXPLODE out of the fortress, and the initial dice at Range 4 are usually going to be in their favor (4 greens, and 3 reds)

I brought up the small ship fortress for a couple of reasons:

- Fortress builds can include them, it isn't the norm but was a new idea for me.

- It was a recent event, having occurred at worlds. It might start to show up more frequently in tournaments.

I wonder if someone tried to camp 4 Y-wings with ion turrets near the corners and edge would work?

Gold + ion turret x 2 = 46

Gold + ion turret + hull x 2 = 52

98 points total

I brought up the small ship fortress for a couple of reasons:

- Fortress builds can include them, it isn't the norm but was a new idea for me.

- It was a recent event, having occurred at worlds. It might start to show up more frequently in tournaments.

I wonder if someone tried to camp 4 Y-wings with ion turrets near the corners and edge would work?

Gold + ion turret x 2 = 46

Gold + ion turret + hull x 2 = 52

98 points total

Problem is that it deals very poor damage at extreme range, which is easy for an opponent to exploit.

Ion Cannons would definitely be something to consider, though.

I brought up the small ship fortress for a couple of reasons:

- Fortress builds can include them, it isn't the norm but was a new idea for me.

- It was a recent event, having occurred at worlds. It might start to show up more frequently in tournaments.

I wonder if someone tried to camp 4 Y-wings with ion turrets near the corners and edge would work?

Gold + ion turret x 2 = 46

Gold + ion turret + hull x 2 = 52

98 points total

Problem is that it deals very poor damage at extreme range, which is easy for an opponent to exploit.

Ion Cannons would definitely be something to consider, though.

with the 4 Y or 3Y builds i find flying them close together as a mobile firebase makes them better than any stationary fortress anyway.