<Disclaimer: I have never played Epic>

A common complaint I hear from people is that the CR90 just does not make up its points, and never has enough energy to be effective. The common rebuttal is it's being played wrong and you can't just blast away with all your guns each turn.

So, how do you fly it effectively?

Note: I'm not asking for builds, I'm asking... What is the approach (do you fly in and maximum speed or go slow), how many weapons do you fire per turn, do you have a firing turn, then a non-firing turn? how do you make the beast awesome?

I'm not asking for builds

With the CR-90 you can't actually neglect this. It's a highly customisable ship (and well should be for 90 points off the bat) and how you command it (I think it's a little big for the word "fly") depends entirely on its upgrade loadout.

a: decide the range you want your CR90 to fight at (3-5 for main weapon/single turbolasers, 1-2 for quads)

b: choose upgrades that maximise it's efficiency at that range

c: try and keep it at that range for as long as possible

CR-90's fight best broadside on from your opponent, but even so they don't like being attacked from multiple flanks. if you're maximising your long range firepower, you ideally want it to be running along your board edge while your supporting starfighters move in front to screen it from enemy ships. If you're going for a close range slugger/rammer, then you probably want to move inward from a corner to it doesn't get caught in a crossfire.

It's called a blockade runner. Runner. As in running away from and through things. It's not really meant for a toe-to-toe slugfest, it's meant to punch a hole and keep going.

What I've found with the CR90 is what it's up against. I heard from a lot of the local guys that play on weekends (I'm play on the weekdays) that the CR90 just dies too fast and isn't competitive. I ran a demo game at a local convention three times and ran a few practice games ahead of time. I picked the lists and tweaked them a bit. I wanted a classic feel to the game and went with a lot of Tie Fighters and a few specialist ships. Out of 5 games, the Imperials only won once. They focused fire on it and got a lot of critical hits to finish it off. In all the other games, it was close, but the CR90 won every time.

I talked to the local guys and talked with people on various forums and found that if you are writing two competitive lists and you know you are going to fight the CR90, you can make a build to kill it easy. If you go with a lot of high damage ships, like Interceptors, Phantoms, Defenders, Shuttles, Tie Bombers with ordnance, you can focus fire quickly and blast past it's shields. So, as it is now, I think if you play Epic and one side takes small ships to beat a big ship, you can't win.

-1 for misleading title! I think you wanted to put a question mark somewhere in there

As for flying CR-90s, Hothie had a lot of great things to say on this topic, both in a huge treatise on epic play , and a series of batreps where he successfully fielded a CR-90 several times .

Generally speaking, it's tough to fly corvettes effectively. GR-75s are much more forgiving, I find.

It's called a blockade runner. Runner. As in running away from and through things. It's not really meant for a toe-to-toe slugfest, it's meant to punch a hole and keep going.

I would not recommend this. It may be called a blockade runner but it doesn't play like one. It is a closer analog to a battleship at this scale of play.

So, as it is now, I think if you play Epic and one side takes small ships to beat a big ship, you can't win.

Yeah when half your points are tied up in a single ship vs a 300 point swarm you're in trouble. Ord is also very effective against the CR-90, which is fitting but at the same time sorta troubling.

The CR-90 isn't very good at deal with small, fast moving ships, which again is fitting. The problem is, at what point is it actually worth taking a CR-90, rather than another 150 points of other stuff.

Even if the Raider is good at anti-fighter tactics. I still think 4 Y-Wings or B-Wings with torps are going to make fairly quick work of it.

With 6 shields, 8 hull for and 4 shields, 8 hull aft... 4 Proton Torps w/Focus will do on avg 3 damage per, that means 12 points damage, plus some crits likely on 3 of the 4 torps. That's enough to cripple the aft section with one volley and leave the for section with 2 hull.

I like epic, but it seems there's often no good reason to bring Huge ships other than because they look good on the table.

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I like epic, but it seems there's often no good reason to bring Huge ships other than because they look good on the table.

For me at least that is a good reason... haha

But seriously I agree you can't run big ships unprotected right into the fray. They will die.

I like epic, but it seems there's often no good reason to bring Huge ships other than because they look good on the table.

Once the raider comes out I expect the informal social contract of epic games to end up being "epic lists always include at least 1 huge ship."

I like epic, but it seems there's often no good reason to bring Huge ships other than because they look good on the table.

Once the raider comes out I expect the informal social contract of epic games to end up being "epic lists always include at least 1 huge ship."

It could even be made official...who knows? I'll be we see alot of naked transports if that happens.

It could even be made official...who knows?

I can't see FFG setting up a rule that requires a given ship or even ship type in a list. Although that's how they do it for a number of other games.

40k, Fantasy Battles, Warmahords, Flames of War, all of them had required unit types.

I'll be we see alot of naked transports if that happens.

Maybe. But there isn't really anything you can do about players like that.

I'll be we see alot of naked transports if that happens.

Maybe. But there isn't really anything you can do about players like that.

Sure you can. You can maul their pathetic transport with your Raider.

Based on the stats and firing arcs, the Raider should also be great for those small fighters. With two primary weapon attacks at range 2-4, plus an Ion Cannon Battery in the front and double Quads in the rear, it should be much better than the CR90 at dealing with fighters as long as it can keep its energy up.

It still is kind of hard to get close enough to the CR90 to get the TL, stay within firing range, and not get run over. Remember the ships move last and you have to stay outside of Range 1. You also can't get run over. It's tougher then it looks getting TL and firing on these things. You kind of have to come at them from the side or the CR90 is very predictable.

What I think is cool is that Epic ships almost require you to have escorts. If you have 6 Tie Fighters zooming 5 ahead to intercept those B-wings and Y-wings, you can see them getting distracted by that. You can also make them bump, too.

You can also use a ship like the Decimator to try to intercept those bomb carriers. Or....maybe your own Tie Bombers can target them with Concussion Missiles too?

Anyways, I'm just having fun thinking of counters. It's still true that if your opponent takes a lot of small ships that are there to destroy your big ship, it's hard to stop it.

I do think that just setting up fun Epic lists that aren't uber competitive are the best way to play. Make an agreement that you aren't going to face off vs. 5 Phantoms and a load of Tie Bombers. It's just more fun that way.

I'll be we see alot of naked transports if that happens.

Maybe. But there isn't really anything you can do about players like that.

Sure you can. You can maul their pathetic transport with your Raider.

Based on the stats and firing arcs, the Raider should also be great for those small fighters. With two primary weapon attacks at range 2-4, plus an Ion Cannon Battery in the front and double Quads in the rear, it should be much better than the CR90 at dealing with fighters as long as it can keep its energy up.

Yeah; it's advertised as a dedicated anti-fighter ship. The firing arcs are pretty well-suited to anti fighter roles, too. One or two upgrades could also go a long way towards making it effective in that role.

It would have to be really fearsome to trigger a corvette counter meta, though. We'll see, I suppose! I'm looking forward to seeing it on the table. Already pre ordered mine!

I love the CR-90 and have never lost a game with it.

First, you need a focused build. And the focus should be on it being a gun boat. Trying to build it as a support ship is silly, the GR-75 is a more effective support ship for a third the cost. So, put 3 weapons in the hard points and go from there.

Weapons Engineer and Engineering Team are required upgrades. If you bring a Single Turbolaser, the Sensor Team is a must. If you go with 3 Quads, bring a Tactician.

You move in the game to maximize your energy output. Nothing is more important to a huge ship than its energy.

I generally set up the CR-90 about a foot from one corner of my deployment zone angled in at 45 degrees. This allows me to quickly bring my broadsides to bear on my opponents force. I assign energy to guns based on the shots I hope to get that turn, with the goal of firing at 4 targets each round.

I ALWAYS fly the CR-90 with Roark Garnet. Shooting first with 4 attacks maximizes the impact that I have on the game.

I have to ask.....the CR-90 is built by a civilian company, right? I mean, anyone can buy a CR-90, right? Why does it have to be a Rebel only ship? I mean, I understand the game and different sides and all. I'm asking, though, for casual play. I mean, maybe the nasty terrorist are attacking a civilian craft and that craft calls in the Imperial ships to help out? Maybe it's all Rebel small ships vs. Imperial CR-90? I mean, for a fun game, right?

I've got a CR-90 and so does my friend. We have been itching to do an Epic game with 2 big ships, but the Raider is so far out. What if we just played a game with one of them on the Imperial side?

Why does it have to be a Rebel only ship?

It isn't really. The CR-90 was used by both sides, just you never see a Imperial CR-90 in the movies, and so everyone associates it with the Rebel Alliance.

Rules wise the cards are marked Rebel only, but what you do at home is up to you, FFG isn't going to send the lawyers out after you.

I have to ask.....the CR-90 is built by a civilian company, right? I mean, anyone can buy a CR-90, right? Why does it have to be a Rebel only ship? I mean, I understand the game and different sides and all. I'm asking, though, for casual play. I mean, maybe the nasty terrorist are attacking a civilian craft and that craft calls in the Imperial ships to help out? Maybe it's all Rebel small ships vs. Imperial CR-90? I mean, for a fun game, right?

I've got a CR-90 and so does my friend. We have been itching to do an Epic game with 2 big ships, but the Raider is so far out. What if we just played a game with one of them on the Imperial side?

Many people do just that. Might want to forbid putting vader on it though. But it really should be an imperial vessel as well. It was, after all, the official transport of an IMPERIAL senator. I was shocked when it came out and didn't include cross faction cards.

We ran mine as an imperial once...we just disallowed titles and anything marked rebel only...I didn't use vader on it though...we had agreed that wasn't happening...

It was fun...and close...I only won because he hit my cr with a 1 hp Landon and rolled a hit...I would have flown off the table otherwise.

it would just be nice to get those "fixes" so that huges vs fighters is balanced. if they got the cost wrong by 5 or 10 points its not a hard fix. something like a hardpoint refit would do the trick. I would love to see more varied games.

I have to ask.....the CR-90 is built by a civilian company, right? I mean, anyone can buy a CR-90, right? Why does it have to be a Rebel only ship? I mean, I understand the game and different sides and all. I'm asking, though, for casual play. I mean, maybe the nasty terrorist are attacking a civilian craft and that craft calls in the Imperial ships to help out? Maybe it's all Rebel small ships vs. Imperial CR-90? I mean, for a fun game, right?

I've got a CR-90 and so does my friend. We have been itching to do an Epic game with 2 big ships, but the Raider is so far out. What if we just played a game with one of them on the Imperial side?

I'm told Vasel ran an Epic tournament recently, and allowed Imperial players to take CR-90s. They even allowed Vader on the Corvette, which seems terrifying. Ping Mu0n for details of how things worked out.