NOVA Squadron Radio – Episode 18 “Imperial Aces!”

Welcome to NOVA Squadron Radio! This week the full cast is back and has been playing in a lot of Store Championships! We spend quite a bit of time talking about the events we have been playing in. In the news we cover the NOVA Open and the new play mat from FFG. And in the main topic, we cover Imperial Aces! All of that and a lot more!

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 – Co-host
Bob Randall – Co-host
Kris Sherriff – Co-host

Here are the show notes from Episode 18:

[0:00 – 1:49] Show Opening

[1:149 – 1:01:11] The Flightdeck: What we have been flying lately and local tournament talk

[1:01:11 – 1:19:08] The News:
-NOVA Open 2015 Registration: http://www.novaopen.com/
Greenman Designs Kickstarter https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/586885235/dynamic-colored-x-wing-attack-wing-template-sets

The Galaxy at Your Fingertips: http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=5356

[1:19:08 – 2:15:11] Main Topic 1: Imperial Aces!

[2:15:11 – 2:18:04] 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 direct link: http://novasquadronradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/NOVA_Squadron_Radio_Episode_18_final.mp3

www.novasquadronradio.com

Well my workday is about to be less productive thanks to headphones.

You could say your doing research for your job

Always happy to help the work day/work commute go a little easier!

Hope you enjoy it guys!

Just a little bump.

Yay! I spend 30ish hours a week in my car, and this is one of the podcasts I look forward to most.

What are the chances of daily episodes?

Nice. I have a long drive today and have listened to Episode 16 and 17 about 10 times now.

Sekac - Well if I get a divorce... and she takes the kids, and I quit my job... LOL!

In all true seriousness though, daily shows are most likely not in the cards, nor are weekly shows at this point in time. It has been tough enough to secure a bi-weekly schedule with everyone involved having lives, wives, kids, jobs and such. Finding the time in everyone's busy schedule to snag three hours every two weeks is hard enough. Ask some of the other shows out there. Having a consistent schedule is a lot of work, from record times, editing time, research, and more.

There is a lot of work involved to get these out, and at this point in the game, not a lot of source material to cover. I myself am wondering what we will cover after we do Scum, although the Regionals and National seasons keep us pretty busy.

Point being, we really are proud of the show that we do and hope that you all enjoy it. As there is a lot of hard work behind the scenes to get them out there.

Regarding that "something would have to happen to the phantom" comment about mid-PS ships:

Now something would have to happen to Soontir and Vader as well. Doesn't seem likely that I'll be taking Etahn anytime soon.

I was just busting your space balls. I appreciate you guys putting out a quality program as often as you do. I'd rather have a bi-weekly podcast with actual material to cover than daily bs with no new content.

Keep up the good work!

Sekac - Thanks man!

Taste - Etahn is alight, but with his PS he really falls off in the current meta. Now should something shift the meta away from the higher PS pilots, which seems unlikely at this point, then perhaps he will see more play. My main problem with him is that he basically telegraphs your entire squad because you are always going to try to get him into arc.

At my store championships someone ran a naked kir kanos alongside whisper and rexlar. Did not end super well for him

Haha I don't know if it's new or I just missed it somehow in the past but the Cryodex ad is awesome.

edit: so is the List Juggler one

At my store championships someone ran a naked kir kanos alongside whisper and rexlar. Did not end super well for him

If there is one ship that needs a EPT slot, its Kanos.

Even AT won't make Kanos, Lorrir, and especially Fel's Wrath the least bit viable.

Regarding that "something would have to happen to the phantom" comment about mid-PS ships:

Now something would have to happen to Soontir and Vader as well. Doesn't seem likely that I'll be taking Etahn anytime soon.

Yup, post Imperial Raider, the Imperials will have 3 of the best PS9 ships in the game. (Not that there's many to count from...) This does reduce the viability of ships that have PS directly below PS9.

The PS bid works by having lots of ships at a PS directly below you. This is why Paul Heaver's strategy of going PS5/4/4/2 was so great in Worlds 2013, because at the time the meta was very heavy on PS1 and PS2. If there's not many ships at the PS directly below you, then those points spent bidding up to PS3-4 are not doing much for you.

Fast forward to today, and there's still a reasonable number of ships at PS1 and PS2. But it's probably not quite enough to reach the critical mass where it is worth bidding up to PS3 and PS4. (I would have to run List Juggler stats to verify, but this is the trend that we have been seeing since wave 4). This has a ripple-effect traveling up the PS chain to PS5 and PS6, which now make even less sense than before (unless you have an awesome ability like Biggs), because there is less PS3 and PS4. PS7 and PS8 is arguably the worst spot to be in as a ship without a turret right now, because for only a slight increase in points, those PS9 ships are going to outmaneuver you.

I'm sure we'll revisit this in more detail in another 4 weeks when we discuss the wave 4 Imperials...

Fast forward to today, and there's still a reasonable number of ships at PS1 and PS2. But it's probably not quite enough to reach the critical mass where it is worth bidding up to PS3 and PS4.

That's not entirely true though, is it? For ships like Z-95s and TIES, that only pay 1 points increase in PS, it does seem to be worth it.

Points to a major flaw in the pricing system for PS in mid-cost ships, IMO.

EDIT: By the way, you guys are awesome and make my commute much more enjoyable for one day every couple weeks.

Fast forward to today, and there's still a reasonable number of ships at PS1 and PS2. But it's probably not quite enough to reach the critical mass where it is worth bidding up to PS3 and PS4.

That's not entirely true though, is it? For ships like Z-95s and TIES, that only pay 1 points increase in PS, it does seem to be worth it.

Points to a major flaw in the pricing system for PS in mid-cost ships, IMO.

EDIT: By the way, you guys are awesome and make my commute much more enjoyable for one day every couple weeks.

The PS cost is more attractive for some ships than others. Ships with a base cost around 16-20 fall in a "trap" zone where 1 point for 2 PS would be too little, and 2 points for 2 points is too much.

My metric is that increasing from PS1 to P1+X should cost a proportional X/24 of your base cost, which is, not coincidentally, the progression for the Z-95 and TIE Fighter. So ships like the VT-49 and YT-1300 make it an (almost) no brainer to just grab the highest PS ship since they only cost 2 more points each.

Whether or not it is worth jumping from a Bandit to a Tala is still gong to depend on how PS1/2 heavy the meta is. If there's not much PS1/2, then it doesn't really help much, aside from better durability vs Predator.

I just wanted to note that the bill and ted joke had me giggling like crazy.

Whoooooa!!!

Great show guys.

We aired the new ads in time for the Super Bowl and decided to keep them as a staple on the show. I am very happy you guys liked them!