Yeah, that is something I noticed when I played Subversive Tactics the first time as opposed to the second time with the same group.

The first time through, all the Heroes were strained out and had a difficult time with resting and activating. It worked well because they were constantly either prevented from activating their abilities or slowed because they couldn't strain for +1 movement.

The second time through, however, was a completely different story. Instead of trying to blow every strain they had on abilities, the heroes just calmed down, and waited on them, made sure to regularly remove strain with surges, and tried to purchase equipment and abilities that helped out with strain recovery (or at least didn't require a lot of strain to activate).

If the heroes know what Subversive Tactics is all about, and they plan against it from the beginning, I have found it becomes the worst of the initial three classes. Just my experience with it.

Yeah, that is something I noticed when I played Subversive Tactics the first time as opposed to the second time with the same group.

The first time through, all the Heroes were strained out and had a difficult time with resting and activating. It worked well because they were constantly either prevented from activating their abilities or slowed because they couldn't strain for +1 movement.

The second time through, however, was a completely different story. Instead of trying to blow every strain they had on abilities, the heroes just calmed down, and waited on them, made sure to regularly remove strain with surges, and tried to purchase equipment and abilities that helped out with strain recovery (or at least didn't require a lot of strain to activate).

If the heroes know what Subversive Tactics is all about, and they plan against it from the beginning, I have found it becomes the worst of the initial three classes. Just my experience with it.

Curious if you could elaborate more on this? What heroes did they use to combat ST? How did they focus on skills? Stuff like that, I am going against this deck for the first time and would appreciate any pointers.

In simplest terms, they tried to spend XP on things that didn't require strain to activate, or chose the lesser of the two. They chose weapons that were high on surges, the DL-44 I think so they could roll those yellows was the only Tier 1 weapon they got (though I don't know if Subversive Tactics had much to do with that choice).

Example: Diala. From the very beginning, that player knew he was going for Force Pike and Dancing Weapon. Foresight also takes a single strain to use. Battle Meditation and Art of Movement does not. Four dice rolling Blue, Red, Yellow, Yellow, she was never without surges to spend on removing strain. (Though I always thought the BD-1 was great with Dancing Weapon because of how Cleave works).

Mak did take Jeswandi Training and Execute... went from Longblaster to A280 then to Pulse Cannon. Even with No Escape and Ambush he could usually recover most of his strain use.

The other two were Gaarkhan and Fenn. Furball spent for Wookie Loyalty, Unstoppable, and Brutal Cleave. I can't remember what Fenn had other than Rebel Elite. (other than the DL-44 for much of the game). He certainly used Lone Wolf often enough.

Hope that helps.

Playing second mission as Biv yesterday against ST. My plan was to go for Vibro-Bayanet ASAP, but already in this mission I found myself strain started. I consider buying Shake It Off (and perhaps get Survivalgear) for next mission, hope to win it to get 2XP and then buy the bayonet to become gain a very powerfull C&P with almost guarenteed good amdg and surge recovery. I will probably avoid Crushing Blow as I need my surges for strain recovery.