paragon is priced at half of enhanced armaments and adds a more potent form of die and can be taken with enhanced armaments on the same ship

it had better have at least a few things to plan around

I don't agree with what Darth Ruin states about the Liason upgrades. I think they provide great flexibility, especially with Admials like Gram Bel Ibris (Or Tarkin) who generate a lot of tokens. The Liason cards provide assurances you can get the Order you may need, especially if your plans did not go accordingly. Yes, good planning minimizes there impact, but sometimes, its just that one turn where you might need something else. I really like the security they give me in the Command Dial department.

They do give flexibility (that's their whole point) but they are essentially a safeguard for newer admirals. Once you get to a point in the game where you have absolute certainty what your next move should be you won't need them.

eh,

for one, we're not robots thus we won't know **** with absolute certainty

for two, if we know with absolute certainty, why doesn't our opponent know?

More importantly, I don't think that's the point of flexibility though

Seeing the liasons as safeguards doesn't do any justice for just how much they can affect the game. If you can mitigate the cost of their trigger (hiya tarkin!) you can essentially multiply the threat of your ship. Suddenly, your opponent not only has to plan around on-demand squadrons or concentrate fires, or sudden navigation or spamed repairs etc, he has to plan around almost all of them at once, since you get to change your mind on the fly. Much easier to force someone into a corner that way, esp with ships balanced around a high command stack.

They can very much be used offensively and proactively, rather than just as reactions. Of course, if you **** up (and you will, you're human) then they're also good to have around.

Question is whether or not the officer slot + token cost is too much to ask for/if the impact they have will even be worth noticing, and the answer will vary from build to build.

I like the option that the Defense Liaison offers in allowing a VSD to react to the opponent's fleet movement and get a two click turn at the right time to bring a ship into it's front arc.

To build on what Ficklegreendice just brought up (Sorry, but the Quote function does not work for me..) The mitigating cost is what I like. Both the Rebels and the Imperials have some Token generating capabilities. To me it is like a resource to spend. With the Weapon Liason and say an Admiral like Garm Bel Iblis, you can essentially just run NAV orders if you want to, knowing that when you actually need to shoot, you have that capability on demand. I see it as a very powerful tool.

I actually thought the thread ended long ago but realised I just never clicked the 2nd page -.-.

Regarding Paragon title, I thought you could only add that black die if you were in range of using it? The card says you can add a black die to your attack pool but can you actually use it at R3 if the black die can only be used at R1? I may have intepreted "attack pool" as available dice before attacking. Sorta like if you fire the broadsides of an AF2b you have 3 Red + 1 Blue dice in your attack pool but can only use the 3 Red when you actually attack at R3. May be wrong here so gonna need some help to clear it up.

Regarding the defence liason, I'd agree that it wouldn't be completely necessary once you get the hang of planning but the ability to make that sudden move/engineering command may make or break the game. Command 3 ships are by nature slow and sluggish but you can plan ahead to make up for that. Similar to what others have said, what I think makes the Defence liason worthwhile even when you can plan is the ability to execute less predictable and more reactionary moves compared to non-defence liason command 3 ships. I would love to combine the AF2b with the defence liason and engine techs for some serious stunts but sadly the AF2b cannot take said engine techs.

There are still some unspoiled cards left in Wave 1 so we'll have to see if the Dolphin build can be improved even more.

Not anymore! Now we start frothing at the mouth for wave two cards

I just checked the fleed builder, my bad! Some quite interesting cards there that I haven't seen yet. I'll go theory craft something and post a list here later.

To build on what Ficklegreendice just brought up (Sorry, but the Quote function does not work for me..) The mitigating cost is what I like. Both the Rebels and the Imperials have some Token generating capabilities. To me it is like a resource to spend. With the Weapon Liason and say an Admiral like Garm Bel Iblis, you can essentially just run NAV orders if you want to, knowing that when you actually need to shoot, you have that capability on demand. I see it as a very powerful tool.

I run them the other way around. Defense Liaison, putting in Squadron and Concentrate Fire commands. If things go south and I need to repair, I use the Liaison to accomplish that.

I figure I'll be more likely to want a squad or fire command in the first 3-4 turns. Liaisons are for reacting to unexpected problems, like incredibly good rolls by the other player.

Regarding Paragon title, I thought you could only add that black die if you were in range of using it? The card says you can add a black die to your attack pool but can you actually use it at R3 if the black die can only be used at R1? I may have intepreted "attack pool" as available dice before attacking. Sorta like if you fire the broadsides of an AF2b you have 3 Red + 1 Blue dice in your attack pool but can only use the 3 Red when you actually attack at R3. May be wrong here so gonna need some help to clear it up.

After rolling your dice pool you move to the Modify dice step, any dice added during the modify dice step (the step where you use add dice effects, re-roll dice effects etc) are added irrespective of range.

It's clarified in the FAQ.

Regarding Paragon title, I thought you could only add that black die if you were in range of using it? The card says you can add a black die to your attack pool but can you actually use it at R3 if the black die can only be used at R1? I may have intepreted "attack pool" as available dice before attacking. Sorta like if you fire the broadsides of an AF2b you have 3 Red + 1 Blue dice in your attack pool but can only use the 3 Red when you actually attack at R3. May be wrong here so gonna need some help to clear it up.

After rolling your dice pool you move to the Modify dice step, any dice added during the modify dice step (the step where you use add dice effects, re-roll dice effects etc) are added irrespective of range.

It's clarified in the FAQ.

more simply

Enhanced Armament reads "The battery armaments for your left and right hull zones are increased by 1 red die"

Paragon reads ""While attacking a ship you have already attacked this round, add 1 black die to your attack pool."

therein lies the distinction for range dependency (EA would be but red fires at all ranges, paragon strictly doesn't give two *****)

@OP:

I'm guessing you're going with Bs in order to fit 3 frigates in the list. Otherwise they don't make a lot of sense with only 3 squadrons since the main reason I look to Bs over As is the extra squadron capacity. You're also going to be very vulnerable to fighters with only 2 X-Wings and 1 B-Wing while only having 1 anti-squadron armaments on each capital ship. If you're intent on keeping 3x Assault, might I recommend ditching the B-Wing and upgrading two of the frigates to As. You don't really need the anti-capital ship armaments with 3 assault frigates lurking about and B-wings are slow as hell. That gives you another 2 anti-squadron armaments on capital ships as well.

To give you yet another option, I've been looking at an Assault Frigate build as well that looks like this:

Assault Frigate Mark IIA

-Garm Bel Iblis, Intel Officer, Paragon, X17 Turbolasers

Assault Frigate Mark IIA

-Enhanced Armaments, Gunnery Team

Wedge

Luke

3x X-Wing

Less pure guns, but the upgrades let me get a lot out of them. The extra points of not taking a third frigate let me maintain very good anti-squadron coverage (man I love Wedge). The X-Wings are also able to easily flex to the offensive once they've mopped up any fighters.