What are the best strategies you have all found to be used against the deadly whale like assault frigate? Its got tons of shields, and tons of dice, most of which are long range. What's the best way to take it down using Gladiators and Victories without dying in the process?

it doesn't have tons of shields, just 2 more than the VSD (front and back) in exchange for 2 hull (6 versus 8).

It also doesn't have tons of dice, just a neb stapled to either side and a corvette on the front and back. Unless they're 2-arcing you, they're firing the same red dice as the VSD - 1 unless they paid another 10 points.

I need to fly my VSDs one of these days (someday I'll find another rebel player) but thus far no one's tried out the h9 + warlord combo (basically one more damage from red dice, because you can change accuracies to the hithit face, which has a hit icon on it ofc)

What I have flown against constantly are carrier VSDs (hangar and controllers) and rhymer is very much the bane of unescorted whales (and basically the imperial's most effective source of long range firepower, but instead of projectiles they shoot bombers)

whales also don't really like demolisher. Dude's speedy and hitty, and if you suicide demolisher for a whale then you're ahead in the points war.

Whales hate Intel Officer. They have one of each defense token, so you can imagine how much of a pain in the ass intel can be.

Now first, you can go for an extreme bid and play the classic VSD objectives (minefields, contested outpost, advanced gunnery) and gain the superiority that way. Whales are awesome circling strafers and RUN AWAY!!!ers, so nailing them down with objectives helps a bit.

If you want to deal with Paragon specifically, the initiative makes it a hell of a lot easier to nestle yourself in one arc (but it's not easy to land Paragon in the first place, so objectives could still be a better choice)

If you want to deal with Gallant Haven specifically, hit the ship. You will not win any engagement when their squadrons benefit from haven (barring absurd dice). Even howlrunner + FC interceptors break like the tide against a big, immovable rock. So hit the ship, and either it dies and the benefit goes, or you'll force it away and force it to forfeit the benefit of the short ranged title.

Most of all, though, just don't be scared of it. Only 2-arc shots (Esp Paragon) really hit VSD numbers of dice and otherwise they're really not that impressive (until akbar comes out). In fact, their front and back arcs are kinda pathetic. Where they shine is circle strafing around the VSD to its crap arcs and just bombarding it into submission.

As mentioned aboved briefly, INTEL OFFICER IS YOUR FRIEND!!

hmmm, only one brace/redirect?

be a shame if something happened to it...

I ran my Demolisher at Paragon in my last game (first game with either ship on the table) and totally forgot I'd taken the Intel Officer...

Next time, gadget!

Intel Officer is by far one of the best upgrades in the game IMHO. You're very right for wanting to abuse whales with it and I can only see it getting more vital once Wave 2 ships come out.

As a Rebel...Intel Office is gggggrrrrrrrrreat!

darn Imps...

Intel officer seems, thus far, to be the officer of choice for anti-ship ships that capitalize on their own firepower

it runs into some competition from other officers on different ship types, for example Adar /Chiraneau on squadron-centric ships or Raymus/Wulf for general utility/flexibility (and Raymus especially if you're crit fishing with either OLP or Salvation) or Vet captian (basically sh*tty Raymus/Wulf)

Intel Officer is the nastiest, evilest upgrade out there. And I LOVE it!

The H9 / warlord combo is quite useful and those double hits on the red die really pack a punch.... As long as they're not using their evade token to cancel that die. Screed plus H9/Warlord on Vic II really did some work. I also enjoyed using the overload pulse but found it difficult to get in to range against the space whale

The H9 / warlord combo is quite useful and those double hits on the red die really pack a punch.... As long as they're not using their evade token to cancel that die. Screed plus H9/Warlord on Vic II really did some work. I also enjoyed using the overload pulse but found it difficult to get in to range against the space whale

Evade tokens are what Intel Agent is for! Sure, go ahead and cancel that double red... once.

hit the ship[/u]. You will not win any engagement when their squadrons benefit from haven (barring absurd dice). Even howlrunner + FC interceptors break like the tide against a big, immovable rock. So hit the ship, and either it dies and the benefit goes, or you'll force it away and force it to forfeit the benefit of the short ranged ...

So, you just ignore Haven and the squadrons in order to defeat Haven and the squadrons.

People have been telling me how crazy I am for saying that since Wave 1 dropped.

You do realize, though, that every single Haven lover is going to read that and tell you that's exactly what they want you to do because Haven is Gallant and all that.

The answer can't sometimes be "ignore the squadrons and kill the ships" while also being "if you ignore my squadrons I am going to destroy you." Just sayin'.

No, you do not ignore haven. You hit Haven, hard.

The squadrons that can actually destroy your ships are slow close range bombers. rebels have no rhymer nor chiraneau (All they have is tycho), so it's not terribly difficult to screen your ships from them or just feed them to the wolves. Sure, your squadrons will take a beating, but you need to lose a lot if the rebels hope to recoup the loss of the frigate. Either way, you hit Haven as hard as you can because you're simply not winning the squadron war while its around. That doesn't mean ignore the squadrons, it just means realize that ties were always fodder and use them accordingly

Fatties are durable, but they will not win a slug-fest with a star destroyer unless they're hitting the poor arcs (sides/rear). They won't even last that long. The rebel squadrons will win a squadron slugfest while benefiting from haven, but while it's gone/chased away they're down to normal stats.

You can't just drive Haven up into the amidst of the imperial fleet (especially not with that horrible front-arc, yuck!), fart out squadrons, and expect to win. You have to do a bit of outmaneuvering first, or (if you have heavy long ranged superiority) use haven as a shield (barricade of "nope") to keep close range imperial ships away. There is a lot that goes into keeping the whale safe enough to abuse the squadrons (distance 1 ability) and it can be surprisingly vulnerable when you concentrate fire on it.

Basically, aim to throw everything at it asap and kill it/scare it off. I've only lost it when opponents brought concentrated force to bear (generally starting with rhymer bombers + long range shots, continuously pouring on said bombers + shots, and then slamming demolisher into her).

Plus if Haven goes down, the rest of the fleet might be in very poor position to enable the remaining squadrons with commands.

I can attest to the fact that my Guppy is allergic to TIE bombers. Even Mon Mothma only works once...