Now we've seen the rules for this thing, my Corellian Corvette crew are getting worried. Should they be?

edit: Come to think of it, Cluster Mines are pretty naughty too. Quite possible a Tantive will hit at least 2.

Should they be?

Probably. Epic ships are never happy to be hit with ion tokens.

Ion Bombs are going to be even more insulting at 2pts vs a ship that has a really hard time dodging.

I guess you can hope to ram the bombing craft, perhaps?

I still think 8 TIE fighters are more to worry about than a single connor net.

You don't see Ion Pulse missiles tearing you up, right?

8 ties would be 3 bombers, not 1.

I think I am more worried about the cluster mine now. We'll have to see how testing goes.

I've never seen an ion pulse missile ever. However I can guarantee you that you will soon see a LOT of connor nets and cluster mines.

Yeah, the new bombs will be nasty against epic ships. But then again, heavy bombers should be good at bringing down corvettes.

I still think 8 TIE fighters are more to worry about than a single connor net.

You don't see Ion Pulse missiles tearing you up, right?

If you're running TIE Bombers in Epic with Connor Nets or Cluster Bombs + EM, you could do worse than slapping on an Ion Pulse Missile just to emphasise the point on the opening salvo.

You wouldn't buy the EM for them, but given that you don't even spend the target lock... you could certainly do worse. Think of it as a defensive upgrade - if it has no energy left, it can't shoot you.

This is ignoring that Huge ships are a difficult sell even in Epic, of course - a B-wing Swarm will laugh at a specced out Corvette, and probably darn near everything else you can fit on the table to go with it. But as it's been said, Epic isn't intended to be a competitive game... well, yet, anyway. The ruleset is going to need a spot of cleaning up if/when they try to do it for real.

First of all, is taking a huge ship even worth its points in 300? I feel like the alpha strike is ridiculous. You can't outmaneuver the enemy really either.

I've been craving to try some 250 pt epics. 300 too long, too many for alpha. counts too much. 200 and the huges get too hard to take down.

- I think FFG just doesn't care too mcuh about Epic right now. I also think balancing the huge ships isnt easy together with the small and large ones.

- Too many ion weapons will certainly hurt huge ships in epic play. They need to be able to use their weapons to make up for their points invested.

- I agree that swarms and alpha strikes can rather easily take down a huge ship and in an endless game this is usually what you should go for because in the end game its getting very hard to harm the huge ship

- Huge ships also have the disadvantage of seperating your own fleet (you almost cant cross its line with slower ships)

- So the question arises if Epic is already in danger as a alternative game mode before it even began (raider finally coming in), just because the huge amount of stuff around that can hurt huge ships?

Ion Bombs are going to be even more insulting at 2pts vs a ship that has a really hard time dodging.

I guess you can hope to ram the bombing craft, perhaps?

Whacking huges with bombs is surprisingly difficult without putting yourself at splat risk.

I always run a "thin" Corvette when I play EPIC. 3xQuadLaser + SensorTeam = 112 points.

I'm not worried about any Ordnance. I would love to see you SLAM that K-Wing in close to drop a Conner Net. That's a lot less troublesome than 16 TIE FIGHTERS.

I've never seen an ion pulse missile ever.

Really? Ion Pulse Missiles are the bomb!

Seriously, though, they are great, especially if you are going to face a Fat Turret. I mean, they get to save their TL for the re-roll. They ionize a large based ship. That's quite effective when dealing with Fat Turrets.

As for epic, it's not as bad as one would think. Getting the TL on an epic ship is hard as it moves after everyone else. Once you are in TL range, you are in ramming speed range. You will need to come at it from the side, and that's hard to do with some slow B-wings. Use the Reinforcement action to give them the 1 free Evade. Are the B-wings shooting at R3? Throw in a green die.

Also, the Tantive can boost it's main weapon to 5 red dice at R3-5...with a TL. That will hurt a B-wing, even if it gets it's 1 extra green die. If you are then able to fire a Single Turbo Laser at it, it only get 2 green dice vs. 4 red dice. If you have 2 Turbo Lasers, you can do it again. It's possible to kill a B-wing a turn with the Tantive.

A CR-90 that isn't even all that tooled up is ready to take out a single snub nosed fighter a turn. That's nothing to shake a stick at. If the other side is loaded down with a lot of HLC's or Phantoms, well, it will be hard. Otherwise, though, the CR-90 is far from a sitting duck.

I'd be more worried about a bunch of mines than Ion weapons.

Btw did anyone of you realize the best Tantive upgrade so far? Jan Ors ;-)

That could be really helpful with X-wings.

I thought Jan only effected 1 attack to add dice too.

Jan is best paired to the key-man with oppertunist and HLC.

I thought Jan only effected 1 attack to add dice too.

Jan is best paired to the key-man with oppertunist and HLC.

Correct, but:

4 die primary gun

+1 by spending one energy

+1 by using Jan Ors.

The Tantive IV is your key-man.

Oh look, you've got a 6-die primary. And a HWK acting as close fire support; even a lowly Ion Cannon can be hilarious about keeping enemy ships clear of the hull purely out of the fear of collisions.

Your Tantive IV will like Connor Net. Connor Net means bomber and bomber means a target for your primary weapon, which is wasted on ships with agility 3. Every point not invested in Tie Interceptors gives the Tantive a slim chance of survival.

I still think 8 TIE fighters are more to worry about than a single connor net.

You don't see Ion Pulse missiles tearing you up, right?

If you're running TIE Bombers in Epic with Connor Nets or Cluster Bombs + EM, you could do worse than slapping on an Ion Pulse Missile just to emphasise the point on the opening salvo.

You wouldn't buy the EM for them, but given that you don't even spend the target lock... you could certainly do worse. Think of it as a defensive upgrade - if it has no energy left, it can't shoot you.

This is ignoring that Huge ships are a difficult sell even in Epic, of course - a B-wing Swarm will laugh at a specced out Corvette, and probably darn near everything else you can fit on the table to go with it. But as it's been said, Epic isn't intended to be a competitive game... well, yet, anyway. The ruleset is going to need a spot of cleaning up if/when they try to do it for real.

You've just made me realize how Extra Munitions will be with IPM and Homing Missiles. Maybe it makes them a bit more worthwhile? Don't need a second TL to fire the second missile if you didn't have to spend it on the first one...

Maybe not amazing, but definitely makes the options more interesting.

Your Tantive IV will like Connor Net. Connor Net means bomber and bomber means a target for you primary weapon, which is wasted on ships with agility 3. Every point not invested in TIe Interceptors gives the Tantive a slim chance of survival.

Why is your main weapon wasted on an Agility 3 target? You do realize that they changed the range rules so that you only get 1 extra evade die for long range (no matter how far), right? Also, the main "firing arc" for the forward section is pretty much anything it can see - so no AutoThruster support. So...if you boost it, it's 5 red dice w/ TL against Agility 4 target? I'll take those odds. That's at Range 3-5, so you are firing for probably two turns before they can fire at you.

Single Turbo Laser upgrade is the weapon that doubles your agility. Yeah, those aren't worth firing at Agility 3 targets, but I have fired them at Agility 2 X-wings without tokens and gotten hits in. 4 green dice vs 4 red dice isn't that bad an option.

I thought Jan only effected 1 attack to add dice too.

Jan is best paired to the key-man with oppertunist and HLC.

Still with the right upgrades you get a 6AD attack with target lock on range 5. That "easily" takes out a fighter per round.

Also, the main "firing arc" for the forward section is pretty much anything it can see - so no AutoThruster support.

It's been a while since I really looked at the corvette base, but doesn't its primary function like a turret with a defined forward arc that it can shoot out of?

Also, the main "firing arc" for the forward section is pretty much anything it can see - so no AutoThruster support.

It's been a while since I really looked at the corvette base, but doesn't its primary function like a turret with a defined forward arc that it can shoot out of?

I thought it only had the side arcs, but it doesn't matter at range 3-5 autothrusters work regardless of arc.

Your Tantive IV will like Connor Net. Connor Net means bomber and bomber means a target for you primary weapon, which is wasted on ships with agility 3. Every point not invested in TIe Interceptors gives the Tantive a slim chance of survival.

Why is your main weapon wasted on an Agility 3 target? You do realize that they changed the range rules so that you only get 1 extra evade die for long range (no matter how far), right? Also, the main "firing arc" for the forward section is pretty much anything it can see - so no AutoThruster support. So...if you boost it, it's 5 red dice w/ TL against Agility 4 target? I'll take those odds. That's at Range 3-5, so you are firing for probably two turns before they can fire at you.

Single Turbo Laser upgrade is the weapon that doubles your agility. Yeah, those aren't worth firing at Agility 3 targets, but I have fired them at Agility 2 X-wings without tokens and gotten hits in. 4 green dice vs 4 red dice isn't that bad an option.

I got the memo. Given the cramped space of X-Wing, you get one shot without echo for the Corvette, max. Boosting a shot? Methinks you found a new source of energy I was not aware of. Your main weapon ist not the waste. The Corvette is.

I got the memo. Given the cramped space of X-Wing, you get one shot without echo for the Corvette, max. Boosting a shot? Methinks you found a new source of energy I was not aware of. Your main weapon ist not the waste. The Corvette is.

Epic is 6x3 and a Corvette is not optional - at least by social contract, if not rules. You'll get use out of that main battery.

For epic they should probably give you an allowance that can only be spend on large ships. Say 100 of large + 200 that can be spent anywhere. There's plenty of time to fix it when the Raider comes out.

Ah, yes. Autothrusters kick in at R3+. My mistake on that.

Your main weapon ist not the waste. The Corvette is.

I have to admit that I find this strange. What's the point of Epic if not to use the big ships? I mean, it can be fun to have a whole lot of points in an epic furball, but I like to have the big ships. So....then I think of the really competitive aspect of X-wing and apply it to Epic. Can you spend those points on something more efficient? Sure, but where is the fun in that? I guess my version of Epic is about having fun and coming up with a cool scenario that is a bit balanced.

For me, epic is as many points as I want to make it. I don't stick to 300 on a 6x3 table. I just use the space we have available, which is usually 6x4...or more. I make the points whatever sounds good. I try to build both lists by the same person so that it's a bit balanced. I try to use mostly generic pilots. I try to make a scenario that both sides have a chance of winning. To me, epic is just about having fun with a lot of different stuff. I will say that when we are gaming, we do play competitive and we play to win, but we don't have to build the most super effiicent lists to bash each other's brains out. If you do that, then you just go with Interceptors, Phantoms, HLC ships, etc. If you want to build a list to maximize taking out big ships, you can do it.

That said, I do think the CR-90 can be built to withstand the damage a bit and still take out a good amount of enemy ships. You can also build fighter screens that help take out the enemy fighters on the way. The CR-90 can be a real beast in combat, but any ship can be focused down if you build a list specifically to kill it in the most efficient way possible. Where is the fun in that, though?