CR90B Tactics

By MoffZen, in Star Wars: Armada

Hello guys !

So, I've ran a Corvette in all of my games switching from the A to the B variant and I've found the CR90A a more consistent unit to play with thanks to the red dice. With the CR90B, as long as the opponent is having a decent amount of blue dice (namely Victory IIs), the effectiveness of the CR90b drops dramatically I found. Getting behind the opponent and surfing there is harder than I'd imagine.

I can understand that the CR90B seems to be more efficient as a a support craft but I have trouble finding efficient ways to use it. Obviously, Dodonna's Pride and leading shots are very interesting for sure ! But without the title, how would you both fit it and play it on the game ?

Cheers !

I will do a write up in my blog and do a short video if you want.

The write up will be in universe interview.

I will do a write up in my blog and do a short video if you want.

The write up will be in universe interview.

Sure man, very earger to read any tactics !

I can understand than Mon Mothma can be very helpful to CR90Bs due to allowing Evade at one shorter range than usual, but I'm curious to see about the uses of the CR90B with other fleet builds :)

But by any means, please share how you use the CR90B !

Edited by MoffZen

I like to use a Neb-B with Mon-mothma and Redmption at speed 3 with three CR90bs going speed 4. The redemption ship card will bump up the CR90s engineering points enough to heal hull damage. keep them at speed 4 with lots of x-wings and Y-wings to tie up their fighters and attack their VSDs.

The idea is to hit and run, repair and hit again. If you do it right you should get 2 passes in 6 rounds and for the love of god stay out of the VSDs front arc and the GSDs side arc. Practicing the corvettes manuvering so that they all get their guns to bear in the same round with as many hullzones being able to fire at once is crucial for this to work. Practice, practice, practice.

I like to use a Neb-B with Mon-mothma and Redmption at speed 3 with three CR90bs going speed 4. The redemption ship card will bump up the CR90s engineering points enough to heal hull damage. keep them at speed 4 with lots of x-wings and Y-wings to tie up their fighters and attack their VSDs.

The idea is to hit and run, repair and hit again. If you do it right you should get 2 passes in 6 rounds and for the love of god stay out of the VSDs front arc and the GSDs side arc. Practicing the corvettes manuvering so that they all get their guns to bear in the same round with as many hullzones being able to fire at once is crucial for this to work. Practice, practice, practice.

It does makes sense as part of a Corvette swarm with Redemption. What kind of cards do you give them ? Overload Pulse ? Leading Shots ? Dodonna's Pride ?

I run them naked. need the extra points to squeeze in as many un-named fighters as possible.

1x Nebulon-B Support Refit - Nebulon-B Frigate (51)

-Mon Mothma (30)

-Redemption (8)
3x CR90 Corellian Corvette B (117)

4x X-wing Squadron - X-wing (52)
2x A-wing Squadron - A-wing (22)
2x Y-wing Squadron - Y-wing (20)

I know it seems counter intuitive but the idea is to get as many dice on a target as fast as possible and get out before they can destroy any of your ships. Plan ahead with the squadrons. Move them to where the enemy will be not where they are and keep your ships moving as fast as possible.

Edited by Swusn

In your strategy (except to save points), why wouldn't you go with the CR90A instead ? Obviously, the red dice can miss, but you would have 150% of the range of your current Corvettes for the price of an X-Wing squadron.

How about running two with overload pulse and a Neb B behind it to light it up once you hopefully disabled the snot out of it?

He could also swap out those squadrons and add 2 CR90's.

I use three 90Bs to accompany an AFIIB. Mothma, lots of upgrades on the AF, only Leia + Jaina on one 90B. Usually keep the frigate at speed 3, try to time engagement such that the corvettes are at medium when the frigate is at long, focus targets down. Four A-Wings for a screen.

How about running two with overload pulse and a Neb B behind it to light it up once you hopefully disabled the snot out of it?

Maybe I'm misunderstanding the fleet build, but it seems to me that two CR-90s with overload pulse is probably overkill, as a single activation of overload pulse will exhaust the target's defense tokens (making the second overload pulse useless if it triggers). I suppose having a second would help you hedge your bets, but that's a lot of points to sink into a hedge when two more points on the second CR-90 (Dodonna's Pride + Leading Shots) will give you a good chance at dealing a face-up damage card instead.

So a couple of thoughts:

1 - I agree that the CR90A is a vastly superior ship because of the ability to engage at both long and medium range. It gives you more options when manuevering than the B, because the engagement range is much wider.

2 - With that said, the CR90B is cheaper (so sometimes it may be your only option), and it does have the Ion Cannon slot.

When I use one effectively, it is a single CR90B in a larger group of ships, with Dodonna's Pride and Mon Mothma. I feel like Dodonna's Pride with Dodonna is actually a trap (you don't want to get that close without MM!), but you could take it with MM and it will be effective if you roll crits regardless. I've sucker punched more than one VSD with that ship, and it works.

How about running two with overload pulse and a Neb B behind it to light it up once you hopefully disabled the snot out of it?

Maybe I'm misunderstanding the fleet build, but it seems to me that two CR-90s with overload pulse is probably overkill, as a single activation of overload pulse will exhaust the target's defense tokens (making the second overload pulse useless if it triggers). I suppose having a second would help you hedge your bets, but that's a lot of points to sink into a hedge when two more points on the second CR-90 (Dodonna's Pride + Leading Shots) will give you a good chance at dealing a face-up damage card instead.

If you have a card that absolutely needs to be triggered, it makes sense to build a level of redundancy into the list. Having only one pulse may force you to move a ship in a less than ideal way, or activate in an order you would prefer not to. Not that the loadout option you offered isn't as good or better, but if you are relying on pulse to soften a target then it may be worth running two.

How about running two with overload pulse and a Neb B behind it to light it up once you hopefully disabled the snot out of it?

Maybe I'm misunderstanding the fleet build, but it seems to me that two CR-90s with overload pulse is probably overkill, as a single activation of overload pulse will exhaust the target's defense tokens (making the second overload pulse useless if it triggers). I suppose having a second would help you hedge your bets, but that's a lot of points to sink into a hedge when two more points on the second CR-90 (Dodonna's Pride + Leading Shots) will give you a good chance at dealing a face-up damage card instead.

If you have a card that absolutely needs to be triggered, it makes sense to build a level of redundancy into the list. Having only one pulse may force you to move a ship in a less than ideal way, or activate in an order you would prefer not to. Not that the loadout option you offered isn't as good or better, but if you are relying on pulse to soften a target then it may be worth running two.

There could also be situations where you may wish to ION two targets in one turn - though I'm not a fan of splitting fire. However, there could be flankers or squadrons engaging a second target and the ability to ION that too may occasionally arise

In addition, you are not obliged to trigger the overload pulse but can choose to trigger the normal critical effect. In nay case it does build redundancy in the list !

Sorry for the small necro guys :D

So, I did run CR90Bs since the last time, and I'm still trying to figure out how interesting they are. The build I've tried was CR90B with Overload Pulse and ECM and while it tanked quite decently, I was mainly taking it for the Overload Pulse in order to exhaust the opponent's defense tokens in preparation for powerful attack from other ships so my opponent would be forced to choose between discarding them or taking good volleys.

It's safe to say that I wasn't too pleased by the results :P For starters, the range means that it's getting dangerous for the CR90B, especially against Vic 2s (Glads and Vic 1s are easier to dodge). Secondly, I've found that throwing multiple attacks from long range works just as well to force the opponent to exhausts defense tokens in preparations for nasty attacks. Therefore, I was wondering whether it would be preferable to throw in the CR90A with a CF command, getting the opportunity to deal decent damage (50% chance per dice, on 3 dice) while not being forced into playing more aggressively.

The only great effect I had from Overload Pulse CR90Bs was when I was able to line up a side arc shot that critted followed by a front arc shot that dealt 3 damage. Now it meant really messing with the opponent's tokens, but the odds were somewhat disappointing.

Has anyone else also noticed this ? I found that it allowed to mitigate the event that crits don't happen, and opponents are likely to spend defense tokens relatively early on.

There could also be situations where you may wish to ION two targets in one turn - though I'm not a fan of splitting fire. However, there could be flankers or squadrons engaging a second target and the ability to ION that too may occasionally arise

Not a fan either with Corvettes because if you can shoot at two targets, they can shoot at you back :P

On a more serious note, the idea to exhaust squadron tokens is interesting !

____

So, for the Corvette B, any luck with anything else except than Dodonna's ?

Is Overload Pulse out of the question ? Or have you guys had good luck for a 1-2 punch with a big powerful ship (maybe a Fattie) after being Overload Pulsed ?

Why in the world are asking all this "Except Dodanna's Pride" stuff? If I have a CR90B on the field, you can be darn sure I'm taking that! Heck, this ship is a staple in my Rebel lists. Especially since I almost always run Admiral Dodanna as my commander.

CR90B: 49 total points

-Dodanna's Pride

-Leading Shots

I cannot see a better investment in this game for 49 points than this ship. Even without using Dodanna, this ship is going to be punching a crit card straight through that fat VSD's shields pretty darn often. More than once, I've double-arced a VSD and, using Dodanna as my commander, punched two crits through the shields of a VSD and given it Structural Damage on both. Because those Structural Damage cards are so common in the deck, you're likely to pull one out of the 4 with Dodanna. Think about it: A CR90B just took out half of a VSD's HP in one go? That's insane! And then, at speed 4, you're flying around to its other side to punch it full of another round of shooting next turn!

I'm having a bit of success with a CR90B with Tantive IV and Raymus Antilles (49 pts) as a jack of all trades support ship, backing up my "Big Boy", an AFII with Mon Mothma (and other fun things). Basically feeding Big Boy an extra token a turn, or holding the free token and burning it to do something rediculous (like token & dial CF / Repairing Hull damage / Double Squadron activation from a CR90! / Suddenly Speed 3 from Speed 1). It's cheep so I don't feel bad using him as a blocker to trap and net a bigger fish.

I've also run them in the past with Overload Pulse as part of a larger CR90 mini swarm, with mixed results. You really want the CF token / dial for trying that trick out.

A friend of mine just started playing a few weeks ago. He has an experimental build with Mon Montha and CR90-B's with as many Engine Tech's as he can squish in. The extra move and 45 degree turn and option to ram twice is driving us nuts at the moment.

Deleted

Edited by Irokenics

Going to be testing this build this week.

Flagship: 76

39 - CR90B

02 - Jaina's Light

05 - Ion Cannon Battery

30 - Mon Mothma

Ship 1: 45

39 - CR90B

06 - Dodonna's Pride

Ship 2: 44

39 - CR90B

05 - Ion Cannon Battery

Ship 3: 44

39 - CR90B

05 - Ion Cannon Battery

Ship 4: 44

39 - CR90B

05 - Ion Cannon Battery

Ship 5: 44

39 - CR90B

05 - Ion Cannon Battery

Total:297

R: Opening Salvo

Y: Fleet Ambush

B: Dangerous Territory

I have been playing aggressive styles. Using a wall of ramming ships that force down shields and deny defense tokens seem like a nice touch. I can't get red dice to work for me and botch most of the rolls with them so using hordes of blue especially with the local meta of ether VSD1'S and GSD1'S or AFM2-B's seem like a natural progression.

Interesting list!

You've put a lot of points into Ion Cannon Batteries. I can see the appeal of pushing them to a critical mass level, but have you actually found you get much value from them?

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Edited by DWRR

you can only resolve one critical effect per turn, so only ever one damage card face up. Over two turns sure... But not one.

Also, I'd drop Jaina's Light (which doesn't bring you any particular synergies) and instead add Leading Shots to Dodonna's Pride (since they help you fish for those blue crits).