So, for those of you who don't know, Escalation has a bit of a metagame problem at the moment.

That is to say, in the first round of 60 points, you can have one 48 point ship and one 12 point ship and call it a day.

48 points is enough for someone to get moderately fat.

• Chewbacca + C3P0 + MF Title is 47.
• Leebo + Determination + Or Title + Heavy Laser Cannon is 47
• IG-88B with HLC, Autothrusters, and Advanced Sensors is 48.
• Patrol Leader with Darth Vader and Ysanne Isard is 47.

How do we crack these shells in only the 50 minutes allotted?

I will be doing the math on some of the clearer options, then will report back in a few hours. Feel free to offer your crack at it as well!

Corran Horn w/ PTL, R2D2, EU, FCS = 48 points of your own fat ship.

Kill the escort first, and then laugh as none of those can do lasting damage to Corran, as you slowly kill them off. The Patrol leader w/ Vader is the biggest danger, but is also the easiest to kill, especially if he starts Vadering himself.

2 x Blue + FCS

Bandit

60 pts

Whisper + VI + ACD + FCS

Omicron Group Pilot

60 pts

Soontir + PTL + Autothrusters

Sigma + Intel Agent + Stygium Particle Accel (or a couple ties instead)

60 pts

Xizor + Predator + Autothrusters

Binarye Pirate x 2

Against boost-less mildly obese turrets, I think 5 x Academy Pilots or 5 x Z95 will easily find success. They can also Swarm the Soontirs of the world and occasionally can swarm a Whisper too.

I think all of these are great starting points in Escalation.

Is Escalation worth it?

Is Escalation worth it?

Oh hell yes, if you're a list-making fiend.

In general, my analysis is still forthcoming

Without boost, most of those ships don't scare me.

Your basic stress Y-Wing (Gold + Ion + R2-A3 + BTL-A4, 25pts) keeps them from taking any actions ever, while also doing a few damage each round. Without actions and without gunner, Fat Han can't do too much to you. I would worry about IG-88B and Leebo, as they could do a whole lot more damage, but if you can get IG-88B ioned once...

Then throw in Miranda Doni with a TLT. You can double attack or regen. It'll ultimately end up being a war of attrition, but because they'll have more stress than they can shed and because you can regen, I think you'll outlast them.

Swarm Start:

4-5 ships that overwhelm the opponent with sheer numbers.

I have analyzed the following lists of this nature: 5x graduates of the Binayre Bandit Academy, Howlrunner + 3 TIEs, Howlrunner + 2 TIEs + Interceptor.

These numbers assume the following:

Each attacking ship is Focused
One of the attacking ships will spend a Focus Token on defense per round. If Howlrunner is present, she's most likely the one who spent it on defense.

Fleet Name R2-3 R1

5x 12s 7 10.5

Howl+3 6.49 9.54

Howl+2+Int 7.34 10.37

The above is expected pre-mitigation damage per round at its respective distance.

Notably, of the 5x 12s, the Binayre Pirate is the best ship for future upgrading, while the TIE Fighter makes the most use actions and blocking.

I'll take a "crack" at it:

Black Squadron TIE (x4)

• Crack Shot

Shuts down 3P0 & Isard, and helps against the 2400 & IGs green dice.

Alpha Start:

3-4 ships that overwhelm the opponent with one barrage of ordnance, seeking to deal massive damage in a single round's attack phase.

I have analyzed the following lists of this nature: Prototype Prockets, 3x Concussion Z95s with friend, 3x Cluster Z95s with friend, 3x Bomber with Concussions, 3x Bomber with Clusters, 3x Bomber with Proton Torps

These numbers assume no defensive measure.

These numbers assume all ships survive to deal their ordnance.

The Prim numbers assume a Focus on all ships.

Fleet Name Ord Ord+Mod Prim 2-3 Prim 1

3 ProtoProc 11.25 14.06 || 4.5 6.75

3 ZConc +Z 9.52 12.54 || 6 9

3 ZClus +Z 10.5 12.75 || 6 9

3 Conc Bomb 8.04 11.04 || 4.5 6.75

3 Prot Bomb 8.04 9 || 4.5 6.75

3 Clus Bomb 9 11.25 || 4.5 6.75

Remember: the Ord and Ord+Mod numbers are a one-turn only attack.

The Bomber start builds into a Round 2 Jonus, just as the fat ships complete their builds.

I'll take a "crack" at it:

Black Squadron TIE (x4)

• Crack Shot

Shuts down 3P0 & Isard, and helps against the 2400 & IGs green dice.

Once Wave 8 is released, we'll enjoy that thoroughly.

In the meantime, the numbers are thus:

Same assumptions I made for the Swarm lists

5.5 at R 2-3

6.75 at R1

Crack Shot lessens their mitigation, similarly to Autoblaster Turrets, and so enters the math at that point.

Interesting that players are opting to play Turret + 12 pt filler in light of the rule change forcing you to play 2 Ships. If the goal is a Fat Turret, then the 90 pt round is pretty much forced to become "Upgrades on Turret + 1 more small ship".

Just seems weird because Mildly Obese Turret + 12 pt filler enda up being pretty weak to 5 x Academies and the like.

I also think the 7 Tie Swarm at 90 pts is much better than Fat Turret + only 2 Z95/Ties. Where as at 100 pts, 3 Ships + Fat Turret stands a solid chance vs an equivalent 100 pt 7 Tie Swarm, since the Tie Swarm is at pretty much optimal stats at 90 pts.

Just weird that the new rule didn't change Escalation all that much! Only the 60 pt round, which if you are going to lose a round, is the one to lose.

Interesting that players are opting to play Turret + 12 pt filler in light of the rule change forcing you to play 2 Ships. If the goal is a Fat Turret, then the 90 pt round is pretty much forced to become "Upgrades on Turret + 1 more small ship".

Just seems weird because Mildly Obese Turret + 12 pt filler enda up being pretty weak to 5 x Academies and the like.

I also think the 7 Tie Swarm at 90 pts is much better than Fat Turret + only 2 Z95/Ties. Where as at 100 pts, 3 Ships + Fat Turret stands a solid chance vs an equivalent 100 pt 7 Tie Swarm, since the Tie Swarm is at pretty much optimal stats at 90 pts.

Just weird that the new rule didn't change Escalation all that much! Only the 60 pt round, which if you are going to lose a round, is the one to lose.

Ahh, but as you point out, it heavily impacted rounds 2 and 3, as anyone wanting to run two biggies will now float points in Round 2 to afford it in Round 3, which is weird.

Interestingly, I now recall that a friend's Store ran an Escalation tourney where no big ships were allowed in the first round. That pretty much discouraged any use of Fat Turrets, since you'd have to underbid the first round to get even the base model in the next round.

I thought it was a weird idea at first, but now I understand why. FFGs ruling didn't quite do enough!

Round 1: 2 Warthogs. (Y-wing, A4, R4, Ion Turret)

Round 2: Add one

Round 3: Add one and N'Dru, Lone Wolf

Round 4: Add one, fill out N'Dru with Cluster Missiles and Glitterstim

Round 1 5x Academy Pilots

Round 2 Howl Runner + Academy Pilot

Round 3 Soontir Fel + PTL

Round 4 Doomshuttle + Autothrusters for Soontir +4 points of whatever (Swarm tactics for Howl or stealth device for Soontir or whatever).

I have had success in the first round with 4-5 Z's in escalation tournaments. The challenge for those lists comes at the 120 and particularly the 150 level. Flying 8 bugzappers against three fat or semi fat turrets makes for a long day.

I kinda feel escalation now works better at 50, 100, 150, plus 200 if you want to play 4 rounds. You can keep the two ship minimum to prevent big ship start combos if you really want. But 50 point increments are much more forgiving for inserting large ships later on, meaning that you aren't in a situation like we are currently where if you want a big ship you have to take it first round and "ruin some hobby" as they say.

200 points makes a 3x3 table pretty small. You could tile the thing with base lamba's and never have enough space to turn around.