Still waiting on wave 3 announcements

I know it is in playtest

I know it has to do with Ep VII

X-wing still gets the first crack at Ep VII stuff... dangnabit

Well, I guess it would be silly not to take advantage of the ep VII promotions, but theres still a lot of stuff from the GCW I'd like to see first...

This doesn't make the one raider title count as a option to receive damage to trigger this effect, right?

Or worse since it counts as engaged with two squadrons, you can deal damage to those "ghost" squadrons.

So this just means you wont see Tie fighters next to that Raider.

But good catch! Did not realize that the inverse is also true!

Im pretty sure both of these assumptions are incorrect.

RS only works on squadrons so you cannot use it on the Raider.

The enemy Squadrons only "count as engaged by 2 squadrons" so there is nothing to use RS with. You will still need a TIE fighter in the mix to make RS work.

This doesn't make the one raider title count as a option to receive damage to trigger this effect, right?

Or worse since it counts as engaged with two squadrons, you can deal damage to those "ghost" squadrons.

So this just means you wont see Tie fighters next to that Raider.

But good catch! Did not realize that the inverse is also true!

Im pretty sure both of these assumptions are incorrect.

RS only works on squadrons so you cannot use it on the Raider.

The enemy Squadrons only "count as engaged by 2 squadrons" so there is nothing to use RS with. You will still need a TIE fighter in the mix to make RS work.

Yes. The effect is contingent on you doing 1 damage to one of your squadrons. If you have no squadrons... you can't trigger the extra damage.

Agree with DWRR, there's no way Ruthless Strategists will work here.

Agreed. The "If you do" clause is the killer.

It seems odd- if FFG are trying to encourage us to use squadrons and move away from ship only builds, to then provide a ship that actually encourages you to buy less squadrons, since the Raider engages squadrons.

It seems odd- if FFG are trying to encourage us to use squadrons and move away from ship only builds, to then provide a ship that actually encourages you to buy less squadrons, since the Raider engages squadrons.

The design and development for this ship, and all of Wave 2, was propably completely many months ago, long before we and FFG realized squadrons were struggling. I'm still hoping there are some killer squadron upgrade cards in Wave1 to g with the Scum & Villany squarons we know will be solid. I'd like to see some game-changing upgrade cards such as a commander that boosts all squadrons, long rang squadron activation, something that can let squadrons and move and fire in the squadron phase. Please!!

Still waiting on wave 3 announcements

I know it is in playtest

I know it has to do with Ep VII

X-wing still gets the first crack at Ep VII stuff... dangnabit

I'm fine with them waiting on the Ep VII stuff. Until the movie proves itself not to be garbage, I have little interest in it. And, honestly, I think most of the Ep VII ships/characters/etc look stupid anyway, so I'm fine if they leave that out.

I like the fact that Armada is not rushing through the waves like X-Wing is

It seems odd- if FFG are trying to encourage us to use squadrons and move away from ship only builds, to then provide a ship that actually encourages you to buy less squadrons, since the Raider engages squadrons.

unique title is unique

given the context in the article, it seems more like they were trying to enable more Rhymer balls by letting you engage with a Raider instead of a bunch of fickle ties (who eat up Squadron commands and die if the dice look at them funny )

Imp Vs Imp mirror matches just got a wrench thrown in. Raiders can break up a Rhymer ball wonderfully.

Think we will see some newer squads next wave?

Think we will see some newer squads next wave?

Imp Vs Imp mirror matches just got a wrench thrown in. Raiders can break up a Rhymer ball wonderfully.

On Paper, I'm not seeing it... Through one Arc, a Raider only has 1 more Hit Point than a Squadron of Bombers...

An Equivalent points of bombers - especially when you start adding things like the Counter Upgrade to the Raider - is going to make it shudder... Then list. Then Explode...

Unless you're Raider + Fighters tying them down - then you might as well be fighters anyway...

I mean, yes, its a distraction, as you're going to want to down that Raider ASAP before chasing the ISD...

But you should be able to in a round. Hope the ISD is running fast!

There's many factors that I could have missed (or ignored) though, so I'm definitely excited to hear if I'm off base

Imp Vs Imp mirror matches just got a wrench thrown in. Raiders can break up a Rhymer ball wonderfully.

On Paper, I'm not seeing it... Through one Arc, a Raider only has 1 more Hit Point than a Squadron of Bombers...

An Equivalent points of bombers - especially when you start adding things like the Counter Upgrade to the Raider - is going to make it shudder... Then list. Then Explode...

Unless you're Raider + Fighters tying them down - then you might as well be fighters anyway...

I mean, yes, its a distraction, as you're going to want to down that Raider ASAP before chasing the ISD...

But you should be able to in a round. Hope the ISD is running fast!

There's many factors that I could have missed (or ignored) though, so I'm definitely excited to hear if I'm off base

I agree, sending a raider in alone against a full bomber group is probably a mistake (two of them, though... ouch).

But for 79 points (just short of the cost of 10 TIEs, and equivalent to Rhymer + 7 TIE bombers), one Raider [Raider I, Instigator, Ordnance Experts, Quad Laser Batteries] + two Interceptors gives you radial engagement, 8 interceptor dice vs. two targets, and two Raider dice against each squadron in its firing arc(s). Then, there's at least 4 counter dice against at least two targets, and then (with quad laser batteries) Raider counter dice against anything that attacks the Raider (once the interceptors go down). If you're willing to drop ordnance experts, you could add Flight Controllers for two more points, increasing the interceptor's attack abilities and giving a chance (albeit a small one) to one-shot a bomber.

We already have whole groups of bombers leaving A-wings alone because of the damage dealt by counter 2. This seems far more dangerous to me, since your entire bomber wing starts its attack on the TIEs/Raider with 1-3 health gone (assuming, of course, that the Raider and interceptors activate first). Maybe the Rhymer ball survives, but whatever does is going down quick to anti-aircraft fire when it engages its primary target.

Still waiting on wave 3 announcements

I know it is in playtest

I know it has to do with Ep VII

X-wing still gets the first crack at Ep VII stuff... dangnabit

I'm fine with them waiting on the Ep VII stuff. Until the movie proves itself not to be garbage, I have little interest in it. And, honestly, I think most of the Ep VII ships/characters/etc look stupid anyway, so I'm fine if they leave that out.

From what I've seen, it's looking much better than the EU stuff...

Still waiting on wave 3 announcements

I know it is in playtest

I know it has to do with Ep VII

X-wing still gets the first crack at Ep VII stuff... dangnabit

I'm fine with them waiting on the Ep VII stuff. Until the movie proves itself not to be garbage, I have little interest in it. And, honestly, I think most of the Ep VII ships/characters/etc look stupid anyway, so I'm fine if they leave that out.

From what I've seen, it's looking much better than the EU stuff...

I'll take E-Wings, TIE Defenders, Victory Star Destroyers, XJ X-Wings, Dreadnoughts, Z-95s, Assault Frigates, Lancer frigates, K-Wings, Preybirds, Eclipse SSDs, etc over the ugly Ep VII Star Destroyer, reverse painted TIE fighter, the odd Imperial/First order shuttle, or the T-70 X-Wing (though it is the only one of the bunch that looks worth a ****).

And if you're talking storywise of the movie, I'll still take the X-Wing series, the Thrawn Trilogy, the Black Fleet Crisis, and the Hand of Thrawn books over everything else SW, including the movies. This one has shown little to make me revise that assessment.

The new EU stuff though, yeah, it's looking rough.

Man, most of the things you listed are so ugly they make me wince. The K Wing, Lancer, Assault Frigate, E Wings, Dreadnoughts etc can all go die in a fire! Along with the Starviper, Bulk Cruisers, TIE Punisher, TIE Phantom,

But then, I'm an OT snob. The Thrawn books never really grabbed me, although I liked some of Zhan's other Star Wars stuff.

Anyway, regardless of what we like or don't like about a movie that is not out yet, and movies that will never be, Raiders anyone? I think with the additional fighter command capability of the larger ships, squadrons will be even more effective and decisive. Their ability to swarm 5-6 squadrons at a time will put a serious hurt on the enemy.

Actually, 4 Raiders with Expanded Hanger Bays do found dangerous

You are right, the Raiders in a group all using expanded hangers could bring quite a few fighters to the fight over a series of activations. The Raider's speed will allow it to be closer to the action where that job is needed. However I like the idea of it being a squadron support ship. Rebel fighters may not be so keen to engage my Ties with this ships guns in range.

It's per point not the most efficient carrier and certainly fragile. But I can totally see it for either builds with just a few squads or in tandem with a larger carrier. The raider can function as a "rescue" carrier of sorts. Helping far flung squadrons get back in the action. Maybe.

what interests me most about the raider is the incredibly bizarre nav chart

speed 1: 2-clicks

speed 2: 2-clicks, 2-clicks (what!?!? )

speed3: no-click, 1-click, 1-click (where'd my clicks go !?!?!)

speed 4: no-click, 1-click, 1-click, 1-click

maybe it doesn't have a redirect because the motherlover can make a 90 degree turn @speed 2 without nav tokens

anyway, imo, this isn't your ship for smashing through cap ships (unless Raider-1 with ACM becomes a thing, just because ACM are so powerful and it'll come out 5 points cheaper than a naked GSD-1 -- seriously, in my sat tournament I managed to get an escort neb to dodge to the Demolisher's rear and just skreed + ACM still did 3 damage post brace; it could be legit).

It does indeed seem be a support ship, not just through Instigator but through the Raider-2 bearing Ion (blue crit) upgrades. Guaranteed OLP, anyone?

cautiously optimistic

I agree fickle. It is not a cap killer. This is the baby piranha of the Imperial fleet