Utter, Crushing Defeat

By emsgoof, in Star Wars: Armada

Yes, I am ashamed to report that I was unable to repulse a small gathering of rabble.

I think my list was good (needs a bit of fighter tweaking perhaps), but my execution failed me as you will soon see.

I had:
Imperial II Star Destroyer
Screed
Intel Officer
Heavy Turbolaser Turrets
Flight Controllers

Gladiator I Star Destroyer
Demolisher
Assault Concussion Missiles
Engine Techs
Intel Officer

Raider II Corvette
Impetuous title

Major Rhymer
Soontir Fel

Darth Vader
1x Tie Bomber
1x Tie Interceptor

2x Tie Fighter

I was against:
Assault Frigate II B

Enhanced Armament
Advanced Projectors
Mon Mothma

Assault Frigate II B

Enhanced Armament
Advanced Projectors

MC30B
Foresight

Enhanced Armament
Advanced Projectors

3x B Wing
3x Y Wing

3x A Wing

Mission: Dangerous Territory

I was player 1

Deployment:
Idea was to use the Corvette on one side and the fighters on the other side, using Vader and Soontir to screen the bombers while the Tie Fighters and Tie Advanced engaged his fighters. The obstacles were set up to funnel him into my Imperial Star Destroyer, while the Gladiator would swing around to the rear of his line (an effective tactic in previous games). Then it fell apart. I should have put the Gladiator facing the space station, but instead tried to avoid it (don't ask, I don't know...)

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Turn 1:
My plan to funnel his ships towards my Imperial Star Destroyer seems to be working. But I've realized a huge error and feel the need to grab the space station objective token (the only one I can get without incurring any damage). The only ship I can possibly do it with is the Raider. I'm going to stick (sort of) to my plan for the rest of the fleet, and try to hold his fighters up with my mob of fighters for as long as I can.

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The battle continues with my Gladiator trying to swing around to the rear of his line. The fighters aren't going to last long, but hopefully it's enough to not have them destroy my ISD again. I used a squadron command to activate most of the fighters in the furball and get some hits in before he can retaliate.

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Moving along, you can see my fighters took a pounding. In addition, my bombers are completely out of position to do anything (trying to avoid them being engaged and still not doing anything), my Raider is facing the wrong way, and my Gladiator is out searching for a soul mate or something, certainly not helping in any way!

The one redeeming factor is I've positioned my ISD to cause a traffic jam for his Assault Frigates which will help me (a little) in the coming turns.

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My fighter screen is now gone, my Gladiator is continuing to be useless, as is the Raider. The ISD is also out of Blue range, so I didn't even have that going...

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The final round. The ISD doesn't really do any significant damage to the enemy flagship, the Gladiator does some shield damage (reds only) to the other AF, and the Raider still does nothing. The ISD ended up being destroyed by a lucky shot from an A-wing...

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Edited by emsgoof

My biggest problem with your fleet is your fighter screen seems to be just large enough to get you into trouble and just small enough to not do much except against those who lack squadrons.

What I would drop is the Raider. Its a great flanker, but against most enemy fleets a Demolisher Gladiator fills that role rather well.

I would slot in a Victory MK 1.

Which means changing the fighters over to:

Soontir Fel

Tie Advanced

Tie Interceptor

2 Bombers

The Raider does a couple of things a Victory cant though. The raider gives you a fast way to claim objectives and harrass. However its lack of a red range die means it only wants to hunt small ships, making it hard to use. The Demolisher can hunt just about anything.

Your fighter screen gets worse but a Victory can try and support an ISD better and worry less about heading into two MK 2s.

It might be a worse fleet. My problem with the raider at 400 is I'd rather pay the points and run a Demolisher out as my designated flanker.

Take all this with a grain of salt though.

Edited below this point:

What the victory does is let you just make the ISD a brutal gunner and count on the victory to bring the figher commands.

Edited by Acheron143

That was some weird flying by your small ships...

Swap Wulff for the intel officer on the Demolisher.

Swap the T.I.E. LN, T.I.E. Interceptors and Flight controllers for 3 more bombers and Gunners.

Use the objectives to get the enemy in one place so you can blast them.

What were your opponents 3 Objectives?

Edited by GronardII

I concur with the above that it seems like you either need to go harder or lighter on squadrons. Currently it's in an uncomfortable middle ground.

Also it doesn't feel like Screed does much for your fleet, especially the ISD-II flagship. Either get more crit-effect-dependent upgrades (ACMs obviously being best) or consider replacing him.

The ISD seems a little confused about its role. Is it a carrier? Is it a gunship? If it's a carrier, why not use Boosted Comms and/or Expanded Hangar Bays (you can do both with an ISD-I and get the black dice for Screed to play around with if you like, even though you lack an Ordnance slot) to let the Flight Controllers affect more squadrons and then go harder on squadrons? If it's a gunship, why does it have the carrier-focused Flight Controllers instead of an Intel Officer or (better) Gunnery Team?

Edited by Snipafist

Good looking fighters on both sides!

In the end I think the list isn't that bad - it's a bit of take all comers, not min-maxed, but that's fine. The list isn't what failed...it was the coordination on the tabletop.

Basically you were playing without your Demolisher and Raider, so down 120 points or so? If you'd supported your squadrons with AA fire from the Raider and ISD you could have won or tied the squadron battle. If you'd sent your Demolisher and Raider against an AF or the shrimp you could have evened the odds a lot.

Your opponent focused his forces, you didn't. That's the lesson from this battle - not that you had too many or too few fighters.

Edited by Maturin

That was some weird flying by your small ships...

I choose to believe they were flying on their own, outside my control..

What were your opponents 3 Objectives?

Dangerous Territory, Hyperspace Assault, and I think Opening Salvo.

The list does need some tweaking, but I think it would have been pretty strong if I'd not run my bombers and small ships away from the fight.
I like running Screed, especially with the Demolisher. He actually came in handy a few times today (my ability to completely botch dice rolling is at an epic level). I'm not entirely sold on the Flight Controllers, so that may need to go.

Edited by emsgoof

Good looking fighters on both sides!

In the end I think the list isn't that bad - it's a bit of take all comers, not min-maxed, but that's fine. The list isn't what failed...it was the coordination on the tabletop.

Basically you were playing without your Demolisher and Raider, so down 120 points or so? If you'd supported your squadrons with AA fire from the Raider and ISD you could have won or tied the squadron battle. If you'd sent your Demolisher and Raider against an AF or the shrimp you could have evened the odds a lot.

Your opponent focused his forces, you didn't. That's the lesson from this battle - not that you had too many or too few fighters.

Mostly this, the list isnt too bad (I do think it could use some upgrade tweaking). This was mostly just poor flying, which you already pointed out :P.

In the early turns you split your forces up. I think if you had cut the glad in earlier since he was away from everything else and also not cut the raider in so soon it would have played out a lot differently.

Oh, I forgot to say thanks for the report. I know how hard it can be to post about your own losses, so double thank you!

As much as we'd like to include the ISD in our fleets, I think sometimes it's best to go with the basics i.e. Going with "older and outdated" ships. I might assemble my fleet around my work horse i.e. my GSDs.

Frankly speaking after winning against my cousin that time using x4 IN and x4 bombers, it feels strangely weird to bring out a fleet that has scant to no squadrons af all

This might just be me, but playing around with fab's fleet generator wave 2, I don't like Screed with imperial star destroyers. I think he works best with Vic 1s, glads and raiders. He seems, much like his fluffy adventures harassing R2, C3PO, Mungo Baobab and the planet Roon, best as the commander of some janky, souped up outer rim fleet screwing with sentients' money.

I don't think you necessarily need more or less investment in fighters. I do, however, think you're trying to do too much with what you have. Rhymer begs to be used with at least three other bombers. The result is you don't have much that threatens enemy capital ships, but also aren't particularly good against enemy squadrons. With what you have invested, you need to pick one role or another (at least when it comes to Imperials). Either make yourself a lethal Rhymer ball complete with a Jumpmaster and maybe an Advanced, or go all in on anti-squadron. Using Vader comes down to preference, but he is certainly nasty. You could grab Vader, Howlrunner, and 6 TIE fighters for the same points. Alternatively, you can drop Vader, upgrade the Raider to a Gladiator, and still have a solid fighter screen for dirt cheap. I personally love the TIE swarm when I use Imperials. It's surprisingly nasty with flight controllers and Howlrunner. My preference would be to invest in a better Rhymer ball. You might need the range with Ackbar floating around out there.

Edited by Truthiness

Ouch!

So some points and I will start this off by stating that I have not read everyone's replies yet.

Demo was angled out of position for the game. My recommendation is to have it pointed the direction that the Rebels are leading to. The way you used it is great against other Imperials.

Now that Raider could have done what you wanted to do with the Gladiator. In fact I might of had them swapped but you know what they say about hindsight. ~_~

Squadrons. . . Squadrons. . . Hmmmm, a bit more there. As an Imperial player you have much weaker squadrons. If you are going to go for a light group go for more TIE Advanced I think. This way you have more HP to keep things in that area.

Last point. I think Screed is not great here. He works with the Gladiator only. Sure you can turn blanks into hits and crits but if that is all you are doing go with Vader. I think Ozzel would have been a great choice here. Being able to start slow and out of no where hit speed 3 with a single command. Sounds great!

Overall seems like a great lesson!

Edited by Lyraeus

That was some weird flying by your small ships...

I choose to believe they were flying on their own, outside my control..

What were your opponents 3 Objectives?

Dangerous Territory, Hyperspace Assault, and I think Opening Salvo.

The list does need some tweaking, but I think it would have been pretty strong if I'd not run my bombers and small ships away from the fight.

I like running Screed, especially with the Demolisher. He actually came in handy a few times today (my ability to completely botch dice rolling is at an epic level). I'm not entirely sold on the Flight Controllers, so that may need to go.

Ya, that Raider is kinda zippy, isn't it. I can imagine the crew just letting her rip while head banging and playing born to be wild. :)