In your experience which is better. APT or ACM? I have never been much of a black die enthusiast, I love squadrons and conga lines. But those two upgrades seem really awesome. Both seem strong. But is there one that has a clear leg up?

Both are good, and both do different things.

If you love crit effects, APTs. If you love just plain dealing more damage then ACMs.

It also depends on your points budget. It's a little easier to squeeze in an APT or two.

I like APTs myself.

Yes.

Yeah I love running Dodonna, Cause Luke getting free crits is awesome. So I can see the value of APT. MC30's are probably the ship I'm most excited about. I love that style of blow stuff up consequences be damned. I can see ACM being very useful though. Potentially 3 damage (Late in the game when shields are gone) is a lot of value, maybe even more than a faceup

Its gonna depend on whether or not the force is strong with your critical effects (Dodonna takes a lot of the luck out of it). I think that APTs are especially scary against small hull vessels like the MC-30s because each damage is 25% of their health (and with luck and a double arc, you can destroy them outright in one activation).

However, ACMs are easier to obtain lol.

Whichever one you use, all your black-crit effects should be the same one. ACMs overwhelm and deplete shields and APTs ignore shields, so they're working at cross-purposes.

Dodonna obviously loves him some APTs due to his ability.

Screed can really go either way.

I feel like APTs are better against Rebels in general (by just ignoring their shield advantage) and ACMs are better against Imperials in general (by overwhelming their moderate shields and then just rapidly burning through their hull advantage).

OK, both are good, but mixing them is problematic. The APT is more you're surgical strike, while ACMs are more death by blunt force trauma. Mmmmmm........ Tasty, tasty BFT.......

My primitive neanderthal mind finds it better to stick to one strategy. Mmmmmmmm.......... stick, good for dealing out the BFT.....

Whichever one you use, all your black-crit effects should be the same one. ACMs overwhelm and deplete shields and APTs ignore shields, so they're working at cross-purposes.

Dodonna obviously loves him some APTs due to his ability.

Screed can really go either way.

I feel like APTs are better against Rebels in general (by just ignoring their shield advantage) and ACMs are better against Imperials in general (by overwhelming their moderate shields and then just rapidly burning through their hull advantage).

DAM it Snapafist, you Ninja ed me

Whichever one you use, all your black-crit effects should be the same one. ACMs overwhelm and deplete shields and APTs ignore shields, so they're working at cross-purposes.

Dodonna obviously loves him some APTs due to his ability.

Screed can really go either way.

I feel like APTs are better against Rebels in general (by just ignoring their shield advantage) and ACMs are better against Imperials in general (by overwhelming their moderate shields and then just rapidly burning through their hull advantage).

Once again Snipa says something insightful and makes the rest of the class feel dumb.

Whichever one you use, all your black-crit effects should be the same one. ACMs overwhelm and deplete shields and APTs ignore shields, so they're working at cross-purposes.

Dodonna obviously loves him some APTs due to his ability.

Screed can really go either way.

I feel like APTs are better against Rebels in general (by just ignoring their shield advantage) and ACMs are better against Imperials in general (by overwhelming their moderate shields and then just rapidly burning through their hull advantage).

DAM it Snapafist, you Ninja ed me

Look, we've been over this, Snipa is a ninja. You should expect this sort of thing to happen.

To the question though, it's hard for me to decide if I like one over the other, though I lean towards ACM. I've gotten so much work done with those babies. Screed guaranteeing a 3 damage salvo per ship armed with them is just too tasty. I've eaten my nemesis the assault-frog-mk-meanypants alive with it more than once.

That's a healthy punch, but it also does something I adore. It helps dictate the engagement. When I'm stripping the shields off of multiple zones, I'm narrowing the safe tactical options my opponent has and forcing him to divide his attention and make hard choices when he goes to maneuver or repair. Especially when I have more than one fast mover. It can get real easy to force the enemy into choosing the lesser of two or three evils when he's got three weakened or downed shields and is surrounded by ACM armed wolves. You always want your opponent to make those hard choices. If you're letting him choose between good and evil instead of evil and evil, you've not been pressing him hard enough. ACM presses real hard-like.

Now APT, I've not yet tried, but a guaranteed damage per salvo (a crit no less) regardless of shields does sound lovely. Having seen and given my share of crits, they are nothing to sneeze at. The crits in this game are cruel and unusual. Also, they can certainly dictate the flow of the game, but in a far more random way.

I'll never fault anyone for taking ACM's, but I'll be rocking APT's all day. Just a preference thing.

Guaranteed damage through shields is what I look for, so APTs.

Guaranteed damage through shields is what I look for, so APTs.

It's nothing to be sneezed at for sure.

Well, unless you have a cold. It is that time of year.

In this new world of large ships having multiple redirects and shields galore, I prefer the ACM to neutralize an opponent's ability to redirect more rapidly. That said, nothing beats the shield depletion of an APT that happens to cause one of the shields down effects.

I'm an ACM guy. I like using those black dice to melt as many shields as possible. When I can trigger the ACM I don't mind nearly as much if they redirect or brace, because I'm just looking to pile on damage and I don't mind spreading it around. I leave it to the other ships and followup attacks to deal hull damage.

I'm all about APTs and Ordnance Experts instead of ACMs. The price for the two of those cards is so good compared to ACM and screed, and the damage potential for ordnance experts is better than screed since you don't have to discard dice. While getting those two damage are nice, cutting right to the hull while the shields are up for that price is too good to pass up.

I would add that APT synergizes with XI-7s, and ACM synergizes with Heavy Turbolasers from the stance of "smash damage onto hull" vs "Lots of Damage".

I'm all about APTs and Ordnance Experts instead of ACMs. The price for the two of those cards is so good compared to ACM and screed, and the damage potential for ordnance experts is better than screed and let's you scoop up a different commander if you want.

My black dice ships never leave home without OE, no matter the missile.

I'd also like to point out that the crits in this game are out of control. You have a 2/13 chance to apply 2 damage through structural damage bypassing shields with APTs ON TOP of damage you're already doing. Not to mention all the other ridiculous effects like Projector Misaligned, Crew Panic and Compartment Fire.

I'm all about APTs and Ordnance Experts instead of ACMs. The price for the two of those cards is so good compared to ACM and screed, and the damage potential for ordnance experts is better than screed and let's you scoop up a different commander if you want.

My black dice ships never leave home without OE, no matter the missile.

The cost just keeps piling on! Maybe I'm being too frugal, but I'd like to keep my brawlers as efficient as possible since they want to be right in the teeth of the enemy.

APT for me, I look to have more activations and first player (I like small ships). Set you trap then trigger and activate last....double arc if you played it right. you should have ordnance experts, good chance of a getting a crit per arc... Ram and repeat with first activation next round, that's four crits and 2 face down damage (4 with a gladiator and engine techs) cards before you add the bucket of dice you throw at it........( watch the big ship go boom). Missions are for wimps, go first player with small APT armed ships and blow stuff up (it's the most fun you can have with armada).

I really like both, but the more I play the less likely I am to take either of those upgrades. Unless I am playing Vader, I will pretty much always take Ordnance Experts. I like my dice and upgrades to both be reliable.

APTs and ACMs both add on some solid extra damage, but for me they often work out to overkill. I run a tight upgrade budget and have found I can live without them.

APTs with Precision Strike. I got so many victory tokens that game.

I would add that APT synergizes with XI-7s, and ACM synergizes with Heavy Turbolasers from the stance of "smash damage onto hull" vs "Lots of Damage".

If you're looking to punch through shields while keeping the redirects locked down, build your fleet to do that: bomber-heavy, XI7 on everything, APT, Luke, Dodonna's Pride, etc.

If you're looking to overwhelm the shields with damage, on the other hand, you're looking for straight up damage enhancement, and **** the redirects: TRC, reroll all but the brace accuracy with Leading Shots, ACM, etc.

So, my answer to OP's question is, it depends. APT are cheaper, but I really think you have to build the rest of your fleet to synergize with them before they become worth it. Otherwise, bludgeon then with the higher average damage of ACM.

I think they are both equally effective. APT are a little bit cheaper though so I'd personally take them over ACM.

In my experience, ships like the MC-30 or the Gladiator (I'm assuming these are the ships you are planning on equipping this upgrade to) are only effective for up to two turns. While fluffing the enemy for further punishment is a great idea. I tend to use the scalpel approach, and try to kill a high value target enemy on my first pass! And then come back for the stragglers.

Therefore direct damage is more valuable for me.