Probably finally going to get my first wave 2 game in this evening.

I'll likely field a ISD/VSD/Raider list. We'll see how it goes.

Wish me luck fellow Moffs!

Luck? The Emperor has foreseen your victory.

"And then, we will remind this Rebellion what War is about."

- Grand Admiral Mitth'raw'nuruodo

batrep us?

"Theres.. too many of them!"

Remember to swarm them with tie fighters!

Um, OUCH.

Ackbar...Home One...so ouch.

MORE DICE and you lose your brace! Suck it!

So. What have I learned?

Overload Pulse is weak and not really worth it from what I can see. I need to be more aggressive with my ISD. I need to support the ISD better when he's being aggressive. This means leaving the VSD at home. I also don't know how to fly Raiders. Need to use them as muggers. Trying to use them as escorting turrets is under-utilizing them, especially if you don't fly them appropriately to do so.

Ramming is something worth doing (pretty much the only damage my poorly used Raiders did).

Also, if the plan is to fly a wall formation to present a firing line to the enemy, don't break formation in the first two turns of the game.

But yeah the Ackbar/Home One combo is terrifying. Losing braces left right and center against an opponent smart enough to keep his ships close enough to Home One to use it is horrible.

So yeah, I got mauled. Turn five and six were especially brutal once Home One caught up to his leading Guppy and started tag teaming everything.

Luck, isn't there a thread about decrying that there is no luck in this game. Only good tactics and clever play?

So, good tactics and clever play to you.

Man I really should have clicked on that Show me before I clicked post.

Better luck tactics and clever play next time.

Um, OUCH.

Ackbar...Home One...so ouch.

MORE DICE and you lose your brace! Suck it!

So. What have I learned?

Overload Pulse is weak and not really worth it from what I can see. I need to be more aggressive with my ISD. I need to support the ISD better when he's being aggressive. This means leaving the VSD at home. I also don't know how to fly Raiders. Need to use them as muggers. Trying to use them as escorting turrets is under-utilizing them, especially if you don't fly them appropriately to do so.

Ramming is something worth doing (pretty much the only damage my poorly used Raiders did).

Also, if the plan is to fly a wall formation to present a firing line to the enemy, don't break formation in the first two turns of the game.

But yeah the Ackbar/Home One combo is terrifying. Losing braces left right and center against an opponent smart enough to keep his ships close enough to Home One to use it is horrible.

So yeah, I got mauled. Turn five and six were especially brutal once Home One caught up to his leading Guppy and started tag teaming everything.

was it 2 AF Homeone?

Try projection experts on your VSD then he can feed your ISD shields every turn. Run your ISD in at speed 2 and make turn 3,4 and 5 repair commands.

Try projection experts on your VSD then he can feed your ISD shields every turn. Run your ISD in at speed 2 and make turn 3,4 and 5 repair commands.

My bad lol. Useless hunkajunk VSDs. You poor Imperials......

They were supposed to be the workhorses of Imperial lists, but now they're crapped on by anyone with an accuracy.

Really hope something in wave 3 looks good for the Empire. The way I see it, our only effective tools are the ISDs and Gladiators.

They were supposed to be the workhorses of Imperial lists, but now they're crapped on by anyone with an accuracy.

Really hope something in wave 3 looks good for the Empire. The way I see it, our only effective tools are the ISDs and Gladiators.

Don't forget fighters. Imperials have a lot of good fighters, especially the synergy with their aces, and longer range command (Boosted Comms)

I think most of the problem with VSDs is their lack of maneuverability not anything else, exposing people to defeat in detail. I also think people need to treat Raiders more as a dedicated anti-squadron/flank guard, and not an offensive platform. Sure, you can try to pull a corvette swarm, but the rebels are just better at it, and don't have to be at point blank where evades don't work.

I had three Boosted comm VSD-Is utterly destroyed by a fighter-less MC80 Ackbar Home One build, with an Assault Frigate and two MC30s. Boosted comms only works so well if the enemy (or you) close the distance to make it irrelevant. Boosted Comms is probably better on circle-strafe ships that can hold the distance and still use the long command reach. Pity the Empire doesn't have anything like that.

If the VSDs were actually successful in protecting themselves they could flank an ISD and at least ward off damage enough to make a difference, regardless of how slow they are. But since they can't, they are easy targets for anyone shooting at them and it's only a matter of time before you lose that 70-point part of your list. Their only hope is that your opponent sees the ISD as the greater threat and shoots at that instead. At least Hyper mobile Gladiators can avoid dangerous arcs and survive long enough to do damage.

Raiders might work as better AA, because as attack ships they have much to be desired. By the time they are in effective range, the enemy is either ready to utterly destroy them, or activate and fly away to make your attack irrelevant for that turn.

Has anyone paired a raider with NK7s and just tried to remove some defensive tokens from their opponent? I feel like if a raider could at least remove two defensive tokens before they implode, it would be worth the point cost.

Really hope something in wave 3 looks good for the Empire. The way I see it, our only effective tools are the ISDs and Gladiators.

Um, OUCH.

Ackbar...Home One...so ouch.

MORE DICE and you lose your brace! Suck it!

So. What have I learned?

Overload Pulse is weak and not really worth it from what I can see. I need to be more aggressive with my ISD. I need to support the ISD better when he's being aggressive. This means leaving the VSD at home. I also don't know how to fly Raiders. Need to use them as muggers. Trying to use them as escorting turrets is under-utilizing them, especially if you don't fly them appropriately to do so.

Ramming is something worth doing (pretty much the only damage my poorly used Raiders did).

Also, if the plan is to fly a wall formation to present a firing line to the enemy, don't break formation in the first two turns of the game.

But yeah the Ackbar/Home One combo is terrifying. Losing braces left right and center against an opponent smart enough to keep his ships close enough to Home One to use it is horrible.

So yeah, I got mauled. Turn five and six were especially brutal once Home One caught up to his leading Guppy and started tag teaming everything.

was it 2 AF Homeone?

He had Home One, an AF, and an MC-30 plus the Falcon.

The MC-30 maimed the VSD and softened up the ISD a bit before getting gang-banged by the ISD and VSD. My only kill of the game.

Has anyone paired a raider with NK7s and just tried to remove some defensive tokens from their opponent? I feel like if a raider could at least remove two defensive tokens before they implode, it would be worth the point cost.

I had Overload Pulse on both my Raider 2's and my experience was that the blue crit just doesn't trigger reliably enough for blue crit cards to carry their points. At least not on Raiders. Pluse they don't tend to survive long enough to skew the odds in your favor through repetitions.

They were supposed to be the workhorses of Imperial lists, but now they're crapped on by anyone with an accuracy.

Really hope something in wave 3 looks good for the Empire. The way I see it, our only effective tools are the ISDs and Gladiators.

Or the Rhymer/Fireball to some extent, but yeah. I'm starting to think the same.

Mind one game in isn't enough to make that conclusion, but I'm stunned that a healthily underbid rebel force threw more dice and mitigated more damage than my more expensive Motti pumped Imp list.

My immediate observations are that maneuver (thus GSDs/ISDs/Raiders, Etechs, etc. - get out of those broadsides as quick as you can) and dice-multiplier/adders (ELaunchers, ACM, APT, Rreload, EArm etc.) may be the only reliable way to cope. Plus damage mitigation via Motti and/or EngCaps etc.

Has anyone paired a raider with NK7s and just tried to remove some defensive tokens from their opponent? I feel like if a raider could at least remove two defensive tokens before they implode, it would be worth the point cost.

I had Overload Pulse on both my Raider 2's and my experience was that the blue crit just doesn't trigger reliably enough for blue crit cards to carry their points. At least not on Raiders. Pluse they don't tend to survive long enough to skew the odds in your favor through repetitions.

I mean, if you're going to commit to NK7s, I think having screed for the guaranteed crit would be ideal.

Has anyone paired a raider with NK7s and just tried to remove some defensive tokens from their opponent? I feel like if a raider could at least remove two defensive tokens before they implode, it would be worth the point cost.

I had Overload Pulse on both my Raider 2's and my experience was that the blue crit just doesn't trigger reliably enough for blue crit cards to carry their points. At least not on Raiders. Pluse they don't tend to survive long enough to skew the odds in your favor through repetitions.

I mean, if you're going to commit to NK7s, I think having screed for the guaranteed crit would be ideal.

Oh I agree, if crits are central to your primary strategy, Screed is the way to go. I made a mistake not taking him.

But if they aren't, I'm starting to observe that gaining as much dice/auto-damage parity with the Rebs as possible and closing as quickly as possible is necessary. Most of the real Imp heavy firepower seems skewed towards black dice, and if you hang out for even a couple of turns in red/blue land without getting those dice engaged, you're toasted.

Even with my ISD, hanging back too long outside of blue range really undermined its potential.

It seems to me that the Imps have to be super-agressive right now with as many damage multipliers and maneuvers as possible.

I'm thinking speed 3 or > ships or bust.

The rebel strafing run it's too easy to do period. Too big arcs and too much firepowereven without ackbar (ackbar make it sick).

Broadsiding it's to confortable if the other player want to get points from ships.

Hope in wave 3 imperials get a force multiplier tittle as outside demolisher suck.

With imperials right now when list building I find no reasonable way to not beign outguned or outactivated.

And as I ve said in various posts raiders would have been a fine ship with a different defense token config. The actual kill them to do it's close damage gunboat role and using them for AA don't compensate.