Lets Talk the Neb-B

By arrest7, in Star Wars: Armada

I love this awkward looking ship. Yavaris obviously is a mainstay and if used correctly very powerful. But I like the other two titles as well. I keep looking for a fun tanky build (mostly because it's troll, also I think we are getting some upgrade cards that are going to make it viable) Also I love the idea of double damage on the Crits for reds. But I was just wanting to talk about this fun ship. What admirals do you like? Help me fly it better. Etc. Lets hear it.

I think Mon Mothma would be the best with Neb B's. Neb B's are great if used correctly. Salvation title is crazy, especially if you give it either TRC or slaved turrets. I personally like TRC to guarantee at least one crit each time. Timing is everything with the Neb b. Deploy him at speed one and keep him at that speed, and make sure all of you other ships fly out ahead of him. This will have your opponent concentrating on the ships that are coming in closer. The neb be should be getting into the fight a turn later than all of the other ships. Activate it only to fire on ships that have already used their tokens. Spam concentrate fire, and you are sniping ships from red range with 4 dice, outperforming a VSD thanks to the Salvation title for a lot less points.

Mon Mothma is a great Commander for a Neb fleet.

I have found a good mix of Escort Frigates and Support Frigates (more of the prior) is great.

Maybe we should talk about circle theory:

The thing about a Neb B is that it will outperform a VSD at far range, but shooting forward and moving forward means you're constantly getting closer. Once youre in medium range, an ISD will literally be 200% of the Neb's firepower.

This is ok if something else is taking the heat, but most of the time, whatever that might be is going to die soon, and then its the neb's turn.

On that note, i think the Neb should fly like an interceptor in xwing. Come off from an angle. Then sit there and adjust angle so that you need things in front of you much longer.

On that note, i think the Neb should fly like an interceptor in xwing. Come off from an angle. Then sit there and adjust angle so that you need things in front of you much longer.

This, so much this ! Not only the diagonal maximize the distance at which the Neb can travel forward, it also means maximum coverage in width of the board with your side arcs if you're running an Escort variant ! :)

Obviously, you want to be placing it last so you can get the most out of that strategy and not bait a flank. But played this way is the most efficient in my opinion to play the Neb B.

Regarding the Admirals, Mon Mothma works, Dodonna is a solid choice with the Neb B managing Bombers or being a Support Variant with XI7 and Salvation. Garm works well with the Support Frigate, allowing to take the most out of it and being able to throw squadron commands without wasting a dial thanks to the token.

Definitely not a good fit for Ackbar, and I'm not sure Riekaan brings much to the Neb if you can prevent it being flanked.

EDIT : In terms of fit, I find the Neb B Escort to be the most difficult to fit. While the Support wants to shoot and only shoot, the Escort already has everything that it needs to properly carry squadrons. Obviously Yavaris or Adar Tallon are solid choices but I'm curious as to what you guys also put it on Escorts. I don't see it really benefitting from any support team. Maybe it's in the officer slot.

Edited by MoffZen

I love raymus on yavaris

I love raymus on yavaris

Me too, but take this for a spin: use Garm as your admiral, and take Veteran Captain instead for 4 points cheaper. That's three turns of 3x activations, which is usually all you're going to need anyway. I've played probably 10 games with this, and I think I've had one activation where I could've used Raymus. Vet Cap also gives you some extra command flexibility in a crunch, if you find yourself really needing that token command (I've used it twice now to shuffle shields to last one turn longer).

Reeikan Nebs are pretty devastating to face. Yavaris, Salvation is where it's at. Nebs are flown to die, they punch abone their weight in damage if they can be brought to bear.

Salvation is really good at softening up large targets.

Edited by Trizzo2

I think the Neb-B escort will really come into it's own as an anti-fighter platform if they ever make an anti-fighter upgrade it can actually take.

Imagine a turbolaser upgrade that makes anti-squadron dice work at long range, for example.

Yavaris, tallon and a troup of rogues. Slip Yavaris into place on your last ship activation of the round, bring up the rogues and shoot in fighter activation. Activate Yavaris ( early) next round for a double tap re activate one of your rogues and get another pop in the fighter round. That puts a lot of dice down range in a very short time frame for a very reasonable investment in points.

Support refit with salvation is very good at either dealing dmg or spend my opponents brace tokens and it's pretty cheap.

You never want to be shot close-medium at one of your sides unless maybe if you play with mon mothma.

I usually run my salvation straight towars the enemy fleet at speed 1 throwing 4 red dice with concentrate fire every round untill you get close enough then you swap to speed 3 with nav command + saved token and try to pass the enemy ships and survive. This is in a list with several cr90 and one assault firgate where i try fo flank from all sides and usually people ignore the neb since a front of 3 shields being helped by mothma evade and double brace is not a fun target at medium-long range.

I like the neb-b and it works in most lists as long as you give it one clear role and nothing more. It can either be a long range cannon with it's strong forward arc, be a squadron monster with yavaris and escort 2 dice anti squadron or a support ship with redemption and maybe projection experts or something.

I feel like we keep having this thread (How do I use the Neb B) come up because we talk more about bad things than good things.

Here is the reality: the Neb is not a good ship as a standalone option. It has some critical weaknesses (no redirect, sides that are slightly more flimsy than wet tissue paper) and not enough strengths or cost-effectiveness to overcome them.

With that said, it can be used well. Especially, in my view, as a one-of when you take Salvation. That is perhaps the only ship where "splitting the fleet" or at least deploying wide makes sense, as it can come at the fight from an angle. Yavaris also has a use in certain squadron heavy builds, if you can keep it alive.

Beyond that, they just aren't that good for the cost. I cannot think of a single situation where I would rather have a support Neb B than a CR90A with TRC. The cost is the problem. The Neb B at the same price as a CR90 would be interesting, but it's not. The titles are the only ones worth it.

Edit: Let's be clear, I am not saying this is ideal; I like the Neb and want it to work, but it's going to go down as the X-Wing or TIE Advanced of Wave 1.

Edited by Reinholt

I think the only bad commander choice with the Nebulon is Ackbar, for obvious reasons. Everyone else is going to love the nebulon one way or another.

Nebulons give the Rebellion two things apart from their titles: Cheap three-dice ranged firepower (even over the CR-90) with a turbolaser, and superb cheap AA firepower (every other two-dice throwing AA ship is more expensive). My local group has discussed using Nebulon-Bs with slaved turrets, possibly with Home One and Intel officers on each, to create a firing line of three supported Nebulons that get free accuracy and Intel officer support. And that's a list I'd like to try.

I think the only bad commander choice with the Nebulon is Ackbar, for obvious reasons. Everyone else is going to love the nebulon one way or another.

Nebulons give the Rebellion two things apart from their titles: Cheap three-dice ranged firepower (even over the CR-90) with a turbolaser, and superb cheap AA firepower (every other two-dice throwing AA ship is more expensive). My local group has discussed using Nebulon-Bs with slaved turrets, possibly with Home One and Intel officers on each, to create a firing line of three supported Nebulons that get free accuracy and Intel officer support. And that's a list I'd like to try.

Just make sure they're Support Versions with Slaved... Otherwise you're effectively resigning to using either Front Arc or AA Dice... And its definately better to use both... That's what usually TRCs bring to the table over Slaved... Reliability over maximum...

So, I played 2 Neb Bs today against a list with 2 Imperial 2. These Nebs can take a punch : each of the Neb took a front arc of the ISDs, one on the side and one of the front. That double Brace token... that double Brace token...

Man, these things are sturdy !

I always put Salivation in a list It is a strong attacker and can take a hit. I like to play it slow and try not to let it engage my opponents ships until there heavily damaged and Salivation is there to deliver the death blow.

Its fun blowing up an ISD with a Neb

I feel like we keep having this thread (How do I use the Neb B) come up because we talk more about bad things than good things.

Here is the reality: the Neb is not a good ship as a standalone option. It has some critical weaknesses (no redirect, sides that are slightly more flimsy than wet tissue paper) and not enough strengths or cost-effectiveness to overcome them.

With that said, it can be used well. Especially, in my view, as a one-of when you take Salvation. That is perhaps the only ship where "splitting the fleet" or at least deploying wide makes sense, as it can come at the fight from an angle. Yavaris also has a use in certain squadron heavy builds, if you can keep it alive.

Beyond that, they just aren't that good for the cost. I cannot think of a single situation where I would rather have a support Neb B than a CR90A with TRC. The cost is the problem. The Neb B at the same price as a CR90 would be interesting, but it's not. The titles are the only ones worth it.

Edit: Let's be clear, I am not saying this is ideal; I like the Neb and want it to work, but it's going to go down as the X-Wing or TIE Advanced of Wave 1.

I've been using NebB's in every Rebel list since the Core came out, I keep seeing these responses listing all the negatives about this tough old girl, and I just don't get it myself. So here is my usual Positive Spin on these beautiful little frigates.

Long range firepower equal to the VSD, and AA capability depending on the variant.

Tougher than the CR90, thanks to increased Hull and double Brace, while only being slightly more expensive.

Since most fleets add in the NebB, as opposed to building around it (just not my builds), it honestly isn't that important what Commander you want flying your fleet. Akbar isn't perfect for the NebB because you don't want to expose the flanks, but those flanks are so wide that it's almost impossible to hide them, so why not take advantage of adding two extra Red dice into an attack? Especially if you're running Turbolasers of some sort to pinch things up, Salvation with Slaved Turrets and Akbar might help convince someone to not tangle with a side shot too often. Honestly, since the frigate only has a single Evade token, which always seems to get neutralized by enemy fire anyway, I'm not exactly the biggest fan of Mon Mothma myself, but she still works for these guys.

Did I mention the DOUBLE BRACE? Because I honestly think people forget how big a deal those tokens are on this ship. I've literally flown a Salvation down the teeth of a VSD, exchanging fire at long medium and short range, and seen my Frigate survive while the Destroyer went down (to combined fire), because those double Brace tokens meant I was taking half damage every round of firing. An almost guaranteed Brace, and using Engineering to keep some shields up can do wonders to prevent those five Hull from evaporating too soon.

So come on everybody, give some love to the tough gal that punches above her weight.

I stuggle with the Nebulon. She's pretty stong in the early game with her dodge and brace defence along with her frontal shields. My main concern is in the later game where there's an increased possibility of enemy ships getting shots off into the ships large side arcs. With no redirects even a couple of small hits can be enough to cripple the ship. The best times I've had with the Nebulon is with Hyperspace Assault. Dropping in behind the enemy fleet with a couple of B-Wing squadrons was fantastic

I think the only bad commander choice with the Nebulon is Ackbar, for obvious reasons. Everyone else is going to love the nebulon one way or another.

Nebulons give the Rebellion two things apart from their titles: Cheap three-dice ranged firepower (even over the CR-90) with a turbolaser, and superb cheap AA firepower (every other two-dice throwing AA ship is more expensive). My local group has discussed using Nebulon-Bs with slaved turrets, possibly with Home One and Intel officers on each, to create a firing line of three supported Nebulons that get free accuracy and Intel officer support. And that's a list I'd like to try.

I disagree with this. IMO, the only bad admiral is Garm.

Garm gets only two tokens to last 4 rounds, then another 2 on any survivors. This is hardly optimal token management. I think Dodanna comes in a close second-to-last thanks to the low damage output of non-Salvation Nebulons.

Ackbar, and I can't believe this, turns your side arcs into Assault Frigates on any unobstructed shots on a ship with very wide side arcs. That's phenomenal. Ackbar makes the traditional strategy of flanking a Nebulon-B a Very Bad Idea. thanks to the small size, it might actually be easier to Ackbar Slash with Nebulons than with the MC80.

I disagree with this. IMO, the only bad admiral is Garm.

Garm gets only two tokens to last 4 rounds, then another 2 on any survivors. This is hardly optimal token management. I think Dodanna comes in a close second-to-last thanks to the low damage output of non-Salvation Nebulons.

Ackbar, and I can't believe this, turns your side arcs into Assault Frigates on any unobstructed shots on a ship with very wide side arcs. That's phenomenal. Ackbar makes the traditional strategy of flanking a Nebulon-B a Very Bad Idea. thanks to the small size, it might actually be easier to Ackbar Slash with Nebulons than with the MC80.

Are you trolling ? :P

First, Garm isn't a bad admiral at all, but he isn't straightforward. He favours balanced lists that spread their firepower between ships and squadrons. On the other hand, the other Rebel admirals favour a certain build type over another. If Garm isn't your style, fair enough. But saying he is bad is a broad statement.

If you look at him, he allows every ship to perform multiple orders, at either half efficiency or full efficiency for smaller ships. A squadron token on a Neb Support allows it to effectively pop a squadron order to activate its fighter escort (which I'm starting to believe every ship should have, with as much squadrons around them as they can activate).

On both Neb variants, the Engineering token allows to recover one shield or move 2 from arcs that won't get shot at which is crucial to survivability of ships without redirects. On both Neb variants the Nav token can help out to reduce or increase speed at a whim, and popping up to speed 3 to pass over a Victory or ISD is a very viable survival strategy with the Nebs. Finally, a CF token, as I've proven in my "Another look at Garm : Command Efficiency", brings the same benefit as a CF token when you're throwing 3 red dice or more (because you're likely to roll at least one blank, in effect CF allows you to "add" another dice by rerolling the miss).

The goal with Garm isn't maximizing the number of token you can have, but maximizing what your ships can do thanks to using them at the proper time. While Tarkin works like a major global consumer bank, Garm Bel Iblis works more like a Venture Capitalist is tokens are currency.

Secondly, Ackbar doesn't turn Neb B side arcs into Assault Frigates side arcs. In terms of dice thrown, sure. Bet the AFMK2's side arcs have 2 things that differentiate them from Neb side arcs :

1) 3 times the amount of shields, which isn't insignificant.

2) A redirect so they can spread the shields around.

Ackbar on a Nebulon build will not deter flanking from Gladiators or bomber wings. 3 reds and 1 blue dice is 3 damage on average, which a Gladiator wil Brace down to 2 and Redirect 1 or 2 on a side arc, then move in and be in good position next turn. That's hardly scary or phenomenal as you put it.

More importantly Ackbar works in disservice to the Neb's main strength : it's cheap yet potent front arc for a ship this size. Because Ackbar prevents using the front arc if you want to shoot the side arc with 2 extra dice. Especially when it comes to the Escort Frigate, where you want to keep the side arcs free to support your squadrons by pumping out 2 blue AA dice.

I always put Salivation in a list It is a strong attacker and can take a hit. I like to play it slow and try not to let it engage my opponents ships until there heavily damaged and Salivation is there to deliver the death blow.

Its fun blowing up an ISD with a Neb

Salvation is drool worthy, indeed. Slaved turrets and Ackbar, then use as a 'mopper upper'. I have her come in at an off angle to my gun line to clean up anything that slips past (probably already slightly shredded) or defend the rear of the line. Ackbar means she's throwing five red (with a CF) from her fronts and side. Dangerous in other words!

I've always thought of it as being a fairly balanced ship. It has good speed, is fairly manoeuvrable, has a decent anti-fighter battery and a front battery that will usually cause some damage. Its command stack allows token storage but it's still responsive. It can repair damage reliably and take a hit, especially from the front, due to the double brace.

Especially important for me is that it's a small ship that can order multiple fighters. As a rebel player I find having all my fighters mass around one carrier, especially if I lack long range comms, as suicide against the swarms that the empire can field. I'm much better off having 3 ships with a medium level of fighter command spread out.

I use Salvation and Yavaris which specialises them somewhat but the flexibility is still there. Salvation is generally better off moving slowly and keeping its fore guns on a target, but if I'm in a position where Salvation can get B-Wings where they need to be then it can still capably deliver a squadron command.

Sure, the frigate has weak sides, but if I expose them to anything bigger than a tie advanced at less than long range its my fault (or my opponent's genius). If it had strong sides it would be too easy.

Sure, the frigate has weak sides, but if I expose them to anything bigger than a tie advanced at less than long range its my fault (or my opponent's genius). If it had strong sides it would be too easy.

Even at medium range, it can tank an ISD 2's average shot thanks to the redundant Brace tokens without much trouble. 6 damage on average leaves the Nebulon relatively unscathed with 2 damage to the hull. It's risky, but I've had it happen to me.

It won't be able to take two shots though, so, it's better to actually dive in and dive out rather than take a shot to the side at long range then taking another one to the front.

I disagree with this. IMO, the only bad admiral is Garm.

Garm gets only two tokens to last 4 rounds, then another 2 on any survivors. This is hardly optimal token management. I think Dodanna comes in a close second-to-last thanks to the low damage output of non-Salvation Nebulons.

Ackbar, and I can't believe this, turns your side arcs into Assault Frigates on any unobstructed shots on a ship with very wide side arcs. That's phenomenal. Ackbar makes the traditional strategy of flanking a Nebulon-B a Very Bad Idea. thanks to the small size, it might actually be easier to Ackbar Slash with Nebulons than with the MC80.

Are you trolling ? :P

First, Garm isn't a bad admiral at all, but he isn't straightforward. He favours balanced lists that spread their firepower between ships and squadrons. On the other hand, the other Rebel admirals favour a certain build type over another. If Garm isn't your style, fair enough. But saying he is bad is a broad statement.

If you look at him, he allows every ship to perform multiple orders, at either half efficiency or full efficiency for smaller ships. A squadron token on a Neb Support allows it to effectively pop a squadron order to activate its fighter escort (which I'm starting to believe every ship should have, with as much squadrons around them as they can activate).

On both Neb variants, the Engineering token allows to recover one shield or move 2 from arcs that won't get shot at which is crucial to survivability of ships without redirects. On both Neb variants the Nav token can help out to reduce or increase speed at a whim, and popping up to speed 3 to pass over a Victory or ISD is a very viable survival strategy with the Nebs. Finally, a CF token, as I've proven in my "Another look at Garm : Command Efficiency", brings the same benefit as a CF token when you're throwing 3 red dice or more (because you're likely to roll at least one blank, in effect CF allows you to "add" another dice by rerolling the miss).

The goal with Garm isn't maximizing the number of token you can have, but maximizing what your ships can do thanks to using them at the proper time. While Tarkin works like a major global consumer bank, Garm Bel Iblis works more like a Venture Capitalist is tokens are currency.

Secondly, Ackbar doesn't turn Neb B side arcs into Assault Frigates side arcs. In terms of dice thrown, sure. Bet the AFMK2's side arcs have 2 things that differentiate them from Neb side arcs :

1) 3 times the amount of shields, which isn't insignificant.

2) A redirect so they can spread the shields around.

Ackbar on a Nebulon build will not deter flanking from Gladiators or bomber wings. 3 reds and 1 blue dice is 3 damage on average, which a Gladiator wil Brace down to 2 and Redirect 1 or 2 on a side arc, then move in and be in good position next turn. That's hardly scary or phenomenal as you put it.

More importantly Ackbar works in disservice to the Neb's main strength : it's cheap yet potent front arc for a ship this size. Because Ackbar prevents using the front arc if you want to shoot the side arc with 2 extra dice. Especially when it comes to the Escort Frigate, where you want to keep the side arcs free to support your squadrons by pumping out 2 blue AA dice.

Hardly trolling.

Ackbar does something highly unusual with this ship, which is that he provides an actual defensive bonus. Certainly is not enough to deter a high damage output ship, but it's enough to punish a ship expecting free strikes on the side. Add in Slaved Turrets, Concentrate Fire or TRCs and smart positioning will make the Nebulon a potent threat against moderately damaged small andmedium ships especially with fighter support.

Would I build an entire fleet of Nebulons around Ackbar? Heck no! Would I refuse to take a Nebulon because Ackbar is in the fleet? Also heck no.

And I firmly believe that Garm is the least effective option for an all Neb fleet. He does give every ship a command, but it's a one-off ability. Would you take Garm In a CR90 swarm? He's at least as efficient for effect potency. But the drawbacks are magnified. You'll get one utility effect (such as Engineering or Navigation) and one tactical effect (squadrons or CF).

Sure, the frigate has weak sides, but if I expose them to anything bigger than a tie advanced at less than long range its my fault (or my opponent's genius). If it had strong sides it would be too easy.

Even at medium range, it can tank an ISD 2's average shot thanks to the redundant Brace tokens without much trouble. 6 damage on average leaves the Nebulon relatively unscathed with 2 damage to the hull. It's risky, but I've had it happen to me.

It won't be able to take two shots though, so, it's better to actually dive in and dive out rather than take a shot to the side at long range then taking another one to the front.

Against the smaller ships I've been able to fire and then speed past them so the stronger rear shields are exposed. It doesn't work so well against ISDs though- their bases are too big. Plus that sort of manoeuvre requires initiative.