Assuming you have a free Brace with XI7s, you can brace for half damage and still shunt a damage off to a nearby shield (not a great use of your Redirect, but anything that keeps hits off the hull helps). With HTTs, you need to choose to either take full damage (ouch) but distribute it to shields or to take half damage but it's all going to the targeted hull zone. This has more synergy with the Overload Pulse due to the decision you need to make (favoring Brace by itself or every other defense token you can throw at the attack to optimize how well your tokens work).

In general, it's been posited (Steel Squadron had an article on it) that due to the nature of the decision required, HTTs are often better than XI7s once you're rolling large amounts of damage from large ships (I believe the cutoff was 5+) and preferably targeting other large ships, as they have more tokens they'd like to spend and likely have a means of ECMing their Brace token when necessary anyways. HTTs are also better when you can't reliably lock down the Brace because your dice suite doesn't have a lot of blue dice, so you're just pumping out raw damage and hoping for the best (like with an ISD, or perhaps the Scout MC30 without Home One).

@Jhox : When you do the math, Heavy Turbolasers work a lot better on hulls without shields remaining, while XI7 works better when there are still shields up. You can force more damage on the naked hull especially with big rolls. So, if you have something to drill through shields first like squadrons, it's a good upgrade.

Yuuuuuuuup, got you now, took a few moments. My brain's no good on a Thursday. Or any other day.

So, yes, big heavy attacks with HTTs are in fact brutal against a facing with no (or few) active shields. BUT, the natural counter to them is Advanced Projectors.

I think my issue with them derives from the fact that, if Advanced Projectors trump, HTTs, and X-17s trump Advanced Projectors, but nothing really trumps X-17s, then X-17s sort-of sit on top of the food chain.

But, with everyone taking ECMs instead of Advanced Projectors, now HTTs come back into vogue... until everyone wises up and starts taking Advanced Projectors again, and then X-17s... Oh my god.

The other ***** in the armour of HTTs is the MC30, which is largely unaffected, and is actually particularly troubling in the case of the title that allows them to Redirect to two adjacent hull zones...

Too much brain work going on at the moment. Head hurts.

I wouldn't necessarily say that Advanced Projectors are a "counter" to HTTs. You'd still be taking full damage (potentially minus one if you threw in a Brace that was otherwise not going to do much anyways) to your shields, you'd just be spreading it around more. In the short term it would help keep damage off your hull but in the long term those shields are going to get gobbled up and you're going to have big problems, which is basically what happened to Assault Frigates back in wave one versus Screed Gladiator + Assault Concussion Missile fleets. The APs saved their bacon for a little while up until they spectacularly didn't and then kaboom.

And given how fond I am of Screed-fueled Assault Concussion Missiles... You're winning me over to HTTs quite dramatically. I mean, I've always really liked them, but the flashier X-17 has always been too tempting. Hmmmm...

@Jhox : Indeed, the Achilles' heel of HTT are ships with large amounts of shields and no Brace... Or are they ? Scoring 6 damage on a MC30 means 2 hulls depleted, and if you managed to drill through a shield first with squadrons, it's perhaps a dead MC30

That said, the MC30 is deceptively resilient despite not having Brace. Crossfires are really needed to deal with it promptly before it severely cripples a ship and makes it ripe for another round of shooting.

So, based on the feedback here, I have made my choice (I think)...

I have gone for SW 7 Ion Batteries on the ISD-II, as these will push the base damage up to the higher end, to work better with the Heavy Turbolaser Turrets. It's entirely possible that, except for Evades, I may not use any accuracies in this instance, if the defending ship has Electronic Countermeasures.

This will be a list I will be using at two Winter Tournaments over the next two days. So, here goes nothin'...

A Link to the Pretty Version

Screed's Thunder

Author: jhox

Faction: Galactic Empire
Points: 392/400

Commander: Admiral Screed

Assault Objective: Most Wanted
Defense Objective: Hyperspace Assault
Navigation Objective: Intel Sweep

[ flagship ] Gladiator I-Class Star Destroyer (56 points)
- Admiral Screed ( 26 points)
- Assault Concussion Missiles ( 7 points)

Gladiator I-Class Star Destroyer (56 points)
- Demolisher ( 10 points)
- Nav Team ( 4 points)
- Assault Concussion Missiles ( 7 points)

Imperial II-Class Star Destroyer (120 points)
- Relentless ( 3 points)
- Captain Needa ( 2 points)
- Gunnery Team ( 7 points)
- Electronic Countermeasures ( 7 points)
- Heavy Turbolaser Turrets ( 6 points)
- SW 7 Ion Batteries ( 5 points)

Raider-I Class Corvette (44 points)
- Instigator ( 4 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)

3 TIE Fighter Squadrons ( 24 points)

Fleet created with Armada Warlords

I find your list a little light on squadrons for my taste but it can work !

Regarding HTTs, I find that they work better after activating squadrons (even basic TIE) to drill through the target shields. The defender either lets his guard down and doesn't see the drilling coming locking him to use his brace, either spends a few tokens to redirect part of the damage elsewhere and makes it possible that he'll expend these tokens.

You could try throwing XX-9 instead of HTT on your ship, you'll make it proc with Screed no problem and you're likely to inflict 2 crits on the enemy anyways

I find your list a little light on squadrons for my taste but it can work !

Regarding HTTs...

My Instigator will be working with my squadrons to tie enemy bombers down - even if they have to do it sacrificially. This means I still have a strong fighter defense, and I get an extra activation out of it, which is a key component of my play style.

Regarding HTTs, I'll be usiing my Gladiators and their Assault Concussion Missiles to scatter damage across different hull zones, hopefully coming in perpendicularly to the ISD - so the hull zone facing the ISD will already be weakened, allowing it to use its reliable (with SW 7s and Screed) frontal arc to put the damage right where it needs to be.

If I manage 6 points of damage with a frontal attack - 4 from the blues and 2 from the reds - against a hull zone with only one or two shields, then that ship is taking damage, one way or another (and will already have been battered by the Gladiators). Bear in mind that I can Concentrate Fire with a blue dice for a guaranteed extra point of damage, and I'm happy. Against ECMed ships, I probably won't bother using any accuracy results, instead just using the damage.

XX-9s - I have this irrational hatred of dealing face-up damage cards. I mean, it's great, I know it's great, it can be awful to suffer those effects - but they're too random for me. If I have a choice between two damage or one critical damage, I'll always go for the two damage, which is why I prefer ACMs to APTs. And I know most people will probably disagree with that, but it's how I roll.

XX-9s - I have this irrational hatred of dealing face-up damage cards. I mean, it's great, I know it's great, it can be awful to suffer those effects - but they're too random for me. If I have a choice between two damage or one critical damage, I'll always go for the two damage, which is why I prefer ACMs to APTs. And I know most people will probably disagree with that, but it's how I roll.

Oh yeah, I'm not saying bank on face up cards, I'm saying ; if you'll be inflict two damage, might as make them 2 face ups

Even with Dodonna's, you can't rely on crits to control the opponent's ship, but you can take better advantage of them when they pop up

Oh yeah, I'm not saying bank on face up cards, I'm saying ; if you'll be inflict two damage, might as make them 2 face ups

Even with Dodonna's, you can't rely on crits to control the opponent's ship, but you can take better advantage of them when they pop up

Nah, that's true, but I think I prefer the HTTs, just for the dickery of it.

Oh yeah, I'm not saying bank on face up cards, I'm saying ; if you'll be inflict two damage, might as make them 2 face ups

Even with Dodonna's, you can't rely on crits to control the opponent's ship, but you can take better advantage of them when they pop up

Nah, that's true, but I think I prefer the HTTs, just for the dickery of it.

Good upgrade that's for sure, but don't forget to get the most bang for your buck by activating squadrons before. Any shield drilled is more hull damage with HTT more than with any other upgrade

So, if you are using Screed:

1. He actually has strong synergy with red dice. If you roll blanks, it allows you to flip other dice to crits. If you roll many blanks, you drop one and add a crit. If you need to trigger a blue crit effect, you can also drop a red blank to do this.
2. So when we look at the potential available upgrades in this light, we have:
   1. ICB - this is good because you can auto-trigger the crit effect, but is that crit effect good enough? It's 1 command token (minorly annoying) or 1 shield if they have them. What it does not do is anything to a ship with no command tokens and no shields.
   2. Leading Shots - this is terrible with Screed. You don't want effects that cause you to sacrifice dice to re-roll when you can already sacrifice dice to just flip something to a crit. This has anti-synergy with Screed and is wasted points.
   3. NK-7 Ion Cannons - pricey as hell, but discarding a defense token is great versus big ships. The problem here is that if you are facing mostly small or medium ships, it's wasted points compared to the effect.
   4. Overload Pulse - great because it exhausts defense tokens, bad because they can still use them first and the ISDII is your heavy hitter.
   5. SW-7 - you can eat your accuracy for damage, but with Screed, if you wanted this, you can just flip to damage discarding a blank.

So, in short, after looking at all of these... I'd probably take nothing. The points are probably better spent somewhere else. At most you get 1 damage, sometimes. With Screed, I'd much rather be putting APT/ACM somewhere, or taking the Needa / TRC combo.

I'm definitely on board with 1-4, but I disagree on 5. I feel that SW-7's with Screed are even better. You don't have to discard to flip any of your Blues, they're all damage so you're guaranteed four. Now if you roll two blank Reds (or one blank and no crits), you can flip a Red. Even if you roll a fistful of blank or Accuracy Reds, you're guaranteed a minimum of five damage.

If you want to be crazy, you can also take Needa and TRCs on an ISD-II and guarantee seven damage.

So, if you are using Screed:

1. He actually has strong synergy with red dice. If you roll blanks, it allows you to flip other dice to crits. If you roll many blanks, you drop one and add a crit. If you need to trigger a blue crit effect, you can also drop a red blank to do this.
2. So when we look at the potential available upgrades in this light, we have:
   1. ICB - this is good because you can auto-trigger the crit effect, but is that crit effect good enough? It's 1 command token (minorly annoying) or 1 shield if they have them. What it does not do is anything to a ship with no command tokens and no shields.
   2. Leading Shots - this is terrible with Screed. You don't want effects that cause you to sacrifice dice to re-roll when you can already sacrifice dice to just flip something to a crit. This has anti-synergy with Screed and is wasted points.
   3. NK-7 Ion Cannons - pricey as hell, but discarding a defense token is great versus big ships. The problem here is that if you are facing mostly small or medium ships, it's wasted points compared to the effect.
   4. Overload Pulse - great because it exhausts defense tokens, bad because they can still use them first and the ISDII is your heavy hitter.
   5. SW-7 - you can eat your accuracy for damage, but with Screed, if you wanted this, you can just flip to damage discarding a blank.

So, in short, after looking at all of these... I'd probably take nothing. The points are probably better spent somewhere else. At most you get 1 damage, sometimes. With Screed, I'd much rather be putting APT/ACM somewhere, or taking the Needa / TRC combo.

I'm definitely on board with 1-4, but I disagree on 5. I feel that SW-7's with Screed are even better. You don't have to discard to flip any of your Blues, they're all damage so you're guaranteed four. Now if you roll two blank Reds (or one blank and no crits), you can flip a Red. Even if you roll a fistful of blank or Accuracy Reds, you're guaranteed a minimum of five damage.

If you want to be crazy, you can also take Needa and TRCs on an ISD-II and guarantee seven damage.

SW7, Devastator, Needa, TRC, Screed:

8 guaranteed blue, 2 from needa, 1 more from screed: 11 minimum damage! (and no ISD next turn!)

SW7, Devastator, Needa, TRC, Screed:

8 guaranteed blue, 2 from needa, 1 more from screed: 11 minimum damage! (and no ISD next turn!)

Put Vader on there, too - will help you get rid of those troublesome Defense tokens, and allow you to reroll everything you want to! That'd be, like, a billion damage or something. Totally overpowered and broken. They should nerf it.

You can't trigger Needa if all of your Defense Tokens are gone. You still need that Evade. But I see where you're going. Burn all of your tokens as fast as you can ("One damage? Guess I'd better spend my Brace!"), then do ungodly damage with your counter fire. You would need to get rid of their Brace somehow, though. Otherwise they Brace that twelve damage down to six. And then you die, because you have no tokens.

Example : Dutch/Wedge combo costs 35 points for an extra 1 damage (2 blue dice) on a single squadron. Compared to 2 X-Wings + a Y-Wing doing more damage on average against squadrons (5 vs 4.5) and more damage against ships (2.5 vs 2).

Add in Yavaris and it makes the pair even less mobile, just to trigger 2 extra damage per turn on a single squadron or 1 or 2 squadrons...

Don't forget Dutch's ability. He activates the squadron he attacks (if it isn't already, otherwise 1 extra damage that can't be Braced) that's pretty amazing against really good squadrons, I've had Vader hit by that a couple of times, even without Wedge's extra dice it hurts to lose your squadron activation.

Dutch further has an extra die against squadrons, Wedge has a black die against ships, and they both have defense tokens.

So there's quite a bit more fit their points than just Wedge's ability.

Definitely !

I play with Dutch regularily and I like the guy, he's a pretty beasty Y-Wing

My point was : Dutch is good, Wedge is good. Wedge and Dutch is good, but buying them simply to proc the combo isn't worth the time.