Clusters + Guidance Chips:

2 attacks, each in lots of 8:

4 lots go to 3 damage

3 lots go to 2 damage

1 lot goes to 1 damage

Punnet Squared, each in lots of 64

16 lots go to 6 damage

24 lots go to 5

17 lots go to 4

06 lots go to 3

1 lot goes to 2

Of course, the latter is massively impacted by damage mitigation.

Concussion + Chips

1 attack, in lots of 256

152 lots go to 4 damage

80 go to 3

23 go to 2

1 goes to 1

If we reduce to "Expected Damage" (which tends to occlude the issue, but is easily grasped in its faults)

Clusters :

2 attacks of 2.375

-or-

1 attack of 4.75

Concussions :

1 attack of 3.496......

Tell that to my dice. My last outing with clusters was N'dru with stims LW AND ability active and chimps proxy. 8 dice did 3 hits to the palpmobile. He saved 2. Pretty sure it should of been slightly higher.

Biggs Darklighter with R4-D6 and Integrated Astromech is a hilarious counter to the 6 Z-95 swarm.

So is Wes Janson with Veteran Instincts. Not only do you stop the initial Blount blitz by removing his Focus, you can continue to remove target locks from other Z-95s afterwards.

Biggs Darklighter with R4-D6 and Integrated Astromech is a hilarious counter to the 6 Z-95 swarm.

So is Wes Janson with Veteran Instincts. Not only do you stop the initial Blount blitz by removing his Focus, you can continue to remove target locks from other Z-95s afterwards.

I enjoy this, partially as they're both in an "unplayable" ship :-)

AC with Cluster offers an expectation of 4 damage, with the ability to go to as much as 6, but you face double the damage mitigation.

AC with Concussion offers an expectation of 4 damage, with the possibility of going lower.

Cluster is definitely better vs a Decimator.

Concussion is definitely better vs a Phantom.

But now I'm wondering: With Guidance Chips, are AC still better than FCS with Clusters?

Using IronWardog's X-wing Probability Calculator (cause I suck at the math myself):

3 w/ Guidance Chips, Accuracy Corrector, Cluster Missiles vs 0 = 4.67

3+TL w/ Guidance Chips, Cluster Missiles vs 0 = 4.75

Looks like the answer is yes, but then the next question arises: is it so much better that it's worth giving up AC for your primary weapon attacks? IMO, probably not.

The average hits for Cluster and Concussion might be about the same, but it's the max potential that makes Concussion better vs. Aces (i.e. Soontir). Your Concussion can hit heavy and punch through Soontir easier than waiting for Soontir to roll bad. Notice I said "can". They can also roll crap and not do so well. With Concussion Missiles, you will want to focus as many on Soontir as possible and then just burn through the rest of their list with main guns. You just don't know if you will get through or not.

Soontir is why you pay extra for Homing Missiles.

I'd go all the way and fly quad Prockets with quad Tempests. That leaves 4 extra points, which you could put into TIE MK II or even ATC. First engagement you pick up TL's on something, then whenever it's likely you're going to get a range one on something, start focusing, you'll hit something with 5 TL and focused dice lol.

The problem is that the Soontir player can get lucky on the one turn he's bumped or in range of that crucial missile and roll triple evade or something stupid, and then you've lost your one chance to kill Soontir. With Palp, focus, evade, autothrusters and stealth device he's invincible pretty much.

I think prockets aren't a great idea for a.c. tempests with missiles. The power of homing or concs are range 2-3 and a lot of punch which makes it more likely your ps2 ships can actually get their prey in arc and spray them down with missiles. I don't want to try to get soontir range 1 of multiple tempests and have him just boop out the side arc.

Conversely though, five modified dice will make Soontir a lot more scared of going head to head with them at range 1, which normally he just woudln't care about at all. It's not just abotu what damage they do directly, it's also about how they control his position and options. If they force him to give up range 1 or even give up a shot even once or twice in a game, they may well have paid for themselves.

2x Prockets, 2x Homing Missiles, quad chips on your quad Tempests.

Tell that to my dice. My last outing with clusters was N'dru with stims LW AND ability active and chimps proxy. 8 dice did 3 hits to the palpmobile. He saved 2. Pretty sure it should of been slightly higher.

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