As above. If I accuracy the Brace, I'm making HTTs useless; if I accuracy something else (say, a redirect) I'm giving him the threshold to decide if it's worth just using the brace to half the damage, even at the expense of any evade/redirect/contain.

Can someone much smarter than I break down the logic behind this upgrade? I'm using it with SW-7s for pure raw damage output but I'm having trouble wrapping my head around it.

In general I don't recommend using HTTs when you have reasonable odds of rolling an accuracy result (so with blue dice in any quantity).

If you do, however, roll an Accuracy then I would lock down the brace in most circumstances and treat the HTTs as a backup. Guaranteed more damage is better than getting upgrades to work.

It depends on the dice you are rolling. If you are rolling all reds, where an accuracy is not guaranteed to come, or all blacks, you can effectively shut down all of your opponents defense tokens except for the brace, helping you do spike damage (damage on one hull zone). It's like getting to wipe out all the rest of the opponents tokens except the best one for free (Edit: or 6 points a game).

Depends on what ship you're against, what range you're at, etc.

HTTs are a weird upgrade that's best-suited to single large attacks, such as an ISD's front end. However, if you roll an accuracy on a big attack I'd almost always suggest just locking down the Brace. Regardless, they're going to be able to reduce your attack either via Bracing or Redirecting, and even with HTTs it's generally better to pile the damage on somewhere (ie. let it get redirected to a flank) rather than vanishing into thin air via Brace. With SW-7s, might just be better to pile on damage and let them pick their poison.

Depends on what ship you're against, what range you're at, etc.

HTTs are a weird upgrade that's best-suited to single large attacks, such as an ISD's front end. However, if you roll an accuracy on a big attack I'd almost always suggest just locking down the Brace. Regardless, they're going to be able to reduce your attack either via Bracing or Redirecting, and even with HTTs it's generally better to pile the damage on somewhere (ie. let it get redirected to a flank) rather than vanishing into thin air via Brace. With SW-7s, might just be better to pile on damage and let them pick their poison.

So that brings me back to the old question; for say, an ISD2 with SW-7s, should I look at running HTTs or XI7s?

It seems to me like HTTs are a little more ECM proof, and cheaper than having to bring an Intel Officer along for the ride to make ECM/brace a harder decision.

They're ECM-proof, but not every ship has ECM. In fact, most ships don't, in which case a handful of blue dice should give you the single Accuracy you need to do well with XI7s.

I vastly prefer XI7s because I see a lot of CR90s and MC30s of late, and obviously, HTT are straight up useless against those.

But what are the ships with a brace and not a re-direct? The Neb B and the Raider. Both of those are, in my view, lesser threats, so if I was going to pick one of those two, I'd take XI7.

I vastly prefer XI7s because I see a lot of CR90s and MC30s of late, and obviously, HTT are straight up useless against those.

But what are the ships with a brace and not a re-direct? The Neb B and the Raider. Both of those are, in my view, lesser threats, so if I was going to pick one of those two, I'd take XI7.

So now we're looking at Intel Officer/SW7s/XI7s for maximum damage output... gets expensive but I'll see if I can make it work.

Depends entirely on your list, frankly. I run more of a shotgun approach to damage, so the XI7s usually aren't needed, and something like Avenger ends up being much more effective for an ISD loadout specifically.

I find ships tend to do pretty well without necessarily being kitted out with upgrades, especially ISDs. They hit like a truck whether you're using Intel Officer or not.

So that brings me back to the old question; for say, an ISD2 with SW-7s, should I look at running HTTs or XI7s?

Leading Shots...