Hey everybody, I know everybody's been clamoring to hear more of my ridiculous opinions, so I thought hey! Give the people what they want!

So good news! Now you can come read about them somewhere else. It's definitely still under construction, but at least there's an article up. Come read my ramblings about deployment curve!

Also, I would love any feedback on any aspect of the enterprise: the article, the format, what a fool I am to be using Wordpress, whatever.

"Forty percent of an MC30 scout’s dice are long range"

I find this an unnerving statistic.

I have a different conclusion to you. Do look at your deployment curve with every list! In your AF build, upon reading the numbers there is a simple question.

Why are you placing the Bwings before the second assault frigate, or indeed before yavaris? Swop a Bwing for an Xwing and suddenly your deployment curve is radically different.

When you first posted this idea I was messing around with Rieekan. I started deploying Keyan last, and I came to realise it was crucial. Stalling deployment with squadrons only works if the squadrons have the speed to reposition, and you have an expendable first ship, such as jainas light or a flotilla.

You're absolutely right that I should have been deploying the B-wings last. I was stuck in the mindset of delaying deployments with squadrons. I've certainly learned a lot since January, but the game makes a pretty good simple example for the general concept I'm getting at.

I really like this concept. Would you mind doing a breakdown of all the individual units for the lazy?

I think there's a lot of value in that information. It's definitely a higher-end concept, but having a way to see how your fleet's deployment can affect the game before you hit the table is a great way to compare/refine a competitive list.

If you keep putting information like that on your blog, I will happily read every post!

I've been having these exact thoughts running my current list, just with less math. Running an MC80 H1, Yavaris, 2 flotillas, 4x X Wings, 4x B Wings and Jan, I've found that despite having 8 deployments (+1 odd squadron), I only get to put 4 of them down at the most before I start committing really hard. I'll often put the Yavaris down early just to make sure the B's can deploy next to it. Yavaris ideally wants to fly straight at the enemy at speed one anyway, so saving its deployment often doesn't give you much of a surprise advantage.

Interesting topic and interesting approach to the subject.

I'll keep my eyes open for new articles for sure!

I find that cost is a big factor for delaying deployments as well. Putting down a 150+ point monstrosity of a flagship last can be even more crucial to your strategy than putting down a maneuverable heavy hitter like Demolisher.

That being said, I do tend to prefer a big flagship in my builds, and avoid the "commander's lifeboat".

So this data is interesting, but I feel it is lacking without any visuals. As my coworker says "Data is neither good or bad, it just is, until you apply a meaning to the data." I would like to see this deployment curve applied to a game.

Is it possible when you get the time to take pictures of how and why you deploy a certain way, and when you follow your data? Otherwise, this is great and I hope you continue to write!

With regards to Undyings request, we still have that video of jjs game...

I subscribed, interesting posting. I'd like to understand your firepower methodology.

It's an interesting article.

Deployment is so much more than number of deployments. And you've covered a lot of those points well.

Recently I've played a lot of Ackbar, using 4 ships and only a few squadrons.

I'm usually outdeployed

But that's OK, because I've planned for it.

Rather than set up kiting style, which telegraphs intent, I often set up my MC80 facing right into the table at speed 1.

Using an early Nav command and ET, and letting the rest of the fleet form up in response, I can radically change where and when the main battle will take place.

The effect is, of course, most profound vs. less experienced tournament players, who are often completely wrong-footed and destroyed piecemeal, while having trouble focusing down my ships.

Against more experienced players the effect is much less, but still enough to keep them honest during deployment and make them work for any positional advantage

Great stuff. Should keep this blog going with similar content. There are a couple of x factors that are difficult to simulate with individual units (like the need for jan's ability/an intel ship to be in the fight, maybe grading the firepower a little differently) but that's just the sort of thing a player will need to remember when using this as a great rule of thumb. This can also be useful information for deciding between a couple of objectives one is on the fence about (especially with plenty of new options on the horizon), or the importance of a bid for a particular build. This would allow you to keep your deployments tight if need be with slower units, while still being in a relevant spot (contested outpost, station assault, maybe minefields, etc.)