Quickdraw 35

Rage

Electonic Baffle

Special Ops Training

Lightweight Frame

Sensor cluster

with rage giving a focus token for sensor cluster and LwF a psuedo +1 agility, would it net out to more HP for QD? I had shield upgrade on it before.

Would it have killed you to have not used an acronym in the title, so everyone would know what you are talking about?

Would it have killed you to have not used an acronym in the title, so everyone would know what you are talking about?

You know, I think it might have. I didnt want to risk it. Better safe than sorry!

Once you're rolling 3 dice, Sensor Cluster becomes less important; it only matters if you roll at least one blank and no focus results, which is more likely with fewer dice.

That said, it's not a bad way to make her tougher.

The other option (if you want to sink points into her) is Twin Ion Engines MkII and Pattern Analyser - so she ends up with no stress and has a free dial next turn (a good option given her lack of green turns)

It's certainly not a silly idea. Quickdraw is expensive enough to justify a few points spent on toughness, and making her a less appealing target may mean she gets a second use out of her ability.

So...

A Rage/Baffles Quickdraw kills itself to kill the enemy faster. That's the core of QD's value.

Every point you spend on it past that basic level only means you lose more points with every attack. It dilutes the efficiency of the ship. So those points HAVE to pay themselves off somehow.

Reaching for more survivability is IMHO not the way to go. Also, what you're paying for is the same cost as a Shield Upgrade, which raises QD's threat value by giving it another potential extra shot. If I had 35 points to spend on a QD, I think I'd prefer Shield Upgrade just for that extra threat.

So...

A Rage/Baffles Quickdraw kills itself to kill the enemy faster. That's the core of QD's value.

Every point you spend on it past that basic level only means you lose more points with every attack. It dilutes the efficiency of the ship. So those points HAVE to pay themselves off somehow.

Reaching for more survivability is IMHO not the way to go. Also, what you're paying for is the same cost as a Shield Upgrade, which raises QD's threat value by giving it another potential extra shot. If I had 35 points to spend on a QD, I think I'd prefer Shield Upgrade just for that extra threat.

This is the core of my question. How do i get to do the Rage/Baffle/Pilot ability more than once. Shield upgrade gives me more shields to work with yeah, But would lighter frame plus sensor cluster make the shields last longer?

just FYI the list has howlrunner and 3 black cracks and comes in at 99 points. I have played it once and had QD lose all her shields in one shot. which was what i thought would happen.

In my experience, you get more Quickdraw uses through positioning more than equipment. All the defensive tech available won't help you if she's focused down, so you either use the rest of your squad to take advantage of that, or you fly Quickdraw so she's a bad first round target, allowing you to drop the hammer on round 2.

So...

A Rage/Baffles Quickdraw kills itself to kill the enemy faster. That's the core of QD's value.

Every point you spend on it past that basic level only means you lose more points with every attack. It dilutes the efficiency of the ship. So those points HAVE to pay themselves off somehow.

Reaching for more survivability is IMHO not the way to go. Also, what you're paying for is the same cost as a Shield Upgrade, which raises QD's threat value by giving it another potential extra shot. If I had 35 points to spend on a QD, I think I'd prefer Shield Upgrade just for that extra threat.

This is the core of my question. How do i get to do the Rage/Baffle/Pilot ability more than once. Shield upgrade gives me more shields to work with yeah, But would lighter frame plus sensor cluster make the shields last longer?

just FYI the list has howlrunner and 3 black cracks and comes in at 99 points. I have played it once and had QD lose all her shields in one shot. which was what i thought would happen.

Tactics, basically. You keep her out of arc, you keep more threatening ships in closer proximity to the enemy, and you offer bait.

But this is why I think suicide QD isn't long-term competitive - because once you know how to fly against her - i.e. as soon as she rage-baffles, focus fire on her until she's out of shields - she's trivial to counter. Still scary, but she's a gotcha, not a long-term tactical plan.

Looks good to me.

So...

A Rage/Baffles Quickdraw kills itself to kill the enemy faster. That's the core of QD's value.

Every point you spend on it past that basic level only means you lose more points with every attack. It dilutes the efficiency of the ship. So those points HAVE to pay themselves off somehow.

Reaching for more survivability is IMHO not the way to go. Also, what you're paying for is the same cost as a Shield Upgrade, which raises QD's threat value by giving it another potential extra shot. If I had 35 points to spend on a QD, I think I'd prefer Shield Upgrade just for that extra threat.

This is the core of my question. How do i get to do the Rage/Baffle/Pilot ability more than once. Shield upgrade gives me more shields to work with yeah, But would lighter frame plus sensor cluster make the shields last longer?

just FYI the list has howlrunner and 3 black cracks and comes in at 99 points. I have played it once and had QD lose all her shields in one shot. which was what i thought would happen.

Tactics, basically. You keep her out of arc, you keep more threatening ships in closer proximity to the enemy, and you offer bait.

But this is why I think suicide QD isn't long-term competitive - because once you know how to fly against her - i.e. as soon as she rage-baffles, focus fire on her until she's out of shields - she's trivial to counter. Still scary, but she's a gotcha, not a long-term tactical plan.

Is Omega Leader not competitive because it's an obvious tactic that's well-understood? Or is Soontir Fel not competitive? Or is Corran Horn not competitive - hell, the Corran Horn build that went to #2 in Worlds has been around for years .

Rage/Baffles QD is very straightforward - but that makes him hard to kill before he throws 3-4 fully modded dice at a target twice, once before they even get a chance to fire back and once at PS9. That's almost impossible to counter before it has the chance to proc once, and will almost certainly destroy or at least cripple whatever he's pointed at.

And if it goes off again, that's just gravy. If it doesn't? Well, the rest of your list is free to shoot at whatever he's softened up, because he's taking fire that could be going at Inq/OmegaL/Vader/Soontir/other endgame closer. Even if he doesn't get his combo off twice in a game, he still has a fore/back arc, moves at PS9, can take red maneuvers and still get an action until he's down to 1 Hull, and rolls 3 dice from his main arc. Those are all solid traits, even setting aside his ability.

The best part is how well he pairs with OmegaL. Point QD at whatever might counter OmegaL and erase it. The two of them together leave 43 points; that's enough for a great variety of 3-4 ship lists. Patrol Leader+Vader? Palpshuttle/Wampa? Scimitar Bomber+Kylo Ren+Zealous Recruit/ZetaL? It's super-strong.

So...

A Rage/Baffles Quickdraw kills itself to kill the enemy faster. That's the core of QD's value.

Every point you spend on it past that basic level only means you lose more points with every attack. It dilutes the efficiency of the ship. So those points HAVE to pay themselves off somehow.

Reaching for more survivability is IMHO not the way to go. Also, what you're paying for is the same cost as a Shield Upgrade, which raises QD's threat value by giving it another potential extra shot. If I had 35 points to spend on a QD, I think I'd prefer Shield Upgrade just for that extra threat.

This is the core of my question. How do i get to do the Rage/Baffle/Pilot ability more than once. Shield upgrade gives me more shields to work with yeah, But would lighter frame plus sensor cluster make the shields last longer?

just FYI the list has howlrunner and 3 black cracks and comes in at 99 points. I have played it once and had QD lose all her shields in one shot. which was what i thought would happen.

Tactics, basically. You keep her out of arc, you keep more threatening ships in closer proximity to the enemy, and you offer bait.

But this is why I think suicide QD isn't long-term competitive - because once you know how to fly against her - i.e. as soon as she rage-baffles, focus fire on her until she's out of shields - she's trivial to counter. Still scary, but she's a gotcha, not a long-term tactical plan.

Is Omega Leader not competitive because it's an obvious tactic that's well-understood? Or is Soontir Fel not competitive? Or is Corran Horn not competitive - hell, the Corran Horn build that went to #2 in Worlds has been around for years .

Rage/Baffles QD is very straightforward - but that makes him hard to kill before he throws 3-4 fully modded dice at a target twice, once before they even get a chance to fire back and once at PS9. That's almost impossible to counter before it has the chance to proc once, and will almost certainly destroy or at least cripple whatever he's pointed at.

And if it goes off again, that's just gravy. If it doesn't? Well, the rest of your list is free to shoot at whatever he's softened up, because he's taking fire that could be going at Inq/OmegaL/Vader/Soontir/other endgame closer. Even if he doesn't get his combo off twice in a game, he still has a fore/back arc, moves at PS9, can take red maneuvers and still get an action until he's down to 1 Hull, and rolls 3 dice from his main arc. Those are all solid traits, even setting aside his ability.

The best part is how well he pairs with OmegaL. Point QD at whatever might counter OmegaL and erase it. The two of them together leave 43 points; that's enough for a great variety of 3-4 ship lists. Patrol Leader+Vader? Palpshuttle/Wampa? Scimitar Bomber+Kylo Ren+Zealous Recruit/ZetaL? It's super-strong.

OL and Soontir really aren't all that competitive at the moment, no. There are too many ways to shed TLs for OL to be worth it, and even when there aren't there are a bunch of people teched to kill Defenders, and OL is easier to kill in a gang fight than a Defender. Same with Soontir.

Corran... that's a stronger point, yeah, but I'd still say he's not amazingly competitive on a large scale - just because someone went right to the top of worlds with him doesn't make him the meta, it means that particular person is *very* good with him.

Quickdraw's also significantly easier to kill than any of the above ships - taking two shields off a 2 agi ship in one round isn't that hard, as compared to killing a focus/evade 3 or 4 die ship. You don't have to do much to her, just claim her shields, then she loses her pilot ability and incentive to use Rage/Baffles.

I'm not saying QD's bad, far from it. I'm saying she's easy enough to counter that her points will usually be better spent on something that is less easy to counter.