So I've been list building and getting a few games in. Reading other lists and trying to note patterns, and my main issue has been..
How do you decide how many upgrades to put on a ship? Is it dependent on the base points of the ship? Just enough to do what you want? Bare-bones for life?
Naturally there are many differences of opinion on this topic.
I generally try to have an idea what I want to do with the ship, and will only upgrade it accordingly.
Other people (see the michigan regional thread for a good example) will deck out a ship with literally every slot filled.
YMMV
For pure competition, most lists I see gravitate upgrade light or upgrade focused.
IE lots of lightly upgraded ships or lots of nearly naked ships and one heavily upgraded ship that they protect with their life because if they lose it then it's going to be game over anyway so might as well go for broke.
Each ship has a purpose, so I build them to be the best for that purpose.
Gozanti with Boosted Comms and Bomber Command Center means they can be in the middle of the fleet and help all my bombers.
MC80L with H9, XI7, Leading Shots, Gunnery Team Raymus, and Engine Techs means I have a fast tank able to get in position and shoot 2 targets. LS means I can increase my damage, while H9 and XI7 means I can push my damage through. Raymus means I can use 1 Nav and get a token to trigger ET next turn. Basically 1 command yields 2 uses.
70-80 points on squadrons
and then an admiral
I bring enough upgrades for the ship to accomplish its mission. Tangent to that, I don't choose a ship until its role in my fleet is picked. Demolisher doesn't come out because it's a good card, Demolisher comes out because for chasing edge ships and providing fire on target, there are few better, none with its agility. If my Raiders are performing anti-squadron duty, they have Ordnance Experts and Flechette Torpedoes. If their job is to be a light picket, they get Assault Proton Torpedoes or Assault Concussion Missiles depending on the armament of the remaining ships. This logic goes all the way up the chain. If I have an Imperial class Star Destroyer playing carrier, it will get Expanded Hangar Bays if the fighter ball is more than 5, Boosted Comms if I'm not sure the ship can keep pace with them, and Flight Controllers if I judge that to be a greater advantage than Gunnery Teams.
For reference, I run relatively upgraded lists but I seldom field a ship with something in every slot. If you're concerned about being able to pick the best upgrades, fully build the fleet with everything you think will help a ship accomplish its mission, as well as all the fighters you want, then trim back down under 400, farther if you want a bid. DOn't be afraid to be aggressive about trimming. If you won't use Engine Techs, don't take Engine Techs. Experiment and find which upgrades work well for you. My only other comment is to keep the fleet simple, which should not be mistaken for few upgrades. You WILL forget things in the heart of battle, so make sure your fleet is intuitive to you so that you can get maximum use out of every upgrade. If you never remember to use Montferrat's ability, ditch him. You'll find your pace after a skirmish or a dozen. Be patient and creative. That's my two cents.
i used to deck everything out but upgrades are expensive. I noticed if i leave off expensive and moderately unlikely to help upgrades (defensive retrofit on a CR90) i can usually either squeeze another ship in or a handful of squadrons.
Generally i try to avoid more than 3 upgrades now, commander not counting. Aim for 2, will take a third if i feel i need it, change ship if i think i need more.
Fewer upgrades than you want
For me the upgrades are driven by the answers to following questions:
1. What is the role (or a set of roles) of the ship?
2. What is the likely opposition/combat scenarios (i.e. medium range attack vs flotilla for example)
3. How does the upgrade help for these scenarios?
4. How would the loss of this ship affect the chances of winning (points-wise and strategy-wise)?
- 240-260 points on ships
- 40-50 points on upgrades
- 70-80 points on squadrons
- and then an admiral
That's a really solid outline, thanks!
Fewer upgrades than you want
Yes...this seems to pretty much always be the case.
So really it seems to be about finding one role (maybe two?) for a ship and just nailing it down to that. I seem to get stuck on filling the majority of the upgrades (fill in all the shineys!) Or trying to push a ship to too many roles.
I've seen that usually Small ships have 0-2 upgrades, Medium have 1-3, and Large have 2-5, is this a good rule of thumb? Do people go by a percentage rule of "a ship can have XX% of their base points allocated as upgrades?