So I'm reading over the product info for the Quasar Fire class cruiser, and the statement, "the Imperial light carrier bristles with laser turrets that allow it to defend itself while its fighter craft are away on crucial missions." Makes me think that we're gonna see anti-squad boosts in this wave.

The card that's almost completely hidden, "Quad Battery Turret"

Is a definite match for the Quad Battery Turrets seen in Episode One gunning down Naboo fighters.



It looks like the cost is only 5 points, which makes me wonder what color die we're gonna get.

Anyone else come to the same conclusion?

5 points to add a dice of a colour already in your anti squad pool maybe? Either way, some anti squad augmentation is very welcome.

Nice spot - it's exactly the same image. Might be an effect rather than add a die, given how much text there is on the card.

Its in the Hammerhead, too.

The one in the Quasar was Quad 227 Battery, before being renamed to be the same.

5 minutes ago, Drasnighta said:

The one in the Quasar was Quad 227 Battery

I googled that, the wookiepedia says it was a compliment aboard the ISD II avenger...

It's clearly clone wars era tech, assuming FFG is using the right art, strange there's not more about it.

If you look at where the text is first visible on the card, it seems to indicate that it's a Modification because the first line of text doesn't loop around enough to be shown on the card splay we see - this would be the case if it was a Modidifcation as that text is centered at the top.

And yeah, my money is on something that adds dice to flak in some fashion.

You guys think this is wave 6 but it's actually "wave Raider."

2 minutes ago, Snipafist said:

You guys think this is wave 6 but it's actually "wave Raider."

Instead of "Make the Vic Great Again" it's "Make the Raider Great Again" which I'm quite happy about.

2 minutes ago, Undeadguy said:

Instead of "Make the Vic Great Again" it's "Make the Raider Great Again" which I'm quite happy about.

Honestly between Moff Jerry, Captain Jonus, and Minister Tua last wave and the External Racks+Boarding Troopers this wave, I think we may have the tools to make VSD-Is legit by the time this is all over.

I'm still not holding out a lot of hope for VSD-IIs, but that's another story and secondary to this discussion, haha.

So how 'bout them Quad Battery Turrets?

Just now, Snipafist said:

Honestly between Moff Jerry and Minister Tua last wave and the External Racks+Boarding Troopers this wave, I think we may have the tools to make VSD-Is legit by the time this is all over.

I'm still not holding out a lot of hope for VSD-IIs, but that's another story and secondary to this discussion, haha.

So how 'bout them Quad Battery Turrets?

I've been saying for a while we need a turbolaser upgrade that increases anti-squad dice and it looks like this might be it. I'm super excited for this.

2 minutes ago, Snipafist said:

I'm still not holding out a lot of hope for VSD-II

Honestly I've found with Tua the VSD II can fill in the shoes of a 2nd ISD quite well for my ISD Pulsetap fleets. Gives me room to add a fighter screen.

1 minute ago, Undeadguy said:

I've been saying for a while we need a turbolaser upgrade that increases anti-squad dice and it looks like this might be it. I'm super excited for this.

I'm pretty sure it's an offensive retrofit, for what it's worth. But yeah, something that meaningfully boosts flak could be cool. They just need to be careful to not make it too good or else what's the point of bringing fighters? For 5 points I imagine it's not going to be earth-shattering, though. Maybe you get a one die reroll when attacking squadrons? I guess we'll see.

Just now, Darth Sanguis said:

Honestly I've found with Tua the VSD II fill in the shoes of a 2nd ISD quite well for my ISD Pulsetap fleets. Gimes me room to add a fighter screen.

I'm very much not a fan of anything requiring Overload Pulse to work out but that's even further afield from the original Quad Battery Turrets discussion, so... probably not great to go into it too much. My main issue with VSD-IIs outfitted with Tua, ECMs, and Gunnery Team is you're getting very close in points to a naked ISD-I and while the usage profile is different, the ISD-I is just so much more stuff than the VSD-II. The +12 point upgrade cost to go from VSD-I to VSD-II is nuts when you look at how they've been pricing similar chassis upgrades from wave 2 on is the core problem.

Swap one color of flak dice for another?

15 minutes ago, shmitty said:

Swap one color of flak dice for another?

I hope it's more...

8 minutes ago, Darth Sanguis said:

I hope it's more...

Modifications tend to add free stuff (1 extra red/blue die to two opposite arcs, a free shield) so I'd assume it at least adds another die.

2 minutes ago, NobodyInParticular said:

Modifications tend to add free stuff (1 extra red/blue die to two opposite arcs, a free shield) so I'd assume it at least adds another die.

4 minutes ago, Snipafist said:

Thanks. I was thinking of Redundant Shields, Enhanced Armament, Spinal Armament, and High-Capacity Ion Turbines. So 4/6 add something for free. DTT adds then removes, and the Tractors beams work entirely different, so I can't really use them in my calculations. . . it does still seem though that the general trend of Modifications is to add something for free. Although upon further reflection the fact that those that do add for free are almost 2x the cost of DTT or the Quads makes e think that perhaps they will have a similar function. . .perhaps instead of a reroll they'll add a die of any color, then cause you to remove a die?

Just now, NobodyInParticular said:

Thanks. I was thinking of Redundant Shields, Enhanced Armament, Spinal Armament, and High-Capacity Ion Turbines. So 4/6 add something for free. DTT adds then removes, and the Tractors beams work entirely different, so I can't really use them in my calculations. . . it does still seem though that the general trend of Modifications is to add something for free. Although upon further reflection the fact that those that do add for free are almost 2x the cost of DTT or the Quads makes e think that perhaps they will have a similar function. . .perhaps instead of a reroll they'll add a die of any color, then cause you to remove a die?

I agree that in general they tend to add dice, so I wasn't trying to be too snarky with the response. It's just easy to forget there are a few cheaper Modifications that don't directly add to stats and so I wanted to tamp down expectations about a flak Modification.

2 minutes ago, Snipafist said:

I agree that in general they tend to add dice, so I wasn't trying to be too snarky with the response. It's just easy to forget there are a few cheaper Modifications that don't directly add to stats and so I wanted to tamp down expectations about a flak Modification.

I am sorry if I seemed ungrateful. I am genuinely happy that you pointed those out, and I completely agree that we shouldn't get our hopes up. Hence my revised assumption/prediction.

1 minute ago, NobodyInParticular said:

I am sorry if I seemed ungrateful. I am genuinely happy that you pointed those out, and I completely agree that we shouldn't get our hopes up. Hence my revised assumption/prediction.

No worries, I was actually concerned after the fact, thinking "hey, just posting some pictures with no commentary can totally be read as you just being kind of a d*ck, you know that, right?" hahaha.

49 minutes ago, Snipafist said:

I'm pretty sure it's an offensive retrofit, for what it's worth. But yeah, something that meaningfully boosts flak could be cool. They just need to be careful to not make it too good or else what's the point of bringing fighters? For 5 points I imagine it's not going to be earth-shattering, though. Maybe you get a one die reroll when attacking squadrons? I guess we'll see.

I hope it's not an offensive retrofit. That would seem weird with the Raider with rerolling dice for AA when you already have OE. And PDR already has that covered for 5 points.

Turbo slot and adding 1 die would be more likely IMO.

First, it's a turbolaser, which tend to fall into the offensive retrofit or turbolaser slot.

Second, 1 extra die isn't game breaking, since the ships that already have 2 AA won't be able to take something else like XI7, except the Lib. So you have a medium/large ship pulling AA duty instead of crushing ships. I guess a Neb could take it, but then you're taking a Neb... so I guess that's ok?

Third, there is a lot of synergy with the other anti-squad upgrades. Imagine QLT and QBT for a counter of 2, or 3 with Kallus. Or rerolling a whopping 4 anti-squad dice with PDR on a Kallus/CF ISD.

Fourth, you can't really MSU in an attempt to murder squads if it's a turbo slot. Raiders can't take it. CR90s can, but would rather have TRC. Most importantly, flotillas can't take it. I don't think we want 23 point GR-75s tossing 2 anti-squad dice, and running against 3 of them.

I've thought long and hard about balancing a card like this, and turbolaser seems the most appropriate. That said, I don't know what FFG did or how it will impact the game.

2 minutes ago, Undeadguy said:

I don't think we want 23 point GR-75s tossing 2 anti-squad dice,

Well... you say that, but it would certainly make my ISD fleets better lol (presuming the Gozantis would be 28 points)

2 minutes ago, Darth Sanguis said:

Well... you say that, but it would certainly make my ISD fleets better lol (presuming the Gozantis would be 28 points)

I agree it would help make dual ISD fleets more viable, but you can't do that without buffing GR-75s to ridiculous levels. And I would consider a 23 point ship capable of throwing 3 anti-squad die with a CF pretty powerful. I'd even upgrade to the combat for both factions to toss 2 dice at medium.

Granted, all of this hinges on the card actually adding an extra die.

4 minutes ago, Undeadguy said:

I hope it's not an offensive retrofit. That would seem weird with the Raider with rerolling dice for AA when you already have OE. And PDR already has that covered for 5 points.

The thing is that in Star Wars, turbolasers are used to shoot at capital ships. Regular lasers (usually in dual or quad formation) are lighter caliber guns and are used to attack squadrons and so far that kind of upgrade (Quad Laser Turrets) has been an offensive retrofit.

Furthermore, it's clear that both the Hammerhead and Quasar come with offensive retrofit slots but it's not at all clear that they each come with turbolaser slots - the longer-ranged Hammerhead has only 2 red dice in the front and that's it. The longer-ranged Quasar has 2 red in the front and 1 red on the sides. It seems unlikely to me that both of these ships would get turbolaser upgrade slots with such a low number of red dice (especially the Hammerhead), but they both have offensive retrofit slots for certain.

Just now, Undeadguy said:

I agree it would help make dual ISD fleets more viable, but you can't do that without buffing GR-75s to ridiculous levels. And I would consider a 23 point ship capable of throwing 3 anti-squad die with a CF pretty powerful. I'd even upgrade to the combat for both factions to toss 2 dice at medium.

Granted, all of this hinges on the card actually adding an extra die.

Yeah, that's all true! lol

3 minutes ago, Snipafist said:

The thing is that in Star Wars, turbolasers are used to shoot at capital ships. Regular lasers (usually in dual or quad formation) are lighter caliber guns and are used to attack squadrons and so far that kind of upgrade (Quad Laser Turrets) has been an offensive retrofit.

Furthermore, it's clear that both the Hammerhead and Quasar come with offensive retrofit slots but it's not at all clear that they each come with turbolaser slots - the longer-ranged Hammerhead has only 2 red dice in the front and that's it. The longer-ranged Quasar has 2 red in the front and 1 red on the sides. It seems unlikely to me that both of these ships would get turbolaser upgrade slots with such a low number of red dice (especially the Hammerhead), but they both have offensive retrofit slots for certain.

Right I hadn't considered that. Upgrades do come with ships that can equip them.