Hey all, I'm playing through my first CC campaign as the Imperials and need help choosing a Base Defense Objective as well as tactics to follow. I'm defending CORELLA so this is defiantly a battle I NEED to win. Any advice you can give as to what objective and how I should play it would be greatly appreciated!

Here is my opponent's fleet:

Faction: Rebel Alliance
Points: 425/452

Commander: General Rieekan

Assault Objective: Precision Strike
Defense Objective: Fighter Ambush
Navigation Objective: Superior Positions

[ flagship ] GR-75 Medium Transports (18 points)
- General Rieekan ( 30 points)
- Bright Hope ( 2 points)
= 50 total ship cost

MC30c Torpedo Frigate (63 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Assault Proton Torpedoes ( 5 points)
= 72 total ship cost

CR90 Corvette A (44 points)
- Turbolaser Reroute Circuits ( 7 points)
= 51 total ship cost

CR90 Corvette A (44 points)
- Turbolaser Reroute Circuits ( 7 points)
= 51 total ship cost

MC30c Torpedo Frigate (63 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Assault Proton Torpedoes ( 5 points)
= 72 total ship cost

1 Dash Rendar ( 24 points)
1 Rogue Squadron ( 14 points)
1 Luke Skywalker ( 20 points)
1 Ketsu Onyo ( 22 points)
1 Nym ( 21 points)
1 Hera Syndulla ( 28 points)

And here is mine:

Faction: Galactic Empire
Points: 459/459

Commander: Darth Vader

Assault Objective: Station Assault
Defense Objective: Contested Outpost
Navigation Objective: Dangerous Territory

[ flagship ] Imperial II-Class Star Destroyer (120 points)
- Darth Vader ( 36 points)
- Gunnery Team ( 7 points)
- Reinforced Blast Doors ( 5 points)
= 168 total ship cost

Interdictor-class Suppression Refit (90 points)
- Grav Shift Reroute ( 2 points)
= 92 total ship cost

Arquitens-class Light Cruiser (54 points)
- Enhanced Armament ( 10 points)
= 64 total ship cost

Raider-I Class Corvette (44 points)
- Agent Kallus ( 3 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Flechette Torpedoes ( 3 points)
= 54 total ship cost

1 Valen Rudor ( 13 points)
1 Ciena Ree ( 17 points)
3 TIE Fighter Squadrons ( 24 points)
1 Morna Kee ( 27 points)

You dont need extra activation, so not station assault.

Dont have ship squadron activations for more fighters.

And Ion Cannons is possibly the strongest base defence anyway, so that.

6 minutes ago, Ginkapo said:

You dont need extra activation, so not station assault.

Dont have ship squadron activations for more fighters.

And Ion Cannons is possibly the strongest base defence anyway, so that.

Thanks! Ion Cannon eh? I always thought that was the worst for some reason

Well I wouldn't recommend Fighter Wing - even with the added squadrons, your opponent still has the upper hand in the fighter battle.

As for the other two, it comes down to what you fancy playing, but I'd recommend Ion Cannons - the armed station can certainly be handy, but it can also get blown up, in which case your advantage is taken away. The ion cannons stay in place throughout the game, and he doesn't have the strategic ships to move them around, so it might prove easier to exploit that one. I certainly think that Ion Cannons is the more reliable to play.

As for tactics, remember that it's him who needs to bring the battle to you, not the other way round. Use the terrain to channel his ships, force him to be the aggressive player, let him make the mistakes, and punish him when he does.

Just now, LordTesla said:

Thanks! Ion Cannon eh? I always thought that was the worst for some reason

Because you got confused with the yellow objective which has substantial differences?

19 minutes ago, Ginkapo said:

Because you got confused with the yellow objective which has substantial differences?

That would be it

19 minutes ago, ceejlekabeejle said:

Well I wouldn't recommend Fighter Wing - even with the added squadrons, your opponent still has the upper hand in the fighter battle.

As for the other two, it comes down to what you fancy playing, but I'd recommend Ion Cannons - the armed station can certainly be handy, but it can also get blown up, in which case your advantage is taken away. The ion cannons stay in place throughout the game, and he doesn't have the strategic ships to move them around, so it might prove easier to exploit that one. I certainly think that Ion Cannons is the more reliable to play.

As for tactics, remember that it's him who needs to bring the battle to you, not the other way round. Use the terrain to channel his ships, force him to be the aggressive player, let him make the mistakes, and punish him when he does.

Thanks for the advice. I defiantly got the terrain advantage with Grav Shift Reroute. Does second player win by 5 points if nothing is destroyed while playing CC? I believe it does in tournament play.

@Ginkapo so i read the Base Defense: Ion Cannon and I must be missing something. What makes this so good?

4 blue every single turn.

9 minutes ago, Ginkapo said:

4 blue every single turn.

Per token? Or am I only allowed to shoot with one token per round?

3 minutes ago, LordTesla said:

Per token? Or am I only allowed to shoot with one token per round?

1 token

2 hours ago, Ginkapo said:

You dont need extra activation, so not station assault.

Dont have ship squadron activations for more fighters.

And Ion Cannons is possibly the strongest base defence anyway, so that.

He's got 4 activations to the Rebel 5, so Station would be worth considering with those MC30s in the mix.

Just now, Truthiness said:

He's got 4 activations to the Rebel 5, so Station would be worth considering with those MC30s in the mix.

I'll own up. I didnt really read it so assumed MC30s were defending. It was at the top. Who puts there opponents fleet first.....

1 hour ago, Ginkapo said:

I'll own up. I didnt really read it so assumed MC30s were defending. It was at the top. Who puts there opponents fleet first.....

I figured as much. I did the same at first

I think your objective should be... To have fun!

(with Ion Cannons.)

You're the Empire? Armed Station. Evens out the activation count and gives you two red and two blue, which his small ships will not appreciate. He can blow up the station, but every shot fired at the station is not directed at your ships. Based on my game with this objective you'll want to be close enough to the station that he can't simply throw most/all of his list at it, because 13 hull won't actually last that long with way to reduce or prevent damage. If you do get your own ships attacking while the station is still fighting, you'll have a free attack that can chew through a CR90 or punish his GR-75 for getting too close while also letting you hold off on moving your ships if you want to let him get into blue range before you open up.

Ion Cannon is good, but that "deploy first" condition can be a dealbreaker. There are some lists I'm willing to do that with but I chose Armed Station specifically because it didn't give my opponent total deployment advantage.

Even if the station give him an extra activation, ion cannon give hime the first shot and those little ships will have a hard time taken 4 blue. Riekan could die at the start (end) of the first round. Probably he will do at the second round. Then no activation advantage and no commander. And those asteroids are very dangerous for those little ships too.

I would put two tokens in the way of bright hope shooting it in the rear (thanks for the ion cannon rules) and the third wherever the battle seemed to take place. Move the obstacles in the way of the enemy. He will probably use his rogue force so squadron commands will help you a lot.

Good luck and good rerolls!! May that dark force be with you.

As he doesn't have any strategic, I would also agree with ion cannons. Try to set up the first token in a position where it will barely clip Bright Hope in the first round and cover its potential flight paths for the second round. Hopefully that will be enough to take it out

I would use the remaining two tokens to fortify around your setup position.

How bad is deploying second against that Rebel list, though? The majority of my games have been Empire vs Empire, so I don't have a lot of experience against Rebels or their ships. I don't know how I'd want to deploy against that, although I wouldn't really know how to deploy that Imperial list anyway. I mean, there's no Gladiator. What does one even do with no Gladiator?

Anyway, I feel like both Armed Station and Ion Cannon will work reasonably well. My preference is still Armed Station because it allows normal deployment, but either way those CR90s are going to eat four dice per turn beyond what your list is capable of. I would think of it this way--are you more confident that you can place ships and tokens in good positions, or that you can keep the combat within medium range of the station? If you can kill Bright Hope with the cannon early on, then both objectives boil down to throwing four dice at something, so really it's largely a question of whether "you deploy first" is a bigger drawback than "but they can kill it and take the advantage away."