I'm still a newcomer to Armada, with perhaps a dozen games, a few CC matches and one small tournament win under my belt. My fleet is slowly expanding and, while I don't have experience with all of the upgrades and options, I've now flown every Imperial ship in one form or another.

Naturally my eyes are looking to the future. I'm planning on getting into Rebels at some point, but there's still one hole in my triangle collection - the Victory.

Oops, not that Victory - THIS Victory:

Now, it's true that I've already got one from the Core Set, but there seem to be some exceedingly handy upgrades in the VSD expansion - Motti, Flight Contollers and Intel Officer spring to mind.

The problem is that I've always found the VSD somewhat underwhelming in-game. It's a reasonable (if expensive) carrier, but as a gunship its very slow speed and (especially) maneuverability seem to limit its usefulness.

So, are there any effective ways to double up on Vics and make them work - or should I start on my Rebels and leave the Vic expansion for another time? If this is going to be the first duplicate ship in my collection I don't want it to gather dust, and I'm averse to dropping £30+ on a couple of expansion cards!

Jerjerrod makes taking 1 VSD as a carrier more worthwhile than ever IMO.

But I don't think you're likely to need more than 1. You do, however, want Motti and Flight Controllers. So you basically have to fork over the money. On the other hand you should be able to find VSD fairly cheap online. Or maybe just the cards.

I hardly claim to be a Victory SD expect (i'm a filthy rebel after all ) but you can use them for area denial (you wanna fly through this area of the map, you gotta go through us) or use fast small ships (raiders, gladiators, etc) to either herd your opposition towards those nasty triangles or tie them up enough for your Vic's to close the distance and front-arc you to death.

Locally we've had some success with a carrier build for the CC:

Jerjerrod commanding.

VSD-I w/Corrupter, Chirraneau, Flight Controllers, Dual Turbolasers

Commanding a pack of Defenders, including Maarek (and Jendon).

You can oc take out the title and the officer, and instead run some Intel.

I've played a few lists that featured a pair of Victory Is with whatever else I felt like using, and they're terrifyingly effective if you can get a target in close range. I've used an Interdictor and Konstantine to mess with the speed of my target, which works really well with the G8. I've also used Demolisher to "encourage" the target to move faster. The general trick is to keep the Victorys a little spread out and accept that they most likely won't be able to focus down the same target. Try to deploy them last so you can position them to get into high traffic areas. I also like to put Navigation Officers on them so I can whirl around unexpectedly, although taking Jerjerrod as your Admiral works too.

The Victory-class provides a lot of firepower and health for 73/85 points, it just needs the right support to put that value to work. If they get that support they're great. I think they're actually the ship I use the most, only the Gladiator can challenge that. And Gozantis but that's kind of a given.

Get Moff Jerjerrod and bring some squadrons. Its pretty good for that. I've even built and considered 3 Vic lists. They are really poor firepower vs large ships, so stay away from ISD and MC80s

Heres a battle report demonstrating one way of making VSDs work.

I second what people have been saying about putting JJ in it, it really makes them sing. I've had a fair bit of fun with 2 Victory 1's (with spinal armament and veteran gunners), 2 Arquitens (DTT and intel officers), a Gozanti (Comms Net) and Ciena, Valen, and Mauler, all under JJ. You would be surprised how edgy people get of two Victory's arcs, as that is a fair amount of firepower they can churn out.

I'm very new to this game so may be talking rubbish but it seemed like those vics were not flown particularly well in that vid. There was a lot of firepower there that did not see much use.

16 minutes ago, ISD Avenger said:

I'm very new to this game so may be talking rubbish but it seemed like those vics were not flown particularly well in that vid. There was a lot of firepower there that did not see much use.

You see Ken just sucks.

In all seriousness though he's flying them in a fairly defensive manner. A lot of people like the VSD as a carrier because it can be scary to get in the face of. Largely that's what he did, and Alex turned away from the fight.

3 minutes ago, Captain Weather said:

You see Ken just sucks.

In all seriousness though he's flying them in a fairly defensive manner. A lot of people like the VSD as a carrier because it can be scary to get in the face of. Largely that's what he did, and Alex turned away from the fight.

It seemed like the mom cal cruiser telegraphed its intentions pretty early. I was surprised the vics did not turn to get into position to intercept it . But as you say, I guess it's just the difference between offensive and defensive strategies.

I have played victorys a lot, and I my opinion once the quasar hits the victory will be a dead ship. All it's good at is it's roll as a carrier, but the quasar is a better carrier, and will be cheaper, so the victory is a dead ship.

There are Facebook groups you can join or that small auction site that will enable you to get those cards without buying the full set.

Im a sucker though so bought the expansion.

The Vic II is overcosted by a bit when compared with the AF2.

Bad speed, bad maneuver, and no defensive retrofit is a pretty serious detriment.

Taking specialty "patch" upgrades (Jerjerrod, Tua) can help but I don't think it quite closes the gap. Speed 2 with no ability to use Engine Techs is just too slow for a gunship.

They work fine with Jerjerrod and Motti and Tarkin can also get some work done with them but they require some practice and (except Jerry) frequent use of the navigate command. I much prefer the VSD-I as it's much more affordable and you can keep it pretty cheap with minimal upgrades if you like.

http://cannotgetyourshipout.blogspot.com/2017/02/imperial-ship-review-victory-class-star.html
if you want to read way too much about the VSD...

I love the vic. Use it all the time. Generally I use it as a trailer ship the same way one would use Salvation, or as a carrier. Its a big ole stat stick. Its just a matter of getting those stats into the game. Lots of folks have written stuff about vic manuevers. One that has worked for me, and I am super oversimplifying this in the interest of brevity, is to deploy late and to the side, then turn parallel to the boards edge and come across the battle that way. YMMV, and a multitude of factors can effect how well this will work for you.

That said, unless you have a hankering to run a bunch of vsds, its probably cheaper to just buy the cards u want on ebay.

17 minutes ago, Madaghmire said:

That said, unless you have a hankering to run a bunch of vsds, its probably cheaper to just buy the cards u want on ebay.

Given Motti is going for around $7, Expanded Hangars for $5, and Flight Controllers for $14 (to say nothing of helpful-but-not-above-$3 stuff like Intel Officer and Gunnery Team), I actually think it's more cost-effective to just buy the VSD pack, personally.

I wouldn't recommend actually owning more than 3 VSDs, for what it's worth. 2 is probably just fine.

I love playing against Vics when I have a Ackbar gunline.

By turn 4 the game is usually over xD

22 minutes ago, Snipafist said:

Given Motti is going for around $7, Expanded Hangars for $5, and Flight Controllers for $14 (to say nothing of helpful-but-not-above-$3 stuff like Intel Officer and Gunnery Team), I actually think it's more cost-effective to just buy the VSD pack, personally.

I wouldn't recommend actually owning more than 3 VSDs, for what it's worth. 2 is probably just fine.

Yeah I didn't look. Yeah I guess just buy a box.

I have five of them. I desperately want to make them work, since they're discount star destroyers with many of the same things but cheaper in cost. Their two crippling deficiencies (IMO) are speed and protection.

Low speed means you can't chase anything. Even with Jerjerrod helping you make hairpin turns, if you're caught as first player in an objective that needs you to cross the board quickly (like Contested outpost) you'll face a turn or two of being fired upon without much in the way of a response. People run VSDs as carriers to get around this, because it's easy to slip Boosted Comms on the ship and use the Fighter-3 rating to push around Rhymer and friends. The VSD can also take Flight controllers, which few other high-fighter rating ships can take.

Protection feeds into the problem of speed I mentioned above. Say you're facing some evasive CR-90s with TRCs. There's no way to evade the 1 damage (after brace) they are giving you, while other ships simply flip their evade token. The VSD, like the ISD, will be sucking up damage thrown in its direction no matter what you do to prevent it. The ISD by contrast has a defensive slot on the II version so it can take things like Redundant shields. Either VSD does not have that option.

VSDs cannot be made to go faster. For protection though, you can lean on Minister Tua and Captain Needa... for a single VSD. There is no universal thing to help a class of VSD, and even if you run only just two both officer slots become reserved and do different things. For instance, if you close with Needa in a VSD, his evade becomes useless very quick.

For now, VSDs work as carriers for the weapons team and fighter-3 at a reasonable price point. When they do get into range, it can be pretty bad for the target. The best way to make this happen is bid for first, choose second, and put down three objectives that will force him to close with you to score points (Contested Outpost, Station Assault, Minefields). If you're willing to take some shuttles, you can get some flexibility while you stay in your corner (Fire Lanes, Targeting beacon? Sensor Net). The point is to make them close, and then start to creep up when they get into range to let them help you get your blue/black battery into play sooner. The VSD has some good attributes if it weren't for being locked at speed 2 and having little to respond to batteries packing accuracy and XI7s.

6 hours ago, ISD Avenger said:

It seemed like the mom cal cruiser telegraphed its intentions pretty early. I was surprised the vics did not turn to get into position to intercept it . But as you say, I guess it's just the difference between offensive and defensive strategies.

Yeah i just suck.

Can't make spd 2 ships intercept something going at technically spd 4 and thats also first player. But i did my best to pull the win heh.

Hmmmm, lots to think about!

Jerjerrod sounds like he'd give the VSD a significant upgrade in the maneuver department, although it does come with damage attached. Engine Techs would improve speed, although they do tie a LOT of actions down... am I right in thinking that with Engine Techs, Jerjerrod and a Maneuver dial, I can swing six clicks at speed 3, albeit for 2 damage?

My alternative is to start in a Rebel faction, probably by adding a Liberty and some transports to the core set's Corvette and Neb-B. I'd be light on fighters (four X-wings and the Most Wanted) but it sounds like a reasonable beginning...

Sadly, you can't put Engine Techs on a VSD.

Would be so cool if you could.

VSDs work best as carriers, area denial, in a flight of 3 with Motti, Jerry or Tarkin, or as an anchor for a Demolisher MSU fleet. They are SO much fun in a Hyperspace Assault.

Just watch for a sale on the VSD expansion pack. It is worth it.

Just now, Democratus said:

Sadly, you can't put Engine Techs on a VSD.

Would be so cool if you could.

Darn!