Do you think Interdictors will actually be useful?

By patrickmahan, in Star Wars: Rebellion

Here is the relevant card for the Empire

sw04-imperial-faction-sheet.jpg

Edited by Galdred
On 31.7.2017 at 8:38 PM, Galdred said:

Here is the relevant card for the Empire

sw04-imperial-faction-sheet.jpg

If a shield bunker enables deployment in a remote system, what enables the deployment of a shield bunker in a remote system?

Carrying it there on a ship and/or starting a game with it there.

1 hour ago, Brianish said:

Carrying it there on a ship and/or starting a game with it there.

Shield Bunker is a structure, and is immobile once deployed (the yellow pin icon).

15 hours ago, Raahk said:

If a shield bunker enables deployment in a remote system, what enables the deployment of a shield bunker in a remote system?

The Secret Facility card adds a Shield Bunker when its corresponding probe card is revealed:

sw04-secret-facility.png

From the wording, it's not clear if the Shield Bunker's ability applies to its own deployment. I suspect that it follows standard deployment rules for itself, and then its ability activates after deployment. But I could see this going either way.

Also not clear: if a Shield Bunker changes a remote system's rules to allow deployment, can that system now be sabotaged? Under current FAQ rules, sabotage can only be performed in populous systems:

Quote

The first line of the Rebel “Sabotage” mission should read:
“Attempt in any populous system.”

Edited by phaze

I'd doubt that the shield bunker can be moved via ship. That would be WAY too powerful. The DS could carry it's own defense with it as it moved.

I'm guessing that most of the time it's going to be placed in populous systems, but through certain missions or what not it's allowed to be played on remote systems.

3 hours ago, phaze said:

Shield Bunker is a structure, and is immobile once deployed (the yellow pin icon).


Yep. Was thinking of Twilight Imperium. Carry on.

How do you build Shield Bunkers in the first place without that action card? On the Imperial player's unit sheet it shows that Shield Bunkers can be built from an orange circle... but you can only put one on remote planets through cards or..??

I'm guessing you must deploy it to a system following the same rules for other units. Then, you place a token in a remote system that now becomes a legal system for deployment. So if you want a shield bunker in a remote system you would first need to build one in a populous system and then build a different one in the remote system the first bunker is allowing you to deploy to.

Cards will be able to override this such as the "Secret Mission" action card. I would guess in that case you could deploy it to a remote system and put the token in that system as well.

4 hours ago, g07h4xf00 said:

How do you build Shield Bunkers in the first place without that action card? On the Imperial player's unit sheet it shows that Shield Bunkers can be built from an orange circle... but you can only put one on remote planets through cards or..??

Ignoring their ability text for a moment: Shield Bunker units use the standard orange circle for build queue / deployment. So for deployment, they can be placed in any populous system that is not sabotaged and not in conflict (no rebel units in system).

There is at least one action card (Secret Facility, shown above) that allows you to gain a Shield Bunker in a system, ignoring the standard restrictions above (so, could be remote, could be in conflict). Also note that this is a GAIN, and not a deployment (ignores sabotage/conflict if triggering in a populous system).

There may be other cards (action, mission, project) that similarly break the rules and allow Shield Bunkers to go in a remote system, but no others have been revealed yet.

And finally, back to the ability text:

Quote

Enables deployment in a remote system.

This ability allows any units coming from the build queue to be deployed in the system, as if it were populous. This would definitely include a 2nd (or even 3rd) Shield Bunker, if you were so inclined.

The question is whether this unit's ability applies to its own standard deployment in a remote system. I suspect it doesn't.

53 minutes ago, phaze said:

Ignoring their ability text for a moment: Shield Bunker units use the standard orange circle for build queue / deployment. So for deployment, they can be placed in any populous system that is not sabotaged and not in conflict (no rebel units in system).

There is at least one action card (Secret Facility, shown above) that allows you to gain a Shield Bunker in a system, ignoring the standard restrictions above (so, could be remote, could be in conflict). Also note that this is a GAIN, and not a deployment (ignores sabotage/conflict if triggering in a populous system).

There may be other cards (action, mission, project) that similarly break the rules and allow Shield Bunkers to go in a remote system, but no others have been revealed yet.

And finally, back to the ability text:

This ability allows any units coming from the build queue to be deployed in the system, as if it were populous. This would definitely include a 2nd (or even 3rd) Shield Bunker, if you were so inclined.

The question is whether this unit's ability applies to its own standard deployment in a remote system. I suspect it doesn't.

Actually I just saw in the rule book leak that shield bunkers may be deployed in any system that contains an imperial ground unit. That's another way to get them onto remote planets.

8 hours ago, g07h4xf00 said:

Actually I just saw in the rule book leak that shield bunkers may be deployed in any system that contains an imperial ground unit. That's another way to get them onto remote planets.

Yeah, that would make Shield Bunkers extremely flexible for getting them on the board, wherever you want them. Sounds like a solid option over just another AT-ST, so I think we'll see Bunkers getting plenty of use to forward deploy. Indestructible battle station in orbit is just gravy on top. ;)

(double post)

Edited by phaze

I haven't seen this leaked rule book...but placement to any system with Imperial troops seems too powerful to me.

Allowing the Imps to turn every remote system into a deployment center gives them a TON of power, especially if the systems can't be sabotaged. Deployment control is staple of a good Rebel plan.

6 hours ago, kmanweiss said:

I haven't seen this leaked rule book...but placement to any system with Imperial troops seems too powerful to me.

Allowing the Imps to turn every remote system into a deployment center gives them a TON of power, especially if the systems can't be sabotaged. Deployment control is staple of a good Rebel plan.

It is indeed powerful, but it has two weaknesses:

1) It can't be moved

2) The ability is lost if it's destroyed.

But I share your concern, for sure.

Now that the rules are released (check the Rebellion main news page if you haven't seen yet), full text for the Shield Bunker abilities:

Quote

SHIELD BUNKER
Shield bunkers provide a number of different benefits:

  • Death Star Protection : Death Stars and Death Stars Under Construction cannot be destroyed, dealt damage, or assigned damage while in the same system as a Shield Bunker. This makes them immune to the “Death Star Plans” objective card. As soon as all Shield Bunkers in a system are destroyed, this ability no longer applies.
  • Easy Deployment : In addition to normal deployment rules, a Shield Bunker may be deployed to any system that contains at least 1 Imperial ground unit and does not contain any Rebel units. The planet’s loyalty does not matter.
  • Local Reinforcement : When a Shield Bunker is in a remote system that does not contain any Rebel units, the Imperial player may deploy units to that system as if it were a loyal system. This cannot be used during the build step in which the Shield Bunker is deployed. Note that deploying a Death Star to this system counts toward the limit of deploying 2 units during the Refresh Phase.

Edited by phaze
On 8/10/2017 at 6:49 AM, kmanweiss said:

I haven't seen this leaked rule book...but placement to any system with Imperial troops seems too powerful to me.

Allowing the Imps to turn every remote system into a deployment center gives them a TON of power, especially if the systems can't be sabotaged. Deployment control is staple of a good Rebel plan.

I think the Empire is limited to 3 physical shield bunker pieces per game. Also, the base game Sabotage mission is getting updated in the expansion so my guess is that the rebels can deal with it.

An important thing to note about the new rules is that the starting board setup has changed so that now the empire can additionally start on any remote planet they want (which can essentially get a first turn shield bunker during build if you have certain planets).

...yes...the interdictor is much fun...