Hey let's start off the week with those wave 5 blue objectives.

7 minutes ago, Snipafist said:

Hey let's start off the week with those wave 5 blue objectives.

So, there is one point of Contention with Solar Corona. (Because, sorry - Pedantic ***... But a Genuinely sorry one, because its a great article).

Having one die be rolled, come up an accuracy and be cancelled .... Well, it doesn't happen.

Its because the trigger for cancellation has passed.

Advice given by the Holy James Kniffen way back when this was discussed, clarified this:

◊ If the attacker cannot gather any dice appropriate for the range of the attack, the attack is canceled.

He clarified it to say "Gather" means "Pickup and Roll".

In the case of Solar Corona, you've Gathere - Picked up and Rolled, and your attack Pool has become modified to Zero. But because you gathered and rolled, you can totally add Ackbar to it, for example - you're just adding 2 Reds to "0" Dice.

Its not having 0 dice in your pool that cancels the attack run - its not being able to roll any dice.

Obstacles, for example, cancel the attack, because although you pick up the dice, you remove it before rolling, and "Gather" is basically considered as "Pickup and roll"

Good catch! I will update accordingly.

Just now, Snipafist said:

Good catch! I will update accordingly.

Still felt like an **** for pointing it out - because I really enjoyed the read through... I really feel like I odn't get to play blue objectives anywhere near as much as I want to...

Just now, Drasnighta said:

Still felt like an **** for pointing it out - because I really enjoyed the read through... I really feel like I odn't get to play blue objectives anywhere near as much as I want to...

No worries, man, I've always appreciated your rules insight. It's helped me get a lot tighter with the rules and implementation and now I'm generally only wrong very rarely and in niche circumstances, like the one you caught .

So how about that Sato article I finally finished?

http://cannotgetyourshipout.blogspot.com/2017/06/know-your-enemycommanders-corner-jun.html

Spoiler: it gets more nebulous than any article I have about the Nebulon. I think I use the phrase "here be dragons" like 3 times as I just don't have the experience before where i had a ship i liked using with him. Now that we have hammerheads though......

Or to put your article simply:

Sato is a combo piece. He relies on a sometimes precarious set of circumstances to work, and does something that's good but not great IF you pull it off - AND he's not cheap. Meantime, you've got other combo piece bosses that are much easier to build around. He requires squadrons but does nothing FOR them, and that makes countering him as 'simple' as ruining said squadrons. He's usable, but... precarious. Too many moving parts required.

In MtG terms, he's a 3-card combo where other admirals are 1-2 card combos.

25 minutes ago, iamfanboy said:

Or to put your article simply:

Sato is a combo piece. He relies on a sometimes precarious set of circumstances to work, and does something that's good but not great IF you pull it off - AND he's not cheap. Meantime, you've got other combo piece bosses that are much easier to build around. He requires squadrons but does nothing FOR them, and that makes countering him as 'simple' as ruining said squadrons. He's usable, but... precarious. Too many moving parts required.

In MtG terms, he's a 3-card combo where other admirals are 1-2 card combos.

Yeah, that's kinda where i am with him. Firing black dice out of an assault frigate at long range does make the combo feel worth it, though, haha

Wave 5 yellow objectives is finally done, completing all of the wave 5 specific content.

There are still upgrade articles and basic game concept stuff to do so it's not as though we're 100% caught up just yet.

Nice read as usual, one thing worth mentioning is timing on when to use planetary Ion cannons, my rule is don't use them to early on large ships with good self repair. So getting an early round shot on an ISD seems a nice idea right up to the time it repairs itself before the main course, so with larger ships it's best to try and plan the hit at the piont you start your main assault, smaller ships with less engineering and shields are best hit early as it can really cripple their use.

@Drasnighta @Snipafist

With regards Ackbar, Jamming Barrier and Solar Corona.

Ackbar adds to the attack dice pool. Although he doesnt increase battery armanent, I believe the dice are added prior to the initial roll.

Just now, Ginkapo said:

@Drasnighta @Snipafist

With regards Ackbar, Jamming Barrier and Solar Corona.

Ackbar adds to the attack dice pool. Although he doesnt increase battery armanent, I believe the dice are added prior to the initial roll.

Admiral Ackbar's timing is twofold... First, the player must declare his use before the attack step... "I intend to use Ackbar this turn."

This stops you from attacking from a front zone, and then declaring Ackbar for the Second Shot Broadside.

However, if it does make that declaration, then it adds the dice to its attack pool.

Add is a modification, and this rule applies:

• An effect that modifies attack dice can only be resolved during the “Resolve Attacks Effects” step of an attack unless another timing is specified.

No other timing is specified for the addition of dice. Timing is specified for when Ackbar must be triggered, but not when his dice are added - so they are added - as a modification - - in the Resolve Attack Effects step, which is after rolling.

1 minute ago, Drasnighta said:

Admiral Ackbar's timing is twofold... First, the player must declare his use before the attack step... "I intend to use Ackbar this turn."

This stops you from attacking from a front zone, and then declaring Ackbar for the Second Shot Broadside.

However, if it does make that declaration, then it adds the dice to its attack pool.

Add is a modification, and this rule applies:

• An effect that modifies attack dice can only be resolved during the “Resolve Attacks Effects” step of an attack unless another timing is specified.

No other timing is specified for the addition of dice. Timing is specified for when Ackbar must be triggered, but not when his dice are added - so they are added - as a modification - - in the Resolve Attack Effects step, which is after rolling.

Yup, also why an obstructed CR90 at long range doesnt get to add in its Ackbar dice before it rolls them all. Obstructed means no dice at range means no opportunity to add them in.

Just now, geek19 said:

Yup, also why an obstructed CR90 at long range doesnt get to add in its Ackbar dice before it rolls them all. Obstructed means no dice at range means no opportunity to add them in.

Which is why Solar Corona is an exception - because you've added and rolled your dice at range, it was just cancelled afterwards... It left you with 0, but you still rolled applicable dice at range, and the timing window for attack cancellation (cannot gather and roll dice at range) is passed.

Ah your right. We had a judge who was quite convincing.

21 minutes ago, Ginkapo said:

Ah your right. We had a judge who was quite convincing.

To be Fair - There *is* a line in the rulebook that can muddy things up, from a certain perspective:

Attack Pool
During an attack, the attack pool is comprised of all dice being used for that attack. This includes the dice gathered prior to rolling as well as the dice after they are rolled.

Since the Attack Pool consists of dice gathered prior to rolling, some people believe you can add dice to the attack pool prior to rolling. Especially in the case of Ackbar where his timing is so specific as it is... (How many people actually Declare Ackbar before attacking at all, though?)

But that's what the rule line I posted above - about modifying dice only being used in that timing window unless otherwise specified - is basically to fix.

Between that, and the Holy James Kniffen advice on "gather" being "gathered and rolled" in parlance for Obstacles and such, the picture becomes clearer... But its not 100% black-and-smudge in the Rulebook, and easy to confuse.

@Drasnighta I really appreciate your accuracy and clarity when explaining the rules. Thank you!

I got bored this afternoon, so: support team upgrades!

http://cannotgetyourshipout.blogspot.com/2017/06/support-team-upgrades.html

The bacon revolution continues!

1 hour ago, geek19 said:

I got bored this afternoon, so: support team upgrades!

http://cannotgetyourshipout.blogspot.com/2017/06/support-team-upgrades.html

The bacon revolution continues!

Great article, but I think you are underestimating the Gladiator as a carrier:

Gladiator I-Class Star Destroyer (56 points)
- Wulff Yularen ( 7 points)
- Flight Controllers ( 6 points)
- Fighter Coordination Team ( 3 points)
= 72 total ship cost

Just now, itzSteve said:

Great article, but I think you are underestimating the Gladiator as a carrier:

Gladiator I-Class Star Destroyer (56 points)
- Wulff Yularen ( 7 points)
- Flight Controllers ( 6 points)
- Fighter Coordination Team ( 3 points)
= 72 total ship cost

Why not just Quasar? Yeah, you can't put FCT on there, but.... you can launch 6 TIEs that way with Flight Controllers.

1 minute ago, geek19 said:

Why not just Quasar? Yeah, you can't put FCT on there, but.... you can launch 6 TIEs that way with Flight Controllers.

Touche!...Also, the Squall title IS your FCT on the Quasar...

What I'm bringing to our store championship!

http://cannotgetyourshipout.blogspot.com/2017/06/store-championships-fleet-johns-ackbar.html?m=1

4 hours ago, geek19 said:

What I'm bringing to our store championship!

http://cannotgetyourshipout.blogspot.com/2017/06/store-championships-fleet-johns-ackbar.html?m=1

The dreadnought lists violate most of the later stage rules wholesale. Which, as a matter of fact, is why I play them.

EDIT: I'm talking about the fleet-building article you linked, but I have no clue how deep I have to dig for it, and I only just now read it.

5 hours ago, geek19 said:

What I'm bringing to our store championship!

http://cannotgetyourshipout.blogspot.com/2017/06/store-championships-fleet-johns-ackbar.html?m=1

Second place! Shwag update on the blog

On 6/9/2017 at 10:55 PM, geek19 said:

I got bored this afternoon, so: support team upgrades!

http://cannotgetyourshipout.blogspot.com/2017/06/support-team-upgrades.html

The bacon revolution continues!

I finally found time to read this, and I must say:

'Engine Techs comes stapled to the Gladiator. You CAN try something new and wacky where you DON'T have Engine Techs in the Gladiator's Support Team slot, but I'm gonna judge you. I don't even PLAY that side and I'm judging you.'

The last time I filled the Support Team slot on the Glad was about a year ago. . . ever since my GSDs are GSD+APT+OE, and if I can afford it Demo. . . it just gets too expensive to fit an 8 point upgrade. . . so. . .