I consider a minimum bid of 20 points if I want first. I have a few lists with a 25-point bid.

That being said, I don't usually fly lists that want first.

Locally it seemed 8-10 point bids would allow you to go first here in Vancouver. Then the Seattle guys came up for regionals with 8-15 point bids to go second. They love their objective play down there!

13 hours ago, Undeadguy said:

I always knew there was a wide range of bids, but it is interesting to see entire player bases that bid more or less with varying reasons.

The coolest part is how this is reflected in Vassal tournaments. I thought 10 points was going to be enough, but I was outbid twice by 15+ lists.

all it takes is 1 person to bid 15 and start to dominate their meta before people try to outbid him.

Vassal is all over the world so it makes sense to see more diversity. It is my experience in other games that europeans typically have a different mindset/approach to list building than americans do.

Personally i bid 8max. lately ive been just pushing 400 and make plans to always go second.

1 hour ago, Darthain said:

Must be a neat meta, I've found a 5 point bid more than sufficient to get 2nd, as the first player lists all bid higher, and second player lists typically 0-3 so you can steal it from them easily.

To be honest I'm one who never goes over 389 in our community. Usually people field 399-400 but sometimes i meet people with 390. For now there is no bid run here.

Why I always try to win bid? I use agressive tactics. Playing like that require hit hard and run attacks so whem you start at the front of ISD and you are second your ship will always die. Having an opportunity to run away from harm with ships is more important afther those few dmg are dealt.

1 hour ago, Darthain said:

Question, to all you under bidders, where is the break even point on a low bid? When having that extra activation/squadron/upgrade actually outweighs the bid?

375pts? 350pts? 325pts? 300pts? Fleet.

At what point do the fleet become to squishy against 398-400pts fleets?

18 minutes ago, Kiwi Rat said:

Question, to all you under bidders, where is the break even point on a low bid? When having that extra activation/squadron/upgrade actually outweighs the bid?

375pts? 350pts? 325pts? 300pts? Fleet.

At what point do the fleet become to squishy against 398-400pts fleets?

My guess would be 20 point bids.

The value of the activation versus the bid is not as simple as a number.

we can start with a number however, namely 18 points, the cost of the cheapest rebel activation, and 23 points, the cost of the cheapest imperial activation.

thats a starting point because an extra activation is not worth the same to every fleet. If you're at a crossroads of five versus six activations, then those numbers are probably accurate. If you're running four activations, then going to five just means you're even, not at an advantage versus other fleets, and in those fleets, the bid is probably worth a bit more than an activation.

It really does get painful to leave a lit of utility on the table, and even more so to lose the bid in a rat race, so looking for fleets that play both first and second player well is a priority of mine.

If you are using an ISD-1 Avenger with Boarding Troopers etc etc kitted to one shot something, for instance, a 23pt bid for first rather than a gozanti, or even 25 assuming it was a coms net gozanti, would not be a bad idea. Because that combo is worth next to nothing as second player.

That said, my bid oscillates between 9-11 typically on Vassal and almost always for second. If I am showing up to a local tournament, however, I know I will playing roughly 80% Demo/MC30 fleets bidding for first so I cut the bid down to 4-6 to simply out bid the few capped fleets for second.

3 hours ago, ripper998 said:

My guess would be 20 point bids.

Closer to 30 I'd say.

4 hours ago, Kiwi Rat said:

Question, to all you under bidders, where is the break even point on a low bid? When having that extra activation/squadron/upgrade actually outweighs the bid?

375pts? 350pts? 325pts? 300pts? Fleet.

At what point do the fleet become to squishy against 398-400pts fleets?

This is, as noted, 100% determined by your strategy and fleet design. If your 90 point Demolisher can kill a 150 point Imperial Star Destroyer in one triple tap, that's a potential justification of up to 60 points assuming you are left with sufficient activations and backup firepower to ensure it performs its job.

14 hours ago, thecactusman17 said:

This is, as noted, 100% determined by your strategy and fleet design. If your 90 point Demolisher can kill a 150 point Imperial Star Destroyer in one triple tap, that's a potential justification of up to 60 points assuming you are left with sufficient activations and backup firepower to ensure it performs its job.

If we go with what you say, that will be a 340pts fleet VS a potential 400pts fleet.

With a 90pts kitted out Demolisher, would leave 250pts for extra activations and backup firepower. And you must spend in the region of at least 100pts on extra activation if you want your activation count to be at least 5 in total. Which would leave around 150pts for Sqds and upgrades for your remaining ships.

It seems very dicey to go that low, but if one is up for a good challenge, and can play it well, I say go for it

6 hours ago, Kiwi Rat said:

If we go with what you say, that will be a 340pts fleet VS a potential 400pts fleet.

With a 90pts kitted out Demolisher, would leave 250pts for extra activations and backup firepower. And you must spend in the region of at least 100pts on extra activation if you want your activation count to be at least 5 in total. Which would leave around 150pts for Sqds and upgrades for your remaining ships.

It seems very dicey to go that low, but if one is up for a good challenge, and can play it well, I say go for it

The better example might be that if your fleet kills 2x90 point ships, then it has likely exceeded the cost of any one ship in your fleet plus the bid space. Also, killing one enemy ship is likely to make killing the next enemy ship easier thanks to activation advantage.