Help a Rebel make a decent Devastator list

By ManInTheBox, in Star Wars: Armada Fleet Builds

I'm a 90% rebel player but sometimes play imperials for balance or for a change. With BTAvenger and Sloane all the rage I was inspired by @thecactusman17 's POST about using Devastator.

I've sketched out a fleet but would like some feedback as I really don't have a good feel for building or flying imperial lists.

Devastat'er? I barely knew 'er. (391/400)
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Imperial II-class Star Destroyer (120 + 66)
+ Admiral Motti (24)
+ Intel Officer (7)
+ Gunnery Team (7)
+ Electronic Countermeasures (7)
+ SW-7 Ion Batteries (5)
+ XI7 Turbolasers (6)
+ Devastator (10)

Gladiator I-class Star Destroyer (56 + 30)
+ Gunnery Team (7)
+ Engine Techs (8)
+ Assault Proton Torpedoes (5)
+ Demolisher (10)

Gozanti-class Cruisers (23 + 11)
+ Comms Net (2)
+ Expanded Hangar Bay (5)
+ Suppressor (4)

2 x Firespray-31 (18)
TIE Defender Squadron (16)
2 x Tie Advanced Squadron (12)
Black Squadron (9)

Most Wanted
Solar Corona
Hyperspace assault
Here's my reasoning behind the build:
  • Devastator is pretty much a copy of thecactusman's version of the ship. I can see why all the upgrades are there.
  • Demo is the secondary threat which I plan to fly on the inside flank of Devastator or trail so that I can jump from speed one to (ET) four (with a token and dial) to pounce on flankers.
  • The Gozanti should follow devastator to deter attacks with Suppressor and activate defensive squadrons. Expanded Hangers is to contribute to quality squadron activations and to take over activations after a few turns when Devastator is engineering like mad and I've lost squads. PErhaps I'd be better with boosted comms as I've already got two rogues in there.
  • I'm really not sure about the squad mix. I opted for primarily generics to minimise Sloane shenanigans and to fit a greater quantity in there. I've opted for more rounded squads because they fly more like the Rebel squads I'm used to and I've got a couple of rogues to minimise the burden of activating them. The escort squads are there to protect the more expensive ones.
  • Most Wanted seems like the best of the reds since I'm happy if they're gunning for the Gozanti that's right next to Devastator because it hopefully means they're in arc of the big boy too.
  • Solar Corona is primarily for deployment advantage.
  • Hyperspace assault hurts my deployment but threatens a Demo dropping in as a nasty surprise. I don't really want any of the static yellows because I want to be on the move with Devastator.

I could change things up for a bigger bid, as first player seems important for this list. I could also pare down squads to get an extra Gozanti for activation but that leaves the squads much lighter and they're currently a decent screen and not to be ignored as a bomber force if need be.

Change Gunnery team for Ordnance Experts on the Glad. You will usually be able to shoot the same guy twice with the second of your shots after the Demolisher moves. Getting to close range of 2 targets in the same arc to use GT is very rare.

I'm not keen on Devastator and much prefer Avenger or Relentless but you have stated it is the main point of the list so - fine. Consider Leading shots rather than SW7. If you roll unneeded accuracies discard one to reroll the others and any blank red dice. If you don't get any needed accuracies (shooting a flotilla for example) discard a blue hit and reroll the other blues in the hope of getting one. LS can also be used against fighters if you roll a double miss to take your expected damage from 1.0 to 1.125.

I don't think you need expanded hangar bay. You will start to loose Tie-As at turn 2 or 3 anyway against even moderate squadron opposition. I know Sloane is a thing but 3 points to upgrade a Tie-A to Zertek is a bargain even if he only uses 2 of the 4 potential braces in a turn.

1 hour ago, Mad Cat said:

Change Gunnery team for Ordnance Experts on the Glad. You will usually be able to shoot the same guy twice with the second of your shots after the Demolisher moves. Getting to close range of 2 targets in the same arc to use GT is very rare.

I'm not keen on Devastator and much prefer Avenger or Relentless but you have stated it is the main point of the list so - fine. Consider Leading shots rather than SW7. If you roll unneeded accuracies discard one to reroll the others and any blank red dice. If you don't get any needed accuracies (shooting a flotilla for example) discard a blue hit and reroll the other blues in the hope of getting one. LS can also be used against fighters if you roll a double miss to take your expected damage from 1.0 to 1.125.

I don't think you need expanded hangar bay. You will start to loose Tie-As at turn 2 or 3 anyway against even moderate squadron opposition. I know Sloane is a thing but 3 points to upgrade a Tie-A to Zertek is a bargain even if he only uses 2 of the 4 potential braces in a turn.

I thought I had ordnance experts on the Glad already. Thanks for pointing that out. I must have been careless when building. Point taken on using Devastator. I just prefer not to fly the current hotness and surprise opponents with different choices (that works out for me sometimes).

I think I'll swap EHB for Boosted Comms, you've confirmed what I suspected.

Leading Shots would usually be my 'go to' but I built with SW7 because it was in catusman's build and I could see what he was using it for in the explanation video. With up to 9 blues being thrown from a fully powered up Devastator, it seems to fit the build more. I'll see what it's like when I get it to the table, though.

The upgrade to Zertek sounds like a good suggestion. I can pay for it with the correction to gunnery teams. What's your opinion of the rest of the squadron mix? I don't have a great feel for whether it's a good defensive build, that will also do anti ship if given the opportunity.

Edited by ManInTheBox

The Firesprays may never get to attack a ship so if you have points spare from dropping GTs then upgrade black squadron or a Tie-A to a Jumpmaster to free them up to attack ships. Still having 2 Escort fighters you may get 2 turns of bombing out of it, enough to tip the battle in your favour.

I believe the guy who won worlds recently won a storechamp running this list (more or less, I can't recall exactly):

ISD II: Jerry, Devastator, Admiral Montferrat, Gunnery Team, Boosted Comms, Redundant Shields, XI7s, Leading Shots

Quasar I: Stronghold, Flight Commander, Flight Controllers

Squads: Howl, Mauler, Soontir, Saber, Dengar, 3x Intercepters

I won a tourny with this list except I had SW7s and no boosted comms on ISD, Boosted comms on Quasar instead of flight commander, and instead of the 3 intercepters I took Stele and Jendon. It's kind of a silly list, but it's actually really powerful for being only 2 ships.

Well, obviously I'm flattered.

I'd suggest swapping out Suppressor to Vector, as if you're trailing the rest of the fleet you'll rarely have people running into its bubble while also being in attack range. Then you can use Vector to push your Firesprays a bit further on bombing runs.