So, you've got two ships with the same PS. One has Harpoons and one has Plasma Torps and you're ready to unleash your Alpha Strike. Which do you shoot first?

I'm thinking if your shooting at a ship in formation, you shoot the Harpoon first and hope for an uncancelled Crit with the Plasma so you can get damage on the other ships at range 1.

However, if it's a lone ship you're shooting at, wouldn't it be best to shoot the Plasma first for the shield bonus then hope for a kill with the Harpoon?

Also, with the Harpoon, you don't have to spend your TL to shoot it so you can use the TL to reroll?

I would go with harpoon because of the higher chance of raw damage before conditions are applied. Plus harpoons can break up formations. Not to mention if you can force a crit through the shields you could cripple an alpha strike ship on the conditional damage alone.

and then they are “harpooned”

I would say 9 out of 10 times you want to strip tokens and shiels with the plasma first, and follow up with a modified 4 die 'poon.

Depends. First off, if you’re not guaranteed a crit on the plasmas—i.e., no guidance Chips, or chips at atk<3–I would shoot them first. Otherwise, it would really depend on how many shields they have.

either/Or

a) upgrade the plasma's to protons

b) slap them on a 3+ primary with GC

c) fire both at a target that is sure to die unless the dice gods hate you with a vengeance

d) fire them 1st!

If you're "hoping" for a crit off plasma's you might as well use them for what they were intended for in the 1st place, and leave the "crit hoping" for your primaries or build other shenanigans into the list.

Depends on the enemy. If they've got enough shields, the plasmas are doign a guaranteed extra damage right now. If they're not shielded, get the condition on in the hope that the Plasmas might trigger it either by a crit or by a kill.

But really, have another harpoon instead of the Plasma.

21 minutes ago, thespaceinvader said:

But really, have another harpoon instead of the Plasma.

That‘s correct

But the problem is legitimate for the nice rebelalpha where Wedge only has a Plasma.

So there, Airen with his Harpoon has to shoot before Wedge, and Wedge can trigger the Harpoon via GC.

The trick is to realize that Plasma are taken as cheap ordnance, not because they are Plasmas

19 minutes ago, GreenDragoon said:

That‘s correct

But the problem is legitimate for the nice rebelalpha where Wedge only has a Plasma.

So there, Airen with his Harpoon has to shoot before Wedge, and Wedge can trigger the Harpoon via GC.

The trick is to realize that Plasma are taken as cheap ordnance, not because they are Plasmas

Exactly. I put the Plasma on Corran in a build with Miranda. I had 4 points left so went with the cheaper Plasma and a 1 point bid. Maybe it's worth the extra point to upgrade to the Proton.