2 minutes ago, Green Knight said:

Swarmy Counter 5 ftw!

Six blue on the attack, five on the defense. You just can't beat that! And even Dengar would get Counter 2!

Most important question: how do I choose between point defense reroute and hardened bulkheads? This is the most difficult choice I'll make today!

2 minutes ago, geek19 said:

I had to reread them all but nice catch!

It does. Bulkheads reduced face down damage, not face up.

Just now, Admiral Theia said:

Six blue on the attack, five on the defense. You just can't beat that! And even Dengar would get Counter 2!

But...Im not running any squads

2 minutes ago, Green Knight said:

But...Im not running any squads

More freedom to spend all your defense tokens. But you, sir, are the exception, not the rule.

::Rapidly refreshing Armada Warlords::

So, if That Guy activates Strategic Advisor, and then his opponent That Other Guy activates *his* Strategic Advisor... what happens? Is Other Guy allowed to pass back? Or does Other Guy have to wait until next activation to exhaust his advisor?

(how strong is the parenthetical)?

2 minutes ago, jbrandmeyer said:

So, if That Guy activates Strategic Advisor, and then his opponent That Other Guy activates *his* Strategic Advisor... what happens? Is Other Guy allowed to pass back? Or does Other Guy have to wait until next activation to exhaust his advisor?

(how strong is the parenthetical)?

I think it seems pretty obvious they would just cancel each other out. But obviousness is rarely a universal trait around here soooo..... (cue rapid, vibrant disagreement!)

Hot take impressions:

Instructor Goran is... not amazing. I can see it being funny to use on a Stronghold Quasar with the Howlrunner Dengar Interceptors combo for Counter 5 and obstructed to everything, but it seems mostly to be a combo that is fun to do so you can say you did it moreso than because it's a good use of your points (it's overkill, and stuck in one spot).

6 minutes ago, Snipafist said:

Hot take impressions:

Instructor Goran is... not amazing. I can see it being funny to use on a Stronghold Quasar with the Howlrunner Dengar Interceptors combo for Counter 5 and obstructed to everything, but it seems mostly to be a combo that is fun to do so you can say you did it moreso than because it's a good use of your points (it's overkill, and stuck in one spot).

I don't know. I've been running my counter-fest sloan list for a while now, and people are already a bit scared to engage my INTs alot of the time. This will just make them as scary on defense as they are on offense, AND it might help my Dengar and Howlrunner survive a bit longer, as choosing between Counter2 w/scatter vs counter 5 with no token, when your fighter will almost certainly die before it shoots again, might make them more likely to go for the guaranteed kill, and thus save my boosting mechanism.

1 minute ago, Admiral Theia said:

I don't know. I've been running my counter-fest sloan list for a while now, and people are already a bit scared to engage my INTs alot of the time. This will just make them as scary on defense as they are on offense, AND it might help my Dengar and Howlrunner survive a bit longer, as choosing between Counter2 w/scatter vs counter 5 with no token, when your fighter will almost certainly die before it shoots again, might make them more likely to go for the guaranteed kill, and thus save my boosting mechanism.

The thing is if your opponents are willing to fly their squadrons face-first into the Stronghold Goran bunker surrounded by roided-out Interceptors, they deserve what they get. I suppose that kind of thing could work as something of a faction-swapped Gallant Haven bunker, but Rebels have the benefit of hiding more multi-use squads in their bunker and can pounce on ships when they finally venture out. Interceptors don't really do much other than kill squadrons, so if they want to orbit a Quasar and leave further-off ships undefended, that can become a problem...

Uhm. HOLY ****. They really listened about nerfing squadrons. Okay. There are now tools. Where there once was nothingness, there is now somethingness. Where once was weakness, I sense strength.

1 hour ago, geek19 said:

Counter point: double ram damage that doesn't hurt me.

I'm missing something... why is it double ram damage?

1 minute ago, Captain Warden said:

I'm missing something... why is it double ram damage?

Engine Techs. Hit the medium-small blocker twice. They take 2 facedown damage; MC80 takes...zero.

1 minute ago, RobertK said:

Engine Techs. Hit the medium-small blocker twice. They take 2 facedown damage; MC80 takes...zero.

Ahh, how did I not see that?! Thanks!!

This is going to be ridiculously fun.

28 minutes ago, Blail Blerg said:

Uhm. HOLY ****. They really listened about nerfing squadrons. Okay. There are now tools. Where there once was nothingness, there is now somethingness. Where once was weakness, I sense strength.

Yavaris in particular is made more difficult to fully use. Will need a delicate placement of AFFM/FCT/etc. and good positioning to be able to fire off squads twice

Overall, a great set of new things. Happy to see options vs squads, early warning useful for more ships, I think, even if its just to prevent squads from bombing your 0 shield arcs.

The auto damage of one against high hp relay squads is not good enough, though, in my personal and biased opinion.

43 minutes ago, Snipafist said:

The thing is if your opponents are willing to fly their squadrons face-first into the Stronghold Goran bunker surrounded by roided-out Interceptors, they deserve what they get. I suppose that kind of thing could work as something of a faction-swapped Gallant Haven bunker, but Rebels have the benefit of hiding more multi-use squads in their bunker and can pounce on ships when they finally venture out. Interceptors don't really do much other than kill squadrons, so if they want to orbit a Quasar and leave further-off ships undefended, that can become a problem...

True on all counts, but this one does extend to distance two. Not a huge difference, but when you consider it a radius, you're getting about 40% more bunker coverage (more as an area of coverage, of course, but it's late and I don't feel like mathing). Plus, throw it on a Gozanti (you're already roiding up your defense pretty hard, no need to endanger your carrier), add in jamming fields if you really want and, while you're negating some of your own dice while still staying in bonus dice territory, their counters are effectively nullified.

56 minutes ago, Snipafist said:

Captain Brunson could be pretty good on larger ships due to the larger footprint. A free fake any-range evade provided you're close to an obstacle of some kind could be pretty good. With the Interdictor title on an Interdictor, you could use her twice a round (during two different activations). An Interdictor can also pack the Grav Shift Reroute that helps set up the obstacles just so . For extra added fun, put it on the ship that guards the Contested Outpost.

The no-brainer on this one is for ships at a distance from the battle that you really don't want to be shot at . IE., the Quasar fire activating squads via relay. Maybe you were already spending points for Admiral Montferrat on it, but bummed about trying to stay distant at speed 3? No longer! Now, you just need to hang around, orbiting an obstacle at slow speed, and can cancel the worst of any incoming attack! (Only real downside is that while Wulff Yularen was always tempting for a carrier, he was also kinda expensive, and now we've got Taskmaster Grint that is just an AUTO-INCLUDE on carriers, so....gah!)

1 minute ago, NebulonB said:

The auto damage of one against high hp relay squads is not good enough, though, in my personal and biased opinion.

True in a vacuum, but you put a couple escorts and intel, so he can stay with their intels, and it will add up.

35 minutes ago, Blail Blerg said:

Uhm. HOLY ****. They really listened about nerfing squadrons. Okay. There are now tools. Where there once was nothingness, there is now somethingness. Where once was weakness, I sense strength.

I really don't see it that way. my sloane list isn't "terribly" concerned about which side i strip your tokens from so while it may stop the alpha strike strip(which honestly the alpha is usually just for clearing squadrons) it won't stop the second attack when i have full range on the ship or if i go after a ship that isn't using that card. The increased counter only really matters if i go after your xteen interceptors. I'll happily strip the tokens off the ship while interceptors dry hump who ever G is on. /shrug, still ok with sloane.

2 minutes ago, Admiral Theia said:

True in a vacuum, but you put a couple escorts and intel, so he can stay with their intels, and it will add up.

lol /4 rounds later jan is dead. Ya, not the most efficent way to kill her. I'll take a jendon/saber double tap any day over his 1/turn damage. "maybe" paired with mithril and fett but then you've invested a lot of points just to hunt jan.

1 minute ago, dominosfleet said:

I really don't see it that way. my sloane list isn't "terribly" concerned about which side i strip your tokens from so while it may stop the alpha strike strip(which honestly the alpha is usually just for clearing squadrons) it won't stop the second attack when i have full range on the ship or if i go after a ship that isn't using that card. The increased counter only really matters if i go after your xteen interceptors. I'll happily strip the tokens off the ship while interceptors dry hump who ever G is on. /shrug, still ok with sloane.

Hey look. Contrary to popular belief. I actually like counterplay and can actually entertain the thought that squadrons should be a viable possible archetype for this game. This gives you tools. Combined with a smaller screen, it might work out. It makes it tougher to play squadrons and get their maximum value out of their raw efficiency.

Whether it will be enough is yet to be seen. But squadron play got almost nothing this wave. And anti squadron play got huge direct counters: Relay/Intel 1 dmg. Early Warning Chaffing.

1 minute ago, dominosfleet said:

I really don't see it that way. my sloane list isn't "terribly" concerned about which side i strip your tokens from so while it may stop the alpha strike strip(which honestly the alpha is usually just for clearing squadrons) it won't stop the second attack when i have full range on the ship or if i go after a ship that isn't using that card. The increased counter only really matters if i go after your xteen interceptors. I'll happily strip the tokens off the ship while interceptors dry hump who ever G is on. /shrug, still ok with sloane.

But now GT isn’t required to flak you, and the ships screening my flank/rear will help...

1 hour ago, Snipafist said:

Strategic Adviser is pretty **** useful in the right builds but fights for the officer seat on your large ships. Good luck deciding who will go there. Definitely seems easier to use than Pryce but that doesn't mean it's a straight-up replacement for her. Pryce seems more useful when your fleet has few activations, a decent bid for first, and a ship capable of dishing out some long-ranged punishment (like a Cymoon, VSD-II with Dcaps, Quasar with Boosted Comms and Expanded Hangar Bay, ISD-II). Strategic Adviser is more all-around useful but only works on large ships and seems to be more effective than Pryce when you already have a moderate number of activations to push you up to parity or greater quantity against most fleets.

THAT one, though. Dayum, FFG. 'Large ship, only'? C'mon. I mean, I know you HATE the Interdictor with a burning, fiery, and lasting passion that knows no bounds, but...

...would it really have broken the game to make it 'medium and large, only'? It's already unique!