So many awesome upgrade cards coming out with these two ships, but the one that I am most excited about is the Ordnance pods. Basically it gives you a third attack if you want to shoot flack. Sure that flack is a single black dice, but this is after a previous flack attack. The only problem is the rarity of the ordnance upgrade slot. I can see this on some Kuat ISDs with QLT and very few fighters in the list.
Mmm... I really dunno how I feel about this one. It's a wonky upgrade competing for a very valuable slot against a lot of great cards.
Mayyyybe on a VSD1 for cheap extra flak against bomber lists?
The problem I see is that ships that want to blow up other ships will want other upgrades, and which ships dedicated for flakking have an open ordnance slot? And at some point once you've slapped every anti-squad upgrade in the game on one ship, your opponent's bombers might just go for an easier target.
@duck_bird I think the idea is that all of your ships have anti-squadron stuff on them. And if you have big ships like ISDs or VSDs you can surive a round or two of bombing in order to kill all those ships with flack. This upgrade is only good imo if you are taking it instead of a fighter screen. But fighter screens in tournaments can be exhausting after 4 games.
I agree that it I would likely put it on a demo or an MC30, but aren't both of those small ships anyway, so I don't think you can put it on at all.
Well I see this upgrade very helpful in some metas, You sacrifice damage for survival and I am agree if I can take the ships I want and no the "antimeta" if I want to do something (Obviously talking in no ultra competitive scenarios or maybe not I don't know xD)
Pair it with Kallus on a Raider, maybe, instead of Flechettes?
Edit: Oops. Went back and looked at the card. Raiders are still small ships, and can't use it.
Edited by Tayloraj1005 minutes ago, Tayloraj100 said:Pair it with Kallus on a Raider, maybe, instead of Flechettes?
Medium or large ONLY.
That's the big problem with Ordnance Pods. I can't conceive of any medium or large ships that actively want them in a world where External Racks exist. The best argument that can be made is the MC75 and even then it's better to go with External Racks (Armored) or External Racks + black crit upgrade (Ordnance).
If it had been an offensive retrofit, I would change my tune pretty quickly.
1 minute ago, Snipafist said:Medium or large ONLY.
That's the big problem with Ordnance Pods. I can't conceive of any medium or large ships that actively want them in a world where External Racks exist. The best argument that can be made is the MC75 and even then it's better to go with External Racks (Armored) or External Racks + black crit upgrade (Ordnance).
If it had been an offensive retrofit, I would change my tune pretty quickly.
While it's true in general, I can see it being used on a Kuat ISD: Avenger/Pods/Kallus/QLT is a combo strong enough to make enemy squadrons to think at least twice before attacking.
5 minutes ago, PT106 said:While it's true in general, I can see it being used on a Kuat ISD: Avenger/Pods/Kallus/QLT is a combo strong enough to make enemy squadrons to think at least twice before attacking.
I could see the benefit in running a Kuat like that in a (mostly) squad-free fleet just to see if the flak can add up quickly enough to deal with lesser troubles when squads start mobbing you (probably with Raiders nearby as well), but I get concerned about sacrificing hitting power against ships to do so for most fleets.
For funsies, you could always run Flechettes and Ordnance Pods on an MC75 with Draven, but that feels like you're giving up substantial anti-ship potential to do so.
Vic 1s I think want them. Toss in OE and anchor one side of the fleet pretty handily.
Kuat ISD +ECM+GT+GLT+Heavy Ion Emplacements+Ord Pods = 143
You can take two of these. Probably give one of them Kalus, and the other Tactical (whatever, the guy who lets you skip your turn.)
And a couple of Gozantis hiding behind, with a good bid.
The HIE are basically APT (but better, for more points). So your ships are going to hit plenty hard.
black blue AA fire with gunnery team so you can shoot it whenever you need it + an additional black flack attack (you are literally getting three attacks each round) + 1 blue dice counter. I think you could do well without any fighters.
All hail the two ISDs.
16 minutes ago, Snipafist said:
For funsies, you could always run Flechettes and Ordnance Pods on an MC75 with Draven, but that feels like you're giving up substantial anti-ship potential to do so.
This was my first thought on ord pods as well. Its really expensive for a flak boat...but man, what a flak boat.
Aren't Ord Pods limited in what they can target?
6 minutes ago, Madaghmire said:This was my first thought on ord pods as well. Its really expensive for a flak boat...but man, what a flak boat.
Ah ha ha. Throw in General Draven on that thing in a Raddus Fleet. Such an inefficient abuse of Raddus, but maybe staggeringly effective in select matches.
21 minutes ago, Englishpete said:Aren't Ord Pods limited in what they can target?
Fighters at close range is the only stipulation.
1 hour ago, PT106 said:While it's true in general, I can see it being used on a Kuat ISD: Avenger/Pods/Kallus/QLT is a combo strong enough to make enemy squadrons to think at least twice before attacking.
But then you've got an ISD that doesn't have Pryce or Strategic Adviser on it, which, just....no.
Only real use case for it I can see is a VSD-I, because yeah, you do want Kallus with it. Still, that's very...'meh'. I mean, add QLT, too, and you've got a pretty safe command ship, but sort of a lot of points for something that isn't especially useful in battle. (Of course, then you're talking about a VSD without Tua and ECM, sooooo... )
I get the reason for the restriction, but boy howdy would I have loved to run this on a Demo Glad-II with Kallus. Fun times! Who needs to pin squadrons down when you can just extinguish them ?
@xanderf
I would totally put strategic advisor on the other ISD. And Pryce is far from an auto-include. You can leave off Kallus as still be awesome.
And a VSD I doesn't have the ordnance slot (even though it has black dice)
In addition Strategic Advisor can literally be on any ship for the same effect. So put it on your Gozanti hiding in the back.
Edited by Hrathen17 minutes ago, xanderf said:But then you've got an ISD that doesn't have Pryce or Strategic Adviser on it, which, just....no.
I don't believe Pryce is worth the investment and Strategic Adviser is unique so it can be on the
other
ISD
22 minutes ago, Hrathen said:And a VSD I doesn't have the ordnance slot (even though it has black dice)
You may be thinking of an ISD-I (where that is true), but a VSD-I does have an ordnance slot.
...and it's generally got External Racks because when something finally gets to close range that one time per game, you need to make it COUNT.
28 minutes ago, xanderf said:I get the reason for the restriction, but boy howdy would I have loved to run this on a Demo Glad-II with Kallus. Fun times! Who needs to pin squadrons down when you can just extinguish them ?
I love a good wipeout. =)
GSD 2 Demo, Kallus, OE, ET, OP
Add a light screen to lock them down and avoid some crazy alpha.
@Snipafist you are right.
3 hours ago, PT106 said:While it's true in general, I can see it being used on a Kuat ISD: Avenger/Pods/Kallus/QLT is a combo strong enough to make enemy squadrons to think at least twice before attacking.
4 hours ago, Hrathen said:In addition Strategic Advisor can literally be on any ship for the same effect. So put it on your Gozanti hiding in the back.
Large ship only. They don't want any old fleet using it...
13 hours ago, Blail Blerg said:I love a good wipeout. =)
GSD 2 Demo, Kallus, OE, ET, OP
Add a light screen to lock them down and avoid some crazy alpha.
Sounds good, doesnt work. Medium or large only. But this was my first thought too.
Combined with early warning system this gives options to improve ship flak. EWS obstructs the side that is pointing to a big enemy ship for example, so bombers go to the front arc (this is big as they usually prefer the big ship's arc to not get flak and to drill into the same zone as the ship). Now you have front and pods against the bombers where you would have had only pods before. Use 1-2 squadrons to block other arcs, and the bombers end up in flotilla flak as well.
So I'm saying EWS is the real performer here, and pods improve that. For only a few ships. So, quite circumstantial.
I'm even more saddened that there isn't a Interdictor missile variant. It could really use Ordnance Pods. Poor Interdictors. I cry for them (and I really want to like them!). I'll still play them, but I have yet to find a spot for them in a competitive tourney situation.