I can confirm that EWS is definitely a weaker take against a primarily big-ship fleet.

The game I did a few days ago had my opponent use an assault frigate with EWS equipped against my decked out cymoon 1 with intel officer, XI7s, spinals, and IF!.

It still only took two rounds of firing into the same arc to destroy his ship, and that was on his EWS chaff'd side arc. I accuracied his brace both times. Had he been running ECMs, I'd have to use my intel officer on his brace, he'd get to use his brace once, and then that might drag out the shooting for another round, which means he'd have gotten to shoot my ISD one more round.

EWS could be good with ketsu. Making sure bombers can't fly to unchaffed arc even if they have Intel.

The problem is that the upgrade is really good against JUST bombers with NO BIG SHIP... So yvaris haven, quasar msu. And garbage as soon as your opponent can marry damage and accuracies together. Also, there are other better ways to deal with bombers.

So I suppose you really only want the upgrade in a bomber meta and you are running no squads. Even then rbd, AP would likely be better because if you are no squads the bombers will just fly to non chaff arc.

EWS as far as I can tell is bad.

All defensive retrofits are anti-meta tech. If you've got one thing in your meta, then it works wonders. If you don't, then you're bound to face one match-up where even ECM doesn't do anything.

EWS is pretty general tech. Sure, our first thoughts have gone to squadrons, but it also works against double arcs and chip shots from small ships. And while an ECM might free up the brace for saving 3-4 damage when it would not otherwise, that could easily be the main damage it saves during the game. EWS has the potential to save quite a bit more, just not all at once.

26 minutes ago, Vergilius said:

All defensive retrofits are anti-meta tech. If you've got one thing in your meta, then it works wonders. If you don't, then you're bound to face one match-up where even ECM doesn't do anything.

EWS is pretty general tech. Sure, our first thoughts have gone to squadrons, but it also works against double arcs and chip shots from small ships. And while an ECM might free up the brace for saving 3-4 damage when it would not otherwise, that could easily be the main damage it saves during the game. EWS has the potential to save quite a bit more, just not all at once.

You just have to live long enough to use it ?

I did some back of the napkin (ie, really dirty ‘your prof would not approve of your lack of assumptions’) maths previously that showed that the non-ECM defensive retros save, overall, on average, 3 damage a game that you would not otherwise be able to do. Cluster bombs included.

But ECM has the singular potential for more.

Now, EWS does to - it has the potential to save more than 3 points a game - but you could also be dying before the 3rd shot is resolved ....

Which is why I really think the “basic” choice for defensive s is split between ECM and EWS now on Meta calls - the others still rarely stack up outside of rare occasions (rammer RBDs for example)

I think ews might have a place on an Arquitens as it lacks a brace an has a decent size side arch it is a little expensive for the little guy, but I think it's a good option, every time I take rbd on them they die before I get to use them, I was a little sad when we found out that they cost, 7 if they had costed 5 I would have almost always yes to them, but we will see. I don't really like the idea of Brunson on one just because an Arquitens is probably one of the last ships I want to be navigating through a bunch of obstacles, but with smart placement of obstacles and deployment she could be good.

8 hours ago, Blail Blerg said:

Will EWS supercede all the other defensives?? Especially for ships that have one strong hull zone meant for pointing at someone? ISDs, AFs, MC80s?

I think you can make EWS work with Derlin or Brunson on the same ship. You're still at risk of a large attack, but reducing 1 die and 1 damage, or 2 dice on a 6 die attack is still good. I think the real benefit is the cumulative effect of EWS, so you want to be attacked.

Or take an MC80 with ECM+EWS.

I think some of evaluating defensive retrofits is that we tend to box our brain into a singular setting. Some ships have the slot, but absolutely do not want a particular upgrade. Some ships really absolutely need a specific upgrades. Some ships would never take ECM, but EWS sounds interesting. Some ships should not take either one of them.

Obvs I know that MC80 really wants ECM. But I've been experimenting to see if you can get away without it. Sometimes AP did ok. With some repairs and conservative flying, it helped out in all match ups.

Thank goodness EWS isnt squadrons only.

Ews Probably good against trc swarm too... If you can keep all them corvettes in a single arc...

Everytime I read about Brunson, I think about that guy...

https://i.imgur.com/Hd35olD.png

10 minutes ago, Ritalbringer said:

Everytime I read about Brunson, I think about that guy...

https://i.imgur.com/Hd35olD.png

Not sure who made that character and why they named her that. But yes, I get the man vibe too.

I've never encountered the name Brunson before this card was revealed, so my first thought was of Mr Bronson from Grange Hill (one for the older UK readers). I think he'd make a good naval officer but the moustache might be against regulations.

She was Depicted, but not expressly named in Star Wars: Rebels.

"Ghosts of Geonosis Part II", Season 3, Episode... 12? I think...

I guessed she was from Rebels, but I haven't seen season 3 yet.