This objective i canniit wrap my head around has anyone made a guide on it or a cliffnotes version of how to use it properly? Thank you in advance!

This probably doesn't go in the rules forum, but here's what I've learned by playing this mission as P2. Sensor Net looks terrifying to play against as P1, especially once you've been rekt by it that first time. However, P1 does have some counter-play available. Done right, P1 can keep the point loss to as low as Intel Sweep, while forcing P2 to spend a ton more effort for his work. IMO, given the choice between Fire Lanes and Sensor Net, I think P1 has better counter-play available with Sensor Net, even if P1 doesn't have any strategic of their own.

As P1, you should start by moving the tokens laterally with respect to P2's ships at first (when P2 picks one up), away from his fleet's center of mass. Once you've got enough space space behind P2's ships, move the tokens as far to his farmers' aft as possible. Do not move the tokens towards yourself thinking that you'll get to pick them up - you've just made it easier for P2 to pick them up with his own natural forward motion and your piddly "within 1-2" limit. Consider not picking up the two tokens you placed on your side of the board at all . It just makes the bleeding worse, especially if P2 has some farming flotilla setup going on. Note that if the tokens are within distance 1 of your ship when you activate, you must collect your victory token, and the opponent gets to move the objective token. However, you can treat them like the toxic waste they are and fly over/around them and/or position them far outside your flight path when you can. That is, until you are flying through the debris of your slain enemy, of course

Since you've decided not to pick them up, and the objective tokens are placed before deployment, you can also psych out your opponent into thinking that you will be approaching from a different direction than you actually are. Padding squadron deployments helps with this strategy immensely.

If you have Strategic and Fighter Coordination Teams (FCT) (or Squall) as P1, then set up to securely steal one of P2's tokens on your first activation, and don't pick any up at all on any of your activation(s). Note that without FCT, you can't reach a token that is just barely outside of distance 5 from P2's board edge in your first activation, so this counter-strategy isn't available to you. But if you can, this move leaves P2 with only one token to farm, which drastically cuts into P2's farming rate, increases the pressure on P2 to dedicate resources to moving his only token, and reduces the pressure on you to staunch the bleeding. In a Strategic mirror match, you can either pick Fire Lanes and force a scrum for two of the tokens in the middle of the board (high-risk... maybe high reward?), or you can pick Sensor Net and reduce P2 to farming only one token.

Otherwise, use the fact that P2 has a ton of board state to keep track of (in order to maximize his own token grabbing), to force P2 to make bad decisions with regards to your own fleet's approach vector and timing. Leverage the fact that P2 is likely going to be rolling slower than you to get a moderate redeployment during your approach to combat. However, you still need to hit P2 hard and fast to staunch the token bleeding if they get two or more tokens of their own to farm.

If you've got something with H9's, and P2 has a stack of farming flotillas, then carefully consider dedicating that H9 ship to slaughtering the flotillas. You can use the token movement to help corral those cattle in a favorable direction, by consistently moving them to the same side of the feed lot. However, if they are protected by a doom pickle, then you're just giving the MC80 another opportunity to broadside your fleet. If they are protected by an ISD, then you may still be able to force it into a hard decision: Protect the cattle, or face your other combat warship(s). However, it may be better to slaughter the cattle after you've killed their guard dogs, depending strongly on what they've got for their own setup.

You may be tempted into sending your fighters straight after P2's strategic squadrons. That's probably a bad idea, since P2 will probably have some interceptors or escorts and overlapping flak fields to greet you. Instead, take advantage of the fact that P2 will be spending his activations on his strategic movement to add extra damage into P2's combat ships. Then go for the lock-down while those poor flotillas are getting rammed and H9'ed to death.

As P2, start by having a big honking bag of victory tokens, cause you may be digging deeply into it to track your scoring. A 20 token blow-out can easily happen if P1 plays the mission poorly. If P1 plays the mission well, they may hold you down to only a 4-8 token advantage. If P1 has strategic themselves, and they play the mission right, then you may only end up with a few.

Use strategic to bounce the objective tokens toward your fleet's center of mass. When P1 grabs "his" tokens (usually on T2), use the longer movement (within distance 1-4) to pull them straight into your fleet and increase your farming rate. 2-3 Strategic squadrons (and sometimes fighter coordination teams) are enough to help ensure that every ship activation picks up a victory token, especially once you've got 3-4 of the objective tokens. If you have FCT, then use the FCT movement to reposition the tokens without activating the strategic squadrons, and activate the strategic squadrons by a different ship (preferably a flotilla) on a different activation. That way, you can move and pick up the same token several times per turn. If P1 successfully stole a token, then you may have to activate your own strategic squadrons only one at a time. You can move tokens under your own ships, although it does make it a pain to pick them up when its time to move them. You absolutely can and should ping the same objective token several times per turn.

Consider slow-rolling it at speed 1 for T1-T2, but don't hesitate to increase as needed to avoid getting caught. Against a very slow/distant opponent, then dropping to speed 0 may be tempting on T1, but don't get cocky. Instead, bank a nav token early, and be prepared to abandon the tokens entirely with a big speed jump to hit P1's reckless timing if/when he tries to rush you. Be very careful on your deployment to ensure that you are properly set up against your opponent, since you won't be able to adjust it at a slow speed.

Don't over-focus your activation order on picking up and manipulating the tokens to the point that you fail to activate your interceptors (to counter P1's bombers, say), or you activate your combat ships into P1's guns. Don't turn the objective into a disadvantage by giving P1 easy targets or an overly predictable activation order if you can help it.

If you activate a ship at distance 1 of a objective token in Sensor Net, you MUST pick it up. It's not optional to resolve.

So the only way to avoid having the 2nd player gain access to "your" tokens is to place them where you won't come near them.

You already said that...

7 hours ago, stev said:

This objective i canniit wrap my head around has anyone made a guide on it or a cliffnotes version of how to use it properly? Thank you in advance!

Bascially what @jbrandmeyer said.

If done correct, there is no way for player 1 to win against Sensor Net. Player 1 just cannot keep up with the tons of victory tokens the second player is gathering (3-4 each turn vs. maybe 1).
But in this case, where you as second player have a list for Sensor Net, no one would pick it for you .

This is one of the missions, that give a far bigger bonus to player 2. You (as player 2) can move the tokens that are activated by player 1 by distance 4. He can move them only by distance 2.
The next part is "strategic". You, as player 2, can easy move the tokens back with one "strategic". Player 1 is not able to get it back to where it was. Combine it with FCT, or any other squadron mover, and you can grap the same token two or three times per turn.

How to use it properly as player 2?
4-5 ships, 2-3 strategic squadrons, 2-3 squadron mover (like FCT, Adar Tallon, ...).
When you trigger one objective token, your opponent can move it at distance 2 from the old postion. After this you move a strategic squadron to the token, and move it back. And because strategic can move at distance 1 from the squadron to at distance 1 of the squadron, you are are able to move it 2x distance 1 (+ squadron base). And this is more than distance 2. So you can move it further back and into a better position.
After this you can activate the next ship and do the same again. And again, and again, untill you have no ships left.
If your opponent (player 1) is triggering one token, you can move them at distance 1-4. This is already enough (if not this turn, it wll be next turn) to move the token into your ships, or just to move it away from the opponent so he cannot grap it anymore.
in the end it means 4-5 tokens each turn for you, and if you are good only 4-6 token total for your opponent. In best case its +25 tokens for you, for 375 points (best case). But the norm should be at least +10 token for player 2. And even this is 150 points. Contested Outpost can only give a max of 120 points, Intel Sweep 75. This shows that Sensor net is giving really a lot of bonus points (if done right).

How to use it as player 1?
Not at all, if the opponent has what is used to use it properly as player 2 .
But if you want, you need at least the same (4-5 ships, 2-3 strategic squadrons, 2-3 squadron mover) and even more. Or you need a list that can go in REALLY fast and deal enough damage to take out the opponent before he can gather to many tokens.

To be honest. I have only played it twice. And in both times it was a clear win for player 2. And unless player 2 is a rookie or has not a fitting list for this mission, i cannot see how player 1 could win it.
Just pick another mission (most likely the red one) as player 1. These will be way easier. One mission, if there is sensor net, is normally Fire Lanes as well. So you are struck with the red one, no matter what it is.

3 hours ago, jbrandmeyer said:

As P1, you should start by moving the tokens laterally with respect to P2's ships at first (when P2 picks one up), away from his fleet's center of mass. Once you've got enough space space behind P2's ships, move the tokens as far to his farmers' aft as possible.

This is not possible when he has strategic (something he should have, when using sensor net...). He can move the tokens further back than you can move them away (distance 2 vs. 2x distance 1). In best case right under the ship. You just cannot get the tokens out of his range. Player 2 is even able to gain several victory tokens from the same objective token. There is no way for you to prevent it. As player 1 it is not possible (at least not for long). The tokens will be out of range to grap them back.

1 hour ago, Tokra said:

This is not possible when he has strategic (something he should have, when using sensor net...). He can move the tokens further back than you can move them away (distance 2 vs. 2x distance 1). In best case right under the ship. You just cannot get the tokens out of his range. Player 2 is even able to gain several victory tokens from the same objective token. There is no way for you to prevent it. As player 1 it is not possible (at least not for long). The tokens will be out of range to grap them back.

Player 2's ships are still moving. At speed 1, one strategic move per token grab is losing ground. At speed 2 the token will be out of range *fast*, if you shove it to his aft. This also means that you are partially denying P2 offensive use of relay, because his strategic squadrons are in the backfield running token management.

4 hours ago, jbrandmeyer said:

Player 2's ships are still moving. At speed 1, one strategic move per token grab is losing ground. At speed 2 the token will be out of range *fast*, if you shove it to his aft. This also means that you are partially denying P2 offensive use of relay, because his strategic squadrons are in the backfield running token management.

Yup. The counter-play is to put your opponent in a scenario where he really needs those Lambdas doing both Strategic duty in the rear of the fleet and Relay duty in the front. They can't be in both places at the same time. This tactic can be mitigated if P2 brought an overengineered SN fleet with 3 Strategic and a couple of FCTs, but it still denies the use of Relay.

Also worth noting that swarms of flotillas can't clump up around a pile of Sensor Net tokens and also scatter around the edge of the board at the same time--another of those things that looks way scarier on paper than on the table.

4 hours ago, jbrandmeyer said:

Player 2's ships are still moving. At speed 1, one strategic move per token grab is losing ground. At speed 2 the token will be out of range *fast*, if you shove it to his aft. This also means that you are partially denying P2 offensive use of relay, because his strategic squadrons are in the backfield running token management.

This requires you to have a substantial threat against the ships picking up the tokens, otherwise they can go speed 0. The counter play of "the tokens tell you where P2 will be" is a double edged sword, as P1 has to move something there to kill them. A bum rush tactic against sensor net can turn into a parking lot very quickly.

4 hours ago, Ardaedhel said:

Yup. The counter-play is to put your opponent in a scenario where he really needs those Lambdas doing both Strategic duty in the rear of the fleet and Relay duty in the front. They can't be in both places at the same time. This tactic can be mitigated if P2 brought an overengineered SN fleet with 3 Strategic and a couple of FCTs, but it still denies the use of Relay.

Also worth noting that swarms of flotillas can't clump up around a pile of Sensor Net tokens and also scatter around the edge of the board at the same time--another of those things that looks way scarier on paper than on the table.

The second player does not have to fly in with his squadron. The first player has to come to him, or will lose via points (and really badly).
You do not need the relay as second player on Sensor Net. This means the strategic squadrons are all free for the tokens.

5 minutes ago, Tokra said:

The second player does not have to fly in with his squadron. The first player has to come to him, or will lose via points (and really badly).
You do not need the relay as second player on Sensor Net. This means the strategic squadrons are all free for the tokens.

If you're not using Relay because I've forced your ships to camp out in one spot, they're vulnerable to attack. That's counter-play.

If you're using Relay to scatter and protect your ships, you're not using your Strategic to maximize your objective. That's counter-play.

The upshot here is, playing Sensor Net (well) in this way as P1 can drive P2 to make the choice: Strategic/Relay squadrons to either stay close to the ships or give up the advantage of Strategic + Sensor Net.

9 hours ago, jbrandmeyer said:

Player 2's ships are still moving. At speed 1, one strategic move per token grab is losing ground. At speed 2 the token will be out of range *fast*, if you shove it to his aft. This also means that you are partially denying P2 offensive use of relay, because his strategic squadrons are in the backfield running token management.

Have you checked how much you are losing each turn when the ship is moving at speed 1? Even if you fly straight ahead and have only one strategic to move the token back, the token is still in distance 1 after the 6th turn.

Don't forget. You can move the token by 2x at distance 1 and you have to add the base of the squadron. 2x "at distance 1" + base is nearly "at distance 1-2" + speed 1.

2 minutes ago, Tokra said:

Have you checked how much you are losing each turn when the ship is moving at speed 1? Even if you fly straight ahead and have only one strategic to move the token back, the token is still in distance 1 after the 6th turn.

This assumes only one of P2's ships is picking up that token per round. That's a pretty acceptable number of points to give up for a perfect-storm scenario in which I have no better objective to pick against a fleet specifically built to exploit this objective.

2 minutes ago, Ardaedhel said:

This assumes only one of P2's ships is picking up that token per round. That's a pretty acceptable number of points to give up for a perfect-storm scenario in which I have no better objective to pick against a fleet specifically built to exploit this objective.

Holding one token with only a Flotilla and one squadron for 6 turns? Yes, this is really acceptable . The second token can be moved around for multi pickups. And adding one of the opponents token as well will total win the game.

If you think it is this easy, ask @Roquax if he want to do a match . I bet he will rip everyone who is stupid enough to take sensor net. Or @themightyhedgehog . His World Cup list is crying for Sensor Net and Fire Lanes (i am still thinking what the red one is ).
Honestly, i cannot see any competitive list that could beat fleets like these two in sensor net as second player. But i might be wrong, they might be able to tell more about the experience.
As i said earlier, i have only done two matches so far with Sensor net. I was never stupid enough to pick the opponents one, and most of my opponents were not stupid enough to pick my. The two matches were for testing and against a new player, who didn't know what will hit him. But i guess these two have done a few more, and can talk from experience.

1 hour ago, Tokra said:

If you think it is this easy, ask @Roquax if he want to do a match . I bet he will rip everyone who is stupid enough to take sensor net. Or @themightyhedgehog .

First of all, neither of those lists relies on the Relays to scatter their ships defensively. Both make use of Relay but really primarily have VCXs for Strategic. Hedgehog's squadrons are strictly defensive and thus also don't rely on Relay as he's going to keep them up against his ships to protect them; GH/Yav is all about overlapping AOE synergies, so those synergies all need to be within a relatively constrained area anyway. The choice is obvious for both of them--leave the Strategics behind to push forward the tokens--but that doesn't invalidate the fact that you are forcing the VCXs out of the fight if they're going to be doing that.

I didn't say it was easy. Don't conflate "this is how to counter-play this objective" with "DO THIS AND WIN EVERY TIME." Yes, probably both of those players would beat me. That's not relevant in the least. The fact is that the tactic jbrandmeyer laid out does work . Not only have I done it before, but it's self-evident: if the tokens are behind their ships, and putting Strategic back there is the only way for them to get those tokens, they are faced with a choice between getting the tokens by putting Strategic in the back or not getting the tokens.

1 hour ago, Tokra said:

Holding one token with only a Flotilla and one squadron for 6 turns? Yes, this is really acceptable . The second token can be moved around for multi pickups .

Because P1 wouldn't also be moving that one distance 2 aft every time it's moved? That's the whole point of the tactic jbrandmeyer laid out: yes, they'll get some tokens, but you can mitigate it through good counterplay.

1 hour ago, Tokra said:

And adding one of the opponents token as well will total win the game.

Good luck, if you also do this:

17 hours ago, jbrandmeyer said:

Consider not picking up the two tokens you placed on your side of the board at all . It just makes the bleeding worse, especially if P2 has some farming flotilla setup going on. Note that if the tokens are within distance 1 of your ship when you activate, you must collect your victory token, and the opponent gets to move the objective token. However, you can treat them like the toxic waste they are and fly over/around them and/or position them far outside your flight path when you can.

Sensor Net and Strategic is really good, and if you can pick a different objective, you should. But it's not an automatic win for the P2 if you do find yourself having to pick it, and there are tactics you can use to make it better.

Don't get me wrong: Well-played Sensor Net is brutal on Player 1. I'm just saying that there is counter-play available, and that there are situations where it is the least-bad choice. Which objective is worst for you definitely depends on the match-up and how your fleet is laid out relative to P2. Learning how to play all of the objectives is the only way to know for sure which one is best for your particular match-up.

Also keep in mind that Sensor Net has the most difficult board-state management in any mission. Merely forcing your opponent to track all of that extra state and optimal activation order adds its own value, especially when you are cutting deeply into his margin for error. Played right, the brain-work is asymmetric in favor of player 1. That's also part of why the current Ackbar fish farm is so effective. Its a simple layout, with one combat ship and 4+ nearly identical farmers (at least, they are identical as regarding their impact on the mission).

Final addendum: Right now, I'm practicing with a Ordnance MC75 + MC80 Liberty, commanded by General Madine. If my opponent showed up with an Ackbar fish farm, I think I'd pick Sensor Net. The counter-play helps to ensure that his flotillas can't be farmers and also act as blockers at the same time versus my MC75. I should also be able to use my superior maneuverability to bring a higher concentration of firepower on that doom pickle. I still might not win. But I do think that I can make make my opponent work harder for it on Sensor Net than the alternatives.

@Stiv asked how to use it properly.
And my answer still stand.
As second player you only use this mission if your fleet can make use of it and abuse it (there are better missions when you cannot abuse the sensor net tokens).
As first player you should not pick it at all, unless the opponent ignore the part with the fitting fleet AND you have a few strategic. Without strategic i would never pick sensor net as first player.

8 hours ago, Tokra said:

Honestly, i cannot see any competitive list that could beat fleets like these two in sensor net as second player. But i might be wrong, they might be able to tell more about the experience.

I know a list

https://archiveofossus.wordpress.com/2017/09/16/uk-nationals-satos-star-destroyers/

But I would probably take fire lanes or the red objective anyway.

10 minutes ago, Ginkapo said:

I know a list

https://archiveofossus.wordpress.com/2017/09/16/uk-nationals-satos-star-destroyers/

But I would probably take fire lanes or the red objective anyway.

Yeah, it's beatable, but the general point of agreement still stands that you virtually never take SN against a competently built or flown fleet. The whole discussion here is largely academic because the alternatives will pretty much always be better.

Maaaybe like, I don't know, a GT ISD Sloane squadron fleet or something would risk too much by taking AG, and would go for this? I don't even know.

Even if you have your own Strategic, you take Fire Lanes and steal the tokens 9 times out of 10 over SN.

1 minute ago, Ardaedhel said:

Yeah, it's beatable, but the general point of agreement still stands that you virtually never take SN against a competently built or flown fleet. The whole discussion here is largely academic because the alternatives will pretty much always be better.

Maaaybe like, I don't know, a GT ISD Sloane squadron fleet or something would risk too much by taking AG, and would go for this? I don't even know.

Even if you have your own Strategic, you take Fire Lanes and steal the tokens 9 times out of 10 over SN.

I disagree. The fleets that go overboard on sensor net, triple strategic with multiple fighter coords tend to be too focused and have a much much weaker red.

Whereas a more balanced list will only have a couple of strategic units at which point, if you have some of your own, sensor net isnt that one sided. You wont win the mission but it wont be a whitewash either.

I think you two are looking at it in a vacuum.

1 minute ago, Ginkapo said:

I disagree. The fleets that go overboard on sensor net, triple strategic with multiple fighter coords tend to be too focused and have a much much weaker red.

Whereas a more balanced list will only have a couple of strategic units at which point, if you have some of your own, sensor net isnt that one sided. You wont win the mission but it wont be a whitewash either.

I think you two are looking at it in a vacuum.

What do you disagree with? You pretty much just restated what I said...

39 minutes ago, Ginkapo said:

I know a list

https://archiveofossus.wordpress.com/2017/09/16/uk-nationals-satos-star-destroyers/

But I would probably take fire lanes or the red objective anyway.

A really bad (aka contrary) example . After all, you lost the second and fourth round, as second player with sensor net.
This is not an example for a list that can win sensor net as first player . It is a counter example to my statement by showing how the second player can actually lose with sensor net, and questioning everything i said earlier .

16 hours ago, Tokra said:

If you think it is this easy, ask @Roquax if he want to do a match . I bet he will rip everyone who is stupid enough to take sensor net. Or @themightyhedgehog . His World Cup list is crying for Sensor Net and Fire Lanes (i am still thinking what the red one is ).

The way it's built is definitely daring you to take strategic. No one has in the World Cup yet. Also with all the upgrades I can move my VCX's 6 times in a turn. 3 VCX's, Adar, to FCT. Fire lanes the opponent has a chance to break even if they take the big ship down fast. I have only lost once to playing sensor net, and that was at Nova against Biggs. I would never pick it as first player. Fire lanes with my list going first would actually be workable, probably safer than an advanced gunnery or most wanted. But first play as sensor net is never a good idea.

So would this fleet work with sensor net and stuff?

Faction: Rebel
Commander: Commander Sato

Assault: Opening Salvo
Defense: Fire Lanes
Navigation: Sensor Net

MC75 Ordnance Cruiser (100)
• Strategic Adviser (4)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• Electronic Countermeasures (7)
• Assault Proton Torpedoes (5)
• External Racks (3)
= 123 Points

CR90 Corvette A (44)
• Commander Sato (32)
• Dodonna's Pride (6)
= 82 Points

Nebulon-B Support Refit (51)
• Quad Battery Turrets (5)
• Salvation (7)
= 63 Points

GR-75 Combat Retrofits (24)
• Toryn Farr (7)
• Bright Hope (2)
= 33 Points

GR-75 Combat Retrofits (24)
= 24 Points

Squadrons:
• Shara Bey (17)
• Tycho Celchu (16)
• HWK-290 (12)
• 2 x VCX-100 Freighter (30)
= 75 Points

Total Points: 400

... I have not had enough sleep.

I woke up, read the topic, and my first gut response was:

"Of course someone can ...

... Will they, though? Buggered if I know..."

On 2/13/2018 at 3:37 PM, stev said:

So would this fleet work with sensor net and stuff?

Faction: Rebel
Commander: Commander Sato

Assault: Opening Salvo
Defense: Fire Lanes
Navigation: Sensor Net

MC75 Ordnance Cruiser (100)
• Strategic Adviser (4)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• Electronic Countermeasures (7)
• Assault Proton Torpedoes (5)
• External Racks (3)
= 123 Points

CR90 Corvette A (44)
• Commander Sato (32)
• Dodonna's Pride (6)
= 82 Points

Nebulon-B Support Refit (51)
• Quad Battery Turrets (5)
• Salvation (7)
= 63 Points

GR-75 Combat Retrofits (24)
• Toryn Farr (7)
• Bright Hope (2)
= 33 Points

GR-75 Combat Retrofits (24)
= 24 Points

Squadrons:
• Shara Bey (17)
• Tycho Celchu (16)
• HWK-290 (12)
• 2 x VCX-100 Freighter (30)
= 75 Points

Total Points: 400

I see where you are going with it, but I think you'll get more millage from jainas light.

A hammerhead swarm will happily pick opening salvo against you.

A Strategic opponent will pick fire lanes against you.

Everyone else will have a hard time

Otherwise, it looks like a solid member of the archetype.