So deciding to keep the spirit of Epic discussion going on this is to discuss how each wave had an impact on Epic Play. Now we all know that Epic wasn't a thing until Wave 3 and by then it was more of a cinematic type deal since only rebels had the huge ships up until Wave 7. But I think this is a good place to start on. I will talking mostly about the waves and the huge ship in the nearest wave that they came with. Topics for discussion.

1. Classic Core and Wave 1
2. Wave 2 and Rebel Transport
3. Wave 3 and the CR-90
4. Wave 4 and Competitive Format effect on Epic.
5. Wave 5 quick discussion on Aces/Veterans/Heroes/Hired packs
6. Wave 6 The Scum Faction
7. Wave 7 and Imperial Raider
8. Wave 8 and TFA Core
9. Wave 9 and Imperial Gozanti
10. Wave 10 and the C-Roc

Waves 11 12 and 13 I have already posted a thread on them in the main forums. I might just put the links to them in a separate thread.

So on to the Core and Wave 1.

First up the name sake the X-wing .

For the most part the X-wing has been noticeably absent from the top tables in competitive games as a jack-of-all-trades/master-of-none sees very little play in turn based games. The X-wing is noticed to have an unused torpedo slot where it standard 100 is more of a liability but in epic there is more leeway in spending a few extra points. Keep in mind they had the one pilot that they had to make clarifications in Epic in regards to huge ships with pre-nerfed Biggs Darklighter. Given that huge ships obstruct attacks and could even add 3 green dice this would have made fairship look like BBBBZ.

Next rebel ship the Y-wing .

Now Y-wings may be considered huge ship hunter but almost for the <turret> slot more than their double <torpedo> slots. Ion tokens can shut down a gunships <hardpoint> weapons and both corvettes have a special ability that spends energy to make their primary attack more powerful. Coming in at 8 hitpoints it can't be one shot as an X-wing. Thing is though with only 1 agility and slow speed the Y-wing could still get blasted out before it closes within range, poor Horton Salm.

Now on the the Imperial Ships TIE Fighter

TIE Fighters are the original Swarm faction and they are going to be the ones that hit that ship count limit first. No upgrades but a large selection of pilots many with bonus attacks. The premise is simple swam and overwhelm. That being said they are probably the ones most vulnerable to the huge ship overlapping rule. That being said overlapping does confer in a way its own special attack. So a kamakazi strategy may be in effect to get those extra dice rolls and additional damage. Howlrunner was the most popular TIE FIghter pilot in allowing all ships within range 1 to reroll primary attack dice. However trying to keep fast TIE Fighters slow moving with huge ships is a little tricky.

Last ship the TIE Advanced

Same hit points as the X-wing but instead of 3 firepower it has 3 agility instead. Granted makes it harder to hit but the less damage output is not worth it. The single <missile> slot doesn't really hold up to giving it an anti-huge ship attack either. We can discuss more on when we get to the Imperial Raider.

Now lets talks about some of the upgrade cards from the Core Set and Wave 1.

For the most part <EPT> upgrades don't really effect huge ships that much as they cannot take free actions other than what is already on their action bar. Swarm Tactics could be used to get a huge ship firing before taking a barrage of hits from higher pilot skilled unique pilots.

The <Astromech> upgrade could provide some recovery for X-wing and Y-wings the most notable being R2-D2 . But much like high agility high pilot skill aces, the amount of firepower on the table can easily overwhelm such builds.

So on to Proton Torpedoes and Concussion Missiles . Being that Ordnance tubes (as well as epic format) hasn't came out yet for the most time these were used against Huge Ships. Proton Torpedoes turn a <focus> result to a <crit> and Concussion Missiles turn a <blank> result to a <hit>. Proton is probably the one to do more damage to huge ships as face up huge ship damage cards tend to be particularly disabling. Especially after a section gets crippled. Granted the small transports only has one ship card so the lasting effects after catastrophic damage is dealt tends to favor proton on corvettes, and concussion on transports. Keep in mind there is also Cluster Missiles however those are short range requiring you to be within range 2. At range 2 a small ship will find themselves to be in the range of a variety of nasty <hardpoint> weapons and not to mention the default for the huge ship <jam> action.

So that is the first wave and its impact on Epic a format that hasn't came out yet in a nutshell. Anything else you think needs to be brought up or mentioned? Next we will get on the start of the first huge ship and talk about Wave 2 a little.

Might become an interesting series, once you get onto the upgrades that are most effective on each ship. However, I'd have thought that an in-depth look at each type of ship in epic games would be more use to most of us than a wave-by-wave analysis.

Eg I'm currently thinking that Y-Wings are best with Autoblaster Turrets, to kill dodgy ships relying on their agility, plus Ion Torpedoes to take down huge ships, along with severely restricting a lot of their escorts' movement due to the splash effect. 4 of these make a very useful strike force for around 100pts.

I only have 3 Y-Wings (so far) but when I am Rebels in epic, I bring Dutch and 2 Greys with Ion torps everytime. Has not let me down yet. My record is placing 8 Ion tokens with one shot (2 or 3 of the 8 may have been friendly fire accidents but hey...)

I think many of the original Named Ties are underrated in general but especially in Epic. A big 40 point ace is going to have the entire enemy fleet shooting at it, but you can bring 8 Ties with some really good abilities and still have 150 points left to spend.

They have a 5 speed move or a 3 bank followed by a barrel roll to cover some ground in a hurry. Dark Curse is a pain to kill. With so many targets to choose from, Backstabber and Mithel should be able to find something that triggers their extra dice. Even Nightbeast stacking a focus and evade or focus plus barrel roll to dodge some arcs is great for 15 points.

Also, they all shoot at PS 4 or sooner so they usually are immune to Huge ship PS kills and make excellent blockers against an opposing squadron. Several Black Squadrons with Determination can even get into an enemy Huge blind spot where 2 reds vs 0 greens can stack some damage in a hurry.

And this is just Wave One. Wait until Crack shot and the Gozanti come out.

10 hours ago, pickirk01 said:

I think many of the original Named Ties are underrated in general but especially in Epic. A big 40 point ace is going to have the entire enemy fleet shooting at it, but you can bring 8 Ties with some really good abilities and still have 150 points left to spend.

They have a 5 speed move or a 3 bank followed by a barrel roll to cover some ground in a hurry. Dark Curse is a pain to kill. With so many targets to choose from, Backstabber and Mithel should be able to find something that triggers their extra dice. Even Nightbeast stacking a focus and evade or focus plus barrel roll to dodge some arcs is great for 15 points.

Also, they all shoot at PS 4 or sooner so they usually are immune to Huge ship PS kills and make excellent blockers against an opposing squadron. Several Black Squadrons with Determination can even get into an enemy Huge blind spot where 2 reds vs 0 greens can stack some damage in a hurry.

And this is just Wave One. Wait until Crack shot and the Gozanti come out.

When I get to the Gozanti I will be going over the named TIEs a bit.

Swarms of ships always do well against a huge ships even now. Black Squadron TIE Fighters and Red Squadron X-Wings would probably do very well in this limited meta. The higher PS can be advantageous against huge ships which could lead to very high initiative bids. There’s not much in the way of upgrades but Determination might be considered for the TIEs and R2 Astro for the Xs. As has been mentioned an all star TIE list could be pretty potent. Howlrunner would be erased off the board pretty quickly though.

I’m not too sure on an Ion Turret Y-Wing. That range 1-2 restriction and limited damage is troubling and makes for an expensive ship. Ordnance is very expensive for what it does. X-Wing with a target lock gives you an average of 2.25 damage. One use proton torp’s give 2.68 damage and no range 3 agility bonus - worth 4 points?

TIE Advanced are pretty useless in there Wave 1 form. Vader will be jammed to death and the generics are too weak for their cost. Even the promise of Cluster and Concussion Missiles would not tempt me to use them! Can’t wait to discuss the Raider release.

it’s really interesting to think back like this

On 2/12/2018 at 9:36 PM, Marinealver said:

...

So that is the first wave and its impact on Epic a format that hasn't came out yet in a nutshell. Anything else you think needs to be brought up or mentioned? Next we will get on the start of the first huge ship and talk about Wave 2 a little.

Dude, its been a week. The anticipation is killing me. When are you coming out with your Wave II post? Wave II gets you to where you can start to simulate the Battle of Endor with A-Wings and Interceptors and Lando as "Gold Leader."