I've spent most of my time since having a look at the FAQ wondering how my builds will be revised and that basically means trying to project out for the next few months and predict what the new meta goodness will be... Here's a few thoughts.

Avenger will be just as prevalent as always - Deserved or not that errata there didn't really do much to limit the awesomeness of BT avenger, more like a nerf prod than a bat when compared to what happened to Demo and Rhymer... if you were seeing it before you're still going to see it!

Average activation count will drop? - I'm expecting we won't see much in the 6+ ship lists anymore. I'd imagine 5 will be about the 'roof' which makes 3-4 fully playable without any big disadvantage. *edit*- Raider spam? Don't think we would see corvettes back after the Reiken Nerf and the TRC nerf.

Average squadron count will drop? - I'd expect many players will simply replace their flotillas with a Quasar or Yavaris to push squadrons but in both cases, you can't get the same pure points/squad activation ratio you could with gozantis. So either we will see fewer squadrons or maybe a boost in rogues (which also means fewer squadrons really)

Raddus will still be stealth OP awesomeness - Nothing I've seen takes away from this guy being able to neuter much of the current meta gold (like BT avenger), if anything a drop in activations and squadrons will be great for him.

Slicer tools making a return? - More carriers means more value to being able to counter them... Raid tokens turned out to be a bit of a fizzer but what about slicer?

More big ships... There's more reason than ever to put 1 in... Damnery I won't be surprised to see two across from me at all anymore, wouldn't have said that pre FAQ (and/or wave 7)

I wonder what else? These are just the basics from a few hours of random ponderings, what do you think?

2 minutes ago, beefcake4000 said:

Avenger will be just as prevalent as always - Deserved or not that errata there didn't really do much to limit the awesomeness of BT avenger, more like a nerf prod than a bat when compared to what happened to Demo and Rhymer...

Very true, sadly...

I think we will see a rise/return of ISD and MC80 super carriers that wade into the fray with their attendant squadrons. I feel this FAQ is going to continue to emphasize big ships but squadrons are themselves as powerful and points efficient as always. Rebel bombers are going to be trickier but I don't envision as drastic a change to Imperials.

My primary competitive list didn't get hit by the FAQ so I'm glad for that. I do expect Raddus to see lots of play. Sloan is still powerful with an ISD, Quasar, and a Gozanti and the activation disadvantage has been minimized so I expect that to still be strong.

Maybe we will see some dual Quasar builds?

Hammerheads might see some life for activation padding for those still looking to run MSU.

This was a pretty good reset for the Meta. I'm sure the wheels are spinning and we will see some creative lists come out of it.

If Raddus does dominate the Meta I do think a possible counter to it is a fast MSU list. Can't just drop Profundity in front of your opponents large and block and blast away.

Raddus vs Raddus is gonna have to be a consideration so I expect to start seeing some Raddus builds with significant bids. (Maybe bids for second player).

I think Raddus will be very strong regardless of the FAQ.

And yeah, going 2nd in the Raddus mirror is very important.

What do the good Raddus lists looks like?

2 minutes ago, FrightfulCommand said:

What do the good Raddus lists looks like?

Like my regionals list, for example:

https://armadaihaveyounow.blogspot.no/2018/03/stersund-regionals-aar-raddus-story.html?m=1

Since then I've changed Dco for Lando, dropped comms net and added Endeavor.

Activation count: if we're counting Strategic advisor as one, then I think 6 is easily achievable. 5-6 will be the staple. BT-Avenger wasn't super prevalent in our area, because it is a one-trick pony, albeit a big trick. It just lacked the reliability to play at the highest levels. I think the biggest nerf to Avenger wasn't to AVenger itself but to the flotillas that help set up the activations. But yes, anyone that still wants that one big trick, they can still take it with minimal loss. Because of Strat Advisor, I'm not sure this drops activation counts in the end. It just incentivizes that upgrade much more.

For almost everything else, think some of the points prevalent in wave-2. Flotillas/relay created a Rogue tax, which means they're going to do much better in a post-nerf meta. Think of Q's Nationals list that started the 8x YT2400, though again there, I think a mix of Rogues/non-Rogues works out better. Some of this comes from the fact that once your carrier goes in a high flotilla meta, then the flotillas can pick up the slack, but if you're limited on flotillas and your carrier goes, you're suddenly losing the squadron game in a way that you didn't majorly before. That's a huge cascading chain. Rogues help get around that.

I think squadron counts had more diversity that were actually competitive in the old wave-2, and I'd see more of a return to that.

I'm calling a 3+2 as the new standard. It will be easy to fit 3 ships of some variety in most builds, plus the two allowed flotillas. There will be a lot of diversity in what can be selected, but look for something like this. In an MSU, this will become 4+2. In some squadron heavy builds, this will be 2+2. For example, in most of the revised versions of my Madine builds, I've got the large, 2 small combat ships, and the 2 flotillas, and SA for 6 activations, plus 4 squads. One could make adjustments to how many points are in the ships in order to increase squad counts, if desired, so there's plenty of room for diversity here.

I think Raddus ends up breaking most of those rules, however, since deployment and activation count suddenly matter much less for him. He's still going to be good, and you're going to have to play smart to beat him well.

I think vsds will be great again