Let's clarify that I'm a new SW Armada player:

can anyone tell me the difference between ACM and HIE?

• Do the ACMs, if activated against a ship with shields at max, always create damage to the hull by ignoring the shields themselves?
• Why do HIE cost two points more and do not damage the ship's hull?
• why do you have to put HIE exhausted and not ACM?

Thank you all, and happy new year!

Great questions! I love HIE, so I'll answer thoroughly.

1. No. If your target is fully shielded, the shields on the adjacent hull zones will suffer 1 damage each from the critical effect alone, before you apply the rest of the damage.

2. There are many ways to answer this. Some people thought the card was too expensive when it came out, but I don't.

a. HIE is a blue dice upgrade, and ACM is a black dice upgrade. It's easier to get a ship in medium range of your firing arc than close range.

b. Imperial players can combine Disposable Capacitors and HIE, and now their Raider-II, Victory-II or Interdictor can fire off HIE at long range. They can do this with ANY commander as long as they get the critical. ACM can only be used at long range if you're using Sato as commander, or if an opponent chooses your Opening Salvo objective. Otherwise, it's a close range only upgrade.

c. If you're attacking an opponent's ship that's fully shielded, or even has just one shield on each hull zone, HIE is the better card in that moment. It causes one more damage ("the defending hull zone and each adjacent hull zone" = 3 shields gone) than ACM ("each hull zone adjacent to the defending hull zone" = 2 shields gone). However, if you're attacking an opponent's ship that has no shields, HIE does NOTHING and ACM causes two damage cards if you get the crit! ACM is clearly the winner in that situation.

3. Probably because of the Disposable Capacitors + HIE combination that I mentioned above. FFG probably decided that it would be too powerful of an effect at long range unless exhausted.

Happy new year!

ACM generates 2 damage, one to each adjacent zone. As per usual with damage, that will be o n shields if they exist, or hull if not.

HIE is only shied danage, yes - but HIE ALSO does an additional point of damage to the target zone, which ACM does not. 3 additional per Crit, instead of 2.

But the real difference between them driving the cost differential is is the colour of Crit required, and thus, tgecrange tgey can be activated at - ACM has a much smaller effective area and the same chance (on an individual per die basis)

Excellent answer, there is nothing to add! Thank you!

Then:

• ACM does 2 damage to shields or hull, with a black critic, it costs 7 points and I can also use it in two different attacks from the same ship.
• HIE does 3 damage, only to the shields. It costs 9 points and I can use it only once per attack. But I can use it with Disposable Capacitor at long-range.

Correct?

32 minutes ago, OberMatthew said:

Then:

• ACM does 2 damage to shields or hull, with a black critic, it costs 7 points and I can also use it in two different attacks from the same ship.

Correct.

Let's say the MC30 in this picture has ACM. If he attacks the Victory out of his front arc and his side arc, and he gets a black hit/crit icon on both attacks, He can resolve the ACM critical effect on both attacks.

32 minutes ago, OberMatthew said:

• HIE does 3 damage, only to the shields. It costs 9 points and I can use it only once per attack. But I can use it with Disposable Capacitor at long-range.

Because you have to exhaust it, you can only use HIE once per activation. Even in a situation where your ship can use two attacks, you can only use HIE once.

Remember DCaps don’t work for large or huge ships. Current options for both DCaps and HIEs are:

Raider-II

VSD-II

Interdictor

All of them are pretty good in the right fleet.

1 hour ago, The Jabbawookie said:

Remember DCaps don’t work for large or huge ships. Current options for both DCaps and HIEs are:

Raider-II

VSD-II

Interdictor

All of them are pretty good in the right fleet.

Got a fleet with a Kuat BTA, a HIE DTT DCaps VicII and a HIE DCaps RaiderII under Screed, with a slicer Gozanti and Ciena/Valen that works pretty well. Dice Control is a bit off sometimes, but I tried Vader instead of LS on the ISD and DTTs on the Vic and got similar results, with the Raider more often than not getting destroyed a round earlier, so I stuck with Mad Eye Moody as Commander.

It's really great when you can drill apart their shields at long range first round of engagement and then swoop in with a Speed 3 Avenger to finish them off. Evade doesn't come in at close and contain isn't that important for the killshot. Their shields on adjacent zones will mostly be very very low, if at all still active, so redirect is off the table too. BT the braces and you probably won't even have to doublearc 🎉

This isn't the post you're looking for...

Move along...

Another question!

Can a player choose to receive damage on the ship's hull even if he has shields raised to the maximum?

So you can preserve shields and maybe play a card like Reinforced Blast Doors...

3 minutes ago, OberMatthew said:

Can a player choose to receive damage on the ship's hull even if he has shields raised to the maximum?

Nope. Rules Reference, page 4, under Damage:

Quote

For each point [of damage suffered], reduce the shields in the defending hull zone by one. If the defending hull zone has no shields to lose, deal a facedown damage card to the ship instead.

It is only if the defending hull zone has no shields that you get to deal a facedown damage card.

Accurate and quick response, thank you!

What happens if the targeted hul zone doesn't have shields? Can I still deal HIE damage to the adjacent shielded hull zones?

21 minutes ago, Norell said:

What happens if the targeted hul zone doesn't have shields? Can I still deal HIE damage to the adjacent shielded hull zones?

Absolutely

You just can’t reduce something already at 0, so you ignore that zone - but the effect still happens.