[BLOG] XWD38: Debrief 5 - DROID v Kyle (Kylo + FOs vs Rebel Torp Alpha)

By dsul413, in X-Wing

Posted at
On 1/11/2020 at 6:14 PM, dsul413 said:

XWD21: Acquistion Strategy 2 - Gunships, Woo!
https://xwingdebrief.wordpress.com/2020/01/11/acquisition-strategy-2-gunships-woo/

In today's post I took a look at the HMP Gunship and how it may fit into the Separatist faction. Which of the newly announced ships expected in Wave 7 are you most excited for?

I'm kind of excited for the HMP as a plain ship. Defensive statline is solid. Offensive profile reminds me of the TIE/sf (but what doesn't? I kinda see everything in terms of those...). Potential passive mods with the ship ability, plus a massive firing arc to help with good time-on-target. If these are 32 points or less, you'll be able to bring six with Probe Droids, and that's a lot of locks and a really massive net of firing arcs. But that might be why they're at least 34 points. Having 48 health with 12 red dice and essentially inescapable firing arcs just seems like too much to deal with.

Posted at
2 hours ago, theBitterFig said:

I'm kind of excited for the HMP as a plain ship. Defensive statline is solid. Offensive profile reminds me of the TIE/sf (but what doesn't? I kinda see everything in terms of those...). Potential passive mods with the ship ability, plus a massive firing arc to help with good time-on-target. If these are 32 points or less, you'll be able to bring six with Probe Droids, and that's a lot of locks and a really massive net of firing arcs. But that might be why they're at least 34 points. Having 48 health with 12 red dice and essentially inescapable firing arcs just seems like too much to deal with.

That sounds awesome/miserable, depending on perspective. I welcome our gunship overlords.

But really, you’re right. Seems like an interesting bruiser in the middleweight division for points.

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XWD24: Debrief 3 - DROID v NickArrow (Holo mini-swarm v Dash/Lando)
https://xwingdebrief.wordpress.com/2020/02/01/debrief-3-droid-v-nickarrow-holo-mini-swarm-v-dash-lando/

We're just pumping out articles! @NaKoaLani is working on part 2 where he goes into some more detail on his cut-making run at LVO. In the meantime, I started playing Vassal League again with First Order - and killed a ship with .02% chance of success (ish)! Check out my breakdown of the game at the link above.

Posted at
28 minutes ago, dsul413 said:

XWD24: Debrief 3 - DROID v NickArrow (Holo mini-swarm v Dash/Lando)
https://xwingdebrief.wordpress.com/2020/02/01/debrief-3-droid-v-nickarrow-holo-mini-swarm-v-dash-lando/

We're just pumping out articles! @NaKoaLani is working on part 2 where he goes into some more detail on his cut-making run at LVO. In the meantime, I started playing Vassal League again with First Order - and killed a ship with .02% chance of success (ish)! Check out my breakdown of the game at the link above.

this is super neat, but wayyy too long for my monkey brain. bravo

Posted at
1 hour ago, Blail Blerg said:

this is super neat, but wayyy too long for my monkey brain. bravo

Thanks for the feedback! That's actually precisely why we only have three of that style of article thus far - they take a lot of effort and end up being longer than one's usual blog perusal, for certain. That said, I find it as an exceedingly helpful way for me to learn from my games; I end up going back through turn by turn in Vassal and checking to see whether different maneuvers would have created different outcomes or protected ships, that sort of stuff. If others can benefit even a tad from it that's a pretty awesome bonus on top!

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XWD26: Gravitic Deflection Nantex - Why Not?
https://xwingdebrief.wordpress.com/2020/03/21/gravitic-deflection-nantex-why-not/

I investigated Gravitic Deflection Stalgasin Hive Guards, and whether they're any good! Thanks to @Magnus Grendel for his battle reports while I was researching for the post; they certainly accelerated the learning curve.

Also, we have a Twitch and a YouTube now!

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpYWt4x6Ck1oDMQlxhXEQuw

Twitch:

Edited by dsul413
Posted at

Thanks! And it's great to see a proper crunchy analysis bears out my general feeling: on their own, Nantex are squirrely little buggers but pretty fragile but in swarms are surprisingly tough. What you picked up on- the ability to tractor-shield a damaged 'wing-bug' whilst it retains full agility - creates one of the worst problems a swarm can give: making splitting fire rather than finishing off damaged ships really appealing.

Glad you enjoyed the squad!

I can’t help but wish for a named pilot that could take advantage of being tractored and not passing the tractor token to an opponent

So - there sort of is. I must admit to not having used him, because my instinctive reflex with a swarm is to reach for ships with a common initiative so I can chop and change movement order, but at 39 points apiece you have enough slack in the squad to swap out one pilot for Gorgol the Handy and still have a small bid in your back pocket (or give him a targeting computer so he can snaffle a lock for later if he's neither shooting nor shot at).

Gorgol's ability to fix damaged engines or damaged sensors could be huge (admittedly you give up a shot to do it) and being able to tractor yourself without rotating might be a bigger deal than you think.

If you want to try him, make sure you have a debate with opponents and TOs about Using Gorgol on Undamaged ships . I don't think it invalidates him if the local answer is 'no' but it opens up a 'squad leader' type role if the answer is yes.

Posted at
9 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

Thanks! And it's great to see a proper crunchy analysis bears out my general feeling: on their own, Nantex are squirrely little buggers but pretty fragile but in swarms are surprisingly tough. What you picked up on- the ability to tractor-shield a damaged 'wing-bug' whilst it retains full agility - creates one of the worst problems a swarm can give: making splitting fire rather than finishing off damaged ships really appealing.

Glad you enjoyed the squad!

So - there sort of is. I must admit to not having used him, because my instinctive reflex with a swarm is to reach for ships with a common initiative so I can chop and change movement order, but at 39 points apiece you have enough slack in the squad to swap out one pilot for Gorgol the Handy and still have a small bid in your back pocket (or give him a targeting computer so he can snaffle a lock for later if he's neither shooting nor shot at).

Gorgol's ability to fix damaged engines or damaged sensors could be huge (admittedly you give up a shot to do it) and being able to tractor yourself without rotating might be a bigger deal than you think.

If you want to try him, make sure you have a debate with opponents and TOs about Using Gorgol on Undamaged ships . I don't think it invalidates him if the local answer is 'no' but it opens up a 'squad leader' type role if the answer is yes.

Fixing damage engine would be extremely helpful. I pulled two early in a game that I did not write about and it felt like an uphill battle from there, even though I was able to eek out a win. I'll have to look into the potential to slide Gorgol in. I agree that common initiative is really useful, but might as well try it out! The argument for Gorgol is an interesting one - I may toss it over to some of the rules gurus who don't frequent the forums to see what they say.

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XWD27: Jank Tank Open - The Roll, The Change, The Plan
https://xwingdebrief.wordpress.com/2020/03/30/jank-tank-open-the-roll-the-change-and-the-plan/

We are very excited to be preparing for the Jank Tank Open event on Vassal, hosted by the Fly Better and Gold Squadron Podcasts! I've received my lists already so I break down what was rolled for me, the change I made to each list, and how I plan to employ the one I selected. So what do you think? Did I make the right choice?

NaKoaLani and I will also be streaming a variety of games from the event, with approval from the hosts. The plan right now is to stream our own games as well as a set number of games each round of the event, based on our availability and a set schedule for streaming that we will be pushing out for sign-ups. If you're interested in playing on stream, look out for the times we plan to go live and let us know! We'll post these times on the forum here, reddit, and the Fly Better Podcast facebook group. The times may be flexible, so if what we post won't work for you and your partner in the matchup hit us up. We may be able to accomodate.

Catch us at https://www.twitch.tv/thexwingdebrief and https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpYWt4x6Ck1oDMQlxhXEQuw in addition to the blog!

DROID

Edited by dsul413
Posted at
18 hours ago, dsul413 said:

XWD27: Jank Tank Open - The Roll, The Change, The Plan
https://xwingdebrief.wordpress.com/2020/03/30/jank-tank-open-the-roll-the-change-and-the-plan/

We are very excited to be preparing for the Jank Tank Open event on Vassal, hosted by the Fly Better and Gold Squadron Podcasts! I've received my lists already so I break down what was rolled for me, the change I made to each list, and how I plan to employ the one I selected. So what do you think? Did I make the right choice?

FO all the way. Your two lists are similar to mine (I also have midnight, lehuse, and generic Tie/Ba, only I have scorch and TN instead of an Omega), only I had a much worse 2nd list (two N-1s both with traj simulator, and two expensive named v19s with Homing and Concussion missiles).

Your Tie/Ba is expensive, but packs a very nice punch. He can trade shots and throw a full modded procket, then run off and regen. That is very useful as many lists have low init beefy stuff like falcons, upsilons, etc.

Posted at
22 hours ago, wurms said:

FO all the way. Your two lists are similar to mine (I also have midnight, lehuse, and generic Tie/Ba, only I have scorch and TN instead of an Omega), only I had a much worse 2nd list (two N-1s both with traj simulator, and two expensive named v19s with Homing and Concussion missiles).

Your Tie/Ba is expensive, but packs a very nice punch. He can trade shots and throw a full modded procket, then run off and regen. That is very useful as many lists have low init beefy stuff like falcons, upsilons, etc.

Scorch and TN are a great set of replacements for the OSE, although I'm not sad that I have the OSE either and it does buy some points for gunner. Agreed on the procket, its going to take some practice to get the approach vector right and not get the TIE/ba nuked before it can regen.

You are very right that your second list is just atrocious! Sorry that roll didn't go your way. Seems like a solid five ships though for your FO squad - best of luck!

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Great write up, thank you. I appreciate your approach to deconstructing a game and will certainly be looking forward to the new formats, particularly Fog of War.

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XWD30: Work the Board Edge, Part 1: Turns and K-Turns
https://xwingdebrief.wordpress.com/2020/07/18/work-the-board-edge-part-1-turns-and-k-turns/

New post up (first in apparently awhile!) We've been busy with streaming, discording, YouTube, and all that, but back to our roots with the blog. I started a new position at work that makes me a little less consistent with streaming, so writing becomes my X-Wing outlet again! Sorry for the break. Here are some rules of thumb and Vassal visuals for board edge maneuvering, first in a 4 part series.

Edited by dsul413
Posted at
9 minutes ago, dsul413 said:

I'm really darn excited for it.

SAME TEAM

Just wanted to say your articles are dope.

Edited by Boom Owl
Posted at
58 minutes ago, Boom Owl said:

SAME TEAM

Just wanted to say your articles are dope.

Thanks! I appreciate the feedback, @NaKoaLani and I have really enjoyed putting out content and just hope players get something out of it, even for a few minutes. I read your rambles post before I wrote this one, and it really helped solidify my thoughts on the ship. SAME TEAM for sure!

Edited by dsul413
Posted at
43 minutes ago, Cgriffith said:

Great read. Well done.

I’m very happy to hear that, thank you! Tri-Fighter hype

Posted at
Just now, dsul413 said:

I’m very happy to hear that, thank you! Tri-Fighter hype

SAME TEAM!