15 hours ago, Glattyator said:All of this is to say don't rely on flying in such a way that you limit your options in future turns or hang on to a sole strategy with a list. Board-state is in constant change and adaptability with skilled flying is what will win more times than not.
Agree wholeheartedly. T-70s are very adaptable. I was just making an observation.
You will always want to adapt your approach to your target, but loadout also matters in that.
Cannon Hardpoint
- When your hardpoints are fitted with Ion Cannons (quite a nice option for rookies to give you an alt-fire mode that delivers some ion control and can be used to full effect with a barrel roll/link/focus), there's no real downside, so you might as well fly in a close 'block' to provide as much overlap of arcs as possible, as actually ionizing a target takes massed fire, and then you can roll into range 1 of the predictable, unreinforced target and blow it away with 4-dice primary shots:
X X
X X
- When packing Heavy Laser Cannons, you're....frankly not going to be 'hunting' for bullseye shots - you don't naturally have the ability to roll without closing S-foils (which hurts if you miss your bullseye!), though BB astromechs cover this nicely - because of your relatively low initiative, but it is bullseye shots which are your killers. A better plan is a reasonably tightly-packed line abreast, such that you create a 'crossfire' of bullseye shots such that even if an opponent dodges one, they probably blunder into another (and have potentially now spent their action on something that's not an evade token).
X X X X
- When packing Marksmanship/Autoblaster, you only really gain a benefit when firing at a target from outside its frontal arc, so you want to spread your initial line wider to try and have some of your ships coming in from a flank. Then the 'head on' attackers fire first to take down shields (if any) and the flankers can drop criticals which ignore evade results on the vulnerable target.
X X X X
Missile Hardpoint
- Points changes also put Homing Missiles back into reach for Rookies - a decent answer to elusive aces. It's not as good as it is on the TIE/sf, who are replacing a 2-dice attack, not a 3-dice attack, and have access to Passive Sensors to take target locking out of the equation. But 4 homing missiles is still nothing to sneeze at, and if you can snag a target lock during a turn when you have nothing else to do, it's a darn sight more effective at range 3 than a 3-dice primary shot is likely to be.
- Cluster missiles are available but probably not useful. The T-70 already throws 3 dice at range 2, so cluster missiles are only really useful when able to effectively use their bonus attack. Triple T-70 squads can do this - an R3 Astromech to provide two separate locks, for example, and several pilots can get multiple actions or dice modifiers easily - and being able to double-tap in the opening engagement is not a bad trick - but if you want 4 X-wings you can only afford the missiles themselves.
- Ion Missiles and BB Astromechs for rookies is an interesting one. The Ion Missile is overall harder to use and no more capable than the Ion Cannon. Avoiding defensive bonus at range 3 is nice, but not getting offensive bonus at range 1 means actually ionizing a target is likely to be irritatingly rare. The BB Astromech is a nice added bonus, though.
Tech Upgrade
- Advanced Optics and BB Astromech feels so-so. I like advanced optics, but they only matter when you roll at least one blank and no focus results....and on a 3-4 dice attack, that actually feels relatively rare, especially since turning no hits into one hit...isn't that great.
- Pattern Analyser. This is the new thing to hit the basic Rookie's T-70. Being able to talon roll and still get actions turns your 4-per-squad rookie into Nien Numb or Ello Asty. A bit. But seriously, the drop-off in effect of not getting tokens when you k-turn or talon roll means being able to do so is a pretty big deal.
Astromech Upgrade
- R4 Astromech & Heroic is an interesting option for Red Squadron Experts. The upgrade package doesn't make you stand out in any particular way, but just makes you generally 'better', with blue hard turns and (normally defensive) insurance against blank dice.
- BB Astromech & Spare Parts Canister. I'm not sure free barrel rolls are that big a deal for rookies without a big gun to line up, but the extra charge doesn't hurt. More to the point, having the ability to drop a pseudo-minefield is an interesting option. Cancelling target locks probably isn't a big deal (because of your low initiative) but it might be worth it if facing someone with a persistant lock (Midnight, or a TIE/x1 or something)
