In this weeks AMM I talk about some of the changes you can expect to start seeing this Friday. https://nichurz.wixsite.com/mysite/blog/the-shake-up-coming-with-ritr

Proximity Mines are face *down* Damage... Only the "Minefields" Objective mines do Face Ups.

1 hour ago, Drasnighta said:

Proximity Mines are face *down* Damage... Only the "Minefields" Objective mines do Face Ups.

Well dang dont know how I overlooked that the wording is clear thanks.

I am not quite as convinced Linked Turbolaser Towers are going to make that huge a difference. Versus Ships Dual Turbolaser Turrets do virtually the same thing for 2 points less. LTT helps vs. that one squadron you just have to work down and gives the reroll ability for that and other red dice. It really depends how much of a return of squadrons we will see and how much a single squadron will be the focal point of makeing a list work.

33 minutes ago, Thrindal said:

I am not quite as convinced Linked Turbolaser Towers are going to make that huge a difference. Versus Ships Dual Turbolaser Turrets do virtually the same thing for 2 points less. LTT helps vs. that one squadron you just have to work down and gives the reroll ability for that and other red dice. It really depends how much of a return of squadrons we will see and how much a single squadron will be the focal point of makeing a list work.

I like it as BETTER DTT for Arqs, AF, and Nebs. With THOSE making a comeback, there's a lot more options. Its SUPER good on them, even just as a security blanket because you get so much less screwed by red dice.

Some conservative guesses here

Proximity mines lists

Heavy mine builds will see casual play. Only Sabine and Matt will see higher play in heavy sqaudron list to exploit percision strike interaction of generating facedowns that later face-up

Tanky elements

Hard call as I feel Starhawk and Onager release will contain a massive spike in Offence. Aux shields has a higher chance to see play to allow Neb and MC80L more fighty builds. Expert Shield tech has the problem of fighting for the hotly contested officer slot.

Crits

The impact here will not be fully seen until Onager and Starhawk release since a few of those upgrades contain two colored crit options.

Imperial Squadron stall

I think this is one of the more bigger winners of RitR. With options to reignite classic howlrunner generic swarm and support for tanky screens.

38 minutes ago, Thrindal said:

I am not quite as convinced Linked Turbolaser Towers are going to make that huge a difference. Versus Ships Dual Turbolaser Turrets do virtually the same thing for 2 points less. LTT helps vs. that one squadron you just have to work down and gives the reroll ability for that and other red dice. It really depends how much of a return of squadrons we will see and how much a single squadron will be the focal point of makeing a list work.

I was wondering the same thing, but it was pointed out to me that Linked Turbolaser Towers can be used on each attack, while Dual Turbolaser Turrets have to be exhausted to use once. The squadron punishing ability that LTTs have is just extra bonus that can hit really hard against a squad if needed.

I've seen some people at my playgroup preferring LTTs on Arquitens over Turbolaster Reroute Circuits, in certain builds.

5 hours ago, Thrindal said:

I am not quite as convinced Linked Turbolaser Towers are going to make that huge a difference. Versus Ships Dual Turbolaser Turrets do virtually the same thing for 2 points less. LTT helps vs. that one squadron you just have to work down and gives the reroll ability for that and other red dice. It really depends how much of a return of squadrons we will see and how much a single squadron will be the focal point of makeing a list work.

Yep, you’re paying 2 points to remove the Exhaust mechanic and the Modification keyword.

Oft considered worth it at that point, alone.

The squad shot thing is just a bonus.

10 minutes ago, Drasnighta said:

Yep, you’re paying 2 points to remove the Exhaust mechanic and the Modification keyword.

Oft considered worth it at that point, alone.

The squad shot thing is just a bonus.

Ninja'd by Dras! Yes, removing the exhaust is huge. It might see some play on VSD's.

I think “Expert shield techs“ might be the most interesting card here. It is a small nerf to XI7 Turbolasers and to squadron based lists (with the right defending ships, of course) and it also can nerf (a bit) Superior positions as standard blue objective (you can block 1-2 times per round the vp condition on crucial ships). Yes, the officer slot is contested, but I think just the possibility of facing it will open up the meta.

edit: just insert “counter“ for “nerf“. Sorry, English ist not my mothertongue.

14 minutes ago, Drasnighta said:

Yep, you’re paying 2 points to remove the Exhaust mechanic and the Modification keyword.

Oft considered worth it at that point, alone.

The squad shot thing is just a bonus.

Ah the Modification thing I didn't account for, that probably does make it worth it in certain cases. I think it's probably better on a Cymoon then it is on the Arquitens.

7 minutes ago, KaLeu said:

I think “Expert shield techs“ might be the most interesting card here. It is a small nerf to XI7 Turbolasers and to squadron based lists (with the right defending ships, of course) and it also can nerf (a bit) Superior positions as standard blue objective (you can block 1-2 times per round the vp condition on crucial ships). Yes, the officer slot is contested, but I think just the possibility of facing it will open up the meta.

He's so expensive, for that ability, though. And as you note, the officer slot DOES tend to be hotly contested out the gate.

Obviously if you've got 1 point of incoming damage coming in, he's pretty great, because he makes that 0 - and no damage is always better than some damage you merely redirect to a stronger shield.

At even 2 points of incoming damage, he works well, as 90% of the time you end up taking some damage on the facing shield even WITH a redirect, so in that case you still take that damage - but no other shield is damaged alongside.

There comes a bit of a grey area, but at 4 pts of damage or higher, I just don't see the utility. Knocking 4 down to 3, but being unable to redirect it, means your shield is down or worse (on most ships). A normal redirect is the much smarter option, here, meaning he's wasting space. The only real exception here is XI-7s, which force the same problem either way, so sure he counters them a bit, if only by providing some utility to a defense token that otherwise isn't going to be super valuable.

So the question really comes down to - what kind of incoming damage are you expecting to take? If usually in the 1-2 range, he's amazing. If usually in the 5+ range, he's terrible. IMHO, I usually see 5+, so...

24 minutes ago, xanderf said:

He's so expensive, for that ability, though. And as you note, the officer slot DOES tend to be hotly contested out the gate.

Obviously if you've got 1 point of incoming damage coming in, he's pretty great, because he makes that 0 - and no damage is always better than some damage you merely redirect to a stronger shield.

At even 2 points of incoming damage, he works well, as 90% of the time you end up taking some damage on the facing shield even WITH a redirect, so in that case you still take that damage - but no other shield is damaged alongside.

There comes a bit of a grey area, but at 4 pts of damage or higher, I just don't see the utility. Knocking 4 down to 3, but being unable to redirect it, means your shield is down or worse (on most ships). A normal redirect is the much smarter option, here, meaning he's wasting space. The only real exception here is XI-7s, which force the same problem either way, so sure he counters them a bit, if only by providing some utility to a defense token that otherwise isn't going to be super valuable.

So the question really comes down to - what kind of incoming damage are you expecting to take? If usually in the 1-2 range, he's amazing. If usually in the 5+ range, he's terrible. IMHO, I usually see 5+, so...

Don't forget that this damage reduction works after brace, too... so 4 damage becomes 1, 6 becomes 2, etc.

Given that you aren't losing the shields on other hull zones and can still redirect later... that's pretty great. Combo with the Seventh Fleet for extra awesomeness.

Even more fun is that you can redirect even if you have no shields left to redirect to.

36 minutes ago, The Jabbawookie said:

Don't forget that this damage reduction works after brace, too... so 4 damage becomes 1, 6 becomes 2, etc.

this actually brings up an interesting question because expert shiled tech says "While defending, during the spend defense token step when you spend a redirect defense token you may reduce the total damage from the attack by one instead of revolving that tokens effect."

The timeing on the first part of the card suggests this damage reduction happens in the spend defense token step meaning it would resolve before brace not after like it usually does. However I can see the other interpretation as you declare what redirect effect you want in the spend defense tokens step and the redirect resolves with that effect on its normal timing, might need to be FAQed to see what the timing of the card exactly is.

12 minutes ago, xero989 said:

The timeing on the first part of the card suggests this damage reduction happens in the spend defense token step meaning it would resolve before brace not after like it usually does.

I think you're right that it will need an FAQ because I can see it both ways. It doesn't say "to a minimum of 1" like Gallant Haven does, so it looks to me like the timing window does allow you to apply it before the brace, but it's unclear if that's the intention. The Brace effect timing is "When damage is totaled during the“Resolve Damage” step, the total is reduced to half, rounded up." from RRG Defense Tokens page 4. EST just says "you may reduce the total damage from the attack".

Anyway, interesting thoughts in the article, thanks for sharing.

21 hours ago, xero989 said:

this actually brings up an interesting question because expert shiled tech says "While defending, during the spend defense token step when you spend a redirect defense token you may reduce the total damage from the attack by one instead of revolving that tokens effect."

The timeing on the first part of the card suggests this damage reduction happens in the spend defense token step meaning it would resolve before brace not after like it usually does. However I can see the other interpretation as you declare what redirect effect you want in the spend defense tokens step and the redirect resolves with that effect on its normal timing, might need to be FAQed to see what the timing of the card exactly is.

You are calculating the amount of damage on the step 5 and not earlier. At the point 4 (Spend Defense Tokens) you still don`'t know how much damage you are doing, so you cannot reduce the damage (that you don`t know).
This sentense (during the spend defense token step) just tells you when you have to use the effect. Without this, it would not be clear when the defender can use it.

Basically you are adding an effect at step 4 that has a result for step 5. Same as brace and redirect are doing already. You spend a brace in step 4, but the effect comes in step 5.

3 hours ago, Tokra said:

You are calculating the amount of damage on the step 5 and not earlier. At the point 4 (Spend Defense Tokens) you still don`'t know how much damage you are doing, so you cannot reduce the damage (that you don`t know).
This sentense (during the spend defense token step) just tells you when you have to use the effect. Without this, it would not be clear when the defender can use it.

Basically you are adding an effect at step that has a result for step 5. Same as brace and redirect are doing already. You spend a brace in step 4, but the effect comes in step 5.

Makes sense, you can't reduce the amount of damage until you know how much damage you are suffering. We also have Major Durlin and Seventh Fleet that have a similar effect for precedent.