This weeks AMM looking at the Interdictor particularly with the new objectives. https://nichurz.wixsite.com/mysite/blog/enter-the-dicitor

Quote

[...] they are going to have a hard time getting speed up before you are able close and get shots off while they are stuck as speed zero.

How? I have been thinking about this a lot and I have determined that it is impossible for my ships to attack the enemy flagship before it has the opportunity to go up to speed one.

Lets assume I am the second player, I have an Interdictor with G7-X and my opponent chooses Surprise Attack. Lets also assume their Flagship is not the Corvus. I place the station as far away from their edge as possible (distance 5) and I place the Grav Well token on the station so that I guarantee that my opponents flagship deploys at speed 0. Lets also assume that my opponent is not braindead and sees what I am up to. They deploy their Flagship as close as possible to their edge so that it just barely touches the station. In this configuration it is impossible for me to attack their flagship with any ship before my opponent has the opportunity to start moving. (with the exception of a Demolisher. A Demo could attack on turn one with 2 red dice.). Why is this impossible? My opponents Flagship will start to move as soon as the ship phase of turn two starts. To guarantee that all they have to do is set their first command dial to a Nav and the second one to literally anything. Turn one they tokenize their Nav command and turn two they discard the dial to get rid of all raid tokens and then use the Nav token from turn one to start moving. Not even a Slicer tools Gozanti, which btw can always reach the opponents flagship on turn one when equipped with officer Ozzel, can prevent the opponent from moving, because as they are first player they can always activate their flagship before you can move the Gozanti on turn one (so you can't prevent them form gaining the Nav token on turn one) and on turn two it does not matter what command their dial is set to because they can just discard any dial to get rid of all raid tokens. So my only chance to attack my opponents flag ship while it is on speed 0 is in turn 1 and there is unfortunately no ship that can reach the opponents flag ship on turn one. A speed one maneuver from Ozzel is unfortunately not enough to get any ship into attack range of the opponents flag ship. (side note: a speed two maneuver would be enough, so if there ever will be a way to get a Nav token at the "at the start of the first round" timing (which I believe is currently impossible) a VSD with Ozzle, Harrow, Engine Techs could attack the opponents flagship on turn one with all of its front dice.)

Additionally I could not find any configuration of obstacle placement that would force my opponent to deploy their flagship (even a large base one) in a way that it would be possible for me to attack them on turn one with a officer Ozzel ship. (But I could be wrong, I did not spend that much time trying out placements.)

Now lets get to the big elephant in the room: Squads. So far I have only been talking about ships not being able to attack the opponents flagship while it is on speed 0. That is however not true fror Squads. They, especially with Squall, can reach the opponents flagship on turn one and I have build a list around the idea. If I place Squall opposite to the station and deploy my squads as close to the opponents flagship as possible (distance 2 from the Quasar) speed 5 squads are guaranteed to be able to reach the opponents flagship in a way that they can attack unobstructedly the same holds true for speed 4 squads if you bring Rhymer. So if I have a Quasar with Expanded Hanger Bay and Hondo I can attack my opponents speed 0 flagship with 6 squads on turn one. If I am not mistaken you would get the most damage out of a squad combination consisting of:

• Colonel Jendon (20)
• Maarek Stele (21)
• Morna Kee (27)
• Dengar (20)
• Firespray-31 (18)
• Major Rhymer (16)

Those Squads would have an expected damage of 9.6875. Lets round Maareks expected damage from its actual 1.9375 to 2 and you get 9.75 damage. Not enough to kill any large ship but that's where the proximity mines come in. If I place them on obstacles around the station I can use Grav Shift Reroute to guarantee that all four will trigger once the opponents flagship ends its determine course step. Four of them add on average 6 damage raising the damage total on turn one to 15.75 (15.6875). Enough to kill even an ISD.

Now unfortunately this list is not particularly good at any other objective so I don't think this list is very good. Nobody would ever pick Surprise Attack against it.

And on top this, all of this falls apart if the opponent can generate a Nav token at any time before he activates his first ship on turn one (e.g. with Hondo or Tarkin) because that way they can use a Nav token to get rid of the raid token and the flagships Nav dial to start moving on turn one before I can even activate a single ship.

All of this was a very long winded way of saying that forcing your opponent to start on speed 0 on Surprise Attack doesn't actually seem very good because you give their other ships the opportunity to catch up more easily to their flagship, unless you build your entire list around a turn one alpha strike, but then you end up with a list that is not particularly good at any other objective. Though all of this is just speculation since I unfortunately had no opportunity so far to try out any of the new objectives.

Also I was wondering why you did not touch on proximity mines in your article? They seem like a natural fit on a G7-X, Grav Shift Reroute Interdictor since they give you even more control over the playing field. I build a really stupid but fun looking tripple dictor list around board control. With 3 G7-Xs, Grav Shift Reroute and 7 Proximity mines you can entrench yourself around the objective and farm points. With an 11 point bid you are almost guaranteed to get second player since most lists with higher bids want to go first anyway and with 2x Targeting Scramblers, 3x Projection Experts, Brunson, Needa, Tua ECM, a Comms Net Gozanti and Motti is seems very difficult to kill even a single Interdictor while you farm points.

Sorry, this kind of turned into a rant on my thoughts on the Interdictor 😅

4 hours ago, LordCola said:

How? I have been thinking about this a lot and I have determined that it is impossible for my ships to attack the enemy flagship before it has the opportunity to go up to speed one.

Lets assume I am the second player, I have an Interdictor with G7-X and my opponent chooses Surprise Attack. Lets also assume their Flagship is not the Corvus. I place the station as far away from their edge as possible (distance 5) and I place the Grav Well token on the station so that I guarantee that my opponents flagship deploys at speed 0. Lets also assume that my opponent is not braindead and sees what I am up to. They deploy their Flagship as close as possible to their edge so that it just barely touches the station. In this configuration it is impossible for me to attack their flagship with any ship before my opponent has the opportunity to start moving. (with the exception of a Demolisher. A Demo could attack on turn one with 2 red dice.). Why is this impossible? My opponents Flagship will start to move as soon as the ship phase of turn two starts. To guarantee that all they have to do is set their first command dial to a Nav and the second one to literally anything. Turn one they tokenize their Nav command and turn two they discard the dial to get rid of all raid tokens and then use the Nav token from turn one to start moving. Not even a Slicer tools Gozanti, which btw can always reach the opponents flagship on turn one when equipped with officer Ozzel, can prevent the opponent from moving, because as they are first player they can always activate their flagship before you can move the Gozanti on turn one (so you can't prevent them form gaining the Nav token on turn one) and on turn two it does not matter what command their dial is set to because they can just discard any dial to get rid of all raid tokens. So my only chance to attack my opponents flag ship while it is on speed 0 is in turn 1 and there is unfortunately no ship that can reach the opponents flag ship on turn one. A speed one maneuver from Ozzel is unfortunately not enough to get any ship into attack range of the opponents flag ship. (side note: a speed two maneuver would be enough, so if there ever will be a way to get a Nav token at the "at the start of the first round" timing (which I believe is currently impossible) a VSD with Ozzle, Harrow, Engine Techs could attack the opponents flagship on turn one with all of its front dice.)

Additionally I could not find any configuration of obstacle placement that would force my opponent to deploy their flagship (even a large base one) in a way that it would be possible for me to attack them on turn one with a officer Ozzel ship. (But I could be wrong, I did not spend that much time trying out placements.)

Now lets get to the big elephant in the room: Squads. So far I have only been talking about ships not being able to attack the opponents flagship while it is on speed 0. That is however not true fror Squads. They, especially with Squall, can reach the opponents flagship on turn one and I have build a list around the idea. If I place Squall opposite to the station and deploy my squads as close to the opponents flagship as possible (distance 2 from the Quasar) speed 5 squads are guaranteed to be able to reach the opponents flagship in a way that they can attack unobstructedly the same holds true for speed 4 squads if you bring Rhymer. So if I have a Quasar with Expanded Hanger Bay and Hondo I can attack my opponents speed 0 flagship with 6 squads on turn one. If I am not mistaken you would get the most damage out of a squad combination consisting of:

• Colonel Jendon (20)
• Maarek Stele (21)
• Morna Kee (27)
• Dengar (20)
• Firespray-31 (18)
• Major Rhymer (16)

Those Squads would have an expected damage of 9.6875. Lets round Maareks expected damage from its actual 1.9375 to 2 and you get 9.75 damage. Not enough to kill any large ship but that's where the proximity mines come in. If I place them on obstacles around the station I can use Grav Shift Reroute to guarantee that all three will trigger once the opponents flagship ends its determine course step. Four of them add on average 6 damage raising the damage total on turn one to 15.75 (15.6875). Enough to kill even an ISD.

Now unfortunately this list is not particularly good at any other objective so I don't think this list is very good. Nobody would ever pick Surprise Attack against it.

And on top this, all of this falls apart if the opponent can generate a Nav token at any time before he activates his first ship on turn one (e.g. with Hondo or Tarkin) because that way they can use a Nav token to get rid of the raid token and the flagships Nav dial to start moving on turn one before I can even activate a single ship.

All of this was a very long winded way of saying that forcing your opponent to start on speed 0 on Surprise Attack doesn't actually seem very good because you give their other ships the opportunity to catch up more easily to their flagship, unless you build your entire list around a turn one alpha strike, but then you end up with a list that is not particularly good at any other objective. Though all of this is just speculation since I unfortunately had no opportunity so far to try out any of the new objectives.

Also I was wondering why you did not touch on proximity mines in your article? They seem like a natural fit on a G7-X, Grav Shift Reroute Interdictor since they give you even more control over the playing field. I build a really stupid but fun looking tripple dictor list around board control. With 3 G7-Xs, Grav Shift Reroute and 7 Proximity mines you can entrench yourself around the objective and farm points. With an 11 point bid you are almost guaranteed to get second player since most lists with higher bids want to go first anyway and with 2x Targeting Scramblers, 3x Projection Experts, Brunson, Need, Tua ECM, a Comms Net Gozanti and Motti is seems very difficult to kill even a single Interdictor while you farm points.

Sorry, this kind of turned into a rant on my thoughts on the Interdictor 😅

Correct obstacle placement can force a ship to deploy in range of a Demo Ozzle Ex-rack shot turn one, and as you mentioned fighters. Hard may not have been the right word, but they will have to activate in all cases that I have played a sub optimal way to pull it off and even when they do you should have placed some rocks in there path for free faceup damage add mines if you wish.

15 hours ago, LordCola said:

. So my only chance to attack my opponents flag ship while it is on speed 0 is in turn 1 and there is unfortunately no ship that can reach the opponents flag ship on turn one

What about an SSD? I have done the math/tried to fit it in a list with interdictor so idk of theres enough points to pull it off but u should be able to deploy a SSD in a way that it gets a shot off turn 1 on the flagship.

57 minutes ago, lunitic501 said:

What about an SSD? I have done the math/tried to fit it in a list with interdictor so idk of theres enough points to pull it off but u should be able to deploy a SSD in a way that it gets a shot off turn 1 on the flagship.

That was my initial thought too. Especially if you put Ozzel Officer on it to get even closer. Rough outline of the essential requirements (picked the SSD with more dice/better shooter) Leaves you about 33 points of upgrades. Not saying it’s good but the bare bones could work

SSD Shoot Speed Zero (367/400)

Commander: Moff Jerjerrod

[flagship] Star Dreadnought Assault Prototype (250)
- Moff Jerjerrod (23)
- Admiral Ozzel (2)
= 275 total points

Interdictor Suppression Refit (90)
- G7-X Grav Well Projector (2)
= 92 total points

20 minutes ago, cadetvw said:

That was my initial thought too. Especially if you put Ozzel Officer on it to get even closer. Rough outline of the essential requirements (picked the SSD with more dice/better shooter) Leaves you about 33 points of upgrades. Not saying it’s good but the bare bones could work

SSD Shoot Speed Zero (367/400)

Commander: Moff Jerjerrod

[flagship] Star Dreadnought Assault Prototype (250)
- Moff Jerjerrod (23)
- Admiral Ozzel (2)
= 275 total points

Interdictor Suppression Refit (90)
- G7-X Grav Well Projector (2)
= 92 total points

Now the hard part is somehow getting someone to pick surprise attack, I have seen it in a few list but have yet to seen anyone actually pick it over the other options. I feel like it's just became an objective u bring if u really want your opponent to pick your blue or yellow.

2 hours ago, lunitic501 said:

What about an SSD? I have done the math/tried to fit it in a list with interdictor so idk of theres enough points to pull it off but u should be able to deploy a SSD in a way that it gets a shot off turn 1 on the flagship.

1 hour ago, cadetvw said:

That was my initial thought too. Especially if you put Ozzel Officer on it to get even closer. Rough outline of the essential requirements (picked the SSD with more dice/better shooter) Leaves you about 33 points of upgrades. Not saying it’s good but the bare bones could work

The SSD can attack on turn one without officer Ozzel on long range. Things become a litte fuzzy once you use Ozzel. Here is what the situation looks like after the SSD executed a straight speed one maneuver:

https://imgur.com/a/aMmyTQP

Is that in medium range? I am not sure. It is on medium range to the ships plastic, but it might not reach the ship token itself.

But if you have JJ you can trigger him on the officer Ozzel maneuver if you deploy the SSD on speed one AFAIK. In that case you can totally reach the opponent on medium range:

https://imgur.com/a/Vpm74yD

Though once again I am not sure you can build a list with a SSD and an Interdictor that is good in any other situation than being second player on Surprise Attack.

13 hours ago, xero989 said:

Correct obstacle placement can force a ship to deploy in range of a Demo Ozzle Ex-rack shot turn one

I am not sure it can. Would be awesome if we could finde the optimal obstacle configuration in this situation.

This is how far a Demo can reach after executing a speed one Ozzel maneuver plus a speed 3 maneuver:

https://imgur.com/a/YQQrBnv

So if you can, through obstacles, force your opponent to deploy into the black area then yes it can attack on turn one on close range but I am not convinced that it is possible to force your opponent to deploy this far forward.

A officer Ozzel, Engine Techs Demo that however totally can reach the opponents flagship on turn one! Good catch, I did not consider that originally:

https://imgur.com/a/8verl0b

EDIT: Though this puts you in the unfortunate situation where your opponent can now last first the Demo 😐

13 hours ago, xero989 said:

but they will have to activate in all cases that I have played a sub optimal way to pull it off

I don't quite understand what you are saying.

What about Grav Shift Reroute that station? Like very very near your stuff?

21 minutes ago, AdmiralOldOwlz said:

What about Grav Shift Reroute that station? Like very very near your stuff?

Whats the point of moving the station? It wont get your opponent any closer to you.

You move obstacles with Grav Shift Reroute after your opponent deploys their ships.

Darn right. Always forgot that detail.

25 minutes ago, LordCola said:

Whats the point of moving the station? It wont get your opponent any closer to you.

You move obstacles with Grav Shift Reroute after your opponent deploys their ships.

You could move it out from under them. Shove it off to the side.