19 minutes ago, ClassicalMoser said:

Funny thing is that you can get range 4 locks from targeting battery, and only on a CR-90.

You seem to have forgotten the ship ability.

Honestly I rather like it as-is. The Raider only needs R3 anyway for its ordnance, while the CR90 can sit back and TB/broadside comfortably from R4. It works well.

If you want longer range on either, you can get it if you’re willing to invest for it. I feel like the extra firepower you’re missing out on isn’t worth it though except in certain situations or builds.

Any huge can get range 4-5 locks from Targeting battery, if you're willing to drop a cargo slot for Boosted Sensors. +1 energy for range 4, +2 energy for range 5, unless you're the CR90, in which case range 4 is free and range 5 is +1 energy.

29 minutes ago, Rakaydos said:

Any huge can get range 4-5 locks from Targeting battery, if you're willing to drop a cargo slot for Boosted Sensors. +1 energy for range 4, +2 energy for range 5, unless you're the CR90, in which case range 4 is free and range 5 is +1 energy.

That’s what I was referring to here:

29 minutes ago, Rakaydos said:

If you want longer range on either, you can get it if you’re willing to invest for it. I feel like the extra firepower you’re missing out on isn’t worth it though except in certain situations or builds.

14 hours ago, ForceSensitive said:

Nani? I'm confused. I would gather that Tarkin also ignores range. As it is a specified sequence of who gains locks on what. A design I rather like.

The problem is that what Tarkin does is let you 'acquire a lock' and the act of acquiring a lock includes the range restriction.

By comparison, if you gain a lock token by another means (for example Kagi or Holdo going 'yoink!') then it doesn't matter about the range to the lock's target.

I have submitted a rules question to FFG about the Targeting Battery, but it has been over a week with no response (other than the "we have received your question..."). I will let everyone know if I hear anything interesting.

So far, I have just played 2 games with Huge ships. Part of the problem is with people not being prepared and not having lists ready on game night. So, it has taken people a while just to make lists...pull out the cards....pull out the ships....etc.. It's become a bit of a time sink to play Huge games on a regular game night. Also, we have played one Scenario and one brawl.

I have done one Ordnance Raider and one without Ordnance. I think I did more damage with the non-Ordnance Raider, but it probably is situational.

I think early on people have been focusing on huge ship vs huge ship, but when people are planning for that, you can use a list with many Wings to really blast the enemy. People aren't ready for a number of strong Wings. I think the second phase of people playing with the Huge ships is people preparing anti-Wing options. Any ship that is Tractor Beamed or Ionized is removed from the Wing. You can target the Wing Leader and knock the whole wing out that way. Also, massed Homing Missiles can really hurt a Wing Leader.

I used Soontir Fel in a Wing of Alphas to nasty effect. Tarkin gave everyone a TL. They had a Focus. I was able to almost destroy a C-ROC (yo yo) in one round with just that Wing. It was very responsive and maneuverable in that set up. I was highly impressed.

Trajectory Simulator is nasty in Epic.

Running over a ship is really nasty if going fast. It is a nice way to poop it out the back, even if going slow.

I have not seen a CR-90 in action.

I am not impressed with Turbo Lasers. People forget about the TL requirement. The target usually rushes in and avoids more shots. I've only seen it hit once, and it it hit me. It was brutal, but has so many requirements (Energy, range, and TL).

Scenarios really can change what happens in the game when compared to just a brawl.

C-ROCs (yo yo) can be mean, but tend to really get hurt when taking crits. I would recommend Damage Control Teams.

19 hours ago, ClassicalMoser said:

That’s what I was referring to here: (Targeting Battery + Boosted Scanners)

Another tricky thing somebody used at our Epic Showcase event is Sensor Experts to lock onto an obstacle, then spend an energy to acquire a lock on an enemy ship at range 1 of the obstacle ignoring range restrictions. 10 points for Sensor Experts is expensive, but if you want multiple locks it's already a good investment.

@heychadwick good move, I forgot about that option 😅. Still no response? I thought they were usually pretty fast with those. I think I only used that contact line once though. Please do keep us posted. Message me when it comes in too so I'll know to pop back in. Would be super sad to see the targeting battery doesn't get you... Y'know... Targeting. Lol 😆

1 hour ago, heychadwick said:

So, it has taken people a while just to make lists...pull out the cards....pull out the ships....etc..

I heard J-bot wanted to continue making his lists when he arrived... It takes a lot of pre-setup to get an epic list on the table, so at our store we broadcast a week in advance that we're doing 400 point lists with huge ships... (another one tomorrow night in fact...) I have everything in those extra ziplock baggies that the expansions all include so I can open up my list (cards and cardboards) and assemble in minutes.

1 hour ago, heychadwick said:

I think the second phase of people playing with the Huge ships is people preparing anti-Wing options

I'm shocked this wasn't the first phase, honestly. With all our collective experience of fighters ripping into huge ships, my first thought was anti-starfighter combat.

1 hour ago, heychadwick said:

I have not seen a CR-90 in action.

She's weird, but strong. I'll have the Raider on the board tomorrow night for a better comparison.

1 hour ago, heychadwick said:

Scenarios really can change what happens in the game when compared to just a brawl.

I agree. I'd say it's a much stronger game with the objectives. Sadly, nobody got a box of epic locally and our store never got it's order.

2 hours ago, LagJanson said:

I agree. I'd say it's a much stronger game with the objectives. Sadly, nobody got a box of epic locally and our store never got it's order.

This so much! Objectives make a world of difference. I'm guessing that the new atmosphere cards might be enough to make Epic deathmatch bearable come February, but we'll have to wait and see.

2 hours ago, LagJanson said:

I heard J-bot wanted to continue making his lists when he arrived... It takes a lot of pre-setup to get an epic list on the table, so at our store we broadcast a week in advance that we're doing 400 point lists with huge ships... (another one tomorrow night in fact...) I have everything in those extra ziplock baggies that the expansions all include so I can open up my list (cards and cardboards) and assemble in minutes.

*sigh* Yes. It would be quicker. I wish he would do it most weeks. I get what we are doing in advance for people to plan ahead. Most don't.

Quote

I'm shocked this wasn't the first phase, honestly. With all our collective experience of fighters ripping into huge ships, my first thought was anti-starfighter combat.

Actually, everyone first wants to see the big ships slug it out.

17 minutes ago, heychadwick said:

Actually, everyone first wants to see the big ships slug it out.

Yet again, I’m a meta oddity.

25 minutes ago, heychadwick said:

Actually, everyone first wants to see the big ships slug it out.

*Raises hand* Guilty as charged.

Played with a gozanti last week. I learned that the actions made by the epic ships (mainly reinforce) are SO IMPORTANT and they can drastically change the course of the game.

If I took a reinforce, my gozanti would have suvived one more turn, and bumped at least 3-4 small ships, and create a massive problem in my opponent's fleet. Instead of that, It just melted under the fire of his ships.

While on the topic of lessons for Epic, beware gas clouds: they Jam the Huge ship which can be bad. I was so used to no-consequence clouds that again I have to 'unlearn what I have learned' in order to play Epic well -> gas clouds can be worse than asteroid/debris for Huges.

4 hours ago, mcintma said:

While on the topic of lessons for Epic, beware gas clouds: they Jam the Huge ship which can be bad. I was so used to no-consequence clouds that again I have to 'unlearn what I have learned' in order to play Epic well -> gas clouds can be worse than asteroid/debris for Huges.

Lol. Gas clouds in standard play should give jam or deplete 😃

Another weird one in Epic - can someone explain why Captain Needa (8) is cheaper than Strategic Commander (10)?

might be that they want imperials to have that option cheaper and better. (for what reason unknown), maybe to facilitate flimsy ace play?

3 hours ago, mcintma said:

Another weird one in Epic - can someone explain why Captain Needa (8) is cheaper than Strategic Commander (10)?

That is odd. Maybe it's because Strategic Commander is generic, so he costs more to make sure he's balanced in all factions?

What's really odd is when you put those two cards next to Stalwart Captain (6) and Raymus Antilles (12). These two are identical except that Raymus says, "After you are destroyed, each friendly ship at range 0-1 gains 1 focus token." Very strong. Very cool. Is that one deluge of focus tokens worth 6 points, fully double the cost of Stalwart Captain? I'm not sure. I should put him on the table. Obviously it's a lot stronger if he is destroyed at the start of the engagement phase so all the friendly ships have the extra focus token for defense or offense.

Going through old articles I found this:

Man, huge ships are going to hate this weapon! It's an opportunity to jam AND deal a crit. And if deplete does what I think (strain but for attack dice) this missile will simultaneously cut into the defense and offense of s huge ship that gets hit by this.

I know Jendon is the favorite shuttle pilot for Epic, but in February the Empire may need to lean on Kagi quite a bit.

I think I’ve found the worst possible wing to fly: Vultures.

Any epic ship that hits them with a 2+ Speed maneuver can wipe them out completely. It makes you have to fly them very cautiously.

Used the Raider last night. Thoughts:

• Reasonably durable vs a massed starfighter attack
• Ordnance tube/targeting battery setup allows for devastating firepower in what feels like a very narrow range band. A range one missile/torpedo is necessary
• Juggling target locks was awkward - missed firing any ordnance on the first round due to spending the lock to re-roll a terrible primary shot. You'll have to find another way to get re-rolls or accept that a shot here and there will be duds.
• I thought the Instigator title would get me enough re-rolls... It helped, but wasn't enough. I had plenty of ion around but still found a shortage of target locks and rerolls on what I needed to fire at.
• Ordnance team sucks up energy fast, but it's worth it
• Still loving that defensive team linking reinforce to calculate
• Had several bulls eye opportunities. A concentrated attack with a formation of fighters actually presented chances to use this ability three out of four turns. Not that I took those shots each turn, nor did they necessarily pay out when I did.
• Range one bulls eye attack with primary weapon... rolled three blanks, three focus, and all I had was a calculate token...

I'm shocked, I had more fun with the CR90. Completely opposite to my position in 1.0. That said, my CR90 build seems pretty solid and efficient, where as my Raider build has plenty of changes I would make next time around, so comparison is unfair. The Raider just feels tougher to figure out.

Flew 4 games with the C-Roc (scum) so far. Depending on its configuration, it can be a weird breed of something in between a support and attack ship. It needs to be tailored for the specific scenario that you expect to encounter.

- In one game (Passing engagement), I had it setup with as many weapons as I could, which made it too expensive and earned me a loss.

- In the second game (same scenario), I had it setup as a support / coordinate kind of ship with the appropriate crew, and it did all right.

- Third game was configured as a sniper (3 player scenario), but it was actually Moralo Eval that broke the game, with his ability to go behind enemy lines and destroy mission objectives. Game ended by turn 2.

- Fourth game was configured as a sniper, but with boosted scanner to boot. Between its now extended jam and Captain Seevor's ability, it created some unique play option where it sort of neutralized the Raider's initial firepower by quite a lot. Definitely a scum build if I ever saw one.

34 minutes ago, dotswarlock said:

- Third game was configured as a sniper (3 player scenario), but it was actually Moralo Eval that broke the game, with his ability to go behind enemy lines and destroy mission objectives. Game ended by turn 2.

RIGHT?! Man, Moralo Eval is a slippery villain. My opponent used him on All Wings Report In, and he escaped with a bunch of tokens right away - we couldn't do anything to stop him. I don't know if he is in fact broken, but he can give quite the advantage in some scenarios.

5 hours ago, LagJanson said:

Used the Raider last night. Thoughts:

• Ordnance tube/targeting battery setup allows for devastating firepower in what feels like a very narrow range band. A range one missile/torpedo is necessary

Adv Protons or Bombardment Specialists are options

1 hour ago, mcintma said:

Adv Protons or Bombardment Specialists are options

Correct, as are cluster missiles. I just said somebody needs to utilize those options.

1 hour ago, LagJanson said:

Correct, as are cluster missiles. I just said somebody needs to utilize those options.

Indeed. Cluster Missiles are my number one pick for Raider ordnance, though I don't think I've used the ordnance Raider yet.