My Onager just arrived and for everybody wondering, It comes with 4 uniquely marked Ignition tokens so that different Onager can tell apart which token belongs to wich Onager.

https://imgur.com/a/Oe3zv3a

@LordCola What you have previously seen has little bearing on what you will see.

4 hours ago, Ginkapo said:

@LordCola What you have previously seen has little bearing on what you will see.

Well that's kind of a strange statement. Sure, I do not know what I will see in the future, but I can try to make educated guesses. And all future prediction inherently rely on knowledge of what was before. So my experiences of what was good in the past are still very relevant.

So I just finished my first game with the Onager (which might be one of the very first games with that ship in the wild 😜 ) and I have to say it is hella fun!

The model is really beautiful and slightly larger than I expected. When I first saw pictures of the ship I thought it might be a medium ship but now that I have seen it in person it feels like a proper large ship.

Though I have one problem with this expansion. It does not come with command tokens or the ship number tokens. Now the latter is not a big problem but it is really annoying that it does not come with command tokens because I store all my ship cards together with that ships command dials, command tokens, defense tokens and speed dial in one bag so that I have everything immediate ready when I take a ship out. With the Onager I can't do that anymore. I will always have to steal command tokens from another ship first before I can play with the Onager...

Also this is really crap for new player. What if you don't already have many ships where you can steal some tokens from?

9 hours ago, LordCola said:

My Onager just arrived and for everybody wondering, It comes with 4 uniquely marked Ignition tokens so that different Onager can tell apart which token belongs to wich Onager.

https://imgur.com/a/Oe3zv3a

Ah yes, the numbers 1, 2, E, and the Imperial Cog.

Great that the Onagers see some games already. 🙂

55 minutes ago, LordCola said:

Sure, I do not know what I will see in the future, but I can try to make educated guesses. And all future prediction inherently rely on knowledge of what was before.

Educated guesses are good. Our experience in the game helps us put into perspective unexpected things that come about.

I didn't see it coming that SALVO would be based on rear armament against ships when salvoing from the front, but full anti-squadron armanent against squadrons.

I didn't see it coming that a 0-speed maneuver would be introduced. Sure, the movement tool kind of allows it, as it allows a backwards movement, but, well, I didn't expect it.

I didn't see it coming that there would be such a thing as IGNITION (SHORT) as a standard attack; as if the Death Star would be comfortable shooting its superlaser at a ship in its close orbit as a fallback option.

Obviously, experience and educated guesses give me a general idea of how those things may play out on the table now that they are a thing, but still, wave VIII held quite some surprises to me.

Flagship Bridge - Only medium or large ships. Only flagships. Modification. Your upgrade bar gains one fleet command icon. You cannot spend a command marker to resolve the effect of a fleet command. Offensive Retrofit, 0 pts.

Hol up, there's no restriction on if it has a fleet command already or not. So Cymoon 1 and Flag Bridge, or Chimaera and Flag Bridge, though Chimaera might make that not work. If only Chimaera didn't have the restriction on it, you could have Cymoon/Chimaera/Flag Bridge for 3 fleet commands on one ship.

24 minutes ago, ianediger said:

Flagship Bridge - Only medium or large ships. Only flagships. Modification. Your upgrade bar gains one fleet command icon. You cannot spend a command marker to resolve the effect of a fleet command. Offensive Retrofit, 0 pts.

Hol up, there's no restriction on if it has a fleet command already or not. So Cymoon 1 and Flag Bridge, or Chimaera and Flag Bridge, though Chimaera might make that not work. If only Chimaera didn't have the restriction on it, you could have Cymoon/Chimaera/Flag Bridge for 3 fleet commands on one ship.

The problem with putting flag bridge on a Cymoon is the restriction that you can’t spend a command token to resolve fleet commands. So now both of the fleet commands on the ship are one-time discard only.

Same problem for the Chimaera. Plus Chimaera says you can’t equip it if the ship has a fleet command slot. So not sure how that resolves with Flag Bridge which is adding a fleet command slot.

8 minutes ago, jp82729 said:

Chimaera says you can’t equip it if the ship has a fleet command slot. So not sure how that resolves with Flag Bridge which is adding a fleet command slot.

To the rules: "When building a fleet, upgrade cards can be equipped to ships by adding their fleet point costs to the total fleet point cost."

So upgrade cards are equipped at the same time, so based on timing effects they can happen in any order. So providing you equip Chimaera before the Flag Bridge you should be fine (until a FAQ clarifies this).

The question is whether that is worth it; you get a second Fleet Command (and can equip the cheaper ones a switch to the more expensive if you want - although only one per round), but can only use each one once. But maybe that's all you need.

What I like about the Flag Bridge is that it encourages you to put your flag on a combat ship. Say you want AFFM! for your Sloane/Thrawn Quasar list - the Quasar has that second Offensive Retrofit slot you're probably not using, but then you can't put your Commander on a Raider - it has to be on the Quasar.

9 minutes ago, Grumbleduke said:

To the rules: "When building a fleet, upgrade cards can be equipped to ships by adding their fleet point costs to the total fleet point cost."

So upgrade cards are equipped at the same time, so based on timing effects they can happen in any order. So providing you equip Chimaera before the Flag Bridge you should be fine (until a FAQ clarifies this).

The question is whether that is worth it; you get a second Fleet Command (and can equip the cheaper ones a switch to the more expensive if you want - although only one per round), but can only use each one once. But maybe that's all you need.

Just make sure you put the Chimaera card on the table first when setting up your fleet.

I agree it’s definitely of questionable worth. Per the Chimaera faq, you would only be able to use a total of 2 fleet commands, as you can only swap them if they are face up. Maybe Take Evasive Action and Entrapment Formation for one turn of super maneuverability.

In a RitR game you could purchase an infinite number of Flag Bridges.

You couldn't equip them, and there would be minimal advantage in doing so, but who doesn't want an infinite number of upgrade cards?

I guess you could use it when replacing upgrades; letting you always have the option of swapping in some Offensive Retrofits, so if you did ever get the chance to buy Offensive Retrofits you should pick up half a dozen Flag Bridges just in case.

13 hours ago, ianediger said:

Ah yes, the numbers 1, 2, E, and the Imperial Cog.

On 12/14/2019 at 7:06 PM, Grumbleduke said:

In a RitR game you could purchase an infinite number of Flag Bridges.

You couldn't equip them, and there would be minimal advantage in doing so, but who doesn't want an infinite number of upgrade cards?

I guess you could use it when replacing upgrades; letting you always have the option of swapping in some Offensive Retrofits, so if you did ever get the chance to buy Offensive Retrofits you should pick up half a dozen Flag Bridges just in case.

"So, Jim, what'll you be buying this round?"

"I'll take, uhh, External Racks and 6.02e23 Flagship Bridges."

On 12/13/2019 at 7:58 PM, geek19 said:

Victory, Kuat, ISD-1, Assault Frigate, Armored 75, Vanguard Neb. Adding a Salvo opens up options which is always helpful, and gives new ship builds which also affects the way ships run. Expand your horizons!

I think the biggest winner here is the Starhawk, naturally, and the rebels in general. If I'm not mistaken the Starhawk can load up on 2 salvos using the new rebel commander. With two officer slots, you can take Walex, and Salvo 3-4 ships in one round, and regain one salvo token. Throw on XI7s and profit. Oh, and you still have an officer slot free.

The jury is still out for me on the imperials but I have my fingers crossed!

Edit:

It appears you can outfit the Starhawk Mark 1 with 3 salvo tokens using the Concord title which is insane!

On 12/14/2019 at 5:53 AM, LordCola said:

I was only asking for imperial ships because as I already said previously, I can totally see the assault frigate and the Vanguard Neb take salvo.

So my thinking here is that:

The VSDs biggest weakness is already its defensive. You invest a lot of points in this ship and yet it already often dies. Taking salvo requires giving up one of its very precious defensive defense tokens and swapping it out for an offensive one. I just don't think that is what you want to do on a VSD.

The ISD-1 is just never played. In all the time I have played this game I have seen this ship exactly once. So I don't think that salvo on an ISD-1 will be a big game changer. Also ISD-1 are (as far as I know) only run as a carrier, where I think Flight Controllers would be better, or as BT Avenger, where you would want BT.

The Kuat I have mostly only seen with 2 variants: BT Avenger or Fire-Control Team, HIE, ACM with Vader. I don't think those are the only ways to play a Kuat, but I think they are both significantly better than giving it Salvo.

But I guess only time will tell who is right.

How often does a Victory lose all of it's shields before exploding honestly? Vic 1s can be a good option with LTTs as a gunship.

How far across the non-deployment zone of a Blockade Run set up can the Onager shoot?

16 minutes ago, Ling27 said:

How far across the non-deployment zone of a Blockade Run set up can the Onager shoot?

Looks like the long range band of the ignition token come just short of the opposite deployment zone when the ignition token is placed as far forward as possible.

So impossible to shoot anything first turn unless Ozzel officer is involved.

1 hour ago, jp82729 said:

Look at the zone of control its got. My lord. Even if its not the entire thing, you can set it up to hit anything as it tries to cross, or if your attacking, fire into the defending blockade while your other ships try to slip past. I love it.

I love Blockade Run.

1 hour ago, jp82729 said:

Looks like the long range band of the ignition token come just short of the opposite deployment zone when the ignition token is placed as far forward as possible.

So impossible to shoot anything first turn unless Ozzel officer is involved.

Sounds incredibly possible. All something has to do is step into the zone, activation advantage or not.

1 hour ago, The Jabbawookie said:

Sounds incredibly possible. All something has to do is step into the zone, activation advantage or not.

And in arc. I’m curious what the arc looks like overlaid on that picture

1 hour ago, Church14 said:

And in arc. I’m curious what the arc looks like overlaid on that picture

Looks like it takes up about 2/3 the area of the deployment zone.

2 hours ago, The Jabbawookie said:

Sounds incredibly possible. All something has to do is step into the zone, activation advantage or not.

Ah, you’re right. I’m still in the mindset of the Onager turn one first strike (which is only possible with Ozzel and Cataclysm). Otherwise you need a ship to wander into range.

Never mind.

Is there a translation somewhere on how the ignition stuff works?

It is pretty well known by now. Some interactions between extreme range and other game effects that have range keywords are unclear.

Just look through the thread.