In Game Tactics vs CIS Swarms

Another counter strategy ramble. As usual quantity of words does not indicate quality of content, havent even re-read this. This is just to kick start a in game tactics discussion. I have played against CIS more than I have actually played it myself, so be skeptical of everything below. Strategy is probably not all together that different than how you should be fighting any swarm with a few exceptions related to obstacles. I personally greatly enjoy games against Swarms and CIS Swarm is no different for me. So many different archetypes/lists have legit win conditions from start to finish. There is a real in game puzzle to solve against swarms which makes it fun. It also doesnt require specific tech or init bands to deal with which again means there is probably alot to discuss here that isnt listed below.

• What The List Does:
  • Usually Includes the following:
    • 1-2 Ordinance Hyenas ( Plasma Torps or Concussion Missiles )
    • 2-3 Discord Missiles
    • 7-8 Ships most with struts
  • Covers large areas of the board with both arcs and discord missiles
  • White and Blue Hard Turns easily threaten flankers
  • Able to move through, on to, and roll off obstacles
  • Networked functions like action based force charges for the entire list
  • K-Turns/Talons with mods thanks to networked
  • Uses struts and Calcs + Red Barrel Rolls to adjust arc coverage and basically pivot
  • Stacks Multiple Target Locks via Probes to scare things off or set up mid game alpha strikes
    
• How it Deploys:
  • Typically in a corner set up to move along a board edge or chill for a round or two
  • Hugs the opponents side of the board or the left or ride side of the board until ready to turn in
  • Not unusual to see the swarm "split" into two loose pairs of 3-4
  • However it will absolutely keep things close enough for networked to function for all ships
  • Occasionally will see it open with talons/k turns
  • Tends not to engage in strict block formation, though it certainly can joust that way
  • Uses barrel roll to keep the board open and the arc coverage as wide as possible
  • Tends to place Ordinance Carriers behind outside of blockable range
  • Tends to deploy Discord Missile Carriers out front
    
• Counter Strategy
  • Accept that your going to lose some ships, build a strategy that assumes that
    • Set Up 2:1 Trades.
    • Avoid 1:1 Trades. This should be obvious but I think for some reason its not?
    • Don't Avoid Combat to much and create awkward board states for yourself
    • Losing a ship does not mean you lost the game, its how you trade that matters.
    • Vast majority of the "fine tier" lists in hyperspace have reasonable win conditions after a 2:1 trade with a CIS swarm.
    • Very much a 50/50 or better after the 2:1 especially if your conscious of preferred board position after the 1st engage
    • Even if you lose your "primary" end game piece the rest of your list can absolutely still win you games because Init Kills are brutal
    • Trouble is to destroy to Vultures you actually have to commit to combat which can feel alot worse than it is
    • Every extra turn your ships get matters, even if its on only 1 hull.
    • This game is all about setting controlling and enforcing the pace of the Init Kill Countdown Clock
  • Approaching the "loose wall formation"
    • For the below, obviously rocks matter but for simplicity going to assume they "exist" but the angles are still possible
    • Usually want to approach from at least two-three angles
      • If they move their entire swarm into the center of the board you can create awkward first engages
      • Mainly because one of the flanks is more likely to be roughly behind the swarm ( i.e. actually flanking )
        • 
      • The center of the board also includes them walking up the left or ride side of the board and turning in
      • Make the Swarm player choose a flank to collapse on,
      • Make absolutely sure whatever side they don't collapse on is in a position to do meaningful damage
      • Generally you should plan to commit to attacking from both flanks, remember most lists actually need to fight
      • If you can do so with bail out options open but its not always possible, and not always necessary
    • If they set up in a corner, you can still attack from more than one angle
      • This is better for the CIS player as they can more easily turn back in on either flank
      • After they choose a flank to target first engage, the entire swarm can hard turn back in on the other pair if it needs to
      • How far to their flank you are matters a great deal
      • The closer your flank pairs are the better their 1-2 turn options after the first engage
      • The further apart your flank pairs are the the more likely it is you fail to take shots entirely
      • Thats on you to avoid by moving quickly enough Turn 0-3
        • 
    • Its usually not as clean as the above two images, CIS swarms engage messy
      • Typically looks more like this
        • 
      • Flexible but it can also create very awkward engagements once your ships get close
      • Its not uncommon for them struggle to get more than 3-4 shots on target
      • If one of their vultures self bumps, thats one less calc
      • If you bump into one of their ships thats one less shot, and you probably have passive mods anyway
      • If you init kill a vulture thats another shot that wont happen
      • Suddenly they are only actually allowed 2-3 shots instead of 4
      • Its possible to "empty" the list of its Calculate tokens before it fires back
        • This isnt something you do intentionally, kinda happens naturally
        • Provided your actually applying offensive pressure and focusing fire
      • Don't over assume that your list will lose the straight joust, flanking isnt the only option.
        • 2:1 Trades are available via a partial engage + r1 double tap init kill
        • Get to Range 1 during the mid game puts a ton of pressure on the init kill countdown clock
        • You don't have to try to dodge all of the arcs
        • Getting blocked isn't the end of the world, it can still mean 1 less shot in followed by an init kill.
  • Other Stuff
    • Probably alot more to say on all three of these topics
    • Obstacles and Struts
      • Gas Clouds can be your friend here, dishing strain and denying struts/calculates
        • Position your clouds in areas you think will be relevant to the first and second rounds of combat.
        • R3 of corners is usually a simplistic way to do that
      • Funneling the entire CIS swarm between rocks helps less than it does against other swarms
      • Barrel rolling off rocks leads to some strange board states
      • Struts allows the vultures to trade up better and function like mini uwings
      • Struts can sometimes be a liability as it requires specific speeds to move off the rock which is info you can use
    • Probes
      • Its very rare that you will have a chance to shoot a probe before it can set a lock
      • Its more common that you can force the CIS player to choose between taking locks and taking calculates
      • They will choose calculates unless part of their list is expected to be out of arc and can just function as a calc battery
    • Discord Missiles
      • These cause absolute mayhem with all the engagements above and allow CIS to keep up with the damage race
      • Obviously barrel roll is a good way to get out of this, but once again committing to setting up good flanks is key to.
      • If you somehow end up with Discord Missiles attached to more than one ship something went pretty wrong

Summary:

• Don't Offer a Trade Treaty that the CIS player will sign
  • 
• At minimum offer 2:1 Trade Deals
  • 

Went up against one for the first time since point changes at yesterday’s store champ. Their list was 7x drones with 2 discords among them, the coordination hyena bomber with TA175 the calculating piñata. Everyone has struts.

I flew 3x passive sensor concussion SFs and Kylo (I had been teching more for Boba Fenn which is more popular here, but brought clouds as my droid tech).

I forced his debris into less interesting parts of the board and managed to get my clouds gumming up board middle.

After he deployed his drones in one corner, I dropped the SFs in a mirror corner and Kylo midway.

The first few rounds were more about seeing how he commits. Either way, Kylo or the SFs, I was dragging them through the clouds. It didn’t go quite perfect, but in the end I got them approaching at an odd angle so most of the swarm was out of range 3 and I could pick off a drone uncontested. Kylo was coming up their side flank, but ready to break off if they committed to him (they didn’t).

It got dicey from there due to some personal mis-judging of where he was going, but I managed to extricate my SFs alive (but halved). The two firing arc system really helped in this case. I managed to pick them apart once they tried to regroup without going through clouds, and then it swung back in my favor heavily. Game at time was Kylo and one SF versus a single drone as we had killed the last of the list that combat phase.

In short:

1. Force them into something they do not consider ideal

2. range control on initial approach.

3. Hope for the best.