Okay, I just played a game with Fenn. I flew him very well I think, and he was undamaged at the end of the game (along with Graz at 1 hull) against a lone Vader. He gets into the perfect position facing Vader at range 1, the ideal location for a Fang! I'm looking forward to engagement.

Fenn rolls 3 blanks and 1 hit, Fearless mods a 2nd hit, Vader rolls 2 evade. Okay, no problem, there's always future rounds... and I still have my focus token for defense.

No. Vader rolls 4 dice and mods them to 3 crits and 1 hit. I roll all blanks. Concordia helpfully adds 1 evade to block the hit and only the hit.

With 2 Direct Hits I took 5 damage, including a Console Fire for good measure. Fenn was in the perfect location and still died in a single shot, having impotently contributed no damage that round.

Happens to everyone, sometimes the dice just hate you. It's the nature of the dice game we play.

1 hour ago, Wazat said:

Okay, I just played a game with Fenn. I flew him very well I think, and he was undamaged at the end of the game (along with Graz at 1 hull) against a lone Vader. He gets into the perfect position facing Vader at range 1, the ideal location for a Fang! I'm looking forward to engagement.

Fenn rolls 3 blanks and 1 hit, Fearless mods a 2nd hit, Vader rolls 2 evade. Okay, no problem, there's always future rounds... and I still have my focus token for defense.

No. Vader rolls 4 dice and mods them to 3 crits and 1 hit. I roll all blanks. Concordia helpfully adds 1 evade to block the hit and only the hit.

With 2 Direct Hits I took 5 damage, including a Console Fire for good measure. Fenn was in the perfect location and still died in a single shot, having impotently contributed no damage that round.

Happens to everyone, sometimes the dice just hate you. It's the nature of the dice game we play.

My last time flying Fenn against Vader: I get clipped by a just-barely-in-range pot-shot at Range 3, probably hadn't focused since I thought I'd be out of range, and hit/crit slips through: I've got to do a Straight maneuver. Sigh.

OK, so I wind up at Range 1 of both Vader and another 3 dice ship.* I say "I'm not afraid, you're not pushing any damage here." And my opponent doesn't. Two 4-dice shots, no damage. Gotta trust Fenn, trust Concordia. Trust will be rewarded.

A few turns later, Fenn has cleared his crit, is turning around. I'm off alone in space, so I don't focus. What's this, Soontir is just barely clipping me at Range 3... he sneaks in a crit... it's Direct? Yep. Two Range 3 pot-shots on Fenn, once if not twice where I don't focus, and I get plinked for the crits, and die.

* The 3rd ship was General Grievous. It was an oddball small tournament where each player brought a 150 point list and a 75 point mercenary from a different faction, which had a 50% chance to change sides at game start. I'd brought 4 TIE/sf with Optics, since it's one of my favorite ships, and I love Fenn Rau, and I figure rear arcs are at least OK against Fenn. My opponent beat my bid by 1 point, brought Vader/Soontir, with the mercenary as Grievous, which is kind of brilliant. They wanted 3 aces, and Grievous is a potential threat when left alone, tanky when he needs to be, and low-initiative, so that if he flipped sides, Vader and Soontir could easily handle him. Really well thought-out, and it went 3-0 to win the day.

Other opponents: Separatists + 4-LOM (solid enough), and Goji and 2 Y-Wing bombers + Nym (the sweetest thing I've ever seen... my opponent several times ran up against the 6 dice limit on defense. Alas Optics is consistent, and green dice aren't).

I'm not a believer in the dice, but I'm also not fully rational. I know they're evil, I know they'll betray me.

10 hours ago, Wazat said:

I'm not a believer in the dice, but I'm also not fully rational. I know they're evil, I know they'll betray me.

And that's *why* they betray you. It's possible but unlikely that trust in the dice is like trust in the force, where that trust actually means something.

More likely, having a positive outlook on your dice is a psychological trick. When you trust your dice, a fluke bad roll is just that, a fluke, and you can move on; I think it gets easier to shrug off.

So I've got a bit of a rep where I play, I'm lucky, I've got the Qui-Gon Jinn going on, the Hocus Pocus, the Hax Pax Max Ficus Adimax, if you will. So if my dice fail repeatedly over a game, it's not just more misery in a train of misery: it's funny. And when I can laugh it off, my mood is better.

9 minutes ago, theBitterFig said:

More likely, having a positive outlook on your dice is a psychological trick. When you trust your dice, a fluke bad roll is just that, a fluke, and you can move on; I think it gets easier to shrug off.

You have to trust the dice to be dice and if you don't trust the dice to be dice you'll be surprised at their behavior. It is unwise to be upset with things that are behaving as it is their nature to behave. It is of course difficult to live the wisdom and maturity and acceptance of things you can not change necessary to not be upset.

13 hours ago, Wazat said:

He gets into the perfect position facing Vader at range 1, the ideal location for a Fang!

The ideal place for a Fang is actually range 1 out of arc so it won't get shot back, like most ships. This a common misconception, the idea that because you have Concordia Faceoff and Fearless you should get to range 1 in arc. Faceoff is damage mitigation, not prevention, and Fearless allows you to mod offensively without needing to use your focus on defense.

Dice will always happen, that's the nature of them, so you do everything you can to minimize their impact. If that means taking a range 2 out of arc shot versus a range 1 shot in arc then so be it. It depends on the game state whether the risk is necessary. If you've got 2 ships to 1 and you're moving after Vader you're already winning so have no reason to put yourself at risk, however small that risk is.

30 minutes ago, Chumbalaya said:

The ideal place for a Fang is actually range 1 out of arc so it won't get shot back, like most ships. This a common misconception, the idea that because you have Concordia Faceoff and Fearless you should get to range 1 in arc. Faceoff is damage mitigation, not prevention, and Fearless allows you to mod offensively without needing to use your focus on defense.

Dice will always happen, that's the nature of them, so you do everything you can to minimize their impact. If that means taking a range 2 out of arc shot versus a range 1 shot in arc then so be it. It depends on the game state whether the risk is necessary. If you've got 2 ships to 1 and you're moving after Vader you're already winning so have no reason to put yourself at risk, however small that risk is.

This is true, it's always better to arc-dodge than to try to tank the damage.

Fearless and Concord do make the difference between in or out of arc at R1 fairly small though. That can be a key thing, say if they have a more important target available, rather than the Fang parked nose to nose yelling BRING IT.

Example, Boba at R2 shooting elsewhere, the Skull at R1 probably wants to be taking the hits, or at least offering a harder choice. People will often choose to shoot the Fang and hope a crit sneaks through. It feels like a more meaningful gamble than chipping a shield or 2 off of a bigger fish.

Not to mention the genuine fear of going face to face with one, for a lot of opposing ships.

So while R1 out of arc is kind of a no-brainer best position, there can be a lot to gain from being in arc. Using their abilities to influence opponents decisions, beyond dodge or be dodged, is a big factor in making the most of a Fearless Fang in a mixed squad.

On 4/12/2020 at 11:37 AM, Cpt ObVus said:

Sooo, this may be a question that has no answer beyond, “because that’s how they made it,” but I was wondering why the Fang fighter has so few upgrade slots. In trying to build with them, I’ve found them fairly boring and homogenous. I’ve only actually flown one once, and it turns out Fearless Fenn still gets his *** kicked when you blank out on defense dice a couple times, so I never really got to see what they’re capable of. They seem REALLY expensive, points-wise, for such a fragile ship. Tell me about why it’s good.

I think the philosophy is pretty clear, it is a military style production that doesn't have many variations. They are meant to be a disciplined cohesive force, having their fighters designed that way keeps them cohesive.

Maybe boring in game terms, but more realistic than the alternative. If you look at the original trilogy, other than the Falcon & Slave 1, every ship was pretty much stock. Vader had a special model, but the rest of the TIE's were the same. Look at a modern air force, other than a little bit of paint, you have a force of identical aircraft with no upgrades. Then every few years they start an upgrade program & roll it out over several years.

On 4/12/2020 at 11:37 AM, Cpt ObVus said:

Sooo, this may be a question that has no answer beyond, “because that’s how they made it,” but I was wondering why the Fang fighter has so few upgrade slots. In trying to build with them, I’ve found them fairly boring and homogenous. I’ve only actually flown one once, and it turns out Fearless Fenn still gets his *** kicked when you blank out on defense dice a couple times, so I never really got to see what they’re capable of. They seem REALLY expensive, points-wise, for such a fragile ship. Tell me about why it’s good.

I think the philosophy is pretty clear, it is a military style production that doesn't have many variations. They are meant to be a disciplined cohesive force, having their fighters designed that way keeps them cohesive.

Maybe boring in game terms, but more realistic than the alternative. If you look at the original trilogy, other than the Falcon & Slave 1, every ship was pretty much stock. Vader had a special model, but the rest of the TIE's were the same. Look at a modern air force, other than a little bit of paint, you have a force of identical aircraft with no upgrades. Then every few years they start an upgrade program & roll it out over several years.