Ever since Wave 8 was released, I've be using larger ship builds, often with an Onager or Starhawk, with few or no squadrons. Last week, I read this AMM article about MSU builds , and on the weekend, my roommate and I engaged in an MSU vs MSU battle.
I liked the Romodi MSU build featured in the article. However, I modified it based on my preferences and what has worked for me in the past:
Romodi OTB-OBPC-Cat 3x Arq-LC GozA-ST-Sup Goz-CN
Assault:
Opening Salvo
Defense:
Asteroid Tactics
Navigation:
Infested Fields
Onager Testbed (96)
• General Romodi (20)
• Strategic Adviser (4)
• Gunnery Chief Varnillian (6)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• Orbital Bombardment Particle Cannons (5)
• Cataclysm (5)
= 140 Points
Arquitens Light Cruiser (54)
• Captain Needa (2)
• Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)
• Hand of Justice (4)
= 67 Points
Arquitens Light Cruiser (54)
• Reinforced Blast Doors (5)
• Dual Turbolaser Turrets (5)
= 64 Points
Arquitens Light Cruiser (54)
• Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)
= 61 Points
Gozanti Assault Carriers (28)
• Reeva Demesne (4)
• Slicer Tools (7)
• Suppressor (4)
= 43 Points
Gozanti Cruisers (23)
• Comms Net (2)
= 25 Points
Total Points: 400
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My Opponent chose to use the 394-point Agate MSU build:
Agate MC80SC-End Pelta-C 3x HHSC GR75-CN
MC80 Star Cruiser (96)
• Kyrsta Agate (20)
• Strategic Adviser (4)
• Weapons Battery Techs (5)
• Auxiliary Shields Team (3)
• Heavy Ion Emplacements (9)
• H9 Turbolasers (8)
• Spinal Armament (9)
• Endeavor (4)
= 158 Points
Pelta Command Ship (60)
• Lando Calrissian (4)
• Intensify Firepower! (6)
• Disposable Capacitors (3)
= 73 Points
Hammerhead Scout Corvette (41)
• Slaved Turrets (6)
= 47 Points
Hammerhead Scout Corvette (41)
• Slaved Turrets (6)
= 47 Points
Hammerhead Scout Corvette (41)
• Slaved Turrets (6)
= 47 Points
GR-75 Medium Transports (18)
• Hondo Ohnaka (2)
• Comms Net (2)
= 22 Points
Squadrons:
= 0 Points
Total Points: 394
Opponent won Initiative Bid, chose 1st Player, and chose Opening Salvo as the Objective.
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Deployment:
Opponent spread out his ships across the DZ and measured they were all at least Distance 1 apart to counter my Onager's Orbital Bombard Particle Cannon superweapon. The GR-75 and Hammerheads were deployed in the middle; the Pelta was near the right edge (from my POV), and the Liberty was on the left side, beside the left-most (1st) Hammerhead.
I deployed my two Gozanti's in the middle; the Arqs on the left edge of my DZ in a tri-formation, pointed toward the middle of Opp's DZ; and I deployed my Onager last, on the right side, at Speed-1, aimed toward the Space Station, so that the Liberty, GR-75, and 2 of the 3 Hammerheads were in its Special Arc.
Round 1:
The 1st round was mostly uneventful -- just maneuvers -- until I activated Cataclysm last and blasted the 1st Hammerhead with an Opening Salvo, long-range, obstructed, Special Arc attack, which depleted its front and starboard shields, and inflicted 2 face-down damage cards.
Round 2:
I had made a mistake by rushing Suppressor into the middle of the mat. I had deployed it at Speed 3, revealed a Nav Command in Round 1, and banked it as a token instead of reducing to Speed 2. My impatience caused Suppressor to charge into the picket line of enemy ships, all of which had their Opening Salvos. My only hope was to destroy the damaged 1st Hammerhead and fly into the gap it left behind. I fired an Opening Salvo with a Concentrate Fire command from the Gozanti Assault Carrier's front arc and rolled 1 Red and 3 Blue dice : I rolled a Double-Hit, 2 Hits, and a Crit, but no Accuracy. Opp removed the Double-Hit with Evade, Redirected from port side shield, Contained the Crit, took 2 face-down damage cards (4), and survived. I failed to open the gap in the enemy's picket line, so I spent the Nav token to slow to Speed-2 and landed Suppressor on the Space Station. It couldn't repair any damage, but I hoped the station would obstruct the enemy's attacks.
The undamaged 2nd Hammerhead fired at Suppressor using Opening Salvo, but I Scattered it and survived.
I activated Hand of Justice next but Suppressor wasn't in range to ready its Scatter. I OS'd the Liberty's starboard side, spent an Evade to change a blank to a Double-Hit, and depleted the Liberty's starboard shield and reduced its front shield to 2. HoJ moved right at Speed-3, keeping on my side of the line of obstacles in the middle of the mat.
The damaged Hammerhead OS'd Suppressor, rolled an Accuracy to block Scatter (which had been readied by Reeva Demesne), and one-shotted the obstructed Gozanti Assault Carrier. The damaged HH landed on the Space Station and discarded a damage card (3).
Opp's Liberty used a Repair token passed by GR-75 to restore its front shield to 3; then OS'd Hand of Justice at long-range, triggered HIE, depleted its front and port shields, and inflicted 2 damage.
I had some difficulty maneuvering my two other Arqs. I had queued CF orders, so I had to use a banked Nav token from Round 1 to reduce the 3rd Arq (without RBD) to Speed-1 to avoid colliding with the 2nd Arq and a Debris Field, which caused that Arq to lag behind the other Arqs. The 2nd Arq OS'd the Liberty's rear arc and depleted its rear and port shields. It then followed Hand of Justice and moved into the Liberty's starboard side arc.
Opp maneuvered Pelta and right-most (3rd) Hammerhead toward my Onager's starboard flank.
When I activated Cataclysm, I saw that the undamaged 2nd Hammerhead was within Range 1 of Opp's GR-75, so I chose to fire at it instead of the damaged HH on the Space Station. My close-range Special Arc attack one-shotted the 2nd HH and triggered OBPC's Special Crit ability, inflicting 2 damage to the GR-75; Opp placed 1 damage on rear shield and took 1 damage to hull. I kept the Onager pointed toward the Liberty and continued moving toward the Space Station at Speed-1. I placed the Ignition Token directly on the Space Station so that any Special Arc shot would be obstructed.
Round 3:
Opp surprised me by activating his Liberty first and caught Hand of Justice in its front arc while out in the open; Liberty easily destroyed HoJ. Liberty used CF command for second attack from starboard arc and inflicted a face-up damage to my second Arquitens (equipped with Reinforced Blast Doors): fortunately, the damage card was Point-defense Failure so it didn't matter. The Liberty couldn't avoid landing on an Asteroid Field and suffered a face-up damage card: Targeter Disruption (1).
My roommate gloated about taking the early lead. I replied, " Don't get cocky ."
I could've waited (so I could've used Strategic Adviser later in the round), but instead...
I activated Cataclysm and fired a close-range Ignition shot at Liberty; with Romodi and Concentrate Fire's extra dice, and Ordnance Experts, Varnillion, and a CF token's rerolls, I rolled 14 damage! Opp Braced to reduce damage to 7, which depleted the Liberty's front shields and inflicted 4 damage (5). I had faith that my Arqs would finish off the Liberty, so I turned Cataclysm to starboard to try to protect its rear arc from the flanking 3rd Hammerhead and Pelta.
After Opp activated Pelta and rounded the two Small Asteroid Field obstacles, I activated my 2nd Arq and finished off the Liberty with an obstructed starboard broadside to its unshielded rear.
Opp's damaged 1st Hammerhead attacked Onager's front arc; I Redirected 2 damage to port shield (0) and reduced front shield to 4.
Opp's 3rd Hammerhead OS'd Onager at long range, obstructed, to starboard shield; Braced 5 damage to 3, Redirected 2 to front shield (2), and reduced starboard shield to 1.
Rounds 4-6:
After Round 3, Cataclysm wasn't able to use its Special Arc anymore because Opp had maneuvered his Pelta and 3rd Hammerhead to the OTB's rear arc, and spent the remainder of the match chasing my flagship across the mat and grinding down its hull points. The Pelta's Opening Salvo in Round 4 hit Cataclym's unshielded rear arc, inflicted 4 damage, and dealt a Damaged Munitions card. The 3rd Hammerhead's attack inflicted 3 damage and dealt Disengaged Fire Control (7), which would have spoiled Romodi's special ability. Fortunately, I landed on the Space Station at the end of Round 4 and discarded Disengaged Fire Control. And I had a Repair command queued in Round 5, discarded Damaged Munitions, and used a Repair token passed by my Gozanti to restore the rear shield (1). I also used Nav tokens passed from the Gozanti to increase Cataclysm to Speed-3 and outrun the Pelta.
In Round 4, I destroyed the Opp's 1st Hammerhead using my Gozanti's Opening Salvo and Cataclysm's port side arc.
In Round 5, Opp's 3rd Hammerhead destroyed my Gozanti; and Cataclysm destroyed Opp's GR-75.
It was a tense and thrilling chase that ended just as my 2 Arqs had maneuvered into range of the Pelta and Hammerhead. Lando spoiled an obstructed shot that would've inflicted a damage card to the Pelta and scored me more points. I used my 2nd Arq's Reinforced Blast Doors to discard a single damage card, so it evened out.
Endgame:
VICTORY!
My points: 274
Opp's points: 183
Margin of Victory: 91
Win / Loss Ratio: 8:2
Conclusion:
This battle was the most thrilling and fun match I've played against my roommate since the stay-at-home order began. I don't think the Margin of Victory accurately reflects how close the battle was. My Onager had suffered 7 damage cards in Round 4 and it seemed like it was doomed. Fortunately, I was able to Repair and increase to Speed-3 to escape.
The MSU builds were well crafted and a lot of fun to play. It's great that the Onager can work in a MSU build because the OTB is less than 100 points. However, based on my battle experience, I don't think the Onager will be able to use its Special Arc after Round 3 when facing MSU builds because the small, fast ships will reach its flanks around Round 3 or 4. It might actually be worthwhile to switch to the Onager Star Destroyer so its other arcs are more effective against flankers.
I think the obvious flaw of the Rebel MSU build was that it put most of its points into the Liberty. Although the Liberty was very intimidating, it was easy prey for the Onager's Special Arc. A Liberty isn't tanky enough, even with Agate, to take an Onager head-on. My roommate admitted that the obstacles limited his movement options and his mistake was not taking the long way around the obstacles to avoid the Onager's Special Arc.
Against the Onager MSU build, it would probably be smarter to use 2 MC30s instead of the Liberty. Perhaps one of the MC30s would get destroyed by the OTB, but the other MC30 would outflank and destroy it.
Edited by ReavernHammerheads numbered for clarity