https://galacticconflictpodcast.podbean.com/e/episode-30-the-angriest-of-ewoks/

Show Notes Episode 30 The Angriest of Ewoks

Welcome back to another episode of Galactic Conflict! A bit of a delay due to my requirement of having knee surgery and being unable to sit at my computer. But I am on the mend. On today’s episode myself and Roquax interview Adam Newton also known as Angry Ewok about his Youtube channel and discuss the spoiled Clone Wars ships so far. Hope you enjoy!!!

Angry Ewok Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDJtwBLA-15uY75DkdIlFNQ

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Im glad you linked the angryewok armada channel, my first go at finding him on youtube produced some wierd results!

Great episode, really enjoyed it. I think the issues with squads are quite distinct. Marek jendon is just too good. Hes a 1 man bombing wing and theres too much of a gap between him and any other bombing option. Every list i write now has some plan for dealing with him. But heis existence basically obseletes tie bombers for example. I think marek alone justifies taking clusterbombs on things like mc30s and arquitens, but its a pretty specialised commitment to do that.

There is a trifecta (or more) of issues for imp sqn players.. If you are going to take sqns (without Rogue) you take Sloane...for her ability. If you are then taking sqns ....what do you take. Aces, as generic imps die to flak. Maarek for his price point, speed, hull and reliability is the best sqn they have. So he gets included and Jendon allows you to double tap him and extend the range for command. Imp carriers can throw max 6 sqns fully kitted up with a good possibility of Flight controllers because at that point 6 extra blue dice is definitely worth it. Usually Maarek if he is included in that 6 is a finisher (creating a sense that I always die to Maarek feeling). Because imperial sqns for the most part are bomber or fighter (exceptions of course) Sloane allows the fighters to be multi-role (something the rebels have had all along to some degree). And finally, IMHO there are only a few viable imperial admirals for high tier competitive play that consistently show up at top tables. This then in turn creates net lists of people wanting to mimic the success. Which then feeds back into the loop. In my experience playing against top level players I either have to hold back Maarek (which means you aren't getting as much out of him) or he gets focused down by the opponents sqns (he is almost there for after your other sqns win the firefight or if your opponent has no sqns). Because pre Onager/Star-hawk almost all top lists involved some sort of 132 sqn ball. (exceptions to nova Open winners for the past 2 years (unsubstantiated theory: the longer 5 round format followed by 3 rounds makes sqn players make mistakes, as well less big wins whereas an all ship list can win or lose big and is less tiresome to fly over that many rounds and less prone to mistakes (as well both of those Winners are top level players anyways so it is less about list and more about player skill (including creation of the list) @Truthiness , @GiledPallaeon )

To be fair the prevalence of the Sloane Sqn Alpha list especially from a Quasar, is disappearing from my observations. Onager, Double Onager, and Triple Onager are death to the flimsy quasar that effectively can't hide. Imps killed by their own success. And those lists with the exception of Single Onager/Quasar aren't running significant amounts if any of sqns. Something every player has to keep in mind when preparing for a tournament, is how do I take down an SSD, a Starhawk, and how to do I counter or is my list susceptible or can I out deploy Onagers. Sqns that require command dials don't have as strong a place as long as those other options that are currently being observed out there in the online tournaments @BrobaFett being the outlier (again a top level player)

Finally, is he too good?...or does everything else suck?...fire sprays IMO are the only comparative sqn for efficiency vs ships, but they die to any dedicated fighter wing as they don't shoot at sqns well enough. Just food for thought. He is good. But I think he is priced appropriately. There is nothing else that I consider reliable enough and cheap enough to bother with....poor Boba Fett. 2points cheaper and maybe. Because if you look at generic Tie Defenders...they aren't good, yet should be?....I think they are 2 points too expensive as well. Same with Tie Phantoms....just too expensive, and/or cloak timing is terrible as they aren't likely still alive at that point. And as long as their is a chance for a Yavaris/Adar talon Ten Numb and Toryn far for reliable flak out there and whether Ten Numb is prevalent or not...you aren't bringing ties except as deployment boosters.

Another issue with him that is overlooked sometimes, I honestly think Maarek's speed 5 might be the biggest issue (almost 7 with squall) Luke Skywalker can solo gladiators with a vcx but his speed 3 is the limitation. Having that range to be a constant threat and chase down fleeing ships to finish them off creates a PTSD feel that Maarek finishes off everything.

And no matter what I would trade every sqn in the imperial arsenal for 8 x yt2400's. LOL

The imperial tax is real

9 hours ago, Mogrok said:

Because pre Onager/Star-hawk almost all top lists involved some sort of 132 sqn ball. (exceptions to nova Open winners for the past 2 years (unsubstantiated theory: the longer 5 round format followed by 3 rounds makes sqn players make mistakes, as well less big wins whereas an all ship list can win or lose big and is less tiresome to fly over that many rounds and less prone to mistakes (as well both of those Winners are top level players anyways so it is less about list and more about player skill (including creation of the list) @Truthiness , @GiledPallaeon )

I will concede they're probably less physically draining. My matches were almost always much shorter than the usual, very much thanks to fewer squads on the table. While you gain back physical stamina, I would contend squadronless play is far more emotionally draining. That's because you're living on a knife edge at every moment in games against squadron heavy fleets. When it comes down to it, squadronless fleets are just far less forgiving (pre-Onager going brrrrrrrr). Keep in mind, I didn't exactly do poorly at Worlds at 5th overall. I flew against 5 max squadron fleets in my 7 games, going 4-7 (round one), 9-2 (round three), 10-1 (round five), 10-1 (round six), and 6-5 (round seven) in those matches. My worst game was actually 3-8 against @JJs Juggernaut , who was also running squadless Raddus (keep in mind, he also won GENCON that year with that fleet). I credit that to an unhealthy level of preparation. I rehearsed formations and opening moves against the typical squadron heavy archetypes. Think about that. I took the time to figure out pre-planned moves. That's just wrong. I think Matt had a similar level of ridiculous preparation with his fleet. I think we made those fleets work out of sheer spite of wanting to make them work in a squadron heavy world. I don't recommend that level of dedication to making a suboptimal archetype work. It's not healthy.

I would also say is NOVA is also just...weird. The local meta skews away from squadrons just out of personal taste. Most fleets start with an ISD or two and go from there. Plus, you have weirdos like @duck_bird , @Formynder4 , and I who just come up with bizarre fleets that somehow work. Ask @duck_bird about that time she almost made the NOVA cut with Palpatine Arqs and Decimators. Or how she made the top 10 at Worlds with bloody Madine. It's magical nonsense that has absolute no right working. So that's NOVA in a nut shell: a meta full of a concerning number of Star Destroyers and wackos that make off the wall nonsense work out of sheer stubbornness.

On 11/22/2020 at 8:05 PM, Truthiness said:

I will concede they're probably less physically draining. My matches were almost always much shorter than the usual, very much thanks to fewer squads on the table. While you gain back physical stamina, I would contend squadronless play is far more emotionally draining. That's because you're living on a knife edge at every moment in games against squadron heavy fleets. When it comes down to it, squadronless fleets are just far less forgiving (pre-Onager going brrrrrrrr). Keep in mind, I didn't exactly do poorly at Worlds at 5th overall. I flew against 5 max squadron fleets in my 7 games, going 4-7 (round one), 9-2 (round three), 10-1 (round five), 10-1 (round six), and 6-5 (round seven) in those matches. My worst game was actually 3-8 against @JJs Juggernaut , who was also running squadless Raddus (keep in mind, he also won GENCON that year with that fleet). I credit that to an unhealthy level of preparation. I rehearsed formations and opening moves against the typical squadron heavy archetypes. Think about that. I took the time to figure out pre-planned moves. That's just wrong. I think Matt had a similar level of ridiculous preparation with his fleet. I think we made those fleets work out of sheer spite of wanting to make them work in a squadron heavy world. I don't recommend that level of dedication to making a suboptimal archetype work. It's not healthy.

I would also say is NOVA is also just...weird. The local meta skews away from squadrons just out of personal taste. Most fleets start with an ISD or two and go from there. Plus, you have weirdos like @duck_bird , @Formynder4 , and I who just come up with bizarre fleets that somehow work. Ask @duck_bird about that time she almost made the NOVA cut with Palpatine Arqs and Decimators. Or how she made the top 10 at Worlds with bloody Madine. It's magical nonsense that has absolute no right working. So that's NOVA in a nut shell: a meta full of a concerning number of Star Destroyers and wackos that make off the wall nonsense work out of sheer stubbornness.

So first off, what @Truthiness said about the NOVA meta is 100% accurate. Second, I did not specifically drill my list before NOVA except for a couple of scrimmages against Supers as stress testing to make sure the fleet could do it. (It could, but it was bloody and always very close. Thanks @Formynder4 ) I didn't drill the list because as any Atlantan will grumble (hi @jamie nasmyth ), it was all I ran the proceeding summer after a brief (literally one tournament) experiment with Raddus. That list was honed in the fires and wreckage of old double ISD lists that were shredded by Raddus. The net result however was the same. The list has a default opening formation that I will modify against lists that show their hands too early, and the rest is highly straightforward to simply go through the motions on dials, Fleet Commands, etc. If playing the same list more than once is going to bore you, this is unachievable. Outside of metas that will let you learn how to do this kind of list, the initial skill cliff may truly be insurmountable if you are not Beth Harmon level dedicated. I learned in a permissive meta over several years, evolving through several squad less lists. It’s not a short effort.

Re: mentally taxing, again what @Truthiness said. Games are fast but they tend to be violent and one sided. Usually that's a good thing, but it does create a lot of stress concentration, and on the rare occasion dice desert you, you're in for a bad time. Fewer units also means that when you run up against hard matchups (like my endgame boss the Super) it can be extremely stressful. I probably could have played another game after that one, but I was also 23. I still have most of the endurance of a teenager. It's grinding, especially when you're losing. And it can easily be bad for you, whether your health is delicate or not.

One more quick note, I consider @duck_bird to be a wildly superior player to me when on their game. It's not even close. I have the trophy for two reasons, one is sandbagging the NOVA meta with an aggressive style of ISD; the other is a love of jank only matched in the Armada world by @geek19 . God forbid either of these players ever decide that they'll play conventionally strong lists, we will all roll over and die.

Yeah, if duck ever decides to go full on power gamer, we're all doomed.

You all know that will never happen. Dumb bull**** forever!