I’m struggling a wee bit with the hard cell around what sort of ship it best plays as.

Now at first glance the battle refit would seem to make a good light flanker, but it’s let down by it’s lack of end clicks at speed three and no engine tec. It’s also got very week side shields, batteries and no aft battery. so it’s not going to work as well as a neb ( double brace, ability to really sing at speed three, strengthen side shields and good aft battery)or a corvette. Finally what’s the. Value of the offensive retrofit slot on this ship it’s not good as a light carrier, so it’s limited to some niche fleet support options for this slot ( proximity mines or reserve hangers).

The transport class seems more interesting, with two office slots and a support team for engine tec fun or shield teams to shore up those sides as well as the fleet support slot of all these resuply cards, bomber command...or slicer on a really fast ship with engine tec could be fun. But it’s still seems a niche support platform or tricksy type ship not a go to light combatant like a corvette or gladiator.

Maybe as a cheaper spotter for Kracken?

Then just fill it out to fill some other roles as well?

The only reason I can see to pay extra for a battle refit is the defensive retrofit. ECM for the brace is pretty darn nice on a 59 point ship.

And while it's tempting to compare them to Nebulons with that battery and shield distribution, the arc difference is night and day. I don't think the bigger stuff likely to lock the redirect is going to get a shot at your side if you're paying attention.

Something like this?

Name: Let's Get Kraken
Faction: Separatist
Commander: Kraken

Assault: Ion Storm
Defense: Contested Outpost
Navigation: Doomed Station

Munificent Star Frigate (73)
• Auxiliary Shields Team (3)
• Electronic Countermeasures (7)
= 83 Points

Hardcell Battle Refit (52)
• Kraken (30)
• Electronic Countermeasures (7)
= 89 Points

Hardcell Battle Refit (52)
• Electronic Countermeasures (7)
= 59 Points

Hardcell Battle Refit (52)
• Electronic Countermeasures (7)
= 59 Points

Hardcell Battle Refit (52)
• Electronic Countermeasures (7)
= 59 Points

Hardcell Transport (47)
• Parts Resupply (3)
= 50 Points

Squadrons:
= 0 Points

Total Points: 399

Battle refit seems like a front arc Arquitens.

Same battery from main arc but better overall. Cheaper, command 1, better nav chart, better shields on primary arc.

They are pretty darn tanky all things considered. So I see them as battle support in the middle of things.

The small flanker could be coming in the next wave with the mc30 looking thing.

The battle refit seems like it could be cheap fire support if you just add a turbolaser. Perhaps rather than a dedicated flanker you can use several in a gunline or in support of your main ships?

Add slaved turrets for a 58 point ship that can confire for 5 red dice out the front. Kracken can provide a bit of dice correction.

LTT is tempting for consistency and to give you the capability to absolutely nuke a squadron that comes too close.

Battle refit's advantages/disadvantages over a corvette appear to be:

• + tankier (brace)
• + better single arc firepower (front 3 red)
• + excellent flak
• - poor maneuverability
• - poor double arc firepower

To me all of this seems to point to a ship that flies in formation directly supporting your larger ships.

Wat tambor, EWS, Tide of Progress. Tanky as all get out. Perfect spotter for Kraken. When I ran it, I couldn't believe the shots it could just shrug off.

The Transport is definitely easier to fit into most lists. Lots of support options you can build it into- shield battery with Wat and ProjExperts, token bank with Rune, Hondo, and Comms Net/Resupply, or just a cheap BCC carrier, and Beast of Burden lets it refresh tokens on your bigger ships that are taking more shots. Its not meant to be a lightweight combat ship, but the force muliplication it can bring is well worth it.

The Battle Refit's in a pretty bad spot points-wise. On its own its nothing special and those red dice are gonna miss a lot, put too many upgrades on it and you may be better off with a Munificent. Using it as a long-range sniper from your backline with Slaved Turrets is a relatively cheap option. Even if it can't push squadrons (Munificent can handle that well enough), LTTs and Reserve Hangar Decks can make it a decent squadron escort, providing flak and regenerating your Vultures and Tris.

The Hardcell isn't meant to be an independent small ship like a corvette or missile frigate, its a support platform that sticks with a bigger ship or squadron group and helps them with whatever they're trying to accomplish.

I think flying penguins got the best advice here.

Played against them last night for real. To me these are around 10 points overcosted. They had ltts and blast doors. They took a bit more killing than i thought they would because acclamators really struggle to generate accuracy. But it was still a neb b scenario - get one big shot at long, next turn you are too close and dying.

Fixed front guns are a massive disadvantage for a small ship. Which is fine, just dont charge 52 points for it!!!

The battle Refit is a nice bugget fire support with DTT. They also make the better ship to place reserve hanger bays to refresh a squad.

The transport is in an odd place for me and probably needs a few more expansions to truely shine. Even with these problems I think its worth running for the desired slots if they are needed.

I used mine for bomber command. Nothing like rerolling a blank red into a double hit or use DBS-404 to roll out 5 damage to save a game like it did for me last night

Name: Bombs away
Faction: Separatist
Commander: Count Dooku

Assault: Advanced Gunnery
Defense: Fleet Ambush
Navigation: Navigational Hazards

Munificent Comms Frigate (70)
• Count Dooku (30)
• Battle Droid Reserves (4)
• Hyperwave Signal Boost (3)
• Leading Shots (6)
• Swivel-Mount Batteries (8)
• Sa Nalaor (5)
= 126 Points

Munificent Comms Frigate (70)
• Battle Droid Reserves (4)
• Hyperwave Signal Boost (3)
• Leading Shots (6)
• Swivel-Mount Batteries (8)
= 91 Points

Hardcell Transport (47)
• Rune Haako (4)
• Expert Shield Tech (5)
• Bomber Command Center (8)
• Foreman's Labor (5)
= 69 Points

Squadrons:
• Baktoid Prototype (16)
• DIS-T81 (17)
• Phlac-Arphocc Prototypes (19)
• DBS-404 (17)
• 3 x Hyena Droid Bomber Squadron (33)
= 102 Points

Total Points: 388

Hardcells are support ships, through and through. Think of a cross between a Neb-B and a GR-75. They're not meant to make up your main firing line, but they're good as a last word against a dying enemy ship. Actually had a match last week where my Munificent and droid squads chewed my opponent's Raider 2 down to no shields on the rear and one remaining hull; and it had juuust slipped into medium range of my Hardcell's front-arc. Rolled 3 DMG and that was all she wrote.

Other than a fleet support I'm having a hard time with them. I can see 2 frigates and a hardcell with bomber command center or using it to feed Wat Tambor, but I can't see a reason to play more than one. Heck I keep thinking about doing 3 frigates if i could afford 2 more seps starters.

There's pros and cons but they are tanky little buggers for their cost and that's not to be overlooked.

At the end of the day, Munificents can't take Beast of Burden and they can't take Fleet support upgrades. That's a good reason for at least one Hardcell and I have at least one in most of my Separatist builds.
https://cannotgetyourshipout.blogspot.com/2020/12/separatist-ship-review-hardcell.html

I like the idea of using the transport variant and comms net to pass tokens to your munificents which using the tactical droids can turn those tokens into dials. I can only imagine the frustration to a player that thought they had cornered a Munificent only to see it show an engineering dial and spend a token giving them 6 engineering points, enabling them to bring back lost shields, take off damage, or spin shields till the Vultures come home. I'll be trying it out later this week.