I've been thinking further about Jonus, and he seems a conundrum. The more and more I view his ability, the less and less I believe that he is a "howlrunner" counterpart. while their abilities certainly lead to comparison, list building with Jonus has led to the following realizations. (I apologize for the length, so i'll bold the points)
1 - We want roughly 10 dice of rerolls from captain Jonus at a minimum.
When we look at howlrunner, There seems to be consensus that we need a minumum of 4 other ships to best utilize her ability - for a single reroll.Jonus allows for 2 dice, so we can perhaps halve that number and say we need a minimum of two other ships for his ability.
Howlrunner affects primary weapons that stick around until the ships carrying them are destroyed, so while we wish for 4 other ships, we really wish for multiple attacks - let's suppose one ship other than howl is destroyed each turn beyond the first, we are hoping for roughly 10 rerolls. (4+3+2+1). This suggests that we wish for a simmilar number of rerolls from captain jonus, if he is to be a "Howlrunner".
This requires 5 secondary weapon uses, let's look for a minute at missile costs - 5 missiles / torpedoes is between 20 and 25 points. When we add 22 points, we find ourselves with 53 points left for fleet building, we need to somehow find 5 missile slots in that number of points. Our missile carriers are as follows - 16pt bomber, 21pt advanced, 33 point firespray. (A firespray can carry 2, a bomber 4 and a tempest 1. Loading too much upon a bomber increases the risk that a missile will go unfired. There is no way to load 5 seperate ships.
2 - Jonus is amazing with cluster missiles.
The above point seems to tell us why, a single cluster missile offers two attacks with one missile, reducing the need for so many ships, 3 cluster missiles generates 6 attacks (or 12 rerolls (2 more than we're seeking)) In addition, lowering the cost to 3 missiles, 2 of which being clusters, we are now down to 13 points of ordinance, putting ourselves up to 65 points of ships, this lets us build very interesting alpha strikes. Although, cluster missiles will still be best against low agility targets.
3 - Jonus should be amazing with cannons.
Looking at the above, we see that the Heavy Laser Canon, Autoblaster and Ion cannon can fire multiple times. Unfortunately, we cannot afford to run dual HLC weilding firesprays... (that comes to 102 points). Shuttles offer us the possibility of multiple HLC's with Jonus, but lead to maneuverability problems. In a way, Jonus is most howlrunner like when working with cannons...
4 - Jonus is not a swarm tool!
Based on the costs involved and keeping in mind the disadvantage of small imperial lists in conjunction with point 3 we can suppose that a single cannon in conjunction with a cluster missile may be one of the simplest combinations for efficiency out of Jonus allowing for more squad building flexibility! (This is because we only need 3 hlc shots + the cluster shot to hit 10 rerolls) We don't want to bring as many missiles as possible. This brings me to my next point...
5 - Jonus appears to be better for spike damage and he's better at a distance.
Howlrunner typically gives us re-rolls from tie fighter caliber weapons (2 attack), occasionally from larger guns like the interceptor or firespray guns. This leads to a small boost in damage for a more consistent offense through multiple ships, but Howlrunner isn't typically affecting attacks suited for hitting high agility targets (as a 2 damage ceiling will have trouble doing much to 3 or 4 defense + focus and possibly an evade token. This suggests that Howlrunner is most useful when the fighters she supports are at range 1 and less so as you move towards range 3, due to the range bonuses involved with primary weapons.
So - how does this go back to Jonus? Like howlrunner he's leading to a boost in damage as he's giving us two rerolls per attack on weapon, but unlike howlrunner, the weapons he effects typically have a higher offense (average of 4 attack). This means he is better suited to help dealing spike damage
I define spike damage as either a higher damage to low agility targets or B hitting high agility targets such as Biggs with stealth, r2f2 and a focus token, A-wings with stealth etc... This extra damage output is likely coming in short bursts from an alpha strike through missiles, i.e. Burst damage (lots of damage over a very short time).
Also - in contrast with howlrunner, Jonus seems most useful when the ships he is supporting fire from a further distance, due to the lack of range bonuses with secondary weapons, and the range limitations involved with weapons. This brings us back to points 2,3 and 4!
- we get reliable burst damage out of cluster missiles (Incidentally, this suggests that when paired with cluster missiles, Range 2 is optimal, due to the 3 attack value)
- Cannons let Jonus function more like howlrunner as they represent a increase in damage consistency over a longer duration. (dropping with the death of ships rather than the expenditure of ordinance.
- When supporting both a Cannon and a cluster missile represent a mixture of increased short term burst damage, and a longer term spike damage - without sacrificing as many build points.
So, all in all, interesting points - it may be time I rethink lists revolving around Jonus... Here's a couple examples of that rethink!
http://x-wing.voidstate.com/view/21631/jonus-1
http://x-wing.voidstate.com/view/21634/brain-damage
http://x-wing.voidstate.com/view/21633/never-leave-your-wingman
http://x-wing.voidstate.com/view/21636/standoff
I'm not sure how they will play, and they may not have enough overall defensive power, but we should be able to pull nearly as much "reroll" benefit as a howlrunner + 4 tie fighter list...
Edited by Ravncat