Reactive Defenses Build

[Reactive Defenses Build]

No, I didn't mean to imply those are the only two heroes. The other two are MHD-19 and Mak. I'm more worried about Vinto than Drokkatta. Drokkatta will be a good target for 88-Z's Harass and Infrared Sensors because he rolls black and he's so strain heavy. I think I'll be fine as long as I don't make 88-Z an easy target (i.e. don't leave him close by other figures to get hit by Demolish). And that's another reason why I favor the extra movement I'll have with Overclock.

[Reactive Defenses Build]

Thanks for all the comments on my post. Reactive Defenses does seem like one of the weaker Imperial classes, but it also looks like it will be a lot of fun to play. I played as Jarrod Kelvin in a previous campaign and I had blast having an extra droid to move around and attack.

I'm still leaning towards Overclock, even after the comments arguing against it. It'll be few missions before it's even an option, and I'll likely decide my path based on what I feel like were missed opportunities.

I think I know my endgame: Mechanical Protocol (MP) + Infrared Scanners (IS) + Overclock (OC). However, I'm still not sure what order to get them. I'll probably go for MP first and then IS second so I can delay the decision on OC vs Targeting Sensors. You guys did at least convince me of that.

Having both MP and IS with no OC seems like a waste. I'm going to need to move sometimes, and then that means you can only do one of the special actions between MP and IS. But maybe once I play a few missions with MP and IS, I'll realize that no OC isn't as bad as I think.

I am playing against Drokkatta and Vinto, but I bet the Rebels are going to pretty reluctant to put any dedicated effort into taking 88-Z out, knowing he'll just come back the next round. Incidental collateral damage might take him out for a round, but I think he'll be around most of the time.

I'll make sure to update this thread after the campaign, which will likely be months because we're fathers with young children and average about 2 missions per month at best. I spend more time thinking about this game than actually playing it!

[Reactive Defenses Build]

My group just started a new Jabba's Realm campaign, with me as the Imperial. I chose Reactive Defenses as my class, mainly because our group hasn't played it before and I wanted to try something new. The Rebels are Vinto, Drokkatta, Mak, and MHD.

I'm trying to figure out a good build. We've only done the intro mission so far, so I'm completely open to any options. I only have 1 XP at this point, due to losing the intro. I'm just counting on 10 XP for the campaign, but of course hoping for more. Here's what I have in mind for his build, looking for criticism...

Mechanical Protocol: This seems like the best value for the XP. Two surges can be worth 2-4 damage and/or the ability to apply a negative condition. And then the extra damage from a droid helps too (although I've found 88-z to be pretty worthless so far on attacks). Overall, seems like a great value, assuming there are enough surge opportunities, which I may be overestimating.

Infrared Scanners: One thing I've learned in the nearly 5 years that I've been playing this game is that more movement points is always a great thing. A free movement point for every figure is awesome. The top part of the card is a nice bonus, I would probably pay 3 XP for the 1 MP bonus alone.

So those two are definite buys. Everything else is up in the air.

For the 4 XP card, I'm not sure which one to buy. If I hadn't read any other people's comments here, I would lean heavily towards Overclock. However, I have been reading through people's comments about Reactive Defenses and everybody seems to favor Targeting Sensors, which I would probably favor too if those cards had to stand alone. 

However, Overclock would have really good synergy with the other two skills above because they both require actions to use the bonus action. Overclock gives you 6 actions instead of only 2 actions. Seems awesome, combined with the other cards. Targeting Sensors is probably going to average 3 damage a turn and I think I could get that out of Overclock, but Overclock would give me a lot more flexibility. Yet most people still seem to favor Targeting Sensors over Overclock even while choosing Mechanical Protocol and Infrared Scanners. (For example, A1bert did that when he played Reactive Defenses in PBF campaign.)

I'll want to get a 1 XP card at some point. I'm leaning towards Blaster Emplacements, but only slightly. On one hand, I think the guaranteed +1 defense from Shielded is better than the unknown 0/1/2 damage from Blaster Emplacements. But on the other hand, I think that the ability to pick any Rebel figure at the end of round and possibly get up to 2 damage with no chance to block is really going to mentally torture the Rebels and force them to make awkward decisions.

I'm also not sure what build order to use. I'm currently thinking Mechanical Protocol and then Blaster Emplacement for the first two. I'm not crazy about Blaster Emplacement, but I feel like I need some minor buff to keep me competitive while I save up for a 3 or 4 XP skill. And that skill would be Infrared Sensors or Overclock, depending on whether or not feel like I've been missing out on surge opportunities during a theoretical second activation. I will want both eventually, but I'll wait to see which seems like a better choice at the time.

That's 10 XP so far, and then Shielded or Remote Activation after that if I'm lucky enough to have the XP to spare.

Sound like a plan?

[Does Gideon's Fearless Leader reward reduce the cost of Echo Base Troopers?]

We're playing the Return to Hoth campaign. Gideon is one of the Rebel heroes. The Rebels won the Echo Base Trooper as an ally. They also won Gideon's side mission so they have his reward, Fearless Leader. The Rebels think that Fearless Leader ("When you deploy a Rebel Trooper, reduce the deployment cost by 2") should apply to the Echo Base Trooper too. I'm thinking this reward only applies to a specific ally, Rebel Trooper, which the Rebels also win as part of this side mission.

This skill is similar to Endless Ranks from the Military Might deck. I noticed that Endless Ranks references "Trooper" in a different font. In that case, it applies to "Trooper" as a class, so it applies to Stormtroopers, Snowtroopers, Jet Troopers, etc.

   

[Vinto Builds]

I'm not sure how to interpret "Merciless". The skill states: "Exhaust this card while attacking a figure who has suffered [damage]. Apply +3 [damage] to the attack results."

At first, I thought this meant that if your attack causes at least 1 damage, then you can add on +3. But then I saw Norgrath's comment in another thread about Merciless where he states: "The fact that anything Vinto can shoot probably already has a single point of damage on it makes it good." So I'm taking that to mean that the +3 damage is applied in any case when the figure already has at least one damage before the attack is declared.

So my question is: in the following two scenarios, which ones will trigger Merciless?

(1) A figure that has no damage when the attack is declared but is damaged during the attack

(2) A figure that already has damage when the attack is declared but is not damaged during the attack

Also, as a side comment to this thread, I'm surprised to see that Rapid Fire is favored over Merciless. They both seem really good, but Rapid Fire seems more situational. Merciless can almost always be used for 3 damage, whereas Rapid Fire requires you to have at least 3 hostile figures within 3 spaces to get 3 damage. (But of course the rerolls also add a lot of value to Rapid Fire too.) We're playing against an IM using the Mercenaries deck, so we're expecting a lot of high HP targets, which makes me lean towards Merciless over Rapid Fire as the first 4 XP choice.

 

 

 

[Difference Between Elite and Normal Officers (post-errata)]

In the campaign some abilities trigger when "performing a move", while they would not when just gaining movement points.

 

I was wondering about that. In Jabba's Realm, the hero Vinto has a skill called "Shot on the Run" which states: "Exhaust this card if you've performed a move during this activation and choose a hostile figure within 3 spaces and line of sight. Test [eye]. If you succeed, that figure suffers 1 [damage]."

 

I was wondering if this skill could get triggered if Vinto uses a strain to move. It sounds like it can't. But it also sounds like you could trigger this skill just by taking a move action to gain movement points, even if you haven't moved out of your starting space yet.

[Thoughts on Return to Hoth Heroes?]

We choose all three of the new heroes for the Hoth campaign, plus Fenn as our 4th, so I've had a chance to see them all in action.

 

MHD-19 is good, but I would always choose Gideon for support over him. MHD-19 is decent in non-timed missions (where you don't need Gideon's ability to order moves) or with lots of attribute test (he is often focused), but not as good or flexible overall as Gideon. 

 

Verena is fun to play, but she needs to be in very specific situations to shine (e.g. clusters of low health figures). But in those situations, she's one of the most powerful heroes around. However, I think I would rather have a pure melee character like Diala or Gaarkhan.

 

I'm really surprised to see the negative comments about Loku. I think he's the best hero out of the three new ones in Hoth and the only hero that I would consider playing again in another campaign. He's great for tagging a powerful figure that will take multiple attacks to bring down. Automatic +1 damage to each attack? That's awesome. How could you not like that? The tag doesn't even require an action. And I really like his "Spectrum Scanner" ability that causes the tag to transfer to another member in a group for free. Really, really good when you're facing a group of troopers or guards.

 

My only complaint about Loku is that his starting weapon is crappy, and his health is only 10, so he's often the first to get wounded. But even while wounded, he has 4 Speed/Endurance, so that helps.

 

Maybe people haven't been playing him right? It took us a while. The key is to have him activate first and tag a figure, and then have all of the others follow up for the beat down. His tags are often worth 3-5 extra damage per round. He's easily my favorite new character in Hoth.