Anti-Triple-Tap Strategies

[Ardaedhel 10,840]

"If Violence wasn't your last resort, you failed to resort to enough of it..."

I... I think I love you.

[NateWolfman 28]

Ahh that makes sense, thanks for the quick response!

[Jondavies72 575]

A bit off topic, but what's the best upgrade for your GCOD ( Gladiator class One, Demolisher).

APTs

ACMs

Expanded launchers

I can see expanded launchers being the go to for a non scree Demo.

I would tend to side with ACMs, if I had scree as that a lot of guaranteed damage with a trip tap, and impacts on the use of divert.

[Drasnighta 26,831]

A bit off topic, but what's the best upgrade for your GCOD ( Gladiator class One, Demolisher).

APTs

ACMs

Expanded launchers

I can see expanded launchers being the go to for a non scree Demo.

I would tend to side with ACMs, if I had scree as that a lot of guaranteed damage with a trip tap, and impacts on the use of divert.

 

 

Some discussion on the topic can be found here:

https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/207042-apt-vs-acm/

Take the flavour with the fact that, Expanded Launches adds 2 Dice, but its 2 Dice that are completely subject to Brace, and almost twice as expensive as the other options, so was discounted for the purposes of the discussion..

[WingBuffet 40]

Expanded Launchers is definitely the Intel Officer solution for completely wiping medium-large ships off the board, while ACM/APT tend to work better in concert with the rest of your fleet (though they can still quickly obliterate smaller ships, especially APT+Engine Tech ramming).

 

Rapid Reload is one of those upgrades that I don't ever see taken, as it's just weirdly priced and not all that effective.

[Ardaedhel 10,840]

Expanded Launchers is definitely the Intel Officer solution for completely wiping medium-large ships off the board, while ACM/APT tend to work better in concert with the rest of your fleet (though they can still quickly obliterate smaller ships, especially APT+Engine Tech ramming).

Rapid Reload is one of those upgrades that I don't ever see taken, as it's just weirdly priced and not all that effective.

I disagree, ACM are pretty much strictly better than EL*, even absent a brace or with an IO. Maximum added damage from EL is four, all in one arc. Expected increased damage from ACM is two from each arc. Even in an IO build, the brace will mitigate EL on the first shot; ACM is never mitigated, provided it goes off. Virtually every ship has redirects, which means the two adjacent shields that ACM hits are going to be absorbing damage anyway, negating the focus-fire advantage of EL. All of which would indicate that the two upgrades are roughly on par with each other--except that ACM is half the price of EL.

See the thread Dras linked for further discussion.

*edit: in the current context

Edited April 8, 2016 by Ardaedhel

[Drasnighta 26,831]

 

See the thread Dras linked for further discussion.

 

 

[Snipafist 7,536]

I disagree, ACM are pretty much strictly better than EL*, even absent a brace or with an IO. Maximum added damage from EL is four, all in one arc. Expected increased damage from ACM is two from each arc. Even in an IO build, the brace will mitigate EL on the first shot; ACM is never mitigated, provided it goes off. Virtually every ship has redirects, which means the two adjacent shields that ACM hits are going to be absorbing damage anyway, negating the focus-fire advantage of EL. All of which would indicate that the two upgrades are roughly on par with each other--except that ACM is half the price of EL.

See the thread Dras linked for further discussion.

I disagree with you in turn.

 

Expanded Launcher dice will always function rather than being crit-dependent (which you can assure with Screed and/or fish for with Ordnance Experts, of course) and they drastically increase the appeal of using an Intel-Officer-targeted Brace token, which is temporarily a really good idea right before it becomes a terminally bad idea (as you take subsequent attacks). This is particularly important when it comes to two types of ship configurations:

1. The Clonisher-style Demolisher (Demolisher+Expanded Launchers+Intel Officer+Ordnance Experts+Engine Techs), which will Demolisher-move + blast you with the front arc + Intel Officer the Brace. No matter what you choose it's bad news ahead because you're getting double-arced next turn for the same end effect (Intel will target the Brace again or something else if you popped Brace the first time). This will generally get more damage through to the hull than ACMs.
2. The Clonisher-style Battle Raider. The Expanded Launchers+Ordnance Experts+Intel officer setup, often with Concentrate Fire when necessary will regularly generate 8+ damage, which also eats Braces for lunch because you're in a tough spot no matter what you choose to do. It only gets the one attack, so it wants it to hit as hard as possible.

I myself much prefer to use APTs or ACMs on my Gladiators specifically (which I prefer to upgrade moderately but not as heavily as clontroper5, they double arc pretty regularly for double-crit happy-times) but I think it needs to be mentioned that Expanded Launchers and Intel Officers are not something to be overlooked. Their main problem is they get EXPENSIVE, which requires skimping in other areas of your fleet.