You've been blitzed! New Seppie article

[homedrone 253]

1 hour ago, Wolf_58 said:

Capitan Corvid qoute ^

I was thinking about no weapons team slot, but specifically no flight controllers. The CIS don't need them/ it would be broken. Want a 2blue 2 black 8 pt fighter? Not really. Activation of cis AI sqds is built-in flight controllers blue and black is roughly 1.5 avg 2bk blue is 2.5 which is a punch for a 8 pts

5 dice (6 with FC) with reroll Intercepters are possible from Wave 1. So 2 blue 2 black doesn't see soo crazy. 

[Rmcarrier1 629]

2 hours ago, Green Knight said:

For now. 

It's hard to imagine at least one version of the two wave 10 ships not having good squadron value and weapons team.

No doubt the Invisible Hand. I would expect at least Squad 3, perhaps even Squad 4, given the size of its hanger in RotS.

[Wolf_58 47]

32 minutes ago, homedrone said:

5 dice (6 with FC) with reroll Intercepters are possible from Wave 1. So 2 blue 2 black doesn't see soo crazy. 

In my mind thats looking more up to what a tri fighter would be for the CIS. Will have to wait and see though.

Actually a tie can get 5 blue (which is the same as 2 blue 2 black actually). I think that 5 dice vs 4 dice for the same avg. Makes droids seem better for the price point. I did probably make a bigger gap that isn't there.

[Captain Corvid 120]

2 hours ago, Wolf_58 said:

Capitan Corvid qoute ^

I was thinking about no weapons team slot, but specifically no flight controllers. The CIS don't need them/ it would be broken. Want a 2blue 2 black 8 pt fighter? Not really. Activation of cis AI sqds is built-in flight controllers blue and black is roughly 1.5 avg 2bk blue is 2.5 which is a punch for a 8 pts

Yes, that's what I meant by FFG choosing not to give the Weapons Team slot to the Munificent so it couldn't equip Flight Controllers. Droid squadrons already get an extra attack die by being activated by a Squadron command, which is basically a free Flight Controllers upgrade. If the Flight Controllers upgrade card was stacked on top of that, Vulture Droids would be OP'd. And I bet Droid Tri-fighters would be even worse!

With that in mind, I predict that few Separatist ships will have the Weapons Team slot, and the ones that do will probably have small Squadron values (1-2) to keep Droid Fighters+Flight Controllers under control.

For example, I predict that there will be a Carrier version and a Destroyer version of the Providence-class. The Providence Carrier will probably have a Squadron value of 4 or 5 and 2 Offensive Retrofits, similar to the Acclamator-I. But only the Providence Destroyer will have Weapons Team, 0 or 1 Offensive Retrofits, and a Squadron value of 2.

Speaking of which, hopefully FFG will reveal the Providence and other Wave 10 ships soon -- maybe next week!

[Wolf_58 47]

Wave 10 MAYBE week of release of wave 9. Still have CIS squd on monday (most likely). Then 1.5 rules/Errata/live RRG and card pack articles to come soo wave 10 stuff isn't that likely.

Really want to see the changes to the old stuff! 

[bkcammack 471]

12 hours ago, Captain Corvid said:

Droid squadrons already get an extra attack die by being activated by a Squadron command, which is basically a free Flight Controllers upgrade.

I look at as the droid squadrons with AI get punished if not commanded. I mean, 1 blue, 1 black, 3 hull, speed 4 with swarm really isn’t worth the same as a TIE fighter. Add a black or a blue and it’s worth more. That loss of a die if it’s not commanded helps balance the point cost. 

[Green Knight 9,794]

5 minutes ago, bkcammack said:

I look at as the droid squadrons with AI get punished if not commanded. I mean, 1 blue, 1 black, 3 hull, speed 4 with swarm really isn’t worth the same as a TIE fighter. Add a black or a blue and it’s worth more. That loss of a die if it’s not commanded helps balance the point cost. 

Hyperwave Boost helps a bit too.

[Captain Corvid 120]

6 hours ago, Green Knight said:

Hyperwave Boost helps a bit too.

The logic behind Hyperwave Boost is brilliant, because it competes with Expanded Hangar Bay for the Munificent Comm Frigate's single Offensive Retrofit slot, forcing the player to choose between activating one additional squadron during the Ship Phase, or waiting until the Squadron Phase to activate 3 squadrons.

But... waiting until the Squadron Phase might allow the enemy to destroy some Separatist squadrons, so there aren't 3 un-activated Droid squadrons left -- maybe only 1 will be left, squandering Hyperwave Boost. And maybe that 1 extra squadron activation would've been enough to kill a wounded enemy Ace; instead, it activated, attacked, and moved away to safety, and the Sep player missed out on scoring 20+ points.

That dilemma will make competitive play very interesting!

[Orcdruid 500]

On 11/21/2020 at 1:23 PM, Captain Corvid said:

The logic behind Hyperwave Boost is brilliant, because it competes with Expanded Hangar Bay for the Munificent Comm Frigate's single Offensive Retrofit slot, forcing the player to choose between activating one additional squadron during the Ship Phase, or waiting until the Squadron Phase to activate 3 squadrons.

But... waiting until the Squadron Phase might allow the enemy to destroy some Separatist squadrons, so there aren't 3 un-activated Droid squadrons left -- maybe only 1 will be left, squandering Hyperwave Boost. And maybe that 1 extra squadron activation would've been enough to kill a wounded enemy Ace; instead, it activated, attacked, and moved away to safety, and the Sep player missed out on scoring 20+ points.

That dilemma will make competitive play very interesting!

That sounds great in theory, but in practice I think you'll find that hyperwave boost will only be taken if you need the extra points or different command dials.

[Captain Corvid 120]

27 minutes ago, Orcdruid said:

That sounds great in theory, but in practice I think you'll find that hyperwave boost will only be taken if you need the extra points or different command dials.

If the Munificent Star Frigate had an Offensive Retrofit slot, it would make sense to equip Hyperwave Boost on that ship since it's not worth using Squadron dials to activate 2 squadrons. But it doesn't -- it has Defensive Retrofit instead.

The dilemma comes with the Munificent Comms Frigate whether to equip EHB or Hyperwave Boost. A Separatist squadron-heavy build could have a dozen or more Droid squadrons and I don't think it's possible to activate them all, so Hyperwave Boost will allow a Comms Frigate to activate 6 squadrons per round -- that's better than 4. And in the latter half of matches, Sep players will probably issue Repair commands to the Munificents, so equipping Hyperwave Boost will allow them to still activate any Droid squadrons that survive that long.

I'm inclined to try the new upgrade cards and determine how well they perform. There's not much point in just using the same ol' upgrade cards IMO. Mix it up a little, try new stuff, and have some fun! ☺️

[Orcdruid 500]

6 minutes ago, Captain Corvid said:

so Hyperwave Boost will allow a Comms Frigate to activate 6 squadrons per round -- that's better than 4. 

Hyperwave boost doesn't let you get full activations with those squadrons. As it needs tokens to refresh, it is also effectively a one time use so you are going to get an alpha strike and that's it.

That being said, if you build around it, you could get extra token generation for a steady boost to your squadron phase. you could also have multiple copies of hyperwave boost for a larger alpha strike, if you can use multiple copies at once.

[Captain Corvid 120]

1 hour ago, Orcdruid said:

Hyperwave boost doesn't let you get full activations with those squadrons. As it needs tokens to refresh, it is also effectively a one time use so you are going to get an alpha strike and that's it.

That being said, if you build around it, you could get extra token generation for a steady boost to your squadron phase. you could also have multiple copies of hyperwave boost for a larger alpha strike, if you can use multiple copies at once.

Yes, HSB does require a Repair or Squadron token to refresh, but it provides greater value for spending a Squadron token to activate 3 squadrons (for the Comms Frigate) during the Squadron Phase than activating only 1 squadron during the ship's activation. The ship can bank a Squadron and Repair token in Rounds 1 & 2 (or be given those tokens by other means) so it can be used 3 times, in the Rounds that really matter.

The wording of the card is kinda ambiguous whether squadrons get a "full activation" or not, because the card just says "activate each of those squadrons." Then the next sentence specifies that AI squadrons activated by HSB gain an extra attack die when attacking the AI-specified target, as if activated by a Squadron dial.

Because those are separate sentences, it probably means the squadrons can't Attack & Move or Move & Attack... but I think FFG needs to clarify that point.

Regardless, the main purpose of HSB is to give AI squadrons their Squadron command attack bonus during the Squadron Phase.

HSB can also activate squadrons at long range. So it kinda acts like Flight Controllers and Boosted Comms, limited to the Squadron Phase, for only 3 points.

I think HSB is definitely worth trying, and it could turn out to be a significant advantage for the Separatists faction.

Edited November 24, 2020 by Captain Corvid
Correction

[Formynder4 811]

6 hours ago, Captain Corvid said:

Because those are separate sentences, it probably means the squadrons can't Attack & Move or Move & Attack... but I think FFG needs to clarify that point.

 

This doesn't really need any clarifying as it's right there: "While attacking". As soon as you're done attacking you're no longer in the time phase of an attack, and thus can't move.

The part about whether or not is outright replaces your normal pair of squad activations or can be done in addition to does need clarification though.

[Wolf_58 47]

1 hour ago, Formynder4 said:

This doesn't really need any clarifying as it's right there: "While attacking". As soon as you're done attacking you're no longer in the time phase of an attack, and thus can't move.

The part about whether or not is outright replaces your normal pair of squad activations or can be done in addition to does need clarification though.

OK the part about replacing normal pair of squad activations. The timing to exhaust this card (HSB) is "When it is your fleets turn to activate squadrons".  

When timing rule (pg. 5 of RRG effect use and timing) - a "when" effect occurs at the moment that the specified event occurs and cannot occur again for that instance of the event.

The specified event that occurs here is "your fleets turn to activate squadrons"

Squadron Phase rules (pg. 12 of RRG squadron phase)

 During this phase, the first player activates two of his squadrons. Then the second player activates two of his own squadrons. Players continue taking turns in this manner until all squadrons have been activated.

 

So at the moment it is your fleets turn to activate squadrons exhaust this card (HSB) and do what it says.

This is my 2 cents and understanding of the rules and wording I maybe wrong.

[Captain Corvid 120]

7 hours ago, Formynder4 said:

This doesn't really need any clarifying as it's right there: "While attacking". As soon as you're done attacking you're no longer in the time phase of an attack, and thus can't move.

The part about whether or not is outright replaces your normal pair of squad activations or can be done in addition to does need clarification though.

I read the "While attacking..." sentence as specifying that squadrons with the AI keyword gain +1 attack die, like they do when activated by a Squadron command.

However, HSB doesn't say that only squadrons with AI can be activated.

If you choose non-AI squadrons, are they activated as if by a Squadron command or like normal Squadron Phase activations? The card doesn't specify that. I suppose we have to assume it follows Squadron Phase activation rules because the HSB card doesn't say otherwise.

That's why I think it would be helpful if FFG clarifies it.

[Wolf_58 47]

1 minute ago, Captain Corvid said:

I read the "While attacking..." sentence as specifying that squadrons with the AI keyword gain +1 attack die, like they do when activated by a Squadron command.

However, HSB doesn't say that only squadrons with AI can be activated.

If you choose non-AI squadrons, are they activated as if by a Squadron command or like normal Squadron Phase activations? The card doesn't specify that. I suppose we have to assume it follows Squadron Phase activation rules because the HSB card doesn't say otherwise.

That's why I think it would be helpful if FFG clarifies it.

I think you are correct for the ai attack and non ai squadrons. So full non ai squads fleets  won't take HSB. 

[Formynder4 811]

None of that really matters at all. If you use HSB to activate a non-AI squad, then nothing happens at all, as the sentence reads "While attacking ,each of those squadrons with AI are treated as if activated by a squadron command." So if you're activating a non-AI squadron all that applies is the text before that, which merely lets you activate a squadron value of squads instead of a pair.