The ISD-2 was over represented and is now fine. It's big, it's angry, you can feed it tokens for days (not just the usual comms net/resupply + hondo, but the full roster of token officers, Tarkin, a dedicated title for swapping command tokens...) And it's the perfect size to smash the slower/less maneuverable/often ECMless CW mediums to pieces. Using H9s to lock the single redirects we're often seeing now can be better than XI7s.
As you kind of note, if the Suppression Refit is getting dropped to 80 the Combat should fall to mid-70s. It doesn't get taken now when it's about the same price; saving a point is a... dubious reason to switch and if it's worth going to the trouble of changing, the change might as well matter.
Combat Interdictor having better long-ranged attacks and flak counts for something and I worry reducing it too much actually may put it into more direct competition with the VSD-II. I badly want to mess with upgrade slots there but that's not just a points cut, so here we are :(. It's one of those ships where new cardboard would be preferable as part of an overall rebalancing.
ISD-II in my experience in 1.5 needs a lot more upkeep and management to perform at similar levels to 1.0 and hence a slight cut is all right. I wouldn't cry if they left it alone at 120, but a minor cut felt warranted.
Agreed that it's anyone's guess what they actually do. We'll see.
I think increasing points for the Onager is the wrong way. I know, I know, you don't want to talk about changed ship cards, but there is another way. My recommendation would be an additional rule for ignition attacks : You cannot execute an ignition attack, if line of sight is obstructed. That would keep Romodi in line, and would make the Onager an interesting navigational (and setup) challenge.
Thank you for another great article! I am not sure whether this price hike for Mithel would me make me not taking him on every single imperial fleet with more than two squads. Also most likely I won't consider Vader even with this drop.
But with both of them I am not sure. However, your reasoning with Jendon does seem odd to me. You want him to be where he already is, because (some) of the squads he likes to empower are more expensive. This would imply that their new pricing already includes their Jondonibility. But then they are too expensive, if you don't take him. To me it seems you should pay Jendons bonus for Jendon himself.
Re: Jendon
If Jendon is tapping in a squad that isn't an expensive ace, you really should've spent your points somewhere else. If we price him as though he's always giving an attack to the most expensive ace, then he should always cost the same as the most expensive Imperial squadron. 20 is fine, in my opinion. Giving Maarek another attack (his usual job) is great but once Maarek is dead or out of range if he doesn't have a solid backup option, he's just a Relay 2 node and an extra fairly regular attack. 20 points for "sometimes great, but if you snipe his big friend is not that good" is fine. It's complicated by effects like Squall keeping Jendon bouncing around but that's the fault of FFG for printing Squall in the first place and outside the scope of a squad points change.
Re: Mauler
18 is 2.57 times the cost of a 7 point TIE Fighter squad. Mauler has about the same durability as two TIEs (sometimes less depending on the fate of that scatter token) and if he splashes for 2-3 damage once then he's doing about the same total damage as two TIE Fighters but in a one-squad package. He can get nuts with multiple hops but Tien Numb can get nuts with multiple splashes too. I worried that at 19-20 he'd just be too pricey. It's basically on the Mauler player to find a way to splash more than once or for more than 2-3. It's on his opponent to try to stop that. Assuming he's used in a fairly average way, 18 feels like a fine compromise but I'm not opposed to more. It just feels like maybe too much.
Re: Vader
I'd give him serious consideration at 19. He's an absolute beast against squads (seriously one of the best anti-squad aces in the game, hands down), especially with Flight Controllers. He's fine against ships (average of 1 damage due to the crits counting as damage, although he's not a Bomber). It's just Escort lets him down is all.
On a side note, if it was up to me I'd remove every automatic-damage and out-of-activation movement effect from the game and replace them with something else as they create difficult-to-balance effects but that's outside the scope of the mental exercise.
Despite the claims of the best rules experts in the community, my deep-seated desire to trash Onagers, and the (previously defied) nature of the English language, my itch on thermals continues to be unscratched.
But I will attempt to play it this way, and I'm grateful to have this so my opponent can blame you for my brace token still being there. 🙂
I forget this place exists most of the time, sorry. I still don't like the forum layout but I have hope that it could get more traffic with some quality of life improvements. Here's an article about Admiral Trench.
It's an honor to have you guys. Might be good for me to brighten this site's theme a bit if that's how embedded links will look.
I agree with most of this (as in it should happen, not necessarily that it will.)
Onager, Command Prototype, Hammerhead Scout, yes yes yes!
A couple divergences:
The ISD-2 was over represented and is now fine. It's big, it's angry, you can feed it tokens for days (not just the usual comms net/resupply + hondo, but the full roster of token officers, Tarkin, a dedicated title for swapping command tokens...) And it's the perfect size to smash the slower/less maneuverable/often ECMless CW mediums to pieces. Using H9s to lock the single redirects we're often seeing now can be better than XI7s.
As you kind of note, if the Suppression Refit is getting dropped to 80 the Combat should fall to mid-70s. It doesn't get taken now when it's about the same price; saving a point is a... dubious reason to switch and if it's worth going to the trouble of changing, the change might as well matter.
Combat Interdictor having better long-ranged attacks and flak counts for something and I worry reducing it too much actually may put it into more direct competition with the VSD-II. I badly want to mess with upgrade slots there but that's not just a points cut, so here we are :(. It's one of those ships where new cardboard would be preferable as part of an overall rebalancing. ISD-II in my experience in 1.5 needs a lot more upkeep and management to perform at similar levels to 1.0 and hence a slight cut is all right. I wouldn't cry if they left it alone at 120, but a minor cut felt warranted.
Agreed that it's anyone's guess what they actually do. We'll see.
Great article. Thank you!
I think increasing points for the Onager is the wrong way. I know, I know, you don't want to talk about changed ship cards, but there is another way. My recommendation would be an additional rule for ignition attacks : You cannot execute an ignition attack, if line of sight is obstructed. That would keep Romodi in line, and would make the Onager an interesting navigational (and setup) challenge.
The squadrons companion article, where I have another chance to be wrong about everything. ;)
Thank you for another great article! I am not sure whether this price hike for Mithel would me make me not taking him on every single imperial fleet with more than two squads. Also most likely I won't consider Vader even with this drop.
But with both of them I am not sure. However, your reasoning with Jendon does seem odd to me. You want him to be where he already is, because (some) of the squads he likes to empower are more expensive. This would imply that their new pricing already includes their Jondonibility. But then they are too expensive, if you don't take him. To me it seems you should pay Jendons bonus for Jendon himself.
Re: Jendon If Jendon is tapping in a squad that isn't an expensive ace, you really should've spent your points somewhere else. If we price him as though he's always giving an attack to the most expensive ace, then he should always cost the same as the most expensive Imperial squadron. 20 is fine, in my opinion. Giving Maarek another attack (his usual job) is great but once Maarek is dead or out of range if he doesn't have a solid backup option, he's just a Relay 2 node and an extra fairly regular attack. 20 points for "sometimes great, but if you snipe his big friend is not that good" is fine. It's complicated by effects like Squall keeping Jendon bouncing around but that's the fault of FFG for printing Squall in the first place and outside the scope of a squad points change. Re: Mauler 18 is 2.57 times the cost of a 7 point TIE Fighter squad. Mauler has about the same durability as two TIEs (sometimes less depending on the fate of that scatter token) and if he splashes for 2-3 damage once then he's doing about the same total damage as two TIE Fighters but in a one-squad package. He can get nuts with multiple hops but Tien Numb can get nuts with multiple splashes too. I worried that at 19-20 he'd just be too pricey. It's basically on the Mauler player to find a way to splash more than once or for more than 2-3. It's on his opponent to try to stop that. Assuming he's used in a fairly average way, 18 feels like a fine compromise but I'm not opposed to more. It just feels like maybe too much. Re: Vader I'd give him serious consideration at 19. He's an absolute beast against squads (seriously one of the best anti-squad aces in the game, hands down), especially with Flight Controllers. He's fine against ships (average of 1 damage due to the crits counting as damage, although he's not a Bomber). It's just Escort lets him down is all. On a side note, if it was up to me I'd remove every automatic-damage and out-of-activation movement effect from the game and replace them with something else as they create difficult-to-balance effects but that's outside the scope of the mental exercise.
An April fool's joke that also is real and isn't a joke?
This is where the fun begins. Love the concept, but need to check my schedule.
Anti-Onager article!
http://cannotgetyourshipout.blogspot.com/2021/04/wave-ten-rulings.html
Despite the claims of the best rules experts in the community, my deep-seated desire to trash Onagers, and the (previously defied) nature of the English language, my itch on thermals continues to be unscratched.
But I will attempt to play it this way, and I'm grateful to have this so my opponent can blame you for my brace token still being there. 🙂
Good article.
The new article is great as always :)
http://cannotgetyourshipout.blogspot.com/2021/05/whos-bossk-followup.html
I forget this place exists most of the time, sorry. I still don't like the forum layout but I have hope that it could get more traffic with some quality of life improvements. Here's an article about Admiral Trench.
More articles!
https://cannotgetyourshipout.blogspot.com/2021/05/flak-guns-added-to-offensive-retrofits.html