Sunday, May 15, 2016

Commander's Guide: Gozanti-Class

Wave 3 is about support ships - nothing too splashy here, but we've already talked about how just these two expansions will shake up the meta, introduce new Commanders and Officers, and improve our Bomber's efficiency.  Now we are going to talk about the ships themselves.

First will be the Imperial Gozanti-Class Cruiser, made famous by the Star Wars: Rebels cartoon show.


And we need to be ready to integrate them into our fleets quickly, as they are due to arrive in the 3rd quarter of this year!



Overall:


The Gozanti-Class Cruiser / Carrier clocks in at the cheapest point cost on the Imperial side, though it continues the tradition of Imperial ships costing slightly more for an activation than their rebel counterparts.  The "ship" is actually a flotilla of smaller ships, represented by two such ships on a single base and peg, and as such it is a small-base "ship" with new rules for overlaps - namely that overlapping or being overlapped by an enemy ship deals a facedown card to the flotilla, but not to any non-flotillas affected by the overlap.  This means you can't have a list made of suicide rammers and expect to win.

The Gozantiat first most resembles the Raider, at least in terms of the three basic values.  Command is the low "1" that you would expect from a small, inexpensive ship.  Squadron is a surprising "2" that gives it a very efficient squadron activation / points - around double the efficiency of the nearest combat focused ship.  Repair is a low "2", meaning it won't be able to repair much more than a single shield at a time (well, at least until we get to the new upgrades).

For defense, the Gozanti-Class has a mere 3 hull, and 1 shield in each hull zone, putting it 4 damage away from death right from the start.  In addition, it only has 2 defense tokens, an Evade and (new for ships) a Scatter.  This addition of a Scatter means that you need either a lot of concentrated fire, or some accuracy to take them down, though squadron fire should still be very effective in bringing one down.  It's arcs are similar to the VSD and favor a large front arc, and a larger rear arc, and relatively small side arcs.

The "ship" also doesn't have much in the way of maneuverability at higher speeds, boasting a "2" yaw at speed 1, but only "1" yaw at click 1 / 2 at speed 2, and the same "1" yaw at clicks 1 / 2 at speed 3.  That makes it the second ship (MC30c being the first) that has no yaw at it's final click at full speed.

For offense, the Imperial's flotilla is anemic, boasting only a single Blue from the side arcs, and a single die from the front, which changes in color based on the variant.  Only a single anti-squadron die, which also changes color based on the variant adds to its point-defense.  

The ship is also the first one in the Imperial fleet to boast the new Fleet Support upgrade slot, and comes standard with Offensive Retrofits, Officers, and Titles.

Gozanti-Class Cruiser


The baseline variant, the GCC has a single Black anti-squadron die for point defense, and a single Blue die out the front arc.  The cost is very low - with a stock cost of 23 points it is the Imperial's cheapest way of getting an activation, and while it isn't even close to the the cheapest deployment (that would be a pair of TIE Fighter squadrons at 16 points) it is still a cheaper deployment than anything that isn't a pair of generic TIEs (and cheaper than a pair of Advanced).


Gozanti-Class Assault Carrier


Greater range is the name of the game here - the cost is increased to 28 points, but in exchange the GAC gains a Red die out of the front arc and increases the range of its anti-squadron up to Blue range.  It may be some debate if the increased range is worth losing the damage potential on the anti-squadron, and better chance of a hit from the front arc, not to mention the cost increase.  Some people running proxy games with the GAC have reported some success with it as a long range platform however.


Upgrades:


Commanders:  The Gozanti- both varieties is nearly an ideal ship for a life-boat strategy for your commander - you don't feel too bad leaving it out of the fight as it is an inexpensive ship, and some ships built to harass a lifeboat (such as a Clonisher) don't have a lot of natural accuracy chances.  

For Imperial Comnanders, Tarkin is a surprisingly excellent option.  A free token for each Gozanti means lots of squadron activations, navigation options, repairs with Repair Team, or even better fire from the front arc of a GAC.  There a lot of shenanigans he can do with those tokens and Fleet Support upgrades.

Motti adds an extra hull to each Gozanti - never a terrible idea, and the best hull / cost benefit for Motti.  Screed isn't spectacular though, the Gozanti will never naturally have more than a single die without a Concentrate Fire command.  For later wave commanders, Vader isn't spectacular either, as the Gozanti just doesn't have a lot of die to reroll, or tokens to reroll those die with.  Ozzel gives some serious maneuvering options for keeping your flotillas alive, at a cheaper cost than Tarkin can manage.  Finally Tagge may be the best non-Tarkin option, giving you the ability to burn your scatter tokens without fear of not having them again for later in the game.


Titles:  Vector is a 2 point upgrade that gives increased speed to your non-Heavy squadrons activated with a squadron command from the Gozanti.  This means TIE Bombers and YV-666's aren't improved, nor are TIE Interceptors (baring Admiral Chirpy shenanigans).  It does mean that TIE Fighters, TIE Advanced, and Jumpmasters are now speed 5, and activated Firesprays and Aggressors are now speed 4.  Not a horrible option for a fighter screen, especially one focused on an interception and interdiction role.  A great option for flinging Firesprays at an unsuspecting target.

Suppressor is a 4 point title with a nasty effect.  If your opponent finishes their maneuver within distance 1-3 of it, you can exhaust a defense token of your choice.  This makes for a great escort for any high value ship, but especially Avenger - isolate one unusable token before Avenger gets to even open fire.  It also pairs well with Slicer Tools, which will will get into below.

Officers:  First the obvious out of the way - the Liaisons and "Super Liaisons" are a bad choice, as is the Support Officer.  None of these are a benefit to a Command "1" ship.  Veteran Captain is a cheap choice for insurance of being able to do something sneaky, but is probably still not taken.  Intel Officer is just a dumb take - 7 points to use on a single die attack.  The generics are probably not going to see much use.

For the unique officers though, we may finally have a home for Isard, who can also use slicer tools to disrupt your opponent's best command.  Wullf might find a home on a Repair Crews ship.  Admiral Chirpy and Vector are almost made for one another - giving your non-Heavy ships the same boost Corrupter does to TIE Bombers.   Admiral Montiferrat can give your Slicer Tools Gozanti or Lifeboat some much needed survival.  Agent Kalus joins in as an option for anti-squadron fire, which may one of the big roles for the Gozanti, though a Raider may be a better place for him.  Needa is worthless on a ship that already has an evade and a much better token.

Offensive Retrofits:  The most obvious upgrades are Boosted Comms and Expanded Hangers to take advantage of the Gozanti's natural abilities as a carrier ship.  Point Defense Reroutes are an option for a GAC, particularly one with Agent Kallus onboard.  Quad Laser Turrets are also an option for making your opponent think twice before focusing squadron fire on a Gozanti (though perhaps not a particularly efficient one).  Finally, the Phylon Q7 Tractor Beams do work with the ship as a small base platform, though they are an expensive upgrade at 6 points and don't really mesh well with the Gozanti's role in the fleet.

Fleet Support:  This is the meat of what makes the Gozanti customize-able into something more than just an activation / deployment / squadron command platform.

Bomber Command Center has been talked about already - its is a great benefit to your Bombers.  Run it with your Rhymerball, and enjoy.

Repair Crews come with the Rebel's Wave 3 ship, and are Projector Experts on steroids.  4 points for the upgrade, and you get to discard a damage card from a friendly ship at distance 1-2 (including yourself) instead of spending your engineering points.  Yes, this works with just a token.  Tarkin / Wullf to your heart's content.  Trail an ISD and keep it topped off.

Jamming Field for 2 points adds "obstructed" to any squadron to squadron attacks at distance 1-2 of your ship.  Note, that it doesn't actually cause an obstruction, just considers the attacks obstructed.  Great for shutting down Counter fighters, or putting the dice odds in your favor.  I could see this having a lot of use with a TIE Advanced Escort as a way of keeping it alive while it holds attacks away from your higher value / squishier targets.

Comms Net is another 2 point upgrade, and gives you the ability to pass off your banked token to another ship at distance 1-5.  I can see some shenanigans being used with this and Tarkin to shuffle tokens and still get good dial activations.  Note that this will not work with Wullf.

Consider - GAC w/ Repair Crew, GCC w/ Comms Net, ISD2 taking damage (including a Power Failure), and 4 TIE Bombers.  Tarkin hands off engineering tokens to everyone.  GAC reveals squadron and spends repair token, activating 2 of the bombers, and repairs the Power Failure.  GCC reveals squadron, passes engineering token to GAC, and activates remaining 2 squadrons.  ISD2 reveals engineering, spends dial and token to recover 3 shields, and opens up on the enemy fleet.  Next turn, GAC still has a repair token and, Tarkin can do a squadron token for everyone to get all 4 squadron activated without wasting a squadron dial from the ISD, and it's another 1 damage card / 3 shields repaired.

Finally, Slicer Tools are another really interesting tool that works wonders with Isard.  For 7 points (admittedly expensive for the cheap ship) you get to change the top command of an opposing ship's command dial at Distance 1-3.  Combine with Isard, and you can look around and find who's top command is the most dangerous before parking right next to them, and spinning their dial to something less... threatening.  This could be the biggest meta change if it sees widespread use, as it can shut down squadron heavy lists in their tracks, mess up navigation, prevent emergency repairs, essentially make liaisons and "Super Liaisons" all but necessary for certain builds.  Wondering why someone would spend 6 points for a Wing Commander when they could just dial in squadron commands?  This is why.

I'll go into greater details on all of these in a later article, but hopefully this will be a primer for you to start thinking how you want to build out your Gozanti.


Roles:


Pocket Carrier - The most obvious option for a generic Gozanti.  Pop an Expanded Hanger and either Wullf or Tarkin and you've got 4 squadrons being flung out in a single activation.  That's pretty good for 35 points (GCC / Hangers / Wullf) worth of ship.

Screen - Scatter is really big against Black Dice specific ships, especially ones that don't have a built in way to get accuracy.  Remember those Red Dice on GSDIIs?  Remember Sensor Team?  How long did you spend wondering if that combo would ever be a good idea?  This is why it is an idea.  H-9 Turbolasers finally exist for a reason as well, besides making Warlord into a more expensive Turbolaser Reroute Circuit.

Board Control -  Related to Screen, these ships can be sacrificial blockers to keep things in place, or shooting at 23 points of ships instead of 180 points of ISD.  Slicer Tools and Tractor Beams combo well together to keep your opponent maneuvering in predictable ways - though it might be pricey to put them on the same ship.

Long Range Support - Red dice from long range.  Repair commands fixing crucial critical effects with Repair Crews, or tokens handed around with Comms Net.  Boosted Comms let you fire off squadron commands from the safety of the backfield.  Lots of options to make the Gozanti a viable contributor to the fight, while staying out of the thick of things.

Close Fighter Support - Related to the Pocket Carrier role, but with a better focus on anti-squadron.  Kallus and/or Point Defense Reroutes give you a cheap anti-squadron ship to throw places you wouldn't risk a Raider.  Jamming Field lets you protect your squadrons from Counters, or overwhelm enemy squadrons with poor dice / squadron ratios.

Lifeboat - Slap commander in boat, run for the hills.

Putting the "Multiple Small Units" in DeMSU - How crazy can the Clonisher build get?  2-3 GCCs for every Raider you would have otherwise added to the field.


Well, that'll be it for now for the Gozanti.  We'll be talking about the GR-75 soon enough, don't worry.  Until then, if you're bored, why not stop by my better half's blog?  "Howlrunner" has written a very good pair of articles about the now sadly over game "Call of Cthulhu" which is another FFG favorite, in which she interviews a multi-time World Champion.  Definitely worth a look, right?

This article is a continuation of the Commander's Guide series.

5 comments:

  1. Nice write-up. Just one thing: "Gozanti"

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    Replies
    1. I don't know what you're talking about. Pay no attention to the permanently permanent web address. Everything was "Gozanti" all along.

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  2. I am excited about these little fellas. Thinking I will need 2 of each to finally make squadrons work for me without being a speed bump!

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  3. Deploying a pocket carrier alongside my Imperial I-class carrier build and maybe a VS-I could be interesting

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