Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Commander's Guide - MC75 Cruiser

Time to (finally) get to the other Large Ship release of Wave 7, the MC75 Cruiser from the Profundity expansion pack.  We'll take a look at the two variants, and look at their roles in the Rebel fleet and how you might want to kit them out.


The MC75 Cruiser


The MC75 Cruiser is a robust platform.  While it is no Imperial-Class Star Destroyer, it does have some of the best shields and hull in the game, with 4/3/3 shield spread and 9 hull.  To protect itself, it has a Brace, a Redirect, and two Contain tokens, as well as a Defensive Retrofit slot.  4 Engineering Value puts it in line with other Large base ships in terms of repairs, as does 3 Command Value put it in line in terms of responsiveness.

The ship is also quite maneuverable for a Large base ship, handling like an Imperial Class Star Destroyer at Speed 2 and 3, and with a double yaw at Speed 1, giving it surprising slow speed turns without a navigate command.

Everything else really depends on the variant you are using.


MC75 Armored Cruiser - Generalist / Flagship


The Armored Cruiser is a jack of all trades, with only a few unique things to set it apart.  It's 3 Squadron Value is uninspiring for a Large ship, but usable for Boarding Troopers or hiding squadrons in a Rapid Launch Bay.  It's dice are pretty good but not spectacular but on both the front and side arcs; 3, 2 front / 3, 2 Side / 1, 1 Rear with 1, 1 Flak.  Combat arcs are in intuitive positions, so getting the double arc set up isn't an exercise in frustration, and you will need to as there just isn't enough "oomph" in any one particular arc to make it hit hard.

Upgrades are what will make it hit hard, and not only does it have a Weapons Team slot, but also an Offensive Retrofit if boarding teams are more your style.  It also has one of each type of weapon upgrade slots - Ordnance, Ion Cannons, and Turbolasers - the only ship to have this combination in the game!


Example Builds:


MC75 Armored Cruiser - 173 points
- Admiral Ackbar
- Aspiration
- Damage Control Officer
- Gunnery Team
- Early Warning System
- Leading Shots
- Quad Battery Turrets

It's a more prickly Assault Frigate Mk II for your Ackbar Conga-line.  Defensively, the Damage Control Officer helps against the Black and Blue dice ships that are likely your fleet's biggest threats, while Early Warning System helps you against fighters, the list's other big weakness.  Quad Battery Turrets let you Leading Shot out to long range, and Aspiration allows you to set up cheating your shields to the correct side.


MC75 Armored Cruiser - 150 points
- Profundity*
- Flight Commander
- Caitkin and Shollan
- Rapid Launch Bays**
- Early Warning System
- External Racks
- Heavy Ion Emplacements
- Quad Battery Turrets

*GR-75 Medium Transports - 33 points
- Toryn Farr
- Bomber Command Center

**Squadrons - 40 points
- Gold Squadron
- B-Wing Squadron x2

"Russian Nesting Dolls" with Raddus as your commander let you dump out your Armored Cruiser near the enemy, drop out a GR-75 to slap into just the right place, then when you can activate the Armored Cruiser you can light the enemy up, move in, drop your squadrons, and bomb them as a follow up with Toryn and Bomber Command Center support.  That's a pretty cool, if expensive, trick.  Alternatively, skip Bomber Command Center and put another Rapid Launch Bay on the GR-75, activate it first, and drop 2 more B-Wings (or Nym) on the target.




MC75 Ordnance Cruiser - Black Dice Brawler


First off, this is the only ship with double Ordnance upgrades.  If that doesn't grab your attention right off the bat, I don't know what will.  That being said, it's black dice aren't spectacular.  With 2, 3 Front / 3, 2 Side / 2 Rear and just 1 Flak, you're going to need to get multiple arcs onto a target at close range to get the most out of this ship, as it just doesn't have much of a threat range against targets farther out than that.  Again, the Weapons Team and Offensive Retrofit are there to help, but the big oomph from the ship is going to come from the Ordnance upgrades you select.


Example Builds:


MC-75 Ordnance Cruiser - 124 points
- Bail Organa
- Ordnance Experts
- Early Warning System
- Flechette Torpedoes
- Ordnance Pods

Want to see a ship that enemy fighters will literally fly away from, that you WANT to crash into the middle of the fighter blob in the middle of the map?  An alternative to Bail Organa is General Draven, for a savings of 4 points and more dice to throw at your opponent's squadrons, but really, what makes this build fun is being able to say "I'm going to go first on Turn 4" and then ram the MC-75 into the middle of your opponent's bombers on Turn 3.  "Yeah, we're just gonna... not have you do anything with those squadrons this turn."

Either they get to eat a face full of Flechettes, or they have to decide not to commit themselves early.

Early Warning System can help protect you on the approach, especially if you can park just outside the blob.  Tie the enemy fighters up with Tycho and Shara, and let 'er rip the next turn.  You even get a second pass on any you didn't manage to flip thanks to Ordnance Pods.


MC-75 Ordnance Cruiser - 153 points
- Commander Sato
- Damage Control Officer
- Ordnance Experts
- Electronic Countermeasures
- External Racks
- Wide-Area Barrage

"That's a really nice Jan Ors you've got there.  It'd be a shame if something... happened to it."  Wide Area Barrage is practically begging to be added to Sato's repertoire.  Turn your double arc shot into 1, 4 and 5.  Spread up to 7 damage to something or things hanging around nearby (Concentrate Fire for 5 on the Side, External Racks to make it 7 on either Front or Side, and you have a maximum of 3 and 4 damage from Wide Area Barrage)  That Gallant Haven isn't looking so safe now, is it?


MC-75 Ordnance Cruiser - 131 points
- Profundity
- Ordnance Experts
- Hardened Bulkheads
- Electronic Countermeasures
- External Racks
- Assault Proton Torpedoes

Hammerhead Torpedo Corvette - 47 points
- Garel's Honor
- Ordnance Experts
- External Racks

Here's another option for hot droppin' some Raddus Nesting Doll action on some unsuspecting fools.  But if the Armored Cruiser was a Nesting Doll, this is more like a Real Doll because there is going to be a lot of ramming involved.

Hardened Bulkheads let you ram anything that isn't Large with impunity, and you can drop right in front of them for that matter and let them ram you, unable to escape.  Garel's Honor pops out of Profundity and rams as well, after dumping 1, 1, 3 on their unsuspecting face.


Other Thoughts:


Obviously, this is not a ship for Mon Mothma, or Cracken, unless you are using it as a stripped down flagship for a swarm.  It is a good spot for Garm, who already enjoys double-arcing with Rebel Large ships and handing off 3 tokens at a time.  Sato and Wide Area Barrage should be a thing.  

For our fishy friends:  Ackbar, as we established above, can find some good use using the Armored Cruiser in place of a Home One.  Raddus, ironically enough, may find more use for this as the "Raddus ship" and not his flagship, as a well placed Raddus ship can double arc multiple enemy ships.  Maybe not the best place to get ideas though.  


I am not sure it's the best place for the Mon Cal Exodus Fleet, as it has no Projection Experts slot to spread the wealth around.  Maybe it can be the tank to the MC80 Command's healer instead of an MC80 Star Cruiser?


Well, that's it for the MC75.  We'll look at the Gauntlets next time.

3 comments:

  1. Has anyone else than me considered putting Boarding Troopers on the Armored Cruiser?

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    Replies
    1. It doesn`t seem very interesting. Why would you put them on the Profundity? How would it help your fleet winning?

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    2. Yes. It can work as a pseudo-Intel Officer. The downside is that you're giving up your Weapons Team. But with Leading Shots that's OK.

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