Friday, October 19, 2018

NOVA Open AAR


It's been a hot minute, but I'm finally getting around to my NOVA Open AAR. Obviously the two days went quite well for me, but there's still lessons to be learned. For science!


The List

A quick reminder of what the hell I flew:

Name: I'm a Leaf on the Wind
Faction: Rebel
Commander: Admiral Raddus

MC80 Star Cruiser (96)
• Strategic Adviser (4)
• Caitken and Shollan (6)
• Engine Techs (8)
• Heavy Ion Emplacements (9)
• Quad Battery Turrets (5)
= 128 Points

CR90 Corvette A (44)
• Admiral Raddus (26)
• Engine Techs (8)
• Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)
• Jaina's Light (2)
= 87 Points

CR90 Corvette A (44)
• Engine Techs (8)
• Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)
= 59 Points

CR90 Corvette A (44)
• Engine Techs (8)
• Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)
= 59 Points

GR-75 Medium Transports (18)
• Slicer Tools (7)
• Quantum Storm (1)
= 26 Points

GR-75 Medium Transports (18)
• Hondo Ohnaka (2)
• Slicer Tools (7)
= 27 Points

Squadrons:
= 0 Points

Total Points: 386

The strategy was fairly simple: fly hard and fast, use the flexibility of the CR90ETs to give the Liberty tons of options for the Raddus drop, and overhwelm opponents with a relentless storm of attacks from range.


What Went Right

Engine Techs on CR90As. I keep preaching about the beauty of CR90ETs, but I never see anyone else flying them. With TRCs, yes they are pricey, but the flexibility and speed is incredible. They can disengage from a bad fight at will, come back around for another pass in a heartbeat, and pour relentless red ranged firepower into big ships. They can ram in a pitch as well, but that has some downsides to it without RBDs. The only time I'll go for intentional ram kills is Admonition, which is a pain to kill otherwise.

Heavy Ion Emplacements over XI7s. Man did I vacillate between these two upgrades. In theory the XI7 version could punch through shields and make the Liberty self sufficient. The theory jept falling on its face for me, so I went with the HIEs In the end, I'm glad I took them. They synergize well with TRCs, so the Liberty could peel off a target and let the CR90 finish the job. Considering how easily the Liberty can die, that's an overall positive.

Double Slicer Tools. This was essentially one of the last changes to the list, for which I have to give props to JJ Juggernaut and Caribbean Ninja. It offered a lot of flexibility and threat. Instead of one target to avoid, I had a dual threat that could spread out and ensure I could slice the target Of really needed. It saved my bacon on a couple occasions.


What Went Wrong

Strategic Adviser. Yes, believe it or not, what many consider to be the most auto-include upgrade in the game was essentially dead weight. I brought it explicitly to deal with Alex's list, the idea being I could drop the Liberty in front of the ISD of needed, get the last first, and then power off into the sunset. Neither game against her worked out like that. It wasn't needed in other games either. I should have stuck to my guns, taking Intel Officer or Major Derlin. The three point difference in bid wouldn't have mattered in any game.

Liberty survivability. This is more of a nitpick, but my use of Liberty continues to be a very fine balance between glory and disaster. I have a bad habit of ebing reckless with it. It got hammered in my first game against Alex and very nearly died in my second game against Alex and my game against Matt. I was using Derlin for a little while for this very reason, but he's a bit too lackluster. I just need to be better about disengaging instead of trying to staying in the fight for one more shot. The CR90s can handle it.

Final Thoughts

This list was an absolute blast to fly. It's fast, maneuverabe, and completely unforgiving. It makes for tense and rewarding games. It epitomizes go big or go home. I caution anyone trying it out, a wrong move can mean the whole thing falls apart like Jenga bricks. It took me a long time and a lot of dedication to the Liberty to make it sing. Trust me though, once you get the feel for it, everything else might feel dull by comparison.

5 comments:

  1. What do you think about Lando on the Liberty? I'm flying Liberty/MC75/raddus-trc90et/slicer-gr75 and having the same issue of the Liberty just dying before it's effective. I also thought Derlin wasn't enough for his points, but maybe Lando is just barely enough?

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    Replies
    1. To be clear, the Lib never really dies before being effective. It just dies and gives up too many points :D. I've considered Lando, but it's usually just lots of little hits that. Lando wouldn't really help with. I've used Derlin in that role, and he's definitely helped. He just also costs as much as an IO, which could be useful as well.

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  2. Replies
    1. I had one game where I dropped turn one. It was against Adam's Ackbar, which let me cap the congoline early. Everything else was indeed turn two.

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  3. What objectives did you select?

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