Revised Commander's Guide - Gladiator Class Star Destroyer

It's been a little bit since I've gone back to look at the old ships - I've done a few but clearly there's a lot that I still need to get to.  Today let's look at the Gladiator Class Star Destroyer, and how it's seeing use in late Wave 7.

Corellian Conflict Strategy - Initial Builds (Imperials Part 1)

Gonna jump around a slight bit - let's talk about the "small base" Imperial ships for Corellian Conflict initial builds.  If you haven't read the background yet for why I suggest building things the way I do maybe you should read up on the Rebels first...

Just a goofy picture from the World Cup.

Strategy Discussion: (Mailbag) Escort Ship Tactics (Imperial)

Today's Mailbag topic comes from Rhinehard of the FFG Forums.  He writes:

Hi mate,

I'm a big fan of your blog. On that note I've been really interested in the Raider posts recently and I was thinking I'd love to see your views on Escort Ships and strategies.

A good topic that needs to be covered.  There has been a lot of posts on the Raider recently, with people experiencing varying degrees of success with the ship.  On the Rebel side, the CR90 serves the same price point, though certainly not the same roles.  Other small base ships can serve in an "Escort" role as well - the Nebulon B and the Gladiator can both be used in such a role, though they can be capable of scaling up into a heavy hitter all on its own.

So, let's look at these "Escort" ships, and how they can fill a role within your ship list.  Today we'll be looking at the Imperials.

Wave 2 Support Teams - Projection Experts Appreciation Station

Well, this is excitement.  Wave 2 brings us from 3 Support Teams total, to a whopping 4.  And the ships that can take a Support Team from 3, to a whipping... 4.  It's time to talk about the only new Support Team - Projection Experts!

Wave 2 Weapons Teams

Previously we've covered Wave 2's new officers, but today we are going to talk about the Weapons Teams that come with the new Wave 2 ships.  What ships do they work with?  What roles do they improve?

Well, let's take a look at the two new Weapons Teams.  We've got 3 ships that can utilize them in the new expansion - the Raider, the MC30c and the ISD, plus the three ships from the previous wave: the AFII, the GSD, and the VSD.

How Does Wave 2 Change Wave 1 Ships? Part 2 - Imperials

On Monday, we got to talk about how Wave 2 coming out changed the roles and upgrades we are likely to see on the various Wave 1 Rebel ships - today we will be going over the Imperials.

So how will the change to 400 points, and the addition of all the new ships, commanders, and upgrades affect the Victory and Gladiator Class Star Destroyers?

Ordinance Upgrades - Wave 1

Wave 1 only had two ships that could take Ordinance and both were Imperial.  The Gladiator Class and the Victory I-Class variant both got the chance to equip either one of the two Ordinance Upgrade cards, though of the two the Gladiator Class was more built for pure ordinance.

Thank goodness that is it for upgrades on Wave 1!

Support Team Upgrades - Wave 1

Wave 1 gave us 3 Support Team Upgrades to use with our ships - and 3 ships that could use them.  The CR90, GSD, and NebB all can take the Support Team upgrade, and all make use of it in different ways.

This article is part of the Upgrades series.

Building A Fleet - Ship Roles and WWII

Lately, I've been playing a lot of World of Warships, and thinking of how similar this game is to the concept, if not execution of World War II - the "Golden Age" of naval combat tactics.  World War II was the last gasp of big gun ships before missiles made them obsolete, and the beginning of air superiority as the dominant feature of a modern day navy.

In this sense, Wave 1 can correspond to the beginning of the war, or perhaps the period between The Great War (WWI) and World War II.  You also begin to see the strategies in design begin to diverge between the major players of the time.  In this article, we will be looking at the various ships of Wave 1, as well as the spoiled ships of Wave 2 to see how each fit into the greater strategy of the game.

Ship Types of World War II

The Corvette - The smallest rated ship, the corvette's main role in the WWII era was convoy escort or as a minesweeper.  Probably the closest real world approximation to a CR90 Corvette, or a Raider Class Corvette would be the British Tribal Class Destroyer - a destroyer equipped with a heavier gun battery vs the torpedoes favored on other Destroyer type craft.

The Destroyer - Originally conceived to protect battleships from even smaller ships making torpedo runs, the Torpedo Boat Destroyer (shortened to Destroyer) eventually evolved into the role of making the Torpedo attacks itself, as well as convoy guarding and anti-sub duties.  Armed primarily with Torpedoes, and light armament, the closest equivalents to these would be the GSD and MC30.

The Cruiser - Larger than a destroyer, but smaller than a battleship, during WWII these ships were classified as cruisers and had multiple mission roles, and covered a huge spread of ship sizes and armaments.  For the sake of arguement here, we are going to look at two "sizes" of cruisers, and three roles.

The Light Cruiser - Lightly armored and fast, the light cruiser excelled either as the leader of a destroyer squadron or as an anti-aircraft platform that required protection from other ships.  The Nebulon B Frigate fills this role fairly well.

The Heavy Cruiser - A heavily armored and large cruiser, not sporting the heavy armament of a Battleship, would fall into this role.  The AFII would probably be the best example of this in the game right now.  The role of the Heavy Cruiser was one of high speed, heavy armor, but relatively light armament compared to a Battleship.

The Battleship - The biggest ships on the seas, the Battleship is nevertheless split between "Pre-Dreadnought" and Dreadnought eras.

The Pre-Dreadnought - Slow and unwieldy compared to modern ships, with less armor, speed and guns.  The Victory Class Star Destroyer perfectly encapsulates this concept, having been used extensively in the previous war, but being outclassed by the newer, bigger ISD.

Dreadnought Era Battleships - The biggest things on the ocean.  Heavy emphasis on armor and guns mean that the ships could deliver a pounding and take one as well.  Both the MC80 and Imperial Class Star Destroyer fit into this category.

The Carrier - Here there isn't a really good analog.  Most of the ships are capable of being a carrier, but in WWII and modern navies, the Carrier ship is a dedicated platform for bringing fighter and bomber squadrons to the battle.  If a carrier is directly engaged, it has little defenses aside from slight AA.  For purposes of this exercise, we are going to ignore carriers and assume "offscreen" sources for carriers.

Here are some raw numbers that might be interesting.

Total Numbers for Each Faction:

Rebels:

FS: 1

DD: 1

CL: 1

CH: 1

B: 0

BB: 1

Imperials:

FS: 1

DD: 1

CL: 0

CH: 0

B: 1

BB: 1

Approximate Cost Before Upgrades:

FS:  45

DD: 60

CL: 60

CH: 80

B: 85

BB: 125

CV: 10 pts / Squadron

Commander's Guide - Gladiator Class Star Destroyer

This article is part of the Commander's Guide series.

Welcome back everyone.  Over to the Empire this time for a look at the Gladiator Class Star Destroyer (GSD).  At the moment, the smaller and faster of the two ships in the Empire's fleet, it is also capable of throwing out an impressive amount of damage.  Like the CR90 Corvette and the Nebulon B Frigate, the GSD is a small based ship.  But unlike it's Rebel counterparts, it serves a completely different role on the battlefield.

The GSD flanked by it's standard squadron compliment of 2.

Overall Statistics

The GSD comes standard with a Command of 2, meaning you will need a little bit more planning than the CR90, but still less than the medium ships.  It also means that it can hold 2 command tokens at a time, something the CR90 cannot do.  It also comes with a Squadron value of 2, making it an option as an escort carrier, though it is infrequently used as such.  It's Engineering value of 3 means that it can repair hull with a single dial, or repair multiple shields with a dial and token.

Both models come with a hull of 5, which can be improved to 6 with Admiral Motti as their commander, as well as 3 shields fore, 2 on the sides, and 1 aft.  Defensive tokens are also standard, giving one evade token, one brace, and one redirect, making the ship a difficult nut to crack at range, and a capable brawler up close, but weak to brawlers that get in behind it.

For engines, it boasts a maximum speed of 3, with a 45 degree turn at each speed - Speed 1 - 2 yaw at 1, Speed 2 - 1 yaw at 2, 1 at 1, Speed 3 - 1 yaw at 3, 1 at 2.  Stock, the ship isn't very maneuverable, however Support Team upgrades give it a lot of flexibility.

Speaking of upgrades, beyond the Support Team, the GSD has access to 2 unique Titles, Officers, Weapons Teams, and Ordinance.

Gladiator I-Class Star Destroyer (GSD1)

The GSD1 boasts cost of 56 points, just over 1/5 of a 300 point list after Commander Motti is added.  It comes with a fore arc of 2 Red / 2 Black, side arcs of 4 Black, and an aft arc of 1 Red / 1 Black.  It's anti-fighter armament is 1 Blue.

This ship is a brawler, designed to get up close and let a punishing blow from it's fore and side arc against anyone dumb enough to stay nearby.  It's side arcs, significantly larger than it's fore and aft, also come with the biggest potential damage (average 1 damage per dice / 4 damage), though without any chance of accuracy rolls, it is more of a finisher than a hay-maker of say, a Victory II's front arc.

Gladiator II-Class Star Destroyer (GSD2)

The GSD2 weighs in at 62 points, just 6 more than a GSD1.  For those 6 points, anti-squadron battery is upgraded from 1 Blue to 2 Blue, and the side arcs are changed from 4 Black to 1 Red / 3 Black.  This gives the GSD2 a much better anti-squadron roll (average 1 damage to rebels) and adds a chance of accuracy (1/8) to it's side arcs.  It also lets it ineffectively plink away at rebel ships from the side arc at extreme range.

This ship is still a brawler, but it can also be used to provide anti-squadron fire.  While it doesn't really change the ship's intrinsic nature, the GSD2 gives a few extra options over the very one dimensional GSD1 - though what the GSD1 does it does very well.

Upgrades

The obvious Commander for a GSD heavy fleet is Admiral Screed.  The original Gladiator, Screed lets you spend a die (that blank you just rolled) to change another die (that other blank you just rolled) into a face with a crit icon (like that Crit / Hit on all your black dice).  That's at best 2 free damage, and at worst a guaranteed Crit (spend a Hit, to change a Hit to a Crit/Hit - no net damage loss).  Tarkin gives the Gladiator a free token every turn, probably a navigate that the gladiators particularly want.  Motti is perhaps least effective, giving a mere 1 hull to each of your gladiators.

Unique Titles for the GSD range from interesting to spectacular.  The Insidious (3 points) gives you the option to use your Black dice at Medium range, but only if you are attacking a rear hull zone.  Good for use on a flanker, to give yourself some extra room in case your poor turn radius makes you overshoot your target a bit.  Nothing worse than getting all the way past your target and finding you can't actually shoot them because you have nothing but 4 Black in your arc.  The Demolisher (10 points) though is a game changer.  Unlike every other ship in the game, the Demolisher lets the GSD fire it's first shot, move, and then take a second shot once the maneuver is over.  This really is what lets the GSD bring those big scary 4 dice side arcs into play, and lets the GSD actually chase down opponents that could otherwise disengage.

For Officers, Wulff Yularen (7 points) gives the GSD the ability to keep up a steady supply of their favorite token - an excellent combo with Engine Techs or Nav Team to keep the GSD pointed the right direction.  Director Isard lets you look at the command dials for an opponent.  Admiral Chiraneau (10 points) works if you are going with a carrier build, allowing you to disengage ships (or Mauler Mithil crash a ton of damage every turn).

For the non-unique officers, Veteran Officer is the poor man's Wulff, giving a free token once per game.  Intel Officer lets you take advantage of your lack of accuracy, by forcing the opponent to make a decision before spending their best defensive token.  Defensive and Weapons Liaisons aren't as useful unless you are running Tarkin and even then for the Gladiator, there really isn't any dial that is exceptionally better than an equivalent token.

For Weapons Teams, Flight Controllers work well with an carrier type build.  Gunnery Team works well with the Demolisher Title, letting you fire, move, and fire again at a now much closer target.  Sensor Team is good with the GSDII, letting you spend a die to make your side arc's one Red die into a guaranteed Accuracy result.

For Support Teams, Engine Techs are amazing, especially when combined with Demolisher.  Being able to move twice (and covering a full 90 degree turn between your original move and the bonus 1 speed maneuver) means lining up shots is much easier.  Without the Demolisher it is still good, giving the GSD the maneuverability and speed of an unmodified corvette every time it takes a maneuver action / uses a maneuver token.  

For other upgrades, the Nav Team gives the GSD a chance to add additional yaw from a maneuver token when going speed 2 or 3 for half the cost of Engine Techs (4 instead of 8).  Engineering Team meanwhile gives your GSD an effective Engineering Value of 4 (2 shields regained) for a dial, or 3 (repair a hull) from a banked token.

Finally, Ordinance gives the GSD a lot of extra punch.  Assault Concussion Missiles (7 points) add an unblockable 2 points of damage (1 to each adjacent hull zone) if you can get a Black Crit.  For a ship low on shields, that may be a final blow in and of itself.  While Expanded Launchers at 13 points make your front arc even scarier than a VSD's at close range, giving it a bonus of 2 Black to a total of 2 Red / 4 Black (5.5 damage average / 12 damage potential vs Victory I at 5.25 average / 12 potential)

Roles

With those upgrades in mind, and the GSD's base stats, here are the roles that it can fill within the Imperial fleet.

Brawler - This is obvious, and what the ship is really designed for.  It wants to be up close throwing those black dice.  The issues for it are that without ordinance upgrades, the ship isn't really that much more threatening at close range than a AFMkII is at long range.  At a minimum, Assault Concussion Missiles (7 points) on a GSD1 (63 points total) will let it punch above its weight class, and really mess up a Nebulon B or Corvette's day in one pass.  It doesn't have the hull to brawl for long in a pitched battle, so make sure it can take more points than it gives your opponent.

Flanker - A hyper-mobile version with Demolisher / Insidious, Engine Techs, Wulff or Tarkin, and season to taste with ordinance and Weapons Team.  Expensive but devastating to an opponent if it can get behind its main force.  Easily able to take on other flankers, outfighting what it can't outfly, and outflying what it can't outgun.

Navigation Objective Ship - All you really need are Engine Techs and a way to get reliable maneuver tokens (Wulff / Tarkin / Just Maneuver all day err'y day).  Better at flying and turning than anything short of a Corvette.

Anti-Fighter Cover - GSD2 can do a passable job as an anti-fighter ship all by itself, but Gunnery Team can let it shoot both at other ships and the squadrons in between.  Or...

Escort Carrier - Tarkin / Admiral Chirneau / Flight Controllers let you make a close quarters escort carrier that can shoot 2 anti-squadron dice (GSD2) redeploy fighters at will, or escort Rhymer and 2 pals (and their 3 black dice) and do what rebels like to do with B-Wings, but at longer range.  All for cheaper than you'd have with a VSD.

Area Denial - GSD1 with Expanded Launchers is a (slightly) cheaper version of a naked Victory 1 to block an very specific objective area.

That's it for this installment.  Know anything I missed?  Any other roles for the GSD, or good setups for it?  Let me know in the comments!