Revised Commander's Guide - Victory Class Star Destroyer

It has come to my attention that some of the Commander's Guides are very, very old.  Like, two and a half years old, and written when all we had were Wave 1 upgrades to play around with.  That's... ineffective in this day and age from the perspective of a new player.  What good are you going to get out of me telling you that "Officers for the VSD start with Admiral Chiraneau..."

So, while we wait for Wave 7 to be officially released, let's update some of the Wave 1 (and maybe Wave 2!) Commander's Guides, starting today with the VSD.

Corellian Conflict Strategy - Initial Builds (Imperial Part 2)

But Biggs!  What about Imperial Big Ships?!

Well, wait no longer!

Match-up of the Week - Ardaedhel vs. Caribbean Ninja

For this tournament, we're going to be having a weekly feature - the "Match-up of the Week", which will cover a game that meets the following criteria:

1) It is Important - The game has implications on who will be on the top of the leaderboards.
2) It is Interesting - The game has lists that we haven't seen run before, or some interesting gimmick. Maybe it's just two high level players clashing against one another, or it has an fun story line.
3)  I Can Actually Livestream It - If I can't be there to watch (and record) the game, all this build-up is for nothing, right?

So let's have a look at our first "Match-up of the Week" - Ardaedhel vs Caribbean Ninja!

Offensive Retrofits - Wave 2

Wave 2 actually gave us three new Offensive Retrofits, more than doubling the initial numbers.  Continuing with the theme of the Offensive Retrofits of before, we got one that dealt with activating squadrons, one that dealt with getting rid of enemy squadrons, but we got one more that didn't deal with squadrons at all.  In addition, we got three new ships that could take an offensive retrofit - the MC80 (Command variant), the ISD, and the Raider - to go with the previous two.

Let's go over them, shall we?

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?

Wave 1 Memorial Tournament - Round 3 vs doobleg

Here's the final round of Pod 4 for the FFG Forums Wave 1 Memorial Tournament, verses my "first" opponent doobleg.  An excellent player and the winner of the previous tournament, I knew he was going to give me a run for my money.  I also knew that at 15 points I'd have to pretty much win outright to stay in control of the pod.  At this point, doobleg had 8 points having played only a single game against Brian Black, and still had to face off against DabDarklighter.

To refresh our memory, here is what I was up against:

DOOBLEG'S EMPIRE FLEET (385 points)

Victory I-class Star Destroyer - Admiral Motti (97)

Victory I-class Star Destroyer - Weapons Liaison - Assault Concussion Missiles (83)

Victory I-class Star Destroyer - Admiral Chiraneau - Expanded Hangar Bay - Corrupter (93)

Major Rhymer TIE Bomber Squadron (16)

TIE Bomber Squadron (9) x4

Mauler'' Mithel TIE Fighter Squadron (15)

Darth Vader TIE Advanced Squadron (21)

TIE Advanced Squadron (12) x2

Wave 1 Memorial Vassal Tournament - Round 2 vs Dab Darklighter

In ongoing coverage of my tournament for the Wave 1 Memorial, here is my second round opponent. This time I was up against Dab Darklighter - a guy that is relatively local for me - we actually have played before in the past in real life.  For a reminder, here was his list:

DabDarklighter's Fleet:                       400 pts

Flagship                          126pts  

        VSD2                         85

        Admiral Motti            24

        Intel Officer                7

        Leading Shots            4

        XI7 Turbolasers         6

Ship                                102pts  

        VSD2                        85

        Intel Officer                7

        Leading Shots            4

        XI7 Turbolasers         6

Ship                                86pts    

        VSD1                      73

        Gunnery Team          7

        XI7 Turbolasers         6

Ship                                86pts    

        VSD1                      73

        Gunnery Team          7

        XI7 Turbolasers         6

Wave 1 Memorial Vassal Tournament - Round 1 vs Brian Black

In ongoing coverage of my tournament for the Wave 1 Memorial, here is my first round opponent. Due to how the pod worked, I wound up playing my first game against Brian Black, simply because both of us were free on Sunday night.  For a reminder, here was his list:

+++ Brian Black's Wave 1 Tournament List (396pts) +++

+ Ships (304pts) +

Victory I-Class Star Destroyer (84pts) [Expanded Hangar Bay (5pts), Flight Controllers (6pts)]
Victory II-Class Star Destroyer (123pts) [•Grand Moff Tarkin (38pts)]
Victory II-Class Star Destroyer (97pts) [•Dominator (12pts)]

+ Squadrons (92pts) +

Major Rhymer TIE Bomber Squadron (16)

TIE Bomber Squadron (9) x4

TIE Fighter Squadron (8pts) x3
"Howlrunner" (16pts)

Turbolaser Upgrades - Wave 1

Wave 1 gave us a relatively large number of Turbolaser upgrades, and a lot of ships to use them with.  In fact, the only two ships that couldn't run a Turbolaser upgrade were either variant of the Gladiator and the CR90B.  Meanwhile, the Victory Class Star Destroyer, Assault Frigate MkII, Nebulon B Frigate, and CR90A Corvette all could take the upgrades.

So lets take a look at what each one does, and see which ships, and which other upgrades, works best with each one.

This article is part of the Upgrades series.

Offensive Retrofits - Wave 1

Offensive Retrofits for wave 1 were somewhat few and far between - only two of them were produced and only two ships were built capable of taking the upgrades.  The ships involved were the two mediums size ships, the Assault Frigate Mk II and the Victory Class Star Destroyer.

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 - Victory Class Star Destroyer

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

Hello again everyone.  After discussing all three of the small base ships, today we are finally going to start discussing the two Medium ships of wave 1, currently the largest base ships in the game, and we are going to start with the Victory Class Star Destroyer (VSD).  This ship represents a major departure in terms of stats, strategy, and roles within your fleet from any of the small ships.

Victory Star Destroyers Enter the Battle

Overall Statistics:

The VSD comes standard with a Command of 3, the highest currently in the game, shared only with the other Medium ship, the Assault Frigate.  This requires that you plan several turns ahead what sort of command you will need for that turn.  It also has the highest native Squadron value, also at 3.  The ship excels in a Carrier type role, and can do a passable job even if it isn't specifically upgraded for the role.  The ships also have a baseline 4 Engineering value, making the ship easily able to repair a few minor scratches with an engineering command (2 shields recovered)

For defense, the ship comes with 8 total hull (10 with Motti) making it the heartiest ship on the field.  For shields, it boasts a total of 3 on it's fore and side arcs, and 1 shield on it's rear arc.  For defensive tokens, the VSD has one Brace token and 2 Redirects, giving it impressive staying power, and the chance to utilize all of it's shields.

The drawback to this is speed.  The ship is slow, and not easy to maneuver, having a max speed of 2.  For that matter, the VSD only has a Yaw of 1 at either speed.

The VSD also has a standard anti-squadron armament of 1 Blue die.

For upgrades, all VSD come with Officers, Weapons Team, Offensive Retrofit, and Turbolasers, in addition to Titles and Commanders.

Victory I-Class Star Destroyer

The Victory I-Class Star Destroyer (VSD1) comes in at 73 points, and comes with a bevy of long range and short range dice.  3 Red / 3 Black in the front arc, 2 Red / 1 Black on the sides, and 2 Red on the rear.  It also comes with ordinance upgrade.  Of all the ships, the VSD1 has the arc with the highest expected damage (5.25 average / 12 points maximum).  The caveat to this is that the arc only has that output at short range.  Long range the ship has the expected damage of the Nebulon B, with nothing in between.

It also gains the ordinance upgrade, letting it maximize the black dice that it has out of the front arc.

Victory II-Class Star Destroyer

The Victory II-Class Star Destroyer (VSD2) is 12 points more expensive (85 points total).  For those extra points, you get your black dice upgraded to medium range Blue dice - 3 Red / 3 Blue in the front Arc and 2 Red / 1 Blue on each side Arc.  In addition, the Ordinance upgrade is swapped out for Ion Cannons.

Upgrades

Because of it's large hull, defense tokens and shields, the VSD makes an excellent flagship for your fleet.  For commanders, Motti will increase your hull value by 2 points, from 8 to 10, making an already difficult to bring down ship that much more rugged.  Screed works well in conjunction with either the Black dice of the VSD1, or with Crit related upgrades of Ion Cannons with the VSDII.  Meanwhile Tarkin's tokens work well when you can bank the tokens with your 3 command.

The VSD also has 3 different titles that improve different aspects of the ship.  The "Corrupter" (5 points) increases your BOMBER keyword squadrons speed by 1 when you activate them, making the ship an excellent carrier platform.  The "Dominator" (12 points) lets you spend your shields (up to 2) to add Blue dice (up to 2) to attack at close-medium range, giving you the chance to sacrifice your staying power for a more powerful attack.  The "Warlord" on the other hand lets you change Accuracy icons to a face with a Hit icon.  This title works very well with H9 turbolasers, especially for anti-squadron fire, but can also be used to increase your damage if you roll too many Accuracy tokens out of your front arc with a VSD2.

Officers for the VSD start with Admiral Chirneau (10 points) who improves a squadron activation to let you move engaged units at a speed of 2.  This can let you disengage bombers for a strike, or disengage wounded squadrons from a fighter scrum.  Combined with the 3 Squadron value, it lets you make the most of Admiral Chirpy.  Director Isard (3 points) lets you investigate command dials from an enemy ship every time you activate yours.  And Wulff Yularen (7 points) lets you make the most of the VSD's command value by preserving command tokens that you use for a later round.

For non-unique officers - Defense Liaisons and Weapons Liaisons are more useful with the large command value - being able to switch instantly to the appropriate command dial is helpful, especially with the ability bank tokens with your 3 Command Value.  For that matter, you might need to change your commands more often, especially with the 3 Command Value.  Intel Officer continues to be exceptionally useful for creating chances to disrupt enemy's defense tokens.  Meanwhile Veteran Captain is also useful for the same reason as the Liaisons, being able to get a necessary token at a moments notice.

Weapons Teams let you build your VSD for it's role.  Flight Controllers give you an anti-squadron boost to your activated squadrons.  Gunnery Team lets you make the most out of your large front arc, by firing at multiple ships that wind up inside it.  Sensor Team lets you guarantee an accuracy, and you'll likely have a blank die or two you spend with your attack.

For Offensive upgrades, Expanded Hanger Bay increases your Squadron Value up to 4, making for an even better Carrier.  Point-Defense Reroute lets you re-roll Crit rolls at close range.  Not very useful if you are already running Warlord / H9, but less expensive than that combo and can be used on multiple ships.

Ordinance upgrades can only go on the VSD1.  Assault Concussion Missiles give you an extra 2 damage for your critical effect, though on adjacent hull zones.  Excellent for a knock out punch or to limit the amount an opponent can redirect.  Expanded Launchers adds two more Black Dice for a possible 4 extra damage from your front arc at close range.

Ion Cannons can only go on the VSD2.  Leading shots let you spend a blue dice to fix a particularly egregious roll, and has excellent synergy with "Dominator"  Ion Cannon Batteries let you strip command tokens, or extra shields for a critical effect.  And Overload Pulse lets you exhaust all defense tokens - good if your ship is opening the attack.

Finally Turbolaser upgrades can work on any VSD.  Enhanced Armament lets you utilize your side arcs for long range combat - putting them at 3 Red dice and the same as your front arc.  H9 turbolasers, let you maximize your accuracies, by sacrificing a hit or critical effect.  Again, H9 and Warlord work quite well together, letting you turn a Crit to an Accuracy, and than an Accuracy to a Hit for anti-squadron fire, or a Hit > Accuracy > Double Hit for Red dice.  XI-7 turbolasers can help your knock out blows really count.  XX-9 Turbolasers let your big dice add multiple face up damage cards. 

Making the most of a Squadron Command

Roles

Area Denial - The big front arc with 6 dice is a wonderful deterrent.  The VSD is very, very good at picking a spot on the map and saying "Don't Go Here".

Carrier - The VSD with Expanded Hangar Bay can activate 4 squadrons per turn.  Flight Controllers and Admiral Chirpy make it even better.

Tank - The VSD is incredibly hard to bring down.  Though it is slow, it won't go down quickly.

Centerpiece - Because of how large and tanky it is, the VSD can become the centerpiece for your fleet.  It can handle a large number of points in upgrades and survive through to the end of the 6th round.

The Victory isn't a subtle ship.  It's big, it has a huge angry front arc, and it is very slow.  But it is a terror on the battlefield that moves slowly toward a point, and destroys everything that gets in its way.

Let me know what you think - did I miss anything?  Get anything wrong?  Next time we will be discussion the Assault Frigate Mk II!