Armada 1.5 ship evaluation the big guys

Last week we covered all the small ships and how things have changed for them in 1.5 so now we are looking at mediums and larger this week. I am just going to dive right into this one at least start with the Rebel Assault Frigate.

Assault Frigate

So I have been flying Assault Frigates for a long time I took a par to LVO last year. They are really an underrated ship. Agate Paragon has been my favorite list to fly for the past little while. Assault Frigates are the only non small ship to have an evade token, evade is better so Assault Frigates are better now to with some more durability particularly when going up against large ships because they are able to discard the evade to effect an additional dice. Because of the evade change they will be able to stand toe to toe with larger ships. Factor in that the Assault Frigate A is one of the few ships that have 3 dice in the rear Reactive gunnery seams really tempting. Because of its single evade Walex Blissex even without Agate is a really nice officer to put on this guy to get a lot of mileage out of your evade. Assault Frigates are just such a well rounded ship that you can put one in almost any list and it will do what you need it to its more durable now and reactive salvo with 3 dice is very annoying so expect to see these guys a bit more often.

Paragon

got good with agate, but I think with both Local fire control Team or Reactive as possible sources of salvo it might be worth looking at taking this guy with other commanders as well.

Gallant Haven

is better now as well having a way to reduce damage on your generics is going to be very nice, true you have access to Jan but Gallant haven is not a bad choice ether.

Quasar

one of the most seen ships in imperial lists and its really not going to go anywhere the squadron game has changed ture, but it can command 4 squadrons and take flight Controllers at a very cheap price point so its staying where it is at. It might be possible you see more Quasar II's particularly with mass tie bombers and Ruthless Strategist due to more generics being a thing so like 6 tie bombers and 4 aces to help clean up squadrons paired with Ruthless could be interesting in the new squadron landscape.

Pursuant

it's always been a good title just almost always out competed by squall, not only can Thrawn do what this title want to do for you to a lesser degree now Commander Ozzel can kinda do the same thing too. It's not bad in fact its good, but the Empire just has a lot of tools to get this effect and still take a different title.

Stronghold

Might be able to compete with Squall now that more generics are going to be needed in Sloane lists, but with Reserve Hangar Deck being a thing you might not need it, but if you do take this Tua ECM is kinda a must to keep this guy alive in the thick of things. Also with more long range anti squadron attacks in the game it could be nice to protect your fighters from that if it becomes a problem.

Squall

Still amazing I am sad that this card did not get a rework of some sorts will likely always be the default title.

MC-75

seems to have wavered a bit it used to be quite popular, but I think its kinda petered out a little bit. I think the Ordnance Cruiser has some interesting potential now that the big black critical cards are an exhausts. You can take both ATP and ACM with ordnance experts and trigger one on one attack and the other on the other attack. Its kinda interesting to me it will likely be the main platform that brings black critical effects for the rebellion, and if you are feeling crazy you can always try the Expanded Launchers and external Racks combo. The Armored Cruiser is just in an even more awkward spot now that the assault frigate is a little better with the evade changes, as the assault frigate is a cheaper flight controllers platform and Paragon+some source of salvo will out compete the armored cruiser in damage out put as well I mean maybe a ACM+HIE with Caitken and Shollan might be interesting but I think this guy is just going to continue to be sidelined.

Profundity

Now that activation padding is not really a thing you might start to see more of this I guess I could see an Armored Cruiser with H9's and external racks drop a CR-90 B with MS-1 Ion cannons to make that ECM ship have a bad day sound fun at least.

Aspiration

I think this is really nice it puts shields where they need to be I think you pair this with Expert Shield techs and even though you are a one redirect ship you just let your super changed hull zones take the damage. It takes some skill to use well, but I really think it can be good.

Mon Calamari Exodus Fleet

I think taking this on an MC-30 is a much more interesting opinion and because of that just pick your flavor of other Calamari and Its slightly better.

Interdictor

the ship has really started to come into its own lately and well Tua+Reactive is totally worth it and makes the interdictor just a tough and rather scary ship to attack. With reactive Disposable and your choice of ion cannon the interdictor is going to get some really nice consistent small amounts of damage, the combat refit is nearly complete trash, but I guess you might be able to make a better argument for it now if you really want or need extra anti squadron firepower and still scare ships with reactive, but its still basically trash, but the Suppression refit look to see more of them using reactive and tua to salvo your face, maybe twice with the interdictor title.

Interdictor

It's a good title reactive gunnery just makes it even better so nothing to complain about here.

MC-80 Home one

in short this ship has 3 dice in the rear and is a great home for reactive gunnery, however it's to bad salvo does not work well with Ackbar. There is really nothing else to say reactive makes both the Command and Assault more interesting picks, but particularly the Assault.

Defiance

you can abuse it with activation padding anymore, but its still good and can have an effect on when the other player uses pass tokens if they have any, and can play mind games with activation order. Adding a die is always nice.

Home One

Look to see this more ECM is not going to always be “on” now so having this to really hit that ship hard when you need to is going to be really nice.

Independence

it's sad this did not get a re-look it's still just plane bad.

Mon Calamari Exodus Fleet

same as before taking this on an MC-30 is a much more interesting opinion and because of that just pick your flavor of other Calamari and Its slightly better.

Victory Star Destroyer

Not much has really changed for them the victory I can take cheaper black crit effects, and tua Reactive gunnery might be an interesting thing, however I think with the change to demolisher and black Crits a VSD with ACM and Ordnance experts paired with Harrow Engine techs is an interesting tanker ACM platform that can stick around where it needs to be to get the most value from ACM. The VSD II is still two expensive even with d-caps, and is even a little worse with the change to evade, so that should still be a pretty hard pass.

Corrupter

This title is better mostly because it stacks with Admiral Chiraneau, but faster Tie Bombers is not a bad thing even without Chiraneau lets you hold them back a little bit further so to make it that much harder for your opponent to engage them.

Dominator

As fun as some of the Dominator list I have played and even had success with its just to expensive way to expensive, should have gotten a look at.

Harrow

You will likely see more of this guy just to have a slightly more durable, but still fast and maneuverable black die ship with some staying power over demo to really take advantage from ACMs. Don't get me wrong Demo is not gone but hitting the same hull zone with ACM is what really made it shine and a VSD is just durable enough to get two shots in before it dies.

Warlord

it's really nice, but a tad bit expensive, and requires you bring more things to really make it work, Maybe the Warlord anti-squadron build will have some more legs in the new 1.5 but we will see.

Seventh Fleet

it's fine Seventh Fleet I feel is mostly used to protect high point value targets and well an ISD is much more than a VSD and a GSD is a cheaper platform so I do see this being very optimal.

MC-80 Liberty

Not much has changed about the ship in general it's still fine, I very rarely saw these guys take gunnery teams so that nerf does not apply to them as much. They are still a solid ship, there durability might be more on par with larger ships with defensive retrofits now as ECM is again not always on so I think with two braces they are not missing out on nearly as much as it used to feel with ECM. The big change is that so many of the turbolaser upgrades are now modifications so it's pretty much LTT and your choice of modification.

Endeavor

its just blah and it way to many points for what it gives you in my opinion, however it is fun with Agate on the ship double brace double redirect and a contain almost gives you the SSD token suite.

Liberty

I hope with some more ways to generate tokens this guy finds his spot I had a lot of fun with this guy and Garm running a rebel two ship kinda build I think it has a lot of potential it's a great way to have a ship that hits capital ships hard and can still activate 4 squadrons.

Mon Karren

I spoke about it change in the another AMM, its still good just need that command likely in the form of a token to trigger it.

Mon Calamari Exodus Fleet

same as before taking this on an MC-30 is a much more interesting opinion and because of that just pick your flavor of other Calamari and Its slightly better, Auxiliary Shield Teams makes it a little more interesting on the Liberty.

Onager

Onagers hate evades and well evade got better they are still not going anywhere, but the evade change kinda brings them into line as they used to just snipe small ships off the table it can still happen, but is a bit less likely. The ships are not going anywhere and are here to stay, though with a living Rules Reference I might suspect to see some changes to ignition or the Onager itself in the future. In addition the Onager Star Destroyer can no longer take H9s and a super weapon so that hurts due to them both being modifications.

Cataclysm

pretty much the go to title it's just nice to re position also the Officer Ozzel, Hondo first turn combo is really good, and probably should have gotten looked at, but evade changes may have been thought to be enough.

Rakehell

I think it could be interesting with Commander Ozzel so that once trouble hits you can get up to speed, but I am not very optimistic about this one I used it once and it did some cool stuff, but it was scary staying at speed zero.

Sunder

It's not as good as it was, it was mostly used to take off ECMs and now ECMs is not as good so it's a little worse, but I think it might have some interesting applications still like striping boosted comms to make carriers come into the fight or ripping off LTT from a Munificent would totally cripple that ship so I think it still has a place its just less “this title takes of ECMs” and more “this title messes with my opponents fleet build.”

Seventh Fleet

it's fine Seventh Fleet will reduce damage to your primary hull zone and you are fairly expensive ship as well so it could be worth it.

Starhawk

Nothing really changed to make the Starhawk better, however being command 4 and having a nerf to slicer tools is nice. The Starhawk is still the same ship you know and love or love to hate whatever side of the table you are on.

Amity

Is so much better with the evade changes I still don't think it would be my first choice in most cases, but it is quite nice.

Concord

its expensive, but I liked it when I ran it and when using the Magnite Tractor Beam it saved me a lot of damage so if that is your plan go head and use it.

Unity

I think it's still by far the best Starhawk title in the game based on the token it gives you, though I think its best with Expert Shield Techs so it's more like 15 points, but still love how durable it can make your starhawk.

The rest is all Empire so let's finish this up.

ISD

Okay so leading shots and ECM have been nerfed I think this means we will finally start to see ISDs beyond the II and on occasion the Kuat. I am hopeful for the ISD I, as I have fond memories of that ship before the Kuat hit the table. The ISD I will never replace the Kuat, but need a super carrier that can hit back hard the ISD I is you guy. I think that SW-7s will start to fill up the ion cannon slot for most ISD II but with gunnery teams gone a blue crit with weapon battery techs would be interesting or maybe you want to make your side arc more scary and want to double arc with High-Capacity Ion Turbines. I feel like there is no standard ISD build now and that is a good thing and also really exciting.

Avenger

already talked about it, it's basically a dead card mourn if you must, but we are moving on.

Chimaera

still good gets the fleet support onto any ISD you're going to see it just as much if not more.

Devastator

still to expensive for its effect not worth it.

Relentless

so Relentless with Skilled first officer is amazing on an ISD and now that strategic adviser and pryce are dead this can be a thing now.

Sovereign

Tarkin is now cheaper you will see him in lists and this title makes him all the more flexible so look for it a bit more now that Tarkin is going to see play, and is likely a must in Tarkin lists.

Seventh Fleet Star Destroyer

This paired with Expert shield techs can get you some pretty crazy levels of damage reduction.

SSD

So where to start well I think Competitive SSD lists are very likely dead, and I am okay with that. I would not mind being proven wrong but they were hit from so many angles. Evades makes it harder for them to kill smalls who will slowly eat them alive, in addition they can only attack out of the same arc twice now with gunnery teams not 3 and need the token or command to do that. Also the H9 and Quad Turbolaser Cannons Combo is Illegal as they are both modifications now. Now maybe I will be surprised, but it seems like a lot to come back from, but who know I have been wrong many times before so maybe something is out there for it.

Annihilator

its stock goes up as there are less squadrons with defense tokens around so fishing for damage will get it to stick more often than not.

Eclipse

still the worst SSD title, it's just bad.

Executor

is a really fun title in larger battles and I have done some cool stuff with it in 400 point games, but I think other titles just beat it out.

Ravager

is the best SSD title in the game for dealing with pretty much anything.

So there is our big ships. Not a whole lot changed for most of them, but the subtle changes do matter. Next time we will be looking at squadrons and how this will effect them. After that we will talk about final though on 1.5 and some of the things are good and some things that are a bit disappointing. Until next time have a great week!