Okay so this one has been a long time coming its time to look my final thoughts on Agate. Agate I knew was going to be good , but just how good I was not 100% sure. I flew her on literally every single rebel ship so you don't have to and well we are going to at least comment on each of them and where she shines best, but first off yes Doddona is boardline dead, the only use he has is in a list really going for face-up damage cards, not just a fighter list as Agate is better there as she keeps carries alive longer. If you want to run Doddona you need to do it in a list kinda like this:
MC30c Torpedo Frigate (63) • General Dodonna (20) • Major Derlin (7) • Ordnance Experts (4) • Assault Proton Torpedoes (5) • H9 Turbolasers (8) • Admonition (8) = 115 Points
CR90 Corvette B (39) • Engine Techs (8) • Leading Shots (4) • Dodonna's Pride (6) = 57 Points
Hammerhead Torpedo Corvette (36) • Hondo Ohnaka (2) • Shriv Suurgav (6) • Assault Proton Torpedoes (5) • Garel's Honor (4) = 53 Points
GR-75 Medium Transports (18) • Toryn Farr (7) = 25 Points
GR-75 Medium Transports (18) • Slicer Tools (7) = 25 Points
Squadrons: • Gold Squadron (12) • Malee Hurra (26) • Lando Calrissian (23) • Ketsu Onyo (22) • Luke Skywalker (20) • Wedge Antilles (19) = 122 Points
Total Points: 397
Agate's 20 point cost really pushes doddona into a niche commander roll because of how good Agate is. First up lets look at Agate.
So agate give you an extra defense token that is not a scatter and gives you a ECM like effect however if you spend a token using her ability the token is discarded not just spent. This makes her good friends with Walex Blissex.
If you are not using your officer slot for something else blissex is pretty much a shoe in for your list particularly if you don't have a defensive retrofit slot for ECM to prevent the discard of a token.
This leads us into one of the most divisive points of Agate, do you take ECM with Agate? Personally I think the argument boils down to are you taking Blissex? If yes then no you don't need ECM, and personally I feel you gain a greater defensive benifit in most cases by taking him and a different defensive retrofit with Agate, however if you are not taking blissex you may want to take ecm to prevent discarding tokens to quickly. In short Agate makes one ship in your list a lot harder to kill and that just makes her really good as most lists can afford to lose there support vessels, but they almost always have that ship if they lose it will cost them the game. Because of this Agate is best on more expensive ships, but is not teriable on some of the smaller guys so lets look at all the ships and see what she offers each of them.
I am going to start with the throw aways and cluster them all together MC-30, Hammerhead, CR-90.
Agate is pretty meh on all of these ships no matter what token you give them. she will make the hammerhead and cr-90 a pain to take down, but its it 20 points good on these ships no its not.
The MC-30 is a little odd its kind of the same boat as the hammer head and CR-90, but an admo lando is already really hard to kill in its own right, so adding a brace that can be discarded when accriced makes it nearly unkillable. However if you really want to put agate on the 30 personally I think the salvo token is the best option, its only two dice, but if your adom lando blocking a lager ship from moving you may get some extra damage before following it up with your normal attacks, or if you are in one of the weaker arcs ships will think twice before attacking you. however these ships are very lackluster and I would not recommend putting agate on any of them, but if you really want to for some reason the MC-30 is the way to go.
Another small ship the Nebulon B this is an interesting option you could put agate on yavaris to help it survive, but Reekian can guarantee that, but he is more expensive, but if you but agate on yararis you lose more points if you lose it, so don't really like that, however she can turn a Nebulion into the frigate it was supposed to be.
Nebulon-B Support Refit (51)
• Kyrsta Agate (20)
• Auxiliary Shields Team (3)
• Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)
• Vanguard (4)
= 85 Points
Or the more expensive more flexible version.
Nebulon-B Escort Frigate (57)
• Kyrsta Agate (20)
• Auxiliary Shields Team (3)
• Heavy Fire Zone (4)
• Vanguard (4)
• Caitken and Shollan (6)
= 94 Points
Agate give vanguard a salvo token and vanguard replaces the evade with a redirect. with Auxiliary Shield Teams the redirect become a little more valuable and a two red salvo attack is not bad, you could add Bissex to this guy it does make it even more expensive, but this is a tough little ship
There are several other options for Agate on nebulons with her giving them a redirect, but they just fall a bit short of Vanguard. However just want to add in Redemption pairs really well with Auxiliary Shield Teams. Even after having played this and having a lot of fun with it I don't feel like you get quite as much value out of agate as you do on other ships, but who knows if this idea intrigues you I would run with it and see what more play could bring to this guy, and if you are wanting a fairly tanky ship in a pure MSU list this is not a bad option.
The last small ship, and the small ship I think agate is best on the pelta.
So why do I think this is the best small ship to put Agate on well it really boils down to its title Phoenix Home.
So this title does not see a lot of play, but because agate pairs so well with Walex this title basically lets you take Walex without filling up your only officer slot. You can use its second offer slot to overload this guy with tokens on turn one and use Asoka to change it to the one need, or if you wanted to go crazy you could add lando or another defensive admiral into the mix with this guy.
Pelta Command Ship (60)
• Kyrsta Agate (20)
• Ahsoka Tano (2)
• Engine Techs (8)
• Intensify Firepower! (6)
• Disposable Capacitors (3)
• Phoenix Home (3)
• Walex Blissex (5)
= 107 Points
Normally I am a fan of keeping peltas cheap, but this ship is far more tanky than you would expect, and if you do add Engine Techs the ship can sneak out of trouble a pelta otherwise could not have. Its a Juicy target, but your opponent is going to need to invest a lot more firepower than they think to take this guy down.
In addition to phoenix home the fleet command upgrade going off every round as your petla will be just super hard to kill really pumps up the value you get from putting agate on this guy, its also a great little point fortress in a ture MSU list, and my feeling is this is not only the best small ship to put agate on, but one of the best ships to put her on.
On to the bigger ships lets talk about the Liberty.
So the Liberty with Agate can be on really tough cookie to crack, Agate should alway give the liberty and extra redirect and I do like auxiliary shield team to up the value of the redirects, also adding expert shield techs really takes it to the next level.
MC80 Star Cruiser (96)
• Kyrsta Agate (20)
• Expert Shield Tech (5)
• Weapons Battery Techs (5)
• Auxiliary Shields Team (3)
• Heavy Ion Emplacements (9)
• Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)
• H9 Turbolasers (8)
• Endeavor (4)
= 157 Points
Add in Endeavor and you got 2 Braces 2 Redirects and a contain, if you are having trouble with special crit effects damage control officer would be better in this load out, but Expert Shield tech is nice against small attacks like the ones that come from squadrons. its a solid ship that is really going to be hard for your opponent to take down. On to the MC-75.
So the MC-75 is one of the ships that you might want to take ECM on with agate, as DCO is really good in the officer slot with two contains of this ship and agate giving it an extra brace this ship will not go down easy. However i think there is a good argument to take Blissex to regain lost tokens and reinforced blast doors, as that will make you vary tanky as well. Pretty much any standard build will work well with agate on the MC-75, but I went with something a bit more unconventional, with a lot of inspiration from the steel squadron podcast, and if you have not checked that podcast out you really should it's great content, anyway here is the list:
MC75 Armored Cruiser (104) • Kyrsta Agate (20) • Damage Control Officer (5) • Ruthless Strategists (4) • Advanced Transponder Net (5) • Electronic Countermeasures (7) • Ordnance Pods (3) • Heavy Ion Emplacements (9) • H9 Turbolasers (8) • Profundity (7) = 172 Points
Pelta Command Ship (60) • Intensify Firepower! (6) • Disposable Capacitors (3) = 69 Points
Hammerhead Torpedo Corvette (36) • Hondo Ohnaka (2) • Shriv Suurgav (6) • External Racks (3) = 47 Points
GR-75 Medium Transports (18) • Comms Net (2) = 20 Points
GR-75 Medium Transports (18) • Jamming Field (2) = 20 Points
Squadrons: • 4 x Y-wing Squadron (40) • 2 x VCX-100 Freighter (30) = 70 Points
Total Points: 398
It's a pretty weird build, ill let you figure out how it works, but in short Agate is solid on this ship and makes it more tanky you are always going to be taking the brace token with this guy, I mean you could argue for a redirect, but the brace is just far better in this case. on to the MC-80 Death pickle.
Okay you want a ship that will never die give this guy and extra brace and boom.
MC80 Assault Cruiser (114)
• Kyrsta Agate (20)
• Expert Shield Tech (5)
• Engine Techs (8)
• Electronic Countermeasures (7)
• Early Warning System (7)
• High-Capacity Ion Turbines (8)
• Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)
• Defiance (5)
= 181 Points
However this ship is one of the few rebel ships to have 3 dice in its rear battery and Agate is the only way to get a solvo on this guy, currently. You pair salvo with Defiance and suddenly you have a ship that really does want to go last take a shot or two salvo a little then shoot back adding in dice with defiance, it can be extremely mean and the ship is just naturally so tough you probably won't lose it anyway. you can replace EST with Blissex, but defiance and blissex work a bit counter to each other. However I really do like the salvo Defiance its one of my favorite ways to run Agate. Moving on the Starhawk.
So agate pretty much covers the glaring weakness of the Starhawk no defensive retrofit, and no duplicate tokens. Now she is not the end all be all commanders of starhawks, but she is incredibly good on them she is a bit boring on them though as you should always take the extra brace, but combine that with the extra token from a starhawk title you got a mean big ship, my personal favorite starhawk build with her:
Starhawk Battleship Mark II (150)
• Kyrsta Agate (20)
• Expert Shield Tech (5)
• Walex Blissex (5)
• Local Fire Control (4)
• High-Capacity Ion Turbines (8)
• Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)
• Unity (10)
= 209 Points
I saved the best for last the Assault Frigate!
All jokes aside this has become by far my favorite way to play Agate. I have been trying Paragon list's since back in wave one, back when the game was capped at 300 points I think the list looked something like this but its been a while:
Assault Frigate Mk2 A (81) • Garm Bel Iblis (25) • Defense Liaison (3) • Advanced Projectors (6) • Enhanced Armament (10) • Paragon (5) = 130 Points
Nebulon-B Support Refit (51) • Redemption (8) = 59 Points
Nebulon-B Support Refit (51) • Salvation (7) = 58 Points
CR90 Corvette B (39) • Ray Antilles (7) • Tantive IV (3) = 49 Points
Anyway I am hear to tell you Agate Paragon is legit. She knocks up the durability of the assault frigate to the levels of large ships with an extra brace we take Blissex and Reinforced blast doors giving us great durability add salvo with Local fire control teams and bam you got yourself a very mean ship.
Assault Frigate Mk2 A (81)
• Kyrsta Agate (20)
• Walex Blissex (5)
• Local Fire Control (4)
• Disposable Capacitors (3)
• Reinforced Blast Doors (5)
• Spinal Armament (9)
• Paragon (5)
= 132 Points
Spinal and Dcaps are optional, but I like them, I run it will an IF pelta normally, but if that is not your thing you can always take LTT, and if you want to you can even leave the turbolaser empty if you take an IF pelta.
Really at the end of the day Agate makes whatever ship you put her on harder to kill or in the case of the salvo MC-80 a bit more punchy. No matter where you puter her you are going to get value out of her, but the question you have to ask yourself are you going to get 20 points of value out of her. She is less likely to get that 20 point value on smaller ships, but the pelta and maybe the nebulon-b can make a case for taking her. She is likely to become the most popular Rebel commander as she is so cheap and just does what she is meant to do so well. Personally Assault Frigate Paragon is by far my preferred way to play her, but the starhawk, and giving home one a salvo token are close seconds.
I know I have been teasing this write up for some time just not being able to play armada as much as I used to with everything going on slowed this process down, however I have been able to divert some of my time that I would be playing armada to another side project I have been working on so here is a tease of something I hope to share with the community in the coming months. Until next time stay safe and have a great week!
