So with changes in 1.5 critical effects are mostly out the door with the evade change, point defenses ion canons (PIDCs), and almost all crit effects are exhaust now so with all the ways to re-roll dice with crits it is hard to get them to stick. I have always really liked crit effect lists and have really liked brawling black dice lists. With the shift away from crit effects long-range has become the new king. Both PIDCs and the evade can only re-roll one die unless they are larger than you the evade can be discarded to re-roll two so it seems the best way to get crits to stick now is with the help of an old friend of mine Screed.
I used Screed a lot way back in the day with Imperial MSU:
Gladiator I (56)
• Admiral Screed (26)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• Engine Techs (8)
• Assault Proton Torpedoes (5)
• Demolisher (10)
= 108 Points
Gladiator I (56)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• Assault Proton Torpedoes (5)
• Insidious (3)
= 67 Points
Raider I (44)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• Assault Proton Torpedoes (5)
= 52 Points
Raider I (44)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• Assault Proton Torpedoes (5)
= 52 Points
Raider I (44)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• Assault Proton Torpedoes (5)
= 52 Points
Raider I (44)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• Assault Proton Torpedoes (5)
= 52 Points
Squadrons:
= 0 Points
Total Points: 389
This build let your ship's reliability get APT off twice, now all that has changed and Screed was consigned mostly to the binder. However, have we been thinking about Screed in the wrong way? Now he might be one of the few commanders that can help you get crits past all the re-roll effects. You can aggressively re-roll to get a crit then screed can change another die to a crit to help get two critics PDICs cant fix that and neither can an evade unless they are able to discard it because you are larger than them. This however makes small ships the ideal platform for dishing out critical effects which means the raider and the gladiator.
For the gladiator that is really just about the ordnance crit so APT, ACM, or the often forgotten wide-area barge, which is one of the few crit effects that does not exhaust. For the raider, you can take an ion crit on the raider II personally I really like the synergy of HIE and ACM so I think that might be a go-to. With this, we could do an Imp MSU type of list.
Gladiator I (56)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• Assault Concussion Missiles (5)
• Demolisher (10)
= 75 Points
Gladiator I (56)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• Assault Concussion Missiles (5)
• Insidious (3)
= 68 Points
Raider II (48)
• Weapons Battery Techs (5)
• Disposable Capacitors (3)
• Heavy Ion Emplacements (9)
= 65 Points
Raider II (48)
• Weapons Battery Techs (5)
• Disposable Capacitors (3)
• Heavy Ion Emplacements (9)
= 65 Points
Arquitens Light Cruiser (54)
• Admiral Screed (26)
• Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)
= 87 Points
Squadrons:
• 2 x Firespray-31 (36)
= 36 Points
Total Points: 396
This list gives our gladiators a good shot at getting two crits out the side and the raiders a good shot of two-out their front, putting Screed on an Arquitens that will stay at range and contribute supporting fire and two firespays to tie up squads for a bit and punish squad-less fleets and squads just work really well with both HIE and ACM so maybe we could build a more squad heavy crit list?
Gladiator I (56)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• Assault Concussion Missiles (5)
• Demolisher (10)
= 75 Points
Raider II (48)
• Weapons Battery Techs (5)
• Disposable Capacitors (3)
• Heavy Ion Emplacements (9)
= 65 Points
Arquitens Light Cruiser (54)
• Admiral Screed (26)
• Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)
= 87 Points
Quasar Fire I (54)
• Flight Controllers (6)
• Boosted Comms (4)
• Expanded Hangar Bay (5)
• Pursuant (2)
= 71 Points
Squadrons:
• Darth Vader (TIE Defender) (25)
• Colonel Jendon (20)
• Maarek Stele (21)
• Tempest Squadron (13)
• TIE Advanced Squadron (12)
• Black Squadron (9)
= 100 Points
Total Points: 398
This list is pretty much the same thing as our other one just a bigger investment in the squad game so I don’t have much to say about it other than you may even consider XX-9 on the arquitens to make precision strike a pretty scary objective.
Let's talk about another ship that likes Screed the Onager Star Destroyer.
Most of the time I just feel dirty playing an Onager, but if it's the star destroyer version with the blue beam I don't feel too bad and the blue beam works really well with ACM and HIE.
Onager Star Destroyer (110)
• Gunnery Chief Varnillian (6)
• Weapons Battery Techs (5)
• DBY-827 Heavy Turbolasers (3)
• Superheavy Composite Beam Turbolasers (7)
= 131 Points
Raider II (48)
• Admiral Screed (26)
• Weapons Battery Techs (5)
• Disposable Capacitors (3)
• Heavy Ion Emplacements (9)
• Corvus (2)
= 93 Points
Gladiator I (56)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• Assault Concussion Missiles (5)
• Demolisher (10)
= 75 Points
Gozanti Cruisers (23)
= 23 Points
Squadrons:
• Colonel Jendon (20)
• Darth Vader (TIE Defender) (25)
• Maarek Stele (21)
• Black Squadron (9)
= 75 Points
Total Points: 397
This one can be pretty mean it hits on all cylinders use DBY and gunnery chief Varnillian to get as many cirts as you can to make the blue beam really scary add in HIE, ACM, and then add in your mean squadball it can be pretty scary.
I think it is also worth mentioning that an interdictor is a pretty good ion platform as well just more expensive than the raider II but does provide a durable ship with some support options for your fleet.
Onager Star Destroyer (110)
• Gunnery Chief Varnillian (6)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• DBY-827 Heavy Turbolasers (3)
• Superheavy Composite Beam Turbolasers (7)
= 130 Points
Interdictor Suppression Refit (90)
• Admiral Screed (26)
• Disposable Capacitors (3)
• Grav Shift Reroute (2)
• Targeting Scrambler (5)
• Heavy Ion Emplacements (9)
• Interdictor (3)
= 138 Points
Gladiator I (56)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• Assault Concussion Missiles (5)
• Demolisher (10)
= 75 Points
Gozanti Cruisers (23)
= 23 Points
Squadrons:
• Gamma Squadron (10)
• TIE Bomber Squadron (9)
• Valen Rudor (13)
= 32 Points
Total Points: 398
Let's talk about something I think might be getting overlooked wide-area barrage. I think because wide-area barrage (WAB) can trigger on both attacks it can really start to add up. A big problem is that ships or squads have to be close to other ships to really get this to synergize, but it does pair pretty well with the ACM, HIE crit effects; and both the blue and red onager beam when you can get it to work.
Onager Star Destroyer (110)
• Weapons Battery Techs (5)
• Gunnery Chief Varnillian (6)
• DBY-827 Heavy Turbolasers (3)
• Superheavy Composite Beam Turbolasers (7)
• Sunder (10)
= 141 Points
Gladiator I (56)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• Wide-Area Barrage (2)
• Demolisher (10)
= 72 Points
Gladiator I (56)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• Assault Concussion Missiles (5)
• Insidious (3)
= 68 Points
Raider II (48)
• Admiral Screed (26)
• Weapons Battery Techs (5)
• Disposable Capacitors (3)
• Heavy Ion Emplacements (9)
• Corvus (2)
= 93 Points
Squadrons:
• Gamma Squadron (10)
• Valen Rudor (13)
= 23 Points
Total Points: 397
For this one you have WAB on demolisher because the more you can trigger it the more it will really add up and demolisher is most likely to make that happen, ACM on Insidious HIE on Corvus, and blue beam and sunder to get rid of annoying upgrades and a small but pretty annoying squad screen. Between all the splash damage things can really start to add up and burn ships down if your opponent is not careful with positioning. Along the same lines, we could expand this to the red onager beam as well.
Onager Star Destroyer (110)
• Weapons Battery Techs (5)
• Gunnery Chief Varnillian (6)
• DBY-827 Heavy Turbolasers (3)
• Superheavy Composite Beam Turbolasers (7)
= 131 Points
Onager Testbed (96)
• Admiral Screed (26)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• Orbital Bombardment Particle Cannons (5)
= 131 Points
Gladiator I (56)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• Wide-Area Barrage (2)
• Demolisher (10)
= 72 Points
Gladiator I (56)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• Assault Concussion Missiles (5)
= 65 Points
Squadrons:
= 0 Points
Total Points: 399
This is pretty much a ride or die list I don't think it will be good, but looks fun. The red beam and WAB pair well together to punish your opponent for flying in tight formation, the blue beam only adds to this and you have an ACM finisher ready to bring the pain to an unshielded target. Squadballs will probably wreak you unless your opponent is very obliging allowing WAB and the red beam to melt their squad ball. Sure I feel a little dirty playing a red beam onager, but I am trying to leverage the crit effect, and not many people do that so a little less dirty, but not by much.
I guess I just want to bring crits back and I think screed might be the best way to do that what do you think do you have a need for Screed? How have you tried to get cirt effects to stick in 1.5? Until next time have a great week!
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