Armada as I have said many times is a game about mitigating your opponents damage reduction ability. when you narrow it down there are really only 2 schools of thought about how to best accomplish this first do as much damage as possible in a single shot, or second spread out your damage through multiple attacks. Now you can mix and match these tactics, but when it really comes down to it these are the two philosophies.
As far as the do as much damage as you can in one go I don't think any other list exemplifies that better than the Ravager SSD build:
SSD Assault Prototype (250) • Moff Jerjerrod (23) • Agent Kallus (3) • Intel Officer (7) • Captain Brunson (5) • Gunnery Team (7) • Quad Laser Turrets (5) • Heavy Ion Emplacements (9) • Leading Shots (4) • Quad Turbolaser Cannons (10) • H9 Turbolasers (8) • Ravager (4) = 335 Points
Gozanti Cruisers (23) • Darth Vader (1) • Comms Net (2) = 26 Points
Gozanti Cruisers (23) • Slicer Tools (7) • Suppressor (4) = 34 Points
Squadrons: = 0 Points
Total Points: 395
There are differences from list to lists, but his is about how it looks. combo of Ravager Quad Turbolasers Cannons H9s and the 9 dice the SSD gives this ship a potential 12 dice shot with rerolls from leading shots if you don't need the accrices. In addition the HIE cirt effect adds even more damage to your mega shot if you can get that blue crit. So what is the downside of this tactic, one big mega punch seams like a great idea!
The big punch is really just I will throw as much damage at you as a can and because I am dealing so much damage enough will eventually get through, and while that is ture the idea does have its weaknesses. ECM it is seen pretty much everywhere, so the accurices that are basically used in this one punch strategy become basically useless, meaning less damage sticks. However the SSD list counters this with the inclusion of Intel officer. Intel officer helps counter this a bit by making the brace is only available once so it only delays the inevitable. However the ability to counter the one big punch even just that one time can really make all the difference, and is a weakness of this tactic, if you are wanting to stick to the heavy hitter tactic having two heavy hitters smack the same target can really make up for this downside in a list like this:
ISD Kuat Refit (112) • General Romodi (20) • Expert Shield Tech (5) • Local Fire Control (4) • Electronic Countermeasures (7) • Leading Shots (4) • External Racks (3) • Chimaera (4) • Intensify Firepower! (6) = 165 Points
Onager Testbed (96) • Captain Brunson (5) • Ordnance Experts (4) • Orbital Bombardment Particle Cannons (5) = 110 Points
Gozanti Assault Carriers (28) • Taskmaster Grint (5) • Comms Net (2) • Reserve Hangar Deck (3) = 38 Points
Gozanti Assault Carriers (28) • Comms Net (2) • Reserve Hangar Deck (3) = 33 Points
Squadrons: • Ciena Ree (17) • Valen Rudor (13) • 2 x TIE Interceptor Squadron (22) = 52 Points
Total Points: 398
This list uses the power of the kuat to get a ship to spend its tokens and block its movement and to get a follow up shot from the onager to strip the tokens, next round that ships is defenseless and has an onager and Kuat bearing down on it. Still a heavy hitting strategy, but with two punch heavy hitting attacks defense tokens are not long for this world.
The other strategy is the death by a thousand cuts strategy and I don't think any other list exemplifies it more than this one:
Pelta Assault Ship (56) • Kyrsta Agate (20) • Intensify Firepower! (6) = 82 Points
CR90 Corvette A (44) • Ray Antilles (7) • Tantive IV (3) = 54 Points
CR90 Corvette A (44) • Jaina's Light (2) = 46 Points
CR90 Corvette A (44) • Hondo Ohnaka (2) = 46 Points
CR90 Corvette A (44) = 44 Points
Squadrons: • 8 x YT-2400 (128) = 128 Points
Total Points: 400
So this list won't be dealing big piles of damage like the SSD or Kuat and Onager builds, so to just get enough damage to stick through defense tokens, it simply takes the idea of the Kuat Onager idea of overwhelming defense tokens a different direction instead of two big shots it takes so many shots at a single ship that its deffesses mean little. it is possible for this list to attack a single ship 20 separate times in a single round (if you give the petla a salvo token) it's just so many separate attacks that it is very easy for defense tokens to get overwhelmed through so much coordinated firepower no ships defenses can last long that is why fighters are so annoyingly effective.
are there ways around this well kind of you should always try and make it so your ship will take as few attacks as possible to prevent your tokens from overheating. this is easier said than done, but defensive effects that help cancel damage or dice without needing to spend defense tokens will help a lot. EST is helpful even if he makes you spend a token as he does make your tokens a bit more effective at dealing with the small amounts of damage as well.
So what philosophy is "right" or the "best" well neither each has its own value and weaknesses. They also have their own tools for dealing with their weaknesses, so when building a fleet how is is trying to kill enemy ships? Is it looking to knock them out in one punch what is the weakness of that, and how can you address that? The same is true for the death by a thousand cuts strategy. You can also mix and match the strategies to help leverage both tactics to your advantage in one of my favorite list to fly:
Assault: Advanced Gunnery Defense: Fighter Ambush Navigation: Superior Positions
Imperial II (120) • Admiral Piett (22) • Expert Shield Tech (5) • Local Fire Control (4) • Electronic Countermeasures (7) • Heavy Ion Emplacements (9) • Linked Turbolaser Towers (7) • Avenger (5) = 179 Points
Gladiator I (56) • Captain Brunson (5) • Ordnance Experts (4) • Assault Concussion Missiles (7) • Demolisher (10) = 82 Points
Gozanti Cruisers (23) • Hondo Ohnaka (2) • Comms Net (2) = 27 Points
Squadrons: • Colonel Jendon (20) • Maarek Stele (21) • Morna Kee (27) • Dengar (20) • Mauler Mithel (15) • Black Squadron (9) = 112 Points
Total Points: 400
This list has a bit of both the ISD and Demolisher hit really hard, and can be the one two punch to spend tokens, but the fighter wing is extremely scary to with its plink damage. When building a list look at how it is trying to get around defense tokens ability to mitigate damage and see what you can add to the list to help enhance its ability to get around ship defenses. Until next time have a great week!
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