Armada with the changes in 1.5 has moved the game into a long-range red dice affair. Salvo has also largely changed the game as well the small attacks coming back at you can really start to add up. This has led me to reconsider my choices in defensive retrofit where ECM and Thermals are really good in the close-range brawls they become a bit less useful against salvo and the long-range attacks. This has led me to really start considering taking Early Warning Systems as my main defensive retrofit option.
The first salvo it is generally 2 or 3 dice with Early Warning system it either cuts the pool in half or a third that is pretty powerful. The big downside is that you can only have the chaff token in one arc so if you are a double arcing ship it is a bit less useful but you can still use it to reduce the impact salvo would have on your most vulnerable hull zone. So I think Salvo is a pretty strong option to help mitigate salvo.
Second long-range attacks most attacks from long-range won’t have more than 5 dice and accuracies are a bit unlikely not unheard of but rare one out of 8 red dice will have an accuracy icon and accuracies generally mean less damage overall. So cutting a dice can be meaningful in that it reduces the chances of a long-range accuracy to lock up key tokens. This helps if fill both the role of ECM and Thermals. Onagers or Patriots Fist may still give you some problems but EWS is still helpful.
Really the big downside is that it can only affect one arc, but ships with a single promenade arc especially ships that don’t mind staying at range will really benefit from EWS so something like Ackbar or ISDs even Arquitens seems to be an interesting option the Venator II is also an interesting option particular paired with swivel mounts.
It seems that every time I take Thermals I really don’t use it that much until we get into close range and add dice effects do a pretty good job of getting around it. ECMs I realize I go whole games without using it but when it comes in handy it is very useful. However, EWS is always good reduces damage and chances of accuracy and if you are staying at range it seems like the better choice. Even when you close the distance it still does something and when you add up the damage it saved you at range and the damage it saves you from slavo I think it might outperform the other more popular defensive options.
What are your thoughts? Is the stock in EWS on the rise? Are Thermals and ECM a thing of the past? Or are these just the rantings of a madman? Let me know what you think, I am probably going to start taking EWS more and more and we will see how it goes. Until next time have a great week!
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