General Dodonna Fleet - Gold Squadron

 General Dodonna Fleet - Gold Squadron

Let's start with the list itself, shall we? Quick note: If you're familiar with the most excellent Armada Fleets Designer app, then you'll be familiar with the format of the fleet list. If not, then you should know that the numbers in the parentheses next to the fleet name are as follows - number of points invested in squadrons/total number of fleet points/maximum number of fleet points.

Gold Squadron (91/400/400)

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Starhawk-class Mk.I (140 + 75: 215)

· General Dodonna (20)

· Kyrsta Agate (5)

· Flight Commander (3)

· Weapons Battery Techs (5)

· Expanded Hangar Bay (5)

· Overload Pulse (8)

· Linked Turbolaser Towers (7)

· Magnite Crystal Tractor Beam Array (10)

· Concord (12)

MC30c Torpedo Frigate (63 + 4: 67)

· Ordnance Experts (4)

GR-75 Medium Transports (18 + 8: 26)

· Bomber Command Center (8)

Lando Calrissian (23)

2 x X-wing Squadron (2 x 13)

2 x A-wing Squadron (2 x 11)

2 x Y-wing Squadron (2 x 10)

Advanced Gunnery

Contested Outpost

Infested Fields

This marks my return to messing with the Starhawk. I think it's a great ship, and I've seen it used well! But I've just never had a Starhawk build that I liked enough to use more than once. And the last list with a Starhawk that I actually enjoyed flying was the very first one I made, in which Raddus flew on it, and dropped an HMC80 carrying Jan and 3 B-Wings. I got stomped, but had fun trying to unleash all of that firepower. So why come back to it? Honestly? Because I won an alt art version of the Starhawk Mark I and don't want it to collect dust in my binder. Sounds dumb, but there it is! So I know my starting point is a Mark I.

I know I'll be counting on squadrons to help the Starhawk do enough damage to matter, so that contingent comes next. For a little while now, I've had a specific Rebel squadron build in my head that I want to try outside of a campaign setting: 2 X-Wings, 2 Y-Wings, and 2 A-Wings, all led by Hera and Lando. Basically a sort of swiss army knife of squadrons plus two really heavy aces to anchor the group. So those are my squadrons to start!

Sorry, Han; I love ya, buddy, but Lando's gonna be piloting the Falcon for this list.

I hate the idea of my Starhawk going into battle unescorted. I know plenty of people fly it that way because points are at a premium, and they do it well. But yeah, I just hate it. So I use a flotilla to support my squadrons and bombers (which is, I think, standard for a Starhawk flying with squadrons), and tack on an MC30. I deck it out with Ordnance Experts and External Racks (because I know, again, that points will be at a premium and if I spend more points on the torpedo frigate, that's fewer points I spend on my Starhawk). Then I get to the big beastie.

To repeat: I've not had success with the Starhawk. That's due to my skill rather than to the ship itself, which I really like. I know people have talked about how it's less impressive than they expected, but I also think people severely underestimate it. And why shouldn't they? The Onager made a much bigger splash and broke a basic mechanic of the game by being able to shoot at extreme range. The Starhawk is a big ship, but doesn't break a single rule of the game, unlike the Onager or something like the SSD. And as the centerpiece of any fleet without a defensive retrofit slot, it makes for a big, juicy target. Anyway, I read a lot of what other folks had to write about it, but still decided to go my own way. The thing about reading what other people write is that I often learn the right lesson for the wrong reason, or something like that. If I don't learn through experience why a thing doesn't work, I often don't quite understand why, which means there is a fundamental that I'm missing. It's the difference between doing something and having it done for you, right? So I decide to build my Starhawk with the notion of featuring my squadrons. I know my Starhawk wants to be double-arcing things, so I was trying to figure out how I'd like to use my Weapons Team slot. Then I considered turning some things on their head, so I decided to count on my squadrons to do the heavy lifting of eliminating defense tokens.

That's right! It's time for me to revisit Overload Pulse! This nonsense never works. Ever. It's just not a good card. But I keep messing with it because I like the idea behind it and because I like coming back to cards that intrigue me because there's always the chance I have new insight, or a new piece to a puzzle has been released and nobody has caught on. That's how metas change, after all, right? Anyway, I know Overload Pulse does not at all help my Starhawk with its attack (if you're not familiar: the crit effect triggers after defense tokens are spent, so my opponent can simply decide to spend all their defense tokens, and now Overload Pulse does...nothing. For this attack, anyway. Because there are no defense tokens left to exhaust). Plus, it's 8 points. Plus plus, each blue die only has a 25% chance of rolling a crit. How much energy am I willing to sink into crit-fishing for this substandard crit effect? Well, I wasn't sure what to do with my Weapons Team slot, so why not add Weapons Battery Techs? Each blue die now effectively has a 50% chance of triggering Overload Pulse. Additionally, that upgrade also means that my red salvo dice have one more side that can do damage, which brings me up to a 75% chance of doing damage with each red dice on Salvo attacks.

So, what does Overload Pulse have to do with my squadrons? I decide to stick Flight Commander and Expanded Hangar Bay onto the Starhawk so that I can now push 4 squadrons (my 4 bombers or 3 bombers and Lando) after Overload Pulse has exhausted all of their defense tokens. Whether my opponent discards defense tokens to protect themselves from my second Starhawk shot (I'm assuming double arc, or I've made a grievous error), or discards them to protect themselves against my bombers, or they want to save them and so just eat damage, I'm happy. As I mentioned in my posts about Palpatine, I'm always happy to present my opponents with bad choices. The more bad choices I offer, the more likely my opponent is to compound them by making an error. In short: Overload Pulse triggers first, then I push all my bombers into the fray.

I still worry about my red dice, so I add Linked Turbolaser Towers. I don't love the choice on a Starhawk, but I'll never be sad about red rerolls and better flak. I think a title is mandatory on a Starhawk, and in my case, this is doubly so, as I've chosen to play with Dodonna and handpick face-up damage cards for my opponent rather than Kyrsta to protect my Starhawk. I do not think it's necessary to take Magnites with Starhawks (unlike Onager, which, why'd you take the ship if you're not getting a superweapon to go with it?), but I really like the card. One more trick I haven't figured out yet, and it's a pricey one! But I want to lean into it, so I choose the Concord title in case I decide to drop to speed zero. Plus, more Salvo means it's more likely I eat more defense tokens after Overload Pulse. I do decide to take Kyrsta as an officer because I have the open slot, the points, and it would be nice to refresh defense tokens, since I'm more vulnerable than I look with only one of each defense token (not counting Salvo, as Salvo doesn't actually protect me; it only acts as a deterrent). Plus, with Weapons Battery Techs, I've got a decent chance of getting the crits needed to trigger Kyrsta, even on a Salvo shot.

I've got bombers, and I need them to do what I need them to do. So naturally, here comes the flotilla with Bomber Command Center.

The problem now, of course, is that I'm over on points. Like, way over. So I go over my Starhawk build, but I like it. I'm sure I'll make changes, and things like Overload Pulse should probably go. But I've built around that upgrade a bit, so it has to stay, for now. As do the pieces of the puzzle I put in place to support it. So I ditch External Racks from the MC30. The ship is really only there as an escort to cover my Starhawk's flank and be a deterrent, so I'll take my chances. But at the end of the day, there's really only way to get the points under control: I sacrifice Hera. I'm not saying it's the right call or the smart one or anything. But I really like Lando and want to use him. And even if I sacrifice two of my generic squadrons, they're STILL not worth as much as Hera. Plus, if I'm sacrificing generics, but pushing squadrons with my Starhawk and flotillas, why is Hera in there in the first place? So, Hera goes.

I truly am sorry, Hera! I'd promise that we'll work together soon on something else, but as Rebels are currently my 4th favorite faction, I'm pretty sure I'd be lying...

Anyway, I took this nonsense fleet to open play night at my FLGS last night! I had fun with it, but yeah, it performed basically how I expected it to perform. Doesn't mean I'm dropping the Starhawk, but it does mean a lot of changes were made. I'll post up the new list soon, as well as why I made the changes I did based on last night's match!