Plo Koon Fleet - Close Engagement Gambit
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.
Close Engagement Gambit (100/389/400)
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Venator II-class Star Destroyer (100 + 11: 111)
· Flight Commander (3)
· Hyperspace Rings (3)
· Reinforced Blast Doors (5)
Acclamator I-class (66 + 26: 92)
· Plo Koon (26)
Armed Cruiser (37 + 9: 46)
· Radiant VII (1)
· Bomber Command Center (8)
Armed Cruiser (37 + 3: 40)
· Swift Return (3)
Ahsoka Tano (23)
Delta-7 Aethersprite Squadron (17)
4 x ARC-170 Starfighter Squadron (4 x 15)
Precision Strike
Fleet Ambush
Intel Sweep
I imagine this fleet will go nowhere fast because the intended balance is so precarious. Originally, the name of the fleet stemmed from my choice to put the Triumphant title on the Venator, and Nevoota Bee on the Acclamator. This would require Triumphant to get in close in order to act as a command node. But as we all know, the more moving pieces in a fleet, the easiest it is to disrupt. This is especially true when it's clear that a fleet like this one is best served with an alpha strike. So I need a bid of some sort. On the advice of my friend Josh, I dropped both titles in order to increase my bid, and I'll simply rely on my Venator to command my squadrons.
I put Plo Koon on the Acclamator because it'll act as my rearguard, so he's safer there than anywhere else. I need at least one source of rerolls, and if Nevoota Bee will not be there to serve that purpose, then I need Radiant VII and BCC to do so. This works out anyway, as I need a friendly ship in range of the enemy for Plo Koon to work anyway. So I've got two Consulars who can race in to serve that purpose.
You'll notice that each ship is REALLY slim on upgrades. Slimmer than I'd like, honestly, because that's a lot of dice I'm throwing with absolutely zero dice correction. I'm counting on my ARCs to land the punches and my ships to provide backup. So the "gambit" bit of this fleet is twofold: I'm counting on my ship dice to even out to average damage in the end, and 3 of my ships really have to close on the enemy in order to benefit my squadrons enough to make this a worthwhile endeavor. It's a lot to ask, hence my lack of faith in the fleet. But I still need to fly it before I dismiss it as untenable.
My Venator boasts the most upgrades. It's still real light, but has a couple of things that I simply need. Hyperspace Rings will give my ARCs enough of a head start for them to be relevant. Flight Commander will allow me to command said ARCs after I move, so hopefully, a turn earlier than I otherwise could have done. And RBD is in there because it might just buy me one more activation if I get stuck with second player.
Each ship is expendable, but only so long as they have served their purpose and gone down swinging. The primary objective of the Consulars is to facilitate Plo Koon and the ARCs. Their secondary objective is to land a punch or two of their own before getting out of Dodge. The primary objective of the Acclamator is to provide squadron commands if the Venator goes down. The secondary objective is to bat cleanup if any damaged ships limp into its flight path. The Venator MUST command those squadrons every round in which that's a possibility. I want it in the fray, throwing elbows whenever it can.
I just think Plo Koon is best paired with ARCs for anti-ship attacks that feature 3 blue dice. So I've got 4 of them. I don't want to only leverage one of Plo Koon's benefits, so I've got Ahsoka and a generic Delta to give my ARCs Grit and make them harder to tie down. Additionally, I'm thinking they'll hit hard enough to help clear space for the ARCs to go on bombing runs. Why Ahsoka and not Luminara? Because the ARCs are beefy enough and I'd rather have more offensive output than defensive tech. Ahsoka grants that extra attack, and I'll take all the attacks I can get. I really like Kit, but Plo Koon already grants my ARCs Grit, so I don't need Intel here.
For my objectives, I've got Precision Strike, which is very frequently paired with Squadron - heavy fleets. I've got two attack dice with each of my bombers, so I might be happy to spend one of those dice in order to score more points. Then I went with Fleet Ambush so that I could try and line up ships in the ambush zone to go through the ARC woodchipper. Lastly, I thought my Acclamator would be a good candidate for Intel Sweep, so I'm giving it a shot!
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