Work, Damn You! Part III - Moar Solutions!

 Work, Damn You! Part III - Moar Solutions!

I'm back at it, thanks to Eric's query about some solutions to the problems I raised in my first Work, Damn You! post. Let's dive right in with the Nebulon-B Frigate title, Redemption. The problems with Redemption such as I saw them (aside from the point cost, about which I can do nothing) were that Engineering heals rather than prevents damage, which means you first need to survive that damage (healing tech is more limiting than defensive tech) and that because it requires an Engineering command to trigger, your ships need to have a means or an inclination toward executing an Engineering command. So to answer this particular question, I built most of a fleet. It's below.

Clerics Unite! (0/332/400)

===========================

MC80 Assault Cruiser (114 + 35: 149)

· Garm Bel Iblis (25)

· Engineering Team (5)

· Mon Calamari Exodus Fleet (5)

MC80 Assault Cruiser (114 + 10: 124)

· Engineering Team (5)

· Mon Calamari Exodus Fleet (5)

Nebulon-B Support Refit (51 + 8: 59)

· Redemption (8)

It's 332 points dedicated entirely to keeping the MC80s alive. This illustrates another problem with Redemption as a strategy (and 8 points spent on an upgrade definitely constitutes something of a strategy, make no bones about it): I've got 68 points left for any other upgrades or squadrons aimed at actually killing my opponent rather than just staying alive. It's not nothing, but it's not a ton, either. Sometimes, the best defense really is a good offense. After all, you can't kill me if you're already dead. This is a ton of points. Why? Well, if I'm going to make this more than just a minor annoyance or setback, then I'm picking ships that can survive long enough to use an Engineering command. Additionally, these ships are happy to use an Engineering token instead of a dial and still get a lot of mileage out of it. If they can use a dial AND a token, they're thrilled! And since they're assault cruisers and not command cruisers, they are less likely to need Squadron commands. If an MC80 in this fleet uses an Engineering dial, it should also have a token, courtesy of Garm. MCEF will give it another two Engineering points, Engineering Team gives it one, and Redemption will give it one. That gets us up to 10. That's 3 damage cards healed. That's 5 new shields generated. That's a lot of different Engineering combinations that can be used. That's more than an annoyance to an opponent, which is what we're going for. I've never flown anything like this, and I would be extremely concerned that it can offer enough damage output to kill enemy fleets. But I think if you fly it well and are wise in how you round it out, you could be looking at something that's a lot of fun and has the potential to threaten your opponents. Sure, you're more likely to be counting on your red dice to do work for you without Intensify Firepower or Ackbar, but ultimately, you should live long enough to be able to roll so many dice that, at some point, something has to land! Again: not the best strategy, but could be fun and worth exploring!

That brings us to the Dominator title. Much like with Redemption, I built something out. But not a fleet - really just the one ship. I'm not sure it much matters what you pair with it for the purposes of this title.

Dominator (0/107/400)

======================

Victory II-class Star Destroyer (85 + 22: 107)

· SW-7 Ion Batteries (5)

· Quad Battery Turrets (5)

· Dominator (12)

I can easily see having an Interdictor in here with Projection Experts or something to replenish the Vic's shields as it spends them. And this VSD definitely needs some other upgrades. I'm pretty certain you put Gunnery Team on here, for instance. But I just wanted to include the couple of things that might make this Dominator VSD interesting. I considered putting the title on a VSD-I so that you'd have a rainbow of attack dice, but without a way to turn harder, I just don't think you get your guns on a meaningful target. Jerjerrod is absolutely an option, but you're already spending shields to use Dominator; if you spend shields to turn, too, I just don't know if you survive any sort of return fire. If you're going to try and make that work, then I think you're pairing the VSD with an Interdoctor* and building out from there.

The VSD-II I've assembled above assumes you want to use Dominator whenever it's convenient rather than reaching for it. But it also does it's best to ensure that such a shot will really hurt. With SW-7s, it's a guaranteed 5 damage (assuming you spend 2 shields for Dominator). The VSD maxes out at 2 speed, so there will be plenty of instances in which your target will be moving faster than you, thus adding another blue die to your attack courtesy of Quad Battery Turrets. For 107 points, that's not bad! I do think you want a little support apparatus to help the VSD keep its front guns on its prey, and whether that's an Interdoctor with Jerjerrod or an ISD sporting Take Evasive Action! or...well, I think that's about it...I think either of those are viable options, but obviously carry their own costs. The trick to building out something like Dominator, in my opinion, is similar with Emperor Palpatine at this point - find the balance between creating a support apparatus so that the upgrade has value to you and your fleet without centering your fleet on the success of that particular element. It's just so many points to spend for a (possibly) extra 2 blue dice per attack. Those extra blue dice are definitely not free money, and there are no guarantees. If you roll 3R and 6B, and those reds come up blank and 3 or more of those blue dice come up with Accuracy (don't laugh; that happens!), then those extra blue dice cost way more than they earned you. So if I were going to fly Dominator, I'd start with the build above and go from there.

Next up is Fire-Control Team. If I really wanted to take a swing at this, it's almost easy for me: I'm doubling down on annihilating an opponent's shields, I'm doing it with a ship that can withstand a counter-punch so it can attempt it again, and that ship is capable of throwing the requisite dice out of any arc.

Dreadnaught (0/143/400)

========================

Providence-class Dreadnought (105 + 38: 143)

· Shu Mai (4)

· Fire-Control Team (2)

· Heavy Ion Emplacements (9)

· Assault Concussion Missiles (5)

· XX-9 Turbolasers (5)

· Swivel-Mount Batteries (8)

· Invincible (5)

I've got HIE and ACMs on there to maximize the number of shields that can be stripped away from crit effects (5 shields: 3 from HIE and 2 from ACM). I've got XX-9s on there because if HIE can no longer strip shields owing to the fact that they're absent, then I'm landing damage on the hull. Might as well maximize Fire-Control Team and make sure that the first two damage cards are face-up, yeah? I'm probably flying this with Kraken so that we're talking about a guaranteed crit, but I'm not one for trusting my dice, so why not use Shu Mai for more dice fixing? She's great! She can't always help you, but she's an Officer instead of a Weapons Team, and she also doesn't care what color dice you want to reroll. I've got Swivel-Mounts on there so I can toss black dice at medium range. More often than not, I think you want to use this once when you know you won't have prolonged engagement, but have the possibility of a crippling shot. Then you refresh it and keep pursuing those double-arcs. But it makes you just a little more dangerous. Plus, it can get you 2 blue dice instead of 1, thus increasing the possibilities of rolling a blue crit. Finally, you might note I've got the Invincible title on there, but no Defensive Retrofit upgrade equipped. That's simply because I think the upgrade you use there will be totally dependent on the rest of your fleet. If you've got a way of getting this ship Engineering tokens, then I can see you putting ECM on here. But if that's not the case, then I think ECM is a big mistake and you'll want to look elsewhere. But I do think you want the Invincible title regardless of which upgrade you pair it with, because this ship is bristling and it might be all bluster or it might be a lot of doom, and either way, you've painted a great big target on this ship. The least you can do is give it some means with which to defend itself, you know what I'm saying?

The other route I could see you taking with Fire-Control Team is a totally opposite approach. You pick some simple and cheap crits that don't swing a game, but chip away at your opponent, such as MS-1s, Wide-Area Barrage, or Ion Cannon Batteries, and you pair those with the standard crit effect. It's nothing sexy or back-breaking, but it could possibly be effective. Plus, that notion of un-sexy also swings both ways! If the effect triggers, then you're happy about it! But you're also not counting on it or heartbroken if it doesn't happen. It only cost you 2 points for Fire-Control Team and 2-5 points for the crit upgrade of your choice. None of those crit effects I've listed exhaust, so they can trigger multiple times in an activation, and they just chip away at an opponent. So they may have to decide whether or not it's worth burning a defense token over so small a thing, whereas there's no question you burn an Evade to avoid an ACM/HIE combo. This is probably the more likely approach for Fire-Control Team working for you; don't expect it to do too much for you, invest very little in it, and if it pays dividends even once, then it was worth the points you spent. If it triggers 3-4 times, it's worth the upgrade slots you invested in making it happen. If it triggers 4+ in a game, then you might be on to something!

And finally, that brings us to this big bruiser overe here...

I want to make a couple of things clear from the get-go:

1. While I do consider myself a Star Wars geek, there's a ton of the lore that I simply don't know. I was never that interested in the Clone Wars era, so when I say that the Venator doesn't work the way I want or expect it to work, I'm not saying that based on any lore I know. I assumed because it's a Star Destroyer, it was a precursor to the Victory and Imperial-class Star Destroyers. I'm told that's incorrect. I did not know what it's function was, and I was informed that it mainly served as a carrier. So when I talk about what the Venator should or shouldn't be able to do, or what I expect it to be able to do, I'm definitely not basing that in the lore.
2. I'm not hate-bashing the Venator because I don't dislike it! In fact, I really enjoy the ship! When I don't enjoy a ship, rarely do I bother to make mention of it unprompted. I think the Interdictor is cool, but I don't use it all that often, nor am I particularly invested in it. So while I don't think the Combat chassis of the Interdictor is good, I don't spend much time thinking about it because it doesn't really impact the fleets I build or the way I play. People have complaints about Yavaris being nerfed in 1.5? I can appreciate their preferring the old version of Yavaris, but I have never flown the title outside of "standard" Rieekan fleets I've used against which friends could practice in preparation for a tournament. I really like the Venator! It's my enjoyment of the ship that makes its shortcomings frustrating for me.
3. When I name it as something that "doesn't do what I want," I'm not claiming it is bad. I'm simply saying that there are things I'd like it to be able to do that the rules and meta of the game make me feel as though it *should* be able to do. I'm not a game designer and so I'm not offering my thoughts or possible solutions as gospel. My thoughts and insight are simply that: my thoughts and insight as a fan and ardent player of the game. While I'm not as experienced or expert as a lot of the players out there, I have been playing for quite awhile now, and I've accumulated at least some skill and experience that I think is worth sharing.

With all of that out of the way, quickly, why did the Venator make my list in the first place? Ultimately, it's because it feels as though the Republic falls a little bit behind the other factions with regards to what it's capable of doing. Now, that may or may not change with any upcoming waves, but as nothing has been announced, any Republic players will be flying Venators for awhile. It made my list because the Republic has 4 ships, and of those 4 ships, two of them are in desperate need of Navigate commands. In my opinion, no other faction has such a big navigational problem.

With that out of the way: Venators. How will I use them in a way that they do the thing I want them to do? There are two ways of using them that still really interest me. There are plenty of ways that I will continue to use them! But I think there are two in particular that, with enough practice, could lead to something I really enjoy flying, possibly as much as I enjoy flying my Grand Moff Tarkin fleet.

Both utilize the Venator-II, because only having a single copy of each defense token makes it really damn difficult to survive multiple Accuracies, and since Accuracy tech is really popular, I just don't trust the Venator-I to do what I need. Especially because it needs to be at long or short range, and if I want to throw 3 red dice at long range for the whole game, I'll just pay 45 points less and pick up a Consular-class Charger. The first way that interests me is using the Ven-II as a command node for squadrons with the Triumphant title. No, it won't last forever. But if it's sparsely outfitted and you can keep it alive *just* long enough to deliver sweet, sweet squadron death. Hopefully it can deal some damage on its own, but the linchpin of this plan is the squadrons dealing the damage you need them to deal. I think the majority of Republic commanders can serve you well, here, so the rest of the fleet will be fleshed out depending on who you decide to employ as your commander. But I think using it as a semi-tanky command node can really pay dividends.

The second way that interests me is using it to kite around a battle. This feels like a ridiculous idea, given that its front arc is clearly its most dangerous, but hear me out. The front arc boasts 2 red, 2 blue, and 2 black dice. The rainbow is fun, until you remember that you've only got one of each defense token, no Ion Cannon upgrade slot, and you only get 6 dice at close range. AND the ship needs help maneuvering, which means Navigate dials to assist you with yaw. Or Take Evasive Action. But now you're likely paying for a Ven-I just so you can turn better with your Ven-II. Flag Bridge is an option, of course, but only helps you for one turn. Again, all considerations. Anyway, what if I just accept that I'll be throwing 2R, 2B out of each arc from medium range? Skirt the battle as best I can, take a commander like Bail Organa who can help me Navigate as well as add dice via Concentrate Fire, and just kite around the battle, throwing dice and squadrons as best I can? If someone closes, now I've got 2Bk I can throw out of my front, too. With the Ven-II staying at long to medium range, it's not maximizing its damage potential, but it's always sort of lurking as a threat that can be tough to take down at that range. Plus, it's tossing squadrons into the battle, so that's more dice your opponent has to worry about. And with your Venator, you only have to worry about whether or not 2R dice on each attack will behave instead of 3. It's only a difference of one, but now dice fixing gets just a little bit easier because blue dice have no blanks and there are plenty of ways to change 1R, which is half of the reds you're throwing anyway.

This doesn't entirely make Venators do what I want them to do as per my original complaint. But you can tell by looking at it that it's ultimately not really a Star Destroyer, and treating it like one gets it killed real fast. So I'm willing to try and treat it like a Rebel large and see what happens. What happens when I treat it like an MC80? I'm not entirely certain, but the idea intrigues me enough that I'm willing to try it a couple of different times and ways before giving up on it.