In Defense of: Defense Liaison

 In Defense of: Defense Liaison

In an earlier blog post that detailed some tips about making adjustments to your fleet, I mentioned that my good friend Josh had said the following:

"Maybe I'm off base here, but I think it's interesting to really dig in, let's say on a particular upgrade choice. How do you evaluate if it's the best choice for the fleet? Test games against lots of different stuff, in a wide variety of game scenarios, in different objectives, etc? How do you compare it to other choices for the slot, or nothing at all? How can you do efficient evaluation without playing a million games using every possible combination?"

In considering that, I thought it might be interesting (and if not interesting, then fun. For me. Maybe not for you, but definitely for me.) to explore and defend very specific choices by supplying the reasoning behind the choices and doing a deep dive into how I arrived at said choice. As I mentioned previously, sometimes it'll be a choice that went through rigorous testing and sometimes it'll be a choice based almost purely in theory-crafting.

I've decided to start with a fleet I know well and love:

Ain't Tarkin 'Bout Love (45/391/400)

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Kuat Refit (112 + 56: 168)

· Grand Moff Tarkin (28)

· Defense Liaison (3)

· Darth Vader (3)

· Early Warning System (7)

· Leading Shots (6)

· Assault Proton Torpedoes (4)

· Seventh Fleet Star Destroyer (5)

Gladiator I-class Star Destroyer (56 + 17: 73)

· Skilled First Officer (1)

· Ordnance Experts (4)

· Auxiliary Shields Team (3)

· Assault Proton Torpedoes (4)

· Seventh Fleet Star Destroyer (5)

Gladiator I-class Star Destroyer (56 + 17: 73)

· Skilled First Officer (1)

· Ordnance Experts (4)

· Auxiliary Shields Team (3)

· Assault Proton Torpedoes (4)

· Seventh Fleet Star Destroyer (5)

Gozanti-class Cruisers (23 + 9: 32)

· Parts Resupply (3)

· Phylon Q7 Tractor Beams (6)

Hondo Ohnaka (24)

IG-88 (21)

There are some choices in here that might raise an eyebrow or two. I'm sure there are questions about my choice of squadrons, the Gozanti looks a bit weird with the Q7s equipped, and I'm running two Gladiators, but neither of them are equipped with the Demolisher title. But I want to focus in on an extremely important upgrade slot on the Kuat: the Officer.

Basically, I'm going to talk about what I think of Defense Liaison overall, and then really dig into the nitty gritty of how it ended up in this fleet.

In order for this to make any sense, I need to start with the version of this fleet that existed before Armada 1.5. Specifically, that fleet saw my Kuat equipped with Strategic Advisor in the officer's chair. The difference between 4 and 5 activations is pretty big and I noticed the difference when I was running SA and had the luxury of 5 activations each turn. Obviously, with the advent of Armada 1.5, SA is no longer an upgrade card I can use in my fleet. Admittedly, now I've got a ton of points with which to play around because Assault Proton Torpedoes got cheaper by a point (saving me three points across all three combat ships), and Tarkin was discounted a whopping 10 points. So I've got options. But of course, every other upgrade slot on my combat ships are filled. So the only things I can use those extra points on are the following:

1. A bigger bid
2. A third squadron
3. Upgrades on the Gozanti
4. Swapping out current upgrades on my combat ships for more expensive ones
5. A new Officer for my Kuat

Imma go through each of these point by point.

1. A bigger bid: I played with this for a couple of matches and enjoyed being able to choose either first or second player. That said, I'll also admit that I'm a player who kind of enjoys getting some of these terms dictated for me. There are times I'm grateful for the choice because I definitely have preferences. But my preference for first or second is often dependent on what fleet my opponent is flying. I don't need to go first or second with this fleet, and because of that, the fewer choices that I can make before the game starts, the more brain power I've got for the actual match. So while it's nice to have a bid, I'm more likely to pick one of the other choices I've laid out above.
2. A third squadron: From the get-go, I will say with confidence that I'm not considering any generics. I like generics in general, but not for this fleet. My two aces are chosen for very specific reasons: they are included to eliminate the most threatening of enemy squadrons. That's their primary objective. Their secondary objective (in the vast majority of cases, this is when the opponent is flying without squadrons or maybe only employs a "speed bump fighter screen") is to attack ships. Both are capable, as IG-88 throws a black die, and thus has a 75% chance of dealing damage, and Hondo throws 2 blue Bomber dice.
   Of course, the problem with this line of thinking is that any squadron I'm wanting to pick up is going to be expensive. So do I really want to blow all of my "cap space," so to speak, on a third ace? The answer is "probably not," but I do a sweep of my options anyway. Boba Fett is out because Slave I is unique. He doesn't really fit into that primary objective of "eliminate the biggest squadron threat" anyway. The same is true of Gar Saxon, IG-88B, Dengar, Tel Trevura, Zertik, Jonus, Rhymer, Maarek, Howlrunner, Mauler Mithel, Soontir Fel, Ciena Ree, Morna Kee, Bossk, or Moralo Eval. By process of elimination, I'm mostly looking at the possibility of including Whisper, Valen Rudor, Jendon, or Saber Squadron.
   
   
   I adore Whisper. But she's 20 points and not Rogue. So I need to dial up squadron commands for her. Which doesn't automatically disqualify her! But the combination of cost and non-Rogue makes her a hard include for me when my ships all want to be doing other things. Valen is interesting, but the lack of Rogue, again, gives me pause here. Plus, while he's incredibly cheap and great fun, it's not like he really gets a ton of protection since there's no squadron ball accompanying him. So he may be value, but he also doesn't necessarily lock in on the most threatening of enemy squadrons with the exception of situations in which my enemy is willing to oblige me. Jendon is interesting because he gives either of my other two aces an additional attack, and I don't want to sleep on that. But one more squadron does not give me an additional activation and he's not much of a threat by himself. If he could un-activate Hondo so Hondo could activate two enemy squadrons instead of one, he'd likely be an auto-include for me. But since that's not the case, I'm just not sold on the usefulness of including him. I think finding space for him just isn't worth the effort. Saber Squadron is the one I look at most closely. At only 12 points and with Snipe 4, man, that would certainly fit the bill of "eliminate the most threatening enemy squadrons." I sort of keep this in the back of my mind. Despite the fact that Saber Squadron is not Rogue, has no defense tokens, and doesn't offer an additional deployment, this is the only ace I'm considering adding.
3. Upgrades on the Gozanti: I don't really dig this idea. I don't want to change the Fleet Support upgrade that I've got slotted in here, so what else am I hoping to do with the Gozanti? I don't want to turn it into a squadron-pusher, and I don't want to load it down with points, thus making it a target. There are options here, such as throwing Captain Brunson on here so the flotilla is that much harder to kill. Or Iden Versio. But ultimately, the Gozanti doesn't have that much ongoing value to me, so I abandon the idea.
4. Swapping out current upgrades on my combat ships for more expensive ones: This is something to consider, but honestly, I struggled with it. There were different options, for sure. I considered replacing Assault Proton Torpedoes with Assault Concussion Missiles across the board. But especially now that both ordnance upgrades exhausted-to-use, am I really getting more bang for my buck with such a choice? What parts of my fleet aren't doing what I want them to do? The problem is that every piece of my fleet is at a point where they work in concert the way I want them to. It's true that my Gladiators could make great use of Engine Techs. But Auxiliary Shields Team make wonderful use of early Engineering commands, and I've hit a point where I rarely need my Glads to go speed 4 and risk leaving my Kuat behind. I guess at that point, I can considering ditching 7th Fleet Star Destroyer for other titles, but now I'm tacking on even more cost, and I'm abandoning some defensive tech that has served me extremely well. 7th Fleet rarely saves me less than 6 damage per match, and often saves me more. If I'm maintaining those couple of upgrades, what else can I look at beyond Ordnance?
   The Vader boarding team on my Kuat has been devastating, ripping off offensive upgrades such as XI7s or External Racks, defensive upgrades such as ECM, and other various threats. Anytime Vader has been effectively useless is either because of user error or because I'm winning with a big enough margin that he's just not needed. And I'm definitely not dropping Ordnance Experts from my Gladiator Star Destroyers. What else am I looking at? Skilled First Officer on my Glads are terrific for "break glass in case of emergency" because I can't always predict which Glad will be a target and which will be in an unexpectedly good position to strike earlier than I anticipated. SFO only costs a point apiece and have done incredible work for me. I'm pretty sure I've never had a Gladiator Star Destroyer die without having used SFO. So that more or less brings me to #5...
5. A new Officer for my Kuat: There's just no way I leave this slot empty. I played with Strategic Advisor in that slot for so long that I *can* fly the Kuat without using an Officer upgrade, but why? People (including myself) talk on a regular basis about just how valuable the Officer slot is on a ship. We are always cautious about what Officer we use because it feels important to get this call right. So I'm putting something in here, since so far, the only other option I've come up with that I like at all is adding Saber Squadron to the fleet.
   Let me start by saying I had a list of Officer upgrades I didn't bother looking at - Vader is a no-go because he's unique. I'm generally pretty good with my command dials so I didn't bother looking at Engineering Captain or any of the other Officers that let me change the top dial to a command dictated by the card. SFO is far less useful on a Command 3 ship, and I've got enough defensive tech that I don't feel the need to include Captain Brunson, Expert Shield Tech, or Damage Control Officer. Not that these don't have their uses, but as I say, I'm pretty happy with the defensive tech I've equipped to the Kuat. The closest I got to making such a choice was with Reeva Demesne - I thought that between 7th Fleet Star Destroyer, multiple Redirect tokens, and all of my Engineering options (between Tarkin and Parts Resupply), Reeva could likely refresh my Brace every single turn. And that's huge. I really, really thought hard about her, so I'll come back to this.
   
   
   The cheaper officers that provide some interesting effects (such as Admiral Titus or Captain Needa) are ones I looked at, but I didn't have a specific purpose in mind for them. I thought about some Officers that provide anti-squadron tech (Agent Kallus and Commander Woldar, for instance), but thought that my anti-squadron game is so specific and small that any buff I could offer it would be so incremental as to be laughable. Of course, Intel Officer is always a consideration. Plus, I easily have the points to equip it to my Kuat...
   Ultimately, I thought there were lots of good options, and all of them could help my fleet. So the question really became which was worth the points and loss of bid? Would any of them allow me room for Saber Squadron?

Okay, so this is really where I'm getting into the weeds, so bear with me. I mean, if you want to. You don't have to. But I figure you've already come this far, so either what I'm saying is dumb or valuable, and either way, you're likely to keep reading. I already mentioned that I really like Skilled First Officer on my Gladiator Star Destroyers because of the increased adaptability the upgrade grants those ships. I often Navigate with my Kuat, as it really needs to keep its front guns on its primary target. The extra yaw is super helpful in setting up double arcs, which make the Kuat that much more effective. But I don't always need the extra yaw, and Tarkin's Navigate tokens mean that I can often change my speed without having to use a dial. Wasted tokens hurt, but wasted dials hurt more. Knowing that my Kuat gets a token from Tarkin on the first turn and always banks a Squadron token on the first turn as well (in order to use Vader later), I know I often end up wasting tokens on the Kuat unless engagement comes in turn 2 simply because I only have the capacity to carry 3 tokens on it. So what can my Officer do for my token use. I decide to take a look at Defense and Weapons Liaisons. Each costs 3 points, and each burns a token to change my top dial. Defense Liaison changes my dial to either Navigate or Engineering, while Weapons Liaison changes my top dial to Squadrons or Concentrate Fire. My Kuat has issued a Squadron command maybe twice in the several years I've run this fleet, so if I'm going to make this move, it's clear that I'll be equipping Defense Liaison.

So now I'm between Reeva, Defense Liaison, and Intel Officer. I think Intel Officer can be quite mean, but since all of my combat ships are knife-fighters, how much mileage will I get out of IO? And the more I think about the flexibility that Defense Liaison offers, the more appealing it is. Of course, I could just make 3 separate lists, each of which features a different Officer upgrade and then just test them all. But the more I think about this choice, the less I feel as though I really need to test them all to figure out which one I want. There are definitely times when I think that makes sense: when building out tech designed to combat a particular build is one of those instances. Even if the difference between the two upgrades might be marginal, you're making a choice designed to counter a specific build, so even a marginal gain makes sense in that case. If your fleet behaves wildly differently between the two upgrades, then testing against a variety of opponents and figuring out which direction is most effective against the general field makes a lot of sense. But in my specific instance, for this fleet and this upgrade slot, none of these 3 upgrades wildly change the way I play my game. Reeva makes me a little tankier, but only conditionally. And she's not always useful because once I'm out of shields (or don't need to refresh a defense token), then she's just sorta sitting there. Now, she's only 4 points, so not a huge deal, but it's still something I'm considering in making the choice. Intel Officer sits at 7 points, and so is much more expensive. It could be argued that my fewer attacks means IO is that much more useful. It's a fair argument! And I don't think my fleet is less for fielding IO.

But the more I think about Defense Liaison, the more I like it. Unless the Kuat is dead or draw into the Life Support Failure damage card, I will always have a token to spend for Defense Liaison. Of course, if the Kuat is dead, so is my Liaison. And there are only two copies of Life Support Failure in a 52 card deck. I'm willing to take my chances on the latter happening infrequently enough to not be a big consideration. Having Defense Liaison means I can afford to set my dials more aggressively. Namely, a whole lot of Concentrate Fire dials. That doesn't mean I'll be only setting Con Fire dials and regularly using tokens to change my dial; that feels like a particularly foolish way to use this upgrade. Why not just get better at setting my dials? I just mean to say that I can pick the anticipated rounds of engagement and confidently set Concentrate Fire on my dials without agonizing over whether or not I'll have guns on target or require some healing at that point. I think my opponent will be grateful to save the minutes I'd spend waffling back and forth, and I know I'm grateful to know that if I set a Con Fire dial with Defense Liaison along for the ride, literally the only dial I cannot resolve in a given round after having set it several turns ago is a Squadrons command. And I don't need those. So this gives me maximum flexibility and options. It's also the cheapest of the three Officer upgrades I'm considering, which means it can contribute to my first consideration I mentioned above: a bigger bid. 3 points doesn't cut into my bid nearly as much as 7 points for IO. There's an efficiency to Defense Liaison that I like the more I think about it.

Ultimately, I decide to roll with Defense Liaison, and honestly, I haven't looked back. It has really helped me get over some of my more cautious nature when it comes to a match about which I'm uncertain, but also allows me to easily handle unexpected situations (prey that speeds up and threatens my flank if my Kuat can't set the edge, a bad face-up damage card I need to ditch, that sort of thing). It's a cheap upgrade that does work in nearly every game. I haven't run into someone running Slicer Tools against my Kuat, but Slicer Tools is a wasted effort against my Kuat if it only costs me a token to get a dial I need. I never *need* a Squadron or Con Fire dial, but there are plenty of instances in which I need a Navigate or Engineering dial. Raid is much more common since the Clone Wars factions dropped, so Defense Liaison helps in that regard too. It's obviously only *kind of* effective when it comes to an Engineering command in the circumstances wherein I need to sacrifice an Engineering token in order to resolve an Engineering dial, thus giving me 4 Engineering points instead of the 2 a token would've given me. But it's better in every circumstance, even if only marginally better in the case of resolving Engineering commands.

These are all reasons I end up using Defense Liaison instead of any of the other upgrades I listed. It was a lot of theory-crafting, so it took a lot of time to work through all of this. And I was much more invested because this was a fleet I was taking to tournaments prior to COVID, so I was much more interested in striking the best balance I reasonably could to optimize the build. Ultimately, this would need to be tested, but since the only questionable upgrade here (in my mind, anyway) is the Officer slot, it's easy enough for me to remember this and change it out if Defense Liaison doesn't do work in the first 2-3 games I play with it. Fortunately, Defense Liaison proves its usefulness from the first match, and in every match since. It didn't surprise me once I'd reasoned it all out, but it was still very gratifying to experience once I was playing more regularly.

This is a lot of time and energy spent thinking about this one card. But that's part of the fun of this game, in my opinion! Optimization! It feels really good to build something, find it works, and then discover ways to make it work even better. Not every choice we make requires this much thought, of course. But sometimes, when it's a matter of splitting hairs, the gains made are totally worth it. I would've only spent one more point on Reeva instead of Defense Liaison, and Reeva certainly would've proven useful! And even if she wasn't *quite as useful* as Defense Liaison, she only cost me one point more. And choosing Defense Liaison over a bigger bid only cost me 3 points, and since either way I was underneath 400, that 3 points (more often than not) would not have made a huge difference when it came to the bidding game.

Not every idea, every upgrade, every fleet calls for this much nitty-gritty consideration. But in this case, I had time, space, and need for doing such a deep dive on a card that may often be considered by others to be inconsequential. Oftentimes, I think there's a better choice than Defense Liaison! But in the case of this particular fleet and the way I fly it, I honestly wouldn't budge from Defense Liaison for any other Officer upgrade currently out there!