X-Wing League theorycrafting...

The more I think about the current meta in X-Wing the more I am looking at doing something REALLY silly like this:

3B ten (100)

Ten Numb — B-Wing	31
Veteran Instincts	1
"Mangler" Cannon	4
Hera Syndulla	1
B-Wing/E2	1
Ship Total: 38
Blue Squadron Pilot — B-Wing	22
Fire-Control System	2
Heavy Laser Cannon	7
Ship Total: 31
Blue Squadron Pilot — B-Wing	22
Fire-Control System	2
Heavy Laser Cannon	7
Ship Total: 31

This one makes it something that might well be able to take down the 2 major architypes I am seeing  these days…  Dengaroo and Imperial Aces would I think both kind of hate to see this…  Ten Numb just automatically hits on a Critical.  Hera would allow him to be REALLY agile, and frankly actions are not that big of a deal…  I LIKE them on him, but if you were able to 2K twice and be able to get in 2 unexpected hits on something and thus dodge the counter attacks…  The FCS is solid, but frankly I’m excited to see the Seismic Torpedoes and Collision Detectors…  I can see fielding those on all 3 of my B-Wings (Detectors) and just bring the Debris Fields…  So, I can simply ignore the terrain with all of my ships just to mess with things as I dodge and barrel roll into the middle.  Thinking the Seismic Torpedoes will be a REALLY good answer to some of the more annoying Ace and Swarm builds with a 50% chance for a free Damage BEFORE the shooting even starts.  No dodge, no defense and it can clear the field for the “less maneuverable” B-Wings as I get rid of the cover that is saving those annoying nimble ships…  But with the FCS/Heavy Laser combo is pretty good for hunting down Large Bases or Aces in the longer game.  This is NOT a one and done build.  The B-Wings are pretty sturdy ships, and can take a Torpedo/R1 shot from most anything and still get in at least one shot…  Usually more of course.  Jousting with say, a TIE Swarm?  No.  Just Don’t do that…  In general of course…  With the Seismic Torpedoes and some decent play?  Maybe…  I DO think that this is still a losing match for the B-Wings, but at least they’ll know they were in a fight.

:-)  Might be something REALLY unexpected to bring to the fight Sunday

Titan League next week and more X-Wing stuff coming...

So, missed Gen Con this year, so didn’t pick up the wave 9 stuff that they had on hand…  So guessing that they’ll hit the stores “soon”…  Have a few pre-ordered, but not entirely sure they’ll be here by the weekend…  So I’ll

DeathfireRyadStele (100)

"Deathfire" — TIE Bomber	17
Plasma Torpedoes	3
Proximity Mines	3
Long-Range Scanners	0
Ship Total: 23
Countess Ryad — TIE Defender	34
Juke	2
Engine Upgrade	4
TIE/x7	-2
Ship Total: 38
Maarek Stele (TIE Defender) — TIE Defender	35
Juke	2
Engine Upgrade	4
TIE/x7	-2
Ship Total: 39

Not thrilled about losing the Extra Munitions…  But Juke on the x7 Defenders is AWESOME…    So we’ll see how it goes…

Wave 10 announced at Gen Con, looking neat…  More interested in the Armada stuff though to be honest…  Will see about getting back into that game…

August X-Wing League Testing...

Looking like I have the next League build set up… 

DeathfireRyadStele (100)

"Deathfire" — TIE Bomber	17
Extra Munitions	2
Concussion Missiles	4
Cluster Mines	4
Long-Range Scanners	0
Ship Total: 27
Countess Ryad — TIE Defender	34
Juke	2
TIE/x7	-2
Ship Total: 34
Maarek Stele (TIE Defender) — TIE Defender	35
Juke	2
Engine Upgrade	4
TIE/x7	-2
Ship Total: 39

Got in a test today, and Setle’s Defender was AWESOME…  The Engine Upgrade was huge.  I think it would be awesome on the Countess’ as well…  But of course 4 points are kind of hard to find here.  First time I flew a TIE Bomber, and Deathfire is pretty good.  WILL die of course, but Turn one Target Lock, Turn two move up and Focus to launch Missiles…  Then Turn three, move in close, Focus and drop Cluster Mines hopefully in or ON something… 

Mind, I wasted one Missile at an A-Wing…  Range 3, through Debris and with Autothrusters?  Yeah, I think it missed entirely even with 3-4 hits…  MUCH better hitting the Ghost, no dodging there.  And of course that is what the Bomber is really there to do…  He replaces Omega Leader in a TIE/fo, and I am thinking that the x7’s have that function covered well enough.  I NEED burst damage like you get from Ordinance and the Mines are nice to help “discourage” closing and pursuit…

Thinking of dropping Juke on the Countess, dropping the Missiles down to Plasma Torpedoes and maybe the Cluster Mines down to a Proximity Mine…  This clears up enough points for me to get the Engine Upgrade.  I think the ability to do a Green 3-5 K Turn then Boost or Barrel Roll gives me a LOT of ability to maneuver and get where I’d need to be…  Might be where I go next…

X-Wing, more testing for the next League...

K, tried the Horn/Dash build…  And I understand the warnings about “you have to play it a LOT”…  Making stupid mistakes like getting the E-Wing caught at close range before regenerating the Shields would be one of the bigger ones…  So, longer term a maybe…  But the E-Wing is just too fragile I think.  And of course the YT-2400 is not nearly as good as the Jumpmasters I think…  Bouncing around on the Asteroids was amusing for a bit, but Dash built like that is 58 points.  And still just 2 Agility and the 10 life…  I need to work on the whole PTL/Kanan thing to always be taking the 2 Actions, moving around like a bat out of Hell…

Time to break the Defenders I think…  At the VERY least they are a lot of fun to play…  Haven’t gotten the hand of flying the /D title yet, and might be interesting…

With the Wave 9 Previews out for 3 of the 4 ships there is a decent chance that they'll be out during if not before the League hits...  REALLY looking forward to the ones I've seen so far...

X-Wing Wave 9 soon?

So, two of the official previews are now up for X-Wing Wave 9…  Were I an optimist I might guess that there would be some at Gen Con perhaps there might be some there…  But that IS a bit of a squeeze time wise.  Doesn’t matter for me of course as I’ll not be there in any case.  But the fact that they are going into the detailed previews this soon does lead me to believe that Wave 9 is closer rather than later.  Some of the upcoming upgrades are REALLY looking good.  But then I’m one of the weird players who does like to try out a lot of different things…  I think the question will be just how many of the Wave 9 ships will I be getting.

The Mandalorian ships are REALLY close to my play style.  Fast, aggressive and all about Offence.  Their Defense is actually quite good, but it is only really good if they are moving fast and in close to the enemy… 

The TIE/sf looks like it will be yet another part of a TIE swarm, and I am guessing I’ll be able to fit one in with say Defenders or the Phantom…  Neat, but probably more of  gimmick than  something overpoweringly effective…  But we’ll see.

The ARC-170?  I suspect the same…  Neat, and a lot of fun builds are shaping up…  Might be fun, but I see this as more “interesting” things than overpowered ones.  The Shadowcaster looks to be the same…  We’ll see I guess

Titan AAR and Rebel X-Wing builds...

50 point Team event @ Titan AAR

Was a pretty fun one, 8 players showed up with the majority being Imperials…  Will and I I know played S&V with Will being N’Dru’s Z-95 and a Y-Wing TLT build…  I flew the Dengar option…  A few TIE swarms, both Crack and normal…  Tyler flew a TIE Defender loaded out and a basic TIE/fo…  But in the game we had together, we were plagued by a complete lack of Agility dice on our part and his Defender melted to a series of Range 3 shots from basic TIEs…  If you can’t evade it, even the 2 Dice attacks from a TIE will eventually win out…  Game went to time with my Dengar down to 3 Hull left and them with two basic TIEs (a 12 and 13 point version) for an actual draw…  Each side had 25 points left on the table J…  Happens when I get 3 hits for 3 turns and they roll perfect Defense each time…  It is a dice game after all…  Fun time, got in some good games with good folks...  Back to a more competitive League next month... 

Going forward, I have my Juke Box Heroes with TIE Defenders, a good fun list…  Looking at a few Rebel builds as well.

Unnamed Squadron (100)

Hera Syndulla — VCX-100	40
Accuracy Corrector	3
Twin Laser Turret	6
Nien Nunb	1
Intelligence Agent	1
Ghost	0
Ship Total: 51
Sabine Wren — Attack Shuttle	21
Adaptability	0
Autoblaster Turret	2
"Chopper"	0
Phantom	0
Ship Total: 23
Jake Farrell — A-Wing	24
Lone Wolf	2
Chardaan Refit	-2
Adaptability	0
Autothrusters	2
A-Wing Test Pilot	0
Ship Total: 26

With the FAQ the TLT looks a LOT better on the Ghost…  And it comes down to Accuracy Corrector, Sensor Jammer or Reinforced Deflectors…  I tend to go a “bit” more aggressive (hence “Garau” as my call sign) so AC is my preference in general for a ship with no real Defense in any case.  Might as well go all Offence and Defend by killing them faster and hopefully first…  Wren on the Attack Shuttle is really only there as a last ditch effort, I think having the end of turn extra Turret shot will be better overall…  Though I could swap the TLT for an Autoblaster Turret and the Engine Upgrade for the extra movement…  THAT might well be a very rude surprise for a lot of folks…  Change it from a “Stand Off and Circle” sort of thing to an aggressive move to contact and obliterate them….  The A-Wing is a solid contender, not bad, but still quite fragile for my taste at least…  Still, having it run a flank and threaten say, a Shuttle with the Emperor on it?  Seeing that particular combo a LOT of course, and so…  Jake really shines with PTL, but points are tight, so…

Unnamed Squadron (100)

Dash Rendar — YT-2400	36
Push the Limit	3
Heavy Laser Cannon	7
Kanan Jarrus	3
Engine Upgrade	4
Outrider	5
Ship Total: 58
Corran Horn — E-Wing	35
Veteran Instincts	1
Fire-Control System	2
R2-D2	4
Ship Total: 42

The other Rebel build I am looking at is a lot more like what I started the game with…  With those ships being the first I got for the game as gifts from my wonderful, understanding wife…  They are still among my favorites.  The E-Wing really does need a bit of help these days though, and I suspect that a Rebel Veterans sort of thing to shore up the E-Wing and X-Wing might well be a very good thing…  But in any case, I think running Corran along a flank and heading Dash into the Asteroids will be a good thing…  Dare them to come in and try to get into Range 1 among the rocks while I dodge and take HLC shots.  The E-Wing is really there for the end game and the double tap option to kill vulnerable things on the way.  The YT-2400 will likely NOT make it to the end, it simply melts too quickly in the modern game.  It is better than a lot of big ships, but at the end of the day, 2 Agility, even trying for Range and Rocks…  Well, while good not quite as scary as it was in the beginning…  But still, a LOT of options here for me and the way I DO fly…  Seeing a LOT of things I think this will be able to deal with in the local Meta…

50 point X-wing team event at Titan tomorrow...

Looking like I WILL be going to the Titan event as dropping my youngest off at her camp will actually end in the same time frame… 

Unnamed Squadron (50)

Dash Rendar — YT-2400	36
Lone Wolf	2
Heavy Laser Cannon	7
"Chopper"	0
Outrider	5
Ship Total: 50

Pretty simple…  Dash roams in and zips about the rocks…  I might swap in PTL and the Mangler cannon, but that does drop off the potential damage.

A better one might be:

Unnamed Squadron (50)

Dengar — JumpMaster 5000	33
Veteran Instincts	1
K4 Security Droid	3
Unhinged Astromech	1
Punishing One	12
Ship Total: 50

THIS one might be more interesting…    Especially with the FAQ boost he gets…

50 points IS an odd one though, the Defenders are 30-40 point ships or I’d fly one of those…  Most of the good Aces are in the same range, so not sure what I’ll see…

Jobs vs Careers and what to fly next for X-Wing

Jobs vs Careers

So, had a long chat with some folks who used to work wit/for me about this and how it applies to our current situations.  To me, a job is what you are doing now.  So, nothing changes more or less, static, etc…  You know what the expectations are, and the only real changes are evolution like OS changes, etc…  On the other hand, a career is all about change.  I see a career as a series of jobs across your “lifetime” at that company or in that industry. 

The current organization we work for is fairly rigid…  And when I say that, we have our jobs and we can add things onto them, but we still need to keep doing our original job.  No mobility at all.  And the leadership is fairly desperate to KEEP it as a rigid structure and while we HAVE a promotion policy and structure set up for it, we have yet to use it.  Some of this is due to the customer expectations over time with Departments really expecting the same person to be the IT support forever.  I think that is partially our fault since the organization grew somewhat organically and imbedded within the Departments.  In some ways this is good, but it does put us in “hold until relieved” mode more or less forever.  So, there was and to some extent still is  a great deal of fear about the University’s central IT organization absorbing us…  Not as much a fear now, and frankly with me coming originally a “corporate” background really never WAS a fear for me.  But I suspect this is a thing we need to change and “manage customer expectations” to allow our IT pros to have mobility and to actually KEEP some of our own people here for an actual career rather than just have them here for a job…  Not sure this IS something that ATLAS can change with the people here now, and so I suspect that we will change involuntarily.  Either we collapse as a few more folks leave now that hiring has opened up here at the University or we merge in some other IT organizations or get merged into the central one…

Looking at X-Wing: 

Juke Box Hero (99)

Countess Ryad — TIE Defender	34
Juke	2
Stealth Device	3
TIE/x7	-2
Ship Total: 37
Maarek Stele (TIE Defender) — TIE Defender	35
Juke	2
Twin Ion Engine Mk. II	1
TIE/x7	-2
Ship Total: 36
"Omega Leader" — TIE/fo Fighter	21
Juke	2
Comm Relay	3
Ship Total: 26

Simple enough build…  Juke is POWERFUL.  And this gets me a bunch of hits through “OK” defenses…  Hard to take down Aces, but with this much Juke here a few should get through and things like Stele’s Crit ability could be fatal.  Fun to play as well…

Looking at going back to basics too…  I started the game with Dash, and I may well bring that back.  That and I like the Ghost…  So, that might be where I fly for a bit…

Gopher in July X-Wing AAR...

Gopher tournament AAR…  Special thanks to Dave for letting us take over his store for the afternoon/evening!

Well, had 10 people show up, so pretty good turn out for a holiday weekend.  Simple enough 3 round event, loads of new folks, but most had played STAW or a bit of X-Wing…  Loads of random prizes to go around like Target Locks, Ion Tokens and alternate art cards…  First event with the Imperial Veterans out and FFG released a FAQ yesterday so there were a few changes…

Winning build was Allan’s VT-49 (Admiral/Emperor)/Whisper (Recon, VI, Adv Cloak, Adv Sensors)…  Solid one. Pretty powerful for a limited field.

Game one was against Bryce, he flew a S&V Boba Fett, Y-Wing and Z-95…  Z died quickly, then I chased down the Firespray and then the Y…  Was a learning experience for him, first event, and he did not do too bad…  The TIE Defenders are just a lot better than the older ships that are not kitted out with good equipment…

Game two was against Alllan’s squadron J…  Wound up bumping Omega Leader into his VT-49 and that was that…  5 hits and a bad Agility roll meant I was down a ship from the beginning…  The Emperor’s ability is REALLY powerful but it came down to the 2 ships of his hitting hard enough to wear through the Defenders…  I was pretty happy how my ships actually flew, forgot about the Stealth Device on the Countess’ ship of course, might have made a big difference…  And of course flying the FO too aggressively, it is an end game ship, hard to kill late in the game, not a first striker/jouster…

Third game against Ken…  He had the Falcon with Chewie, a naked Y-Wing and Poe’s T-70…  Not bad, it went on for quite a while until I crashed my Defenders into Range 1 of the YT-1300…  The Countess had been chasing it for a bit, chewing into the shields a bit and into the Hull…  The 2 Defenders hitting together killed it quickly…  Poe lost shields to Omega Leader and then the Defenders closed for the kill…  The Y was last, but it too fell…

Have to say, the Countess’ ability was HUGE.  Maneuverability being key.  Steele’s hit twice, but only once was it actually important…  Not sure I’ll stick with him.  Was OK, but not really THAT good…  Will see what else might fit…  But they are really fun ships to fly…

Gopher Tournament tomorrow... Now with extra Defenders!

So, looking at running a tournament at the Gopher tomorrow…  Should be a fun one, nothing high pressure….  New FAQ hit today, and goes into effect as of a few days ago…  AND Imperial Veterans are here!  So, I have my Red Defender to fly with my Blue one…

Looks like I’ll fly this:

CountessSteeleOmegaLdr (100)

Countess Ryad — TIE Defender	34
Juke	2
Twin Ion Engine Mk. II	1
TIE/x7	-2
Ship Total: 35
Maarek Stele (TIE Defender) — TIE Defender	35
Push the Limit	3
Stealth Device	3
TIE/x7	-2
Ship Total: 39
"Omega Leader" — TIE/fo Fighter	21
Juke	2
Comm Relay	3
Ship Total: 26

Been practicing with the Countess for a bit now, and that is a fun ship to fly…  I am finding the Defender a LOT more my speed than the Interceptor or even the Phantom…  The Phantom IS a lot of fun to fly, but it is really fragile.  Hits like a hammer, but it is not that hard to take off the table with modern stuff.  If you catch it without cloak, it only has 2 Agility…  But the Defender has 3 all the time and with the x7 title?  Almost always has an Evade token…  And Juke pairs REALLY well here for a bit of extra Offence…   I tried the /D with an Ion Cannon, but…  Well, flying against Large based ships, not nearly so useful, and the x7 seems to be the way I’ll go…

TIE Defender builds for the weekend...

Looking at the TIE Defenders…  Got in a test game with the Countess today and she was actually far better than I expected.  Note, with PS 5, her ability to reactively K-Turn was “less useful”.  NOT useless as the Green 5 K-turn cleared a Large Base ship and got me behind it to hunt it down…  But unless people are using the “Party Bus” build or the basic U-Boats at PS 4 I’m probably moving first in any case…  Seeing a LOT of Ace types here so…  But the X7 title was REALLY good.  Not thinking that I’d be using Ordnance on the Defenders much…  The /D with the Cannons will be a good thing I think…  But giving the Defender the free Evade for the 3+ Speed maneuvers is HUGE.  In a 1 on 1 fight, not having to use PTL to get the Focus and Evade on top of the 3 Agility dice… 

So guessing I’ll proxy the second Defender in to get used to the other system setup…  List gets REALLY tight after the 2 big ships, but I am finding the TIE Defender to be about the perfect ship for me in the current meta…  The TIE Advanced Prototype and the TIE Interceptor are both good, fast ships, but REALLY fragile.  Having played AGAINST Aces a lot I am familiar with how they die, and I’m not quite skilled enough to avoid the traps with them myself…  a blocked Soonter Fel is a dead one…  With the Defenders though….  I can usually survive the first hard hit and still get in a few more turns…

Unnamed Squadron (100)

Countess Ryad — TIE Defender	34
Juke	2
Twin Ion Engine Mk. II	1
TIE/x7	-2
Ship Total: 35
Maarek Stele (TIE Defender) — TIE Defender	35
Predator	3
Ion Cannon	3
TIE/D	0
Ship Total: 41
"Omega Leader" — TIE/fo Fighter	21
Comm Relay	3
Ship Total: 24

REALLY hoping the Vets expansion is in before the weekend…

X-Wing... Gopher Tournament prep as June ends soon...

Playing the Echo/Decimator list a lot…  So far, I play a LOT more aggressively than most, so 4 Forward, 1 Boost and I can usually get shots in starting early… Now, the big weakness of this list seems to be that Echo/TIE Phantom in general is EXTREMELY vulnerable to not getting the Cloak bonus to the Agility roll.  So, Bumping, Debris, higher PS, my being silly and not taking Initiative when say, facing Miranda with PS 8 just like me…  J  Did THAT today.  But in general, things PS 9+ do not really have that difficult a time putting in a hit or three on the expensive Agility 2 ship.  Still, it IS a lot of fun to play, and it does drive folks a bit nuts with the weird movement I can get out of it… 

Have the first X-Wing event I am TO for coming up at the Gopher next weekend (2 July)…  REALLY hoping that the Imperial Veterans come out by then as I’m thinking that will be a lot of fun…  The TIE Defender is a lot more difficult to take off the field than the Phantom…  Fits my play style a lot better I think, I tend to be a lot more direct and value resiliency AND agility…  Oh, and they hit fairly hard.  Will I fly 2 Defenders?  Maybe.  List gets pretty tight then.  2 Defenders and…  Probably a TIE/fo like Omega Leader or Epsilon Ace as just a “decent” ship to back them up?  2 TIE’s at 12/each for blockers?  Or maybe a TIE Interceptor or TIE Adv Prototype I guess…  But those are getting to the VERY low end of the equipment they’ll need to survive in the modern game.  Only the TIE/fo seems like it is not just throwing away points to me, but of course, I could be wrong…

Getting some point on my Imperial Blues…  Not looking too bad, but my eye injury is making detail work impossible, so…  Going a LOT slower, mostly getting base coats at this point.  But my lads do stand out on the table a bit, and that’s what I am going for…  SO many Imperial Aces these days, I want mine to at least look different so I can see which are mine…

X-Wing thoughts, mid June

X-Wing stuff…  So far, I have an excellent record with Echo and ADM Chiraneau (VT-49)…  I think a lot of people see the large based ship and assume that I’ll slowly approach and make the nice, safe choices to get in range and try the long ranged sniping game.  What most folks do not realize, even those familiar with the “rule of 11” is that the Large based ship moving 4 Ahead is already 9 ship lengths in if you set up at the front of the DZ…  Then add in the boost for an additional 3+ ship lengths…  So, a VERY good chance I am lining up a Turn 1 shot.  Yes, Range 3, and good chance it will be obstructed, but I DO have Gunner ready…  So many people get caught thinking that Turn 1 is just repositioning and preparing to chase me around the Asteroid field…  Speaking of which, I bring 3 big rocks, placing one a Range 2 from their corner, another about the middle and the rest of the field tending to be a triangle giving a very open flank which I ignore.  I have only the 2 ships, one of which is INSANELY maneuverable and the other is just darn fast.  So, I run up the obstructed flank, slice through the field and dare them to come in after me.  It does make it especially difficult for a Swarm to keep in formation, which is the main reason I do this.  Keep them separated, then go after one or two at a time.  With two big guns and Gunner on both backed by Predator and/or FCS it tends to be a VERY accurate thing and burns through tokens and forces more dice rolling.  It usually only takes one bad roll to cripple or kill the more fragile Ace types, and so if I make them roll Agility Dice 4 times/turn it will come up sooner or later…  Yes, it is possible that it NEVER hits during the game, but really I’ve usually seen it hit 1 out of 3-4 times to get through those critical first few points of damage…   The U-Boats are difficult, but with the sheer accurate firepower I can throw out, I should kill one before they shoot, then it is a matter of hunting the other two down...

So, older build, but It seems to be doing well locally at least.  Mostly killing time until the “now shipping” Imperial Veterans hit…  Though honestly really looking far more forward to Wave 9…  The Mandalorian fighter especially seems to fit perfectly how I play in the “slightly more aggressive: fashion…  And the ARC-170 just looks really good.  One fighter I’ve really been hoping they bring out…  The others?  Eh…  I’ll likely get them and probably even use them, but… 

More X-Wing play-testing...

Got in games of X-Wing and Armada last night…  X-Wing was pretty quick.  I played:

Unnamed Squadron (100)

"Echo" — TIE Phantom	30
Veteran Instincts	1
Fire-Control System	2
Recon Specialist	3
Advanced Cloaking Device	4
Ship Total: 40
Rear Admiral Chiraneau — VT-49 Decimator	46
Predator	3
Tactician	2
Gunner	5
Engine Upgrade	4
Ship Total: 60

So, NOTHING subtle, but it was REALLY effective…  He fielded Corran Horn (PTL, Adv Sensors, R2, EU?) and 3 of the Z-95’s with Guidance Chips and Concussion Missiles…  Like I said, was quick.  Not sure if he was prepared for how quickly I could close.  Did require a bit of skill to fly through the Asteroids, but since he was trying to avoid it until too late…  Echo moving through things was pretty insane, but the VT just boosting each time to get in close was the killer…  The Admiral’s ability to fire the turret with Predator AND Gunner meant that the ships like Horn with their absolute dependence on their Green Dice are in a LOT of trouble.  They have to get fairly lucky fairly often to survive…  Even one blank on the Green Dice could well be them dying, and the ADM forcing 2 rolls/turn make that “bad” result come up more frequently…  It only took one turn of firing at R1 to burn through Horn’s shield (3 Hits and a Focus going to a Critical)…  I think this will translate fairly well to hunting Imperial Aces, but I’ll have to run it against them to be sure…

So, still waiting on the Imp Vets and now that Wave 9 is announced...  Waiting on those :-)...  Should be interesting...