X-Wing theory crafting, Motorcycle maintenance and work continuing

So, for X-Wing I’m theorycrafting between 2 lists…

FennCobraNDru (100)

Fenn Rau — Protectorate Starfighter	28
Attanni Mindlink	1
Proton Torpedoes	4
Autothrusters	2
Concord Dawn Protector	1
Ship Total: 36
N'Dru Suhlak — Z-95 Headhunter	17
Attanni Mindlink	1
Cluster Missiles	4
Scavenger Crane	2
Guidance Chips	0
Ship Total: 24
Talonbane Cobra — Kihraxz Fighter	28
Attanni Mindlink	1
Homing Missiles	5
Cloaking Device	2
Engine Upgrade	4
Ship Total: 40

So, the first one is S&V Aces with an Ordinance backup.  PS 9 on 2 ships and the backup of N’Dru at PS 7.  Missiles.  So, not a strictly Jousting list, in fact against another Joust list I have to play it slow at first, launch Missiles and soften up the other Squadron.  Then close to finish it.  PS 9 and 5 Red Dice for each of my Aces makes for a pretty good finish.  N’Dru is surprisingly solid for flying an old Z-95, and since he is running with the two Aces he tends to be ignored.  Still heavily dependent on the Agility Dice, but if I play it right it is hard to beat. 

Or

BobaKetsu2 (100)

Boba Fett (Scum) — Firespray-31	39
Fearlessness	1
Seismic Charges	2
K4 Security Droid	3
Cluster Missiles	4
Scavenger Crane	2
Extra Munitions	2
Guidance Chips	0
Slave I	0
Ship Total: 53
Ketsu Onyo — Lancer-class Pursuit Craft	38
Adaptability	0
K4 Security Droid	3
Inertial Dampeners	1
Gyroscopic Targeting	2
Shadow Caster	3
Ship Total: 47

The second one is me stealing ideas from Tony’s excellent First Strike build.  Swapping the Firespray for the YV-666 gives me what I feel is a better knife fighter for getting in close and just hitting hard and fast.  Rerolls built in, Fearlessness for the Range 1 nastiness out BOTH Arcs…  Extra Ammo for 2 Bombs and 2 sets of Cluster Missiles…  Crane for a third and more potentially…  Not sure with the K-4 Droid there, the Tactician would make for an amusing choice for folks to stay at Range 2 and get Stressed or go to Range 1 and get hit harder with the additional Dice AND additional Hit Result…  Cluster Missile does pair exceptionally well with Tactician, but the K-4 gets me the Target Lock whether or not I am bumped, so good insurance in the Knife Fight…  Ketsu with Adaptability to fire before the Firespray and potentially move it or drop its Agility by up to 2 if I can get it positioned perfectly AND hit it…  Then the probable 7-8 extra hits should erase most things and cripple the remaining things not just melted.

FINALLY got the replacement tire for my motorcycle.  Will probably take another “sick day” to work on that.  It is not a simple matter to remove the rear wheel from that bike, so it will take me a bit…  A buddy has the equipment to remove and remount the tire, so I’ll have to coordinate with him to get the tire put on…  The reverse the process and hope I do not miss anything J…  For the record there are two major things to note: 

1.       A Degree in Mechanical Engineering does NOT make you a Mechanic.

2.       Contrary to the book, I do NOT find Motorcycle Maintenance to be relaxing or Zen in any way shape or form.

So, it will be a PITA, but I REALLY enjoy riding and that bike is so darn solid that even I can maintain it to acceptable levels and keep the old 81 on the road…

Back to working out now that the latest round of sickness has passed and work is…  Well, continuing.  More possible things coming down the road, but I am not at all sure how much if any I intend to involve myself in.  Since I KNOW with absolute certainty that a promotion here is impossible, and the titular head of the Organization has no interest in retaining me…  Well, I will do what I need to keep my own Department protected and keep the work that I have done over the last few years in EPM moving.  Really quite disappointing to see all the work we did go up there and to be dismantled or simply ignored…  I guess we go back to the Guerrilla  IT model and just do what we need to do and MAYBE present it to a wider audience when we are done.

More X-Wing theory crafting and some work questions...

So, looking at stealing part of Tony’s excellent S&V build…  I’ve never much liked the YV-666 myself, so despite the effectiveness of the Party Bus, just not really for me.  The Lancer on the other hand, this one I like.  I’ve not played Ketsu yet, but I have played against her a fair number of times. 

BobaKetsu2 (100)

Boba Fett (Scum) — Firespray-31	39
Fearlessness	1
Seismic Charges	2
Tactician	2
Cluster Missiles	4
Scavenger Crane	2
Guidance Chips	0
Ship Total: 50
Ketsu Onyo — Lancer-class Pursuit Craft	38
Adaptability	0
K4 Security Droid	3
Inertial Dampeners	1
Burnout SLAM	1
Engine Upgrade	4
Shadow Caster	3
Ship Total: 50

Might be too fast with the EU, so drop that for the Gyroscopic Targeting and Extra Ammo for the Firespray perhaps?  Or Tactician swapping for the K-4 Droid?  The Firespray is really just set up for Knife Fighting and it looks like it could be brutal.  Dunno, something to test out at least I think.  I’m pretty darn happy with my Ace build and this Is something completely different…

Work wise?  Weird stuff happening with budgets being slashed and the reactions to that…  The effect is trickling down to Departments from the Colleges and the Central organizations…  So we’re scrambling at our level to be sure we’re covered and our people have what they actually need to do their jobs.  Fun times.  Kind of sad seeing projects that I worked hard on go to the Central Org and look like they will be killed there.  The very thing we were trying to avoid will be the end result of this, but that is the way it looks like it will end.  Seeing the way things are falling out now, I have to admit I am not overly unhappy to have lost out on the job at the center of this all.  I would like to think I could have made things go another way, but if I am being honest I might have made no difference at this level.  I would also like to think I could have inspired a lot more loyalty in my people, but with the lack of funding for positions for the critical people up there?  Eh, I understand completely why they have either left or are actively looking to get off that sinking ship.  In any case, I'm where I am and my own people will be protected...

Another round of X-Wing testing and vehicle maintenance...

So, got in a few practice rounds today against Tony’s “Just Die Already” list…  H’s flying Ketsu on the Shadow Caster (Lancer) loaded out with K-4, Title, EU, and Fearlessness backed by Bossk on the YV-666 loaded out with Cluster Missiles, Salvage Crane, Dengar, Zucuss and Inertial Dampeners IIRC.  BRUTAL jousting list.  The Lancer has a decent chance to get in, potentially put 2 Tractor tokens on a ship to potentially throw it around (if small base) or just drop its Agility by 2 for the finishing shot by Bossk.  Learned again, no matter how good you think your own Joust is, it is NOT going to survive this.  I ran:

FennCobraNDru (100)

Fenn Rau — Protectorate Starfighter	28
Attanni Mindlink	1
Proton Torpedoes	4
Autothrusters	2
Concord Dawn Protector	1
Ship Total: 36
N'Dru Suhlak — Z-95 Headhunter	17
Attanni Mindlink	1
Cluster Missiles	4
Scavenger Crane	2
Guidance Chips	0
Ship Total: 24
Talonbane Cobra — Kihraxz Fighter	28
Attanni Mindlink	1
Homing Missiles	5
Cloaking Device	2
Engine Upgrade	4
Ship Total: 40

Combining my Ace list with 3 Ordinance carriers for a pretty darn good First Strike capability.  NOT the dedicated primary mission by any means but I can put some serious hurt and potentially erase a few ships at Range 3 before we get into the fight.  Even the Ghost should be into Hull at Range 3.  Then it is a simple enough matter to rush in and finish the main ship.  Biggs is still just in a T-65 X-Wing and a lower PS than I have, so should be easy enough to deal with on his own.

Game one I jousted and learned that they CAN just take the initial pass and shrug it off to wipe me out quickly.  Second game I did a wide flank and engaged at range once he separated a bit.  I lost Fenn Rau, but he fired his Torpedo and got at least one round of Range 1 shooting to throw out a bunch of Damage.  By this point I think he was down to only a few Hull on both of his ships, so the Z-95 and Cobrabane chased them down.  N’Dru got the kill on the 666 and got back his missiles while we just danced around.  Got the TL with Cobrabane, focus from N’Dru and the 1 Hull remaining on the Lancer vs the Homing Missile with Focus was simply not going to survive. 

So, the Kihraxz might be held back slightly on the first engagement as the designated Focus generator.  The hull is simply not as good as the Protectorate.  Lacking the native Boost and therefore the ability to put the Autothrusters…  Never did use the Cloak, but I do like having the option.

Next iteration?  Not sure what if anything actually fits into the 40 point slot that the Kihraxz sits in.  An Aggressor is an obvious choice, but starting at 36 points, it is pretty stripped down version that I could fit in there.  1 point for the Mindlink and 2 for the Autothrusters that are essentially stapled to the Aggressor card leaving me…  One point.  Not horrible I guess, but lacking the standard HLC and FCS it will…  Be found lacking in the offensive capacity I suspect.   The G1A is another possibility, but since it is a B-Wing in an era that B-Wings simply are shot to pieces.  The Star Viper?  Maybe…  The dial is actually almost identical to the Kihraxz swapping the K-Turns for S-Loops.  But that really does not get me too much.  Autothrusters I guess.  I could kit Guri out with the AT and Sensor Jammers for a fairly defensive setup.  More survivable than the Kihraxz but without the major threat factor of the Homing Missile and the 5 Dice Primary at Range 1.  A thought I guess… 

Got the old pickup back to working condition, so the 98 Ranger is what I’ll be driving this summer.  I want my daughters to be in the Escape since that has a LOT more safety features than the extremely simple old pickup.  Got the motorcycle tire in today as well, so needing to pull the wheel off the ancient bike to get that swapped out ASAP.  REALLY missing the bike these days, and it works out so well on Campus…  So, hoping to get to that this week….  I’ll see how many sick days I take this week….  42 weeks of sick time built up and since I found out that I cannot use it for anything other than “buying” another year of time in for retirement…  Well, other than sick time of course J…  But since my own retirement is the “self-managed” and not based in any way on my time in, this is completely useless to me.  So, guessing I take extra sick days every week until I really DO retire.  Well, when I CAN take time off that is.

More X-Wing testing for the League... Aces away this time...

So, testing of the next iteration continues here…  Tried the Aggressor/Lancer build and it failed massively against Tony’s excellent “Damage Overload” build.  No good way for me to avoid a Joust and the Cluster Missiles fired from the YV-666 are REALLY quite deadly.  Oh, and they can get them back via the Salvage Crane.  So, what was a single shot can potentially be “more” (Taleni Pahulu’s joke about numbers in his tribe).  It would seem that the mid-range PS numbers on decent Large Base hulls build is OK, but not really all that good I think.  I keep being drawn to actual Aces.  I am a fairly decent player and so I think I can do a decent job with the actual flying part.  Fragile and risky, but aggressive…  At least the S&V versions, so it fits my style a lot more.

FennCobraNDru (100)

Fenn Rau — Protectorate Starfighter	28
Attanni Mindlink	1
Proton Torpedoes	4
Autothrusters	2
Concord Dawn Protector	1
Ship Total: 36
N'Dru Suhlak — Z-95 Headhunter	17
Attanni Mindlink	1
Cluster Missiles	4
Scavenger Crane	2
Guidance Chips	0
Ship Total: 24
Talonbane Cobra — Kihraxz Fighter	28
Attanni Mindlink	1
Homing Missiles	5
Cloaking Device	2
Engine Upgrade	4
Ship Total: 40

PS 9 for Fenn and Cobra while N’Dru has a “mere” 7.  Mindlink for efficiency on the Focus, and an Ordinance based initial strike is possible.  Depends on what I face really, but the potential for my ships to stand off at Range 3 (2 for the Z-95) and throw 4 x 4 Dice attacks with good modification?  And then rush in to finish things with potentially fully modified 5 Dice Attacks from the Aces while N’Dru hopefully lives to provide Focus.  Oh, and he CAN get his Missiles back.  “Meh” option I think, but if it goes off, the one shot wonder becomes a persistent threat.  At the end of the day, it is a cheap ship, so no big loss.  All three ships are legitimate threats, so nothing really to be ignored I think.  Just need to practice flying it.  The Kihraxz NEEDS something to boost it via the upcoming (hopefully) S&V Aces pack, but it is still a surprising little ship.  Might swap for another Protectorate in Old Teroch since that Fighter is simply so much better, and the -2 PS is offset I think…  But I REALLY like the Kihraxz, so…

Titan X-Wing League Month 1 AAR

AAR

So, went 2/1 and did fairly well overall…  First game was a win, albeit a narrow one against a really well done almost mirror match.  Joseph was flying his Scouts as Torpedo Boats.  He gave me Initiative and so he’s be able to get the last move and either dodge or get Firing Arc.  My dice were Craptastic for the first half of the game, but was finally able to claw my way back and get the very narrow win.  MOV was bad though.  Running theme for this list I think.  Second game was against Jon’s Ghost build.  Massive fail for me.  Rushed in with Fenn, got to Range one…  Of Biggs, but JUST outside of Range one of the Ghost.  Then proceeded to blank out on my Attack of 5 Dice (I might have pushed through a Damage) then completely blank out on the counter shot from the Ghost…  Good Bye Fenn.  The game technically lasted a bit longer, but I have no real answer to the TLTs with the Scouts who were left at that point.  Game 3 was against Chad’s Imperial build.  Emperor Palpatine on the Shuttle, Pure Sabbac in the TIE Striker and Whisper in the standard “Buzzsaw” configuration (Gunner, Fire Control, Advanced Cloak).  This one I knew exactly what to do.  Bunched up, with the Torpedo Scout in front, flanked by Fenn and the other Scout bringing up the rear.  Straight joust against the Shuttle.  He moved Whisper to flank, probably the best possible move for him and kept the Striker in close to the Shuttle.  Unfortunately when I pounced, Fenn got into Range one with TL/Focus of both the Shuttle and the Striker…  Took the shot against the Striker and erased it.  5 Damage, and even rolling the 3 Agility dice…  Well, only one came up Evade.  His Whisper shot was also Range one, but with Fenn’s ability for +1 Dice and the Debris between us, he wound up only getting one damage through.  The Shuttle then ate a Plasma Torpedo to strip shields and the other Scout pushed through a few more.  His shot missed, being Range one in Arc of the Concord Dawn ships kind of sucks.  Next turn I think the Shuttle wend down and he maneuvered into position to chase Fenn.  By then he was more or less trapped, but I still had to sacrifice Fenn to get the Shuttles to position to deal with the TIE Phantom.  He wound up having to K-Turn to get to firing position, leaving him Stressed and uncloaked.  The Black Market Slicer tools actually DID something for me J…  Without the Cloak up and the Emperor to ensure Evades, Whisper is not nearly so scary.  Ended with the 2 and 1 record and Craptastic MOV as I said, so…

This brings me to the present…  What to do next?  My first thought was Rebel Regen:

MirandaNora (100)

Miranda Doni — K-Wing	29
Twin Laser Turret	6
Extra Munitions	2
Homing Missiles	5
Sabine Wren	2
Cluster Mines	4
Proximity Mines	3
Conner Net	4
Advanced SLAM	2
Ship Total: 57
Norra Wexley — ARC-170	29
Push the Limit	3
Seismic Torpedo	2
Nien Nunb	1
R2-D2	4
Engine Upgrade	4
Alliance Overhaul	0
Ship Total: 43

While this could solve my “Bleeding MOV” problem where either I’ll win big or lose completely since the Small Based ships do not surrender half of their MOV if they go below 50% health, it does nothing to deal with TLT ships I think.  Well, I’d have Homing Missiles and Nora’s potential 5 Dice Attack…  So, Bum Rush for the win or die trying I guess.  Not great odds frankly.  Not horrible though, so this is a potential one I think. 

Otherwise, what to do about the TLTs?  Need Autothrusters and 2-3 Agility ideally.  So, somewhat limiting for the Rebels certainly.  Imperials might do well with TIE Defenders, my original build with COL Vessery replacing Steele, Ryad and Deathfire looks like it would do VERY well in the Meta that was shown here this weekend…  Who knows what will change by next Month though. 

VesseryRyadDeathfire (100)

Colonel Vessery — TIE Defender	35
Juke	2
TIE/x7	-2
Ship Total: 35
Countess Ryad — TIE Defender	34
Push the Limit	3
Twin Ion Engine Mk. II	1
TIE/x7	-2
Ship Total: 36
"Deathfire" — TIE Bomber	17
Extra Munitions	2
Seismic Torpedo	2
Concussion Missiles	4
Cluster Mines	4
Long-Range Scanners	0
Ship Total: 29

This DOES provide burst Damage, Mines, Seismic Torpedoes and 2 VERY efficient Jousters in the TIE Defenders.  Would take skill and patience to do it, but I suspect that this would be able to take down the TLT based builds.  The TIE Bomber is unfortunately almost a write off.  Just NEED to get in and do 29+ points of Damage before it does die.  I especially like the Seismic option here as I can clear large chunks of the field to allow the TIE Defenders to have the clear field they really like for the various K-Turns they might be using.  So, one I could I think win with, but seems a bit boring to me…

Aggressor/Lancer is one I might try with S&V… 

Aggressor/Lancer (100)

Asajj Ventress — Lancer-class Pursuit Craft	37
Push the Limit	3
K4 Security Droid	3
Black Market Slicer Tools	1
Engine Upgrade	4
Shadow Caster	3
Ship Total: 51
IG-88B — Aggressor	36
Lone Wolf	2
Fire-Control System	2
Heavy Laser Cannon	7
Autothrusters	2
Ship Total: 49

I really like that build, just concerned that the Lancer will simply melt under the TLT fire.  With the Ghost reliably pumping out 4+ Damage/turn I’m not really confident I’ll kill it before the Lancer melts.  The Aggressor…  Well, that might live a lot longer against just the Ghost frankly.  HLC, try to keep at longer range, make a pass and then circle around. 

I suspect repeating with the same list, more or less…  I think I would just need more Torpedoes on the Scouts and it would perform fairly well.  Cut down on the fancy silliness like the BMST and Rigged Cargo to just get in and do Damage.  Run them together, don’t split off Fenn and focus fire into the target of choice.

Now, that deals with the TLTs…  Mines on the other hand are going to be an issue.  Looking very much like I have to choose one direction or the other and go with it.  Hope I do not draw the bad match…  Else you get to hear Adama say “Sometimes you have to roll the hard six”… 

Have not seen the Triple K-Wing list in a few sessions, but I know at least one of the Bloomington lads has played it.  It is a tough one to beat due to the sheer number of hits required to take it down.  The K-Wing really should be on a Large Base I think, but that’s just me…