Wednesday on Campus, Armada and some X-Wing stuff...

So, first interview out of the way...  I thought it went well enough, but it was quick.  I do tend to answer the questions quickly and more to the point than some.  This IS a job that I think that I could do well as I know most of the technology and people involved.  Got the MS and the requisite experience so it is a good time for me to be moving.  I just hope that I get an offer.  Well, more than an offer as I would accept any offer that is in the same salary range...  Was told I am getting my title corrected and a small salary increase with it.  Is small,  it it is enough that it ALMOST makes up for the year I got the "below average" raise while my line still resided with Math.  ONLY 1%, but as any further raises are based on the existing salary it is more or less permanent unless I get another job elsewhere.  Of course that was Between that and the other HR silliness, my current organization has used up their free strikes.  Sitting me down and spelling out that I would never be promoted here, and frankly they do not intend to promote ANYBODY here...  Sucks to have put in all that work on the promotional ladder...  well all the extra work to become a Manager and then IT Director frankly.   And the exodus has begun with one of my former people accepting an offer from another group.  Shame, she was one I saw great potential with, but I did advise her to go when it became obvious what the situation on the ground here was.  And she is only the first I suspect.  Much faith has been lost in our leadership team as things unfolded over the last few years.  Discouraging hearing from one of my most talented and motivated (former) people that he was done volunteering for extra work and he was ready for a new job as he got to the point where he COULD be promoted but not really being in the organization combined with the freezing of any potential promotions by our management...  Well, he has his resume ready...

If I DO get the job and get to build the team as indicated in the interviews...  Well, I suspect that I will be recruiting more of my former team.  The current organization had the opportunity to set up as a large rival organization and have a good, solid structure that would allow us to get and retain the best talent, but instead...  Well, other directions won out and I suspect that it will be a rough few years.  Hey, I could be wrong, but so far things are playing out exactly the way I predicted...  A bit slower as there was an artificial stasis while the hiring freeze was in place, but things are moving quickly now.  Doing what I can to protect myself and my people, but the fires are already starting.  Who knows, it might all just work out, but my experience warns me to be prepared for it not working well...  And if I'm honest, my motivation to give a shit is pretty well bottomed out at this point.  So, I'll do my job and make sure MY stuff does not burn, but...

But back to gaming...  Armada this evening as I missed the League Day, but we can make up the games...  So my Rebel fleet will hit the field.  Only played once in the last several months, so rusty I am...  But it is a fun game.  So hopefully Joel won't kill my fleet TOO quickly....

X-wing just had a FAQ drop.  Pretty major changes with only a few rules changes.  The big one was that an upgrade called Deadeye got changed to "Small Ship Only" meaning the severely under-costed "Contracted Scout" in the JumpMaster 5000 cannot use it to launch Torpedoes.  I would have gotten rid of the Elite slot altogether along with raising the cost, but this woks too I guess...  We'll see.  In Europe the 3 Scout builds have been winning a lot of events which I suspect prompted the change.  We did NOT see much of that here locally, I think I only saw one player with the true U-Boat/Wolfpack/whatever list...  We saw a LOT of the Imperial Ace builds that do well against it and with the death of the Rebel lists until Wave 9...  That was the winning build.  Now?  I think the Rebels are in a MUCH better position.  The Imperial Defenders are VERY good, and the Emperor is still (IMO) overpowered, but beatable.  My own build for the last League is REALLY powerful and while not "set and forget", it has a chance against most things.  Biggs did also get a bit of a Nerf, but even so...  And now S&V get some more REALLY good things.  Heck, even the poorly costed M-3A Scyk is up there in the "competitive" range...  But more importantly, they have good Aces and the new Lancer class ship looks like it will shift the balance HEAVILY toward them.

Trying to get another event for 19 November...  We'll see if I can swing it...  Something more casual as we settle in for the new reality post FAQ...

Work and Armada...

So, I was wrong, I DO have an interview next week…  Should be interesting.  One of the folks I ended up hiring in just announced they are leaving in a few weeks.  Should be an interesting time.  I’m not going to get overconfident, but this is a job that I know I can do well.  A shame, I was actually rather hoping things would work out where I am now, but alas…  They decided against finalizing my promotion, and I was informed that there would be NO promotions here for me ever, and pretty much none for anyone in the foreseeable future.  Really sucks, I put in a lot of extra work and thought it was the right move for me.

Have some Armada coming up next week, so need to prepare for that…  Testing a few X-Wing builds as well…  Both games seem to be in a very good place now, and it just looks like it will keep getting better…  But need to build a fleet for Armada...  Been too long since last I played...

Post Wave 9 X-Wing builds...

Playing around with the build I had success with:

ARCx2Biggs2 (100)

Norra Wexley — ARC-170	29
Push the Limit	3
Nien Nunb	1
R2-D2	4
Vectored Thrusters	2
Alliance Overhaul	0
Ship Total: 39
Thane Kyrell — ARC-170	26
Tactician	2
R3-A2	2
Vectored Thrusters	2
Alliance Overhaul	0
Ship Total: 32
Biggs Darklighter — X-Wing	25
Plasma Torpedoes	3
R4-D6	1
Integrated Astromech	0
Ship Total: 29

So, the Barrel Roll replacing the Boost…  Slightly limiting without the Boost to pursue someone fleeing as I tend to dial in ONLY Greens, but not bad.  And Biggs with Plasma Torpedoes to try to strip shields at Range makes him a BIT of a threat.  Mind, the X-Wing is NOT a bad one from a Damage potential point of view…  I’ve been getting in a fair number of hits with that…  Still, the Torpedoes might be better on Thane…

Kicking around a few ideas with the Lancer…  I’m pretty interested to see what that ship will do for me. 

Unnamed Squadron (100)

Asajj Ventress — Lancer-class Pursuit Craft	37
Push the Limit	3
K4 Security Droid	3
Black Market Slicer Tools	1
Rigged Cargo Chute	1
Gyroscopic Targeting	2
Shadow Caster	3
Ship Total: 50
Syndicate Thug — Y-Wing	18
Twin Laser Turret	6
Unhinged Astromech	1
Ship Total: 25
Syndicate Thug — Y-Wing	18
Twin Laser Turret	6
Unhinged Astromech	1
Ship Total: 25

And:

Unnamed Squadron (100)

Asajj Ventress — Lancer-class Pursuit Craft	37
Push the Limit	3
K4 Security Droid	3
Black Market Slicer Tools	1
Rigged Cargo Chute	1
Gyroscopic Targeting	2
Shadow Caster	3
Ship Total: 50
Moralo Eval — YV-666	34
Heavy Laser Cannon	7
Bossk	2
Zuckuss	1
Gunner	5
Inertial Dampeners	1
Ship Total: 50

First is pretty standard bull rush with the 2 TLT Y-Wings to pile more Damage on with.  Just need to get the Lancer close and hopefully put a Stress and Tractor on target.  The -1 Agility should allow even the basic 3 Dice Attacks of the TLTs to punch through…  Bonus of loads of Hull to chew through.

Second is a fairly standard 2 Ship build with a Party Bus…  Not 100% on the HLC, especially with Gunner giving me another Primary weapon attack if that misses…  But just not worrying about Stress, I can force a ton of re rolls when I shoot…  Combined with the -1 Agility from the Tractor Beam the HLC SHOULD push through a fair bit of damage.

Still looking at the Mandalorian Fighters…  Probably a 3 Ship Ace build…  THAT should be fun :-)… 

Work continues…  At this point I am thinking hard about what I stop doing in the "above and beyond" category…  I ended up essentially doing 3 people’s jobs and that is WAY outside the “normal” duties of what my title will eventually become.  That is another thing I’ll believe when I get the official paperwork.  But since I’m not getting the promotion, I’m feeling a LOT less obligation to do all the extra work and take on these additional responsibilities.  No word on the other jobs I’ve applied for, so at this point I’m guessing that is a “no” as well.  So, time to stop killing myself taking on extra work and responsibility for a promotion that clearly will never come here.  Guess it is time to bunker up and cut back what I am doing until things start to really break free.  I know there are people getting ready to move and this should get interesting…  But also not really my problem as was pointed out to me VERY clearly in a recent meeting.

X-Wing League Month 3 AAR and looking forward a bit

So, I wound up winning the third Month of the Titan League…  It was a LONG day, and I was helped along by a great deal of luck…  I went with Biggs and a pair of ARC-170s.  When I saw the previews I thought it was going to be “meh” in play but an amazing model.  It IS an amazing model, but I was so wrong in my initial estimation.  It is VERY strong, and quite survivable…  Nora with R2-D2 is a tank.  With PTL she usually has the TL and Focus when she gets to Range 1…  With her Pilot Ability I actually got 4 Hits/Criticals out the Rear Arc and at least one instance of 5 Hit/Critical results in the front…  NOT bad for an ancient, obsolete ship.  Since my “go to” personal weapons are all WWII issue (M1 Garand, M1911, M1 Carbine) I do have a thing for obsolete but at least in my hands still effective things.  I’d always liked the Y-Wings from the original series, and the ARC-170 was far and away my favorite fighter from that era…  Well, Fighter/Bomber really.  Like I said, SOLID ship and it actually flies surprisingly well.  I went with Nein Numb as the copilot for Nora giving her more Green maneuvers including the 4 Straight to really move quickly while regenerating and shedding the Stress from the PTL fun and games.  Tail Gunner was the other obvious build, but I thought that there would be fewer opportunities to actually use that, and Nein was there FAR more often.  Worked out, so I guess I made the right call.  The one game I lost I REALLY should have simply broken off pursuit and regenerated, but by then I had his ships down to a few Hull and it just worked out that HIS Nora with Tail Gunner was the right choice as long as I was silly and just tried to chase it down.  Lesson learned and I did a LOT better in my next two games.  Against Rebel Aces, the Stress took out the Aces, or at least took them from the fight and allowed me to focus on and destroy them in detail.  I DID lose 2 of my ships, but Nora was a TANK again and ended the game with full health destroying the last of the enemy ships.  Game 3 was against a Whisper (VI, Recon, Adv Cloak, Adv Sensor), Admiral Decimator (Emperor, not sure what else)…  I sent the Stresshog and Biggs off to deal with the Decimator while Nora was just jousting and Regenerating with Whisper for a bit.  He got a bit greedy and landed at Range 1 of the X-Wing and the ARC…  His attack at Biggs failed, I think I took a single Shield, allowing Thane to get the TL to go with the Focus he had…  Biggs shot for 4 Damage followed by Thane’s 4 Damage (both had a few Criticals, nothing that REALLY mattered much though).  I had already done a few, so we were DEEP into the hull at that point.  Whisper had likewise learned that Nora had teeth after a flubbed Agility roll left her without Shields.  From there it was mostly cleanup with Biggs getting shot out of the sky protecting Thane and allowing us to take down the Emperor.  Whisper lasted another few rounds, but Stress is an absolute KILLER for the TIE Phantoms in general and Whisper never really stood a chance there.  Never getting to re-cloak kills the one big trick that allows them to survive…

Made the final four as one of the ACTUAL top four had to drop…  So, slid in, but liked my chances.  Faced Kanji’s nice Rebel Ace build, and knowing that Stress would kill Poe, did that.  His Jake with the passed Focus from the HWK was a hard one to catch, but eventually it did die.  It’s Proton Rockets were brutal, but Thane’s ARC was able to take it and still live.  For a while at least, Poe ended up getting him eventually, but not before we chased down his HWK and A-Wing.  Finally getting Poe with Nora’s fully modified Range 1 Attack…  Since he was always Stressed, he could not Regenerate as well as he needed to…  LONG game, but finally got him.  Faced Tony in the final, he brought his YV-666 (Party Bus) and an Aggressor (B for the Gunner effect).  Rough one, but having seen it before I knew that the Aggressor HATES Stress and the Bus is easy enough IF you can get behind it.  Nora did thanks to the 4 Straight being Green.  The Bus is immune to the Stress Hog, so I split my forces like that.  The Bus died quick(er)…  I took a fair bit of Damage as it is pretty much unavoidable with Zucuss making me re-roll ALL of my successful Evades, but Regeneration for the win there.  Take the hit and get behind it.  Assuming you HAVE a ship that can of course.  I understand Whisper TRIED and failed, as I expected…  The Aggressor was a PITa to hunt down, but Stress kills those better than heavy lasers and eventually I ran it down.  Knowing the dial well and knowing where all of the MANY greens are allowed me to anticipate where he’d likely go, but he still surprised me a bit choosing the 1 hard which is a White maneuver…  Would have worked if Nora was not a higher PS and I could use Boost to reposition and still get in the Range 1 shot…  Bought another turn as I could not get the fully Focus/TL shot in…  The next turn though…  Well, still took both my ships in close I think, but at that point…  So, he got a Small Based ship and I took one as well, giving my second one to one of the new guys figuring that more players is better to have at this point… 

Still need to distribute the rest of the loot for the League itself…  Some Acrylic Stress tokens, some more Alt Art cards…  Neat stuff really…

The Tournament did highlight that as I suspected the time of Whisper and Company is over.  We simply have too many ways to deal with her these days.  Even the Palp/Ace builds I think are mostly…  Well, not DEAD, but certainly easier to deal with.  I built my ARC list to deal with them specifically, it just works REALLY well against a lot of other things.  I suspect that there are now enough counters for the Aces that things will mix up again from the somewhat stagnant state we were in prior to Wave 9 being legal…

Looking ahead:

Unnamed Squadron (100)

Fenn Rau — Protectorate Starfighter	28
Push the Limit	3
Autothrusters	2
Ship Total: 33
Asajj Ventress — Lancer-class Pursuit Craft	37
Adaptability	0
Zuckuss	1
Black Market Slicer Tools	1
Gyroscopic Targeting	2
Shadow Caster	3
Ship Total: 44
Zealous Recruit — Protectorate Starfighter	20
Autothrusters	2
Concord Dawn Protector	1
Ship Total: 23

Pretty simple build, I’ll test it, and I suspect tweak it before the next event…  I have to say, I’m pretty impressed with the ships in Wave 9 so far.  The only one I have not seen an obvious great build for is the TIE/sf, but even that goes well with a pair of TIE Defenders for a fairly decent little build.  Might drop the Autothrusters from Fenn Rau and the CDP from the Recruit to get PTL on Asajj…  A LOT of Green on that Dial and PTL is just SO strong.  Mind, I AM bringing BMST for the stress punishment that I’ll have to be aware of myself of course…  So, a Blocker, an Ace and the Lancer with several tricks there…  SHOULD be interesting, I think the Lancer is a very strong ship…

More X-Wing testing for League...

Got in another practice round today with the ARCDash build…  Not bad, Nora in her ARC-170 was pretty insane.  Twice I wound up with 4 Hit/Crit rolls at Range 1…  Had the TL/Focus for the Rear Arc shot and rolled 2 Focus, 1 Hit.  TL got spent to add another Focus result which switched to a Critical and then spending the Focus to get 4 results…  Pretty brutal for an old ship…  Oh, and -1 Agility so it pushed good Damage through to an Aggressor…  So Nora was far and away the best ship I had.  Dash is OK, but I bet it is something I simply no longer have the amount of time playing it that is required to play well at this level. 

Probably going with the 2 ARC list:

ARCx2Biggs (100)

Norra Wexley — ARC-170	29
Push the Limit	3
Tail Gunner	2
R2-D2	4
Engine Upgrade	4
Alliance Overhaul	0
Ship Total: 42
Thane Kyrell — ARC-170	26
Tactician	2
R3-A2	2
Vectored Thrusters	2
Alliance Overhaul	0
Ship Total: 32
Biggs Darklighter — X-Wing	25
R4-D6	1
Integrated Astromech	0
Ship Total: 26

Only thing I am up in the air about is the Tail Gunner or another Tactician for Nora.  I found that the Rear Arc was pretty deadly and thus somewhat easily avoided.  With Biggs, Thane should get to Range 2 easily enough and have a few extra Actions to boot…  Nora is just the Tank.  Nein Numb might be a decent fir on her to get more Greens on the Dial for her to use as Regeneration and clearing the Stress from PTL…  But nothing really to spend one point on at that point, so…  A possibility I guess.

X-Wing League Month 3 coming Sunday, narrowing down the lists...

So, League coming up Sunday…  Still need to decide what I am flying.  Got in some practice and picked up some of my ships (Thursday for the last few) …  Narrowed it down to:

Arc10Y (100)

Thane Kyrell — ARC-170	26
Seismic Torpedo	2
Tactician	2
R3-A2	2
Vectored Thrusters	2
Alliance Overhaul	0
Ship Total: 34
Ten Numb — B-Wing	31
Veteran Instincts	1
Collision Detector	0
"Mangler" Cannon	4
Hera Syndulla	1
B-Wing/E2	1
Ship Total: 38
Gold Squadron Pilot — Y-Wing	18
Autoblaster Turret	2
Bomb Loadout	0
Seismic Torpedo	2
Seismic Charges	2
Engine Upgrade	4
Ship Total: 28

Or:

ARCDash (100)

Norra Wexley — ARC-170	29
Push the Limit	3
Tail Gunner	2
R2-D2	4
Engine Upgrade	4
Alliance Overhaul	0
Ship Total: 42
Dash Rendar — YT-2400	36
Push the Limit	3
Heavy Laser Cannon	7
Kanan Jarrus	3
Engine Upgrade	4
Outrider	5
Ship Total: 58

With the first it is a fairly simple Rebel 3 ship list meant to slow walk across the board and remove terrain where needed while daring them to stay at Range 3 and just get Criticals every turn…  Mind, some Squadrons are fine with that, and those I’ll just have to close with and hope for the best…  Stress, Crit factory and then a solid close support ship in the Y-Wing.  No real tricks though.

Second one is a variant on the Super Dash build.  Corran Horn gets replaced by Nora Wexley in her ARC-170.  Now, with 6 Greens on the dial, I suspect R2-D2 will be WELL worth it to Regenerate every turn…  She also has PTL and a wicked Rear Arc that should be able to crack even TIE Defenses.  -1 Agility, +1 Focus which converts to a Critical?  Should be a solid option and FAR more my speed since the E-Wing is just way too fragile in modern play…  TOO many ways to push through Damage cards direct to the Hull these days and getting worse with the next wave…  I like the EU card on the ARC just to allow me to push the distance a bit and with both of my Ships at PS 7 we should be able to avoid each other more often than not…  So, this one “encourages” folks to try to chase her down and Dash does his work in the big Asteroid Field in the center of the field…  And hopes no one brings lots of the Seismic Torpedoes :-)…  Like my first build does…

Went North for the weekend for a wedding…  My wife’s family, and this is one of the few parts of it I actually like, so…Wedding itself was really quite nice, she’s a VERY bright and motivated kid, she’ll likely go far and be fine…  Did have some drama and silliness with some of the other family members…  Kind of scared my oldest daughter when violence seemed imminent how easily her husband and I slipped back to “GI” mode and ready go…  Full disclosure, we did tend to fight a LOT.  When there was no real enemy, we’d fight among ourselves.  The bonds of loyalty to your Squad -> Company -> BN -> Division were pretty hard coded in us.  We are also not likely to walk away from a fight or leave anyone behind, so…  Just the way things were/are…  She had not seen that before I think, but I was raised in a slightly “more violent” environment and he and I were trained by some of the same people in the Army…  Well, he was in the 101^st and I was in the 82^nd, but more or less the same :-), 18^th Airborne Corps at least…  Never did escalate to actual violence, but it was VERY close.  But bridges burned and fewer weasels to deal with is a good thing as far as I am concerned… Just my opinion per usual, who knows what will happen in the longer run… 

Work is crazy per usual…  Got word that I am NOT getting promoted, getting my “title corrected” to what it should have been years ago, which is a few steps back from what my current work duties would be.  Guessing that this is the last time I volunteer to take on additional responsibilities for this organization as this is NOT the first time I’ve been told “if you do this, that will happen” …  To be fair the person in questions DID say something to the effect of “we’ll see what we can do” which I have now come to understand as “No” …  So, have a few applications out, we’ll see what happens.  I KNOW I could do the job I am applying for and I have had years of experience with the specific EPM products and the teams being assembled to manage them, but this is Illinois and there are always “other considerations” …  Amusing watching a number of the other folks in my current organization ALSO interview elsewhere in the University.  I suspect that the leadership is burning many bridges here and there will be consequences when things start to crash.  But, not my problem in the broader sense…  I have only one big Department and am scrambling keeping things running with the 5 FTE I HAD now at 3 and going to 2 in a few Months…  For a bit at least, I have things in motion to get more FTE back on line, but that takes time…  And of course doing this without the support or knowledge of my (on paper) organization?  Probably unwise, but I need to protect my own Department and not be concerned with them…  We’ll see, have to admit my attitude is hitting pretty hard these days and since I no longer have much respect for the leadership in my own organization nor do I particularly care about another reprimand for doing what I feel I need to in order to get my job done…  Whatever :-)…  Doubt anyone will notice honestly.  As long as nothing blows up, no one complains then there would be no reason for them TO notice, so I guess we hope for that…

Work silliness, but X-Wing coming up :-)

Well, yet another application submitted and resume sent off…  We’ll see what happens.  It’s a job with the Campus central IT organization, and is in a Management line…  I have my MS now and have insisted that my current title be changed to reflect the current duties.  Initially it looked good, but that was almost a month ago.  Got the veiled “no” and “what if we do this instead” ….  But essentially, the standard ignore it and hope it goes away.  So, I am not seeing any choice but to accept any offer that comes along and let the light of the bridges I am burning behind me light my way forward.

Been playing Pokemon, but it is not nearly as interesting to me as Ingress.  I see a LOT of the most common ones: Rats, Pigeons, Sparrows being the most common ones.  Maybe I am simply not playing it enough, but there just isn’t all that much there as a game for me.  Well, that and I am REALLY busy in my real job, so…

Played Armada over the weekend and got smashed…  Figured out a LOT honestly, and I think I’ll be ready for the League that Mike is setting up…  Rebels of course, and it is a fun enough game…  Just a lot more draining than X-Wing.

X-Wing wise I got in a few more games…  I need to relearn the B-Wing I think.  Got the Y-Wing down, although I have to remember that the S&V version flies slightly different than the Rebel one with the Hard 3’s going Green with the Unhinged Astromech.  I still think that is one of the best Astromechs in the game…  I am REALLY looking forward to Wave 9 as I think the scene is somewhat stale and static now…  The best I would argue is still the Imperial Aces, but I have an answer for them so they are not unbeatable by any means.  Looking like I’ll be flying at least one B-Wing if I fly Rebels…  Ten Numb is likely the basis for the Squadron.  I flew that one in the beginning, and it is just solid enough I think to get in hits against the Agile Aces…  And he does have the power to actually finish off some of the larger ships in the end game.  Kind of a gimmick but a pretty solid one.

Arc10Y (100)

Thane Kyrell — ARC-170	26
Seismic Torpedo	2
Tactician	2
R3-A2	2
Vectored Thrusters	2
Alliance Overhaul	0
Ship Total: 34
Ten Numb — B-Wing	31
Veteran Instincts	1
Collision Detector	0
"Mangler" Cannon	4
Hera Syndulla	1
B-Wing/E2	1
Ship Total: 38
Gold Squadron Pilot — Y-Wing	18
Autoblaster Turret	2
Bomb Loadout	0
Seismic Torpedo	2
Seismic Charges	2
Engine Upgrade	4
Ship Total: 28

Of course Wave 9 is still not released…  I THINK it will be out before 2 October when the Titan League ends…  Yeah, I should post that on Facebook…