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There was a time the Bears Defense actually struck fear into the hearts of men. I miss 2005. |
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That's a lot of lasers coming in for recovering one shield to make up for.... |
Redundant Shields SEEMS good, but the problem I have with it (and that most people have with it) comes down to cost and opportunity. Your ships are likely going to get shot on turns 2-5, maybe 2-6. But this only brings shields back if you need to bring shields back; if you aren't attacked until turn 3 or 4, that's several turns of it not doing anything. And for 8 points, you want it to be useful every turn. Compare this to Shields to Maximum! on the Pelta, which gives EVERY ship a shield back when it activates. For Redundant Shields, you need to survive the turn, which may or may not even happen. Plus you have the fact that if you're not dead on turn 6, extra shields after everything has attacked don't make you more alive (and also don't help for Opening Salvo points!). So it's really mostly useful turns 2 through 5, and only if you've been shot turn 2. 2 points a turn isn't bad for a free shield, but you have to ensure you were both damaged and then survive for it to really have been worth it, I feel. If you take 15 damage from the front arc of an ISD, one regenerated shield doesn't help you as much at the end of the turn as some of these other options.
It's an intriguing card, and it's not horrible; it's just that I've found that all the other defensive retrofits do much more for the ships of mine that they can go on. One well timed Engineering command can move shields around as needed, too, which doesn't cost me 8 points of usage. As a Rebel player, with our current ship capabilities, I can't recommend it. If you're determined to, MC30s or CR90s, the ships that desperately need shields to stay anywhere near alive. But that's 8 points....
As an Imperial, however, Jerjerrod is a thing. A very good thing who technically can take use of this turn 1 if so desired. And with all the hard turning Jerry wants, it's a fair enough upgrade for your Star Destroyer of Choice (be it Imperial or Minister Tua-led VSDs). You can also put it on an Arquitens, who also really want shields to stay alive. Really, really, really want. Of course, updating this on 3/11/18, the Cymoon ISD (with a Fleet Command slot!) is something that Jerjerrod can use (and WOULD much rather use Shields to Maximum!), so sadly back to the binder, Redundant Shields.
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That burn was so good, I need to Brace myself against the response! |
Don't put this on MC30s or CR90s, their defense token suite is meant to keep them out of trouble as much as you can. MC30s have redundant tokens, and CR90s are meant to be redirecting onto their shields and staying alive that way more than anything. I wouldn't put this on an Arquitens, you have 2 redirects to push damage around your shields anyways.
Keep in mind, though, that Demolisher side arcs 90 percent of the time are just 4 black dice (someone runs Glad-IIs, I swear!) and that ECM doesn't help you here, nor does Intel Officer. But against ISDs with H9s? Yup, stay gold, Pony Boy. You can spend red/activated tokens with this, they're just gone forever after that. You'll need to evaluate your game state and location of your ship as to whether that's worth it or not. You'll also need to know how bad the attacks against you are going to be in order to use this. For example, the front arc of a generic MC30 is a blue dice and 2 black dice. If your opponent rolls hit+crit on both black dice and an accuracy on the blue, bracing can take you down to only 2 damage. But he still has that side arc of the MC30 (2 blue, 3 black dice) to roll. That has a much bigger potential of hurting, so I might save the ECM use for that attack.
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Mark, have you tried NOT cheating on your girlfriend? |
So how do you pick which one to use, EWS or ECM? If you fear a squadron heavy fleet or a bunch of tiny attacks from CR90 or Raider swarms coming right for you, EWS (when the hull zone is picked correctly) will counter them. If you fear fighting other ships that would lock down your defense tokens, preventing their usage while they fire large attacks into you, well then I suggest ECM. Both have their uses, and while EWS just showed up, it's definitely a good card already, that I can tell.
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In this slide, class, you can see Rebel hero Arvel Crynyd blowing up the shield generators on the Executor! |
AP is great, however, against long range red dice attacks and/or fighters that try to take out one side's shields and start firing into that side with more damage. It also skates around Norra's crit; if the defending hull zone that they're attacking has no shields, it can't lose any! You're still getting attacked, though, and potentially in trouble, so, uhh, be careful with that. They may just start resolving the regular crit, or hitting other hull zones while still remaining at distance 1 of Norra, letting them use her ability.
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It's about this intelligent, too. And be afraid, I now have a Meme Generator account! |
What's going to happen to AP now that EWS exists? Well, damage PREVENTION beats damage MOVING, so I don't predict much of a life for AP now outside of a few specific builds. I am happy to be proven wrong, of course, but EWS seems stronger to me (and doesn't have the XI7 restriction, for that matter).
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That's right, I'm in here too! The Pete Best of this section |
For you rebels (not Rebels, haha) who want to make this card your THING, well let me say that you're going to need to bring these in multiples and you'll want to make sure that any squadron you hit goes DOWN and doesn't get to stick around at half health to finish you off. Make sure you're flakking heavily, and you should still (just like Raiders!) bring in a SFC to deal with squadrons. I've seen people take 1 of these on their big ship and expect it to solve all their squadron problems. Don't do that; this card (and all these retrofits for that matter) are attempts at damage prevention. It won't solve all your problems but it should help you out in some fashion. If you go up against a squadron presence, flak heavily, flak often, and move fast towards taking out their carriers. MC30s and CR90s are where I've seen this used well, I leave any other attempts as an exercise to the reader.
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Can you believe I cost the same as Cluster Bombs? What a clusterf- |
When to choose the blast doors over the other ones? When you want health. Lots, and lots, and lots of health (third lots is only for Motti players. Again, SEVENTEEN HEALTH for 5 points). As right now the Assault MC80 is the only ship that can take 2 defensive retrofits, pairing Reinforced Blast Doors with either ECM or EWS is great times and makes sure that your Doom Hoagie stays alive. It's a LOT of points, but in the end, if you live, that's a lot of points you didn't give your opponent. Stay alive.
You can't equip the same upgrade twice. So no double RBD MC80 assaults.
ReplyDeleteTrue. The section John wrote was a little unclear with its pronoun usage of "them" (meaning "defensive retrofits", but it could be interpreted to mean "reinforced blast doors"), so I cleaned it up slightly to make it clear. Thanks for letting us know.
DeleteYou should mention that EWS used against superior positions is pretty good ;)
ReplyDelete