Armada: Independence and squadrons

Google images never disappoints.

Just throwing this out there as I've been thinking about trying this out in the near future, but do you guys think a two ship build with Rebels can work at 400 points?  Let's say you go really hard into squadrons and decide that you want a run list this..

ACKBAR TYPE4 
Author: HERO

Faction: Rebel Alliance
Points: 396/400
Commander: Admiral Ackbar

Assault Objective: Advanced Gunnery
Defense Objective: Fire Lanes
Navigation Objective: Superior Positions

[ flagship ] MC80 Command Cruiser (106 points)
-  Admiral Ackbar  ( 38  points)
-  Independence  ( 8  points)
-  Raymus Antilles  ( 7  points)
-  Engine Techs  ( 8  points)
-  Boosted Comms  ( 4  points)
-  Electronic Countermeasures  ( 7  points)
-  XI7 Turbolasers  ( 6  points)

Assault Frigate Mark II B (72 points)
-  Intel Officer  ( 7  points)
-  Gunnery Team  ( 7  points)
-  Electronic Countermeasures  ( 7  points)
-  XI7 Turbolasers  ( 6  points)

1 Dash Rendar ( 24 points)
4 B-Wing Squadrons ( 56 points)
3 A-Wing Squadrons ( 33 points)

As you guys probably know by now that I'm more of a fan of capital ships lists flying with very light fighter cover.  This is something that's radically outside my comfort zone which is perfectly fine.  I think we should all explore and try out new things that we might not be accustomed to because that makes us more well-rounded as players.

So here's the general gist of things:  Use the M80 Command to throw the max amount of B-Wings up at speed-4 from Independence to act like the long-arm of the law.  Sure, you don't get to attack on this activation, but the idea here is to harry your opponents and make them sweat because if they don't have a pretty strong fighter core, they're going to get their capital ships blown out of the water.  With Dash Rendar, you have 5 black dice and 4 blues using the Bomber keyword, not to mention the A-Wings can also throw out blacks on ships if they need to.  The A-Wings will act as fighter cover and Dash Rendar will be the swiss army knife that can adapt to any situation.  Raymus Antilles with the natural command of 4 will allow me to utilize 5 squadrons a turn (4 B-Wings and Dash) from long-range because of the Boosted Comms.  Raymus also works really nicely with Engine Techs as he allows me to maintain my speed-3 movement for a turn while I focus on max squadron activation.

Yes, I miss out on Home One's wonderful accuracy, but the ability to threaten a large area with a bomber that normally moves speed-2 might pay off.  The AFMKIIB and the MC80 can afford to play a little more cautiously in the back while you lay it into them with your overwhelming fighter horde.  Total points of fighters here comes out to 113, which is a pretty significant number.  This means that you're hugely invested in your battleplan which is pretty much:  Use your fighter-bombers to threaten and dismantle capital ships while preserving your 2 capital ships as long as possible.  Hopefully your numbers and powerful attack craft and quickly dispatch smaller squadrons trying to tie you up and start bombing the crap out of those ISDs before they start ripping into your ships.

One of the biggest problems with this list is the fact that you only have 2 ships, and 2 Rebel lists at that.  In total, you have 14 hull points, so you're pretty much at the same as a single Imperial Star Destroyer that's rolling with Motti as his admiral.  If you think about that from a raw hit point perspective, you are putting a ton of faith into the performance of your squadrons.  This is pretty much make or break at this point.  Your B-Wings absolutely have to make their points back or its pretty much gg.

Let me know what you guys think about this list and let me know how you would improve it.  I'm pretty happy drafting this up on paper, but putting it on the table is making me sweat thinking about it.

Armada: Intiative and objectives

What objectives work best for your fleet?

One of the less common things players talk about in Armada are the objectives.  More specifically, the objectives that they take with their fleet to compliment their overall strategy.  I guess the best way to describe this is by giving you an example using my own fleet.

Let's just say I'm taking this list out to play:
399/400
MC80 Command, Ackbar, Intel, Engine Techs, ECM, XI7
Assault MKIIB, Intel, Gunnery Team, ECM, XI7
Assault MKIIB, Intel, Gunnery Team, ECM XI7
2x A-Wings

When I design my fleet, the first thing that I do is give it a purpose.  Once I gave it a purpose, I give it the necessary admiral, ships and upgrades to make sure that I have all the tools for the job.  After that's done, and I'm ready to set sail to face-off against the other lists out there, I look at the missions available to me and which ones will either be most beneficial to me, or least detrimental.  This is where Initiative comes into play:  Determining who will be the first player and who will be the second player, and ultimately, who picks the mission.

Being the first player comes with many benefits:  You get to activate first for the rest of the game and this can be a huge boon for offensive-minded players who like to seize opportunities.  This is the biggest draw for being the first player in my opinion.  In a ship vs. ship game where the dice pools are getting larger, being able to activate first to get in a kill or get out of trouble is absolutely game-changing.  Aside from this, you also get to choose from the second player's objectives, which can potentially benefit your list even further.

The player who goes second is naturally more defensive and more reactionary.  Since they are always going to go second, they will have to accept the brunt of the damage but will also see exactly what their opponents are doing in a clearer picture.  This can potentially mean being able to activate on your turn in a more decisive manner as opposed to being more predictive if you were the first player.  Since the opponent will also move first, this can potentially force them into kill opportunities for ships with longer range.

While being able to react to the opponent is good, the true strength of being the second player comes from the raw benefit of objectives.  All of the objectives in the game give a straight benefit to the second player either in terms of placement, points advantage, or raw damage.

Let's examine the current objectives suite that I have with my fleet:

Rebels Premium Package.

Keep in mind that like the upgrades and squadrons you pick for your fleet, the objectives should benefit your fleet as well.  My fleet is designed for attacking capital ships, from range pprpefably, but my firepower also increases as I get closer.  I do not have a list that can fight off unlimited amounts of squadrons, and the capital ships need to be close to Home One to fully control my opponent's defensive options.  Due to the damage my MC80 can put out, Advanced Gunnery can be really good on this ship because he can't take Gunnery Teams.  If I am the second player by my opponent's choosing (because 399 has a low initiative bid), there's no way in hell he's going to want the MC80 to shoot twice into the same hull.  This means that he'll have to choose between Fire Lanes and Intel Sweep, both of which will want the opposing player to move and contest areas for victory tokens, while subjecting him to my long-ranged firepower.

The train of thought here is that you're mentally preparing to have lost the initiative and that you're going to be the second player.  However, the missions should also be prepared in a way that even if you are the first player, you should still feel comfortable seeing these missions across the table from you because you're going to be choosing one for battle.

Really quick, let's look at what I would take with my double ISD Motti, Raider and TIEs.

Imperial Grade A.

Advanced Gunnery should be self-explanatory because of the overall damage potential that it can provide for a ISD player going second.  While no one in the right mind will provide this objective to their opponent, it's still a card that players playing big dice capital ships will want to see in the mission pool.  Contested Outpost for a bully list like double ISD pretty much says it all:  Come and meet me head on or lose victory tokens.  Minefields is one of those missions that Imperial players love because it robs the Rebel player of their movement opportunities and could severely hamper their maneuverability.  What if you have to drive through the mines?  Good thing I'm packing 14 hull per ship that matters.  Same thing goes for something like Superior Positions.  If I'm putting two front-facing monsters on the battlefield, I can probably care a lot less about my deployment.

The biggest change that Wave2 has over the meta is well, the ISD.  I keep saying this over and over again, but if you look at the way the objectives are designed, it's pretty clear that some favor the Rebel's speed, maneuverability and tendency to play the ranged game.  Imperials are typically slower, hit harder and do better in more static missions where the opponent comes to them.  This all changes in Wave2 because of the speed and firepower of the ISD, and the raw firepower that Ackbar can call upon in his fleet.  Can you risk standing still while being pelted by serious firepower and not just a few bee stings?  Likewise, can you risk dancing around the victory tokens when the ISD can just rush forward and destroy your ships with ease?  Best of all, how will these objective packages come into play in blue vs. blue?  For me, it's better safe than sorry.  I think my objectives choices are pretty safe in that regard.

PS - HERO's Gaming Channel is up and running!  Come check out some Squadron Battles gameplay from Star Wars Battlefront.

Armada: Analyzing list progression

Really getting down into it.

When it comes down to finalizing your list to be used for tournaments, there's going to be plenty of revisions.  If you look back to my first post on Armada, you'll see a list that featured the M80 Assault and 2x MKIIs with Enhanced Armaments.  As the list progressed, it became much more focused on doing control and putting out damage.  I dropped the Enhanced Armaments for XI7s and took Intel Officers on every ship to control the option to Brace as much as possible.  From there, I went a little bit further and dropped the M80 Assault variant down to the Command because I think the points savings is worth the adjustment in firepower, and I used the points to purchase Dash Rendar as a solo protector of the fleet from bombers.  Now, I'm re-thinking if I need the Intel Officers on the MKIIs if Home One is already handing out free Accuracy.

The list, looks like this:
MC80 Command, Ackbar, Home One, Intel Officer, Engine Techs, ECM, XI7
MKIIB, Gunnery Team, ECM, XI7
MKIIB, Gunnery Team, ECM, XI7

I have 37 points to work with here, and from here, the list can literally go in these directions:
397 - Change Engine Techs to Nav Team, add Intel Officers to both whales, add Dash Rendar
398 - Add Intel Officers to both whales, add Nym
394 - Add a single Intel Officer and Dash Rendar
396 - Add 3x A-Wings

The reason why the skeleton list itself includes Engine Techs is because I think this is one of the best upgrades you can possibly have on the M80.  Ackbar and Home One are mandatory upgrades, but next to the XI7, ECM and Intel Officer, Engine Techs is one of those upgrades that will make or break the M80 on the battlefield.  With Tractor Beams being a thing and the rest of the ships in your list moving a max of 3, having the Home One being able to keep up while making tighter turns than the MKIIs gives it all kinds of movement possibilities that you simply will not have stock.  This is why I think the first option is out for me.

Now, we have 3 options to work with:
398 - Add Intel Officers to both whales, add Nym
394 - Add a single Intel Officer and Dash Rendar
396 - Add 3x A-Wings

I think there's two trains of thought here and they're both arriving at the station at the same time.  The first option here is 2x Intel Officers and Nym to bring the list up to 398.  With the points being so close to 400, you're almost sure to lose the the choice to go first and second.  The list is also pretty vulnerable to enemy fighters because Nym is a dedicated bomber for the most part.  He's cheap enough to fit into a list with 2x Intels, but other options to include is Tycho as a dedicated Interceptor, or Luke as a fighter/bomber hybrid.  Tycho gives me a little extra reach in his A-Wing with speed-5, but his 4 hull points and 3 blue dice makes him a little fragile in a sustained fight.  His biggest strength is the ability to dash 5 around the battlefield to tie up bombers that might spread out from you.  Luke is also a pretty solid buy for a good ship-threatening ability, 4 blues on squadron, 1 black on ship with the Bomber keyword.  Unfortunately, the speed 3 leaves a little to be desired.

The force is strong in this one.

The second option here is to take the best of both words, kinda.  Dash Rendar is arguably the best single ship for the Rebels if you're looking for a fighter-bomber that is fully autonomous.  Bomber and Rogue are fantastic keywords to have and the 6 HP, 4-speed and double Brace will keep him around for a while.  Really though, Dash is a great option compared to the more expensive A-Wing variant.  This last option is the least attractive to me:  I lose most of my control to add 3x A-Wings, which is nice and all, but I think I need some control elements to keep the power of the list intact.  What Intel Officer provides me over accuracy is that once a turn, I can bypass enemy ECM to really threaten the Brace token.  If he doesn't brace for impact, that's fine with me.  If he does, he gets its effect for one round and loses it forever.  That might as well the end for his ECM as well because ECM to guarantee a Brace is why the upgrade is taken the vast majority of the time.

We're down to this:
398 - Add Intel Officers to both whales, add Nym/Luke/Tycho (Dash won't fit)
394 - Add a single Intel Officer and Dash Rendar

I think it's pretty much going to be down to 2x Intel + Luke or a single Intel + Dash.  Dash will give me 394 and Luke will give me 397.  Dash will give me Rogue and the possibility to go first more, but Luke will give me more control with 3x total Intel Officers in the list.  Is the triple Intel Officers even needed with Home One bonus?  Home One does hit the hardest out of all the ships.

Which one would you go with and why?

Armada: Getting value from your upgrades

You think that SSD didn't have a gameplan?

One of the most difficult skills for a player to develop over the course of their career is the ability to min-max.  Thankfully, I've played competitive RTS, FPS and TCG games for the majority of my life, and this skillset eventually poured into GW games on the table-top.  Despite all the crap I give GW, one of the things that the company does right most of the time is giving players the option to completely design their army lists.  For those of you that might not be familiar with GW games, each army gets an army book and they can pretty much customize their units in any way they want given a certain points limit.  Unfortunately, GW doesn't really make the most balanced games.  This means that some units and upgrades are much more cost-effective than others while some are just utterly useless in competitive play.  The only positive thing about this is that after many years of playing this game system, competitive players tend to have a pretty good eye on filtering hundreds of different units, upgrades and items into something formidable that is workable in a competitive environment.

When one builds a list, you have to have a purpose in mind.  You can't just go put models on the table and say:  I want to win the game.  Great, you want to win, but how?  What does your list do well?  Where does it falter?  And how do you maximize the chances that you can consistently apply the strengths of your lists while minimizing the weaknesses?  This game, like many other table-top games is a game about points.  Whenever you spend points in this game, you want to maximize the chances the points you spend help you win the game.  Well, how do you know which ships and upgrades are good?  Good is completely subjective and dependent on too many things:  These things can include the mission, asteroid placement, player playstyle, opponent, time limit, you get the point.  The question you should truly be asking yourself is:  What ship and upgrade will fit most with what I'm trying to accomplish.

There are FOUR keywords I want you guys to apply when asking yourself which ship or upgrade you should take to maximize your chances of succeeding in your objective.

Power
Consistency
Difficulty
Price

I'll explain:  Power reflects how powerful the ability is and represents the overall impact the ability has on the battlefield.  Consistency is how many times the ability will come into play in the course of the game.  Difficulty is similar to consistency, but represents how often your consistency can be hampered by something your opponent can do (to negate, counter, denial).  Lastly, we have price.  Price is last on the list because it should be the last thing you think about after analyzing everything else.

The best way to do this is give you guys a proper example.  Let's look at something I've been raving about forever:  XI7 Turbolasers.  In terms of power, it's very powerful:  It severely weakens Redirect and makes most of the damage go directly to the ship's hull.  It's incredibly consistent:  Almost every ship in the game have Redirect or even multiple Redirects and this occurs on every shot you take, which also stacks with other effects (like Ackbar's +2 red and Gunnery Team).  There is nothing in the game that can currently negate its effect, so it's completely unanswered by the enemy.  Lastly, it's only 6 points.

From here, you look at someone like Lando Calrissian.  Sure, he's in another slot, but let's just say you have a officer slot available and you have the points to buy either.  His ability is not bad at all, since you're essentially forcing your opponent to re-roll one or more of his attack dice.  However, he's inconsistent because of his conditional trigger and you can only use him once.  He only activates during the Spend Defense Token Step (really specific) and you to discard him so he's gone for the rest of the game.  At least he doesn't have much difficulty getting his ability off since there's no way to negate it.  From here, you can compare that despite being cheaper, XI7s are almost always going to be the better buy.

Another example I can throw out is Advanced Projectors.  For 6 points, this is pretty much in the middle of the pack right alongside XI7s.  It's a defensive boon, and has a very powerful effect because it gives you incredible mileage from your Redirect.  Is it consistent?  Of course it is, because your ships will be shot at and almost all ships have the ability to Redirect.  The caveat here is the difficulty.  If your opponent is shooting at you with XI7s, it will completely negate the fact you even have this card equipped.  At this point, the 6 points you pay is for nothing.  For this, I would take a real hard look at your current meta.

In conclusion, in order to truly min-max in a game like Star Wars Armada, you want to capitalize on what will work and minimize on what will not work.  There is a lot of ships, squadrons, named pilots, abilities, and upgrades out there, but it's up to you to filter them out for the purposes of your list.  Find out what you want to accomplish, and then gear your fleet out to fulfill that purpose.  The general rule of thumb here is to stay away from upgrades that will not fit under your gameplan first and foremost.  Once you eliminate those, look for upgrades that are powerful based on your needs:  Running a lot of squadrons?  Look for things that benefits squadrons.  Looking for raw damage?  Look for damage buffers.  Next, look for consistency:  Things that will allow the power of those upgrades to truly shine over and over again.  Avoid cards that you can only use once, or have a specific conditional effect unless its something you intend to do often, and is part of your overall strategy.  If your opponent has a way of negating either the power or consistency of your upgrade, think even harder to see if its still worth your time.  Lastly, this is a game about points.  Is the upgrade worth it to you with all things considered and how does it compare to option B of similar points?  Here's where you go back to to the beginning and think about the purpose of your list again.  Then the cycle starts all over.  This is why despite all my time playing, 75% of that is actually army design and list building.

I love it.

PS - Preload those Battlefronts boys.  I'll be uploading tons of gameplay footage of Squadron Battles to my Youtube channel in the next couple of days.

Armada: Exploring the Wave2 meta

This is some stunning artwork.

What kind of lists do you guys think see join the party once Wave2 hits?  The think the most obvious answer to this is to look at what players are currently playing in Wave1 and just extrapolate on top of it.  Imagine your best performing list right now with a hundred extra points.  What do you do first?  Do you add one of the new ships?  Do you just add a few tried and true ships?  Or do you finally decide to stop putting capital ships out to sea without a few squadrons to back them up?  I think we will see all of these variants in no time at all.  Once Wave2 hits, the meta is going to explode with creativity and it will be a very long time before we see which lists come up on top.

Here are some of the lists I think we'll see in Wave2:

• GenCon special, but upgraded with ISD-II, 3 Glads and a good amount of fighter cover.
• I think in general, fighter diversity will increase a lot:  YT-2400s, Firesprays, and a lot more will take the field.
• You can take the current World'st list and just replace the CR90 with another Assault MKII.  Imagine 8 A-Wing squadrons with 3 kited out Assault MKIIs with Ackbar throwing out extra red dice.
• There's going to be double ISD-II lists and maybe even double MC80.  Although I don't think the MC80 will see as much play as the double ISD, there is going to be a lot of people trying out the fat ship strategy.  Hell, you might even see 3 ISDs with Motti.. wouldn't that be fun.
• You will see the list that I've been developing: Ackbar's Whaling Fleet, or basically a fat MC80 and 2 fat whales.
• We will see Rhymerballs with Jumpmaster tech, TIE Fighters with Dengar, B-Wings with Independence, the list of combos and tricks goes on!
• That guy will definitely try 4x MKIIs with Ackbar, Gunnery Team, ECM and XI7s.  You know its going to happen since the damage output on the list is murderous.
• There is definitely going to be ship swarm, taking Nebs, CR90s, MC30cs swimming around everywhere.  What about a heavy Imperial Raider build?  It's so crazy it might just work.
• We might see the end of ship-only builds or we might see the beginning of solo squadrons (e.g. my Darth Vader and Dash Rendar tech).
• Take everything that just discussed, and now think of it in a mirror match, blue vs. blue, Imperial vs. Imperial.  Now the fun starts.

Overall, I think the safer bets are taking current builds and then adding on top of it.  For example, the edited Worlds list with 3x Nebs with Ackbar and 6x A-Wings, Gallant Haven and Jan Ors is a very safe list to try first.  Going out of the way and doing double ISD-II with say, 4x Firespray-31s can definitely work, but it's thinking slightly outside the box.

What kind of lists are you going to try first?  Whatever it is, it's probably going to be awesome.

Armada: Double ISD and Home One

Show them the power of the dark side.

Hey guys.  Just a quick post on how double ISD-IIs can be a crazy list to fight against.  Like most of you folks know, I'm already super for players taking the ISD-II in every single one of their Imperial lists.  Even though I would think about taking a VSD and GSD into the mix, I think a double ISD list would be absolutely crazy to fight against.  Can you just think about how much firepower will be pouring out?  11 HP is a crazy amount of health to chew through as well, so why not make it just a little more while mowing down Rebel ships?

Well, here you go:

MOTTI TYPE1 
Author: HERO
Faction: Galactic Empire
Points: 399/400
Commander: Admiral Motti

Assault Objective: Advanced Gunnery
Defense Objective: Contested Outpost
Navigation Objective: Minefields

[ flagship ] Imperial II-Class Star Destroyer (120 points)
-  Admiral Motti  ( 24  points)
-  Relentless ( 3  points)
-  Intel Officer  ( 7  points)
-  Gunnery Team  ( 7  points)
-  Electronic Countermeasures  ( 7  points)
-  XI7 Turbolasers  ( 6  points)

Imperial II-Class Star Destroyer (120 points)
-  Avenger  ( 5  points)
-  Intel Officer  ( 7  points)
-  Gunnery Team  ( 7  points)
-  Electronic Countermeasures  ( 7  points)
-  XI7 Turbolasers  ( 6  points)

Raider-I Class Corvette (44 points)
-  Impetuous  ( 4  points)
-  Ordnance Experts  ( 4  points)

1 Darth Vader ( 21 points)

With Admiral Motti, you can have 14 hull points on each ISD and just mow down everything in your path.  You have so much health on a single ship that they will stay around forever.  Just think about it:  My Ackbar Whaling Fleet has a total of 20 hull points in the entire fleet.  You have 28 hull points between TWO ships, and the Raider-I also has 5 hull points, which gives you 33 hull points total in 3 ships.  That's just ridiculous.  I am seriously contemplating taking something like this as the go-to list for competitive play and solid balance.

If you feel that the Corvette is not worth it despite being able to take air multiple times with black dice that re-roll hits, you can drop him and Vader and load up on a massive fighter fleet.  This might also give you a good incentive to take some boosted coms in your offensive retro slots.  Some good squadrons to take in combination with your ISDs can be anything from TIE Advanced or as many Firesprays as you can.  For more fighter ideas, check out the tricks and combo post I have up on Armada.

Oh, and if you're curious, I'm thinking about editing my Ackbar Whaling Fleet.  I'm basically changing out my M80 to the command variant and cutting out some points so I can fit Dash Rendar into the mix.  I figure that the Command variant of the M80 is just as good as the Assault and Engine Techs are just so crucial on the M80.  I can risk losing Advanced Projectors so I don't really need the extra defensive slot, and I don't really need the extra Intel Officers on the whales due Home One handing out accuracy tokens.  Of course having more is better, but in a points-driven game, you can only fit so much into an effective list.

397/400
M80 Command, Ackbar, Home One, Intel, Engine Techs, ECM, XI7
Assualt MKIIB, Intel, Gunnery Team, ECM, XI7
Assualt MKIIB, Leia, Gunnery Team, ECM, XI7
Dash Rendar

I also wanted to say that I have pre-loaded Star Wars Battlefront and next week, I will be spamming the hell out of that game.  I'll make sure to link some of my TIE Fighter/X-Wing action.

Armada: Screed power list

Together, we will rule the galaxy.

When it comes down to playing Imperials, I think you absolutely have to field at least one Imperial Star Destroyer.  That thing is absolutely beastly compared to almost every other ship in the game.  The ISD-II comes stock at 120 points and the front arc is massive for the amount of damage that it can drop.  When you're throwing 4 reds and 4 blues from 4 shields in the front, 3 on the sides and 2 in the rear, even the side arcs are not safe for players trying to flank the damn thing.  The most impressive thing about the damn ship is its ridiculous speed.  Having such a powerful ship move so quickly allows it to bully the middle of the board really easily.

Let's just lead with the list I've been toying with:

SCREED TYPE1 
Author: HERO
Faction: Galactic Empire
Points: 395/400
Commander: Admiral Screed

Assault Objective: Advanced Gunnery
Defense Objective: Contested Outpost
Navigation Objective: Minefields

[ flagship ] Imperial II-Class Star Destroyer (120 points)
-  Admiral Screed  ( 26  points)
-  Relentless  ( 3  points)
-  Intel Officer  ( 7  points)
-  Gunnery Team  ( 7  points)
-  Phylon Q7 Tractor Beams  ( 6  points)
-  Electronic Countermeasures  ( 7  points)
-  XI7 Turbolasers  ( 6  points)

Victory II-Class Star Destroyer (85 points)
-  Intel Officer  ( 7  points)
-  Gunnery Team  ( 7  points)
-  Phylon Q7 Tractor Beams  ( 6  points)
-  XI7 Turbolasers  ( 6  points)

Gladiator I-Class Star Destroyer (56 points)
-  Demolisher  ( 10  points)
-  Engine Techs  ( 8  points)
-  Assault Concussion Missiles  ( 7  points)

1 Darth Vader ( 21 points)

Trapping your mans, sealing your fate.

Following relatively the same formula that I've been building my Rebels, I think the most effective power option would be to maximize on its firepower and control the engagement from start to finish.  This is why you see my Intel Officer + XI7s, but you'll also see Tractor Beams in here because of how much effect it has on ships that venture near the ISD-II.  Let me explain to you really quickly why I think the Tractor Beams is a great upgrade:  For the points that you spend on it, you can consistently disrupt any ship of your choosing as long as its in range.  You simply pick a ship during your activation and its affected.  There's no rolling, no way to negate it, no way to get around it, you simply exhaust the card and the effect happens.  Slowing ships down to by an entire speed means that they have to constantly execute navigate commands or stack navigate tokens just so they can hope to out-turn the ISD.  They certainty can't outrun it, so reaching better angles of engagement is absolutely needed to avoid getting 8-diced constantly.  I know that most MC80 players will be crapping their pants if their ship is stuck at 1 with an ISD's guns locked on you.  It's just insane that it affects ships of equal size.

This is the new Imperial hotness.

Unfortunately, not all ships are slow, and not all games are going to be Red vs. Blue anymore.  Now that you'll have games where Rebels will fight Rebels and Imperials vs. Imperials, so this handy little upgrade suddenly makes Gladiators a lot slower than they would like, and Victory-class Star Destroyers cry all day as they try to pick their speed back up with that 3-command rating.  Tractor Beams are where's its at folks, seriously.  Being able to automatically disrupt movement with no way to counter and to do it turn after turn because of how commands are queued is going to be painful.  Not only does it force your opponent to constantly order navigate commands to negate its effect, but there's absolutely no downside to having it.  This is the very definition of cost-efficiency.

BOOM.

Keep in mind that this is pretty much my skeleton list when playing Imperials.  Running the trifecta of ISD, VSD and GSD gives me a lot of options overall.  The VSD is pretty much outclassed by the ISD, but the point cost that you pay for it is more than fair for something that has 8 HP to chew through and can still deliver consistent damage with its 3 reds and 3 blues.  The only thing that it's really missing is the ability to take Engine Techs or ECM.  Those upgrades would drastically help the performance of the ship itself.  You shouldn't worry too much though; the Victory is still an excellent ISD support vessel with its various weapon upgrades.  In addition, the Gladiator in this list has Engine Techs and I think it's absolutely ridiculous the kind of mileage you can get with a pseudo speed-4 Gladiator that has the Demolisher title.  I mean, just look at its speed-1!  It has 2 clicks for whatever reason just so it can do some movement craziness after it shoots, moves and shoots again with ACM and Screed's ability to turn crappy rolls into something great.  A single Gladiator on the flank, moving the way it does with black dice and ACM is something you do not want to have in your face.

Serious value for the cost.

Lastly, we have Vader hanging around with his TIE/x1.  Why Vader?  Because like I said a previous post, Vader is one of the best pilots to have if you're looking out for Rebel bombers.  There's nothing that sucks more than having a bunch of B-Wings just hanging out camping the backside of your ISD, so Vader's there to fix the problem.  He has speed-4, 5 health, double Brace, and godly firepower when it comes down to killing enemy fighters.  The three blue and black dice with his pilot ability that allows him to treat crits as hits can potentially give him 5 damage.  That's pretty much a dead B-Wing a turn if he rolls hot.  His speed allows you to hound other ships as well, since his black dice on ships can churn out 2 damage a turn with decent rolls.  Never fear bombers because you know good ol' Anakin's got your back.

BRRRRRRRRRRT.

All in all, Screed is the right man for the job if you're out to kill with the Imperials.  It must be a damn good coincidence that Screed can turn useless dice into crits on a ship with 4 blue dice (or three on the Victory).  There are so many cards out there that react nicely with crits and the combo potential is huge.  Just look at what Overload Pulse can do to an enemy ship before the ISD-II with the Avenger title gets to shoot.  Oh look, a fully exhausted ship.  Better rip into it with my ISD-II firing full SW-7 Ion Batteries that turn those useless accuracy dice into pure damage.

The list goes on, and it can get pretty comprehensive but I'm sure by now you guys have something to work with.  Don't like Vader for whatever reason?  I'm sure you'll find room for Boba Fett because he's also really amazing for the points.  Do yourself a favor Imperial players:  Make Screed your Admiral of choice and buy yourself an ISD or two.  That way, you can feel comfortable taking on just about anybody on the battlefield.