Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-27029853-20170703223814/@comment-454133-20180202221850

Wednesday I played my ion fleet again, with small adjustments as discussed above:

Dalan with Deadeye + Ion Torps + Unhinged Astromech + Guidance Chips + Enforcer Torani with Deadeye + Harpoons + Unhinged Astromech + Guidance Chips Manaroo with Intimidation + K4 Security Droid + Ion Projector

This time it was a tournament, and I took 2nd place. Rules were you have to have at least 3 ships, and at least 2 ion mechanics (ionizing yourself or others).

One of my battles was against a Crack Black swarm with two TIE Bombers for support (one with conner net, another with ion torps), and I just failed and failed to kill anything but the ion torp bomber. Had I rolled better or flown better I'd have done well; what killed me was I forgot I was flying Kimogilas instead of Star Wings, and not being overpowered, they cannot fire after reloading. :)  My opponent wouldn't let me correct the error.  I really think this gross mistake cost me that fight (since my kimo couldn't finish off one of two prime targets in front of him), and I'm disappointed at my error.  Live and learn.

Otherwise, the team did really well in the other two fights. Manaroo just had to show enemies her dial and/or barrel roll and/or large base to Intimidate them, sometimes en-mass, sometimes for multiple rounds. I rarely lined up the kimogila bullseye (it almost always threaded perfectly between the ships in a formation because of my approach), but I still wrecked foes.

But let me tell you, NOTHING hammers home the power of Harpoon Missiles like fielding them next to normal, pre-harpoon, non-overpowered munitions like Ion Torpedoes. The ions would barely squeak by with a single uncancelled crit, while the Harpoons just wrecked everything in my path, and would then wreck them again when the target took a crit or died (usually from the followup Ion Torp). I liked the utility of Ion Torps, but there's simply no reason to field them if you can take Harpoons instead (and for a point cheaper too!).

Cue the chorus of "FFG... please fix..." (ignored forever)

Also... Harpoon Gunboats are notably stronger. The fact that there's no cost limit on their munitions title just seems wacky to me. They can slam and/or reload, and still fire that turn, and watching someone pull that off during this tournament against me reminded me of how potent that is (I still won, but it surprised me nonetheless; I'd forgotten). It's just so good; it would be less so if it weren't Harpoons, but still strong. I think that's the reason the Kimogila only really sees casual play; it's great, but it's no gunboat.

If you're going to field lots of munitions, right now there's an objectively right way to do it. And that feels... bad for the meta. :(

But enough complaining. I had a fun time at the tourney, and I got to fly a Jumpmaster and two Kimogilas and punch many faces with them. Cross that off the bucket list. ;)