Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-27029853-20170703223814/@comment-454133-20171026054336

Today I decided to say goodbye to Biggs, since when the FAQ takes effect, the fleets I use him in won't work as well anymore (and they're already kinda weak & casual against most serious fleets).

First I flew:

Biggs with R4-D6 + Integrated Astromech

Nera with FCS + Advanced Proton Torpedoes + Extra Munitions + Lightning Reflexes + Guidance Chips

Jan with Squad Leader + TLT + Intelligence Agent + Moldy Crow

Normally Jan being out-PS'd is trouble, and I forgot to use intelligence agent, but I did alright anyway. My opponent flew:

Darth Vader with TIE/x1 + ATC + Prockets + VI + Engine Upgrade

"Quickdraw" with VI + FCS + Primed Thrusters + Special Ops Training + Lightweight Frame

"Duchess" with VI + Adaptive Ailerons + Lightweight Frame

We approached each other in a small clearing in the center of the map, and started exchanging fire. I tried to maneuver Nera into range but didn't get close enough. Next round I set up a bump box so I could ensure Vader would end up behind Nera at range 1, but I got it wrong and vader didn't have room, and so ended up touching Nera. Next round I deliberately bumped to stay still, hoping my opponent would end up behind me; it was perfect! Except Jan got in the way and the opponent had to back up all the way again, still touching Nera. Nera spent a lot of time not shooting at the beginning of the game, where this fleet usually tries to alpha-strike an opponent or two off the map. In the mean time, Biggs was taking a beating and died within a couple rounds. I managed to kill Duchess, and then had to take on Quickdraw and Vader.

Eventually TLT won the day against Quickdraw (despite triggering some counterattacks), and it was down to Nera and a very injured Jan vs Vader. But as luck would have it, I got into range 1. I endured a heavy shot from Vader (a B-Wing can take that kind of abuse in a one-on-one staring contest), and then returned fire with a Jan-boosted APT, rolling tons of focus results and one-shotting Vader with 4 hits and 2 crits. My Jan fleets actually have a history of one-shotting Vader in particular, so this was a satisfying trip down memory lane.

We did a second game, and my opponent kept his fleet to get more practice with it, while I switched out mine for the Proton Torp variation:

Biggs with R4-D6 + Integrated Astromech

Nera with FCS + Proton Torpedoes + Extra Munitions + Deadeye + Guidance Chips

Jan with Squad Leader + TLT + Recon Specialist + Moldy Crow

The APT fleet is a joke/gimmick fleet that's really fun, and this one is more practical. Deadeye + Chips + two Proton Torps is extremely potent on Nera, and Jan's extra die plus free action does a lot to amp it up. Recon Specialist on Jan is also excellent, as she can slow roll for a brief time and not worry about ever running out of tokens thereafter.

We approached each other to the right of center, with me moving north. I banked Biggs to face the threat while banking Nera outwards to maintain range 2-3. Jan stayed at the Eastern fringe. Quickdraw approached from the Northwest, Duchess zoomed into flanking position from the southwest, and Vader was moving in from the west, just barely at range 3.

My first target was Quickdraw, and I endured the counterattack to soften him with some TLT. Biggs took the hits like a champ, and fired at Quickdraw but to no effect. Then Nera unloaded her torp and finished the job. Jan had taken damage from Duchess, who managed to aim her arc away from Biggs; Jan was hurting but had survived.

My next priority was Duchess, who I knew was agile and damaging, and she was in a good position for me to shoot (while Vader had decided to token up and get behind an asteroid). After unloading TLT and my remaining torp though, she stayed at 1 health. It was a bit tough finishing her off -- my memory is fuzzy but I think she got into range 1 and caused some trouble, but I got the last damage in eventually.

Hmm... actually I'm a little fuzzy on how long Quickdraw survived too. But Biggs did absorb a full round's shots from all 3 ships before Duchess finished him off, and this helped me a ton because it kept the heat off my B-Wing and HWK for yet another round.

Once it was down to Vader vs Jan and Nera, I shot his shields away and he decided to get out of there and wait to re-engage until the positioning was favorable to him. We danced and maneuvered for a while, and finally he lined up a shot on Jan. Now Jan had not been idle all these rounds, and was now followed by a queen's entourage of focus tokens. Vader fired and got a hit + crit, and Jan rolled... double blanks. Her courtiers could do nothing! All the focus tokens in the world couldn't save her. Sorry Jan, you can't take it with you to the next life.

My opponent and I just busted up laughing at the absurdity, and I cleaned up the pile of focus. After this tragedy, Nera fired and got a good roll, and now it was Vader's turn to blank out. Total destruction!



Thanks to Biggs I was able to fly a B-Wing and HWK and keep them from simply melting in an instant. They die extremely fast without some kind of potent protection, and experience tells me the single round from the FAQ'd Biggs isn't going to be enough to keep this fleet relevant. These two fleets were always somewhat casual to begin with, so it was nice to kind of say goodbye to them. ^_^

The nerfs announced today were pretty needed. I'm looking forward to see what the meta settles into after this. And maybe T-65s and other rebel ships will finally get buffs now that Biggs isn't a problem.