Friday, November 27, 2015

Armada: Exploring the MC30c

Hope often comes in small packages.

I hope everyone had a good turkey day!  Now that that's over, let's talk about the MC30c Scout Frigate.  There's also the torpedo frigate, but for the purposes of this article, I'm going to focus on how I think the Scout variant will be the better one of the two.

The devilfish itself.

First thing's first, it's key to note that despite the MC30c having only 4 HP, it has the shield capacity of most capital ships.  The second thing to note is that the thing can throw out absolutely monstrous amounts of damage with its huge black and red broadsides and 2 black, 1 red front.  This means that in a double arc scenario, you are tossing out 5 blacks and 3 reds.  You can almost directly compare this with the Gladiator-I Star Destroyer who throws out 6 blacks and 2 reds in the same scenario.  The third thing to note is that the MC30c has redundant systems:  Sporting 2 Evades and 2 Redirects makes it pretty resistant to Accuracy effects.  This provides more mileage in the long run when trying to approach targets of opportunity and can drastically increase the lifespan of this relatively fragile ship.  The last point I want to make with the MC30c is its speed.  Having a speed-4 option is very nice on a more fragile craft, but being able to turn like Corvette at speed-3 is what gets me excited.

Guaranteed results.

Now that the introduction has been made, let's talk about upgrades.  The most important upgrade on a ship with multiple black dice is Ordnance Experts.  Ordnance Experts let's you throw out black dice with near guaranteed results.  When you're throwing out 80% hits and crits, you want to eliminate any chance of rolling blanks.  On the other 20% chance that you're looking for the optimal hit and crit result, there will be times where you will deliberately fish for that result because you want to activate something more sinister:  The dreaded Assault Proton Torpedoes.  Over the last couple of days, I've been toying around just how powerful this little upgrade is.  When you buy Ordnance Experts and APT together, you're only looking at 9 points for something that can throw out massive amounts of damage.  APTs give you guaranteed damage off a critical effect, and a face-up card directly dealt to the defender is no laughing matter.  When you consider that some of the crit effects in this game are ridiculous, I would personally always go for crits over the one extra damage that the Assault Concussion Missiles can push out.  Of course this will probably come down to personal preference, but right now I'm liking APT a lot.

So why do I think the Scout Frigate over the Torpedo variant?  It's because of TRCs, or Turbolaser Reroute Circuits.  I think TRCs should go on any ship with double evades.  The amount of guaranteed damage you can perform with a ship with TRCs is absolutely ridiculous, especially when you consider the fact that some Rebel players like fielding Ackbar.  The height ceiling for damage here can be greater than the Assault Frigate, seeing how you throw out one less red at 4 dice, but can guarantee a blank result to be turned into a double hit.  This is huge, absolutely disgusting. When you look at the possible damage potential of this ship with TRCs in close quarters where evades are pretty much useless, you can analyze the damage potential of this ship at its finest.  A broadside from this little bugger with Ackbar does more damage than the MC80 itself.  The best thing about this ship is that it's not reliant on Ackbar for its damage.  With double-arc, in black dice range, you can potentially deal even more damage than Ackbar's additional 2 reds.  Don't get me wrong though, red dice are fantastic with the right fleet composition.  The larger amounts of red also gives you more options overall, as you will sometimes receive accuracy results to better determine how the damage is done.  With Home One reaching tables in the very near future, having a ship that can throw out big damage both far and near with pin-point accuracy can be very worrisome.

This upgrade is so insanely good.

Here is how I plan to run this little killer:

MC30c Scout Frigate (69 points)
-  Foresight  ( 8  points) 
-  Ordnance Experts  ( 4  points) 
-  Turbolaser Reroute Circuits  ( 7  points) 
-  Assault Proton Torpedoes  ( 5  points) 

This is not a cheap ship (93 points vs. the AF's 99), and it only has 4 hull points.  As much as I raved about the amount of damage this thing can put out, it will need expert piloting to get where it needs to be without taking too much damage.  This is why the Foresight title will be mandatory on the MC30c.  Having the ability to get essentially double bonuses from both Evade and Redirects is, for the lack of a better word, godlike.  It's probably the best possible upgrade you can possibly receive on a ship with multiple redirs and evades.  Absolutely fantastic and a must-buy if you're taking the MC30c.

With all things said, how would I run this in the lists I'm running now?

ACKBAR
Author: HERO

Faction: Rebel Alliance 
Points: 397/400 
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) 
-  Home One  ( 7  points) 
-  Intel Officer  ( 7  points) 
-  Engine Techs  ( 8  points) 
-  Electronic Countermeasures  ( 7  points) 
-  XI7 Turbolasers  ( 6  points) 
-  Leading Shots  ( 4  points) 

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

MC30c Scout Frigate (69 points)
-  Foresight  ( 8  points) 
-  Ordnance Experts  ( 4  points) 
-  Turbolaser Reroute Circuits  ( 7  points) 
-  Assault Proton Torpedoes  ( 5  points) 

2 A-Wing Squadrons ( 22 points) 

Yeah sure, I'm running really light here in terms of fighter support, but I think with this list you're pretty much set on the complete and utter destruction of the enemy fleet.  The A-Wings might buy you a turn against a lighter fighter swarm, but it's safe to say that it's going to be your ships that will be carrying the light of day.  I don't think there's anything more that needs to be said about that.

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