Why I Don’t Use Torpedoes, and You Shouldn’t Either
By Robert M.– January 17, 2013
Introduction
Okay, I confess to the hyperbole: I sometimes use torpedoes (and other one-shot secondary weapons), and so should you. But you should always do so thoughtfully, and with an awareness of what they are likely to get for you.
(Just a quick take, today, I promise.)
A Thousand Words, Plus One Paragraph
In response to a request on BoardGameGeek, I put together the image below using simulated attack data. The percentages shown have an error of +/-0.1%.
Click to super-size.
Note in particular that, when shooting at a target with 3 Agility, your likelihood of generating at least one hit (the top left table) is pretty good… as long as that TIE fighter or A-wing is being driven by an idiot who fails to use either Focus or Evade. But even against targets with 2 Agility, you shouldn’t expect more than 2 damage–and you shouldn’t be surprised if you miss.
Final Thoughts
The bottom line is this: if you’re looking to spend points on single-shot secondary weapons, think very carefully about how they will most likely be deployed, and what they are likely to gain you. I personally don’t like the idea of spending 4 points on a weapon that’s 50% likely to do nothing–so I either don’t run secondaries or I figure out synergies that make them more effective.
Run Torpedoes on Wedge or Salm. Run Concussion Missiles on Vader, or along with Push the Limit. Run Homing Missiles alone on ships with high pilot skill, or with Deadeye on Green Squadron. But don’t just spend 4-5 points on a secondary weapon with the assumption that it will be effective!
I like the way this is broken down to demonstrate that you can’t launch expendable weapons carelessly against agile targets. One of the things I’ve started doing is u-turning my missile ship the turn after I get TL, so that I get one of two situations:
– Enemy ships are in my firing arc, but I am not in theirs because they didn’t u-turn. I can launch my expendable and maybe get in some free damage… with much better odds than I’d otherwise have. I might still miss against AGI 3, but I can probably hit anything else and I can seriously mess up a Y-wing or YT-1300. If I’m on a Concussion or Homing Missile, I can green maneuver next turn and then fire, which grants me Focus and very high odds to hit/damage.
– Enemy ships u-turned as well, and now I have an easier target for my expendable. They’ll get to shoot at me too, but they’ll likely be taking 1 extra damage for that privilege. I probably should go ahead and fire while I have a soft target unless I’m sure they won’t race into range 1 against me.
I’ve been eyeballing the Cluster Missile in particular — that’s a hard missile to justify bringing, since there are so many targets it doesn’t work well against. I like it on Vader w/ Marksmanship, since you can TL and then get Marksmanship on both attacks.
It’s all about configuration.
I generally only use Torps with Wedge or Horton, and because of that I’ve done very well with them. Timing is important so you want to make the most of your PT. I’ve often Had Wedge with Swarm tactics give a Garvin a first shot. Then he strips off a focus or an evade, and gives Wedge a Focus. Then I follow up with a Torp. Because it’s one shot you have to make the most of it. With upgrades and other things available I don’t think I’ll use PT that much anymore.
The other thing that gets lost is that grabbing TL leaves you more vulnerable. You might be increasing your own odds/damage, but you are also increasing odds/damage on the ship firing the expendable.
One of the squads that I like is x3 A-wings, all w/ PtL and a Concussion Missile. That is 3 or 4 hits per missile, and I would not want to be a YT-1300, Y-wing, X-wing, or Firespray. One thing expendable weapons do well is kill a big tough target fast or knock Stealth Device off a target right away. I’m not convinced that they have no place in the “new meta” of wave 2. What I am convinced of mostly is that it’s a waste of a shot to fire at an Academy Pilot with one — you aren’t aiming at a high value target, and it’s a hard target with low offense. I’d aim at an Interceptor though.
I haven’t been using PT on Wedge or Horton because I prefer to defend them rather than land extra damage. I like Concussion Missile + PtL (or Vader) as a “nearly sure 4″ — I don’t like much else because it’s less effective.
I like Concussion missiles a great deal with multiple actions, or Homing Missiles if not. I also agree with you that they will have a definite place in the new meta, but they’ll also be harder to afford (and/or will be mounted on A-wings, which don’t bring a lot of offense after the missiles are away).
What do you think of my Vader’s Riflemen squad from the blog archive? Vader + Concussion, Maarek + PtL + Concussion, and Bounty Hunter?
I don’t entirely share the criticism of TIE Fighter/Advanced and A-wing. A lot of your criticism of expendables assumes these are the target, but then you express a level of disdain for their lack of offense. If nobody fields them because of low offense, you will be firing your expendables mostly at AGI 1 and AGI 2 ships.
When you field “a hard target with no guns”, you really have to make your whole squad this kind of ship — otherwise the opponent goes after your “easier-to-hit high offense” ship(s) and that hard target status isn’t doing much for you.
For this reason, I didn’t entirely like Vader’s Riflemen. Bounty Hunter is the targeted ship, and after you fire your missile volley your other ships are not major threats. That list would probably do well against another 3 ship squad (especially 3 decked out X-wings), but I don’t think it could handle 4+ ships well and certainly not a TIE Fighter swarm.
Rules of Tabletop War:
– Protect your offense for as long as possible.
– Compel offense against your hardest targets.
Basically this is what I’m saying — Biggs should get himself out of that X-wing and into an A-wing, since he’s so good at drawing fire. Dark Curse and some of the other TIE Fighter elites should be flying an Interceptor, where their offensive skill and penchant for survival would matter more. I wish they could. Honestly Vader in an Interceptor would scare me to death.
The difference between Homing Missile and Concussion Missile is mainly that you are paying 5 instead of 4 to bring a missile. The odds are roughly identical, with the rare gift of a great roll from the Homing Missile that lets you not expend TL to re-roll dice. That’s all the 1 extra point buys you. Consider the logistics of grabbing TL with a ship, holding onto it, then later getting a range 2-3 shot against that same target as you grab focus — pretty awkward, and you’ve probably had 2 turns where you were left vulnerable with no Focus/Evade to do it.
Homing Missile strikes me as decent on Han Solo w/ Push the Limit. Grab TL and Focus, then fire. If your roll is decent, expend TL then Focus instead of using Solo’s ability then Focus. You get even closer to a true 4 average result than you would with PtL + Concussion Missile… enough that it’s arguably worth paying 1 extra for the different missile. Weapons Engineer and the MF title are good on this ship, and either Gunner or Chewie.