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Guest Writer Chris
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25 Jan 2021 Star Wars: Armada

Republic
Reinforcements
Announcing Two New
Galactic Republic
Expansions for Star Wars™:
Armada

25 Jan 2021 Star Wars: Armada

Heart of the Swarm

Announcing Two New
Separatist Alliance
“Concentrate all fire on that Super Star Destroyer!”
Expansions for Star Wars™:
   –Admiral Ackbar, Star Wars: Return of the Jedi Armada
 31 Dec 2020 Star Wars: Armada
The Star Dreadnought joins the Imperial News Products Upcoming
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fleet with the Super Star Destroyer
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OP Announcement
the Super Star Destroyer is the ultimate
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display of Imperial strength. With four Games
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commanders like Admiral Piett and
Emperor Palpatine, any rival will look 4 Dec 2020 Available Now

upon this ship and despair. But the introduction of this new war machine does not
mean that all hope is lost for the Rebellion. With careful preparation and the right
combination of forces, you can bring down the fearsome Dreadnought and earn
your victory. Available Now:
December 4
Today, guest writer Chris Fritz discusses various strategies for countering, and
New Arkham Horror and
ultimately defeating, the Super Star Destroyer!
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Chris Fritz on Battling the Super Star Destroyer

Hey everyone! If you’re part of the Star Wars: Armada community, you may know me
as Truthiness, and I’m back to talk about the upcoming Super Star Destroyer
Expansion Pack! This technological terror is certain to make loyal Imperials bristle
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with pride and make some Rebels quiver with fear. Now while I like to jump back and
forth between factions, I'm a Rebel at heart. So even though Rebels aren't getting
any new ships with this release, I am delighted to say there is still plenty that will
change for the Rebellion with the Super Star Destroyer in town. I ended up flying
against this monstrosity for most of the testing. Combined with my rebellious
tendencies, that brings us to the topic at hand: how to tackle the Star Dreadnought
as a Rebel commander. 

I have three general rules for hunting the Executor and all its ilk. First: keep your
distance. The Star Dreadnought has a unique way of navigating around the board.
Despite having no natural yaw at any speed, it is capable of some very drastic turns.
Just a single click at the first joint can take you from out of range to close range.
Never mind what happens if the Super Star Destroyer player brings
Moff Jerjerrod.
 You have to respect that swing. Until you are well past that front arc, the Star
Dreadnought can catch you in its brutal frontal battery with relative ease.

On top of that, even its side arcs are potent at close range. The auxiliary firing arcs
on the Assault Prototype are more powerful at close and medium range than an
Assault Frigate. At long range, however, those side and auxiliary arcs are less
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intimidating. Even the 
Executor II's
 long-range side and auxiliary pools are
manageable. That's why I think the best ships for hunting the Super Star Destroyer
are ships that specialize at long range. They can trade fire with the SSD without
going down too quickly. A CR90 Corvette A with
Turbolaser Reroute Circuits
can hit
hard for its size. And you can never go wrong with a good
Ackbar
-enhanced
MC80
Assault Cruiser.

That's not to say you should never engage at close range. Black dice, after all, are the
most potent, especially with the right upgrades. However, you need to jump in and
out without taking damage with a last/first activation, or you need a plan to take the
blows in stride. 

My second rule is endurance. A lot of gameplay in Star Wars: Armada to date has
centered around heavy bursts of damage, taking take down ships in one fell swoop
before they can make their presence felt on the battle. 
Yavaris
-boosted squadrons
or an Imperial Star Destroyer with the 
Avenger
 title and
Boarding Troopers
come to
mind. With the Star Dreadnought, that's just not possible. You simply cannot
neutralize it quickly. You have to prepare for multiple turns of sustained
engagement, which isn't easy. The Super Star Destroyer puts out a lot of damage, so
staying engaged and keeping up the pressure is difficult.

This rule tends to go hand-in-hand with the first. Keeping your distance keeps your
ships alive longer and easier. Ships with evades can completely negate some
damage, while large ships can often repair the damage caused by only two or three
dice. This is where other mitigation upgrades can help too. The
Mon Calamari
title
helps your ships by essentially giving a free shield every time you repair.
Major
Derlin
goes well alongside the braces on large ships. And if you really need to get in
close,
Lando Calrissian
is always there to make your luck a bit better. The key is to
stay engaged and pour firepower into the Super Star Destroyer for every turn you
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can manage.

My third and final rule is command disruption. The same way you want to maximize
your ability to avoid or repair the damage coming from the Star Dreadnought, you
need to stop it from doing the same. Since it gains a free token with each command,
the Star Dreadnought is capable of generating six repair points per turn (eight if
you're playing the higher-tier Executor classes). You can't allow that to happen. There
are only really two ways of doing that:
Slicer Tools
and
Cham Syndulla.
 Slicer Tools
are easier to deliver, but Cham is a longer lasting solution. If you weren't already
including some kind of command disruption before, I would start doing so.

One side note on squadrons: the same guidelines above apply to squadron-heavy
fleets as well. However, I will warn you that the traditional Yavaris-boosted squadron
builds that have won Worlds the last two years are highly risky against the Super Star
Destroyer, as former World Champion Josiah Burkhardsmeier came up with an
absolutely devilish concoction during testing. When put together,
Quad Laser
Turrets,
 
Agent Kallus,
 and the 
Annihilator
 title on a Star Dreadnought Assault
Prototype form a wonderful counter to Yavaris. 
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First, the Star Dreadnought engages you early with long range anti-squadron fire.
Then, every shot you take is rebounded back at you with Quad Laser Turrets. Then,
of course, Agent Kallus adds a die against unique squadrons and Annihilator provides
re-rolls with each and every shot. Yes, Yavaris adds more damage, but it also
accelerates how fast the squadrons die because of the Quad Laser Turrets. The
reason this combo works where it hasn’t in the past is because the Star Dreadnought
can absorb the damage and keep going. I've had multiple games where my
squadrons just disappear after two turns of futilely banging their heads against
the Annihilator wall. If you want to fight against the Super Star Destroyer using
squadrons, I suggest more of a swarm approach.
Y-Wings
are tough, cheap, and
don't need Yavaris to be successful. You can have three of them for almost the same
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cost as two
B-Wings.
 You lose one bomber die, but gain eight hull, which can be
critical when fighting against a properly tooled-out Annihilator.

I’ll end with what ended up being my preferred SSD-hunting fleet. Ackbar is a fairly
natural (and thematic!) commander for going after a Star Dreadnought, as he adds
to the long-range threat you need so badly. Mon Calamari Exodus Fleet adds to the
endurance of the three main capital ships, allowing them each to last longer. Finally,
as has been a staple of my fleets of late, I’ve grabbed Slicer Tools on 
Quantum Storm
to mess with the Super Star Destroyer’s command stack.

Ackbar’s Exodus Fleet

MC75 Armored Cruiser

(104)

•
Admiral Ackbar
 (38)

•
Bail Organa
(7)

•
Electronic Countermeasures
(7)

•
External Racks
(3)

•
Leading Shots
(4)

•
Quad Battery Turrets
(5)

•
Mon Calamari Exodus Fleet
(5)

MC30c Scout Frigate

(69)

•
Ordnance Experts
(4)

• External Racks (3)

•
Turbolaser Reroute Circuits
(7)

• Mon Calamari Exodus Fleet (5)

MC30c Scout Frigate (69)

• Ordnance Experts (4)

• External Racks (3)

• Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)

• Mon Calamari Exodus Fleet (5)

GR-75 Medium Transports

(18)

•
Slicer Tools
(7)

• 
Quantum Storm
 (1)

GR-75 Medium Transports (18)

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•
Comms Net
(2)

Until next time everyone, happy gaming, and good

luck hunting the Star Dreadnought!

Stand United
Thanks, Chris! 

The Rebel Alliance may face incredible odds against

the full might of the Empire, but that has never
stopped them in the past. The choice is in your
hands—will you join the Rebel Alliance or align with the Empire? Whichever you
choose, epic battles await you amongst the stars. Ready your ships and prepare for
launch!

Look for the Super Star Destroyer Expansion Pack (SWM20) when it
arrives at retailers in the third quarter of 2019, or pre-order your copy
here!

Star Wars: Armada is an epic two-player game of tactical fleet battles in the Star Wars
galaxy. Massive Star Destroyers fly to battle against Rebel corvettes and frigates. Banks of
turbolasers unleash torrential volleys of fire against squadrons of X-wing and TIEs. As
Rebel and Imperial fleets collide, it is your job to issue the commands that will decide the
course of battle and, ultimately, the fate of the galaxy.

© & ™ Lucasfilm Ltd.

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