This of course, plays directly into the obsolescence of the famed Victory Class Star Destroyers, type 1. The VSD comes standard in the Core Set for the Imperials, and for much of Waves 1 and 2 was a workhorse. Not ever being super points efficient, 8 hull and good shields with Weapons Team slot and Offensive Retrofit made it the go to Imperial Carrier if taking the VSD1 variant. The VSD2 has always lagged behind because of its cost, but it might see some time in the sun again following the release of Disposable Capacitors as a long range fire support ship.
The VSD1 could take a beating from enemy ships and squads while still continuing to hand out squad commands, and when timed right had enough Engineering Points to keep itself on the board in crucial moments. However, kitting one out as a carrier racked up the points quickly, and for a ship that without the skilled commanding of Moff Jerjerrod could not keep its front guns pointed at the enemy without spending precious commands navigating, nor could it use its class leading 3 black dice easily. It also didn't help that players typically had to forgo upgrades that would help even out the fickle Red Dice the VSD1 had at range to get the max from its carrier abilities. Now we get the Quasar that could potentially have Flight Controllers, Expanded Hangar Bay, Boosted Comms and the Stronghold tittle for just 2 points more than the naked VSD1.
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| Even the Card art has it getting blown up |
The Quasar suffers some of the same drawbacks the VSD1 has, namely if kitted for carrier duty it loses a lot of its chances to be a more efficient combat ship. It cannot take some of the better Weapons teams upgrades if its looking to up its fire rate (Gunnery Team) or even out its dice rolls (Veteran Gunners). It also lacks the VSDs staying power, with its rather abysmal defense token suite and the low amount of shielding. This one hurts since its unlikely to ever be able to really use its Boarding Teams upgrades before it gets shot up on approach. These drawbacks though don't really tilt things towards the VSD1 for maintaining its primary carrier roll.
If the VSD1's days of being the main fleet carrier, what role can it fill? It still is a survivable gunship, and has a solid 3 Squad rating. There is a chance with the External Racks upgrade that is forthcoming it could again work as a very good area denial piece. But that's a niche role going forward, since the Gladiator fills a similar role for a relatively equal price and is more efficient of a killing machine for the points.. It also is not nearly as good as say an Arquitens and Gozanti Cruiser for the same price in terms of fire support and overall fleet composition.
Perhaps its lone spot will be with the Quasar, as the tank to soak up approaching fleets shots, and equipped with Veteran Gunners and Dual Turbolaser Turrets it could effectively support bombers with long range shots that hurt. Its just not likely though that the VSD1 will see much time on the mat following the Quasar's release.
, is the pure number of unique squadrons. At his release, FFG had introduced only 9 unique squads through the Core, Rebel Fighters 1 and Rogues and Villains. For the Worlds this year, that number had ballooned up to 21 possible fighters that could be involved. This includes the nearly generic priced Unique squadrons from the Corellian Conflict. The number of excellent choices now for building a fighter wing of nearly all uniques to maximize the zombie ability makes Rieekan much more potent than before when there were just a handful of heavily overpriced uniques. Going hand in hand with this explosion of fighters is the interaction between Flotillas and the new fighter keyword Relay. Flotillas have become the most point efficient carrier in the game, and are easily the best methodology for delaying activation. Relay also has allowed these carriers to sit far beyond the action, and face no sincere threat unless the opponent can either specialize a ship for hunting them down (H9 Turbolasers for instance) and possibly send it far afield. This specialization is at best an even trade off against Rieekan Aces, because it effectively will remove that ship from doing anything besides chasing down flotillas.