We're finally here at the wave 5 Imperial squadron reviews!Before I go any further, I want to talk briefly about how John and I intend to handle Cannot Get Your Ship Out going into the future. Basically our long-term plan for the blog is for it to be half-blog half-wiki and thus we intend to update our review articles as the game releases new options that add some new facets to previously-released ships and upgrades. We also will be updating articles as our opinions change and we gain greater depth of experience. If it's more than just fixing typos or adding small asides, we will be noting when old articles get updated. This is relevant for two reasons at this moment:1) Wave 6 should be released in about a month and it's sure to shake things up at least a little bit (and hopefully a lot, new stuff is always fun!).2) There was a lot of stuff released in wave 5:. 4 new squadrons for each faction and their associated aces.
a new ship and commander for each faction. 4 new objectives for each color. new 'generic unique' and ace squadrons for all the wave one squadrons (which we've covered already). This means that while John and I certainly have a decent amount of experience with the wave 5 stuff over the past half a year, there are elements that we're not 100% confident about just yet. As we gain more experience, we'll come back and polish some of those articles up. I'd rather discuss some things I have a few games with than wait for half a year or more before I feel like I've gotten enough experience to speak with more authority. In short, and I'd rather be good (helpful) now than wait to be perfect at some constantly-receding future date.
Well, kids today have it a bit easier, since LEGO now makes entire construction sets for the most popular Star Wars ships, like this cool new LEGO Star Wars Lambda-Class Imperial Shuttle. When construction is complete, this massive, 2503 piece LEGO Imperial Shuttle measures a whopping 28' tall on the stand and 22' wide when with wings are deployed. Star Wars Lambda-Class Imperial Shuttle. The characteristic 3-winged Shuttle used by the Emperor and Vader. Working wings and entry ramp, holds 2 pilots and 6 Stormtroopers. There are a few things I'm not happy about (gap around the entry ramp, shape of the main wing, THOSE LANDING GEARS!), but I. K'NEX Star Wars Lambda-Class Shuttle: Don't underestimate the power of Instructables!- Darth Vader - Episode IVThis instructable will show you how to make a Lambda-Class Shuttle from the Star Wars movies! I've made this model for the K'NEX contest 2015. Personally I'm a Star Wars fan.
I'll see you later, totally-not-exploded Death Star II!The Lambda-class Shuttle (hereafter: Lambda, typing that all out is getting obnoxious) is a squadron committed to a. Its stats are pretty poor for 15 points:.
A slow (for Imperials) speed of 3. 6 hull is respectable for 15 points, so not too shabby there. 2 black dice anti-squadron. That's 1.5 average damage but is very weak to obstruction (going down to just one black die for 0.75 damage) and cannot roll accuracy icons against aces (which is a particular problem against scatter aces). 1 blue die anti-ship. This is just as bad as a but at nearly twice the cost.
50% of the time the Lambda will deal 1 damage to a ship. Heavy is never a good thing to have.
In short, your Lambda is getting its mileage mostly from Relay and Strategic and not from its otherwise-underwhelming statline. The good news is Relay 2 and Strategic are great.You can read up more on them in the, but I'll give you the very short version:Relay 2 works so long as your Lambda is in squad-command range of a friendly ship and it can be used with every single squadron command individually. So a hypothetically infinite number of Squadrons 2 ships could issue all of their squadron commands through the Lambda's Relay 2 provided they're all at range to command the Lambda. Don't forget that you can command the Lambda itself to move it to someplace more advantageous (but still within command range) and then use 2 of your remaining squadron command 'points' on squads that are now within Relay range!Strategic is extremely strong with the right. Remember that it works when you end a movement at distance 1 of a token and then you pick up that token and drop it at distance 1 of the squadron, so you can move that token quite a ways by picking it up on one side of your Lambda and then dropping it at maximum distance on the other side. Moving objective tokens around can make objectives like and nearly unwinnable for your opponent and at the very least it makes choosing opponent objectives with objective tokens much easier for you as first player, as your Lambdas give you some control over them.
If your 15-point squadron allows you to earn 75 points on Intel Sweep with minimal hassle (you can start picking up tokens turn 1 with Strategic! That's nuts!) then that squadron was a 60-point net profit to you, regardless of what else it did during the game. That's pretty impressive.The main constraint is finding a fleet build where your Lambda can work to its fullest. It is 15 points of your squadron allowance and it can't fight its way out of a wet paper bag, so it usually needs a fair amount of other squadrons around both to keep it safe and so your fleet can get mileage from Relay. Speaking of Relay, it's in a weird kind of middle ground so far as usefulness goes - if you don't use Relay whatsoever, then it's wasted potential.
Conversely, if you rely on Relay a lot (often by having your stay as far away as they can while issuing squadron commands through the Lambda like cowards!) then it's a weak link in your squadron command chain - enemy squadrons will be gunning for your Lambda so they can snap the connection between your Gozantis and your squadrons. This can be remedied to some extent through bringing enough, but there comes a point where one needs to seriously ask oneself 'is all this trouble honestly worth it instead of spending the saved points on more effective squadrons?' To that end, I find Relay is most consistently useful when it's a tool in your squadron-commanding arsenal that helps 'even out' the instances in which a ship would normally have trouble making full use of a squadron command rather than as your primary means of commanding squadrons.
Star Wars Lambda Shuttle
I in particular like the synergy between Gozantis and the Lambda insomuch as I find in the later game my Gozantis sometimes need to choose between 'stick around commanding squadrons but maybe get squished' versus 'I did my part, time to GTFO.' With Relay 2 around they can book it and still get some squadron commands in.Strategic requires less elaboration. In short, if you're bringing a Lambda, bring objectives (preferably at least 2 of your 3) that use objective tokens and profit from it. If you feel confident about doing so, maybe even make a to choose to be second player to really turn the screws on your opponent with a finely-tuned objective suite. When you're going after objective tokens, it's important to keep commanding your Lambda during important turns to keep moving those tokens around, preferably before your opponent can interact with them (it's plain cruel to pull something like a or Intel Sweep token out from underneath an enemy ship).
Just make sure to get your order of activations down pat so your Lambda can do its job before your objective ship, if any (like in Intel Sweep). For extra annoyance value, pair it with an to free it up to keep messing with objective tokens despite possible enemy fighter interference.Paradoxically, I've found the basic Lambda is a bit of a weird fit with a standard bomber. Beyond the issues with leaning too hard on Relay (which I covered earlier), you run into other problems. First and foremost, your standard 'unholy trinity' of bomber objectives (, Fighter Ambush, Superior Positions) don't use any objective tokens. You can try switching over to objective-token-based objectives instead, but they're not as strong for the Rhymerball build overall as the unholy trinity. The 15 points is also eating into 11% of your available squadron points for one more support squadron (past the Escort and Intel squadrons that are commonly accompanying a bomber group) that doesn't really perform the bomber or fighter roles very well, which can create a pillow-fisted squadron group if you go too hard on support and bombers.The Lambda is a more comfortable tacked onto a group. You've got most of your bases covered and you can afford the extra 15 points for some ease-of-use and tech benefits from Strategic and Relay and the other squadrons are enough trouble to give the Lambda some breathing room to do its thing.
You'll also generally be able to get more mileage from the objective token objectives than a heavier squadron fleet would due to having more points for ships.Colonel Jendon can't be killed because he's already dead inside. Colonel Jendon is similar to a regular Lambda but with more durability (due to two braces), a neat special ability, but no Strategic. The core difference to me is that trading out Strategic for Jendon's ability effectively has two repercussions:1) You no longer care that much about objective token objectives (yours or your opponent's).
Star Wars Lambda Class Shuttle Blueprints
This can hurt a little bit as Strategic can be very powerful when used well.2) You have a strong incentive to bring some individually-powerful squadrons so that Jendon's ability gets maximum benefit. Unique super-squadrons like, etc. All love hanging around with Jendon. So long as Jendon has a big mean friend around he can tap in to fight for him, he's much less of a 'waste of points on support' as he's indirectly attacking using a stronger squadron's statline. If you're getting some Relay utility in addition to having your 21+ point super-squadron attack once again, it's almost like Jendon is saving you points (.but not really, but kind of?).Because of this, Jendon works better with a heavier squadron investment because he doesn't have Strategic that would like to be doing something with objectives those squadrons don't really care about and he also loves to help your big expensive squadrons get their extra kicks in. So with that said, I can definitely recommend him provided he has at least two big mean friends he can hang out with. He won't really get a lot of mileage hanging out with swarms of generic squadrons and if he only has one strong buddy, a smart opponent will focus attacks to destroy that super-squadron quickly and then suddenly Jendon is left without a good recipient for his ability.
With two or more super-friends in your fleet, 'shutting off' Jendon's ability gets much more difficult. I do find it helpful to make sure at least one of Jendon's friends isgood against squadrons and one is good against ships; that way Jendon'sability is always being used on the best recipient at the moment.Super-squadrons that are good against both ships and squadrons (MaarekStele comes to mind immediately and to a lesser extent Morna Kee, Vader,Bossk, and Boba Fett) are ideal for this.Jendon came in really handy when the Imperials needed to talk to the Mon Calamari. Or was that Aquaman?Jendon can be used more reliably than a Lambda as a Relay node for shy (cowardly!) Gozantis due to his two brace tokens. Whether or not you should still include an Escort squadron or two for him will depend on your meta - it's very appealing to target Jendon if a lot is riding on him.A quick reminder regarding Jendon's ability: because Jendon can tap his buddy into the ring lucha-style instead of attacking, when Jendon is given a squadron command he can attack (and tap his buddy in) and then move or move and then attack.
While hanging out unengaged near the rear it's not uncommon for you to be able to do a tap-in attack and then move to reposition afterwards. You can wait to activate him in the Squadron Phase, just be careful to keep him at distance 1-2 of some decent recipients of his ability and to issue him the occasional squadron command so he can keep up with your other squadrons when they're on the move.Final thoughtsLambdas offer a few interesting new support tools for Imperial fleets and they follow pretty standard Imperial squadron design philosophy (this thing is built for support and that's basically all it does but it does it well!). In order to succeed with a Lambda or Jendon, you need to tailor your fleet to ensure it has a place and all of its abilities are getting use.
You can't really just drop one into a fleet without consideration, but when used well they can prove decisive.
Further information:CR90 Corellian corvettes, were consular vessels manufactured by the Corellian Engineering Corporation. While the CR90 would see initial use within the late Galactic Republic and Imperial Senate, many vessels would be appropriated by the early rebellion and later served as the cornerstone of the naval forces the against the First Galactic Empire, despite not being designed as combat-oriented. Princess and general Leia Organa was in commandment of one of these ships, it was called the Tantive IV. This ship got captured by a star destroyer around the time that the first Death Star got destroyed by the Rebel Alliance.Death Star. Main article:The is the Empire's battle station which can destroy planets. It appears throughout the Star Wars franchise.Dooku's solar sailer , also known as Count Dooku reaches aboard a Punworcca 116-class interstellar sloop, better known as 'solar sailer', built by the Huppla Pasa Tisc Shipwright Collective, in.
The ship, which also appears multiple times in, is equipped with a, that was originally part of the concept for the in The insectoid ship resembles both a beetle and a butterfly. Its forward cockpit bubble was added when it was determined there was a need for a shot of Dooku sitting next to his pilot. It is somewhat similar to the private plane in real life.
The sloop is often misidentified (also by official Star Wars media) as 'the Geonosian Solar Sailer', but, excluding the fact that the Huppla Pasa Tisc is Geonosian, there is no evidence that it is related to this planet.Ebon Hawk The Ebon Hawk is Darth Revan's ship in,. It is designed to be reminiscent of the. Gauntlet Fighter A Gauntlet Fighter, or Kom'rk class fighter, is a class of ship.
Larger than most starfighters, it can carry a larger crew and accommodate passengers. They were introduced in, with one known as the Nightbrother later serving as 's personal craft in.
Ghost The Ghost is a modified VCX-100 light freighter, manufactured by the Corellian Engineering Corporation. Owned and piloted by the gifted Twi'lek, it serves as 'home base' for a small band of during the Age of the Empire. Named for its ability to travel past Imperial sensors without detection on numerous missions and skirmishes, the craft included many hidden surprises that aided the crew in their fight against the Empire.
Among its many features were a 360-degree dorsal laser cannon turret, two forward laser cannons, and two rear laser cannons, as well as sleeping quarters. It also included the Phantom II, an auxiliary shuttle that doubled as a fully armed starfighter.The Ghost makes a cameo appearance in near the Great Temple of Massassi on Yavin IV. Its captain, Hera Syndulla, is briefly mentioned in the film, and its repair droid, Chopper, makes a brief appearance inside the Temple.Imperial Landing Craft Imperial landing craft were inserted into the Special Edition release of. The all- ships were initially designed as part of the multimedia campaign. Lambda-class shuttle Lambda-class T4a shuttles first appeared in Return of the Jedi, and were later added to the Special Edition release of The Empire Strikes Back., and borrowed elements from the skyhopper designed for A New Hope when refining the shuttle's appearance. Earlier versions were boxy, boat-like, or had -like components. 's modelmakers made two shooting models, although versions were used for the craft's Special Edition appearance in The Empire Strikes Back.
The in Revenge of the Sith was designed to appear like a predecessor to the Lambda class. A Lambda-class shuttle makes a cameo appearance during the docking sequence of 's shuttle in ', the pilot episode of 's. Major Tullan's Snow Shuttle Major Tullan pilots the Snowtrooper(s) Shuttle in space & snow! It was first appeared in Star Wars Battlefront II! The Class-8 Shuttle for the First Order Army!Millennium Falcon. See also:The Radiant VII is the first vessel shown in The Phantom Menace.
and travel aboard the Radiant VII on their mission to end the 's blockade of the planet. After docking with the Federation's Droid Control Ship, the Radiant VII is destroyed to prevent the Jedi from escaping. Originally, the Radiant VII was going to be sleek like most ships depicted in the Star Wars prequel trilogy. However, Lucas suggested a design similar to the ships in the original trilogy; and the art department responded with a design similar to the model created for. Several antennae were added to focus attention to the cockpit during the opening sequence of The Phantom Menace. Raven's Claw A ship used by and in after Kyle's first ship, the Moldy Crow, was destroyed.Rebel blockade runner. Main article:Corellian CR90 and CR70 corvettes, often identified as 'the Rebel blockade runners', such as Leia Organa's and Bail Organa's Sunderhead Heart ( Tantive III in canon), are small starships, usually used by Alderaanian people.Republic Assault Ship Republic assault ships of the Acclamator-class appear in Attack of the Clones.
These ships, originally called 'Jedi troop transports', demonstrate a connection to the original trilogy's through their triangular hulls. Republic Attack Cruiser Republic attack cruisers, also known as Venator-class Star Destroyers, or the most known term Jedi Cruisers, appear throughout the Star Wars franchise.Republic Cruiser Consular-class Republic Cruisers like the Radiant VII are 'instantly recognizable throughout the galaxy'. Republic cruisers are generally unarmed and feature a red color scheme as a symbol of neutrality and 'diplomatic immunity'. Rogue Shadow The ship used by Starkiller and Juno Eclipse in. It was first used by Starkiller to hunt down and kill any surviving Jedi Knights who somehow lived through ', but it soon after became a part of the Rebel Fleet around 0 BBY after Starkiller was betrayed by his master, ', and became a Jedi Padawan to Rahm Kota.Sith Infiltrator pilots a infiltrator, named Scimitar, in The Phantom Menace.
Its design includes elements of the. The vehicle has been made into toys by and and models kits by and.Slave I Slave I is the starship used by in The Empire Strikes Back and by his father in Attack of the Clones. The ship's design is said to resemble the shape of a.
However, the actual inspiration for the shape of the ship was a radar dish, according to Nilo Rodis-Jamero, the assistant art director and visual effects creator on The Empire Strikes Back. Rodis-Jamero created the initial design after seeing 's ideas for, and states that 'the original design I had was round, but when you looked at it from the side, it became elliptical.George Lucas thought it was elliptical, so that's what it became.' He goes on to say that 'when building the ship at, someone looked at the street lamps and pointed out that they looked like Boba's ship. So everyone began to think that was where I got the idea for the design.' Its appearance in the original release of The Empire Strikes Back was realized by a combination of and a 69-centimeter (27 in) model.
Imperial Star Destroyer. Main article:The Corellian corvette Tantive IV is the first ship to appear in Star Wars. It is used by in A New Hope, and a similar vehicle (the Sundered Heart) is used by her adoptive father, , in Revenge of the Sith.Techno Union Starship The Techno Union Starship is a capital ship used by both the Techno Union and the Intergalactic Banking Clan. It first appeared during the (in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones) where many of its kind had their fuel-cells taken out by Republic LAAT gunships, thus preventing them from escaping. Before the Battle of Geonosis, there were 286 of the starships on Geonosis, but only 169 escaped to space.
It was designated as a ' Hardcell-class transport starship', was 220 metres long, and was shaped like a rocket. It was used to deploy hailfire droids and later the Intergalactic Banking Clan's own battle droids, the IG lancers. The ship had a conical nose housing quarters for the organic crew, command decks and medical decks. It had six primary thruster units around its base that were capable of providing a fast take-off speed of 4,000 km/h.Theta-class Shuttle Emperor travels aboard a Theta-class shuttle in Revenge of the Sith.
The ship was designed to appear like a predecessor to the. Only the shuttle's boarding ramp was built for filming. Trade Federation battleship Trade Federation Lucrehulk-class battleships (or their enormous Lucrehulk-class LH-3210 cargo freighter alter-egos) appear in all three of the prequel films. Lucas called for these ships to have a 'saucer' look with a distinct front and rear, achieved by placing the engines on one side of the ship and the antennae and docking bays on the other.The most famous Lucrehulk-class ship is the Trade Federation flagship cargo freighter Saak'ak, controlling the Invasion of Naboo in.Trade Federation Cruiser 's flagship in Revenge of the Sith is the Trade Federation Cruiser Invisible Hand. The raised spire helped differentiate the command ship from the other capital ships over Coruscant and to help map out the ship's various locations.
More sets aboard the ship were built than seen in the film; several 'serial-type escapades' were cut from the final release. Other sets, built inside a mount that could rotate them, were used to depict the vessel's collapse.
Trade Federation Landing Ship Trade Federation Landing Ships transport the Trade Federation's invasion forces to Naboo's surface in The Phantom Menace. Although initial designs were reminiscent of, the final design is based on a. George Lucas liked the ship's similarity to a. Virago The Virago is 's ship in Shadows of the Empire. Its clamshell design, styled after a, is inspired by pulley castings.
TIE Fighter. Main article:The TIE Fighter is one of the most commonly used spacecraft in the galaxy. It is one of the many ships the Empire uses.YT-1300 light freighter The YT-1300 Corellian light freighter, manufactured by the Corellian Engineering Corporation, was essentially a giant 'forklift' designed to around giant container ships. As one of the most successful designs in history, the appeal of the vessel is not its basic equipment, but its modular ability to take an extraordinary amount of modifications and alterations.
Its popularity amongst freighter captains throughout the galaxy guaranteed commercial operation in the galaxy during the final days of the Galactic Republic and the reign of the Galactic Empire. The, a smuggling vessel that becomes part of the fleet, is heavily modified a YT-1300 of the YT-1300F variety.See also. Star Wars Database. Archived from on 2007-12-10. Retrieved 2007-10-14.
Star Wars Database. Archived from on 2007-12-10.
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Retrieved 2007-10-14. Firefly: The Official Companion. 1 (First ed.). London: Titan Books. Star Wars Databank. Archived from on 2008-01-29. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
Star Wars Databank. Archived from on 2007-12-10. Retrieved 2007-10-14. Star Wars Databank. Archived from on 2007-12-10.
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^ Peterson, Lorne (2006). Sculpting A Galaxy — Inside the Star Wars Model Shop.
San Rafael, California: Insight Editions. Star Wars Databank. Archived from on 2005-08-31. Retrieved 2007-08-24. Star Wars Databank. Archived from on 2007-12-10. Retrieved 2007-10-14.
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Star Wars Databank. Archived from on 2007-12-13. Retrieved 2007-11-24. Star Wars Databank.
Archived from on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2007-11-24. Star Wars Databank. Retrieved 2007-10-14. Star Wars Databank. Archived from on 2006-03-25.
Retrieved 2008-06-23. Star Wars Databank. Retrieved 2007-10-14. Retrieved 2007-12-05.
Peterson, Lorne (2006). Sculpting A Galaxy - Inside the Star Wars Model Shop. Insight Editions. Bouzereau, Laurent (1997). Star Wars: The Annotated Screenplays.
Ballantine Books. Star Wars Databank. Archived from on 2005-09-27. Retrieved 2007-12-29. Star Wars Databank. Archived from on 2007-12-10.
Retrieved 2007-10-14. Star Wars Databank. Archived from on 2007-12-10. Retrieved 2007-10-14. Star Wars Databank. Archived from on June 21, 2006.
Retrieved 2007-10-14. Star Wars Databank. Archived from on May 7, 2005.
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Retrieved 2007-10-14. Star Wars Databank. Archived from on December 10, 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-14.External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to. on, a Star Wars wiki. on, a Star Wars wiki.
by Leah Pellegrini April 23, 2016.