Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Unit Guides: T-47 Airspeeder

As the most expensive unit the Rebel Alliance can field, the T-47 Airspeeder combines speed, durability, and firepower.



Statistics

A T-47 Airspeeder costs 175 points before upgrades.
With a wound threshold of 7 and a resilience of 5; it can take 7 wounds before it's completely eliminated, but after taking 5 wounds, it receives some form of severe damage.
The T-47 has armor, a white defense die, and converts surges to blocks, which means it automitically cancels hits and has a 33.3% chance to block each remaining crit result. It has Cover 1 intrinsically which helps to improve its survivability. Because it also has Immune: Blast, Melee its cover bonus will apply to every shot taken against it.
Speed 3 combined with Speeder 2 makes it one of the fastest units in the game. The ability to ignore terrain of height 2 or lower means it is unimpeded by all but the tallest obstacles, although it can neither stay in one place nor hold ground.
Arsenal 2 allows the T-47 to use up to 2 weapons during its attack.

The Ap/11 Double Laser Cannon is very strong. It has 3 red and 3 black dice, averaging 3.75 damage against targets in its front arc. This includes an average of 0.75 crits. While this is the T-47's only native weapon, it can be upgraded to take another weapon in its Hardpoint slot. Statistics for Hardpoint weapons are included under Upgrades.


Total Hits vs. % Chance; Red = Ap/11 Double Laser Cannon
You can see from the above probability distribution that the T-47 consistently hits hard; your chances of missing entirely are less than 0.2%. The Most Probable Result of 4 damage comes about 33.4% of the time, and you can expect to roll 3 or more damage more than 86% of the time. This also means that on average you will get full use out of its Impact 3 when attacking armored units.

In these guides I have used the average number of hits required to destroy a unit, which I call "Effective Health Points", as a measure of a unit's survivability. However, the Armor keyword allows the T-47 Airspeeder to cancel all hit results, and therefore only suffer damage from crit results. Therefore, I will instead use "Effective Health Points (Armored)" or EHP(A) for short. This is the average number of crits needed to destroy an armored unit. Like EHP it is also calculated by dividing the unit's wound threshold by it's defense die's probability of turning up blank.

Ignoring the effects of cover, the T-47 Airspeeder has 10.5 EHP(A). Of course, the T-47 has Cover 1, which allows it to cancel 1 hit result (crits cannot be cancelled by cover.) This may seem redundant, since Armor also cancels hit results, however cover cancels hits before Impact can convert them into crits. Since the T-47 also has Immune: Blast, Melee the only way to circumvent its cover is to attack with a unit that has Sharpshooter.


With this in mind, a standard unit of 4 Stormtroopers, which average 0.5 crits per attack, would take down a T-47 after 21 attacks. On the other hand, an AT-ST attacking with just its MS-4 Twin Blaster Cannon would average 2 crits after accounting for Cover 1 and Impact 3. It would down the T-47 in 6 attacks; fewer if it is able to use an additional weapon like its 88 Twin Light Blaster Cannon.

Upgrades
The T-47 Airspeeder has 3 upgrade slots: 1 Pilot, 1 Hardpoint, and 1 Communications.

Hardpoint Slot
Total Hits vs. % Chance, Black = Ground Buzzer, Red = Harpoon
First we'll take a look at the Hardpoint weapons available for the T-47. Since Arsenal 2 allows it to make attacks with up to 2 different weapons, I would recommend taking at least 1 of these upgrades in order to take full advantage of this perk.


The Mo/Dk Power Harpoon (8 pts) is the cheaper of the 2 Hardpoint options available. While it can only inflict 1 damage, it is a red die so it has a 75% chance to hit. (This result in an average of 0.75 damage.) It also has Impact 1, improving its effectiveness against Armor
What's really interesting about this weapon is the Tow Cable keyword; if you wound a vehicle with it, you can perform a pivot on that vehicle. This offers some measure of control and can frustrate your opponent's plans if they rely on vehicles as a key part of their strategy. In addition to their movement restrictions, most vehicles have a primary weapon fixed to a single firing arc. If your harpoon hits then you could potentially leave the enemy vehicle without any shots to take, or at least force it into spending an action to move back on target.
Some things to keep in mind with this upgrade: it has Fixed: Rear, so you will have to fly past your target, or perform a pivot of your own before shooting with it. Because it only has 1 die, when attacking units with cover you will have to roll a natural crit and the defender will have to roll a blank in order to wound them. This means your chance of wounding and triggering the Tow Cable ability against 74-Z Speeder Bikes and other T-47 Airspeeders is only about 8.3%. By comparison, when attacking an AT-ST you chance of triggering Tow Cable is an even 50%.
Though its damage is modest, its cost is modest as well. If you find yourself facing a lot of ground vehicles, or simply don't quite have enough points for the "Ground Buzzer" then this upgrade will be of use when you inevitably find a target in your T-47's rear arc.

The Ax-100 "Ground Buzzer" (20 pts) is much deadlier against unarmored units, but also much more expensive. Like the Harpoon, it has Fixed: Rear, but this shouldn't be a major problem since the Airspeeder is likely to end up with targets behind it as it strafes across the battlefield. Unlike the Harpoon, there are no tricks here, just damage. With an average of 2 damage (0.5 crits) you might be able to finish off a unit damaged by your Ap/11 Cannon the previous round. In any case, if you're more interested in mowing down infantry and unarmored vehicles than this is the upgrade to take.

Pilot Slot


There is currently only one Pilot available here: Wedge Antilles (5 pts). Bringing him can add tons of versatility, and for a low cost too. One of the difficulties of using repulsor vehicles is the compulsory move, but being able to make a Full Pivot can help keep your priority target in your sights or prevent you from crashing and burning off the side of the board. You could surprise your opponent by unexpectedly zigging instead of zagging. If you have a Hardpoint weapon, Wedge can help you line up targets in both your front arc and your rear arc. If you've equipped a Comms Jammer and want to keep your T-47 next to a key unit for 2 or more turns in a row, then Wedge is the man for the job.
Of course, flipping 180's in an airspeeder isn't easy; Wedge is exhausted on use, so you will have to use a refresh action to be able to use him more than once in a game. However, I think that the agility you gain with him can easily make him worth his points.

Communications Slot


I expect Long-Range Comlink (10 pts) to be very beneficial for the T-47, allowing you to fully utilize its speed and roam across the battlefield without losing any responsiveness. The ability to issue orders regardless of where your T-47 is makes it easier to attack critical components of the enemy army at just the right time and get the drop on units by flanking them, or it can help you activate and get out of harm's way when necessary. This is especially valuable when the unit in question costs 165+ points. Unless you plan on using something like Battle Meditation or Commanding Presence on your commander, I would strongly consider taking this upgrade.


With Comms Jammer (15 pts) you could potentially create significant problems for your opponent, preventing them from issuing orders to 1 or more key units on critical turns. To do so your T-47 Airspeeder needs to be within range 1 of these enemy units. Owing to their compulsory move you may find this difficult to achieve with any consistency; using Wedge may help you get more mileage from this upgrade though. Fortunately the T-47 is immune to melee and Blast attacks, so coming into range 1 shouldn't be too worrisome in that regard. 
I think the T-47 is a decent platform for this upgrade, but at 15 points it is quite expensive, and there is also the opportunity cost of not taking Long-Range Comlink (of course, if you have Luke Skywalker as you commander you could always bring the Battle Meditation upgrade.)

Preliminary Conclusions

A Heavy unit with powerful guns, excellent speed, and armor, the T-47 is ideal for cutting across enemy lines, laying down its considerable firepower on your opponents most valuable units. Good positioning is critical for using the T-47 effectively because its most powerful attack is fixed to its front arc (and any other weapons you equip are fixed to the rear arc) and because it has a compulsory move.

Given its speed, you should look for opportunities to flank targets from angles that expose a weak point or don't provide defensive cover. Even if you can't get around cover on your initial approach, you may be able to do so with your rear-facing Hardpoint weapon after you fly by. Impact 3 on the main guns makes them excellent for dealing with enemy Armor, and of course they can be further specialized toward this role with the Mo/Dk Power Harpoon upgrade.

Though Armor, Cover 1, and Immune: Blast, Melee makes it quite tough, you still ought to be wary of units with high Impact values. Try to use its speed and position yourself to avoid any dangerous anti-armor weapons your opponent might have. If you are outside the threat range of powerful enemy units then you can try waiting until after those enemies have activated; then you can zoom into range and fire without a response from your opponent. Of course if you are already in range of an anti-armor threat you can try to activate first in order to "shoot and scoot."

While Speeder 2 allows the Airspeeder to ignore almost all the terrain and obstacles in its way, the compulsory move can create some difficulties. Keep in mind where you want your T-47 to end up on the next round as well as the current one. Always being on the move can make it difficult to keep in range of a commander to receive orders, so consider using upgrades like Long-Range Comlink, Battle Meditation, or Commanding Presence.

While it will almost certainly take some practice to get the most out of the T-47 Airspeeder, it is a powerful flanker. With some set-up it can rain destruction on your foes, decimating enemy troopers and vehicles alike; with a bit of luck it can even ruin an AT-ST's entire day.

No comments:

Post a Comment