Epic Strategy

This is a general guide for the basics of playing Epic.

Epic battles operate with very large point values and thus large fleets, rendering a lot of standard 200-point strategies ineffective. For example, against the few ships that fit in 200 points, an expensive ace might be incredibly effective. But facing 500 points of firing arcs and firepower, that same ship could be reduced to targeting practice. Add to this the health and firepower of huge ships and the action efficiency of wings, and Epic can be a very different game.

But first some important **NOTES**:

* This guide was written in June 2021; points provided here are examples of their time.

* These are general guidelines not hard rules. If you find a great strategy that flaunts them successfully, go for it!

### Core Rules

There are a few core rules governing Epic strategy, which mostly come down to the central rule of Epic: "**generally field more ships, not more expensive ships**".

The reason for this is simple: more firing arcs and more dice being thrown is an overwhelmingly effective strategy at epic point values. At 200 points a ship that shoots twice like Dengar or Quickdraw might be scary, but in Epic those two shots aren't all that intimidating against a giant fleet; instead fielding 2 or 3 or more ships for that price is better.

At 200 points an ace like Soontir who can focus + evade and dodge arcs might be a monster to kill, and may be consistently able to gradually whittle down the enemy fleet and ensure a win. But against 500 points of dice and firing arcs, a lone Soontir is just not guaranteed to contribute or even live long.

Once you're throwing **tons** of dice from 500 points of ships, statistical odds tend to favor the lots of dice over lots of tricks.

#### Generics Rule In General

Epic is a generic pilot's game, at least when the named pilots are pricey. A few named pilots will usually be weaker than a bunch of non-limited scrubs. Instead of a wing of all the priciest named TIE Interceptors (at the time of this writing, Soontir + Gideon + Ciena + Vult + Goran + Turr costs 283 points), you may want to fiield all init 1 generics (only 188 points -- freeing 95 points for more ships).

##### But Named Isn't Automatically Bad

That's not to say you mustn't include named pilots, just that you should be judicious. Some named pilots are still useful in Epic, and/or don't cost much more. If you're just paying a handful of points to upgrade to a pilot with a useful initiative or ability, it's probably fine.

Even the expensive named pilots may be valuable for two reasons: as Wing Leaders or as Force Multipliers.

###### As Wing Leaders

A wing moves at its leader's initiative. Thus a wing of init 1 TIE Interceptors led by Soontir Fel (init 6) will be able to activate at initiative 6 and outmaneuver a wing led by an Alpha Squadron Pilot, for example. A wing leader with excellent repositioning, such as Soontir or Poe, is handy because the wingmates get those repositions for free while still getting to perform their normal action to focus.

###### As Force Multipliers

Consider a pilot like Howlrunner, Drea Renthal, Serissu, etc. This ship is more expensive, but when surrounded by buddies (e.g. in a wing, or following behind one), its support ability is helping a lot of ships at once to improve their dice results. That very often makes such a pilot worth the extra cost.

#### Favor More Ships Over More Powerful Ships

A wing of X-Wings is potent, but consider fielding nearly twice as many Z-95s instead. Z-95s, Torrents, TIE Fighters, Vultures, and other two-dice scrubs can really come into their own in Epic. There are a few reasons for this:

* Reinforce is a common defense, and lots of weak attacks are often better than a few strong attacks since 1 damage always leaks through.
* Throwing lots more dice tends to even out variance and overwhelm limited resources of the defender
* Lots of little ships tend to survive assault better than fat expensive targets (e.g. Turbolaser blasts, unlucky defense roll on a pricey ship, etc)

### More Guidelines

#### Think Differently About Defense Dice Modification

Against so many enemy attacks, defensive tokens can be a lot shorter-lived. A focus or evade token can only help one defense roll, and an individual ship could face quite a few attacks per round. As stated above, fielding several ships can be a lot wiser than fielding 1 ship that can get lots of actions to token up (save for huge ships, of course).

With tokens being so short-lived, a ship's base Agility can go a long way to reduce incoming damage. 5 TIE Fighters can be very hard to kill, while the same points put into Darth Vader (TIE/D Defender) may not go as far, especially if the foe gets a lucky shot (great attack roll vs your blanked-out defense roll). And with so many shots being made, a few **will** be lucky.

Passive Dice Modification like Serissu or Howlrunner is great because it lasts as long as it's around, compared to a focus or evade token or lock that can be spent only once. If you only have 0 or 1 agility, you really need to be reinforcing if able.

##### Reinforce is Potent in Epic

When 500 points of murder is pointed your way, you'd do well to reinforce on ships that can (huge ships, Decimator, shuttles, etc). Reinforce will work for multiple incoming attacks (unless the green token gets taken away) and can stretch your total health out quite a bit.

##### Jamming Can Be Mean

As powerful as Reinforce is, it doesn't mean much if the token is taken away. Huge ships and some large and medium ships rely on reinforce to live, and jamming the reinforce away leaves them dangerously exposed to your fleet's firepower. Other token-stripping abilities (like Old Teroch) apply the same way.

Huge Ships tend to rely on Locks and Calculate Tokens for their weapons and abilities; it'd be a *shame* if those were lost. Not being able to fire its turbolaser would be tragic! Likewise, munitions boats are not terribly effective when they can't use their munitions, because you took away their locks.

Mind you, Jamming isn't always as strong as just pushing more damage into the target. But abilities like Jamming Beam and False Transponder Codes can be very useful in Epic when used well.

### Huge Ships

The obvious exception to "don't field big expensive ships" is Huge Ships. These monsters can take two actions when they activate, fire multiple times per round, reinforce to reduce damage, regain shields each round, and provide support abilities to your team.

As with all other ships, you need to be judicious with how expensive you make a huge ship. It may be powerful, but it's still spending from your team's limited points, and it's a lot to lose if it dies. As with standard ships, not every upgrade has to be filled; often it's for the best. But leveraged effectively, a huge ship can be a potent component of your fleet.

But not all huge ships are the same.

#### Light Support Craft

Officially categorized as Cruisers or Transports, the Gozanti, C-ROC, and GR-75 are all light support craft, currently in the price range of 55 - 60 points (without upgrades). A heavier option is the Trident; it's 90 points and blends the capabilities of light and heavy huge ships, but is still closer in its health to the lighter end of the scale (it's not as beefy as a CR-90 or Raider, but shares some of their offensive features).

These huge ships often offer support through their ship abilities, crew, teams, titles, etc. Some may also have ships docked (e.g. Gozanti). Their defense and offense is a lot lighter than that of a heavy corvette; they don't have the energy or slots to fire tons of weapons, nor the health or shield regen to withstand quite the same punishment. Their role is more support than overwhelming offense, and they should be used with that in mind.

These ships tend to be the prey of both heavy huge ships and standard ships (wings etc). Because of this, they should generally be equipped light, with a clear focus on the role they're filling so they're not turned into points piñatas and aren't starved for energy or other resources.

**Example**: A GR-75 with Luminous may be able to equip a Turbolaser, Adaptive Shields, Strategic Commander, Boosted Scanners, and Comms Team, but it likely won't have the energy to support its hardpoint, long-range comms, adaptive shields, strategic commander, and Resupply Craft ability. With only up to 6 energy (recharging only 1 per round) it has the upgrades to spend at least 8+ each round (and some of these can be used repeatedly in a round). It's spread *hopelessly thin*, and yet we've doubled its price with upgrades (55 -> 112). Further investment (e.g. into Optimized Power Core) might help alleviate the energy shortage somewhat, but switching the weapon to something less energy-hungry (e.g. Ion Cannon Battery, or even a standard Ion Cannon Turret, or removing the hardpoint entirely and equipping a common Dorsal Turret), and trimming down its cards to just the support upgrades we need (to reduce its total price) will make more sense for the ship's support role.

To give some context, a GR-75 has about the same health as a VCX-100 or Decimator and is much slower, with a role closer to a u-wing or lambda; keeping it focused on making your other craft more effective (and in which ways) is the best use of its talent. Run these support craft light enough that they can have a large fleet to support, and so it's not too tragic when they die.

#### Heavy Corvettes

Bristling with weapons and offering huge health and energy reserves, and an increased price to match, the corvettes would be wasted in a dedicated support role. Though a CR90 or Raider may offer some support on the side, their main role is destruction. You're spending 146 points even before equipping them, so you need to get a lot of work out of them!

Both the CR90 and Raider regenerate 2 shields and 2 energy per turn and offer two hardpoints. They also come with two team slots and a cargo, with more options provided by their titles, and a smattering of other slots. Equipped properly they can unleash devastating firepower even at long range, or they can be built for short-range battering (e.g. with Point-Defense Battery). They can be difficult to bring down, particularly when Reinforced, usually requiring another corvette and/or a concerted effort from the full fleet to burn down their shields and hull. They had better be tough, since they tend to use around half your points in a 500-point game.

Even so, their resources are limited and you should think about your goals while building and flying a corvette. Too many energy-hungry weapons and upgrades can deplete a huge ship quickly, though upgrades like Optimized Power Core and Tibanna Reserves can help with energy management. Get to know your ship's range limitations and ideal range and approach angle; huge ships are usually at a disadvantage once foes get behind them, for example. Know when to invest actions in full offense vs reinforcing to survive an onslaught. 25-30 health can disappear fast against 500 points of devoted foes, so the goal with a corvette is to do as much damage as possible before you lose it (or devastate the enemy forces before they can bring devastation to you).

A suggestion: Given that a Corvette's job is to unload as much firepower as possible, Stalwart Captain is a very useful upgrade. Huge ships fire most or all of their attacks near the end of the Engagement phase, giving standard enemies plenty of opportunity to kill them. The Stalwart Captain (or a similar upgrade like Raymus Antilles) will keep the ship on the table long enough to fire everything, and it's well worth it if you can fit it in.

#### Trident

The trident is a strange hybrid between heavy and light. Offensively a Trident can be built like a corvette, but it lacks the shield regen and total health of one (instead having the defenses of a freighter). Therefore it should be kept relatively inexpensive, giving your glass cannon the best bang for its buck, so to speak. A Trident can be designed to disrupt the enemy fleet and hunt standard ships with its tractor tentacles, or it can be given more traditional corvette weapons like Ordnance Tubes and Ion Cannon Battery. However, it lacks the total energy to support an energy-hungry build (and can't even equip a turbolaser).

### Summary

You now have the basics of Epic. For your fleet of standard ships, remember to favor more ships over more powerful ships. Equip your huge ship with clear intent, and be aware of their limitations and their role. Every point spent on a ship might be better spent somewhere else, so compare and contrast. Once play begins, know your target (enemy fleet, huge ship, etc) and try to apply as much of your firepower on that target at once as possible.

Happy Hunting.