In previous articles we looked at some basics of Foresight thinking and a more advanced assessment of Threat Range. These articles briefly touched on matters of timing, judging distance, and planning for near-future actions. These are aspects of forward-thinking that can help you play the long game.
Some essential dynamics in the long game stem from timing: (1) preparation and (2) when to save/spend resources. Let's cover a few scenarios to see how a player might think through them. We'll briefly cover attacking and damage mitigation.
Attacking
In any combat game there is a pragmatic difference between sending the occasional attack vs lobbing multiple attacks at the same time. In Dog Fight: Starship Edition, in general, being able to launch multiple attacks in the same turn (better yet, in the same tier) tends to be far more effective than attacking once every turn. Sometimes a player must wait to draw enough ATTACK cards, while sometimes you get a fist full of them at the beginning of the game.
Scenario 1 - multiple attacks
With the card "Heavy Guns" or the Achilles ship you can duplicate attacks in the same tier. These cards make it much easier to deliver more than one attack at the same time, with fewer ATTACK cards. If you've nearly defeated an opponent and need just one or two more hits, you can still do that with one ATTACK card and the ability to duplicate. The target may have some means of surviving one attack so it would be wise to have a second ready to go.Another option is the Quadshot technique, a favorite among experienced players. Doubling up is a technique allowing multiple cards in the same tier, placing a card in primary position and another in secondary position. With this two-pronged approach you can prepare two cards to be activated at the same time during the Action Phase. Certain cards are designed specifically to be played in this way. Playing "Double Shot" in secondary position and duplicating it delivers a fury of four attacks in one tier. With a number of attack buffs on the ship, and the ability to duplicate an ATTACK card's effect, this is a devastating tactic for your opponent.The card "Extra Action" and the Brutus Magnus ship allow doubling up. With this basic card, you can set up the quadshot for a cost of 2 energy. Alternatively, the Proving Grounds Expansion set (PGE) provides some cards with the REINFORCE feature, such as "Evade: Jump Start" and "Mission: Prudence". These cards allow you to set a card in secondary position at the cost of discarding some cards from the deck to the discard pile. Take a closer look at PGE. Capitalizing on action economy is most helpful in Dog Fight. The more actions you can employ in the same tier, the better off you'll be both in the short term and long term.
Scenario 2 - big single hit
With "MRSI Strike" you can combine two attacks of the same name into one massive hit. When you know your target can mitigate a lot of damage it will take a big attack to punch through. MRSI Strike lets you combine these two attacks into one, then add +3 to it. Playing multiple cards (or multiple attacks) of the same title allows you to combine them into one attack with MRSI Strike.This card is a great way to leverage psychological warfare. The intimidation factor is high enough to have significant influence on an opponent's actions. With the use of this card you can essentially force an opponent into a course of action he may prefer to avoid, such as making the ship use an action to dodge your attack (i.e., spending a Agility counter), freeing you up to do more damage at a time of your choosing.
Having enough resources to coordinate a profitable action plan is vital. If the target vessel has a lot of damage-reducing or evasive defenses, a singular attack won't likely accomplish much. When you hit, hit hard as much as you can. This will help you maintain more control of the situation. If you have to wait a few turns to build up several ATTACK cards, you'll have to make sure to survive long enough to do so. That brings us to concepts of survivability, such as ways of mitigating damage.
Damage Mitigation
A "tanky" deck build can reduce a lot damage from attacks. There are Shield cards, Armor cards, and some other ways of reducing damage inflicted upon a vessel. Damage reduction can involve long term cards that are equipped to your ship or they can involve one-off effects that may last one turn, one tier, or one instance.
Damage Absorption
Armor and shields are long term damage absorbers to help reduce damage before it gets to your ship's Hull.As explained in another article on Resolving Attacks, shields absorb damage first, as this aspect of ship equipment reaches out farthest from the vessel body. Armor absorbs damage after shields. Whereas shield cards are a permanent effect reducing damage, armor tends to be limited in the number of uses, determined by how many counters placed on the card. Combining armor with shields makes for a much more effective defense. But remember, part of the Standard Environment includes the card "Maximum Defense" which limits a ship to no more than one shield and one armor card at a time.
Damage Evasion
Dodge effects help you to avoid damage altogether but tend to be one-off effects. This sort of effect is typically achieved via Star cards that are discarded from hand directly to the discard pile at an opportune time.Since there is typically no limit to the number of copies of a card players may include in the deck, some players pack the deck with many copies of "Evasive Maneuvers". As long as you have a MOVE card face up in any of your tiers, you can make an attack miss your ship or a support craft by simply discarding this card from hand. And with the "Reroute" card, you can recycle copies of "Evasive Maneuvers" back into your action deck.
The card "Miss" (found in the Maneuvering Miniset) is a Normal card that requires a tier action. Once flipped face up, you can discard a card from hand and a card from the top of your deck anytime your ship is attacked. This effect lasts for the entire Action Phase (once the card is activated). It doesn't protect support craft from attacks, but it also doesn't matter which cards are discarded from hand. This one card can protect your ship from multiple attacks in the same turn.
Another good evasion option is an "agility" counter provided the crew card "Veteran Helmsman" (also found in the Maneuvering Miniset - MMS). This card offers one free dodge from an attack for the game. Being a Crew, this card also provides a second effect, in this case it provides a +1 to your ship's Mobility. One free dodge is nothing to scoff at, especially with the high powered attacks that opponents can dish out at any given time.
The MMS focuses on cards which can improve your Maneuvering options as well as evasive tactics to improve survivability during the game.
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