Special Weapons And Tactics

Suppose this hypothetical black dice ship and its title were part of Armada.  At 44 points, would you consider flying it?

I know, I know. There's no such thing as sportscars flying through space.

The artwork might be on point, but this ship is clearly overpowered. It's the same price as a Raider, but with more black dice! Mmmm, black dice...

"25 pounds of butter per square inch and covered with
chocolate so dark that light cannot escape its surface!"

And that ludicrous upgrade allows for those those tasty black dice to project out to medium range, without restrictions? That's like the Insidious title, but actually useable!

Ah ha, I fooled you!

Actually, Dark Helmet trumpeted this line in a totally different scene.

This underpriced Armada combo not only exists, but has been around since Wave 2!

Swoosh, there goes one heck of a sweet ride!

That’s right, let me reacquaint you with the humble SW-7 Ion Cannon upgrade. When you are attacking a ship, SW-7s give your blue dice (which normally average .75 damage per die) the exactly same punching power as black dice (which average 1 damage per die).  That's 33% more damage on average. Actual SW-7s are much better than the fake Swat Seven title, because they allow you an informed decision about whether to use the accuracies you roll or to put them towards extra damage instead.

[By the way, a great place to start studying Armada dice probabilities is over at the Cannot Get Your Ship Out blog.]

Consider the lengths that Armada players go to in order to try and get more black dice onto their targets. Aside from the aforementioned Insidious title and situational Sato shenanigans, the standard way to get more black dice (and therefore more damage) onto your target is just to wander into close range. The problem with that, of course, is that you end up in their close range as well.

Shortly after this incident, Darth Vader literally commanded his
crew to drive closer so that he could hit rebels with his sword.

SW-7 Ion Cannons allow you to consistently deliver close range damage at medium range.  So when wouldn't you want to equip them?

• If you are throwing more red and/or black dice than blue dice. Leading Shots is usually the better pick in the long run because it can help reroll red and black blanks.
• You have enough blue dice and/or rerolls to reliably trigger Heavy Ion Emplacements and you have the extra points to spare for it.  They are pretty stronk.

SW-7 Ion Cannons are a realiable means to significantly increase the damage output of any ship with at least a couple of blue dice. So the next time you are configuring a ship with an ion cannon slot, you should ask yourself how you would feel about having medium range black dice on that ship.