Levi Mirror
I'm going to post the same thing others have. Revert what you did to dagger. It's not stopping execs and makes Levi mirrors effing stupid! Go first? No? Retreat. Ships was already an RNG crap show......
Forum Discussion
I'll try that strategy today during my payout hour. Hopefully it doesn't end in a draw.
That aside, I don't think players are upset that they have to use a new starting line-up or get used to a new strategy, I think it's the issues that come with that specific strategy that is frustrating. In this case:
- Time out. Like I said, I have yet to use that strategy myself, but the other day I nearly timed out after winning the initial coin-toss in a mirror match (Fury, Dagger, Bomber on both sides). Getting TenUp with Mark6 might be useful in delaying the enemy Ult, but even if you get to the Ult first, if you can't get past the Bomber if it is present, what's the point? Imagine how it would play out in GAC.
- Fleet Arena. Whether you win, lose or draw with that line-up, you're still opening yourself up to getting pushed back by other players during that 5+ minute cooldown window or after the payout hour. I'm frustrated enough when I wake up and find myself pushed back to 15+ (even before the rework), I shudder to think how I'd react if I find myself in 25 or even lower. Without any tanks, it's especially easy pickings for Executors.
Yeah, these are excellent criticisms if you find yourself in an active fleet shard with several people sharing a payout hour.
I am fortunate enough to have an old but lazy fleet shard. I never fall as far as 25 and it's honestly rare that I fall further than 11th or 12th. Having relatively few active players minimizes the risks of this strategy for me in a way that it might not for others.
You obviously didn't have an arms race in your shard. Your strategy probably doesn't work well against all R9 pilots. Easy time out with strong pilots. I have run up against not being able to take out a single ship, even after ultimate because bomber just won't go down. If opponent manages to both bring in Mk6 and blow hangars, you will never win because you are likely going into ult with only three ships and your next ship being nuked from the hangars. Their dagger is still alive, so you can't TM train it either, so they are getting five ship turns to your three and by the time you get in a reinforcement, you are probably down another ship and have less than a minute left.
