Ship strength

"dsteve;c-1078133" wrote:
Yeah. It probably has to do with you ignoring ships at first. They got the jump on you so now there's more of them to climb over.

Doing only one battle a day won't move you up. You'll be attacked more than that so it really is one step forward multiple steps backward. It's no different here than arena in that.

You're not at 130 in arena just doing one battle a day, I bet.

Also true. While I don't believe it's worth it to refresh attempts in fleet arena, if you want to climb you should spend all 5 attempts. It will help counteract the overnight fall slightly, and overtime you'll notice an improved rank.

"Sawyerstooth;c-1078097" wrote:

"dsteve;c-1077838" wrote:
Sawyerstooth, aren't you also destroying teams that are 6k-10k "power" more than you?

No. if they're close to my power lvl, it's the same result.

I was doing fine before they did the update.

"Billcarson66;c-1077760" wrote:

I don't want to assume anything or put anyone down, but I bet most fight a battle or two a day, maybe even on auto, and therefore don't learn much about their squads or their competitions squads. I know nothing about you or your game style, but if you manually fight all five battles daily, I bet you would have a great understanding of ship synergies and strategies.

I've been playing over a yr as a f2p player. Everything is a slow grind. I ignored ships not long after they came out, because my characters needed my focus. Then, I found out about the Zeta challenge. So, I've been trying ships more. I manually do the 1 battle for the daily, but that's it, because it just upsets me. I'm currently between 850-950 on my shard of whales. I don't expect to be #1, but I would like to at least understand how to get better.

The only "synergy" I know of in ships is the Target Lock/Biggs Taunt, which is what I'm attempting to run. Vader - TLocks, Boba - TLocks, Mace - TLocks, Biggs/TLocks... But, it doesn't seem to matter how quickly I move, or how many times RNGesus gives me TL, I lose most of the time. I was doing better before they did the update. I think they changed more than graphics, regardless of what they say.

I run a maxed Tarkin capital ship and he has great synergy with TFP due to the fact that every time TFP evades an attack it grants Tarkin 30% TM per evade, which helps get he cooldown for the TIE swarm knocked out quicker and finish off the opponent. I'm really looking forward to seeing if or how Tarkin's rework affects his ship lead... I've had him at G11 for a while and he has only been useful in ships for me up to this point.

You did exactly what i did and ignored ships. discovered zeta and trying to do mad dash on ship. I did that and then realised ooopppss i aint got any dark side ships or decent characters doh.
Still working, finally unlocked the capital ship challenge to unlock zeta challenge. Just need some work on the ships/characters available.
What is said is true. I have been playing game since about a month after it was release (although a lot more casual then, cant seem to put done for more than an hour without logging into the bloody thing, still FTP though).
I was struggling to get anywhere in arena. Made changes to arena team with less power (understand game more) and know punching into top 200 in my well established shard.
With ships i was like you. Do one a day for dailies. not getting about 800-900.
Not doing 5 a day everyday but doing at least 3 attempts. now just about established into top 500.
Still much room for improvement but considering i gave most a 2-3 month head start i aint doing too bad.
My team is 125k, i am still trying to work ships out but gradually getting better.
I can now beat teams with 135k. Its all about tactics and understanding as is other parts of the game.
Its not about throwing your most powerful toons/ships together and hoping for the best (i did this in arena for about a year).

Just like regular arena, power means nothing compared to gear and synergy. I can beat teams that are 20k higher in power.

When you play more fleet battles, you'll start to figure out who to target first as well. Keep at and try different things.

I find ships terribly tedious so for the daily I just start a battle and immediately retreat. But I'm in the same boat as you, if I had to try to push my rank higher because 1000 credits a day wasn't enough, it would take a bit to figure out best practices.

"Sawyerstooth;d-111211" wrote:
I'll ask this again and hopefully get an answer. Since the power number is a bunch of hooey, can anyone explain to me how you're supposed to determine the strength of a team? I'm tired of getting destroyed by teams that are 6k-10k "power" less than me. I run Mace, 5* JC, 5* Ahsoka, 4* Vader, 5* Biggs, 4* Boba, with 4* Wedge, 4* Plo, and 4* Poe on the bench.

A lot of good info here, so I'll just add a direct answer. For the most part, ignore everyone else, and upgrade your fleet. With a proper mace fleet you should be able to beat anyone and be beaten by anyone. The reason is that the computer has decided mace is defensive, and just spreads taunts around to ships who should never have a taunt. If you're trying to figure out who can beat you, you'll never beat anyone.

One of the biggest obstacles is a powerful Biggs. He takes forever to take down with constant regens. Target lock and fives's ability to clear his taunt so someone else can be tl'd before he auto taunts again is crucial. If you're fleet can't do this, get it there or give up now, because the higher you climb, the more frequently you'll see Biggs.

Phoenix can also be problematic if the crew is geared enough. Take out phantom, and you win; don't, and you lose.

Like you said, power means almost nothing. Synergy is everything. Just put the right ships together, max all your crew members, and do your five battles a day the hour of your payout time. You'll get to know which shardmates are toughest to beat, then make tweaks to beat them. That's all you need to know.

In case you're wondering, I finish top 3 every day with mace. Biggs, tfp, boba, Vader, fives. Maul, wedge, JC off the bench.