Interdicting Objectives

The Interdictor provides some truly unique options with its Experimental Retrofit upgrades.  As I went over in my last post the Interdictor isn't the most points efficient combat platform, so getting the most out of the Experimental Retrofits will be really important.  I thought I would take a run through the various objectives that we have right now and see if the Interdictor's bag of tricks might be useful with any of them.




The Interdictor has 4 different "tricks" it can bring to the table:

• It can use Targeting Scramblers (and maybe Projection Experts) to improve fleet survivability.
• It can use G8 Experimental Projectors (with help from Admiral Konstantine and Tractor Beams) to slow down the opposing fleet and restrict its mobility.
• It can use a Grav Shift Reroute to move around obstacles.
• It can use a Grav Well Projector to limit deployment options.

Each of these tricks can interact with objectives in different ways, some of which are very useful.  Let's run through the objectives and see what stands out.

Blue

Dangerous Territory - The obvious choice here is the Grav Shift Reroute.  It will be really strong as both first and second player.  If your opponent puts any of their objective tokens near each other, you can grab them and move them towards you or simply spread them out.  In either case you can make it much harder for them to grab the points.  If you have some fast ships along you should be able to grab some of the opposing players objectives.

Grav Well Projectors will also work well here.  You can place the token near a cluster of objectives and make it much more difficult for your opponent to grab them.  

Slowing the opposing fleet could be useful, but it would be difficult to slow them before they get to their own objectives.

I could see the Interdictor with either of the "Grav" upgrades giving that player a 30 point swing in objective points as either the 1st or 2nd player.

Intel Sweep - This is another win for either of the "Grav" upgrades.  The Grav Reroute is again probably the better of the two.  In either case you should be able to make the approach of the objective ship a harder task for your opponent.

The G8/Tractor combo would also be plenty effective here, but you'll need to get it across the table quickly to get that objective ship in range.

The Interdictor can give an advantage here, but I think a smart opponent could play around it.

Minefields - This is just ridiculous with Grav Shift Reroute as the 2nd player.  You can't move the minefields, but the 2nd player gets to place ALL of the objectives.  If you place them all within Range 1-3 of a central point, then you can move ALL of the objectives after deployment.  What a headache you can cause.  It won't directly score you points, but wow it would be fun to rearrange the board like that.

Superior Positions - This is an objective where I think Admiral Konstantine could really shine.  He is the only option for speeding your opponent up!  You could really put your opponent in a tough spot with some ships as they try to protect their rear arcs.  I'm not seeing a really specific advantage for this objective with the Interdictor's tricks though.

Overall, if I'm playing an Interdictor I think Dangerous Territory stands out as the best Blue objective.

Red

Advanced Gunnery - The Targeting Scrambler could help keep your objective ship alive, but otherwise there is not specific advantage given by the Interdictor's tricks.

Most Wanted - Again, the Targeting Scrambler could help keep your objective ship alive, while a G8/Tractor combo could hold the opposing objective ship in place for double arcs.

You cold use the Grav Shift Reroute to place obstacle in front of their objective ship, but a clever opponent might use them for cover.

Opening Salvo - I got nothin'.

Precision Strike - If you can drop an obstacle in the path of a ship, it could end up with an early card that if it is the right type of crit could be flipped again later in the game.  Otherwise, I don't see a specific advantage.

The Red objectives aren't as strong for the Interdictor.  Maybe Corellian Conflict will change that, but in the meantime you should build the rest of your fleet to capitalize on these.  Most Wanted seems like the best bet.

Yellow

Contested Outpost - This is an easy 20-40 extra points with the Interdictor.  You can use the Grav Shift Reroute to move the station closer to you.  You can use the Grav Well Projctor to slow down the best approaches.  You can use the G8s to keep his ships from closing.  These tricks will work as either the first or second player too.

Fire Lanes - Much the same as Contested Outpost, but as Fire Lanes allows your opponent to interact with the objective from further away I think Contested Outpost is a better choice.  However, I do think that an Interdictor with Grav Shift Reroute could be an interesting choice as first player and choosing Fire Lanes.  You could use the obstacles to close approach lanes and obstruct angles to allow you to claim some objective points early.

Fleet Ambush - You could use Grav Shift Reroutes to essentially force asteroid collisions on the first turn, but really, this is a bad objective.

Hyperspace Assault - I suppose if you had a Targeting Scrambler you would have less to fear from the ambushing ship.

I think Contested Outpost is the winner if you take an Interdictor in your fleet.  It should gain you the most overall points.

All of this is purely theoretical for me at this point.  I do intend to try some of these out and see what I think.  When we get the 12 new objectives in the Corellian Conflict, it should open up even more options.  Let me know in the comments what your experiences have been using or playing against the Interdictor.