[Borg King]

So I've been absent for the past few months (life, 2020, etc) but I've been able to finally wade back in to the waters and have been slowly catching up on what I've missed. One of those things is that Breen Disruptor Burst is banned in OTF.

Why?

What am I missing here? It's a pretty standard, all across the board tactic card; how has this been abused so severely that it required a ban? It's literally a generic tactic; what's the deal?

[JeBuS]

Basically, it's not just a "generic tactic", it's the tactic. There is no downside to using it. It is better in almost every way than most other tactics, which means 95% of other tactics won't be used. If one card essentially eliminates usage of all other cards of that type, it's doing something wrong. (By doing everything right.)

[Professor Scott]

Part of the problem is that Breen Disruptor Burst is pretty much the ONLY tactic seeing play. While that is by no means a reason to ban it, that is what brought scrutiny upon it. As I understand it, taken as a whole, it is way over powered compared to other tactics. Sure some give better bonus, but they don't do near the hull damage. Others only do -1 -1 -1 vs. the -2 -2 -2. Add in an directed nor site kill/unrestricted random kill elsewhere, and you have a potent tactic that pretty much blows all others away except in the most edgiest of cases, just my worth.

[Borg King]

Basically, it's not just a "generic tactic", it's the tactic. There is no downside to using it. It is better in almost every way than most other tactics, which means 95% of other tactics won't be used. If one card essentially eliminates usage of all other cards of that type, it's doing something wrong. (By doing everything right.)

Is that what happened? Looking at all the deck lists that used a Battle Bridge Door only had BDB in them? Were people complaining about only encountering them when battling their opponents? Where did the information come from that this was the case?

I was under the impression that BBD wasn't even used that much. I have a hard time believing that a card was banned because it was used often. is Handshake next if that's the case? If I was running a Romulan deck then I would use it, sure, but Plasma Torpedo is giving me a better attack stat if I'm starting a fight; how is BDB "better" than that?

[JeBuS]

BDB always provides a ship kill with 3 damage markers, vs 4 for Plasma Torpedo. BDB also provides greater stat reduction than Plasma Torpedo would.

Anecdotally, if you're making a battle deck, you're generally not short on weapons, so boosting your ATTACK isn't that much of a factor. What you're really interested in is killing the ship with the fewest battles.

[AllenGould]

If I was running a Romulan deck then I would use it, sure, but Plasma Torpedo is giving me a better attack stat if I'm starting a fight; how is BDB "better" than that?

Well, let's compare Plasma Torpedo vs. Breen Disruptor Burst. You lose one point of ATTACK, and in exchange you deal an additional -1 to RANGE, -1 to WEAPONS, and -5% to HULL (and as folks have noted, that's also effectively -1 "marker to kill").

So unless you're cutting it so close that you 100% need that extra point of ATTACK to make "hit" or "direct" - anything in the middle is pointless - wouldn't you rather do two more attribute points of damage (and one of those goes to RANGE, which will make getting your next turn hit in easier!)?

[Professor Scott]

Not to mention that running nothing but BDB makes Vanquish Enemy quite crippling.

[JeBuS]

Not to mention that running nothing but BDB makes Vanquish Enemy quite crippling.

Yes, it was fun to get Vanquish and Inspect Strategic Snare adjacent!

[Professor Scott]

Not to mention that running nothing but BDB makes Vanquish Enemy quite crippling.

Yes, it was fun to get Vanquish and Inspect Strategic Snare adjacent!

Especially since Snare's is only on your side. VE could backfire, but if you seeded it you would probably have ways to ensure you never stop there, since you would know it was coming.

[princedetenebres]

The issue was that it was being used disproportionately more than any other tactic -- and it wasn't even close, and that it is because of the power creep in that one versus the other available options, as others have said, -2 across the board and 35% is just simply better as one's default tactic than any other option.

The handshake analogy doesn't work -- actually, to be honest, I can't remember the last time I'd seen that one played. But regardless, if you were running a BBD, you were almost certainly using BDB, and often only BDB. Handshake has other competitors for its functions and is not so clearly better than other alternatives that every deck (or nearly) has opted to use handshake instead of all others. BDB is pretty universally agreed to be just clearly better to the point that it is the logical pick for filling out your side deck.

I expect it won't be on there long, it'll just need to be tweaked down slightly (-30% and -2,-2,-1 say), just to bring it in line with the power level of the other tactics and it'll be back.

[Enabran]

Subject: Breen Disruptor Burst

BDB always provides a ship kill with 3 damage markers, vs 4 for Plasma Torpedo. BDB also provides greater stat reduction than Plasma Torpedo would.

woohoooo, and will you next ban the little brother of Breen Disruptor Beam: Phase Cannons?

[nobthehobbit]

RANGE -1 is a lot different from RANGE -2.

[Professor Scott]

RANGE -1 is a lot different from RANGE -2.

Or possibly more accurate, Range -2 is a lot different from Range -4 as often you end up with .

[JeBuS]

woohoooo, and will you next ban the little brother of Breen Disruptor Beam: Phase Cannons?

I don't know what will happen with Phase Cannons. It is entirely possible that it will be the default replacement for BDB. If it turns out that it dominates the game in the same way, then perhaps it will be banned as well.

Personally, I liked BDB. I think that's the strength that all Tactics should be at. I don't think that BDB is overpowered. I think nearly all other Tactics are underpowered. I'd like to see a project that completely overhauls all Tactics to make them balanced, useful, and interesting.

But without such a sweeping project, which I'm not sure there's stomach for among the general population, I agree that the best option is to temporarily remove BDB from the pool to see how it affects the game.

[Mr.Sloan]

that kill a personal and has at least 25% hull damage, idealy 35% for destruction in 3 are usually good. since Breen Disruptor Burst had also the highest Attack/Defensive Total Bonus (4), it was a good card.

The new tactic from Private Little War might take over.

What i would love to see are tacts that give only a one sided bonus like:
Attack +5, Defense -1
or
Defense +5, Attack -2

and to make them balanced give them nice, creative effects that do NOT kill a personal.

then the Battle Bridge tactic possiblities become more IDIC: infinate diversity in infinate combinations.