What empire players should put in the SC for defense

[Plagueis]

Considering a lot of these guys are facing rebels who aren’t at a level of strategy to easily deal with rodians using rudimentary luring skills and a single fang fighter/ambushing, it would be safe to say that basically any of the typical standby SC loadouts like buffed jumps, snipes or bikes will do just fine IF your opponent isn’t prepared to deal with them. To all who need to know, the question of “what imps should put in their SC” really depends on the caliber of opponents you’re facing. SWC does get harder as you progress and you’ll eventually face opponents who will find the slightest weakness in your base layout or SC troop selection and exploit it for a 2-3 star win to the point of frustration and starting imbalance threads on this forum. In my experience, Rodians worked really well for a few months.... until enough high base score rebels realized they needed to depend less on kessen sniping and more on luring and fanging the SC & GR rodians. It’s to the point where literally every high medal lvl 10 rebel that attacks my base uses one of 50,000 ways to trip the SC regardless of how I configure my base, lure everything away and either fang or ambush with jets. I had to run something non-lureable to break that strategy, at least for my SC troops and to mess with kessen. That’s just me though. If you’re getting attacked by lower level opponents you may not have the same issue yet, but there really is no silver bullet when it comes to SC troop selection and there is nothing that is going to stop an attacker with enough skill from winning, especially as you progress. SWC is offense-focused ATM so the defensive deck is stacked against us.

[DarkRebel]

Because there is a skip button, you typically see more attack styles that are effective against your base design. Base that is weak against Kessen SC sniping will see lots of Kessen. Base that is weak against the bait/lure (or strong against Kessen) will see many bait/lure players.

Similarly when attacking, you pick on the base you can beat with troop composition in your load, as well as your preferred attack style.

As said, if you can win 60%, be happy with it. Most don’t.

[Plagueis]

That’s where my strategy has changed recently. I changed my layout to basically “water down” how often those players who have a chance at beating my base by a good amount can actually attack it. Like I said, if I get attacked a bunch and go under protection for a 1-star with low resource losses after 6-7 consecutive defensive wins, big whoop. It beats getting rolled by a top 50 guy 5 minutes after logging out. I made my base look “easy” enough for inexperienced players to beat when in reality it still requires all of the same high level tactics to do so. I know where people are going to attack and I create a percieved “weakness” in my base for people to try to exploit. The thing is most attackers at their level of progression haven’t experience what REALLY nasty GR and buffed turrets can do and get in way over their heads while chasing the CB cheese.

And you’re right, winning 60% of the time on defense is good. I’m probably around the 70% range right now so no complaints here. But some people lose pretty much every defense, probably because the players who would faceplant on their base look at it, say “nope” and skip which leaves them with a pool of top players who have all of the tools and experience to deal with GR/SC rodians and wreck their base. It’s possible to make your base look too “nasty” and lose more. So in conclusion getting that elusive 60% or higher win ratio isn’t impossible. It just requires changing your defensive strategy from deterring all but the best to inviting as many “not the best” players to attack your base as possible.

[DarkRebel]

That’s where my strategy has changed recently. I changed my layout to basically “water down” how often those players who have a chance at beating my base by a good amount can actually attack it. Like I said, if I get attacked a bunch and go under protection for a 1-star with low resource losses after 6-7 consecutive defensive wins, big whoop. It beats getting rolled by a top 50 guy 5 minutes after logging out. I made my base look “easy” enough for inexperienced players to beat when in reality it still requires all of the same high level tactics to do so. I know where people are going to attack and I create a percieved “weakness” in my base for people to try to exploit. The thing is most attackers at their level of progression haven’t experience what REALLY nasty GR and buffed turrets can do and get in way over their heads while chasing the CB cheese.

And you’re right, winning 60% of the time on defense is good. I’m probably around the 70% range right now so no complaints here. But some people lose pretty much every defense, probably because the players who would faceplant on their base look at it, say “nope” and skip which leaves them with a pool of top players who have all of the tools and experience to deal with GR/SC rodians and wreck their base. It’s possible to make your base look too “nasty” and lose more. So in conclusion getting that elusive 60% or higher win ratio isn’t impossible. It just requires changing your defensive strategy from deterring all but the best to inviting as many “not the best” players to attack your base as possible.

True.
But it also depends (largely) on what planet you park your base too, as you have attackers at different skill level depending on the planet. As IMP, cheap wins come from either Tat and Erkit. Much harder defense wins on Hoth and green planets.

[Jaykoz3]

I feel like I've tried it all, and buffed snipes works best. That doesn't mean I don't get wiped clean 25% of the time, but I get more positive results with four rodians in the SC (lvl8). Regular speeders barely get a shot off against jet hords, and the few times I tried avas (lvl 8), they did kill maybe two jets, but the 14 remaining finished me quickly enough. You really need to outrange jets. Bikes get in range of them, and really stand no chance.

Myself and many of my squadmates have been running a mix of 4 snipers*, a lugga and an astro medic. The lugga has the added benefit of helping the spawning GR troops as well.

We've also seen success with a mix of snipers* and probe droids.

I usually use the sniper and dewback GR along with RFT & HQ buffs.

*Always use Rodian Armory buff for the snipers.

[Boog]

I feel like I've tried it all, and buffed snipes works best. That doesn't mean I don't get wiped clean 25% of the time, but I get more positive results with four rodians in the SC (lvl8). Regular speeders barely get a shot off against jet hords, and the few times I tried avas (lvl 8), they did kill maybe two jets, but the 14 remaining finished me quickly enough. You really need to outrange jets. Bikes get in range of them, and really stand no chance.

Myself and many of my squadmates have been running a mix of 4 snipers*, a lugga and an astro medic. The lugga has the added benefit of helping the spawning GR troops as well.

We've also seen success with a mix of snipers* and probe droids.

I usually use the sniper and dewback GR along with RFT & HQ buffs.

*Always use Rodian Armory buff for the snipers.

I was able to get my ice crabs to level 5 thanks to the last event, and running them along with the MHC gr (level 7) has been really good for me on Hoth. I picked up 14 wins during the last conflict, which I think is pretty good since I'm level 8 and I pretty much just get hit by 10's. I even beat Wulff Daywalker once (he was a top 20 reb on windows). He hit me pretty much once a day during the conflict, and finally three starred me this morning. With level 4 snow crabs, I did pretty well on defense (2 stars, 70 % or so), but rarely won.

[Rekt01]

To be honest, it is not just the units in the SC that are make or break the battle, its also where the attacking troops are coming from and where the SC is positioned. I usually keep 3 lvl 10 snipers and other troops in my SC for defence, but sometimes I dump an AT-DP inside instead. The problem with the Empire is that its troops are usually REALLY SLOW (10 speed) and it takes forever for defending troops like the AT-AT, AT-DP or even UMHC to get there. And for defending rebel troops, I just chuck a few V-T 49 Decimators on them and they are gone. Easy.

[ZeryabPrime]

Actually, bikes, MHCs, Storms, Snipers are out of the SC, the guard reserves do pretty well in these troops. I say you should put JUMPS or MTV-7s inside your SC, because they have high health and mobility and well as good damage.

The cute little thing is that people usually skip your base if you have those guard reserves on.