Hi Folks,

I'm gonna participate in a tourney next week and so far, I can't decide on which squad to take.

First one is:

- Omicron Shuttle + APL

- Soontir + PTL + Stealth + Target Computer

- Backstabber

- Saber + PTL + Target Computer

or:

-BH + Recon + APL

- Soontir + Stealth + Target + PTL

- Royal Guard + PTL + Target

Problem with the first list, is that I don't seem to get much value out of the shuttel. In most cases the Lambda goes down in the first round of combat, but it has three ships to compensate, and if my Opponent focuses fire on the shuttle, the rest of my squad survives significantly longer, so I am mostly fine with that.

The BH in the second list brings a lot more to the table compared to the Lambda, but I really worry that three ships might not be enough in a competitive Environment, where I will face a lot of B-Wing heavy lists...

Any advice on those issues?

I would personally fly the second list as it has solid firepower and poses the question to your opponent of what to shoot first as everything is dangerous.

My only advice on changes would be to take a Gunner on the BH instead of the Recon + APL. This list needs to kill quickly and Gunner on the BH will help with that a great deal. I have found APL to be **** near useless and Recon is good in an attrition list, which this is not.

Fel with the set up you have is a monster, so is the Royal Guard. Do not be tempted to TL and Focus every turn, look at the situation and use the most appropriate actions Focus and Evade, Barrel and Boost or any combo that makes your lot better and your opponents worse. Ints require thought and patience.

(I assume that you have the Royal Guard Pilot card on Fel as well for the two mods)

Other than that. List two is solid.

Thanks for your reply, Pete.

The problem with gunner on the BH is that I dont think it will kick in often, especially against, B-Wings, YT, and other low agility ships. Furthermore in my experience the Recon Spec. greatly helps enhancing the BH surviveabilty.

On the other hand, with a three ship list I cannot afford my BH to miss any shots, so adding the Gunner could be solid.... still pretty difficult choice.

I agree, that PTL + TC is absolutly great, because it practically gives you the opportunity to go "all in" on an already hurt ship, with lesser Pilot skill, but it is definitly not an Option for most part of the game, as my primary focus has to be keeping my ships alive....

Second list looks solid. You've given your opponent a lose lose situation. All work well independently and in doing so are actually working with one another. You should get a lot of R1 shots.

By all means try the Recon and APL set up or maybe a Seismic and Recon, then try Gunner. It's really just a style thing in the end.....

Sadly if this is for a upcoming tournament, you can not use royal guard tie, royal guard pilot or Targeting computer.

In an official FFG one, no you can't. In a store run one, that's up to the TO.

So you can't in a Store Championship, but in a local setting perhaps the TO is allowing it.

In my experience, Recon Spec. is subpar on a BH. Gunner is vastly superior in terms of action economy. Even against low Agility defenders, you will still roll no hits 12.5% of the time at Ranges 2-3. And against higher Agility defenders, it emerges as the superior option.

It also mitigates the Blinded Pilot crit quite nicely, though that's a fringe benefit.

With Recon, if the intent is to, in general, use one Focus for offense and one for defense, then you're falling short on both offensive and defense capability, as Gunner + Evade yields better averages on both.

Yes, double Focus means you could get better returns if they're both used for defense, but what good is a Firespray that lives an extra round or two if it's doing no damage in the interim?

tl;dr: I recommend the 2nd list, dropping the APL on the BH and going with Gunner over Recon.

OK thanks guys. After Fielding the second list in a test game this evening against XXBB I'm really sold on this squad. I was pretty easily able to outmaneuver my opponent and finally only lost the BH while both Soontir and the RG were unharmed. Although the gunner kickt in only once, I can und er stand that its a better Option than Recon Spec.

Thanks a lot!