Alrighty. I'm going to type this a third time, and hopefully my mouse will work long enough to format and post it. Stupid computer problems.

Anyway, I'm apparently in one heck of an Escalation Mood, as I've worked out another fleet with great potential. All of the pilots involved are Rebel 6s, though sadly for Arvel, I reached into Wave 4, but not to the point of Rebel Aces. Keep that bench warm, though!

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Wave 1

Kyle Katarn

+ Moldy Crow

+ Recon Specialist

+ Blaster Turret

(31)

Garven Dreis

+ R5-P9

(29)

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Possible Varaitions:

• Trade PTL and Advanced Sensors on Ibtisam for FCS + Opportunist. The Wingmen peel potential movement stress off of her, and everyone in your fleet is allowed to fire before her if you wish, and her pilot ability enjoys stress, so Opportunist is great for her in this fleet and this build. Flechette Torpedoes and Wingman are other ideas if you find FCS as redundant alongside her ability.
• Trade PTL for Wingman on Ibtisam, and R3-A2 for R7-T1 on "Dutch". More stress relief, and more mobility out of "Dutch", but you lose Ibtisam's surefire way of stressing herself (and her double-action), and "Dutch"s surefire way of stressing others.

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I'm not keen on R5-P9 on Garven. Garven wants to spend his focus tokens, not hoard them like Kyle. I do like having PS6 across the board, though Blount seems very niche to me. No room for Chewie?

I'm not keen on R5-P9 on Garven. Garven wants to spend his focus tokens, not hoard them like Kyle. I do like having PS6 across the board, though Blount seems very niche to me. No room for Chewie?

R5-P9 has HUGE interactions with Garven.

Yes, if you're using him, then you're not passing Garven's focus to an allied ship that has not yet fired.

However, it is a safety net that allows Garven to attempt to spend his focii defensively as a sane pilot might (and then chuck it away), knowing that he can still give the focus token to Kyle if he doesn't need it defensively.

Basically, I'm spending 3 points for the "I don't want to spend a focus token when I've rolled no eyeballs". The Shield Regeneration is a rather strong upside as well, making this a more consistent scenario.

I am very content with Bloutn, as the fleets I've seen come in two flavors: 5 ships that ultimately average to 30 points a piece, or 7-11 ships that run lots of TIE fighters. In that latter match-up, the guaranteed Assaults are a godsend. In the former, it ain't no slouch. Moreover, with Wingman, Blount still has a very high synergy with the rest of the fleet, even though he's considered a low-priority target once his Assaults have been popped.

Considering that Blount + Assault Missiles is the same cost as Arvel Naked, he's also danged easy to fit into the fleet.

As for Chewbacca: He's non-thematic with my build, as he offers little to no synergy with the rest of the fleet, and is a different pilot skill. Given that he costs so bloody much, he'd have to be a Wave 1 pick, and therefore a dominant force in the fleet's execution and design.

If you can find a build inspired by my fleet with Chewbacca in, feel free to post it! It will be an interesting nugget to chew on

Here's my first draft of my imperial escalation list I plan on running at our mini club tornament. Aimed for an Elite Tie Mini swarm supported by PTL squints and a heavy hitting Firespray.

First off, for most of us, it's easier to critique when we see more clearly what you add in each wave, rather than the full wave in its entirity. Still, though, glad to see a new list joining us!

I like the concept, but I'm not sure how good Night Beast + 2x Blacks + VI + TC are, when you could get 4x Academies for 1 point less.

Appreciate the input. I really toyed with the accadamies inclusion instead, just having the numbers is a real help to soak up damage and avoid the heat on others litte. The reason I went for an elite tie built was a little for fun and character but also to fire before anything else unnamed and even quite a few named pilots ( Biggs, Chewbacka)

I realise the ties won't throw a huge amount of damage out between them and are vulnerable once attacking, if using the target locks. Really the list was an attempt at something to counter Falcon/double Falcon list, but I guess we won't see too many of those in an escalation format!

I will play test around between the accadamies and more elite pilots. I'm still torn between the two in my 100pt tourney list for a fortnight away!

I just noticed something interesting.
After diving into all of the older threads as well, I've only seen 2 fleets that use multiple Large ships.

One of those was 3x Bounty Hunter, 2x Academy, Howlrunner. The other was some mishappen form that involved ORS + Luke Skywalker (Crew).

I'm going to start one of my Fleetbuilding Challenges, for the Escalation Format, to try to fix this problem. I'll also ask SableGryphon (the ShuttleLord himself) for advice on the matter as well.

http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/106566-large-ship-escalation-fleetbuilding-challenge/?hl=%2Bescalation+%2Bcompendium

I see that no-one's started with a rollout of 3 20 point ships in Round 1.

Once the Chaardaan Refit becomes legal, I find it hard to find one of these better than
3x Green + Chaardan + PTL.

From my point of view, the best thing to do to a 3x Green + Chaardan + PTL opener is to give them each a second EPT, thanks to that A-Wing Test Pilot title.

This is the point where I'm drawing blanks, though.

1. Which EPT should they take after PTL?

2. Which ships should join the merry Greens to victory?

Alright folks, I've noticed two more interesting things that I thought I'd share with y'all.

1:) I have yet to see an Escalation Fleet that starts with 3 20 pointers for its opening. 3x Gammas + Seismics would probably be the best one, but ABX would also do well.

What would you do with the remaining 3 waves?

2:) At 90 points, you can theoretically field XXXX, XXBB, or even BBBB. The 60 point launch is fairly awkward, but you have plenty of upgrade slots to smooth out the 120 and 150 point roll-outs to finish it out.

A new Escalator is on the rise!

[insert clever Stares/Stairs/Stars pun here]

Terrorping's "Escalation List Advice Please!" , featuring a new list by Terrorping.

Simple 31's "Foundation for a Rebel Escalation List"

Posted my list here .

I have no idea if it's good or terrible - escalation is a really different format. All I knew was that I eventually wanted the Vessery + OGP/ST-321 combo and wanted Echo. In the initial list I had Echo with the shuttle, but they didn't really have any synergy together. So then I went with Vessery and the shuttle, but that didn't leave me with enough points for Echo at 90. So I decided to go Vessery + shuttle, then a couple of TIEs at 90 pts, then Echo at 120.

The interesting thing about escalation is that if you're going to have any single ship worth more than, say, 35 pts, it must be in the first wave, because each subsequent phase adds only 30 pts. You can "save" points up, as I did in my list, but if you're more than 4 or 5 points under at any given step, you're likely to be at a significant disadvantage.

I really like this format, can't wait to try it out!

I was gonna post Horsepire's thread here, but it would appear he is also a Ninja.

RogueLieutenant's "Rebel Escalation List Critique"

I won a tournament (4-0) with this a couple of weeks ago.

Round 1 (56 Points)

Whisper//Veteran Instincts/Recon Specialist/ Sensor Jammer/Advanced Cloaking Device

Academy Pilot

I was up against Soontir Fel and Turr Phennir with VI. Both had hull upgrades, and Fel may have had Determination, but I know that he didn't have PTL. I took initiative so I could shoot and cloak first, but it may have been preferable to maneuver last. In any event, the Academy pilot died quickly, but my opponent was frequently boosting or barrel rolling for position, which means my sensor jammer was enormously beneficial.

Round 2 (89 points)

Whisper//Veteran Instincts/Recon Specialist/ Sensor Jammer/Advanced Cloaking Device

Bounty Hunter

Academy Pilot

I faced a really solid player who was using Corran//Marksmanship/FCS and Blount//Assault Missile with some A-wing support (PTL Green, I think). I don't remember where the rest of his points went. The bounty hunter provided a sufficient distraction, and Corran rolled poorly on offense. He was dead in the second round. I think the round ended with a damaged TIE and Firespray and a healthy Phantom chasing a PTL A-wing around for a while before finally killing it.

Round 3 (110 Points)

Whisper//Veteran Instincts/Recon Specialist/ Sensor Jammer/Advanced Cloaking Device

Backstabber

Bounty Hunter// Ion Cannon/Tactician

Academy Pilot

I faced a Chewie list with 3P0, Han, Falcon title, and maybe Push the Limit. I don't remember what the escorts were. The Ion Cannons were supposed to help with YTs, but at this point I only had one in the game, and the bounty hunter died pretty quickly. Because of Han, my opponent was taking Target Locks instead of Focusing. This did two things for me; I could use my sensor jammer and reduce Han's effectiveness, and when he took locks on my Academy TIE, I could move my Phantom into Range 1 for big hits on the Falcon because I was reasonably sure that he would choose to take his modified shots on a target he expected to hit rather than unmodified shots on a cloaked phantom with a stack of focus tokens. It worked.

Round 4 (149 Points)

Whisper//Veteran Instincts/Recon Specialist/ Sensor Jammer/Advanced Cloaking Device

Backstabber

Bounty Hunter//Ion Cannon/Tactician

Bounty Hunter//Ion Cannon/Rebel Captive

Academy Pilot

This opponent used Biggs and a bunch of low-PS Bs and As. Biggs was maddeningly resilient and cost me a beautiful range 1 shot that would have killed a B-wing about two rounds after he (Biggs) should have been gone (I know this because I had forgotten about Biggs and rolled my attack against the B-wing before I had to take it back). One of the firesprays went down really quickly, but I did get good use out of my other ion cannon in a late game joust with one of the Blues; the B-wing received stress from shooting at me, so I ionized him and then flew past the next round to pound him with the auxiliary arc. I think this one went to time with a reasonably healthy Bounty Hunter (the one with Rebel Captive) and Phantom chasing a Prototype A-wing around the board.

I won a tournament (4-0) with this a couple of weeks ago.

Round 1 (56 Points)

Whisper//Veteran Instincts/Recon Specialist/ Sensor Jammer/Advanced Cloaking Device

Academy Pilot

OUCH

That is the tankiest ship I have ever seen!

Seriously, the math here is that Whisper will have 2-3 focus tokens with hir 4 agility dice, with a sensor jammer on top.

625/4096 chance of rolling 4 (Squiggles/Eyes)

1500/4096 chance of rolling 3 (Squiggles/Eyes)

1350/4096 chance of rolling 2 (Squiggles/Eyes)

540/4096 chance of rolling 1 (Squiggle/Eye)

81/4096 chance of whiffing entirely.

For perspective, that's a greater than 50% chance of dodging 3 damage or better, or a whopping 85% chance of beating 2 incoming damage!

2 Incoming damage is the expectation for an X-Wing shooting at you, Range 1, with a Target Lock... except you've Sensor Jammered the poor bastard, too.

The fact that it's also a hypermobile PS 2 ship with 4 attack dice at Range 2...

Round 2 (89 points)

Whisper//Veteran Instincts/Recon Specialist/ Sensor Jammer/Advanced Cloaking Device

Bounty Hunter

Academy Pilot

And you've given her a Firespray as a companion now. You know, the former belt-holder for "Hardest Ship to Kill".

And another in Wave 4, for that matter.

You don't like losing ships that often, do you?

I'm a newish player preparing for an escalation tourny, and I'd be grateful if some of you fine gents could critique a buld I've been putting together.

Wave One (60 Points):

"Echo" (TIE/P) with Adv Cloak and VI

Turr Phennir (TIE/I)

My first squad is focused on using two very mobile ships to dance around the opponent's firing arcs and to keep them guessing on where I'll be next. I expect to do well against other two-ship builds, but I'm afraid a swarm might be able to scatter enough to keep my pilots under the gun no matter where I am.

Wave Two (90 Points):

"Echo" (TIE/P) with Adv Cloak and VI

Turr Phennir (TIE/I)

Soontir Fel (TIE/I) with Push The Limit

More maneuverability. With three ships, I plan to focus fire the point-sink ship (if there is one), then scatter to the four winds and force the others to disperse, to be picked off one by one or to try to stick together, where I can then reconverge on them from several directions.

Wave Three (119 Points):

"Echo" (TIE/P) with Adv Cloak and VI

Turr Phennir (TIE/I) with (Outmaneuver or PTL) and Stealth Device

Soontir Fel (TIE/I) with Push The Limit and Stealth Device

"Mauler Mithel" (TIE/F) with Stealth Device

With the addition of Mauler, my build becomes much more in your face, with a massive glass cannon bearing down in front with my dancers (now much more evasive with Stealth Devices) going around the sides and forcing the opponent to make tough choices on where to focus his attention.

Wave Four (150 Points):

"Echo" (TIE/P) with Adv Cloak and VI

Turr Phennir (TIE/I) with (Outmaneuver or PTL) and Stealth Device

Soontir Fel (TIE/I) with Push The Limit and Stealth Device

"Mauler Mithel" (TIE/F) with Stealth Device

"Backstabber" (TIE/F)

"Winged Gundark" (TIE/F)

For the final squad, I plan to fly a TIE Fighter train into a frontal engagement with Echo and the Interceptors going for the sides as usual.

Any constructive criticisms on my lists or on my tactics are welcome. Like I said, I'm still pretty new, so if there's any major oversights or stupid decisions, I'd like to hear about them before I go to the tournament.

Your Wave I also suffers against anyone wanting to run a named Falcon, as that HAS to be in Wave I.

Later on, Outmaneuver doesn't work that well on Phennir as it would on other Interceptors, as he can't do the same action twice in one turn, and Om wants you to use those to get into proper positioning.

I'm also REALLY not a fan of a 20 point Mithel. I think the 41 points you've spent on TIE Fighters might be better spent somehow, particularly when Echo's sitting over there with both an empty Crew and an empty Sensor slots.

I won a tournament (4-0) with this a couple of weeks ago.

Round 1 (56 Points)

Whisper//Veteran Instincts/Recon Specialist/ Sensor Jammer/Advanced Cloaking Device

Academy Pilot

OUCH

That is the tankiest ship I have ever seen!

Seriously, the math here is that Whisper will have 2-3 focus tokens with hir 4 agility dice, with a sensor jammer on top.

...

And you've given her a Firespray as a companion now. You know, the former belt-holder for "Hardest Ship to Kill".

And another in Wave 4, for that matter.

You don't like losing ships that often, do you?

This was my first real use of Sensor Jammer, and it was definitely worth the points. It's great how often, either out of habit or in an attempt to set up a TL+focus shot, someone will take a target lock instead of a focus against a ship with SJ. The original build included a couple of Defenders, but I substituted Firesprays because I didn't have any of the former at the time of the tournament. I was actually trying to add a control element rather than raw durability. As it turned out, the real benefit was that the Firesprays were distracting enough to leave Whisper unmolested while she tore up whomever presented the greatest threat in the opponent's list.

Edit: Also, it could be worse. I'm going to have to try this Whisper build with Flight Instructor just for fun some time.

Wave Four (150 Points):

"Echo" (TIE/P) with Adv Cloak and VI

Turr Phennir (TIE/I) with (Outmaneuver or PTL) and Stealth Device

Soontir Fel (TIE/I) with Push The Limit and Stealth Device

"Mauler Mithel" (TIE/F) with Stealth Device

"Backstabber" (TIE/F)

"Winged Gundark" (TIE/F)

For the final squad, I plan to fly a TIE Fighter train into a frontal engagement with Echo and the Interceptors going for the sides as usual.

(Edited to final version for brevity)

If you want an EPT on Turr, I would consider Predator. Turr's strength is escaping arcs after he has fired, so by taking him, you are planning on being in your opponent's arc some of the time, which nullifies your Outmaneuver bonus. Predator would allow you to, for example, boost for position, attack with modified dice, and then roll out of the arc, which sounds like it could magnify his utility (I haven't tested this idea, though).

On most ships, you will get more mileage out of Hull Upgrade than Stealth Device. To me, the one real exception is Soontir Fel with Push the Limit because you will nearly always have a defensive focus and evade; with other ships you will often spend your token on your attack roll, and your unmodified greens will leave you vulnerable.

Finally, practice with Echo a lot. His decloak/maneuver options are a little bit overwhelming, and you have to be very familiar with that 2-bank template to position him effectively.

Ok, here's a 150 pt list updated with Sideslip's recommendations in mind. I still have the two TIE Fighters at the last stage, because I'm unsure what I'd want to do instead. Maybe a Delta Squadron Defender or Tetran Cowall with a Gunner in the Phantom? I'll sleep on it and see what else comes to mind.

"Echo" — TIE Phantom 30 Veteran Instincts 1 Fire-Control System 2 Advanced Cloaking Device 4

Turr Phennir — TIE Interceptor 25 Predator 3 Hull Upgrade 3

Soontir Fel — TIE Interceptor 27 Push the Limit 3 Hull Upgrade 3

"Mauler Mithel" — TIE Fighter 17 Determination 1

"Backstabber" — TIE Fighter 16

"Winged Gundark" — TIE Fighter 15

RogueLieutenant's "Having a hard time with an Escalation Team"

I won a tournament (4-0) with this a couple of weeks ago.

Round 1 (56 Points)

Whisper//Veteran Instincts/Recon Specialist/ Sensor Jammer/Advanced Cloaking Device

Academy Pilot

...

Round 2 (89 points)

Whisper//Veteran Instincts/Recon Specialist/ Sensor Jammer/Advanced Cloaking Device

Bounty Hunter

Academy Pilot

...

Round 3 (110 Points)

Whisper//Veteran Instincts/Recon Specialist/ Sensor Jammer/Advanced Cloaking Device

Backstabber

Bounty Hunter// Ion Cannon/Tactician

Academy Pilot

...

Round 4 (149 Points)

Whisper//Veteran Instincts/Recon Specialist/ Sensor Jammer/Advanced Cloaking Device

Backstabber

Bounty Hunter//Ion Cannon/Tactician

Bounty Hunter//Ion Cannon/Rebel Captive

Academy Pilot

...

Something I am playing around with is swapping Backstabber out for an Academy Pilot and grabbing Seismic Charges on the Firesprays. This would add a bit more control, but I am not sure if it makes up for losing Backstabbber. Thoughts?

I won a tournament (4-0) with this a couple of weeks ago.

Round 1 (56 Points)

Whisper//Veteran Instincts/Recon Specialist/ Sensor Jammer/Advanced Cloaking Device

Academy Pilot

...

Round 2 (89 points)

Whisper//Veteran Instincts/Recon Specialist/ Sensor Jammer/Advanced Cloaking Device

Bounty Hunter

Academy Pilot

...

Round 3 (110 Points)

Whisper//Veteran Instincts/Recon Specialist/ Sensor Jammer/Advanced Cloaking Device

Backstabber

Bounty Hunter// Ion Cannon/Tactician

Academy Pilot

...

Round 4 (149 Points)

Whisper//Veteran Instincts/Recon Specialist/ Sensor Jammer/Advanced Cloaking Device

Backstabber

Bounty Hunter//Ion Cannon/Tactician

Bounty Hunter//Ion Cannon/Rebel Captive

Academy Pilot

...

Something I am playing around with is swapping Backstabber out for an Academy Pilot and grabbing Seismic Charges on the Firesprays. This would add a bit more control, but I am not sure if it makes up for losing Backstabbber. Thoughts?

I don't think that would be a bad decision. Academy pilots are great for blocking your opponent's ships. Backstabber is there because (1) I didn't have room for a third AP and (2) I think he's the best named TIE Fighter (don't listen to the Dark Curse fans!). If you swap out Backstabber, your opponent's first target is likely to be one of the Firesprays, which wouldn't bother me at all. You just have to make sure the Phantom lives until all of her hard counters are out of the game.

Here's the first Escalation List I've put together:

Escalation List - Rebels!

Round One: 59pts

YT-1300 - Han Solo - 46pts

Falcon TItle - 1pt

Z-95 - Bandit Sq - 12pts

Round Two: 85pts

B-Wing - Blue Sq - 22pts

YT-1300 + Engine Upgrade - 4pts

Round Three: 119pts

B-Wing - Blue Sq - 22pts

Z-95 - Bandit Sq - 12pts

Round Four: 150pts

X-Wing - Biggs - 25pts

R2-F2 - 3pts

Integrated Astromech - 0pts

YT-1300 + Predator - 3pts