First off let me start by saying that in my neck of the woods, rebels have a strong following. There are imperial pilots, but it isn't an easy war.

I still to this day think that for the most part, this game is pretty well balanced, at least for now. (Not to mention the almighty dice rolls. They can love you one day, then ditch you the next.)

BUT I do however feel deep down, that rebels have an edge with shields & target locks.

Think about it. As a imperial player it goes like this,

Oh you missed your shots, or didn't focus? Rebels reroll.

Oh you failed your evasion rolls? Rebels laugh & remove a few shields.

Yes you can upgrade to an extent, but ALL of their ships have these abilities standard issue.

Then we have the Holy Grail of rebel ships. The YT-1300.

Han Solo with the right upgrades & someone who knows what they're doing, is borderline OP. Gunner, Engine upgrade, & Navigator. On top of a 360 degree firing arc with 8hull 5shields.

I say all of that to get to this, the falcon to me, is one of the toughest ships to beat without swarms, bombers, or even firesprays. Not impossible, but hard. Soontir fel can only dodge Han & a gunners potential 4 rerolls, for so long.

Enter now the Tie Defender. You all know the stats, now hear the idea. HLC. 4 dice with TL capabilities, against 1 def. So at range 3 I roll 4 to his 1. But wait, theres more! Its called Outmaneuver. So at range 3 I'm rolling 4 with a target lock, to your 0 def, & if you fire back I'm rolling 4 minimum or 5 with stealth device. Oh & if I miss my defense roll, I've got 3 shields luv.

Finally, that 8 health....that's kind of a problem for me....but not my buddy Rexlar Brath. Yes he's expensive, but with HLC & PTL, or Outmaneuver, he & a few good wingmen could annihilate a full heath falcon in a little to no time. Crits are no joke. I don't have a full build up & running as of now, but I do like the foundation that the Tie Defenders will give me to build upon.

Thoughts on my semi rant/idea? Also your best anti falcon builds & stratagies are highly welcomed. Same goes for constructive criticism. :-)

I HATE the falcon. Hate. Hate hate hate. Anger. Sadness. dark side.

It's not that I can't beat it. It's just... Completely not fun to play as or against for me.

As for the tie def, I'm not really sure what to make of it in an 100 pt list. Everything I've made seems to just be junk. The ship is prohibitively expensive. I think rexler might only be good against the falcon at all. All other cases you'd just rather use the focus for more damage or evades. Tried it with some dice. Give it a shot yourself too. You pretty much never get to use it.

The imperials really need a focus passer. Vessery and rexler are both crying out for it. Some way to get double focus too.

The only viable options I've seen are ps1 defenders with a cannon next to a mini swarm or the more expensive ones with ion and a build around. And the build arounds tend to be flimsy.

In the Assault on Imdaar Alpha a friend of mine ran him & Jonus for the HLC rerolls. That way he was able to keep his focus. I agree, but also consider how powerful the white K turn is. Let that sink in. If you could gain a white K turn as a type of upgrade like engine upgrade, how much would it cost? I think, in light of that, it kind of justifies the Defenders high price. Plus think about it, EVERY single one of its stats are 3 lol! That's just beast.

Vessery doesn't need a focus passer, he can focus as much as he likes. Vessery needs a spotter or two to target lock before he does.

Try this out for a spin, see how it works:

Dear Hanters (I'm not stuck on the name, not by a long shot )

Vessery

Outmaneuver

Delta Squadron

Engine Upgrade

OGP

Intelligence Agent

Navigator

Anti Pursuit Lasers

Where OGP functions as one of Sable's blockORS, see where the Falcon is going, get in its way, punish it for flying into you and lock it. Rinse and repeat.

Alternatively, you could swap out the Delta for the Lambda version of Sable's stressORS:

OGP

Tactician

Tactician

Engine Upgrade

And an engine Upgrade for Vessery as well in this setup.

Go straight for the jugular, that's half the squad right there.

I tried last night, a Delta + HLC + mini swarm (Howl +ST, Mauler +ST and 2 Academy)

The idea is to split this build in 2 groups at the beginning, having the Delta and Mauler on one side + the rest on the other side.

So they can't ignore any of the 2 and the Delta gets the 7 PS of Mauler and they are made for really close range attack, so that Mauler shoots at 4 dice, the Delta too and next turn he Kturn in the ass of the enemy with a focus or TL and shoots again at 4 with his HLC.

I played against: Han,Gunner, Falcon, Marksmanship + 2 Blue Squadron B-wing. Which is a tournament build with an insane amount of shields and hull

We both rolled really good offense and defense dice so the dice were not a factor in this game.

The big difference was really the Defender here. At the end, when I killed Han, I had an Academy with 1 hull left but my Delta was untouched. The HLC on a Tie Defender as alot of end game power. 4 dice at range 3 against 1 evade dice... Needless to say the Falcon went down pretty fast

These two defenders could totally take out a falcon:

Rexler Brath + Heavy Laser Cannon + Outmaneuver + Shield Upgrade (51)

Colonel Vessery + Heavy Laser Cannon + Outmaneuver + Shield Upgrade (49)

Except that they cost 100 points. A defender is nearly the cost of a named falcon - that is it's biggest drawback IMO.

I also have yet to try a build that I have made with Rexler (HLC+ Predator + Shield) and Kath or Fett (Marksmanship + Gunner) pimped to the teeth.

Other options is Vessery or Rexler + HLC with Jonus + Determination and a Scimitar with ordnance (Concussion + Cluster) . Both Bomber will TL, so that Vessery as always a red TL when he will attack.

Guys for having played a few game with the Defender, since I won one at Imdaar and had occasion to play real games. Predator, especially with Rexler is much better than out maneuver. You cannot use Outmaneuver on every turn, with Predator you can and it synergize really well with Rexler.

Guys for having played a few game with the Defender, since I won one at Imdaar and had occasion to play real games. Predator, especially with Rexler is much better than out maneuver. You cannot use Outmaneuver on every turn, with Predator you can and it synergize really well with Rexler.

This lets you save your focus for Rexler's ability (as you hinted), but from the IA games I watched this weekend, it looks like the Defender's poor turning performance is going to make it pretty difficult to get consistent outmaneuver shots (Falcon notwithstanding); the Defender is a jouster not a flanker or a dogfighter. I think Outmaneuver belongs on a Phantom.

I HATE the falcon. Hate. Hate hate hate. Anger. Sadness. dark side.

It's not that I can't beat it. It's just... Completely not fun to play as or against for me.

As for the tie def, I'm not really sure what to make of it in an 100 pt list. Everything I've made seems to just be junk. The ship is prohibitively expensive. I think rexler might only be good against the falcon at all. All other cases you'd just rather use the focus for more damage or evades. Tried it with some dice. Give it a shot yourself too. You pretty much never get to use it.

The imperials really need a focus passer. Vessery and rexler are both crying out for it. Some way to get double focus too.

The only viable options I've seen are ps1 defenders with a cannon next to a mini swarm or the more expensive ones with ion and a build around. And the build arounds tend to be flimsy.

I think rexler and tie defenders in general will also shine in epic battles against huge ships, crits on those things hurt

Guys for having played a few game with the Defender, since I won one at Imdaar and had occasion to play real games. Predator, especially with Rexler is much better than out maneuver. You cannot use Outmaneuver on every turn, with Predator you can and it synergize really well with Rexler.

Yeah I was a fan of Outmaneuver going it. I still got really good use out of it too. Hitting Vader with an Ion shot and making sure he never got to be useful in the match again was priceless. But I found it really hard to use his ability on command (though honestly the evasion luck going on in that game was just sick on both sides of the table). But when it did work, it worked in spades.

This lets you save your focus for Rexler's ability (as you hinted), but from the IA games I watched this weekend, it looks like the Defender's poor turning performance is going to make it pretty difficult to get consistent outmaneuver shots (Falcon notwithstanding); the Defender is a jouster not a flanker or a dogfighter. I think Outmaneuver belongs on a Phantom.

I have to disagree. Having used it a few times, it works really great for powering down one side of the field, then using the 3 turn to swoop in wide. Plus, at least right now, people are so afraid of it they are apparently willing to break formation early to try to prevent this. With a bunch of TIEs and Interceptors coming down the middle at them, this usually proves disastrous. (Killed Howlrunner, Vader and a TIE by combat round 4).

What do people think of this build?

Vessery + Deadeye + Homing Missiles + Munitions Failsafe (shed for 99 point bid)

Howlrunner + Swarm Tactics

Black Squadron TIE + PtL + Targeting Computer

Black Squadron TIE + PtL + Targeting Computer

This lets you save your focus for Rexler's ability (as you hinted), but from the IA games I watched this weekend, it looks like the Defender's poor turning performance is going to make it pretty difficult to get consistent outmaneuver shots (Falcon notwithstanding); the Defender is a jouster not a flanker or a dogfighter. I think Outmaneuver belongs on a Phantom.

I have to disagree. Having used it a few times, it works really great for powering down one side of the field, then using the 3 turn to swoop in wide. Plus, at least right now, people are so afraid of it they are apparently willing to break formation early to try to prevent this. With a bunch of TIEs and Interceptors coming down the middle at them, this usually proves disastrous. (Killed Howlrunner, Vader and a TIE by combat round 4).

I will certainly defer to your experience. The players that I saw this weekend had a very hard time wrapping their heads around the dial, so I guess it's just a learning curve.

I definitely like all the input & build ideas on here.

One thing that I'm also trying to keep in mind is that yes I have to prepare for the potential Yt-1300, but not commit so many resources that I'd be unable to combat bigger or more evasive squads.

This would be the most expensive, low ship count squad I've ever flown;

Rexlar with HLC+PTL,

Soontir with Stealth device+PTL+Targeting computer,

then maybe Backstabber.

At 98 points it would almost guarantee I take initiative.

I know it would be a low ship count, but with the strength of Rexlar, Backstabber doing his thing, & Soontir running as a namesake interceptor, I think I could pull it off. Because even if I did face a swarm, more than likey most of my squad would fire first, & I'm confident they could pick off a few ships b4 they've had a chance to return fire.

I'm still at the drawing board, but I'm happy were things are going.

Vessery & bombers or mini swarms sounds great, & Shield upgrade would give the Defenders just as many shields as a firespray. :-D That is awesome! Lol! Yes I wouldn't have a back firing arc, but a white K-turn is a very nice replacement.

Only time will tell, plus nothing beats cold hard battle experience.

Learn from each battle & take something to think about, from every Win/loss.

It will make you stronger, & better for it.