Hello all.

You may remember me most recently as being the guy against whom the Rebel side had been thrust, from " In an Epic Bind ".

Thankfully, I have now been thrust into a more comfortable Imperial position.

Here's what I'm considering for my half of the field:

Krassis Trellix

+ Ion Cannon

+ Proton Bomb

+ Rebel Captive

+ Engine Upgrade

Bounty Hunter

+ Ion Cannon

+ Proton Bomb

Captain Jonus

+ Proton Bomb

Gamma Squadron Pilot

+ Proton Bomb

Gamma Squadron Pilot

+ Proton Bomb

Omicron Group Pilot

+ Ion Cannon Turret

+ Fire Control System

+ Gunner

+ Engine Upgrade

[200]

I find myself relatively irked by the low pilot skills and the few ships, but I think that Proton Bombs and Ions are the best weapons against the Titans Huge Ships, and their defenders, and went in whole-hog on that idea.

Ions let me kill their escorts with ultra-efficiency by forcing them in front of the Behemoths, turning one well-timed ionization into an unavoidable crunching sound.

It also lets me directly sap Energy from the Huge Ships if I target them instead, cutting down on the hijinx of this newest mechanic.

In the worst-case scenario, the Ion Cannons have good synergy with the Proton Bombs.

I've included Jonus to maximize the effectiveness of the Ion Cannons while my ships concentrate on evasive actions and/or Engine Upgrades.

Huge Ships, and Rebels in general, come with LOTS of Shields, and quite often the ability to regenerate them.
Bypassing them to deal a crippling Card... or several, is worth the two Academy Tie pilots I've sacrificed to put 5 in my fleet.
I wish I had a list of the Huge-ship Face-ups so I could know exactly how dangerous this makes me against them.

Regardless, they get explosively better the more opponents I'm facing regardless.

Thoughts? This is the first time I've actually theory-crafted on paper, rather than spitballing "What would be good in this format?".

Should I prep a secondary swarmier list in case my teammate wants to go a similar Large-Ship Wins route?

***EDIT: Noticed I was 3 points over. Fixed.

If your going the Jonus route, I'd ponder adding some Cluster Missles. With Jonus' rerolls, they are quite scary for the larger ships with no agility, and will double well against Falcons and Bs. I know he is generally avoided like the plague, but Maarek is a great delivery vehicle for them. With Jonus rerolls, and his ability he could seriously shake up a capital ship.

I assume this is happening soon, and thus shouldn't include wave 4 cards. If/when you can, Decoy works wonders in this case, letting Maarek fire last in a phase once the other ships have stripped shields.

Brath with an HLC is also a force to be reckoned with against huge ships.

If your going the Jonus route, I'd ponder adding some Cluster Missles

I considered them, but sacrificed them in favor of a PS bid on the Bombers and an Engine Upgrade on Krassis.

A version of the list after taking Damoel's advice (partially. Steele's not in this fleet, but might be in a future build).

Krassis Trellix

+ Ion Cannon

+ Proton Bomb

+ Rebel Captive

Bounty Hunter

+ Ion Cannon

+ Proton Bomb

Captain Jonus

+ Proton Bomb

Scimitar Squadron Pilot

+ Cluster Missiles

+ Proton Bomb

Scimitar Squadron Pilot

+ Cluster Missiles

+ Proton Bomb

Omicron Group Pilot

+ Ion Cannon Turret

+ Fire Control System

+ Gunner

+ Engine Upgrade

[200]

I like the look of that. Should be pretty fierce. I hadn't given bombs a serious consideration. I was stuck on the idea of it being risky to drop them in front of huge ships, but they don't really need to, on second thought. Should be trivial to get close enough to them from the side and let them go.... And with the Clusters you have solid alpha on the way in.

Would you consider this list?

Would you consider this list?

Colonel Jendon (26)

Fire-Control System (2)

Ion Cannon (3)

Weapons Engineer (3)

ST-321 (3)

Krassis Trelix (36)

Ion Cannon (3)

Proton Bomb (5)

Rebel Captive (3)

Bounty Hunter (33)

Ion Cannon (3)

Proton Bomb (5)

Captain Jonus (22)

Proximity Mines (3)

Gamma Squadron Pilot (18)

Proton Torpedoes (4)

Proximity Mines (3)

Gamma Squadron Pilot (18)

Proton Torpedoes (4)

Proximity Mines (3)

Total: 200

The proximity mines are of course no proton bombs but still hefty and Jendon might make it a bit more supportive.

Proximity Mines actually prefer lower PS. I'd trade them down to Scimitars, and give Jendon an Engine Upgrade.

Shuttles NEED them to be anything other than stationary.

I still think I like the Idea of Clusters more then Proton, but it looks workable. I had failed to realize how great ST-321 is in epic before this, but it appears to be huge.

Shuttles NEED them to be anything other than stationary.

Actually this is not the case in Epic games. My shuttles have had vast success by just deploying to one side or the other and making a broad, sweeping pass over the play area. By the time they might be in danger of not having targets, they're either dead or the game is over.

I honestly think you should try soe Ties, as they murder low agility ships, and evade the weapons on the Tantive really well. Proton bombs are risky, as getting close enough to drop them puts you in close enough to get Squished range, and that is a dangerous place to be.

Epic matches are about team support.

Cut down to a pair of Jonus enfoced HLC Firesprays. Fill in with ties. That said, you will have a teamate to do that, and Proton Bombs will do well on the field, crowded as things get. I just don't see them as viable against the bigger ships without a very very specific approach.

Personally, this is what I'd do:

Maarek Stele: Predator, Cluster Missles

Bounty Hunter: Gunner

Krassis Trelix: HLC, Gunner

Colonel Jendon: FCS, Gunner, Weapons Engineer, ST-321

TIE Bomber: Cluster Missles

TIE Bomber: Cluster Missles

The gunners could be dropped for another ship, they're 15 points, and theres 1 point left over, so that'd be 16 for a Backstabber or something.

I honestly think you should try soe Ties, as they murder low agility ships, and evade the weapons on the Tantive really well. Proton bombs are risky, as getting close enough to drop them puts you in close enough to get Squished range, and that is a dangerous place to be.

Epic matches are about team support.

Cut down to a pair of Jonus enfoced HLC Firesprays. Fill in with ties. That said, you will have a teamate to do that, and Proton Bombs will do well on the field, crowded as things get. I just don't see them as viable against the bigger ships without a very very specific approach.

If I wind up having to play the Swarm/Flank role, I've got another list.

Carnor Jax

+ Push the Limit

+ Royal Guard Title

+ Stealth Device

+ Hull Upgrade

Turr Phennir

+ Push the Limit

+ Royal Guard Title

+ Stealth Device

+ Hull Upgrade

Royal Guard

+ Push the Limit

+ Royal Guard Title

+ Stealth Device

+ Hull Upgrade

Howlrunner

+ Push the Limit

+ Stealth Device

Black Squadron

+ Draw Their Fire

[199]

Oh god, that looks annoying. The repositioning of damage would be so frustrating. One shot a TIE, or things get complicated.

Oh god, that looks annoying. The repositioning of damage would be so frustrating. One shot a TIE, or things get complicated.

My thinking was

"They're going to want to kill Howlrunner ASAP, as she doubles the offense of the ships around her. Lets make that tough as hell."

But yes, in a game where the gulf between the penultimate damage and lethal is of wider consequence than the rest of the damage levels combined, that Crit-Shuffling is going to be useful

Of course, the Swarmiest fleet possible in Team Epic is:

Howlrunner

+ Elusiveness

7x Academy

6x Scimitar

[200]

Yes, 14 bloody ships. 60 total Hull. A full hour to move all of them, and that's ignoring your ally's fleet potential as well.

If you are looking for a somewhat "swarmier" build, I have the suggestion from my Team Epic Compendium (will be adding some lists to it soon, so keep your eye out):

Squad 2 (200pts)

Howlrunner

4x AP

Jendon + ST 321 + AdvS + EU

Jonus + ST + Homing

Scimitar + CM + FT + Seismic

Scimitar + CM + IPM + Seismic

Scimitar + FT + Seismic

Howlrunner miniswarm, Jendon hands out TLs to the Bombers while still being a competent fighting ship, and Jonus rerolls them.

Carnor Jax

+ Push the Limit

+ Royal Guard Title

+ Stealth Device

+ Hull Upgrade

Turr Phennir

+ Push the Limit

+ Royal Guard Title

+ Stealth Device

+ Hull Upgrade

Royal Guard

+ Push the Limit

+ Royal Guard Title

+ Stealth Device

+ Hull Upgrade

Howlrunner

+ Push the Limit

+ Stealth Device

Black Squadron

+ Draw Their Fire

Black Squadron

+ Draw Their Fire

Black Squadron

+ Draw Their Fire

Black Squadron

+ Draw Their Fire

Black Squadron

+ Draw Their Fire

[199]

Looks like this is the fleet I'm going to be running. My partner is not a good swarmist, and prefers large ships.

Fortunately, he's happy with my Ion/Bomb lists, but is also considering the following:

Captain Jonus

+ Opportunist

+ Assault Missiles

+ Assault Missiles

Bounty Hunter

+ Heavy Laser Cannon

+ Recon Specialist

Bounty Hunter

+ Heavy Laser Cannon

+ Recon Specialist

[200]

It deals damage, and lots of it.

So you'll be taking the flanks and he will go straight for the jugular?

Should be... painful.

Though why he's packing 4 Co-Pilots to turn the crits he just turned into hits back into crits. Seems a bit overkilly to me. I'd personally take Recon Specialist and IA on each.

So you'll be taking the flanks and he will go straight for the jugular?

Should be... painful.

Though why he's packing 4 Co-Pilots to turn the crits he just turned into hits back into crits. Seems a bit overkilly to me. I'd personally take Recon Specialist and IA on each.

I'm anticipating high-hull matches. B-Wings and YT-1300s are quite probable, and there's always the Huge Ships to boot. Those crits will prove useful .

As for the Intelligence Agent option, I am very much hoping that his fleet won't be getting in Range 1 of anything at any time soon. That's MY fleet's job.

I am considering dropping the 3 Interceptors from my Tank/Flank Swarm, in favor of 4 RGPs with PTL.

3 tanky Squints vs 4 regular ones is proving an interesting internal debate.

Having ran a shuttle against a Corvette, I will tell you that it eats them for breakfast. Especially if they are packing single turbolaser. Double one attack die doesn't do you much good when they can throw four dice and flip a focus to a hit. They struggle more against fighters though. I would rather stick with more fighters than go the shuttle route. Maybe a named pilot for some support.

Having ran a shuttle against a Corvette, I will tell you that it eats them for breakfast. Especially if they are packing single turbolaser. Double one attack die doesn't do you much good when they can throw four dice and flip a focus to a hit. They struggle more against fighters though. I would rather stick with more fighters than go the shuttle route. Maybe a named pilot for some support.

Thank you for the input. I don't know if we're going up against a Transport or a Corvette, but that's definitely something to consider.

I like the idea of Captain Kagi flying as a support tank with a Sensor Jammer to boot. This should mess with the Corvettes ability to target fighters. Without target lock fighters will still be tough to pin down with the extra dice. Kagi's ability even makes the Sensor Team's ability somewhat of a disadvantage, at least until Kagi goes down. Hilariously, I might even ponder a Stealth Device on Kagi. Normally awful, but if his goal is to soak fire, two bonus dice against Turbolasers may be worth it.

Sensor Jammer is a must for him though. The CR90 has basically no way to fix that die back to a hit.

I like the idea of Captain Kagi flying as a support tank with a Sensor Jammer to boot. This should mess with the Corvettes ability to target fighters. Without target lock fighters will still be tough to pin down with the extra dice. Kagi's ability even makes the Sensor Team's ability somewhat of a disadvantage, at least until Kagi goes down. Hilariously, I might even ponder a Stealth Device on Kagi. Normally awful, but if his goal is to soak fire, two bonus dice against Turbolasers may be worth it.

Sensor Jammer is a must for him though. The CR90 has basically no way to fix that die back to a hit.

Sounds like I should ditch the Advanced Sensors in favor of Sensor Jammers. I'd need to find 1 point per shuttle to ditch somewhere in my fleet, but that's definitely an option.

It is still gonna be tough to keep them up, but wrecking one die a round will do some work.

I do think generally the Firespray is a more solid choice then shuttles in epic play, the difference between 2 and 1 agility is huge. Sensor Jammer helps a whole lot, its almost like a mini reinforce action for the shuttle. And I suppose the agility thing is more relevant the more Turbolasers there are, if your opponent goes for Quad Lasers, then its less important, and Sensor Jammer just gets stronger. Hrm.

I agree. I would stick with Firesprays as much as possible. They can still dish out a ton of damage, but have better maneuverability and survivability .

SD on the Shuttle is a thought, but for one more point I would go with sensor jammer.

Now against the single turbolaser, when you jam a hit, can he immediately turn it back into a hit?