So I've finally been trying out the transport with my buddy. We tried a few games at 150 and 200. Honestly not sure what the suggested point total is for this thing. Starting at 30 points doesn't seem that bad. However it takes a decent amount of upgrades to make this ship actually do anything. I usually end up around 50 points into this ship.

Unfortunately I just can't seem to get my points back out of this thing. The coordinate and jam actions are the only two decent actions it has. The other 2 are self-preservation on a ship my opponent largely ignores. Free actions are always and stressing ships is decent. However even with Comms Booster for more stress relief and bonus actions it just doesn't seem to justify its cost. For the same amount of points I could play Garvin and Dutch for extra buffs and they can actually attack. For a whopping 7 points I've tried Slicing Tools or whatever and it never does more than 3 or 4 damage per game.

What are your strategies/builds with the transport? Do you huddle around it or leave it to its own devices? What card combos have worked for you? I've only played three games with it but I'm unimpressed with its performance. Its not like anything it does is bad, its just I feel like a 50+ point ship really needs to be doing more. However it looks cool and I do enjoy playing it which is most important to me.

On a side note I'm not sure why this ship wouldn't be allowed in Dogfight as it is certainly far from broken in 100 points :/

45pts

GR-75 w/ 2x comms booster, backup shield generator & Quantum Storm title

The few chances I've had to run my GR-75, this build has done exceptionally well. BSG & QS combo out to autoregen a shield every turn once you've exhausted your energy reserve. So I max out my energy in early rounds, then fly in full speed w/ my escorts. Between 2 comms boosters & coordinate, that's 3 additional actions for my escorts. Because my CBs remove stress & add focus, I can fly my escorts very aggressively in the early game, coming out of k-turns w/ TL & focus, or boosting or B-rolling for optimum positioning.

Also, I can always fall back on Jamming to set a trap for High PS, High squadpoint ships. The double stress forces quality pilots like Vader, Soontir Fel, Wedge etc to either go green and get pounced on by my escorts next round, or go white, swing wide and remove themselves from the relevant combat zone to safely destress later. That's fine by me. If they're running away, they're not shooting my ships. Once energy is exhausted she can still fly fast and regen shields or hit the breaks and use recover. Makes her harder to predict.

Next time I'm going to try swapping out BSG for engine booster to turn it into a surprise ram. As soon as Rebel Aces gets here I'm gonna run 2x comms & Jan Ors crew for 40pts.

I think the key to good GR-75s is remembering that it's harder to get your points spent back out of it than ships w/ guns, so a minimalist, laser focused approach to upgrade purchasing is needed. 50pts or more and I think you've spent too much. Have one goal in mind for it and don't waste any points that don't directly serve that goal. I have yet to play an epic game with the combat retrofit slapped on, so can't say one way or the other if the added durability is worth the 10pts spent.

I think the key to good GR-75s is remembering that it's harder to get your points spent back out of it than ships w/ guns, so a minimalist, laser focused approach to upgrade purchasing is needed. 50pts or more and I think you've spent too much. Have one goal in mind for it and don't waste any points that don't directly serve that goal. I have yet to play an epic game with the combat retrofit slapped on, so can't say one way or the other if the added durability is worth the 10pts spent.

+1 here... Just as with any squad building you want to be pretty tight with the points even on Huge ships.

I would say go full support or full damage (slicer/jam).

over here, we simply slap Toryn Farr on the transport and call it a day. The transport's presence + jam and coordinate actions is more than enough effective support, and now it costs less than 40 points (36 to be exact) and your opponent cannot ignore it.

The answer is to use the Transport to mess with their flight paths. Keep it in constant danger of crushing them. Positioning control is huge. Especially if they ignore the Transport.

Also, double Comms Booster.

I'll echo the laser focus sentiment. Double comms booster is a great build, reliable, and fits in with any squad.

I like the idea of a jamming ship and slicer tools, but you really need other ships to support it at that point. Tacticians, Flechettes and Hobbie can also push through some extra stress, sometimes forcing them to keep it from turn to turn.

On that note, my rule is 15 points of upgrades. I almost always take bright hope and 2 Comms Boosters for maximum awesome.

I am considering playing the Slicer Tool transport in my first game. We will play by the Epic Tournament Format rules,

So how would you suggest I deploy my ships? Flying the Transport slow to charge up power means the rest of my squadron will move much faster. So do I put them far away and fly on an intercept path, or do I deploy next to the transport on a parrallel trajectory?

How do you guys deploy your squadron when flying the transport?