Revisiting an old idea from wave 2 to help counter the rise of the ACD Phantoms, I'm trying to tweak a dual falcon list with Han backed by Lando w/ veteran instincts. 2 PS 9 turrets should keep the phantom in check, but at 46 & 45 points respectively, that leaves only 9 points of upgrades to help deal with the remaining 60+ points of enemy ships. Here's what I have so far.

Option 1 - the same old Han

100pts

Han w/ marksmanship, gunner & title

Lando w/ veteran instincts

Option 2 - high risk, high reward

Han w/ opportunist & title

Lando w/ veteran instincts

4 points for Nien Nunb on one and C-3PO(or recon specialist) on the other...or both on one of them. I honestly cant tell if Nunb is better on Han for shedding stress from Opp, or Lando for more action passing.

Option 3 - Hit & run

Han w/ engine upgrade & title

Lando w/ veteran instincts & engine upgrade

Expert handling on Han instead of engine could free up a couple points, but what to spend them on? I'm not sure we should bid for initiative at all. It only matters vs Whisper and most lists I'm seeing are bidding at 98 or 97 to protect initiative. I think those points need to be spent on maximizing the overall effectiveness of our 2 ship build.

Thoughts? Ideas? Comments? Insults? What do you got??

FYI, I'm not so ashamed that I'll refrain from bumping my own thread, especially if I think it's a topic worth discussion.

Eh, never mind.

I'm not a fan of the double PS9. I feel that it's overkill, and a wasted investment if your opponent sticks to PS6 or lower. Yes, you'll tear apart named Phantoms, but you've sold out Lando's EPT and one point of precious upgrade space just to dominate one specific ship.

I'd rather keep Lando at a 7, though that runs into issues when trying to move him before Han in a way that Han still gets a Range-1 free action.

While your two Falcons are obsessing over the Phantom, what are you doing about the other 60+ points of your opponent's list?

I made a similar mistake last weekend. I had a great idea for an anti-Phantom squad. And sure enough, it was great against the one Phantom squad I faced. It was just everything else that murdered me.

I think that's going to be the biggest meta shift from the Phantom. If you can't handle one or two hyper-mobile, super-fragile ships, you're going to lose. But you still need to be able to handle the XXYY, XXBB, dual Firesprays, Buzzsaws, and whatever else your opponent can play that doesn't care about your build with only two high-PS attackers and no agility dice. If you sell your build out to stop two pilots out of the 70-something pilots released to date, you are going to win the battle and lose the tourney.

To PhantomFO:

I haven't flown Dual Falcon much, but my understanding of the build is as follows. To combat it's low attack count, it upgrades in one of three ways. One - push through damage by maximizing the effectiveness of those two attacks (Han w/ marksmanship & gunner, push the limit for lock+focus, etc.) Two - tank incoming fire w/ defensive upgrades to buy time to whittle down enemy numbers (chewbacca crew, MF title, C-3PO, etc.) Three - use mobility upgrades to avoid fire long enough to cut down enemy numbers and get heavily damaged YTs out of danger so forestall the opponent getting that pile of points long enough to not fall so far behind that when they do, you can't get back ahead before time is called. (engine upgrade, expert handling, navigator, etc.)

Previously successful builds have used a combination of upgrades to accomplish most or all of the above at once. If I make the 5 point PS bid to go from Chewie/Lando to Han/LandoV.I. then I obviously can't squeeze all that in, which begs the original question of where would my remaining points be best spent? Offensive accuracy, durability or mobility? While I can understand the points you are making, I don't consider (or said another way I'm not yet convinced...) the PS bid a waste in anticipation of a meta shift towards higher PS in general. Shooting first is in and of itself a kind of defensive upgrade, kill 'em before they shoot, yada yada.

As to R2's apparently flippant question (the lack of emoticon makes it difficult to tell if you're being snide or genuine) the obvious goal would be to either kill the phantom quickly while weathering that early storm, or punishing an overly cautious pilot by gunning down their escorts, leading to a YT vs Phantom endgame, which at PS 9 heavily favors the YT even if it's somewhat damaged in my opinion. Is this easier said than done? Yes. So here we are, me trying to figure out how to get it done, and you not being helpful. Don't sweat it either way.

While your two Falcons are obsessing over the Phantom, what are you doing about the other 60+ points of your opponent's list?

2 Falcons can handle a Howlrunner miniswarm pretty easily. It all depends on how fast you can kill the Phantom, and how much damage you take in return.

The real problem is that against XXBB for example you will be pretty hosed.