I see everyone is excited about strapping on a heavy laser cannon and I definitely see the appeal as it is more powerful at range 2-3 than most other weapons. Though I have not heard as much talk about the auto blaster. Granted yes being limited to range 1 is inconvenient, but getting to bypass defence rolls is pretty powerful. It is a hell of a trade off for sure, but if you can compensate for that range limitation you will tear any enemy ship you set your sights on to pieces.

I can see myself running the ship both ways even if only to change up my play style periodically to keep my opponents guessing. Though I am curious to see what others think about it. How would you guys compensate for the lack of range? Are you excited about the prospects of both cannon options like me or do you feel one or the other would be a waste? How would you set up for the auto blaster build with this ship? I know these questions are difficult to answer since we have not seen the YT-2400's maneuver dial yet, but I am sure we can get a vague sense of things even without that information.

Autorendar.

Going to be awesome.

I've been thinking about this for awhile, and I can see it working.

The primary problem with the autoblaster is that every ship that could take it up till now had a 3 attack, and mathematically the autoblaster just wasn't doing much of anything for its points. At range 1 a str 4 attack was only marginally (and situationally) less effective than a str 3 autoblaster attack. The autoblaster really needed a str 2 base attack to be bringing something meaningful to the table. The other issue is obviously range.

And we finally have that ship. And it's a large ship! And the autoblaster can be a 360 turret! Which means that even though it isn't going as FAR out from the ship, it has nearly the same total coverage that a regular weapon does, just in a different format. Finally the autoblaster might have a platform where it makes sense!

A large ship's Range 1 band is pretty **** big, especially with barrelling.

I potentially see running the YT-2400 with Autoblaster. I can't see running the YT-2400 with Autoblaster and the Outrider title, because that means spending at least 40-something points on a ship that can only ever attack at Range 1.

Actually, it's worse than that. In order to do it up properly, you'd want to make sure you had Engine Upgrade, so now it's 14 points. But you have to expect to use either boost or barrel roll more often than not so that you lose as few attack opportunities as possible, so now you're really going to want PTL or Predator. So that's 17 points' worth of upgrades in order to skip your opponent's defense rolls; we don't know which pilots will have EPTs or how much they'll cost, but that makes Dash cost 53 points.

For nearly the same cost, though, you can run Chewie + Predator + Gunner + C-3P0 + Millennium Falcon. I think I'd trust Chewie to last longer and hit harder--or, at least, hit hard enough to overtake Dash when you factor in rounds where the Outrider can't attack at all.

Dash + Stay on Target + Navigator + Autoblaster + Engine Upgrade + Outrider

On Dash's activation you change your dial to how you need it to be, ideally with just Navigator, saving you the action, or use SoT to completely reset your dial. You also have the option to barrel roll or boost if you choose to not use SoT.

Could be ok. For 2 points more, Id just take the HLC.

I don't think EU is quite necessary.

With Dash, you can plan your maneuver to end on an asteroid, then barrel roll off of the rock.

Being able to do that opens up possibilities for a lot of range 1 shots you could never get otherwise.

How often, really, do your fighters end a turn far away enough from an asteroid that a big-base barrel roll couldn't line up a turret shot at range 1?

Hard to say how competitive it will really be, but my feeling is that it'll be extraordinarily fun.

I posted this idea in another thread, but I think it bears repeating here:

Rendar + autoblaster + Outrider

Nera Dantels + APT + APT + E2 + Recon + Deadeye

Season with remaining points to taste

Name squad after a song by The Police.

I've been thinking about this for awhile, and I can see it working.

The primary problem with the autoblaster is that every ship that could take it up till now had a 3 attack, and mathematically the autoblaster just wasn't doing much of anything for its points. At range 1 a str 4 attack was only marginally (and situationally) less effective than a str 3 autoblaster attack. The autoblaster really needed a str 2 base attack to be bringing something meaningful to the table. The other issue is obviously range.

And we finally have that ship. And it's a large ship! And the autoblaster can be a 360 turret! Which means that even though it isn't going as FAR out from the ship, it has nearly the same total coverage that a regular weapon does, just in a different format. Finally the autoblaster might have a platform where it makes sense!

True. I generally only found it useful against high agility targets until now. Anything with low agility it was better to just throw the 4th die at. Not only that, but many high agility ships were maneuverable enough to stay out of it's range making it difficult to use. Though being made into a turret and placed on a large base ship it definitely gets much more coverage here and functions as an upgrade over the ship's primary weapon. Still it also does not completely overshadow the primary weapon as even though it does get it's added ability the primary weapon still gets 3 dice at range 1, but also gets 2 dice at range 2-3. So even the primary weapon is left to be a bit of an intermediary between the cannon options.

Personally I think Jan Ors is a ship to think about pairing with it. You can give her an ion turret and she can give your auto blater an extra die which can bypass defence rolls.

Name squad after a song by The Police.

Can't Stand Losing You? Message In A Bottle? Roxanne? Walking On The Moon? Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic?

Name squad after a song by The Police.

Can't Stand Losing You? Message In A Bottle? Roxanne? Walking On The Moon? Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic?

Don't Stand So Close To Me, as I suspect you've already guessed

I found it fitting for all the Range 1 nastiness

Outrider will be awesome with Autoblaster - depending on it's dial.

I really hope it has hard 1-turns. Between that and barrel roll being built-in... it'll be very easy to stay within range 1 or enemy ships.

And just for good measure, toss in a missile for the approach-attack.

Outrider + Autoblaster + Anti Pursuit Lasers + Assault Missiles + Gunner. I'd love to see that run through a swarm.

Name squad after a song by The Police.

Can't Stand Losing You? Message In A Bottle? Roxanne? Walking On The Moon? Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic?

Don't Stand So Close To Me, as I suspect you've already guessed

I found it fitting for all the Range 1 nastiness

You do realize that, now that you have said that, I am going to be tempted to play that song every time I fly my YT-2400 in the Star Wars Galaxies EMU right?

Name squad after a song by The Police.

Can't Stand Losing You? Message In A Bottle? Roxanne? Walking On The Moon? Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic?

Don't Stand So Close To Me, as I suspect you've already guessed

I found it fitting for all the Range 1 nastiness

You do realize that, now that you have said that, I am going to be tempted to play that song every time I fly my YT-2400 in the Star Wars Galaxies EMU right?

At least it's a GOOD song lol

Young howler, first subject, of Rendar's fantasy. He wants her so badly, upon his canopy. Inside him, there's longing, his girl's not yet at range. He rolls over, and sights on her, as the swarm moves to engage.

Young howler, first subject, of Rendar's fantasy. He wants her so badly, upon his canopy. Inside him, there's longing, his girl's not yet at range. He rolls over, and sights on her, as the swarm moves to engage.

If I could like this 1000 times, I surely would

Young howler, first subject, of Rendar's fantasy. He wants her so badly, upon his canopy. Inside him, there's longing, his girl's not yet at range. He rolls over, and sights on her, as the swarm moves to engage.

If I could like this 1000 times, I surely would

If I could un-read it, I would. Clever, but squick...

Outrider + Autoblaster + Anti Pursuit Lasers + Assault Missiles + Gunner. I'd love to see that run through a swarm.

I don't think there's going to be that much mileage with Gunner in this build...

I think Autoblaster without the Outrider title could be decent. Limiting yourself to range 1 is just such a large penalty for the huge cost of the Outrider title card.

I have been excited to use this since I first saw the outrider. The change to barrel roll on large ships made me rethink it, but I am still interested in trying it out anyhow.

I am also considering loading a single missile with it for the Initial Range 3 shot. That is alot of points though, so I need to figure out if it makes sense or not. Plus both the crew spot and EPS slot are very tempting to fill, and I am not sure a missile is better than one of those.

I do think you can't afford to run Z-95s with a Autoblaster Outrider, so I gotta keep the cost of the Outrider in line with Han in HSF so I can have Xs or Bs, maybe Xs as they won't crowd the outrider as much. Dash is probably not a requirement, a cheaper pilot may be better.

That being said, I think an auto blaster ship can be countered pretty easily with proper asteroid setup and initial ship placement. I never mind losing to a smart opponent though.

That being said, I think an auto blaster ship can be countered pretty easily with proper asteroid setup and initial ship placement. I never mind losing to a smart opponent though.

Isn't that a really good reason to run Dash?

Bump.

Now that everything about the Outrider has been revealed I'm still excited to try out this build. It gets expensive for a ship that is limited to range 1 attacks, but it also seems like it would be lots of fun to fly around a saucepan of R1 death.

Leebo or Dash for the EPT slot, Predator for the reroll(s) to make your 3 shots count, and an Autoblaster + Outrider title. The YT-2400's awesome dial means it should be able to chase down most threats and stay in range 1. Going with Leebo as the pilot and adding the Dash crew card might be helpful if you ever want to intentionally land on an asteroid to guarantee a shot.

HLC + Outrider is probably better, but the AB build still appeals to me. The generic pilot strapped with a range 3 ion turret might prove useful as well.

I have tested this this evening:

Dash Rendar + PTL + Autoblaster + Outrider + Nien Numb

Blue Squadron B-Wing + Advanced Sensors

Blue Squadron Bwing + Advanced Sensors

It was Quite interesting the barrel roll, being at range 3 from a target, barrel roll put the ship in range 1, it was funny to attack a Tie Fighter or something who just can sit and see how many impacts you do.

Also the B-Wings gave coverage and block enemy.

Obviously I used this build at a friend´s house, not in a tournament, but I think this list could do well in hands of a skilled player.

I have had NO LUCK running Autoblaster on Dash. I have not tried putting VI on him though to see if that solves the problem. I like the idea of navigator too. I'll have to give the build another try and report back.