Working with the newly spoiled Experimental Interface (EI), I had a lot of thoughts fly through my head. Here's one of the more interesting ones; a list with an extra tanky Biggs and a very powerful Keyan, supported by Garven.

"Super Biggs": 31 points

Biggs + R2-F2+ EI

"Super Keyan": 43 points (ouch)

Keyan + Expose + HLC + EI

"Regular Garven": 26 points

Garven Dreis

The idea behind this list is "Super Keyan" blowing stuff up with a 5-dice HLC from Expose, supported by his stress-focus ability and probably a target lock. Keyan is protected by "Super Biggs", who also uses EI to pump himself up to agility 3 after focusing. Garven is there to pass Biggs an extra focus token, either for defense or his own shooting.

I have misgivings about this list, but I think that there are some solid elements here. a 5-dice secondary weapon attack that is effectively focused and target locked is brutal. Biggs is already a superstar, but here now he can tank a lot more effectively. And besides Keyan's massive offensive power, Biggs and Garven offer decent offensive backup.

Thoughts?

EI is unique, so have to choose which ship gets it...

EI is unique, so have to choose which ship gets it...

Oh man that ruined my day

EI is unique, so have to choose which ship gets it...

Oh man that ruined my day

Hate to kick you when you're down, but also Expose only works on your primary, not on the HLC.

EI is unique, so have to choose which ship gets it...

Oh man that ruined my day

That just sucks.

You can only equip one Exp Interface. As such, you can also make Keyan 3 points cheaper for the same effect minus an action and you get to keep your agility. He was born to take Opportunist and HLC. This makes room to swap Garven for Wes Janson, opening up your opportunist.

Ninja are everywhere.

*double facepalm*

Back to the drawing board for me then!

(After a few minutes with my crayons...)

How about:

(After a few minutes with my crayons...)

How about:

"Super Biggs": 31 points

Biggs + R2-F2+ EI

"Super Keyan": 39 points

Keyan + PTL+ HLC

"Sidekick Jan": 30 points

Jan Ors + ICT

Same basic idea, but Jan bumps Keyan to 5 dice, and there is no extra focus for Biggs. Also we lose the beefy 3-dice attack from Garven for an ion turret.

Alternatively, I could replace Jan with Kyle Katarn:

Sidekick Kyle: 28 points

Kyle + ICT + Jan Ors

This could make Biggs extra tanky again, with a 3 agility focus/evade or two focus tokens.

Repeat: Give Keyan Opportunist and HLC, Biggs stays like he is, fill the last 29 with Wes Janson. Wes strips a token, and deals more damage than an Ion Turret, Keyan gets 5 dice at any range like you want, Biggs keeps them on the table. Gives you a little extra firepower after Biggs is out, and Wes+Biggs can be great, as you strip an offensive focus from the enemy.

Super Keyan needs some Dragonballz.

Can a 100 point list take it all the way to 9000?

(After a few minutes with my crayons...)

How about:

"Super Biggs": 31 points

Biggs + R2-F2+ EI

"Super Keyan": 39 points

Keyan + PTL+ HLC

"Sidekick Jan": 30 points

Jan Ors + ICT

Same basic idea, but Jan bumps Keyan to 5 dice, and there is no extra focus for Biggs. Also we lose the beefy 3-dice attack from Garven for an ion turret.

Alternatively, I could replace Jan with Kyle Katarn:

Sidekick Kyle: 28 points

Kyle + ICT + Jan Ors

This could make Biggs extra tanky again, with a 3 agility focus/evade or two focus tokens.

Repeat: Give Keyan Opportunist and HLC, Biggs stays like he is, fill the last 29 with Wes Janson. Wes strips a token, and deals more damage than an Ion Turret, Keyan gets 5 dice at any range like you want, Biggs keeps them on the table. Gives you a little extra firepower after Biggs is out, and Wes+Biggs can be great, as you strip an offensive focus from the enemy.

This is something I'll probably be giving a shot. Wes is pretty much Opportunist Keyan's best friend. Alternately in place of Biggs, if you want to go all in on Opportunist and sacrifice the protection(probably something more for a friendly game) you could take:

Hobbie

R2-D6

Opportunist

Next to Keyan, Hobbie(with R2-D6 to actually be able to take it) is probably the best pilot for Opportunist, in that in the process of improving his attack he gets to shed his stress. If only an X-wing could take Advanced Sensors or a Fire Control System though...

I'm still a little concerned that Wes would be wasted, with Keyan blowing away whatever target he shoots at before it would have a chance to fire at Biggs. His removal of a token and the damage he does may not matter much with Keyan hitting so hard. Which doesn't really sound that bad...

It also turns Keyan from a one-hit killer into a tag-teamer with Wes. You need to line up two shots instead of one.

Then again, Keyan running PTL in my second list doesn't make too much sense - his stress is going to act like a focus token anyway, so unless I am barrel rolling and target locking I don't need two actions.

Repeat: Give Keyan Opportunist and HLC, Biggs stays like he is, fill the last 29 with Wes Janson. Wes strips a token, and deals more damage than an Ion Turret, Keyan gets 5 dice at any range like you want, Biggs keeps them on the table. Gives you a little extra firepower after Biggs is out, and Wes+Biggs can be great, as you strip an offensive focus from the enemy.

I'm still a little concerned that Wes would be wasted, with Keyan blowing away whatever target he shoots at before it would have a chance to fire at Biggs. His removal of a token and the damage he does may not matter much with Keyan hitting so hard. Which doesn't really sound that bad...

It also turns Keyan from a one-hit killer into a tag-teamer with Wes. You need to line up two shots instead of one.

Then again, Keyan running PTL in my second list doesn't make too much sense - his stress is going to act like a focus token anyway, so unless I am barrel rolling and target locking I don't need two actions.

Keyan only gets his 5th die if the target has no focus or evade tokens. That's what Wes is for, to help ensure that's the case, since Keyan's PS is high enough there's a good chance whatever he's shooting at won't have spent tokens on offense yet. If Keyan goes to shoot and the available targets all have tokens still, he doesn't get stressed, to have that token to spend, and doesn't get the extra die.

(After a few minutes with my crayons...)

How about:

"Super Biggs": 31 points

Biggs + R2-F2+ EI

"Super Keyan": 39 points

Keyan + PTL+ HLC

"Sidekick Jan": 30 points

Jan Ors + ICT

Same basic idea, but Jan bumps Keyan to 5 dice, and there is no extra focus for Biggs. Also we lose the beefy 3-dice attack from Garven for an ion turret.

Alternatively, I could replace Jan with Kyle Katarn:

Sidekick Kyle: 28 points

Kyle + ICT + Jan Ors

This could make Biggs extra tanky again, with a 3 agility focus/evade or two focus tokens.

Repeat: Give Keyan Opportunist and HLC, Biggs stays like he is, fill the last 29 with Wes Janson. Wes strips a token, and deals more damage than an Ion Turret, Keyan gets 5 dice at any range like you want, Biggs keeps them on the table. Gives you a little extra firepower after Biggs is out, and Wes+Biggs can be great, as you strip an offensive focus from the enemy.

This is something I'll probably be giving a shot. Wes is pretty much Opportunist Keyan's best friend. Alternately in place of Biggs, if you want to go all in on Opportunist and sacrifice the protection(probably something more for a friendly game) you could take:

Hobbie

R2-D6

Opportunist

Next to Keyan, Hobbie(with R2-D6 to actually be able to take it) is probably the best pilot for Opportunist, in that in the process of improving his attack he gets to shed his stress. If only an X-wing could take Advanced Sensors or a Fire Control System though...

This is a list I thought up a while back and have been looking to test it out. Great minds think alike!

Keyan only gets his 5th die if the target has no focus or evade tokens. That's what Wes is for, to help ensure that's the case, since Keyan's PS is high enough there's a good chance whatever he's shooting at won't have spent tokens on offense yet. If Keyan goes to shoot and the available targets all have tokens still, he doesn't get stressed, to have that token to spend, and doesn't get the extra die.

Right, that's an effective plan. I'm just thinking it may be overkill, and it might be better to have Jan out there helping Keyan kill one target, and then Ioning a second target. Instead of Wes and Keyan killing the crap out of one target.

Keyan loves Opportunist, Stay on Target, Push the Limit and Diet Pepsi.

Jan shoots before Keyan, and should have a decent chance of removing the defender's focus/evade token. I think I'd keep Biggs in the list to keep them both alive a little longer. Even if Opportunist doesn't kick in, it's still five dice.

Here's a tip: No such thing as overkill, especially if you only have 3 ships on the table. If any one of them is desroyed you lose SIGNIFICANT firepower. I would focus on damage only with fewer than 4 ships, if you want to add a fourth it could be supportive, but there isn't any room for that with three expensive pilots.