I've surprised myself by playing exclusively Imperials. I've bought this game about a month ago and have been hooked with using Tie Interceptors. I've learned to fly them properly with Push The Limit as well, to the dismay of the other players.

However, a recent fight showed me a big weakness for the Interceptors and that is the Millennium Falcon/YT-1300. I've played against a Falcon + 2 Y-Wings both with Ion Cannon turrents, against a Falcon + X-Wing + E-Wing, and so on, with the smaller ships basically flying in formation with the Falcon and using it as a shield.

Even if I flew my Interceptors (I usually fly with 3 guys - Soontir, Turr, and Carnor) to range 1 of the Falcon, I might take it out, sure, but I'd end up losing one or all of my ships in the process as well.

I'm dabbling a bit with dual-Phantom builds now but again run into the same problem. It takes forever to kill the Falcon and it seems like every time I go in to attack it, its return fire is more painful than the damage I inflict on it. 2 hits on a Tie Interceptor or Phantom is 66% or 50% of their HP (hull + shields) whereas 4 or even 6 hits on a Falcon and he's left with 1 shield or just under 1 hull point with 7 more hull points to go! (I've never flown against a Falcon that didn't use Han or Chewie)

So, what's the best counter to a build that has a Falcon in it? I'm told a Tie swarm is the best way to go, focus fire and have cheap ships so that losing one isn't very painful, but surely there's another way?

Well, there's the heavy laser cannon. I've done reasonably well againt the Falcon with Rexler Brath. Shuttles are good too, since Falcon lists have relatively few attack dice. Would be fun to try Rexler, Doom Shuttle, Stress Shuttle against a Falcon list sometime.

The way to beat the Falcon with interceptors is not to close with him, keep him at range 3. You benefit from the extra agility dice more than he does. Also token stacking is your best friend.

If you're staying at range then 'stealth device'? I personally put a shield generator on my ints if i can afford it as i just find it stops that annoying 'hit once, oh dear my ships crippled' thing.

Maybe fly royal ties with both but thats sinking a lot of points into two 'hard to hit' ships where you could maybe get an extra decent generic for the 16 points or whatever you're spending ( i know shields are 4pts, cant recall how many pts stealth is off hand)

Give the falcon a more pressing target like a very cheap bomber and close that in?

I've made my firespray seem like the 'big threat' before by talking it up pre game when the real threat is the two escorting royal squints... sometimes psyops work

I've had great luck flying against some Falcon build.

Usually I fly Echo with four ties.

The ties are great blockers and this is how I Beat Falcons.

If you deny his action that's one less evade if he had the title and no focus or target lock if he doesn't.

I managed to take on Han losing echo early of one game with only 4 ties.

My advice blocking with low PS ships works well.

This also makes your opponent choose. Shoot ships at range one which are ment for fodder, or go for the more valuable ships but he gets no range bonus

Another great way I had a defender with a hlc and outmaneuver on Vessery.

Flying with a shuttle with weapons engineer and the shuttle title.

Tore Han a new one that game. 3po was useless with outmaneuver

Outmaneuver and predator

Low PS blocking

I've got to try this tactic out more.

Part of me can't decide if it's 'game mechanics over game spirit' though. It's certainly effective from what I've read

From someone that flies against super agility ships with a Falcon here's what my good opponents do. Try and stay at range 3: we're both throwing down 3 attack but the Falcon will only be throwing 2 green, you'll be throwing down 4 or 5 if you are using Stealth Device as well, same goes for shooting from behind asteroids, it does the agile ship more benefit than the Falcon. Also concentrate fire, even if it's using C3P0 it can only block one hit per turn not per attack.

Low PS blocking

I've got to try this tactic out more.

Part of me can't decide if it's 'game mechanics over game spirit' though. It's certainly effective from what I've read

Like I said one game I lost echo early.

Han had full health and I managed to kill off his escorts.

4 Ties vs Han with 3po and falcon title.

It was a close game, but I did beat him with four ties. One was Howlrunner

BTW with 3p0 i'm doing it right in that on the falcon i say 'i guess zero evades'

If an evade comes up i get it.. if none come up.. i get one... cant lose.. thats correct yeah?

I initially thought you had to guess the number of *positive* evades you'd roll, i.e. at least one and if that one came up you'd get an extra one... but i think i was doing it wrong

Your opponent chooses rock, you should choose paper.

BTW with 3p0 i'm doing it right in that on the falcon i say 'i guess zero evades'

If an evade comes up i get it.. if none come up.. i get one... cant lose.. thats correct yeah?

I initially thought you had to guess the number of *positive* evades you'd roll, i.e. at least one and if that one came up you'd get an extra one... but i think i was doing it wrong

Guess 0 with an evade token and your guaranteed two evades a turn

Rexler+HLC+predator and a miniswarm, turn one is all clearing shields but turn two rexler puts on the pain putting a couple of crits on a turn and the swarm pounds the hull points.

How exactly do you do "Low PS Blocking"?? I think I understand the basic concept (have a ship in the way so he doesn't fully move plus he loses his action), but isn't that spelling doom for the blocking ship? So that tactic is really only effective as long as I have cheap ships to throw away, right? As there are usually other ships "escorting" the Falcon, they're bound to kill it if the Falcon misses.

My Interceptor squadron usually only consists of 3 named pilots, or maybe 4 cheaper ones (2 named and maybe 2 royal guards) and my Phantom squadron has both Whisper and Echo so I only have space for 1 more low PS pilot which gets lost in one turn.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but with the Interceptors, it is very, VERY hard to stay at range 3. At the most, I can get one shot in, then have to disengage and come back in, correct? Or is there a way to stay at range 3 for 2 or more consecutive turns that I don't know about? Usually the Falcon pilots just do 1 straight/bank/hard-turn so the Interceptors would either have to disengage or press in but be closer than range 3.

With the Phantoms, especially with Echo, I can see this as being slightly easier.

How exactly do you do "Low PS Blocking"?? I think I understand the basic concept (have a ship in the way so he doesn't fully move plus he loses his action), but isn't that spelling doom for the blocking ship? So that tactic is really only effective as long as I have cheap ships to throw away, right? As there are usually other ships "escorting" the Falcon, they're bound to kill it if the Falcon misses.

My Interceptor squadron usually only consists of 3 named pilots, or maybe 4 cheaper ones (2 named and maybe 2 royal guards) and my Phantom squadron has both Whisper and Echo so I only have space for 1 more low PS pilot which gets lost in one turn.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but with the Interceptors, it is very, VERY hard to stay at range 3. At the most, I can get one shot in, then have to disengage and come back in, correct? Or is there a way to stay at range 3 for 2 or more consecutive turns that I don't know about? Usually the Falcon pilots just do 1 straight/bank/hard-turn so the Interceptors would either have to disengage or press in but be closer than range 3.

With the Phantoms, especially with Echo, I can see this as being slightly easier.

Interceptors (paper) absolutely hate the falcon (rock). Its not impossible, but very uphill (swarms are scissors, I guess). As you mentioned, staying R3 with interceptors is challenging (engine upgrade on falcon = even harder), and when you try to fly away, hard 1 + boost gives the falcon almost as much speed as your 3 bank or 4 straight (can't do 5 if you want to lose the stress you probly have) so you still get shot at.

Asteroids become key - using them to shield your approach and force the YT's escorts to break formation really helps, but basically most all interceptor builds will struggle.

Apparently the starviper comes with the interceptor's salvation? Just have to wait and see....

Last thing: I have had best results with just Fel as my only interceptor. Hull + SD + PtL make him extra tanky, but absolutely avoid range 1 with the falcon...

Outmaneuver and HLC tears right throught it. Can even negate the C-3P0 builds while at it.

Also, Falcons are on of few worthwhile targets for a Cluster Missile (even more so with Outmaneuver on top).

BTW with 3p0 i'm doing it right in that on the falcon i say 'i guess zero evades'

If an evade comes up i get it.. if none come up.. i get one... cant lose.. thats correct yeah?

I initially thought you had to guess the number of *positive* evades you'd roll, i.e. at least one and if that one came up you'd get an extra one... but i think i was doing it wrong

usually how it is. So the trick is to attack more than once and get more than 1 hit. This method allows C-3PO to block one hit and only one per turn. You can still over power it. For the points you spend on a Falcon you don't get that much firepower.

I don't think triple interceptor builds are particularly viable anymore. They have always been a big gamble, but with increased durability on falcons plus the decimator and the outrider coming into play it really feels like you need some bulk in your squad, be it a TIE swarm of some kind or a large ship or even a TIE Defender.

If you really want to fly pure interceptor builds then perhaps beefing them up with a shield and hull upgrade could work, but that's pricey. One thing I do sometimes is run two elite fighters backed up by a shuttle with a really basic setup like advanced sensors and engine upgrade (28 points). If you are looking for maximum durability that leaves exactly enough room for Soontir and Turr with shield and hull upgrades. Drop the shuttle's advanced sensors down to enhanced scopes from the Rebel Aces pack and you can bump Turr up to Carnor Jax if you'd like.

it kind of sucks since I find the shuttle not all that fun to play and thematically questionable in a battle situation, but the price is right, as they say.

How exactly do you do "Low PS Blocking"?? I think I understand the basic concept (have a ship in the way so he doesn't fully move plus he loses his action), but isn't that spelling doom for the blocking ship? So that tactic is really only effective as long as I have cheap ships to throw away, right? As there are usually other ships "escorting" the Falcon, they're bound to kill it if the Falcon misses.

My Interceptor squadron usually only consists of 3 named pilots, or maybe 4 cheaper ones (2 named and maybe 2 royal guards) and my Phantom squadron has both Whisper and Echo so I only have space for 1 more low PS pilot which gets lost in one turn.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but with the Interceptors, it is very, VERY hard to stay at range 3. At the most, I can get one shot in, then have to disengage and come back in, correct? Or is there a way to stay at range 3 for 2 or more consecutive turns that I don't know about? Usually the Falcon pilots just do 1 straight/bank/hard-turn so the Interceptors would either have to disengage or press in but be closer than range 3.

With the Phantoms, especially with Echo, I can see this as being slightly easier.

Well 2 phantoms and and interceptor are not easy to fly against a falcon with.

You better go for the falcon right away.

You have 3 very high mobile ships, that pack a punch, but very fragile. If you go for his squad mates you'll be down a ship or 2 when facing the falcon.

With your interceptor if you he did get in close I'd still try to use that and block him. At least he can't shoot it, and leaves him actionless and focus him with your phantoms.

This is why I like Mini swarms.

However last night I flew a echo, whisper and backstabber and saw a lot of great potential there. Falcons would be tough, but I think doable.

Backstabber is also 2 points cheaper than an alpha squadorn. Not as maneuverable as a squint, but with 2 phantoms on the boards I think most would likely focus on trying to gun down the two phantoms, leaving backstabber do his thing,and easily get out of their arcs and get that +1 bonus die

At least with echo she is awsome at staying put and getting around, so keeping her far from the falcon, not too hard. Whisper, not so easy, but can still keep some distance.

These 2 ships must be kept alive, so if that means sending in a weaker ship even if it's to die, so be it. If he decides to shoot at my academy pilot, or my alpha squadorn, at least he isn't shooting at my phantoms, and the low ps ship has done it's job.

As fun as flying 2 phantoms can be, I suggest try one phantom and 4 ties.

I think you'll have much better results, and still find it fun. It does well agaisnt every list I've come across so far (With the exception of a swarm which I haven't tried) and falcons

Blocking swarm is great.

Prevents actions and gets in their head - Rebs can't stand their combos not going off.

Provided you can keep him alive, Carnor Jax isn't half bad against the Falcon, come to think of it. Low enough PS to block Han and high enough to avoid everything else, negates the evade token and the offensive focus, and occasionally throws four red dice at him.