With the soon release of rebel aces and the many good pilots and upgrade cards, one combo caught my eye: Tempest Squads with Proton Rockets and a mini TIE swarm

Tempest Squad (21) + Proton Rockets (3) X 2

Academy Pilot (12) X 4

Total Points 96

A Tempest Squad is as cheap as Rookie Pilot, the Proton Rockets are a cheap upgrade with high damage for the 3 agility, and will substitute as a cheap flanker or whatever you use it as.

This might do well in tournament play, but I would like to hear your guys' thoughts.

Not yet, but apparently it will be sometime soon.

It's great until you launch the protons. Then your stuck with an expensive tie fighter.

Vader is still good though.

Vader is still good though.

*hugs* yeah he is buddy, he's still good.

Vader is still good though.

*hugs* yeah he is buddy, he's still good.

I love how consoling that came across!

Right now, only Vader is viable and he needs certain back up.

It's great until you launch the protons. Then your stuck with an expensive tie fighter.

True, but that's a lot of potential damage in that attack, you could be left with substantially reduced opposition to your expensive TIE Fighter. Not that I'm saying it makes it worth taking, I think a) missiles/torpedoes are rarely going to fix a broken ship as they're kinda pants, most of the time, and b) the TIE Advanced needs quite a big fix. Quite a really big fix.

Try it.

Vader + PR will be kind of nasty. TL + Focus on 5 dice.

I think the Proton Rockets are being oversold as an Advanced fix, as sad as that makes me (I was pretty excited when they were announced). A little comparison:

Concussion Missiles: Use up a Target Lock action and generate an expected 3 hits. At Range 3, they're giving you the rough equivalent of 4 boosted Attack dice, with no Defense bonus, for a 3 dice swing (I know attack and defense dice aren't exactly equal). Compare this to 2 boosted Attack dice to target's Agility +1 that you'd normally have. They cost 4 points.

Proton Rockets: These simply require a Focus token (not spent), so you can get 5 boosted dice at Range 1. This is a 2 dice swing compared to your primaries (Attack +1 vs base Agility), and it has a much more restricted attack zone. They cost 3 points.

Both types of attacks gain real benefits from having a higher PS: Concussion Missiles TL better at long range with higher PS, Proton Rockets can avoid target movement shenanigans with higher PS. Throw in that Concussion Missiles can attack earlier in the game, and I think they end up being a much more valuable shot. The exception, I'd say, is to use Proton Rockets to try and draw fire. Target Lock with the Advanced on the way in toward a high priority (and not very maneuverable) target, then Focus, and use that threat to draw fire onto a pretty durable platform that otherwise wouldn't draw fire.

Let's go with a crazy concept, just for kicks:

Vader

Proton rockets

Squad leader

Maarek

Proton rockets

Opportunist

(Not saying its good, I just like to think of crazy combos)

Let's go with a crazy concept, just for kicks:

Vader

Proton rockets

Squad leader

Maarek

Proton rockets

Opportunist

(Not saying its good, I just like to think of crazy combos)

might as well add Experimental Interface to Vader so you can take 2 actions and give one to Maarek. If you're going to do it, you might as well get target lock and focus on both attacks. Maarek can make a pretty good wingman for Vader, as much as a tie advanced can, anyway.

For 1 point I would include munitions failsafe and at least make that one shot count.

I'd consider:

Tempest + Protons x 2

Jendon + Stuff

If you aren't giving Vader Engine Upgrade, you are playing him wrong.

For 1 point I would include munitions failsafe and at least make that one shot count.

Except that the likelihood of missing is pretty slim. Not sure I'd want to waste 1 point.

Color me crazy, but I love the Advanced. Rule of Cool > Competitive 100% of the time.

If you aren't giving Vader Engine Upgrade, you are playing him wrong.

-1 Dislike

Yeah, I think Proton Rockets definitely improves the Advanced, but I am not convinced it is enough. That being said, I like long shots.

I am working on a list that may work with the 2 TIE Advanced, replacing the Swarm with Jonus and Howlrunner. I am not 100% on Howlrunner yet, but am going to play around with it a bit.

I am also thinking of flying a "Black Squadron" squad with Vader and all the named TIEs from Black Squadron (mauler, backstabber, Dark Curse and one BSP). This may be more thematic than viable. Maybe I will shelf that until they "fix" the Advanced.

I've had fun success with Vader, Rexlar, and 2 Academy TIEs.

For 1 point I would include munitions failsafe and at least make that one shot count.

Except that the likelihood of missing is pretty slim. Not sure I'd want to waste 1 point.

Yeah, you aren't going to be missing with PRs w/ a focus to spend. Even against 3 evade dice the chances of 0 hits is <5%. If you manage to get a TL too, the chances of missing are crazy low.

Nope it's still terrible.

Getting a good missile doesn't make it go from terrible to awesome. More like terrible to mostly terrible until the rocket is fired, then back to terrible.

The Advanced is awful because it lacks any real upgradability, it's expensive, and just plain weak.

For 1 point I would include munitions failsafe and at least make that one shot count.

Except that the likelihood of missing is pretty slim. Not sure I'd want to waste 1 point.

Yeah, you aren't going to be missing with PRs w/ a focus to spend. Even against 3 evade dice the chances of 0 hits is <5%. If you manage to get a TL too, the chances of missing are crazy low.

You know how many times I've crunched numbers against seemingly impossible events that still seem to happen? What's the probability of 6 evade dice with a focus rolling all blanks and your opponent rolling 3 hits to kill Howlrunner on the second turn? Slimmer than that and it's happened to me before.

Seriously, the dice do not form a normal distribution, so just stop quoting me on statistics.

I've seen eight blank green dice rolled in a single round statistics are fine but the dice ignore them and act how they want to.