My 'core':
Kenkirk, Issard, Gunner - 53pts
Shuttle, FCS - 23pts
Shuttle - 21pts
97pts.

Shuttles run up front, with the 'naked' shuttle in the lead. Second shuttle helps block traffic. Kenkirk runs behind them generally and covers their flanks.

For those last three points, I am undecided on what to do:

4. Predator on Kenkirk - another offense buff...making his damage output pretty reliable even if he has no action.

5. Tactical Jammer on all three ships so the squad will sort of shield itself..

6. Other ideas?

Vader?

Tactical Jammer on all three ships so the squad will sort of shield itself..

Determination on Kenkirk and FCS on the other Shuttle.

I was about to say Vader, then I saw someone mention three Tactical Jammers upthread. That might be interesting, too. Try both of them.

I'll give some of these a whirl tomorrow. At the moment, I think it will be the triple tactical jammers and then FCS w/ Determination. A local gamer suggested determination previously and it sounds great and all, but I have just not been seeing that many pilot cards flipped up over the course a several games. Could just be luck, though.

Also, have any of you tried ruthlessness yet? I messed with it one time, but also did not have gunner, so it did not trigger as much as hoped.

I think Pilot cards account for ~1/4 of all Damage cards. They don't come up incredibly often, but when they do, they're terrible. Also, losing your +1 Agility Pilot ability really hurts Kenkirk.

Sitting at Range 3 with an auto Evade and 2 Agility Dice, is a good place to be, not to mention your gunner.

Predator on Kenkirk? Or Rebel Captive?

Commander Kenkirk — VT-49 Decimator 44
Fleet Officer 3
Flight Instructor 4
Ysanne Isard 4
Experimental Interface 3

Omicron Group Pilot — Lambda-Class Shuttle 21

Omicron Group Pilot — Lambda-Class Shuttle 21

------

Flight Instructor may prove quite valuable defence once Kenkirk and Isard's abilities take effect.

Fleet Officer allows the OGP's to drop FCS and just use their natural action for TL's and relying on Fleet for Focus. When used your OGP's has F/TL.

Not sure if anyone noticed the combination of EI + Isard. but when I stumbled upon it the other day it blew my mind...

Isard's ability is currently a "Free Evade Action" which means it proc's PTL/EI. Yes in the build above it gives double stress via EI + Fleet but you could always sub it for PTL and WepEng.

Meaning your Decimator once shields are down can Focus (natural), Evade (Isard), TL (PTL) or an ability that EI proc's

Vader?

This... only option that makes sense to me!

Rebel Captive, obviously.

How else will you kill a PS 8/9 Phantom? The Turret and Gunner wont always be enough to work through those 4 Green dice, and Rebel Captive will seriously shut down the Phantom. Id also drop 1 FCS for Moff Jerrod. From my experience, crits like Damaged Engine or Weapons Malfunction can cripple the Decimator, especially on those rounds where the shuttles have no shots.

The only problem I had with Kenkirk and 2 shuttles is, the squad is 1 pt short of "perfection". That is:

Kenkirk - 59pts

+Predator

+Rebel Captive

+Gunner

+Ysanne Isaard

Omicron - 21pts

Omicron - 21pts

Total: 101 pts

For this reason, I moved to Oicunn.

But then again...could drop Gunner and add Engine!

Ive got a build I like that ill share later.

I have indeed seen just how effective Rebel Captive can be against phantoms. Still, I wonder how common the phantoms will be once the decimator and outrider are out.

Most curious about your build and any experiences you've had running the decimators.

I have indeed seen just how effective Rebel Captive can be against phantoms. Still, I wonder how common the phantoms will be once the decimator and outrider are out.

Most curious about your build and any experiences you've had running the decimators.

Rebel captives shouldn't cause stress when an imperial shoots at them. It should be a joy. New token anyone?

For some reason double shuttle + decimator is very popular (that is also how I have played with it).

The decimator is extremely fragile for its points, so having some arc dodging capability is vital. I highly recommend that you drop the FCS and give your 360 ship an engine upgrade and VI or determination with the remaining point.

Wound up using the following:

Kenkirk - Issard, Gunner, Ruthlessness

Shuttle - FCS

Shuttle

Flew against Rebels with Biggs, A, B, and Z wing. Opponent pulled off a perfectly timed Ion missile attack with the autohit Z-95 guy against my shuttle when it was stressed and directly in front of an asteroid. DOH! Still pulled out the game though.

Take away - LOVE the combo of Gunner and Ruthlessness. That is nearly a guaranteed 2 damage per shot. Those 8 points of magic will be on any decimator I fly for some time.

That combo sounds amazing.

Does the Gunner Ruthlessness combo work as the attack needs to hit to trigger ruthlessness?

Ruthlessness only triggers when an attack hits. So, Gunner makes that highly likely to happen via stripping evade/focus tokens on the first attack, etc.

Hull upgrade on the decimator. For the '..why?!..' distraction factor.

Rebel captives shouldn't cause stress when an imperial shoots at them. It should be a joy. New token anyone?

I was coming to say the same thing. I know it's fluff jumping and FFG allows it but that is one minor reason why faction on faction fights bug me. Rebel Captive isn't intended (I would think) to be a counter to Phantoms. That just doesn't make sense. But again, it's allowed and I'm sure FFG knew it would be allowed so maybe it was moderately intentional. Anyway.....

I'm thinking something along the lines of "Ah, hell, that's the Rebel Captive that Moff Somebody/Lord Vader wanted alive..."

...yeah...but then why are you shooting at that ship in the first place, and if you are shooting at the ship, haven't you already given up on what the Imperial leadership thinks of you?

I'm thinking something along the lines of "Ah, hell, that's the Rebel Captive that Moff Somebody/Lord Vader wanted alive..."

That makes sense. Maybe if they released a new/reworded card with SCUM that could be imperial/scum only: "Captive - A relative, loved one, or some other prisoner held against their will" causes one stress to....blah blah.

I'd still like to see a joy token, though.

Joy token - Remove to give a high-five to every other true Imperial around you (excludes the traitor trying to escape with the captive you're shooting at)

VI and Engine Upgrade on Kenkirk. Get rid of something to make it fit. Otherwise you will lose to a 58 Dash list every single time against a competent player.

With 2 Shuttles, that leaves you with something like:

Kenkirk + VI + Engine Upgrade + Isard + Gunner

2x OGP

or

Kenkirk + VI + Engine Upgrade + Isard + Intelligence Agent

2x OGP + FCS

or (edit)

Rear Admiral + Engine Upgrade + Isard

2x OGP + FCS

Hm...

Help a brother out...what is on the 58pt Dash? Outrider, EU, HLC, 3PO, and 3pts of something else?

Is the thinking that Dash will use EU to stay at R3 and zap Kenkirk with impunity with the HLC? I'm guessing that he does not use VI himself in the 58pt configuration?