whats ur guys opinon on a generic phantom pilot, and what would u equip it with

side note its for casual games.

Shadow with advanced cloaking device and intelligence agent.

The agent compensates a bit for his lower PS. However this set-up got 1 shotted by a Echo yesterday... so much ouch! on my facial expression. On generics it happens but it feels like honest choice in a well made casual fleet.

Shadow with Stygium Particle Accelerator and rebel captive.

Pair this up with something like a higher ps phantom, doom shuttle, Sontir Fel, and it will make your opponent really think what's the biggest threat on the board.

If your opponent chases the phantom, leaves your more important ship alone.

If they go for Sontir Fel let's say then that leaves your phantom ignored, which is deadly.

If he splits his forces, take him on a wild goose chase, only decloak to take a shot when you feel your not in an area to get Focus fired, plus it also means less ships shooting at your other ships.

Ps5 phantom not high on the ps list,but not low.

Unlike the Sigma, which is ps3, chances are it'll fire before getting destroyed.

If your opponent is not flying all low ps ships, it would be easier to kill the Sigma before it shoots

2 ps can make a difference, but all depends on many variables. I found shadow seems more intimidating over the Sigma

Rebel captive acts as a deterrent to want to shoot.

Stygium Particle Accelerator if used properly gives you that free evade. Great for hit and run tactics

Sigma with nothing. Don't do that whole cloak / decloak bullsheet. It is pretty much a 25pt HLC platform, so treat it as such. keep it at the rear of your forces, and your opponent must do something about it before it dishes out too much hurt, which helps divert attention away from your other key targets (eg. soontir PTL)

I've been trying and enjoying a squad that includes 3 sigmas with Stygium and Intelligence agent. Stygium often gets overlooked because of ACD, but it really is pretty potent in its own right. A free evade token most every turn? Yes please!

4 Sigma, bare.

To me it has got to be this:

Sigma Squadron Pilot (30)
TIE Phantom (25), Intelligence Agent (1), Fire-Control System (2), Stygium Particle Accelerator (2)

I play the Intel agent because If you know what they will do, you know whether to decloak or not, and how! gets even better if you play more Phantoms!

The Stygium accelerator gives me at least 2-3 cancelled hits if not extremely unlucky dice happen. Plus even if so, its pretty impossible at least to get oneshot with 4 HP and an evade. Advanced Cloak is just not good and too expensive on Sigmas unless you play against a Swarm with even less Pilot skill.

The FCS is pretty useful, because it can give you more punch even if you need to fly defensive, once you take a shot you get a TL and can evade or focus if you need to.

The other very good option would be to fly a naked Sigma just because it gives you a huge punch for only 25 points.

I've been trying and enjoying a squad that includes 3 sigmas with Stygium and Intelligence agent. Stygium often gets overlooked because of ACD, but it really is pretty potent in its own right. A free evade token most every turn? Yes please!

Have you tried this?

HUNTING GHOSTS

99 points

PILOTS

Sigma Squadron Pilot (30) x 2

TIE Phantom (25), Intelligence Agent (1), Fire-Control System (2), Stygium Particle Accelerator (2)

"Whisper” (39)

TIE Phantom (32), Fire-Control System (2), Veteran Instincts (1), Advanced Cloaking Device (4)

Its extremely fun to fly and if your enemy does not play really hard counters to it its also pretty darn deadly! I take exactly your squad just with Whisper instead of a 3rd Sigma. You swoop in and kill the enemys highest PS guy asap, then whatever happens to your two Sigmas just happens. Because Whisper will then be able to just do whatever the heck he wants with the rest of their Squad!

The one I've gotten the most out of? Sensor Jammer + Stygium Particle Accelerator.

naked is too much fun. we should do everything naked.

--

all the other choices are pretty fun too. having a higher threat is also a good idea.

Well since generics usually have lower pilot skill when compared to named pilots and Advanced Cloaking Device is better with higher pilot skill you generally want to use something other than ACD in your modification slot.

Stygum Particle Accelerator often comes to mind as it is a Phantom Specific upgrade other than ACD. Stealth Device might also be of consideration as it increases the agility even when decloaked. And when cloaked gives 5 agility. The main problem with stealth device is that 1 hit and the phantom is toast. Then again you can also pair it with a flight instructor to mitigate bad defense dice rolls.

Other modifications such as shield or hull upgrade does not offer enough to make the phantom more resilient and as for engine upgrade is not much of an improvement to the phantoms already exceptional maneuverability.

Crew option also depends on what you want to do. Enhanced Scopes + Intelligence Operative is a unique build which allows you to see your opponents maneuvers in advanced and with the cloaking mechanic adjust your movements accordingly rather than guess. Of course the FCS + Gunner works great with the Phantoms' exceptional firepower. Just don't bring Darth Vader along. He's a little claustrophobic and the cramped space in the passenger seat of the phantom will upset him a little.

4 Sigma, bare.

i prefer flying 3 sigmas with howlrunner instead.

Imagine that, you have 3x Krassis HLC

4 Sigma, bare.

i prefer flying 3 sigmas with howlrunner instead.

Imagine that, you have 3x Krassis HLC

And you lose pretty much every advantage the Phantom offers you. It's not mobile if you need to stay in formation with Howlrunner. I do't even know if you could use the cloak/decloak mechanic at all like that if you need to fly formation.

Howl offers way too little benefit to be of use to phantoms. They'd be better off taking a FCS then. If you have 3 Phantoms with FCS they also cost 12 points less than 3 Phantoms plus howlrunner on top of that.

4 Sigma, bare.

i prefer flying 3 sigmas with howlrunner instead.

Imagine that, you have 3x Krassis HLC

And you lose pretty much every advantage the Phantom offers you. It's not mobile if you need to stay in formation with Howlrunner. I do't even know if you could use the cloak/decloak mechanic at all like that if you need to fly formation.

Howl offers way too little benefit to be of use to phantoms. They'd be better off taking a FCS then. If you have 3 Phantoms with FCS they also cost 12 points less than 3 Phantoms plus howlrunner on top of that.

you can. If, say you had stigium on all your phantoms, assuming standard square formation, you simply cloak all of them on the 1st turn. next turn you decloak forward + forward 2, that's a straight 5 for howlrunner. If you do not wish to go so fast, decloak to the sides and do easy turn inwards, and have howlrunner go forward with the respective speed. You will always be within range 1 of howlrunner and maintain formation. Very easily done, but it took me a lot of practice at home to get the different maneuvers + decloaking options correct. If you do not have that kind of confidence, well you simply pretend they are normal TIEs, with base 4atk. I usually recommend trying your luck and pushing into range 1 though, since with focus + evade + DrawFire, I rarely have my Sigmas one-shotted, and 5 atk dice attacks x2 or x3 can really solve a lot of your matchup problems.

EDIT: moreover, you are at PS3, so if you get the chance to counterdeploy against lower PS opponents, you can simply work out how your want to attack, and include the pre-cloak-decloak positions. Think of it as working backwards, you want to end up in this specific position on say, turn 3, you then simply work out what maneuvers and what decloaking directions you want to do, consider at least 2 alternative solutions, and you simply setup there.

My full list is actually Sigma + stygium x3, howlrunner + drawfire. I couldn't care less if howlrunner dies, the sigmas are the important ones. After the heavy initial punch, you simply screw formation and do what phantoms do best.

as for taking FCS on your sigmas, I have 3 questions. 1: how sure are you that the target you are firing at will still be alive after 3x 4dice focus attacks? 2: how do you ensure that your initial punch is heavy enough with only focus and no rerolls? ie. the 1st combat round before FCS kicks in. 3: your sigmas are now 29pts each, leaving you with only 13pts left. Who do you want your 4th ship to be?

4 Sigma, bare.

i prefer flying 3 sigmas with howlrunner instead.

Imagine that, you have 3x Krassis HLC

And you lose pretty much every advantage the Phantom offers you. It's not mobile if you need to stay in formation with Howlrunner. I do't even know if you could use the cloak/decloak mechanic at all like that if you need to fly formation.

Howl offers way too little benefit to be of use to phantoms. They'd be better off taking a FCS then. If you have 3 Phantoms with FCS they also cost 12 points less than 3 Phantoms plus howlrunner on top of that.

you can. If, say you had stigium on all your phantoms, assuming standard square formation, you simply cloak all of them on the 1st turn. next turn you decloak forward + forward 2, that's a straight 5 for howlrunner. If you do not wish to go so fast, decloak to the sides and do easy turn inwards, and have howlrunner go forward with the respective speed. You will always be within range 1 of howlrunner and maintain formation. Very easily done, but it took me a lot of practice at home to get the different maneuvers + decloaking options correct. If you do not have that kind of confidence, well you simply pretend they are normal TIEs, with base 4atk

My full list is actually Sigma + stygium x3, howlrunner + drawfire. I couldn't care less if howlrunner dies, the sigmas are the important ones. After the heavy initial punch, you simply screw formation and do what phantoms do best.

Okay i believe you, but then even if you can fly the ships in formation, two problems remain:

1. You can make your squad more efficient by simply taking some upgrades on the Sigmas. If you want take 3 FCS plus an academy pilot. For the same price its plain better and no need for formation flying.

2. Flying formation pretty much defeats the purpose of taking a superbly maneuvrable Phantom in the first place. If i want to joust, the Phantom is an okay choice, but there are better ones for that purpose as well for offense as for defense. Like for example taking 4 naked Sigmas!

I see, you misunderstand.

the point of bringing the phantom isnt the phantom. It is only for the 4 dice attack. You are essentially still a Howlrunner TIE box. So you will fly like a TIE box. tl;dr, those aren't phantoms, those are standard TIE fighters with 2 hp 2 shields 4atk dice

the added maneuverability of the phantoms would give you an easier time in the subsequent 1v1s after you do the trading on the 1st combat round, but that's more of a bonus than the actual intended usage.

I'll say I do not agree with your statement on 4 dice is were its at... I do however love your alternate train of thought. Howlrunner as a decoy and making him even more attractive with a crit on him, its brilliant in a crazy kind of way.

I'll be giving that list a chance.