....Or is it just me?

I've been seeing (and feeling a lot of pain from) Decimators with Mara Jade lately so I've been trying to think of ways to deal with it.

Tried Farlander and it went badly - he seems to work best when he's stress-free at the end of the round so you can go nuts with SOT, PTL etc - he's not so great when he starts the round stressed.

Ibby on the other hand loves to be stressed while being shot at - and while he's stressed Mara can't do her thing on him

Tried him for the first time today with PTL E2 Jan and FCS and he was untouchable

........... until all my other ships got wasted and he was the only guy left to shoot at

Ibs is a fish lady

She can work, she just stacks up to be very expensive which is a problem.

For Farlander, just don't trigger stress if you're going to end up stressed on the following turn. You're at an advantage engaging decimators from further away (easier to arc their fat base, 2 agility versus their 1), so if you can maintain that range you should be solid (especially using advanced sensors, which is basically mandatory on Farlander).

Also, depending on the rest of your squad (Crapton of Zs for me) Decimators might not even want to get close

Ibs is a fish lady

She can work, she just stacks up to be very expensive which is a problem.

For Farlander, just don't trigger stress if you're going to end up stressed on the following turn. You're at an advantage engaging decimators from further away (easier to arc their fat base, 2 agility versus their 1), so if you can maintain that range you should be solid (especially using advanced sensors, which is basically mandatory on Farlander).

Also, depending on the rest of your squad (Crapton of Zs for me) Decimators might not even want to get close

Squid are molluscs not fish - and plenty of molluscs are hermaphrodites

Can't remember for certain if that extends to the cephalopoda ....... should have paid attention when I did my degree

But hey - who knows what space squid get up to - star wars taxonomy is totally off the mark - I mean - they reckon an Exogorth is a Gastropod - who ever saw a gastropod with teeth and a jointed jaw? surely it should have a radula?

Star Wars is science fantasy not fiction

hence, fish lady

or appetizer lady. I shudder to think what would happen if the members of the new galactic republic ever discovered how the race that produced their mightiest capital ships would taste.

Star Wars is science fantasy not fiction

hence, fish lady

or appetizer lady. I shudder to think what would happen if the members of the new galactic republic ever discovered how the race that produced their mightiest capital ships would taste.

OK I'll go with fish lady .... with chilli, ginger, black bean sauce and special fried rice ...... also known as a 37 and 42

I don't know if b-wings are the answer, used my decimator for the first time this week it went head to head with a b-wing it lost two shields the b-wing was dead in two turns thanks to exposing itself.

Much like a falcon swarms will be the bane of the decimator.

Well, going head to head with a single B-wing is a silly idea for the Rebel player because the base B-wing is half the points of the base Decimator.

The advantage of the B-wing is that they have a far better cost : stat ratio than the decimator, which is a balancing act for the decimator's turret and numerous upgrade slots. One on one, the Decimator should win but for the points the B-wing should be accompanied by some mates.

One should never try to out-quality a large turreted ship since they were made to force feed upgrades into, but it doesn't mean that a B-wing (generic or elite) won't be effective. It just means one probably can't play the same super-elite ship game with small ships as they can with the Decimator, and should be a little more frugal with upgrades for the sake of getting more ships.

Which is kind of a problem I have with Ibs. Farlander is a boss even with just Sensors and lopping on 1-3 points for VI/SOT/PTL is delicious icing, but Ibs' ability is something you have to pay quite a few points to enable reliably (and not just against mara jade stress) while making her a more sensible investment than taking Farlander for just 1 base cost more.

The YT-2400's Experimental Interface makes me water at the mouth, but that's another 3 points thrown on top of everything else (2-4 for an ACTION header upgrade, undoubtedly 3 more for Sensors to guarantee the action...)

dont put expose on a bwing and run it at a decimator. >< youve basically just made a very expensive half decimator with no turret. rofl.

ibtisam, sensor jammer? ROFL. Lone Wolf? bahahahaha.

In space, all species are mammals. Even the sentient squids.

If you suspect youre going to run into a VT-49 + Mara, don't take PTL. Try Ibby + Predator + HLC. Stick at range, and enjoy those free hits on a ship that can't add to it's defense value against a secondary weapon.

I took Ibtisam, with Elusiveness, Sensor Jammer and Jan Ors up against a Decimator and she performed swimmingly.

If Ibtisam is not in Range 1-2 of a friendly, then being Stressed is the same as having Lone Wolf.

The differences: Lone Wolf doesn't require Stress. Ibtisam's ability lets you do it in Formation.

Now: If you're dealing in situations in which Ibtisam's ability is activating, there are 4 zones of usefullness:

1. Before you have attacked or have been attacked
2. Before you have attacked but after you have been attacked
3. After you have attacked but before you have been attacked
4. After everything has happened

Obviously, no. 1 is an ideal occurance, and no 4 is functionally identical to stressing yourself on the following Activation.

Now: if you're facing Stressors, where do they occur?

Rebel Captive: 1

R3A2 :1 or 3 depending on PS

Flechette: 2 or 4 depending on PS

Tactician: 2 or 4 depending on PS

Mara Jade: 4

Interestingly, Keyan Farlander only has a duality: before and after he attacks.

Keyan's duality exists because he spends a stress token, whereas poor Ibs has to carry it around with her even after her attack is over.

The difference on a ship with that many red maneuvers is gigantic, and imo just makes Keyan a much easier ship to fly most of the time for only 1 point more.

Have yet to find the magic combination of upgrades that'll give Ibs her own niche, apart from the fact that she survives swarm fire much better than Keyan which has to stack against Keyan arc-dodging like a monster, navigating a hair-ball without issue, and sweeping across the table with minimal cost (provided you have a shot).

Keyan's duality exists because he spends a stress token, whereas poor Ibs has to carry it around with her even after her attack is over.

The difference on a ship with that many red maneuvers is gigantic, and imo just makes Keyan a much easier ship to fly most of the time for only 1 point more.

Have yet to find the magic combination of upgrades that'll give Ibs her own niche, apart from the fact that she survives swarm fire much better than Keyan which has to stack against Keyan arc-dodging like a monster, navigating a hair-ball without issue, and sweeping across the table with minimal cost (provided you have a shot).

And of course, there's the issue of Nera + Lone Wolf > Ibtisam.

And of course, there's the issue of Nera + Lone Wolf > Ibtisam.

and the further issue that Lone Wolf Ibtisam can't efficiently trigger herself every turn (well, not without something silly like E.I saboteur). She can run around with the stress for a potential 2 re-rolls to hit and one for her agility, but that's less efficient than just using actions.

Marksmanship E.I would provide a nice punch, but that's going to run her up to 34 points and 37 with the sensors that make it several times more effective.

So yeah, the issue of Mara Decimators persist. It's not something that will be trivially solved, except of course by the current slew of fat ships that don't care especially if they PTLed and the Phantom that can shake it with a green after de-cloaking since Mara only resolves post-combat after ACD.

I've had ibby work absolute wonders for me in certain squads with ptl, sensor jammer, hlc and... Something else I can't remember.

The stress on the ptl actions for reroll was pretty nuts for defence and offence, especially combined with sensor jammrr. The problem was she rarely needed to barrel roll so I'd usually use a tl and focus for my actions, and then not need the reroll on the attack. Next best thing was to hopefully only need one reroll on attacks, and then save the target lock for the next round of firing in case I'm still stressed and can't get actions.

The other, bigger drawback is the cost. But kitting up a b wing for extreme tankiness is pretty satisfying.

Yeah i like Ibs. But i just take her if i feel like running 2 named B-wings.

To be honest, Farlander is just a lot better offensively, and he gets rid of his Stress while Ibs sits on hers. She can take 1-2 more shots, but that doesn't make up for the superior positioning that Farlander has with SoT and Sensors.

I took Ibtisam, with Elusiveness, Sensor Jammer and Jan Ors up against a Decimator and she performed swimmingly.

I've been doing rather well with

Ibby + Experimental Interface + Squad Leader

Cracken + Swarm Tactics

Biggs

Rookie