Then it's not a Phantom killing a ship a turn. It's a 100pts of list and you can easily return the favour with your 100pts of 14-16 attack dice. The fragility argument breaks down.

I know that a Phantom alone won't kill aTIE a turn, bit a Phantom+Decimator will, as will Fel and Firespray and Corran+Dash. In this high firepower meta, a competent opponent will be able to focus down at least one TIE per turn

That's a lot of points against one single tie.

I still love running Vessery + Scimitar Bombers. Not as much HP, but Vessery can offer some serious punch and maneuverability to the list.

A friend of mine tried that out earlier this week and it worked very well indeed. Give vessery tough, low PS support with the target lock action and he essentially gets a free target lock himself every turn - it makes him scary efficient.

I tried using a TIE/ln all-stars list myself - didn't do too well (due to being out of practice flying the **** things) but I can see it working. As stated above, against 99% of opponents these days treat howlrunner as a bonus you might get, not something you must have in order to win; splitting up into 2 smaller groups, or even breaking up into a 'dragnet', and only having 2-3 allies benefit from howlrunner is a far better plan than forming up into a 2x3 brick and watching a Speed Devil Tycho (Experimental Interface & Daredevil) dance round your front arc with ease. By comparison, with several fighters capable of speed 1 turns in a loose cluster, even Phantoms can have trouble predicting a safe spot to decloak to.

Howlrunner will die even quicker with this one. Having to stay in the middle of a block of not that maneuverable Tie Bombers makes you very predictable.