On the "difficulty running away and turning" part, a 3 forward and boost is the same as a small based ship performing a 5 straight and boost, which basically means you can outrun anything that's not an Interceptor or A-Wing. The important thing is to pick your initial approach angle wisely so that you have space to do it, and also to think very carefully about what speed you set in the initial joust.

Turn 1: Advance. No shots.

Turn 2: Sit on the edge of R3 and exchange long range fire, gaining target locks etc.

Turn 3: Get into R1 and unload as hard as you can.

Turn 4: Hit a long straight or 3 bank and boost even further.

Turn 5: K-Turn/Segnors.

Turn 6: Destress.

Repeat from Turn 2.

Don't try to knife fight. You'll be trying to engage with piss poor action economy from the red turns. Other ships are better at it, with higher PS, and will eat you alive. Any named Phantom. Any named Squint. Dash in the 2400. Bounty Hunters. They're all moving after you, and can easily arc dodge if you try to stay in close.

It's basically how a lot of my games went.

Keep asteroids as far apart as possible.

One game I got caught up fighting in a tight asteroid formation. Made it very hard and actually was my first and only loss with one of my builds

I've thought a lot about Mangler, Marksmanship, FCS and IG-88B. By using Marksmanship, you get to use focus for both attacks. You also get one eye turned into a crit, which works nice with Mangler. With FCS, you're basically getting TL/Focus every round for your second shot at any range and you don't have to PtL to do it. Plus, you could fit some other upgrades with points you save from HLC.

Only three duce

Crits are ignored when against something with shields.

Not a bad idea though with marksmen with the mangler.

If you try it let me know how it worked

Now here is a fat Ig88 list.

Ig88 B/C or maybe B/D

Marksmen

Mangler

Fire control systems

Autothrusters

Seismic charge

Inertial dampers

Or

Take off inertial dampers and go with proximity mines in place of seismic

Actually, I may try this

I love my proximity mines

I've thought a lot about Mangler, Marksmanship, FCS and IG-88B. By using Marksmanship, you get to use focus for both attacks. You also get one eye turned into a crit, which works nice with Mangler. With FCS, you're basically getting TL/Focus every round for your second shot at any range and you don't have to PtL to do it. Plus, you could fit some other upgrades with points you save from HLC.

Two things I don't like about mangler.

Only three duce

Crits are ignored when against something with shields.

Not a bad idea though with marksmen with the mangler.

If you try it let me know how it worked

Now here is a fat Ig88 list.

Ig88 B/C or maybe B/D

Marksmen

Mangler

Fire control systems

Autothrusters

Seismic charge

Inertial dampers

Or

Take off inertial dampers and go with proximity mines in place of seismic

Actually, I may try this

I love my proximity mines

I don't like Proximity Mines in this list because you won't get your Marksmanship action. But I suppose it'll be useful on those rounds where you know you won't have a shot. Also, I really like Inertial Dampeners, so it would be toigh to part with them. But again, you don't get Marksmanship in the round you use it.

I'm thinking I may try your the Seismic Charges list with B/D at game night this Wednesday. Here's hoping my store gets them in stock by then!

I've thought a lot about Mangler, Marksmanship, FCS and IG-88B. By using Marksmanship, you get to use focus for both attacks. You also get one eye turned into a crit, which works nice with Mangler. With FCS, you're basically getting TL/Focus every round for your second shot at any range and you don't have to PtL to do it. Plus, you could fit some other upgrades with points you save from HLC.

Two things I don't like about mangler.

Only three duce

Crits are ignored when against something with shields.

Not a bad idea though with marksmen with the mangler.

If you try it let me know how it worked

Now here is a fat Ig88 list.

Ig88 B/C or maybe B/D

Marksmen

Mangler

Fire control systems

Autothrusters

Seismic charge

Inertial dampers

Or

Take off inertial dampers and go with proximity mines in place of seismic

Actually, I may try this

I love my proximity mines

I don't like Proximity Mines in this list because you won't get your Marksmanship action. But I suppose it'll be useful on those rounds where you know you won't have a shot. Also, I really like Inertial Dampeners, so it would be toigh to part with them. But again, you don't get Marksmanship in the round you use it.

I'm thinking I may try your the Seismic Charges list with B/D at game night this Wednesday. Here's hoping my store gets them in stock by then!

It's a really good deterrent to come at you head on.

After which you lay down the prox mine.

Yes you won't use marksmen but you still have fire control systems and B ability if you still have a shot on something.

I've killed many ships with proximity mines so I love them.

Well let me know how it works for you

You have a sensors slot, an EPT, and more green than any other ship in the game. It's pretty hard to argue against Push the Limit with Advanced Sensors at that point, it is ridiculously strong. Add more action economy with C, and you have a nimble ship with the same action economy as Soontir Fel (Boost, Evade, Focus), but it ends the turn without stress and gets its actions even if it bumps.

For the choice of who to accompany IG-88C. A is at its best in your worst matchup, vs. Swarms, so while it might not be worth considering in a one off game its strength over the course of a tournament is quite high. B allows you a way to consistently fire through the defenses of any token reliant ship, whether that is Soontir Fel, Fat Han, or Whisper, so in the current meta it is also a very strong choice. D seems to be many peoples favorite, but its ability does not add a large displacement over the Segnors and is in my opinion the weakest of the four.

Taking all that, the list I used in TC Aces to take down Whisper, Soontir, Yorr was:

IG-88B (Push the Limit, Ad Sensors, Mangler, IG2000, Autothrusters, Seismic Charge)
IG-88C (Push the Limit, Ad Sensors, Mangler, IG2000, Autothrusters, Seismic Charge)

I have Autothrusters because they are crazy good and because turrets are a thing, PtL and Sensors because they are pure unadulterated awesome sauce when combined with a dial this good (and help you insulate against bumps, a common problem using a large based ship that needs to point at things), Mangler because it has a solid effect at all ranges and combines better than any other cannon for Bs ability (because no range restrictions and does full damage, so you can still attack a second time at R1 if you miss), and Seismics to help me out if I ran into a swarm since I chose not to use IG-88A.

Good stuff I tell you. The only real complaint I have is the PS 6, it is very difficult to deal with those high PS dodgers, but with a higher PS these ships would be broken.

Have you tried them with a hlc?

I've thought about the mangler but fear for two ships the dmg output would be kind of low

I watched the game KineticOperator had against Sozin, and the Mangler really shined. Against Soontir, it meant that any damage getting through was a crit, which absolutely crippled him when he was only able to squeak one damage through at a time. And at Range 1, you just use your primaries and use B's ability to refire with the Mangler if you miss. I'm real curious to see how well this setup does against a more shield heavy rebel list, but the Mangler cannon is growing on me.

I'm going to chime in here as someone that almost always runs a shuttle (usually Buzzsaw). I think two strategies need to be employed to stay on target, so to speak.

1. Joust. You're running a large base ship with boost. This is one of the fastest ships in the game (if not the fastest!). And your three forward and banks are green! Take a shot, rush to the other side of the board, and turn around.

2. Intertial dampeners OR IG-88D. I don't think you need both. It's great that IG-88D lets you keep the option of being able to K-turn on a three-bank in addition to the three-turn. Advanced sensors are important here so that you're not killing your action economy to keep the enemy in your firing arc.

Here's what I'm going to try:

IG-88B (36)

-Advanced Sensors (3)

-IG-2000 (0)

- Predator or PTL (not sure yet! I'll have to see how reliant I am on red maneuvers)

- Mangler Cannon (4)

- Flechette Cannon (2)

- Hot Shot Blaster (3)

IG-88D (36)

-Advanced Sensors (3)

-IG-2000 (0)

- Predator or PTL

- Mangler Cannon (4)

- Hot Shot Blaster (3)

TOTAL: 100 points

I call this "IG88: Swiss Army Knife Edition". This probably looks crazy at first. I understand the argument for HLC, but I feel like I've incorporated more versatility with the points saved.

- While it is one less attack dice, running Mangler saves 3 points per ship and still takes advantage of your innate secondary gunner ability. At range 1, I'd shoot first with the primary and if it doesn't hit, Mangler can still trigger as a backup.

- Advanced sensors prevent action loss from being blocked or running a red maneuver. If you run Predator, it gives you a mini-target lock against any target, so you're fine without FCS.

- Running one with Flechette cannon gives you the option of stressing an opponent if the opportunity arises. This is another tool to keep enemies in arc.

- Two "Hot Shot" Blasters (note: Predator combos well with this too!). Your points spared from HLC helped subsidize this. This does two things: 1) inevitably, you will have enemies within range 2 that are out of arc and this gives you the option of taking a shot (and maybe that enemy only has 1-2 hull left!). 2) If your opponent is outflanking you, they might now hesitate to move in closer than range 3. If they do hesitate, it obviously makes it easier for you to turn around and get them back into the primary arc. Side note: fitting in Munitions Failsafe might be worth it if you're seeing a lot of Phantoms.

- Predator + "Gunner" gives you consistent damage output that helps compensate for having less red dice on the board.

This is, of course, a hypothetical build and could fail miserably! Regardless, I'm excited to try it out!

I watched the game KineticOperator had against Sozin, and the Mangler really shined. Against Soontir, it meant that any damage getting through was a crit, which absolutely crippled him when he was only able to squeak one damage through at a time. And at Range 1, you just use your primaries and use B's ability to refire with the Mangler if you miss. I'm real curious to see how well this setup does against a more shield heavy rebel list, but the Mangler cannon is growing on me.

But it's the rebel builds or anything with shields that concerns me the most with it

Here's what I'm going to try:

IG-88B (36)

-Advanced Sensors (3)

-IG-2000 (0)

- Predator or PTL (not sure yet! I'll have to see how reliant I am on red maneuvers)

- Mangler Cannon (4)

- Flechette Cannon (2)

- Hot Shot Blaster (3)

IG-88D (36)

-Advanced Sensors (3)

-IG-2000 (0)

- Predator or PTL

- Mangler Cannon (4)

- Hot Shot Blaster (3)

TOTAL: 100 points

I call this "IG88: Swiss Army Knife Edition". This probably looks crazy at first. I understand the argument for HLC, but I feel like I've incorporated more versatility with the points saved.

No Autothrusters! I'm not sure what to think about that.

I do think "Hot Shot" Blaster can come in handy, though.

I'm still wary of Push the Limit. In theory, you'll always remove the stress right after you use it, so it should be great. I just need to try it out myself. But Predator looks neat because, as Kinetic Operator said, swarms are difficult to deal with for 2 Aggressors, and Predator will give you more teeth against swarms.

This has been a super fun list for the past couple weeks for me. Double control cannons has been hugely successful.

I've used the advanced sensors with ptl and it worked like a charm

But i run hlc

This has been a super fun list for the past couple weeks for me. Double control cannons has been hugely successful.

IG-88B (36)

Outmaneuver (3)

Fire-Control System (2)

Ion Cannon (3)

Flechette Cannon (2)

Feedback Array (2)

Autothrusters (2)

IG-2000 (0)

IG-88C (36)

Outmaneuver (3)

Fire-Control System (2)

Ion Cannon (3)

Flechette Cannon (2)

Feedback Array (2)

Autothrusters (2)

IG-2000 (0)

Total: 100

Outmaneuver and FCS helps to punch through some of the harder to hit targets (Interceptors, Phantoms, etc), and getting an ion token on either of those ships means they are dead next round.

vs a fat turret, putting a stress on the same turn the 2nd ion goes on, means I can literally walk the ship off the board. Very easy to double ion every turn afterwords, and auto thrusters plus evade or focus means the turrets are doing little to no damage in the turns leading up to the edge of the board.

Feedback array is the only piece I'm still playing with. It's either been really helpful or completely useless in games, no middle ground at all. Dampeners are the obvious change, but I have found that moving the aggressor around is usually more useful than staying in one place. Bombs are the obvious second choice, but I'm just so bad at both remembering I have them, and actually positioning myself to use them. :\

I've considered similar lists, but felt the damage output was too low. Does that seem to be a problem for you? Have you had to deal with swarms? That's one of my biggest fears. The last thing I want to do is deal 2 damage per turn against a list of 4 B-wings.

This has been a super fun list for the past couple weeks for me. Double control cannons has been hugely successful.

IG-88B (36)

Outmaneuver (3)

Fire-Control System (2)

Ion Cannon (3)

Flechette Cannon (2)

Feedback Array (2)

Autothrusters (2)

IG-2000 (0)

IG-88C (36)

Outmaneuver (3)

Fire-Control System (2)

Ion Cannon (3)

Flechette Cannon (2)

Feedback Array (2)

Autothrusters (2)

IG-2000 (0)

Total: 100

Outmaneuver and FCS helps to punch through some of the harder to hit targets (Interceptors, Phantoms, etc), and getting an ion token on either of those ships means they are dead next round.

vs a fat turret, putting a stress on the same turn the 2nd ion goes on, means I can literally walk the ship off the board. Very easy to double ion every turn afterwords, and auto thrusters plus evade or focus means the turrets are doing little to no damage in the turns leading up to the edge of the board.

Feedback array is the only piece I'm still playing with. It's either been really helpful or completely useless in games, no middle ground at all. Dampeners are the obvious change, but I have found that moving the aggressor around is usually more useful than staying in one place. Bombs are the obvious second choice, but I'm just so bad at both remembering I have them, and actually positioning myself to use them. :\

I've considered similar lists, but felt the damage output was too low. Does that seem to be a problem for you? Have you had to deal with swarms? That's one of my biggest fears. The last thing I want to do is deal 2 damage per turn against a list of 4 B-wings.

The best part of this list is the choice to use a 3 dice attack (primary), or a control turret (you doing always need to fire a turret and reduce your damage so dramatically). Against B-wings, unless there was a good reason to use the turret, I'd probably just use the Primary weapon.

I have not had a ton of games against swarms, but it was amusing to ion a TIE fighter in the middle of a pack and watch the rest of the pack try and not bump (the Ion shot was the built in gunner, I would normally focus on doing pure damage and arc dodging the swarm), 3 defense dice an evade and auto's really help shut down 2 attack dice.

I've played maybe 3 games against a dual Aggressor (on Vassal). All of them took forever to play and in one match I conceded after 2.5 hours of playtime and only doing 1 damage to 1 Aggressor and the Aggressor doing a few hp to one of my ships. These were against the B/C + PTL/Auto/FCS/HLC type. They basically either turtle at range 3 or try to block you so you can't get shots on them. They are hard to hit but they also don't have a lot of damage output as they won't have arc a lot of the time.

So far I'm not that impressed with them and have asked people not to play them when on Vassal. I don't have the 3+ hours to commit to a game. It will be hard to take one off the board in a timed tournament...not sure if it will be possible in a 60min match against a good player. Comparable (in terms of turtling ability and arc dodging) to soontir but with 8hp, now with autothrusters but on a large base ship.

The very low damage output was not in any way my expectation or my experience when using Aggressors. I'm not sure what people are doing when playing against you, but moderate consistent damage output is something you can count on. My guess is they were running HLC, which would reduce their damage output compared to IGB + Mangler.

Part of the problem may be the irrational obsession folks on here have with the HLC. On small base ships the HLC is an excellent upgrade, but on Aggressors it suffers from the same problem it does on the Firespray. Namely, it does not fire at range 1. There is a reason the HLC Firespray did not take over the meta when it arrived, despite the effectiveness of the both the Bounty Hunter and the HLC when considered separately. On either of these ships you will only get at most one shot at range 2-3 before getting to point blank range or being forced to k-turn, and even then there is a real chance you will end up at range 1 a second time after the k-turn. You wind up with a series of point blank shots, or you find yourself running and either firing out the back (Firespray) or not firing at all (Aggressor) while trying to extend range and use your HLC again. More, the range restriction is even more of an issue here because IG-88B has an ability that doubles down on the weakness of the HLC. Losing your gunner effect at point blank range is terrible. The range 2-3 restriction is a very big deal on any ship, but since large based ships move so fast it is a devastating restriction on Aggressors and Firesprays (shuttles can stop and 2400s can put them in a turret, so the large base movement isn't such a big deal).

The HLC is good, even very good, but it isn't equally good on every ship that can take it and on some ships it is not worth the very high 7 points even without considering the alternative cannon choices. IG-88B gives you a gunner effect, something so powerful it is worth 5 points and a crew slot on other ships. You get the most bang for your buck here when you are able to use it at all ranges, and it is also more effective on shots with a fewer number of attack dice. It is counterintuitive, but IGB does more for a Mangler than it does for an HLC. Is an HLC bad on the Aggressor? No, but it isn't worth 7 points whereas the Mangler becomes more valuable than its 4 point base when used with IGB.

Forgive me if this was a bit disjointed, composing on my phone makes it hard to write properly.

Well I'll try out the mangler

I've tested out other variation. May as well

I hope it works for you. Again, it isn't high damage output, but it is steady and it is especially effective against token reliant defenses like Fat Han and Soontir, especially since those tend to be vulnerable to Crits.

Now I'm trying to decide

Ptl or predator

Ptl would work well with advanced sensors

But i also like fire control systems

Especially with b ability

But Advanced sensors with ptl does work well

Predator makes it so I don't have to rely on fire control system

I'll try either

Ig88 B/c

Mangler

Predator

Advanced sensors

Autothrusters

Title

Seismic charge

And/or

Ig88 b/c

Ptl

Fire control systems

Mangler

Title

Autothrusters

Inertial dampers

Seismic charge

But i do like ptl with advanced sensors Lol

I'm torn between ptl advanced sensors and fire control systems

With fire control systems I'm thinking with mangler be the way to go

With three dice your more likely to use b ability against high mobility ships

Lol, you saw what I went with. It was quite effective, but I hear you on FCS + IGB. The reason I went with PtL/Sensors rather than FCS is because it allowed me to be more flexible with my targeting from turn to turn, and made the ships far more maneuverable (Boost+Evade from IGC, then PtL to Focus, then maneuver) and action efficient. It also allowed me to Focus or boost+evade before a k-turn or segnors, which helped a ton in extending the distance between ships after k-turns. Of course, it also cost a lot more points, so YMMV.

Only thing I would say is that I would choose either Advanced Sensors + PtL, or FCS with some other talent (I had considered using Daredevil or Expert Handling, but even those work best with AdSens), but since there is so little red and so much green on the dial AdSensors + non stress EPT loses a large part of their appeal.

So something I've seen very rarely regarding IG-88 is having two completely different builds. Most builds just have two clones with the same load-out. I'm wondering if there's a deep reason for that, or if it's for simplicity's sake. After all, it would be pretty easy to get mixed up and try to FCS with an Aggressor not realizing that was the one with Advanced Sensors.

Still, I'm curious what benefits you might get from having two different ones. For example,

IG-88 B

Marksmanship (3)
Fire control systems (2)
"Mangler" Cannon (4)
IG-2000 (0)
Autothrusters (2)
Seismic charge (2)

IG-88 C

Push the Limit (3)
Advanced Sensors (3)
Heavy Laser Cannon (7)
IG-2000 (0)
Autothrusters (2)

It's something I need to try, but I seem to have way more theory-crafting time than actual play time.

Ya, I've used ptl and advance sensors and your right. It works wonders

Especially with the kturning and

looping

The only downside I found is after your kturn your having to take am extra round to not ptl so you can get back to using advanced sensors again.

I have a great set up using this type of build. I was using hlc which didn't leave me enough room for autothrusters, but with a mangler cannon that makes room.

I to thought About using two different load outs on them and wondered the same thing.

I think the benifit would be if you lose one you still have another that's unique in its own way

Also may confuse your opponent. Which one should become a high priority target

Finally got my hands on Scum & Villainy tonight and flew it in a loose, 3-round tournament. I flew the following:

IG-88B (36)

-IG-2000 (0)

-Marksmanship (3)

-Fire Control System (2)

-"Mangler" Cannon (4)

-Seismic Charges (2)

-Inertial Dampeners (1)

-Autothrusters (2)

IG-88D (36)

-IG-2000 (0)

-Outmaneuver (3)

-Advanced Sensors (3)

-Ion Cannon (3)

-Seismic Charges (2)

-Inertial Dampeners (1)

-Autothrusters (2)

First round I faced Dash and Han. We tore them to bits. Next we faced Laetin, N'dru, Kaa'to, and Guri. We went to time without either of us destroying any ships. This had to do with me not concentrating fire (forgetting about time) and pulling a few unexpected maneuvers (Inertial Dampeners) that resulted in a few rounds with hardly any shots on me. Final game was against a BTL-A4 Blaster Turret swarm. I set B's dial to the wrong direction of turn and it got chewed up. IG-88D did walk a Y-wing off the map before going down, though. That was fun.

Overall thoughts: Marksmanship was nice the three times I used it all night, but only being able to use it 3 times was a bit of a problem. The issue was that B kept bumping other ships or taking stress to line up a shot. I think I need more practice flying these guys, so I'm not ready to give up on the Marksmanship-Fire Control System combo just yet. On the other hand, I LOVE Outmaneuver. I'm quite excited now to try n3ctaris' IG-88 control list above. I think it will do great things.

Also, I found I really didn't have a problem taking stress. It didn't worry me as much as I thought it would. I even used Inertial Dampeners once when already stressed and it worked great! So with all this in mind, maybe I do want to give Push the Limit a try.

Marksmanship is just not any good. You are better off with Predator or PTL.

^^ http://www.themetalbikini.com/2015/02/guest-article-against-marksmanship-by.html?m=1