Here's the situation:

My list was as follows:

Bounty Hunter

++Recon Specialist

x2

Sigma Squadron Pilot

++Stygium Particle Accelerator

++Intelligence Agent

His list was a Kenkirk Decimator with Rebel Captive/Predator and a TIE Fighter Complement.

All of my ships are PS3, so I can choose the order that I attack in. I didn't want to stress lock the Phantom, so I always attacked first with a Firespray. Specifically, the same Firespray. I am most used to playing swarms (both Imperial and Rebel), and in that situation, I attack with the furthest ships or weakest ships first to chip tokens and deal more punishing attacks to the ship after its more defenseless. Firesprays do not have a bad dial by any means, but I find playing against TIE Fighters and even the Decimator, which is reasonably fast even without Engine Upgrade, I can't always do green maneuvers to ensure a firing solution. If I am likely going to take fire, I'd often rather than not have an attack as opposed to getting modified defense, exceptions being if it's a fragile ship or if it will inevitably soon be destroyed.

My question:

Because of the same Pilot Skill, I can choose my attacks in any order, similar to a swarm list. My question is, considering that I'd like to keep getting attacks, meaning green maneuvers are not always possible, should I stress lock the same ship or alternate them. This is situational, I know. I can certainly get some attacks from green maneuvers, but it is not always the case. He advanced early on with his TIEs, which I cleared without issue, leaving my BHs and Phantom against the Decimator. Phantom popped quick. I always attacked with the same Firespray, leaving it often with two or more stress tokens, while always having double focus on the other. The stressed one was cleared first, and I was able to get the Decimator down to 3 hull remaining, but he beat me with his powerful attacks and damage cancellation.

Obviously the best scenario would be keep them both unstressed AND still attack with them both, but considering I lost the match, should I have taken the other approach? I was just afraid I'd have 2 ships I could never clear stress from instead of one. Admittedly, I had a much easier time keeping stress off of the second than I did the first.

Thoughts?

I think the better choice is to keep them both stress free. Since he has a turret he will be able to fire at the stressed ship anyway, and so it will go down much faster with no defense. Even if you loose one attack next round by doing a green, you will save damage on that ship and it will in theory get one more round to live, and get that attack back in a later round.

I think the answer is situational. Well, first do NOT stress your phantom if possible.

Now, if you have a Firespray that will bump next turn regardless of its green maneuver, stress that one. You'd lose your action regardless, so you may as well take the stress (which gets cleared regardless of bump). If your Firespray can block with a turn or k-turn maneuver, stress the other one.

ONLY stress the Phantom if you can take a range 1 devastation / killshot at whatever has Rebel Captive.

I think the answer is situational. Well, first do NOT stress your phantom if possible.

Now, if you have a Firespray that will bump next turn regardless of its green maneuver, stress that one. You'd lose your action regardless, so you may as well take the stress (which gets cleared regardless of bump). If your Firespray can block with a turn or k-turn maneuver, stress the other one.

ONLY stress the Phantom if you can take a range 1 devastation / killshot at whatever has Rebel Captive.

All good points, thanks. And honestly, because I can't afford ACD, stressing the Phantom isn't a huge issue to me. A local player does VERY well with two sigmas with stygiums and sensor jammers, and Carnor Jax. Got the idea from him. I freely K-turn with my Phantom and think little of it, as the stress doesn't affect me more than any other ship. Now, you're right, I'd rather not auto-stress my Phantom via Rebel Captive because I have the choice, but stressing it doesn't cripple its effectiveness by any means.