Hey guys,
Looking for some advise on an Imperial Firespray build.
Currently sitting at
Kath Scarlet (44)
Firespray-31 (38), Predator (3), Rebel Captive (3)
Soontir Fel (32)
TIE Interceptor (27), Push the Limit (3), Targeting Computer (2)
Saber Squadron Pilot (24)
TIE Interceptor (21), Push the Limit (3)
I used to run a similar list but with a fully loaded Phantom, but looking to change that up a bit.
Any critiques welcome!
Cheers.
It looks interesting. I think the Saber Sq. Pilot will be good for adding damage and absorbing shots, which I like over the 2-ship squads. I also like that Soontir Fel can hunt the ships that find their way into Kath's blind spots.
Other than that, however, it looks like a squad that's in a holding pattern for Scum and Villainy upgrades. Soontir could easily take Autothrusters instead of Targeting Computer, and Kath Scarlet would love to equip a Mangler Cannon, but you'd have to drop both Predator and Rebel Captive, or downgrade the Saber Sq. Pilot.
Of course, I could be totally wrong. I have had some decent success with Fel + Targeting Computer, but often I wish for more defense. I haven't had any good success with Firesprays since Wave 2, personally.
Great list.
I'm not crazy about Targeting Computers on Soontir Fel. He's already guaranteed a focus in almost every circumstance which is more than enough to average 2 hits. I think the Saber Squadron Pilot at 24 points is a bit wasted, first time you use that Push the Limit your going to be shooting without a focus with him follow up by a round with maneuverability problems.
I would dump the Targeting Computer, drop the Saber Squadron pilot. Than add Turr Phennir. I would than give Kath Scarlet a Tactical Jammer.
You end up with more pilot skill, two mobile Interceptor who can stay out of Arcs and you have a floating obsticale.
Not sure what you're getting with Kath apart from the EPT slot, unless those re-rolls often turn up as crits
I will echo sentiments about the TC. Soontir really needs durability mods because he's still flying around in a dang tie fighter at the end of the day
I'd be up for hacking kath down to a good ole bounty hunter (with recon at the most), giving Soontir some good ol thrusters + stealth, and then tossing on another named interceptor (V.I thruster Thurr or PTL Jax)
Have flown a pretty similar list a few times as of late, but using two Academy TIEs instead of the 2nd Interceptor, but the same upgrades. Not competitively, mind you, and against very few turrets.
After using him without one, I have actually switched to equipping Soontir with the TC these days. There are games (or large parts of a game) where you have to play defensively, using all those actions for evades or evading boosts/rolls. But if you know you're safe (with PS9, that is generally pretty clear) getting a Target Lock+Focus really allows you to damage enemy ships, especially at range 1 (still got a third action to achieve that). With the lack of slow moves, it can also be unavoidable to steer away from enemies occasionally, but the Lock stays for use in a next turn. Especially when faced with Agility 3+ ships, having just a Focus simply doesn't cut it (at least not with my dice rolls!).
Same with Scarlet - Rebel Captive is great (unless your opponent has Farlander..), as is Predator for some added damage.
If it wasn't for Scum, my next games would probably see me trying Scarlet + 2 Interceptors as well. Very fun and varied to fly with.
It seems to me that there are two reasons to run Imperial Kath instead of a Bounty Hunter, hitting PS9 with VI or equipping a Mangler to reliably trigger her ability. You aren't doing either of those here.
I've always heard Recon Specialist was better for Kath. That way you can use one Focus for offense and one for defense. Also, now that S&V is out, I'd go with a Mangler Cannon on Kath. That's right up her alley. Autothrusters on Fel?
I'd drop the 2nd Interceptor to something else for the points.
Thanks to everyone for the input. Much appreciated.
Taking on board everything you guys have said, I agree Soontir could use some more durability, so have added Autothrusters.
Switched the Sabre for 2x Academys, but can't seem to shuffle things to get Kath the Mangler Canon ...maybe switch Recon Specialist for Merc Co-Pilot, and Predator for the Mangler?
Kath Scarlet (44)
Firespray-31 (38), Predator (3), Recon Specialist (3)
Soontir Fel (32)
TIE Interceptor (27), Push the Limit (3), Autothrusters (2)
Academy Pilot (12) x 2
Possibly take Kath with Lone Wolf and the Mangler? To at least retain some defensive abilities as well.
It's nice to see some extra options to trigger Kath, natural rolls very rarely seem to do it... (or perhaps I simply need new dice!)
Great list.
I'm not crazy about Targeting Computers on Soontir Fel. He's already guaranteed a focus in almost every circumstance which is more than enough to average 2 hits. I think the Saber Squadron Pilot at 24 points is a bit wasted, first time you use that Push the Limit your going to be shooting without a focus with him follow up by a round with maneuverability problems.
I would dump the Targeting Computer, drop the Saber Squadron pilot. Than add Turr Phennir. I would than give Kath Scarlet a Tactical Jammer.
You end up with more pilot skill, two mobile Interceptor who can stay out of Arcs and you have a floating obsticale.
TL for Soontir at range 1 is awesome. Dealing pretty much at least 3 damage unless dice rools are complete garbage and most times 4 hits. I used to think it was a waste on the Interceptors too until I started to run it. Not sure I'd run it on any of the other pilots though. PTL Focus,Evade on the other is good but Soontir with TL,PTLEvade+Focus is underrated.
My current favourite build is:
Soontir+PTL+RGT+TC+Autothrusters
Bounty Hunter
Bounty Hunter
Soontir with the 2 tanks is quite formidable. I've taken down a dash/corran build with it easily as well as a double IG-88 B+C build.
Possibly take Kath with Lone Wolf and the Mangler? To at least retain some defensive abilities as well.
It's nice to see some extra options to trigger Kath, natural rolls very rarely seem to do it... (or perhaps I simply need new dice!)
Could work! My TIEs are usually out flanking a good amount of the time.
Great list.
I'm not crazy about Targeting Computers on Soontir Fel. He's already guaranteed a focus in almost every circumstance which is more than enough to average 2 hits. I think the Saber Squadron Pilot at 24 points is a bit wasted, first time you use that Push the Limit your going to be shooting without a focus with him follow up by a round with maneuverability problems.
I would dump the Targeting Computer, drop the Saber Squadron pilot. Than add Turr Phennir. I would than give Kath Scarlet a Tactical Jammer.
You end up with more pilot skill, two mobile Interceptor who can stay out of Arcs and you have a floating obsticale.
TL for Soontir at range 1 is awesome. Dealing pretty much at least 3 damage unless dice rools are complete garbage and most times 4 hits. I used to think it was a waste on the Interceptors too until I started to run it. Not sure I'd run it on any of the other pilots though. PTL Focus,Evade on the other is good but Soontir with TL,PTLEvade+Focus is underrated.
My current favourite build is:
Soontir+PTL+RGT+TC+Autothrusters
Bounty Hunter
Bounty Hunter
Soontir with the 2 tanks is quite formidable. I've taken down a dash/corran build with it easily as well as a double IG-88 B+C build.
I'm totally trying this build at some point. Sounds fun.
Possibly take Kath with Lone Wolf and the Mangler? To at least retain some defensive abilities as well.
It's nice to see some extra options to trigger Kath, natural rolls very rarely seem to do it... (or perhaps I simply need new dice!)
Could work! My TIEs are usually out flanking a good amount of the time.
Great list.
I'm not crazy about Targeting Computers on Soontir Fel. He's already guaranteed a focus in almost every circumstance which is more than enough to average 2 hits. I think the Saber Squadron Pilot at 24 points is a bit wasted, first time you use that Push the Limit your going to be shooting without a focus with him follow up by a round with maneuverability problems.
I would dump the Targeting Computer, drop the Saber Squadron pilot. Than add Turr Phennir. I would than give Kath Scarlet a Tactical Jammer.
You end up with more pilot skill, two mobile Interceptor who can stay out of Arcs and you have a floating obsticale.
TL for Soontir at range 1 is awesome. Dealing pretty much at least 3 damage unless dice rools are complete garbage and most times 4 hits. I used to think it was a waste on the Interceptors too until I started to run it. Not sure I'd run it on any of the other pilots though. PTL Focus,Evade on the other is good but Soontir with TL,PTLEvade+Focus is underrated.
My current favourite build is:
Soontir+PTL+RGT+TC+Autothrusters
Bounty Hunter
Bounty Hunter
Soontir with the 2 tanks is quite formidable. I've taken down a dash/corran build with it easily as well as a double IG-88 B+C build.
I'm totally trying this build at some point. Sounds fun.
3 ships shooting 3 dice at range 2 and 3 and 4 dice each at range 1. The firesprays are among the most survivable of the big ships and there are 2 of them. Soontir TL+Focus+Evade every round is awesome. I try and keep focus and evade for defence and TL only for attack. Keeps Soontir alive longer while the Bounty Hunters chip away from both front and back arcs. It is a lot deadlier than you think. I only flew arc'd ships until the decimator came out as I only fly Imperial so I am quite comfortable flying the tanks. I lost 1 match to the IG's but that was bad judgement on my part. Couldn't complete a K-turn with Soontir and had bad defence rolls. I thought I had enough space to K-turn with the 1 firespray but I was off by 2 mm. It only had 1 hull left and shooting that round would have finished off 1 of the IG's leaving a joust with the other 1. It's all good though. This is my favourite build to fly.
Thanks to everyone for the input. Much appreciated.
Taking on board everything you guys have said, I agree Soontir could use some more durability, so have added Autothrusters.
Switched the Sabre for 2x Academys, but can't seem to shuffle things to get Kath the Mangler Canon ...maybe switch Recon Specialist for Merc Co-Pilot, and Predator for the Mangler?
Kath Scarlet (44)
Firespray-31 (38), Predator (3), Recon Specialist (3)
Soontir Fel (32)
TIE Interceptor (27), Push the Limit (3), Autothrusters (2)
Academy Pilot (12) x 2
I've been running something similar to (thus far) good results. I dropped an Academy and upgraded the second to Dark Curse to make room for the Mangler in my list (and another upgrade on Soontir). Curse is still extremely annoying to kill, so a lot of opponents tend to ignore him instead of going after the easy points, letting him get in and make a real nuisance of himself.
I've also stuck with the Captive over the Recon Spec. The extra Focus is awesome, but you can live with one per turn and the amount of annoyance that the Captive will cause in combination with Kath's ability and the Mangler, particularly to Phantoms and PtL users, is hard to understate.
About the Recon Specialist, the nice thing is that even if you don't use it, you could still see how taking it would have played out: simply look at (or even keep track of) the number of focus tokens you would have liked to have each turn. Although it's a potentially great upgrade, I felt that I rarely needed two focus tokens (generally spending one on the attack, but getting just blanks or evades on the defense, or vice versa). An intricate effect like Rebel Captive is much more difficult to predict (Would your opponent have done that green move anyway? Would he have Koiogranned this turn, knowing Captive would give a second Stress?), but the use (or lack thereof) of the Recon Specialist can still be judged relatively well.
I absolutely like the dual Firespray-Ace squad, but as i'm a TIE series fan, i'm trying a build based on stress-crit combo using Kath Scarlet's pilot ability, it's something like this:
Kath Scarlet (42)
Firespray-31 (38), Calculation (1), Recon Specialist (3)
Carnor Jax (31)
TIE Interceptor (26), Push the Limit (3), Autothrusters (2)
Obsidian Squad Pilot (13) x 2
Total (99)
I think it's a solid build.
Plan is easy. You hit, and use the extra focus token to change a normal hit to crit (if not rolled) and stress your opponent, thing that pairs very well with Carnor's ability to prevent the opponent using or assigning tokens at range 1, meaning more damage output from Kath/Carnor, then you can use the Obsidians to block and or screen with 4 dice.
Another variation swaps the Obsidians for a Royal Guard Interceptor with AT and PTL, ending at 100 point value squad (thing that i don't usually like due the initiative bid).
Any thoughts??, or new squads to test the Firespray?? 
I haven't played with it yet, so my feedback is limited, but I came up with something similar recently but tried to avoid putting too many points into the Firespray while pairing it with a pair of interceptors:
Soontir + PTL + Autothrusters + Royal Guard TIE + Stealth Device = 35
Turr Phennir + VI + Autothrusters = 28
Bounty Hunter + Recon Specialist = 36
Gives you 99 points for the initiative bid. The interceptors can arc dodge and focus down a target while the Firespray either provides cover fire or just absorbs hits with multiple focus on D. Only awkward thing is what to do with initiative, since Turr would rather shoot first (to get his dodge in before opposing shot) and Soontir would rather move last.
My 2 cents on Firesprays is that I usually run a Bounty Hunter and she almost always has Gunner as the only upgrade. With a Gunner you can reliably dish out damage without depending on Actions to do it. It just works. 38 points of 10 HP goodness. Sometimes I slap a Bomb on it if I have points. To me, the unique Imperial Firesprays just get too expensive to make them work well. Kath is close to 50 points with a Mangler Cannon and a good crew and EPT. Krassis is in the same boat if you equip a Heavy Laser Cannon and that only increases your Attack by 1 with a re-roll. Not worth it to me.
A friend of mine plays the below and does quote well
Obsidien Pilot x 4
Kath Scarlot, Calculation, Slave 1, Mangler Cannon, Proton Torpedos
I think he went overkill on the triggering Kaths ability and think an Ion cannon would work better to allow the mini swarm to pounce.
Maybe this, just for laughs?
100 points
PILOTS
Soontir Fel (35)
TIE Interceptor (27), Royal Guard TIE (0), Push the Limit (3), Autothrusters (2), Stealth Device (3)
Kath Scarlet (49)
Firespray-31 (38), Ion Cannon (3), Calculation (1), Rebel Captive (3), Engine Upgrade (4)
“Backstabber” (16)
Kath Scarlet hangs back and casts a wide arc while taking a focus token. If your opponent shoots at Backstabber, they're shooting at your least relevant, cheapest ship. If they shoot at Soontir, good luck hitting him. If they shoot at Kath, their highest PS pilot takes a stress. If they do happen to shoot at Kath, return fire with the Ion Cannon and Calculation in conjunction with your focus token. Either they cancel a crit (you're at 75% to have a Crit or an Eyeball Symbol) then they're double stressed. If they do not cancel it, they're stressed an ionized. Either way, you can't miss.
Kinda goofy, but you might be able to get results out of it. Either way, you have 84 points worth of ships that aren't that fun to shoot at for enemy aces.
Yesterday I tried:
100 points
Kath Scarlet
Firespray: Recon Spec. + seismic charge + extra munition + HLC + Slave 01
Saber squad pilot
TIE Interceptor: Push the limit
Saber squad pilot
TIE Interceptor: Push the limit
Not bad at all, we did not finish the match as we tried a 75' tournament round, but I managed to blow Biggs and 1 Z-95 (Ltn. Blunt) in 3 rounds. I think I did not fly the Firespray well at all, as I run out of shields and got left with 4 hull. Anyway, playing with the Firespray + 2 TIE int. "arc-dodging" around makes you feel having the bid on who has the balls here. But you have to be careful with the TIE int. a bad move is a dead Tie.