I just cant beat the VT49 with Mara Jade no matter how I try. Swarms, elites all goes down thanks to being stressed. A turret ship?

It is not the ship itself, its Mara Jade thats the problem.

Please help me!

Stay out of Range 1.

The best defense is stay out of Range 1 until you KNOW you can clear it before Mara activates. So, if the Decimator has more than 2 hull remaining, stay at Range 2.

You can also run ships that generate their own stress. Mara doesn't affect you if you already have stress on your ship (from PTL or whatever).

Mara is helpful against swarmy small ship lists that normally want to get into range 1 of a Decimator to bring it down quickly. That's a slightly more unattractive option when you stress your whole squad in the process. Against positionally strong lists Mara doesn't come into play as often. If they don't want to be that close, they can usually manage to stay away.

How do I stay out of range 1 when he wants to crash into me? How can I continue firing when I must manuvere away from him?

depends on what else it's packing and what's escorting it, but if you unload on it from range not 1 and then again from range 1, it's probably dead before mara can even trigger

the back-up plan is run the hell away after the first pass. They can 360, but Decis aren't known for doing 180s

What are you flying? What ships does your opponent use alongside the Decimator.

You could split up your formation into 2 groups so that he can't be in range 1 of both of them at the same time. Have 1 group attack from the front and the other come in from the side. If he tries to tie up 1 group with Mara Jade, hammer him with the other group.

How do I stay out of range 1 when he wants to crash into me? How can I continue firing when I must manuvere away from him?

I think the key is to come at him from multiple angles with varying distances. This way he has to choose which ship will be in range 1 and sure one will be out of the fight for a turn, but the others won't

Also, if you get "jaded" while you are coming at him from behind, its not a big deal, just do a 1 green straight and you are good to go. It comes down to having multiple angles of approach again,

How do I stay out of range 1 when he wants to crash into me? How can I continue firing when I must manuvere away from him?

Get on his tail. He can't K turn a Decimator.

This sounds like a job for Rexlar Brath. Stress won't block his K-turn, and his ability punishes Decimators of all colors.

It sounds like your flying is too predictable. Don't fly all your ships directly at him. You should think 2-3 moves ahead to see where he could go and try not get within Range 1. However, if you're in Range 1 of him you should be dealing a ton of damage because Decimators do not want ships that close to them.

You don't need to change your list, you just need to attack the Decimator from multiple angles and plan your maneuvers so that your ships all converge on the Decimator at the same time without being next to each other. Mara Jade can't stress all your ships if they aren't all right next to each other.

Although to be honest, I don't understand how all your ships getting stressed at the end of the turn is stopping you from blowing up the decimator at range 1. Just use one of your ships to block the thing's fat old base from escaping (you can still do white maneuvers when you're stressed) and let the rest of your ships punish it for getting into range 1 of you.

If he's arc-dodging you from the start, you need to either learn how to block him so he can't boost out of arc, or stagger your ships so he can't easily get behind your front line without getting shot at by your rear line.

You don't need to change your list, you just need to attack the Decimator from multiple angles and plan your maneuvers so that your ships all converge on the Decimator at the same time without being next to each other. Mara Jade can't stress all your ships if they aren't all right next to each other.

I know what point you're trying to make, but spreading out doesn't automatically stop Mara. She only cares about where the enemy is in relation to the Decimator, not each other. You could have two ships on opposite sides of the Decimator, well away from each other, but both would still cop stress if they were at range 1 of the Decimator.

To the OP: I agree with the others that the best way to deal with the thing is just to kill it. If it's charging right at you, you should be able to block and punish it with a lot of range 1 shots, which Decimators do not enjoy. Trading one or two rounds of stress for a dead Decimator sounds like a good deal to me.

You don't need to change your list, you just need to attack the Decimator from multiple angles and plan your maneuvers so that your ships all converge on the Decimator at the same time without being next to each other. Mara Jade can't stress all your ships if they aren't all right next to each other.

I know what point you're trying to make, but spreading out doesn't automatically stop Mara. She only cares about where the enemy is in relation to the Decimator, not each other. You could have two ships on opposite sides of the Decimator, well away from each other, but both would still cop stress if they were at range 1 of the Decimator.

To the OP: I agree with the others that the best way to deal with the thing is just to kill it. If it's charging right at you, you should be able to block and punish it with a lot of range 1 shots, which Decimators do not enjoy. Trading one or two rounds of stress for a dead Decimator sounds like a good deal to me.

I'm not talking about spreading out a little bit, I mean completely splitting up your ships into 2 separate groups and attacking from 2 sides. You can have 2 groups of ships be far enough apart to not both be affected by Mara Jade but still be able to attack the Decimator. Yes you will have to deploy in 2 separate corners for this to work, but it works.

"Just kill it" kind of misses the point of the problem, which is that his ships are unable to k-turn to continue shooting at it when it boosts behind him.

You can also try blocking him at Range 2, with one of your ships.

Initial approach, fire at R3, then perform the block.

If successful you can finish it off in 2-3 rounds (depending on your list and his maneuvering).

The best defense is stay out of Range 1 until you KNOW you can clear it before Mara activates. So, if the Decimator has more than 2 hull remaining, stay at Range 2.

If you can't do more than 2 damage with your list in range 1 of the Decimator, you're doing something wrong. For my swarm the magic number was 10-11 hull. I could deal with it if it had that much, very unlikely if it was full health.

It sounds like your flying is too predictable. Don't fly all your ships directly at him. You should think 2-3 moves ahead to see where he could go and try not get within Range 1. However, if you're in Range 1 of him you should be dealing a ton of damage because Decimators do not want ships that close to them.

The Decimator player may be cocky and just set up opposite of your academies. So you either run for it or fight on his terms. Luckily his terms aren't that great for him, except Mara Jade. I think it's best to just disengage. 5 forward with those that are stressed, or 3 forward with an evade, turn slowly over multiple rounds to get another strafing run, so to speak.

There is nothing Decimators like less than Et'han. With so little shields and no green dice Decimators really don't like getting critted. The fact that they live so long after they get critted actually makes every crit they take worse.

I get it that this is a dirrect counter for Mara, but it does counter the ship that he is one. My personal favorite kill Decimator list is Et'han, Super Dash, you have enough points of a protype pilot.

Super Dash is really really good at staying out of range 1 while pounding away with four dice every turn.

The best defense is stay out of Range 1 until you KNOW you can clear it before Mara activates. So, if the Decimator has more than 2 hull remaining, stay at Range 2.

If you can't do more than 2 damage with your list in range 1 of the Decimator, you're doing something wrong. For my swarm the magic number was 10-11 hull. I could deal with it if it had that much, very unlikely if it was full health.

If a "swarm" isn't doing at least 5 damage to a Decimator before it hits range one, something has either gone completely wrong like blanking out on every single attack in the history of ever, or the person flying the swarm has messed up in a big way. With it's 0 base agility you basically just have to breathe in it's direction to hit it usually.

Scum Super-Kath is kind of a soft counter - Kath wants to fly away while the Deci wants to close and stress you. Engine upgrades and PTL are your friend as you can stay out of range 1 and if the Deci does manage to close you are already stressed so Mara can't trigger.

Same goes for playing catch-me-if-you-can with HLC Outriders - you're going to be doing your utmost to avoid range 1 anyway.

Vt 49s hate manglers.

Looks like you need to try a Tycho+Keyan list.

The best defense is stay out of Range 1 until you KNOW you can clear it before Mara activates. So, if the Decimator has more than 2 hull remaining, stay at Range 2.

If you can't do more than 2 damage with your list in range 1 of the Decimator, you're doing something wrong. For my swarm the magic number was 10-11 hull. I could deal with it if it had that much, very unlikely if it was full health.

If a "swarm" isn't doing at least 5 damage to a Decimator before it hits range one, something has either gone completely wrong like blanking out on every single attack in the history of ever, or the person flying the swarm has messed up in a big way. With it's 0 base agility you basically just have to breathe in it's direction to hit it usually.

Here's a small exercise for you. You have a 6-ship swarm, composed of TIE-similar fighters, low PS. A double Decimator opponent is cocky because of Mara Jade and sets up opposite to you, side by side. What maneuver do you choose?

* A 5-forward, hoping to get a range 3 shot. Wrong! He will do a 2-forward, not wanting an engagement at high range. Next turn will be definitely in range 1 if he wants to (and he does), no matter what you choose. He will also bump your ships, so at least 1 ship won't fire on the Decimator. (2 if you don't stagger your formation or use a pinwheel type)

* A 2-forward, slow playing it for some reason, hoping to get a range 2 shot on the next turn. He still has that 2-forward on the first turn. He advanced 4 bases, you 3, total of 7. Minimum for range 3 shots would be 11 (rule of 11). For range 1 it would be 16. Next turn you have a minimum of 2-forward, he can do a 4-forward. That's 6 bases plus 3 = 9. Add to 7 from last turn and you have range 1. GUARANTEED RANGE 1 FIRST ENGAGEMENT, at least on the first few ships. Moreover, you will not get a second engagement by bumping, if you move first on the 3rd turn he will move past all of your ships

* Anything in between - same result

* any type of splitting forces means less dice when he is range 1, which splits your forces for many of the following turns, while the Decimators have fun with whatever they have in range 1.

Range 1 first engagement will mean that: Double Decimators might take out a TIE or two, maybe even Howlrunner. With low odds of killing the Decimator in one shot with not all of the ships shooting (also possible), Mara Jade activates, which is very very bad. Not impossible to recover from, but very bad.

So yes, it is quite possible to not be allowed a range 2-3 shot. The only solution in this specific scenario is to run away. This is super unintuitive, I dare you to find a player that would do this the first time. I learned this the hard way, I had prepared for diagonal starting positions and the guy just put his decimators side by side in front of me, I thought I had about 50% chance of killing it. With a bump on the first Academy, and a range 2 from Howlrunner, that chance was reduced significantly, I think I had 16 dice in total, so only Direct Hits or perfect reds could save me. I will refer you to my post for the how of running away and turning around.

Bombers, with Cluster Missiles or Ion Torpedoes at range 2. In the words of Trinity: "Dodge this".

Ion, two ions and he can't smash into you, no matter how desperately he wants it, so a pair of Y-Wings on his tail should be able to walk him off the board. 2 x Gold with Blaster Turrets and R2's and 2 x Gray with Ion Turrets and R2's, all with title attack 8 times. The ion's don't care about shields, so that's why they shoot before the Blasters.

Binayres with a Dead Man's Switch: Come at me bro, I dare you, I double dare you.

Soon: ATC, EU, Storm Squadron Advanced x 2 and Vessery.

So yes, it is quite possible to not be allowed a range 2-3 shot. The only solution in this specific scenario is to run away. This is super unintuitive, I dare you to find a player that would do this the first time. I learned this the hard way, I had prepared for diagonal starting positions and the guy just put his decimators side by side in front of me, I thought I had about 50% chance of killing it. With a bump on the first Academy, and a range 2 from Howlrunner, that chance was reduced significantly, I think I had 16 dice in total, so only Direct Hits or perfect reds could save me. I will refer you to my post for the how of running away and turning around.

It may be super unintuitive but in that specific scenario it is the move to make, you reposition early and fight on terms better for you (drawing them around or forcing them through asteroids, etc.), in denial of that first engagement being range 1. Otherwise fighting the straight on joust with double Decimator is going to result in the ties being in a bad spot real soon. I'd consider that messing up pretty big on a swarm players part, it doesn't mean they did it intentionally or, are a bad player, they made a mistake, hopefully they learned from it, sounds like you did when you saw it happen on the board.