Arc Dodging Amigos

By NorseJedi, in X-Wing Squad Lists

I love interceptors, but have found too much reliance on the dice can make for a really bipolar tourney experience. My dice just love to roll blanks at critical moments. :-) I'd been running hull and stealth together on a Soontir, Turr, Carnor list, and switched to autothrusters and stealth with poor results - too many one shot and dead when arc dodging failed. Plus, Carnor needs to plunge into the fray to maximize effectiveness, which often leads to his destruction happening first on my list.

Then this came out from Alex Davey today:

"If Tetran Cowall is equipped with the Stay On Target Upgrade card and reveals a [k-turn] maneuver, he may first treat the speed of that maneuver as "1," "3," or "5", then use Stay on Target rotate his dial to another maneuver of that chosen speed. He may also reveal a maneuver, use Stay On Target to rotate his dial to a [k-turn] maneuver, then treat the speed of that maneuver as "1," "3," or "5."

Now that is just awesome arc dodging flexibility and led me to think of this build instead. Anybody ever tried it?

Soontir, Push The Limit, Royal Guard Tie, Shield Upgrade, Autothrusters

Turr, Veteran Instincts, Royal Guard Tie, Shiels Upgrade, Autothrusters

Tetran, Stay on Target, Royal Guard Tie, Shield Upgrade, Autothrusters

I suspect that the shields, turret defense, and arc dodging antics are going to be a good combo, but Tetran's PS7 may be a limiting factor to maxing out his arc dodging with Stay on Target.

I had a chance to try this out tonight and I definitely liked it. I used the Tetran combo at least twice and lost no interceptors thanks to the shields. I think maximizing Tetran + SoT will still be a challenge vs higher PS, which is not a match I had tonight, so more to come on that.

The problem with Tetran + Stay on Target is the stress. If your SOT move does not gaurantee you are outside of arc, he's basically toast because you have only naked green dice to protect him (autothrusters does help vs turrets of course). And as you say, at PS7 this may well be a problem. I can see him being easy meat for echo & whisper, for example, but other PS8+ will take him out quick too. I guess you need to present your other two ships as more tempting targets and hang back with tetran so he's not the obvious first target, but once you get into a scrum, he'll be the easiest to for enemies to get into arc. I could be wrong, but I still feel carnor is better.

Tetran SOT has his place...would be amazing against lower PS ships (maybe not swarms that can cover arcs, but still prevents against full focus fire). I agree with blade here that Carnor should not be overlooked if making an all interceptor list. Especially with the release of Scum's ships and more recent waves the focus mechanic has exploded. Kavil Blaster turrets...R4 Agromechs...Bodyguards...Prockets, etc, Jax shuts all of these down at range one. Yes, it makes him a primary target, but with the rest of your list you can take out the most serious threats. I'm actually looking to replace Fel in some of my standard Imperial lists with Jax and see how it goes. Have to kind of work around his ability and keep him alive. I'm thinking of pairing a Decimator with Mara Jade to get a group of enemy ships snared and then shut down their focus actions with Jax...I'll have to do some more thinking though.

TL;DR - Jax is still relevant, don't overlook him.

The problem with Tetran + Stay on Target is the stress. If your SOT move does not gaurantee you are outside of arc, he's basically toast because you have only naked green dice to protect him (autothrusters does help vs turrets of course). And as you say, at PS7 this may well be a problem. I can see him being easy meat for echo & whisper, for example, but other PS8+ will take him out quick too. I guess you need to present your other two ships as more tempting targets and hang back with tetran so he's not the obvious first target, but once you get into a scrum, he'll be the easiest to for enemies to get into arc. I could be wrong, but I still feel carnor is better.

I agree that it is too early to tell yet with the PS7 and the trade off with Carnor. You really have to be particular with the use of both Tetran's and SoT abilities, as you would be much better off with a focus if not certain that you'll be out of arc. You also need to visualize if a boost or roll would would be better at dodging instead of the abilities. Basically, I found myself preferring k-turns in rounds I thought it could come into play, because it was already red with the k and I could pull out to a 3 or 5 move if I didn't think I'd clear. I really enjoy that kind of strategic thinking though.

Tetran SOT has his place...would be amazing against lower PS ships (maybe not swarms that can cover arcs, but still prevents against full focus fire). I agree with blade here that Carnor should not be overlooked if making an all interceptor list. Especially with the release of Scum's ships and more recent waves the focus mechanic has exploded. Kavil Blaster turrets...R4 Agromechs...Bodyguards...Prockets, etc, Jax shuts all of these down at range one. Yes, it makes him a primary target, but with the rest of your list you can take out the most serious threats. I'm actually looking to replace Fel in some of my standard Imperial lists with Jax and see how it goes. Have to kind of work around his ability and keep him alive. I'm thinking of pairing a Decimator with Mara Jade to get a group of enemy ships snared and then shut down their focus actions with Jax...I'll have to do some more thinking though.

TL;DR - Jax is still relevant, don't overlook him.

I like your Carnor-Decimator pairing. That is a good combo versus scum. Carnor has lots of positives againt the scum pilots and abilities you mentioned assuming you can stay at range 1. With autothrusters I have found my style changing to more range 3 action with a swarm into range 1 for a focused kill when I can combine fire or there is no turret firing back. Turr is excellent at this - range 2 or 3 shot with a focus and then roll back to range 3+ for defense. Tetran is much better at gettingin behind or pulling the SoT escape hatch to circle around next round.