I recently got a second Tie Phantom and would like to try playing with two generics phantoms in a list. I have a few questions about doing that:

1. Judging from the lack of their use tournament winning squads, I suppose they are not super competitive. However, how bad are they really? I would like to have a reasonably competitive list, even if not top tier.

2. Is the best tactic generally booming and zooming so you can use stygium with decloak in the first pass to get a free evade, shoot with focus, then cloak/run away, and repeat?

3. Any ideas of who should join the two generics in a list and what upgrades are best on the generic phantoms?

Thanks!

If you're going to boom and zoom with those 4 dice, Advanced Sensors might be worth it to enable K-turns. First turn, cloak, second turn, decloak for the free evade, focus for your action, hope to survive the shot against your z95 defense line. Next turn, cloak and then K-turn?

I dunno. sounds like a lot of work.

I've heard of 4 naked Phantoms doing well, but I've never tried it.

I like Intel Agent, FCS and Stygi. Use the Intel Agent to grab a look at the opposition's dials to pick the best decloak positon to block your opponents or avoid arcs (getting an evade in the process). If there are ships to move after me I only remain uncloaked if I've got at most one arc on my ship, otherwise I look to cloak and try agin next round. If my opponent has gone all lower PS I'll risk two arcs, depending on their tokens vrs my evade & focus. Generic phantoms are about the long game, which hinders them in timed environments. Given time to hunt with however they can wreck absolute havoc.

A naked Phantom as a flanker might not be too bad. It has the maneuverability to compensate for the low-PS, it doesn't have to decloak until you want to shoot with it and it's pretty fast so long as you're able to decloak forward. It's also not vulnerable against Predator, which is a nice little benefit for a bottom tier pilot.

I wouldn't want those 25 points on the front eating lots of arcs, though.

I recently got a second Tie Phantom and would like to try playing with two generics phantoms in a list. I have a few questions about doing that:

1. Judging from the lack of their use tournament winning squads, I suppose they are not super competitive. However, how bad are they really? I would like to have a reasonably competitive list, even if not top tier.

2. Is the best tactic generally booming and zooming so you can use stygium with decloak in the first pass to get a free evade, shoot with focus, then cloak/run away, and repeat?

3. Any ideas of who should join the two generics in a list and what upgrades are best on the generic phantoms?

Thanks!

1. Actually, the generic phantom is every bit as terrifying as a character phantom in terms of sheer offense (and you pay a lot less)

One big problem, though: turrets.

Whereas character phantoms have the PS to enable ACD before getting shot (and whisper further enforces those defenses with a focus), generic phantoms have to choose between attacking or defending. This isn't bad normally because it can be mitigated by player choices...until the stupidity of turrets rear their ugly heads.

You can't outplay a turret, you can only hope they don't dice you to death. At Z-95 defensive stats, the odds are incredibly low.

2. hit and run is incredibly effective (and stygium stacking evade + focus is about the only way to safely engage with your 25+ points Z-95), but mostly it's going to come down to Intelligence agent. You have to make the most out of the info it gives you to determine whether or not you'll be

1.) focusing for continued offense (not a lot of arcs will be drawn on you)

2.) evading for defense (a single ship has a bead and you can't afford to sacrifice your four dice shot)

3.) Barrel-rolling (For arc-dodging or blocking, sigmas are incredible and infuriating blockers )

4.) Cloaking (you will have no shot this turn and have to prepare for a future engagement/you're about to take a hellstorm of fire)

3. personal favorite outfit:

Sigma (FCS, Intelligence Agent, Stygium)

the int agent and stygium are mandatory. It is stupidly risky to engage without the information given from int agent (knowing which action to take and how to de-cloak greatly enhances the survivability and utility of the phantom) or the free evade action (especially if you can't trigger IA). Stygium is your Auto-thrusters, don't leave home without it.

FCS is (imo) the single most terrifying system slot a phantom has access to. A fully modified four dice attack from a 30 point ship is nothing short of glorious.

I've run a pair of them with typical Whisper for a time (fcs, ACD, VI) and even with the errata she's incredibly deadly. I don't doubt there are more efficient choices, though.

Actually, a friend has used sensor jammers to great extent on them. Typically, you opponent will use his focus to attack what he perceives as the bigger threat, and sensor jammer will effectively cancel one hit a turn.

My favorite build for a generic phantom is 30 points: Sigma + Stygium + Recon Spec. Joust away! You might take a hit or two, but its worth 5 dice on each ship. I won a SC with the old rules with a 3rd phantom: Echo. I may change that to Soontir now, but the 30 point phantom is pretty beastly!

Work the flanks, be very particular about when you decloak, save the ship for the end game ... generic Phantoms can work fine.

I ran a Shadow I call "Can't Touch This" in a game last night. Upgrades were Mara Jade, Sensor Jammer, and Stealth Device. Not absolutely competitive, perhaps, but it was silly fun ... just stay cloaked and fly into the middle of swarms to stress them. Stay cloaked unless it's clear and behind or flanking ships. Wash, rinse, repeat.