I think the Firespray is a good ship. It certainly can be competitive. However, it isn't as dominating as a 60 pt Turret, nor can it pull off a come back as well as 30-40 pts of Interceptor or Phantom. The comparison to 60 pts of an upgraded turret ship make sense, since the ship costs like 10 less pts when kitted out to an optimal build (Predator + Gunner + Engine, or anything else you can think of), so this sole ship performing less well makes sense, since it costs less points. And it also isn't glass cannon like interceptors and doesn't lose you the game in a single dice roll, which is why it costs more pts than the Interceptor and Phantom.

The ship DOES have a harder time vs arc Dodgers than Turrets do, but thanks to the rear arc, it does have an easier time than small base ships with only 1 arc.

I think the Firespray shines the most with a stress mechanic. Preferably Tactician or Imperial Kath + Predator + Gunner + Mangler. Stress dealing lets the ship truly shine. Gaining action and position advantages with ease, and countering arc Dodgers that rely on PTL, or jousters that require K Turning.

I'm not saying the ship is dominating, but it is an equally viable option at the moment, thanks to things like changes to the Phantom decloak and new Scum pilots.

I find that Firesprays offer unique advantages. I like to use them as a sort of decoy. Charge them into range 1. It'll take some great rolling to take down a firespray in a round of firing. Then pop to the other side and flank your opponent whike the rest of your fleet engages fresh and the firespray is out of arc.

This even works against Falcon lists because the low firepower on the falcon makes it hard to handle the Firesprays phenomenal bulk.

the 33 pt Bounty Hunters are awesome, 2 of those and auto thrusting, target locking Fel got me second at recent tournament

Dominating, no. Visibly present, yes.

Frankly, I haven't been impressed by the Firespray to date, either in Scum or Imperial form. I've flown against a number of them, and the only game to date I've lost was a store champs game where both Mandalorian Mercenaries died quickly but Soontir Fel made it up by killing all of my ships (so it was a loss for the Firesprays but a win for Soontir).

The Firespray has a good stat line but I think the large base without a turret is just too big of a handicap with its dial and cost.

That said, I still keep coming up with Firespray lists, so I'll have to run one at some point to see what its like from the other side.

Wait, you mean Bounty Hunters and not Mandalorian Mercs, right?

Well after just seeing the results of a Soontir tank against a Falcon+C-3PO go at it I can see some advantages the firespray has over the big turreted ships. Still I think arc dodgers have enough room to skit along the sides of a firespray and avoid both back and rear arcs.

I will say I think the Firespray auxiliary arcs is way superior over the Hounds Tooth fire arc. Yeah the hounds tooth can shoot at the sides but if you get any where behind it it is defenseless unlike the Firespray which doesn't mind if it is being chased.

If I was running an arc-dodger (which I typically do either with Dash or Soontir) I would rather see a Firespray on the table then 2-3 small ships. It's harder to predict where 2 firings arcs moving independently are going to be then 2 locked 180 firing arcs on a single large ship. It's possible to get blocked and shot at by 2 small ships, which isn't possible with a firespray. And of course two small ships means 2 attacks over the Firesprays 1.

That being said, I think my favorite firespray pilot (the one I think is the strongest) right now is Emon Azzameen. He is the only Firespray pilot that can effectively attack twice in one round without missing the first shot thanks to Prox Mines, and its possible for him to kill 3 ships in one round. Drop a Seismic or Proton Bomb to kill a 1 hp ship, maneuver, drop a Prox Mine on ship #2, then shoot at ship #3. Emon's ability to reach out and touch people with his bombs actually makes that scenario believable for me.

Sadly that's not possible - it's only possible to drop one bomb in a round... However a seismic charge or proton bomb can hit multiple targets and hence kill several targets at once.

I designed this and thought it was quite fun:

BOBA CALLED IN SCYK TODAY

100 points

PILOTS

Boba Fett (48)

Firespray-31 (39), Calculation (1), Recon Specialist (3), Inertial Dampeners (1), Engine Upgrade (4)

Cartel Spacer (26) x 2

M3-A “Scyk” Interceptor (14), “Heavy Scyk” Interceptor (2), Stealth Device (3), Heavy Laser Cannon (7)

Basically I just fly Boba straight into the face of the enemy and try and keep him range 1 with one of his firing arcs. I keep the Scyks at long range and use them as heavy artillery. 3 dice + 1 for stealth device + 1 for range 3 (+1 for asteroid) keeps them alive long enough to obliterate enemies if flown well.

Mmm I like it quite a bit. If there were points to throw around, I would personally swap engine upgrade for Predator or Expert Handling, and maybe a bomb or something. I just found in my experience Boba did a fine job of closing range without boost, and the extra attack reroll with predator or the barrel roll with EH is a much stronger threat.

You're right, I didn't really end up using boost. An alternate version would utilise Tactical Jammer to have Boba Fett block attacks on the Scyks, to give them a whopping 6 green dice if I am able to keep them at range. It should at least keep them alive long enough to get one or two rounds of HLC fire in.

I have a similar list where the 'wasps' are Star Vipers instead of Scyks that I'm keen to try out. I'll preface by saying that I don't have tons of competitive experience but this type of list looks fun.

Boba: SoT, Outlaw Tech, Tactical Jammer, Inertial Dampeners

2x Enforcer: AT

99 points.

Basically, the vipers set up blocks and put on some damage while the opponent works on Boba. By blocking, you can help Boba keep his actions while in close. And with Stay on Target, he can pick the best location to get rerolls while the tech gives him focus. Jammer is in there in because it was a point and may help out the Vipers if they choose Range 3 option to trigger their thrusters. Could be a pain.

Sadly that's not possible - it's only possible to drop one bomb in a round... However a seismic charge or proton bomb can hit multiple targets and hence kill several targets at once.

Even if one is an action and one is off a move? Did I miss that in the FAQ?

Sadly that's not possible - it's only possible to drop one bomb in a round... However a seismic charge or proton bomb can hit multiple targets and hence kill several targets at once.

Even if one is an action and one is off a move? Did I miss that in the FAQ?

Yeah, you are only allowed to drop one bomb a round. It's in the faq.

Sadly that's not possible - it's only possible to drop one bomb in a round... However a seismic charge or proton bomb can hit multiple targets and hence kill several targets at once.

Oops, I thought that only applied to the Seismic and Proton bombs, but it looks like Proximity Mines also use the keyword drop, so they fall under the FAQ restriction of one bomb drop per round, even though they are dropped at a different phase in the turn.

I still like Emon though, his damage output is still very high on the turns he drops a Prox mine on someone.

I think it was just a coincidence. Only 1 person in that tourney made top 4 (out of 12) with a Firespray, and he's one of the best players in our area (had I not been so crunched for time that day I would have wanted to play against him). The other 2 players in the top 4 were new(ish) players that, from what I know, have only been playing competitively for a couple of months, and the rest I understand to be mostly tournament regulars in the area.

The fact that our newer players without Firesprays did generally better than our tournament regulars running Firesprays (no offense to our new players, who definitely deserved their wins, but experience should count for something in this game) tells me that the Firespray's overwhelming presence was just because a bunch of people were bored with their lists and just happened to want to try it out that day, not because it's such an amazing ship. Also because there was so much variety in the Firesprays being run that day (more imperial than scum) and based on my own personal experience against the ship.

In my personal experience, the only Firesprays that I see as being truly competitive are Emon with Tactician and multiple Prox Mines, scum Boba Fett with VI and Engine, and scum Kath with HLC and either PTL or K4. I don't think any of the generics or Imperial Firesprays are strong enough to be true competitive powerhouses. This is just my opinion, based on what I've played against and what I've seen in other people's matches. But I definitely don't think we're about to be overrun by all manner of Firespray.

If you read taht again, all you've said is that every pilot exceptionally good except for the Mando Merc, who hasn't found a home. I think that warrants some possibility of the ship being.... good?

C'mon man, you're being unfair to Tvboy. He's also talking about the specific tournament that xanderf is talking about. So, he's noting that the Firespray is indeed popular, but was underwhelming at this specific tournament.

I was also at that tournament and am what he would call one of the "regular players" who didn't do so well. I flew a Firespray and did particularly poorly, as did another friend of mine who's also a regular in our area. (if you want to look at the specifics of this tournament, xanderf posted the results here.

However, to move from the particular to the aggregate, let's look at the data on the Firespray. In the Juggler data, it accounts for 4.3% of the ships (6.7% of the points) showing up, and only 2.8% of the ships (4.3% of the points) in the elimination rounds. That doesn't suggest that it's a particularly competitive ship.

Now, as to xanderf's original question, It's hard to say. There do seem to be a lot of Firespray's at the UK Regional, but not so much in the other tournaments that have been reported. I don't get the sense that his observation is indicative of anything particular in our locale - this tournament was low-key and the three regulars mentioned weren't bringing their top lists. (I'm definitely never looking at that list again.)

Yes, for those that didn't realize, I happened to have attended this particular tournament, so I was speaking from a first-hand opinion about the Firespray's performance at that event, as well as my own personal experience against the ship outside of that tournament.

I was the guy that was 5-0 with Dash/Corran. I run that list because it's fun and challenging and I need all the practice I can get with it before regionals. Thank you Xander for using my nickname in List Juggler instead of my full name.

Yes, for those that didn't realize, I happened to have attended this particular tournament, so I was speaking from a first-hand opinion about the Firespray's performance at that event, as well as my own personal experience against the ship outside of that tournament.

I was the guy that was 5-0 with Dash/Corran. I run that list because it's fun and challenging and I need all the practice I can get with it before regionals. Thank you Xander for using my nickname in List Juggler instead of my full name.

The real question is: what name should HNN use?

Confess now, or the ISB may have to 'investigate' it out of you.

I've been winning local tourneys with

Kath

+Lone Wolf

+Mangler

+Gunner

+EU

Whisper

+VI

+FCS

+Gunner

+ACD

The two arcs + EU can cover just about anything, and defeat Autothrusters fairly well. While people are trying to track down Kath and her defensive reroll, Whisper does the killing.

So.. dominating? no... pretty much just functioning as a harder-to-hit Decimator to keep the opponent distracted, but it's doing well enough.

There has definitely been an uptick in Firesprays in my area. They use to be very common prior to wave 4, then when away, with wave 6 they are back on the table.

Wait, you mean Bounty Hunters and not Mandalorian Mercs, right?

Whatever the lowest PS Imperial Firespray is, yes. I get them confused.