Hi everyone,

I'm really intrigued by Opportunist. Simply because additional dice are more valuable than more attacks, as they don't give your opponent new defense dice. However, most ships want to do a focus or evade action anyway and only Rebels have a way to strip tokens by force (Wes Janson). As a result, I'm tinkering with a few ways to make Opportunist for Imperials work. Let's start with some thoughts about basic synergies:

Carriers:

1. Turrets: Plain and simple. In case someboody k-turns or takes non-token actions, a turret is more likely to take advantage of it.
2. HLC/Rockets/Torpedoes: 5+ dice are pretty devastating.
3. Anything with low or mediocre pilot skill might help, because the enemy will be tempted to use tokens, while shooting
4. Anything that has bad or mediocre action economy might be better of with Predator or Push the Limit, because 3 modified dice are most likely better than 4 unmodified dice.
5. Anything with less than 3 dice is a bad carrier, because you might just play a three dice ship instead.
6. Anything with bad green maneuvers is a bad carrier, because it can't clear the stress properly.

Enablers:

1. Blockers: Denies actions completely. Mini swarms might work well with an Opportunist-carrier.
2. Stress: Limits maneuverability and facilitates blocking. Rebel Captive or Mara Jade might help, when running blockers.
3. Double Stress / Stress + Ion: Denies actions completely. Tactician on Firesprays or Double Tactician on Shuttles might work out well.
4. Higher PS ships: a soft enabler, that might tempt the opponent to use tokens.

Sample lists:

Vessery + Turr Phenir + Dark Curse

Vessery fulfills carrier criteria 2, 3, 4 and 5. 5 red dice with Focus and Target Lock hit like a truck! The green maneuvers are sufficient imho, because you can make long hit and run attacks with the green forward moves + Boost. Dark Curse fits enabler point 1. Turr Phenir fits enabler point 4. Fun fact: Even when Turr is out of range 3 inititially, as long as he can shoot, he can use Boost/Barrel + PtL + TL to generate a lock for Vessery this round and for himself next round.

Options: A) remove EU; use Soontir Fel instead of Turr; B) remove EU; use Tie mini-swarm instead of Turr and DC;

Kenkirk + Kath Scarlet (4 Points left for either Engine Upgrade, Shield Upgrade or Mangler Cannon)

Kenkirk fulfills carrier criteria 1,3, 5 and 6. The action economy isn't the best. In case you use Engine Upgrade on him, Predator or PtL might be better.

Kath fulfills enabler criteria 2, 3 and 4. Additionally Rebel Captive on Kenkirk makes applying double stress easier.

Options: A) upgrade Kenkirk to Chiraneau for better action economy; replace Ysanne with EU B) replace Kath Scarlet with a different pilot with Tactician + Flechette/Ion Cannon

Discussion:

What are your opinions about Opportunist in Imperial squads? Are other upgrades simply better, or does it have its place?

Am I missing any synergies with Opportunist? Do you think all of them are worth the effort? Or are some of them too much of a hassle?

Any comments to the sample list? Maybe you are already tinkering with your own?

Greetings,

Stetto

Palob is sad that you forgot he can also strip tokens. He mentioned something about "everyone only thinks of Wes, and forgets about me". He seemed really upset

Do you think Carnor Jax might fit in with his ability?

Get him in close with someone important (not too hard to do with the Int's great dial) and now you don't even have to worry about stripping Focus or Evade tokens as they can't make them in the first place.

Carnor doesn't work well Opportunist. He's PS 8. So anybody who moves before him can still focus/evade and still be out of range 1. Then Carnor moves into range 1. Great, now they can't spend their tokens and Opportunist can never trigger.

Despite the fact that it is a card in the imperial aces expansion, its actually not a very good card for imperials (yet?)

For example, in your first list, Vess is gonna run into too much trouble trying to clear stress so you won't get good use out of it.

Your second list is a bit better, but the stress inducing mechanics you have are somewhat situational, thus you don't quite have guaranteed useage of opportunist although that might not be a bad thing, depending. My biggest problem is that it makes ken the obvious first target and is Kath gonna be able to carry through the endgame? Maybe, but kenkirk would make a better closer imo.

Do you think Carnor Jax might fit in with his ability?

Thanks for the suggestion. I thought about Carnor combined with Opportunist quite a lot, but forgot to include it. I tried other stuff first, because the synergy is so limited.

Carnor Jax has some synergy. If you move him right next to an opponent that already has a token, he can't use it anymore, as Jo Jo said. But most of the time, that's not even a disadvantage against a smart opponent, because he opponent can't be forced to use them anyway. Whenever he might have used the focus or evade, it most likely would've have been the better choice anyway. Whenever it would've been better to keep the token, a smart enemy would've kept the token anyway. But in any case, there is absolutely no synergy if Carnor moves into range 1 of an opponent that already took his actions.

You need to fly Carnor in such a way, that your opponent ends his movement right next to him. Against lower pilot skill, ships need to voluntarily fly right next to Carnor. Against higher pilot skill, ships usually have a boost or barrel roll action available, that allows them to move out of range 1 and use PtL to focus/evade.

In my opinion, this is too limited to justify including Carnor Jax.

For example, in your first list, Vess is gonna run into too much trouble trying to clear stress so you won't get good use out of it.

Your second list is a bit better, but the stress inducing mechanics you have are somewhat situational, thus you don't quite have guaranteed useage of opportunist although that might not be a bad thing, depending. My biggest problem is that it makes ken the obvious first target and is Kath gonna be able to carry through the endgame? Maybe, but kenkirk would make a better closer imo.

Yes, Vessery struggles with this. The usual option to clear stress is either slowroll with 1-forward 2-forward to keep enemies in your arc or 5-forward + Boost and hope to be out of range. In my playtests, this worked out so far, but we're all still rookies in my playgroup and I needed to forgo using opportunist frequently to still keep a k-turn as an option during the next round.

The second list was only playtested against a swarm so far, which pretty much demolished me, because of a multitude of reasons. Funnily, I managed to keep Kenkirk out of harm and my opponent focused on Kath.

Do you think Carnor Jax might fit in with his ability?

Thanks for the suggestion. I thought about Carnor combined with Opportunist quite a lot, but forgot to include it. I tried other stuff first, because the synergy is so limited.

Carnor Jax has some synergy. If you move him right next to an opponent that already has a token, he can't use it anymore, as Jo Jo said. But most of the time, that's not even a disadvantage against a smart opponent, because he opponent can't be forced to use them anyway. Whenever he might have used the focus or evade, it most likely would've have been the better choice anyway. Whenever it would've been better to keep the token, a smart enemy would've kept the token anyway. But in any case, there is absolutely no synergy if Carnor moves into range 1 of an opponent that already took his actions.

You need to fly Carnor in such a way, that your opponent ends his movement right next to him. Against lower pilot skill, ships need to voluntarily fly right next to Carnor. Against higher pilot skill, ships usually have a boost or barrel roll action available, that allows them to move out of range 1 and use PtL to focus/evade.

In my opinion, this is too limited to justify including Carnor Jax.

For example, in your first list, Vess is gonna run into too much trouble trying to clear stress so you won't get good use out of it.

Your second list is a bit better, but the stress inducing mechanics you have are somewhat situational, thus you don't quite have guaranteed useage of opportunist although that might not be a bad thing, depending. My biggest problem is that it makes ken the obvious first target and is Kath gonna be able to carry through the endgame? Maybe, but kenkirk would make a better closer imo.

Yes, Vessery struggles with this. The usual option to clear stress is either slowroll with 1-forward to keep enemies in your arc or 5-forward + Boost and hope to be out of range. In my playtests, this worked out so far, but we're all still rookies in my playgroup and I needed to forgo using opportunist frequently to still keep a k-turn as an option during the next round.

The second list was only playtested against a swarm so far, which pretty much demolished me, because of a multitude of reasons. Funnily, I managed to keep Kenkirk out of harm and my opponent focused on Kath.

2 points of note: Vessery has no 1 forward and his k turn is white, so stress does nothing to it other than stop the action afterwards. Unless you were referring to a different ship than the Defender, something is funky.

Ah, I meant 2 forward. Sorry. A stressed white k-turn is technically an option, but I prefer to k-turn + action.

2 points of note: Vessery has no 1 forward and his k turn is white, so stress does nothing to it other than stop the action afterwards. Unless you were referring to a different ship than the Defender, something is funky.

Of all the defenders, I'd say Vessery is hurt by stress the least (provided you got other ships target locking for him), but if he doesn't do a green he can't use Opportunist again, so that's what I was thinking----my experience with Defenders is that you can't do straights all that often (although the 5 straight to escape and then turn around later is good, but not something you always want to be doing). My point is, I don't feel its the best ship to get good value out of Opportunist. YMMV, I suppose.

Maybe this new modification thing that is coming with the TIE punisher will change this, however (the Twin Ion Engine upgrade).

I've been thinking about this idea, and I'm wondering if maybe Jax could be used along with Opportunist. Afterall, you're in control of Jax and sometimes the threat of Jax' ability can alter how your opponent flies or what actions he chooses.

Jax w/ PtL, royal guard, autothrusters & stealth = 34

Sabre squad w/ Opportunist & autothrusters = 27

Omnicron w/ advanced sensors & fleet officer = 27

Academy Pilot = 12

100

11 attack dice at range 2/3 (+1 if you get opportunist to trigger) and two good blockers in the TIE and the shuttle. The sabre and academy stick close to the Omnicron (Jax can as well at least for the first engagement) and you have two extra focus tokens to give out to Jax or the Sabre. Against low PS, you have the advantage of waiting to see what actions your opponent chooses: if he doesn't focus (because Jax is closing in) then great, you've got opportunist when the sabre shoots. If he does focus, then you can either move Jax in and hope that the 4 attack dice (probably with focus) will do some great damage (his dice will be unmodified), or you can boost/barrel roll out of range 1 and try to strip the focus with Jax' shot.

The best thing about this list is target priority---who does your opponent go after first? Fleet officer means he'll have a rough time getting through the interceptors defenses, and going after the shuttle will take time to remove it from the table (in which your ships should be able to put a dent on them). The academy can be very aggressive and block like crazy----no one will want to shoot at him with much more threatening enemies looming in.

I was tinkering today and thought of Vessery + Opportunist, so I decided to search the forums to see if anybody else thought of it, and here we are. Now that we know what Twin Ion Engine Mk. II does, do you think it will help Vessery utilize Opportunist better? I am optimistic. Here is what I came up with, but I want to know what other great ideas you've come up with. Here's one of my many attempts:

Colonel Vessery (35) [47 total]

-Heavy Laser Cannon (7)

-Opportunist (4)

-Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)

Soontir Fel (27) [34]

-Push the Limit (3)

-Targeting Computer (2)

-Royal Guard TIE (0)

-Autothrusters (2)

Epsilon Leader (19)

TOTAL: 100 points

Epsilon Leader is one of the new TIE/fo fighters. His ability allows him to remove a stress token from every friendly ship at range 1 at the start of the combat phase. There was some discussion about performing a Koiogran Turn while stressed, and this may help Vessery recover on those turns. Of course, Twin Ion Engine Mk. II is what will help the most, ideally letting Vessery snake his way towards the enemy, taking his time a bit. Soontir does Soontir things, but with no extra defensive upgrades he needs to be super cautious, likely acquiring a target lock early, and then leading the enemy on a merry chase through the asteroids. Unless they have Twin Laser Turrets: then he and Vessery just need to destroy ships fast...which is kind of the point of this squad, right?

I'm not sold on Epsilon Leader, though 3 hull and 1 shield behind 4 agility is pretty strong. He also has Target Lock natively, which is nice. I could see myself instead taking Scimitar Sq. Pilot + Ion Bombs to help control the opponent, but he doesn't shoot before Vessery, so he doesn't help strip tokens from opponents. Maybe the new TIE Advanced will be better for forcing the opponent to spend tokens when he doesn't want to, or risk suffering crits.

Here's a question: when do you use Vessery's focus offensively? I've rolled some dice, and it seems that once Vessery loses that Focus he is in trouble on he defense, so it's almost better to just throw 5 dice and hope you reroll well with Target Lock. Thoughts?

You still have the problem of getting your opponent to spend the focus before Vess shoots. Yes, Soontir and Epsilon are higher PS, but Soontir can't always keep his guns on the same target as Vess (needing to be cautious and all), and Epsilon's 2 die attack might not cut it...

As for keeping focus for defense with Vessery, well against higher PS, you end up using it on defense more often than not. Against lower PS, you hope to kill any ships facing him before they shoot, or else roll those naked greens and pray

While saving the focus for defense might be a good idea in some situations, generally, you don't want Vess to come under heavy fire, so positioning where only one or two enemies can shoot him at a time is ideal.

I've found a decimator, rear admiral, with isard and opportunist, is a beast; I've munched many a ship with that.

You still have the problem of getting your opponent to spend the focus before Vess shoots. Yes, Soontir and Epsilon are higher PS, but Soontir can't always keep his guns on the same target as Vess (needing to be cautious and all), and Epsilon's 2 die attack might not cut it...

As for keeping focus for defense with Vessery, well against higher PS, you end up using it on defense more often than not. Against lower PS, you hope to kill any ships facing him before they shoot, or else roll those naked greens and pray

While saving the focus for defense might be a good idea in some situations, generally, you don't want Vess to come under heavy fire, so positioning where only one or two enemies can shoot him at a time is ideal.

Okay, I got it, I got it!

Col. Vessery

-Heavy Laser Cannon

-Opportunist

-Twin Ion Engine Mk. II

Omicron Group Pilot

-Adv. Sensors

-Fleet Officer

-Intelligence Agent

-Tactical Jammer

2x Academy Pilot

100 points

Hopefully this squad addresses all the concerns you voiced, Blade_mercurial. The Academies in conjunction with Intelligence Agent can do their very best to block to prevent actions. That helps Opportnist to trigger. But what about the focus problem? Fleet Officer allows Vessery to have double Focus, and has the added bnenefit of Tactical Jammer to help Vessery snipe safely from long range! ...Oh shoot. The shuttle is the only one that can TL, so it needs FCS instead of Adv. Sensors, but once it dies, so does Vessery's synergy. -sigh- back to the drawing board.

Maybe this isn't such a good idea for standard play. I mean, in Epic play you have two things going for you: 1) ships crash into each other all the time, and 2) Grand Moff Tarkin can either take a Focus away from the target, or, if they're already without tokens, give a Focus to Vessery. Seems like a lot fewer hoops to jump through, though you still have to ask yourself if that's the best use of a six-point crew upgrade on your Raider.

Hopefully this squad addresses all the concerns you voiced, Blade_mercurial. The Academies in conjunction with Intelligence Agent can do their very best to block to prevent actions. That helps Opportnist to trigger. But what about the focus problem? Fleet Officer allows Vessery to have double Focus, and has the added bnenefit of Tactical Jammer to help Vessery snipe safely from long range! ...Oh shoot. The shuttle is the only one that can TL, so it needs FCS instead of Adv. Sensors, but once it dies, so does Vessery's synergy. -sigh- back to the drawing board.

Yeah, fleet officer + advanced sensors go really well together, but Vess really appreciates FCS. However, this list still might work. If you drop intel agent and tactical jammer, you can squeeze a target comp onto a TIE fighter. Fleet officer means you can safely grab a target lock with the academy and toss him a focus if you're worried about him being tokenless for defense.

Losing the intel agent and tactical jammer are not huge losses----they are more 'nice to have' than essential. The shuttle and a pair of academy TIE's gives you tons of blocking options (especially if you create nice little lanes with asteroids for your opponents to go through---which you then stick your shuttle into )

Coordinating this fleet might be tricky and will take lots of practice. Vessery is frightening as hell though and if your opponent is denied actions, his shot will hurt big time, at any range. Your list depends heavily on him though and that might be its biggest weakness since if he dies you haven't got much firepower left...