Just thinking about what an Imperial fleet will look like once wave 2 arrives.

This is mostly speculation of course.

400 point build

Lets say an ISD is approximately 120 points base, and a raider is say 40 points. I don't know if these are realistic but they "feel" about right.

So a possible build:

Commander:say 30 points

ISD with upgrades:140

ISD with upgrades: 140

Fighters: 90 points.

This would consign all my wave I and core ships to the shelf, and allows no room for raiders, but potentially gives me two massive monsters that can rampage around killing everything in sight, with a strong fighter wing to negate enemy bombers.

How would this go against a say 2 Space whale/Neb/Fighter rebel list? If the ISD can do speed three, I don't see how the rebels could compete in this matchup.... Of course, they are getting new options too.

On the other hand, I could potentially trade one ISD for a VSD (carrier variant?) and a raider (Say 95 + 45). The VSD could cover the ISDs back and push the fighters, letting the ISD concentrate on killing things, with the raider able to provide flank support or finish off ships that get past the ISD....

With one raider, could you drop a bunch of fighters and take two?

What do others think a wave 2 fleet would look like?

Not enough info

I think you would be taken apart piecemeal. Far too large a base to swing around when compared to small and medium ships

Drop one ISD + upgrades to get two Gladiators. The Gladiator is supposed to be a support ship anyways to the bigger Star Destroyers.

Heck, when we know more about the Raider class why not throw a handful of those in instead. They are to be the front line skirmishers while the ISD comes up the rear smashing a hole into the enemy fleet.

Maybe take an ISD flagship, and then a Glad + 2 Rads.

Doubles the amount of attacks you can make, and you can then play around in activation order more freely.

Plus when deploying, you can make a sick formation.

Flagship front and center, with Rad's covering the flanks, and the Glad in the lead OR off to the side to nab an objective.

I'm going to take an ISD, two Glads, three raiders and a VSD. Points, who cares.....

I'm more excited for the Raider than anything else, finally a cheap ship to bolster my numbers and prevent those Rebel activation shenanigans!

The ISD will be fun too...

Not enough info

This.

However, I do know exactly how I'll build my 400pt competitive list: I'll take the one I have and just 100 points of awesome to it.

I expect to see A LOT of 2-3 ISD lists out of imperial players. It's an extension of wave1 antics fueled by nerd-hysteria over the iconic ship. As such, I am designing my lowly Vic-I (the oldest imp destroyer) to be able to tango directly with big, honking, naked, warships. I'll toss on Expanded Launchers, giving it more firepower than a naked ISD (same dice, but no blues..so it hits harder but trades-off those accuracies which can be a drag); and If I have the points i'll boost it even more with Dominator, or Warlord/H9 combo, and/or XX-9's to capitalize on guaranteed crits.

My 88pt demolisher won't change.

My squads won't change, but i'll add ~20-30 points to them...likely via a powerful bounty hunter that is a good force-multiplyer to my list.

The biggest addition will be a decked-out raider. I'm wagering that the base cost will be 42-45 points. One of them should have the Ion Cannon hardpoint, so I'm considering OLP on him. This gives me guaranteed token exhausting on my first activation due to screed (synergies make me happy). Combine that with my plethora of black dice and we have some fun ISD/MC-80 hunting goodness.

My hang-up is the actual cost of the Raider. What upgrades it can take (We know for certain one gets ordnance, and it's likely the other get's Ion Cannons. Perhaps, since it's a brawler, both with get ordnance and one will have ion and one will have turbos like CR-90s? We can also assume they'll have a basic crew, and a support crew. I don't see any support crew being super great: engine techs are too expensive I feel for what they'll give an already fast and agile ship.

I do think a very good addition would be an Intel Officer...if I'm already using him to exhaust tokens, if I can BURN a token (evade via my front arc shots) while he's defending against my first attack that's even better. Also, if Contain works against OLP, I will absolutely take Intel without question.

That means i'm spending 8-15 points on the raider, plust a few more if there is a title that I really like. Plus the 13-30 points on my VSD, leaving me 10-20 points for squads? Going to get tight...and I'm still rocking only 3 ships when people are considering 5. So we'll see once points are spoiled and all the upgrade cards are.

Maybe take an ISD flagship, and then a Glad + 2 Rads.

Doubles the amount of attacks you can make, and you can then play around in activation order more freely.

Plus when deploying, you can make a sick formation.

Flagship front and center, with Rad's covering the flanks, and the Glad in the lead OR off to the side to nab an objective.

This is what I was planning on doing anyways. Maybe just 1 raider for more fighter support but yea. Can't give up Demolisher.

Not enough info

This.

However, I do know exactly how I'll build my 400pt competitive list: I'll take the one I have and just 100 points of awesome to it.

I expect to see A LOT of 2-3 ISD lists out of imperial players. It's an extension of wave1 antics fueled by nerd-hysteria over the iconic ship. As such, I am designing my lowly Vic-I (the oldest imp destroyer) to be able to tango directly with big, honking, naked, warships. I'll toss on Expanded Launchers, giving it more firepower than a naked ISD (same dice, but no blues..so it hits harder but trades-off those accuracies which can be a drag); and If I have the points i'll boost it even more with Dominator, or Warlord/H9 combo, and/or XX-9's to capitalize on guaranteed crits.

My 88pt demolisher won't change.

My squads won't change, but i'll add ~20-30 points to them...likely via a powerful bounty hunter that is a good force-multiplyer to my list.

The biggest addition will be a decked-out raider. I'm wagering that the base cost will be 42-45 points. One of them should have the Ion Cannon hardpoint, so I'm considering OLP on him. This gives me guaranteed token exhausting on my first activation due to screed (synergies make me happy). Combine that with my plethora of black dice and we have some fun ISD/MC-80 hunting goodness.

My hang-up is the actual cost of the Raider. What upgrades it can take (We know for certain one gets ordnance, and it's likely the other get's Ion Cannons. Perhaps, since it's a brawler, both with get ordnance and one will have ion and one will have turbos like CR-90s? We can also assume they'll have a basic crew, and a support crew. I don't see any support crew being super great: engine techs are too expensive I feel for what they'll give an already fast and agile ship.

I do think a very good addition would be an Intel Officer...if I'm already using him to exhaust tokens, if I can BURN a token (evade via my front arc shots) while he's defending against my first attack that's even better. Also, if Contain works against OLP, I will absolutely take Intel without question.

That means i'm spending 8-15 points on the raider, plust a few more if there is a title that I really like. Plus the 13-30 points on my VSD, leaving me 10-20 points for squads? Going to get tight...and I'm still rocking only 3 ships when people are considering 5. So we'll see once points are spoiled and all the upgrade cards are.

I like the thought process here.

There will be many versions of multi ISD lists, and probably several raider swarms.

It's going to be extremely interesting!

fully expect to see at least 16 tie fighters, or at the very least 14 + rhymer

or I shall be disappointed

Raider swarms don't work as well as people think. . . No redirect, no Mon Mothma. That means they have to get close to do their job but are naked to the return fire. Setting up a running pass where every turn a ship enters close range to then move first next turn and rotates is not easy to set up. That is the only way to make it work though.

Corvette swarms are always bad People just like to play around with stuff that sounds interesting

Corvette swarms actually works. It is a boring list to play against but they use the entire table

I have 2 ISDs, 1 Raider, and the Villains half on preorder.

I run a no-squadron list now, so we'll see what pans out. Maybe with new squadrons I'll run my Demolisher (she's not going anywhere) 2 ISDs, and either a Raider, squadrons, or both.

Thinking about it, multi-ISD lists are self-limiting; the bases are large enough that I can easily be in range of one ISD and not the other, even if they're shoulder to shoulder, so long I don't run straight down the middle at them.

I'm hoping for an ISD with 2 VSD escorts with as big a fighter screen as I can possibly have.

Thinking about it, multi-ISD lists are self-limiting; the bases are large enough that I can easily be in range of one ISD and not the other, even if they're shoulder to shoulder, so long I don't run straight down the middle at them.

I just keep thinking about that scene in Empire Strikes Back where those 3 ISDs practically run into each other.

Corvette swarms actually works. It is a boring list to play against but they use the entire table

I've a half-played game on my table with my brother. It's a giant bore and PITA to play against, and I'd just be annoyed at a tournament due to a likely loss of my 10-0 vs these clowns...I'll have to figure out a way to catch the buggers effectively.

Thinking about it, multi-ISD lists are self-limiting; the bases are large enough that I can easily be in range of one ISD and not the other, even if they're shoulder to shoulder, so long I don't run straight down the middle at them.

The base size of the Large Ships is going to catch most people off guard. Those honking ships are going to be a nightmare to fly around a lot of the time, and even more so in groups. However, I do find it interesting that you can shoot a 2-dice arc through a ship and do a 1 dice attack...yet a big honking ISD shooting through another honking ISD loses barely any of its firepower. Of course, as you alude to, the range alone (unless you're kissing) will prob exclude their black dice.

Either way, they're gunna hit ALL THE OBSTACLES! heh...ships too.

Corvette swarms actually works. It is a boring list to play against but they use the entire table

I've a half-played game on my table with my brother. It's a giant bore and PITA to play against, and I'd just be annoyed at a tournament due to a likely loss of my 10-0 vs these clowns...I'll have to figure out a way to catch the buggers effectively.

Thinking about it, multi-ISD lists are self-limiting; the bases are large enough that I can easily be in range of one ISD and not the other, even if they're shoulder to shoulder, so long I don't run straight down the middle at them.

The base size of the Large Ships is going to catch most people off guard. Those honking ships are going to be a nightmare to fly around a lot of the time, and even more so in groups. However, I do find it interesting that you can shoot a 2-dice arc through a ship and do a 1 dice attack...yet a big honking ISD shooting through another honking ISD loses barely any of its firepower. Of course, as you alude to, the range alone (unless you're kissing) will prob exclude their black dice.

Either way, they're gunna hit ALL THE OBSTACLES! heh...ships too.

Ok back on topic. . . Er. . . Sort of. To catch the swarm you have to box them in. I think once Tractor Beams come out the swarm will lose its capacity. At least the close ships will be drawn and quartered (likely almost literally)