So played a few more games with the same list. Won every game so far without losing a ship but been pushed close.

Last game was against a boba fell and new tie interceptor list. Boba got pasted, the tie killed itself on asteroids but fell was a pain. Inwas able to keep him at a good range to keep shooting him but with ptl was super slippery. I got a lot more use out of lone wolf as I wasn't playing a swarm and baby sitting dash, and r2d2 kept him alive. Its whether or not all is worth it or if there is a better 2 points to spend

Would ion projector be of better use as it would forgo the damage to allow me to then fire back at the ship with the hlc?

To be honest, I don't think either of anti pursuit lasers or ion projectors are optimal upgrades for dash. They work better on slow lumbering ships that can't manoeuvre very well. You want to have an Engine Upgrade in that slot really. If you don't have the 4 available points, then honestly I'd leave that slot empty and spend the points you do have elsewhere.

Or restructure your list to put an Engine Upgrade on Dash.

Seriously, it's the best modification choice.

To be honest, I don't think either of anti pursuit lasers or ion projectors are optimal upgrades for dash. They work better on slow lumbering ships that can't manoeuvre very well. You want to have an Engine Upgrade in that slot really. If you don't have the 4 available points, then honestly I'd leave that slot empty and spend the points you do have elsewhere.

Or restructure your list to put an Engine Upgrade on Dash.

Seriously, it's the best modification choice.

But again, I agree that engine is ultimately the best way to go with Dash. People take APL or IP on dash mainly as a failsafe. In the event that Dash gets stuck in with other ships, he can still possibly be a nuisance even if he can't shoot them with the HLC. Ion projector is also pretty effective against high PS aces. If Dash blocks soontir, for example, the b-wings can burn him down easily...

And also there is the question of 'learning curve'. Earlier in the thread it was mentioned that APL and IP are a good alternative to engine for players learning to use Dash.

while i agree with you that engine is ultimately best on any large base ship, the argument that APLs and IPs are best on slow, lumbering ships doesn't really make sense. Slow ships are actually harder to use as blockers. The YT-2400 dial is excellent, allowing tons of flexibility when planning a block move (combined with the barrel roll). Also, if we look at the best small-base blockers, we notice they all have either boost, barrel roll or both (TIE fighter, star viper, TIE interceptor, a-wing, etc) along with a flexible dial. Slow lumbering ships are not inherently good at blocking. Ships like the Lambda shuttle, YV-666 can be used to block effectively, but only by creating choke points, traffic jams and similar strategies. Well the stop manuever helps of course, but primarily on the initial pass----once ships get passed, the likelihood of these guys triggering APL or IP again is slim...

Good point, well made. I was thinking about what I've observed of the shuttle (having never used one, only played against one) - and what I've seen is it tends to crash a lot. But maybe that's just unskilled flying? In any case, I've never though about either APL or IPs that way before - I've always thought of them as primarily defensive.

And also there is the question of 'learning curve'. Earlier in the thread it was mentioned that APL and IP are a good alternative to engine for players learning to use Dash.

And so there was. I forgot about that.

Given the above then, I'd go with Ion Projector over APL personally.

Good point, well made. I was thinking about what I've observed of the shuttle (having never used one, only played against one) - and what I've seen is it tends to crash a lot. But maybe that's just unskilled flying? In any case, I've never though about either APL or IPs that way before - I've always thought of them as primarily defensive.

And also there is the question of 'learning curve'. Earlier in the thread it was mentioned that APL and IP are a good alternative to engine for players learning to use Dash.

And so there was. I forgot about that.

Given the above then, I'd go with Ion Projector over APL personally.

I don't think crashing into a shuttle means you are unskilled. It really comes down to the type of ships you are using and the physical reality of base sizes. A large base ships takes up a lot of space, so in conjunction with asteroids, its not hard at all to force opponents to crash into it if you stall enough and take advantage of the fact that ships with forward fire arcs need to fly towards each other if they want to shoot...

Also, some ships have short k-turns (b-wing and z-95 for example), so these ships are more likely to get 'stuck' on a shuttle. Sure you can fly straight passed with a 4 straight, but then you aren't getting shots (and the b-wing takes a stress for it) so there's a huge opportunity cost to doing so. I think most players with a jousting list just hope burn the ship down rather than try to get passed it. And I don't think that's poor flying. The shuttle is not hard to destroy, althoughh it can be built to be very annoying to deal with...