Alright... looking for feedback again, here's the list.

http://xwing-builder.co.uk/view/325074/ryhmer-with-advs#manoeuvres=hide

Right now, I've only lost once out of 5 games I've played with this list. I've thought it to be really awesome, as the idea behind it is just trying to deal a lot of crits. Rhymer stays back while the Tempests engage, and Rhymer swoops in later to dish out criticals through shields on targets I feel need it. Twice, I've almost wrecked one bro bot while it still had shields. I even had a guy who was pretty confident about himself and explained to me on MAY occasions that my list was pretty poor and would be better if I removed Rhymer and went with 4 tempests with Accuracy Correctors, or 3 tempests with Accuracy Correctors and I forget the ace he told me I should use to try and get crits with instead.

I played this guy, beat his bro bots, and all he had to say was "It woulda happened faster if I had Accuracy Correctors like he's been telling me.

So... I'm putting it out there for all to see and judge!

Here are my thoughts.

I like it how it is. I get locks, and I maneuver very well, and I'm guaranteed 1 crit always, and use focus to help the other two dice become hits. It doesn't happen all the time, but I find I'm usually throwing putting a hit and a crit on the target per Tempest. I like this. I also like how it really demoralizes my opponent because they know they're taking crits, and those new cards are pretty painful often enough!!!

Now I have looked into the Auto Correctors. Is that guaranteed 2 hits really that amazing? I mean it's rough, it means whenever one of these guys shoots at you, that's 2 hits you need to evade [no sensor jammer or anything can change them,] or you're taking hits. That's, honestly, kinda nice. It also allows me to throw on Push the Limit on Rhymer. That's kinda attractive to I have to admit. Other than that though, I'm not really sure if I'm a fan of it. Like I mentioned, I love that demoralization of "What crit am I going to get now?"

I guess I see it as flavor. I like this flavor and play style as opposed to 2 auto hits.

I've played /x1s with ACs and I have 5 wins.

I've played around with a variety of pilots, some cluster missiles, etc. I have a playstyle affinity for the ACs (not worrying about attack dice relaxes the heck out of me). I think the demoralization aspect is similar, but I can see how yours would be greater.

I hadn't thought about a list like yours with the Bomber, but I love your creativity. My idea was to go with 3 Storms with ATCs led by Howlrunner (determination & hull upgrade). Similar concept...

The most diverse list I brought using ACs was 2 Storms, 2 Tempests, 3 cluster missiles between them. The clusters against Agility 1 ships make a very big difference. Indeed, I would put this list up against an emperor shuttle with confidence I could bring it down in one round, two at most.

The list I find optimized for fun/compedtetiveness is "Strom's Storms" 3x Storms with AC and Strom using a few upgrades. Strom's ability is surprisingly useful (assuming I'm using it correctly - Strom doesn't have to be the target to remove an attacker's range bonus).

The downside of the Storm/Tempest is simply this: arc dodgers. It's well and good to count your hits before you roll the dice, but when the attacker isn't in arc, ACs don't help you. Auto-thrusters have also been a small bane of this list. I'm a newer player, and too many times I've been caught trying to line 2 or 3 ships up to get that interceptor or star viper with one hit left only to have it boost/barrel roll out of arc.

I see nothing glaringly vulnerable in your list, and Rhymer with Adv. Homing is a shrewd use of ability. However, if he is shooting first in your list, he's going to be shooting at targets that have their focus/evade still. I've always found that to be the problem with high-initiative pilots and ordinance. The nicest thing about the Adv. Homing is that it doesn't consume the Target Lock upon firing.

Another factor is that until you acquire a target lock, your list isn't capable of its full potential. In that activation where you need to get into firing range (i.e., three) to spend your action on that Target Lock, if you are in someone's arc, you're more vulnerable. That's kind of small factor, but without your TL, your firing phase is only potent as a 12-point Academy pilot. A few things can prevent that TL, and the accuracy corrector isn't bothered by that.

My question is this, though:

Outside of his pilot ability (which is itself very fragile to critical hits), why spend points for a separate missile delivery system in his TIE?

I see an option where you keep 3 Adv. Homing Missiles (on the TIE Advanced) and you save 20-something points.

Where I play, the Predator EPT has become very common, and for that reason I avoid pilots under initiative 3.

Good luck. As a TIE Advanced freak, I'm interested to know how it goes. Send me a PM some time

Awesome post! I guess I came off a little wrong, but just to clear it up, I wasn't going for which list was more superior to the other... Just that this one of mine isn't completely invalid and is pretty powerful. The guy who was really picking on me for not using AC's just kinda got under my skin

But yes, you're very accurate on my lists short comings. Their low initiative makes it really hard to get that target lock actually, and unless I'm really clever about maneuvering, I likely won't have it on my first shots. I think another short coming too that wasn't mentioned, is that the opponent will always know who I want to hit, because it's honestly wasteful to shoot at anything with out a target lock!

I haven't run into to much "Predator" around my shop, so I guess I haven't hit that kink yet. Though that does suck when it happens. I guess I try not to worry about it.

Major Rhymer, honestly his 20 points is worth it to me for his ability. With out that ability, I'd rather not take the ADV Homing missiles. I'd use different missiles with my ADV's. Concussions maybe, I don't really know. I just find it kinda hard to stay in range 2 of a targets so far.

Another thing I just thought of too, I really want the Tie Engine upgrade. I find the greens on the ADV dial to be very limiting. Just don't have the points to do that with!

EDIT: Holy cow, I just realized what you said now. AC's with Clusters... Youch... I.. uh.. kinda... might need to try that.

For the record, I wouldn't take Rhymer out of that list with those missiles. That's pretty awesome, and I'm probably going to try that myself.