Hi!

First post here and a new player. I want to start elite empire with only two ships.

I want your comments.

Thanks!

“Whisper” (46) TIE Phantom (32), Rebel Captive (3), Sensor Jammer (4), Ruthlessness (3), Advanced Cloaking Device (4)

Rexler Brath (52) TIE Defender (37), Assault Missiles (5), “Mangler” Cannon (4), Push the Limit (3), Stealth Device (3)

I like Defenders lists, and this one with "Whisper" could have potential.

Defenders are high point value ships, and that means you play exposed to lose more than half of your list in a turn (3+3 Hitpoints against Z-95 Glitterstim+Clusters killed mine in the 2nd turn without even locking a target).

I've been trying to find a niche for the Defender, (sigh) still haven't found it for 100pt combats. But you can try combining it with a Firespray, an elite TIE Advanced, or 2 named Interceptors could make an interesting list.

Push the Limit is not the best choice for the Defender, unless you want it actionless. Stressing a Defender with its limited greens can render you in a bad position in the battlefield, and really, the fortitude of this ship is the 4K turn combined with open 2 banks. I would go for Predator or Lone Wolf, because you want to apply the damage at all cost to use Brath's ability.

Also you can swap the Stealth Device for an Engine Upgrade (this will prevent being out of arc, or being in enemy's arc for too long, since Brath will be the primary target due his point value), and of course, that boost action would be nice to cover this ship's predictable movements.

I flew Defender + Phantom for a while and its fun. Punishing on you though if you make any mistakes, so you have to be a very careful player and avoid making bad moves

My list was:

'standard' Whisper w/ Veteran Instincts, FCS, gunner & ACD = 44

Rexler Brath w/ predator, HLC, shield & ion pulse missile = 54

98 pts

I'm not going to explain Whisper much other than to say, with this build, you take evade as your action almost always (as long as you know or suspect whisper will get shot at). The only time you barrel roll is to avoid firing arcs (or asteroids, but your decloaking should be doing that for you). And the only time you focus is when no one can shoot whisper. Why evade? Because of Gunner + FCS, she will almost always hit barring the most atrocious bad luck. And if she hits, she gets a free focus token. So cloaked up, you are always sitting on a focus + evade with 4 green dice against any shots at her. Best combo of defensive tokens and best offense for Whisper, imho (although sensor jammer + rebel captive seems reasonable in the current meta, but I digress).

Rexler. Okay he is actually more squishy than Whisper because he doesn't have focus + evade on 4 green dice. That means you have to approach carefully with him. Get Whisper out in front to take the heat. Rexler wants to shoot at range 3 with his HLC. in fact, Whisper and Rexler firing on the same target can kill lots of things at PS9 then PS8 before they get to shoot (if they are lower PS). Use that to your advantage, especially against swarms that can otherwise really mess up rexler if they block him.

I tried many different missiles on Rexler. In the end, I think ion pulse missile is the best. You already have HLC for dealing damage. It hits like a truck so you don't need a missile to hurt. You need a control missile against really slippery targets. The ion pulse missile works best against low agility targets and ionizes large-based ships, which can be really bad for them if you send it off when they are close to a rock or the board edge. Don't be in a hurry to get that target lock though. The ion pulse missile is not a key part of the build, its an extra. You grab the target lock when Rexler is relatively safe from harm.

When flying Rexler, do not joust with a greater number of ships (that is, fly straight forward, k-turn, fly back, k-turn, etc). You want your opponent to focus on Whisper so that Rexler can re-engage from different angles (preferably from behind). The 1 bank means he's very good at following closely behind enemies if he's not getting shot, although he likes R3 best because of the HLC.

I also tried different Elite talents on him and find predator is best. He needs to deal high damage every time he shoots and predator is the best way to get it. Lone Wolf is just not as reliable damage and even though the extra durability is nice, its unpredictable and again, you want to keep rexler away from focus fire and put Whisper in there in his place. I took a shield upgrade because try as you might, he's going to get damaged and the longer he sticks around firing that HLC, the better. Push the limit is a bad idea because it limits you to straight moves to clear your stress (or banks too with TIE mk 2, but then you lose the extra shield). This is bad because it makes you predictable, and if you are predictable, your ships will get blown up and you'll lose...

Edit: Initiative! Okay, unlike other PS9 pilots where you want to give the opponent initiative so you can see where they move before revealing your dial, Whisper wants to shoot first. If you are up against other PS9 pilots, its always better to take the initiative. In a mirror match against enemy whisper or soontir Fel, you just need Whisper to get a R2 or R1 shot (you don't want R3 because of autothrusters). Gunner + FCS has a good chance of ripping off Soontir's stealth device. Even better if you can use Rexler as blocker (or fire on Soontir with both of them, and you have a high chance of killing as long as you are NOT range 3).

Good luck!

Thank you both for your ideas! I will try them soon.