ISD-1 - Gunnery team, Overload Pulse, Relentless

ISD-2 - Gunnery team, Leading shots, Avenger, Screed

Gladiator 1 - Demolisher

Raider 1

Build total: 400

Objectives: Most Wanted, Fleet Ambush, Superior Positions

You'll run the ISD1 at speed 3 to start, ISD-2, Glad, Raider run at speed 2. First commands for speed 2 ships are Nav speed up to 3. Your ISD1 is the leader and you will point her at the biggest point value ship on the board (Hello glorious MC80). Auto crit with Screed to combo Overload pulse to exhaust all of the opponents defense tokens. Your next move should be to push in the Glad to get in a hit or 2. Follow up with the ISD2 (Avenger) prevent any defense token and hammer in the damage.

My alt build would be to drop the Raider and setup as...

ISD-1 - Gunnery team, Tactical Expert, Gunnery Team, Tractor Beam, Relentless

ISD-2 - Gunnery team, Tractor Beam, Leading shots, XX-9 Turbo lasers, Avenger, Screed

Gladiator 2 - Gunnery team, Assault Proton Torp, Demolisher

Build Total: 397

The gunnery team on the glad is kinda pointless, take it off.

In its stead put ordinance experts or engine techs

2 Blue dice. . .

The gunnery team on the glad is kinda pointless, take it off.

In its stead put ordinance experts or engine techs

Yes and no. If you want to hit 2 targets at close range with your side arc it is amazing but other than that. . .

I do sense that this list will HATE B-Wings. . . and Nym

2 Blue dice. . .

The gunnery team on the glad is kinda pointless, take it off.

In its stead put ordinance experts or engine techs

Yes and no. If you want to hit 2 targets at close range with your side arc it is amazing but other than that. . .

I do sense that this list will HATE B-Wings. . . and Nym

The gunnery team on the glad is kinda pointless, take it off.

In its stead put ordinance experts or engine techs

Good point. I think Engine techs is a bit more valuable. I am pretty confident I can get into mid range with that Glad rolling in at speed 3 but Engine techs could push me into close so I can take advantage of the black dice.

2 Blue dice. . .

The gunnery team on the glad is kinda pointless, take it off.

In its stead put ordinance experts or engine techs

Yes and no. If you want to hit 2 targets at close range with your side arc it is amazing but other than that. . .

I do sense that this list will HATE B-Wings. . . and Nym

You know I'm not overly worried about Rebel fighters or even Rebel Carriers. I figure at speed 3 a bomber squad might get a shoot or two off on me. A Rhymer ball would be a problem though because of that range and I have no fighter screen to stop it.

My goal with this build is to find the biggest point ship and crack that pinata open for all the candy points I can get. Another problem I am looking at is flying off the board too.

2 Blue dice. . .

The gunnery team on the glad is kinda pointless, take it off.

In its stead put ordinance experts or engine techs

Yes and no. If you want to hit 2 targets at close range with your side arc it is amazing but other than that. . .

I do sense that this list will HATE B-Wings. . . and Nym

You know I'm not overly worried about Rebel fighters or even Rebel Carriers. I figure at speed 3 a bomber squad might get a shoot or two off on me. A Rhymer ball would be a problem though because of that range and I have no fighter screen to stop it.

I currently run 4 A-wings and 6 B-wings when I'm going fighter-heavy. That pile of fighters unopposed will wreck you faster than you can blink, it's like 13+ average damage per turn, of which you can brace off 2 if you burn your brace. With that giant base, giant nose arc, and marginally competent placement of the fighters, it's very possible for a focused ISD to go down in one round if you bring nothing to tie them up.

Not saying this list doesn't scare the bejesus out of me... Just something to keep in mind when running no fighters with big tasty point piñatas of your own...

What if you dropped everything but the isd and ran a fighter wing out there?

2 Blue dice. . .

The gunnery team on the glad is kinda pointless, take it off.

In its stead put ordinance experts or engine techs

Yes and no. If you want to hit 2 targets at close range with your side arc it is amazing but other than that. . .

I do sense that this list will HATE B-Wings. . . and Nym

You know I'm not overly worried about Rebel fighters or even Rebel Carriers. I figure at speed 3 a bomber squad might get a shoot or two off on me. A Rhymer ball would be a problem though because of that range and I have no fighter screen to stop it.

I don't know your meta, obviously, but...

I currently run 4 A-wings and 6 B-wings when I'm going fighter-heavy. That pile of fighters unopposed will wreck you faster than you can blink, it's like 13+ average damage per turn, of which you can brace off 2 if you burn your brace. With that giant base, giant nose arc, and marginally competent placement of the fighters, it's very possible for a focused ISD to go down in one round if you bring nothing to tie them up.

Not saying this list doesn't scare the bejesus out of me... Just something to keep in mind when running no fighters with big tasty point piñatas of your own...

2 B-Wings and 1 A-Wing can cause some issues.

I like running 3 B-Wings and 3 A-Wings and that usually toasts all Gladiators.

What if you dropped everything but the isd and ran a fighter wing out there?

That's a great idea. Here are the changes I made...Squadrons are flexible

ISD-1 - Gunnery team, Overload Pulse, Relentless

ISD-2 - Gunnery team, Leading shots, Avenger, Screed

Tie Fighter - 7

Howlrunner

Tie Advanced -2

Total - 398

I can drop howl to put in Soontir Fel putting the build total @ 400

I wouldn't drop Howlrunner for Fel, with seven ties, her ability will be WAY more effective than Fel's.

What if you dropped everything but the isd and ran a fighter wing out there?

That's a great idea. Here are the changes I made...Squadrons are flexible

ISD-1 - Gunnery team, Overload Pulse, Relentless

ISD-2 - Gunnery team, Leading shots, Avenger, Screed

Tie Fighter - 7

Howlrunner

Tie Advanced -2

Total - 398

I can drop howl to put in Soontir Fel putting the build total @ 400

That looks like a pretty good defensive fighter build to me. I'm looking at it trying to figure out how I would address it if it were flown well, and I'm frankly not sure how I would do it. I think you might have enough fighters there to physically prevent your opponent from getting a fighter into engagement range with Howlrunner if you space them out correctly (if Tvayumat shows up in this thread, I know he's figured this out), which means your opponent is going to have to chew through all those eyeballs to get at your lynchpin squadron.

Of course, this much investment into fighter defense comes at the cost of some of your anti-ship firepower, but all those blue dice are still serious business if you run up against an all-ship build. Eight blues and 2 non-bomber blacks is still almost 8 damage/round average, none of which can be braced.

I wouldn't drop Howlrunner for Fel, with seven ties, her ability will be WAY more effective than Fel's.

Yes, you should have both.

Howl, Soontir, 2 Advanced, Ties up the wazoo.

I wouldn't drop Howlrunner for Fel, with seven ties, her ability will be WAY more effective than Fel's.

Yes, you should have both.

Howl, Soontir, 2 Advanced, Ties up the wazoo.

I disagree, I wouldn't put Fel in this build. His ability is far too easy to avoid here, and gains relatively little from Howlrunner. I tend to think of Howlrunner and Fel as an either/or thing: either you're going for the swarm/dice increase from Howlrunner, or the guaranteed AoE damage from Soontir and Mauler with some escorts.

I wouldn't drop Howlrunner for Fel, with seven ties, her ability will be WAY more effective than Fel's.

Yes, you should have both.

Howl, Soontir, 2 Advanced, Ties up the wazoo.

I disagree, I wouldn't put Fel in this build. His ability is far too easy to avoid here, and gains relatively little from Howlrunner. I tend to think of Howlrunner and Fel as an either/or thing: either you're going for the swarm/dice increase from Howlrunner, or the guaranteed AoE damage from Soontir and Mauler with some escorts.

I think Fel and 2x Advanced should be in every dedicated heavy fighter list.

Let me explain:

Advanced keeps Howl and Fel safe, entirely. It's like Taunt in a MMO, and forces them to attack 5-HP squadrons which will take free damage from Fel on every attack.

Free damage is the best way to defeat superior numbers.

Free damage threatens hero ships.

Free damage gets around Counter-2 A-Wings while constantly reducing their HP down for just playing.

Free damage from Fel makes squadrons that focus on Howl very sad.

Letting Fel freestyle on you with 5 dice + swarm every turn because you have to attack Howl or else Ties eat you up.

Imperial fighters will out-range everything except for A-Wings, but they don't care because of the alpha advantage Fel/Howl have over stock A-Wings.

Flying Fel + 2 Advanced + Howlrunner in the same list is very positioning dependent. It's amazing and Imperial squadrons have the speed to catch drifters off-guard. The most common solution to defeating this type of fighter escort is to spread out. So in the essence of multiple As and Bs, this is exactly what the list excels at: Being able to defeat their fighter blob in a head-long fight, or forcing them to break off and spread out, drastically decreasing their combat effectiveness and letting your Ties split up and intercept them individually. Howl, Fel, 2 Advanced and 4 Ties is 90 points on the nose and will be dangerous to any combination of A-Wing/B-Wing attack force, even when outnumbered because of the free damage. Free damage. Free. I cannot emphasis this more.

I wouldn't drop Howlrunner for Fel, with seven ties, her ability will be WAY more effective than Fel's.

Yes, you should have both.

Howl, Soontir, 2 Advanced, Ties up the wazoo.

I disagree, I wouldn't put Fel in this build. His ability is far too easy to avoid here, and gains relatively little from Howlrunner. I tend to think of Howlrunner and Fel as an either/or thing: either you're going for the swarm/dice increase from Howlrunner, or the guaranteed AoE damage from Soontir and Mauler with some escorts.

I think Fel and 2x Advanced should be in every dedicated heavy fighter list.

Let me explain:

Advanced keeps Howl and Fel safe, entirely. It's like Taunt in a MMO, and forces them to attack 5-HP squadrons which will take free damage from Fel on every attack.

Free damage is the best way to defeat superior numbers.

Free damage threatens hero ships.

Free damage gets around Counter-2 A-Wings while constantly reducing their HP down for just playing.

Free damage from Fel makes squadrons that focus on Howl very sad.

Letting Fel freestyle on you with 5 dice + swarm every turn because you have to attack Howl or else Ties eat you up.

Imperial fighters will out-range everything except for A-Wings, but they don't care because of the alpha advantage Fel/Howl have over stock A-Wings.

Flying Fel + 2 Advanced + Howlrunner in the same list is very positioning dependent. It's amazing and Imperial squadrons have the speed to catch drifters off-guard. The most common solution to defeating this type of fighter escort is to spread out. So in the essence of multiple As and Bs, this is exactly what the list excels at: Being able to defeat their fighter blob in a head-long fight, or forcing them to break off and spread out, drastically decreasing their combat effectiveness and letting your Ties split up and intercept them individually. Howl, Fel, 2 Advanced and 4 Ties is 90 points on the nose and will be dangerous to any combination of A-Wing/B-Wing attack force, even when outnumbered because of the free damage. Free damage. Free. I cannot emphasis this more.

I understand how Soontir works. He only does his damage to others engaged with him. If your opponent get s first strike on his ball it is very easy for the opponent to simply not engage with him while they burn down an escort, which exposes Soontir and Howlrunner to focus fire, at which point you get very little more value from Soontir than from any other Interceptor and he's wasted points.

If you get first strike with him, you can get Howlrunner with vanilla interceptors for two points more and throw 4x 5 blues with rerolls, which will reliably kill pretty much any fighter in the game rather than having to rely on them not having an answer for Soontir (like Intel, Tycho, bumping the furball, or just good positioning). Or, if you prefer the AoE approach (I don't), you could get Soontir, Mauler, and 2x advanced for the same cost, which will lock down a large pile of anything long enough for your ships to get in a few anti-squadron barrages and deal more AOE to drive home the kills.

I'm not saying Soontir isn't good, just that I think he doesn't synergize well with this list.

First, let's try and understand the possible confusion here. What is "this list"? I see 2 ISDs with fighter cover. Why woudn't a premiere fighter combo work well in this case? The reason I mention the movement advantage of Imperial squadrons is to emphasis on the fact that you, the Imperial player, normally dictates what is engaged with Soontir and what isn't. As long as your fighter control is well-managed, you will be able to maximize his damage. Of course, if you don't, then he's not going to be worth it. But that's the fault of the player rather than fault in the strategy.

It occurs to me that giving specific counterexamples of why your idea wouldn't work is probably not the best approach in this case. There are so many very very different situations you can face in the fighter game, and it's so heavily dependent on meta, that this is probably one of those YMMV situations. I'll just leave it at: in my experience, Fel and Howlrunner do not synergize well.

It occurs to me that giving specific counterexamples of why your idea wouldn't work is probably not the best approach in this case. There are so many very very different situations you can face in the fighter game, and it's so heavily dependent on meta, that this is probably one of those YMMV situations. I'll just leave it at: in my experience, Fel and Howlrunner do not synergize well.

You would think that in a game with capital ships fighter play wouldn't have a lot of strategy. Oh FFG you.

First, let's try and understand the possible confusion here. What is "this list"? I see 2 ISDs with fighter cover. Why woudn't a premiere fighter combo work well in this case? The reason I mention the movement advantage of Imperial squadrons is to emphasis on the fact that you, the Imperial player, normally dictates what is engaged with Soontir and what isn't. As long as your fighter control is well-managed, you will be able to maximize his damage. Of course, if you don't, then he's not going to be worth it. But that's the fault of the player rather than fault in the strategy.

Yup, I'm referring to the same list. And you absolutely should give it the best fighter coverage you can, while maintaining balance with the opportunity costs you're paying in terms of your anti-ship capability.