I rave about this list at every oppourtunity possible but I feel that it needs its own thread, it's that good. I've also created a thread about Crackshot lists but this list specifically needs attention.

Someone at Worlds this year placed with 5x Crack Squadron, an Obsidian, and an Academy. I figured 6 Crackshot ships would be better, and 6 Crack Squadrons is 90 points. So you have 10 points for conversions to FO's.

The FO's fly like a dream. That 2 Segnor's loop is soooo good and I can't tell you how many times I've had an FO skate by an extra turn or two with one health left thanks to the extra shield.

Things NOT to do with this list:

1.) Swap out Omega Squadrons for named TIE Fighters. They die ASAP and aren't worth it, even Howlrunner.

2.) Fill the last point by upgrading an Omega to Zeta Ace. At first this looks obvious, as initiative bids at PS 4 aren't neccesary (yet) and you get Zeta Ace's ability for free. But DON'T, this is a trap. After a few games you'll realise that having one ship at a higher PS means that it will often force other lower PS ships to bump into it by not being able to move out of the way first. You'll realise that the 2 distance barrel roll rarely actually helps and his awkward PS is denying you actions.

3.) Fly in a tight, neat formation. Stop this. Set them up in a neat formation, and then turn 1 have them do varied straight manuevers and barrel rolls so that they spread out more. This makes you far less predictable, makes it much easier for enemy ships (especially large bases) to bump into your blob, and offers you much more flexibility in your manuevering. No longer will all of your ships get arc dodged with a single barrel roll, or have all of your ships' K-Turns get blocked by a single ship.

4.) Stop chasing Acewing ships when you know it's hopeless. Think a turn ahead so that if you commit to swerving towards one ace and it ends up swerving out of the way, you can recover with a K-Turn or hard turns and get back into the fight within one turn. Someone flying Poe, Miranda, and a TLT Y-Wing against you has no chance against your 6 Crackshots if you don't fall for their tricks of getting you to hopelessly chase. A Super Poe that's running away might as well be dead, he's not shooting.

So next time you play, try this list. Proxy the cards and ask your opponent to play a typical Acewing meta list and see how well you do. Swap sides and see how your opponent plays it.

And you know the best thing about this list? For Escalation you fly nothing but Crack Squadrons. Unlike a lot of meta lists that suffer having to drop things to fit in at 90 points or 60, nothng but Crack Squadrons is optimized for every round except the first one and then it just gets more and more ludicrous. So you'll get practice flying on Escalation night for the standard 100 point game too.

:-) Have to admit this is the one I think I have so few answers for with what I fly, and since I assume I'll be seeing loads of these at say an Escalation tournament in January...

have to disagree on several points...

1. Poe flying away is NOT as good as dead. His tactics against a swarm are very similar to corrans...hit and run. If Poe is around for the end game youre in trouble. Poe can easily take on several TIEs in formation or not.

2. I see your reasoning in trying to be unpredictable by not flying in a tight formation. I agree but not int he way you think. With a crackshot swarm your EPTs are so much more effetive concentrated on one target (poe for eample). I have had much more success flying in formation, blowing my crackshot wad, THEN breaking formation to block lanes of escape.

3. If youre bumping with Zeta Ace then you need to return to flight school

have to disagree on several points...

1. Poe flying away is NOT as good as dead. His tactics against a swarm are very similar to corrans...hit and run. If Poe is around for the end game youre in trouble. Poe can easily take on several TIEs in formation or not.

2. I see your reasoning in trying to be unpredictable by not flying in a tight formation. I agree but not int he way you think. With a crackshot swarm your EPTs are so much more effetive concentrated on one target (poe for eample). I have had much more success flying in formation, blowing my crackshot wad, THEN breaking formation to block lanes of escape.

3. If youre bumping with Zeta Ace then you need to return to flight school

I disagree with you on all counts, good sir.

1.) Acewing players will try to come at you from multiple directions, and try to draw you into chasing their invincible Ace ship by running away. If you're positioned between two parts of their list, jump on the one least likely to run and easiest to kill, and the one in the direction that is easiest to recover from should what you swerve towards try to run. If you chase a Poe when he's running you're doing it for nothing as the rest of their list is hammering you. If you kill all of the rest of his list before he gets back to the fight he's lost.

2.) I'm still flying them near each other, just not in a tight neat easily predicted Napoleonic brick. And they break apart much easier and can surround things better.

3.) It's unnecessarily more difficult to deal with Zeta Ace blocking your own ships than it is to just not have to deal with it.

have to disagree on several points...

1. Poe flying away is NOT as good as dead. His tactics against a swarm are very similar to corrans...hit and run. If Poe is around for the end game youre in trouble. Poe can easily take on several TIEs in formation or not.

2. I see your reasoning in trying to be unpredictable by not flying in a tight formation. I agree but not int he way you think. With a crackshot swarm your EPTs are so much more effetive concentrated on one target (poe for eample). I have had much more success flying in formation, blowing my crackshot wad, THEN breaking formation to block lanes of escape.

3. If youre bumping with Zeta Ace then you need to return to flight school

I disagree with you on all counts, good sir.

1.) Acewing players will try to come at you from multiple directions, and try to draw you into chasing their invincible Ace ship by running away. If you're positioned between two parts of their list, jump on the one least likely to run and easiest to kill, and the one in the direction that is easiest to recover from should what you swerve towards try to run. If you chase a Poe when he's running you're doing it for nothing as the rest of their list is hammering you. If you kill all of the rest of his list before he gets back to the fight he's lost.

2.) I'm still flying them near each other, just not in a tight neat easily predicted Napoleonic brick. And they break apart much easier and can surround things better.

3.) It's unnecessarily more difficult to deal with Zeta Ace blocking your own ships than it is to just not have to deal with it.

1. i never said chase poe I said hit him hard then block his escape routes

2. youre restating what i said in a different way

3. if you block your own zeta ace you really need more practice

Looks like a solid list

However with any list it all depends on who your flying against and what they use

Works good for your area and people you play against but how does it fair against people you don't know?

I do like it though.

As I said looks solid.

I've been messing around with swarms myself lately

List I really want to try is youngster with expose, Howlrunner,Mauler and 3 black all with crackshot.

Though I think a tie fo maybe better than Mauler

Too in love with omega L to fly this

FOs are super legit, though; super easy to underrate too