Special Delivery!!! (Alpha > Regen)

By burningbush, in X-Wing Squad Lists

So a little while ago there was a thread (https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/196709-long-range-miranda/) that mentioned the new long range sensors on Miranda to deliver a fully modified (focus + TL) 5 red dice Homing missile around turn 2-3 then slam away and resume normal tlt operations.

This got me thinking about lists and reasons to run this. We all know regen played a massive part in the world's results and will likely be a popular component of many lists this year and beyond. As such finding a way to handle this has a lot of incentive.

One of the ways to mitigate overtime advantages is to wipe them out early. Having some kind of big hit early will be very beneficial. With that in mind I have put together 2 possible lists below.

List 1

K-Wing: · Miranda Doni (29)

Homing Missiles (5)

Twin Laser Turret (6)

Long-Range Scanners (0)

Y-Wing: Gold Squadron Pilot (18)

Twin Laser Turret (6)

· R3-A2 (2)

BTL-A4 Y-Wing (0)

A-Wing: · Jake Farrell (24)

Veteran Instincts (1)

Proton Rockets (3)

Autothrusters (2)

A-Wing Test Pilot (0)

Push The Limit (3)

99pts

Or

List 2

K-Wing: · Miranda Doni (29)

Extra Munitions (2)

Homing Missiles (5)

Twin Laser Turret (6)

Long-Range Scanners (0)

Y-Wing: Gold Squadron Pilot (18)

Twin Laser Turret (6)

· R3-A2 (2)

BTL-A4 Y-Wing (0)

K-Wing: Warden Squadron Pilot (23)

Twin Laser Turret (6)

Tactician (2)

99pts.

The question is which is better and why?

Advantages

List 1 has the advantage of doubling down on alpha to really finish poe or coran on the first attempt, the ships themselves are useful through out the corse of the game, jake can hunt stragglers and ads mobility where the other ships are sluggish.

List 2 has the ability for Miranda to deliver 2 volleys and has even more control via the 2nd k wing. Has more consistent damage from the 2nd k wing with tlt and has overall more hp.

Disadvantages

List 1

A wings can't usually deal heaps of dmg with just their primary, Miranda only delivers 1 strike.

List 2

Less big punch at the start which might be needed to properly get the most out of even trying it, flying tactician k wings are hard and getting that double stress after the first pass may not happen. More 1 dimensional in terms of mobility.

Why the stress hog?

Because they do work. They can pin down problems deal dmg, is legitimate threat so people will have more problems to shoot at and I'm not sure if there is a better ship to fit in 26pts.

Would love some feed back. Is this something worth running? Are there better ships to pair with this list? Other potential strengths and weaknesses? Let me know. Happy new year all.

Ps. If you can get him in arc, 5 fully modified dice will also nearly guarantee hitting ships like Soontir thus stripping his Stealth Device.

Edited by burningbush

I definitely like this idea. And actually at my last tournament, I saw a lot of Poes that were built for regen. I'm sure they're not going away any time soon. My list was based on a good alpha strike to deal with them as well. One I killed in the first round of shooting, the second I faced got away initially and did regen but he was at one hull and I chased him down and blount put an advanced homing missile through the shields to finish him, it was **** beautiful.

I am partial to your first list because I really like Jake with prockets as a good opener and survivor for later. While homing missiles are great, I think I'd like to just go for concussion and get the second shot with extra munitions. I feel like if you can get Jake's pocket shot first, they will likely have to spend their evade anyways and you might as well just sure up the damage of the 4 dice strike rather than worrying about the evade token. It really does depend on the situation though. For instance Poe cannot evade, so throwing a homing missile at him doesn't matter and you'd rather have the concussion for assuring damage. For Soontir, you'd probably have to block him to get a shot anyways and he won't have an evade if you do so. Just some of my thinking but of homing has done you right in the past then it may be best.

Homing missile does more damage on average than a concussion missile. You don't spend the target lock to fire a homing missile, so you can use it to re-roll blanks. With guidance chimps, homing missile becomes basically 99.99% chance of 4 hits. Concussion missile with guidance chimps is probably not far behind that, but still slightly less odds

So

1. I just looked up guidance chip and it looks awesome and I'm gonna have to play around with it but not tonight haha.

2. guidance chip is a modification so it'd remove the long range TL aspect of miranda's missile. The question then is will loosing a focus result in more or less dmg with guidance chip. (Looses the focus because the turn that you do come in range to do a TL is probably the same turn you need to fire the missiles. Thus loosing the focus.)

3. The other issue is you'll loose that ability to do long range target locks for you tlt as guidance chip only affects Missiles or toepedos not turrets etc.

Edited by burningbush

Homing missile does more damage on average than a concussion missile. You don't spend the target lock to fire a homing missile, so you can use it to re-roll blanks. With guidance chimps, homing missile becomes basically 99.99% chance of 4 hits. Concussion missile with guidance chimps is probably not far behind that, but still slightly less odds

Did anyone else think of monkeys giving directions after reading this particular typo?

Homing missile does more damage on average than a concussion missile. You don't spend the target lock to fire a homing missile, so you can use it to re-roll blanks. With guidance chimps, homing missile becomes basically 99.99% chance of 4 hits. Concussion missile with guidance chimps is probably not far behind that, but still slightly less odds

Did anyone else think of monkeys giving directions after reading this particular typo?

i fought about a missile with a little cockpit and a monkey driving it into the enemy

Edited by Agemman

Homing missile does more damage on average than a concussion missile. You don't spend the target lock to fire a homing missile, so you can use it to re-roll blanks. With guidance chimps, homing missile becomes basically 99.99% chance of 4 hits. Concussion missile with guidance chimps is probably not far behind that, but still slightly less odds

Did anyone else think of monkeys giving directions after reading this particular typo?

That was no typo. It REALLY is monkeys flying that missile smack into the target! That's why it costs 0 points. There's no lack of chimps willing to do the job!

And so the substantive discussion of my beloved list is eclipsed by the lols of kamikaze chimps. Feelsbadman. Lol.

I'm glad you like my Miranda idea, your lists look like a great way to test out how effective it may be. With extra munitions there should be two oppurtunities to Alpha strike (beta strike?) and I can't think of any way to get more than two regenerating ships into a list. I'm contemplating the idea of Weapon Engineer crew, so that on turn one you can TL both Poe+R5P9 and whoever has R2D2 so it is highly unlikely that they can both avoid a missile by turn 2/3. It is going to be a tough debate whether to use Guidance Chips (see, i'm being sensible :-p) or LRS

If I was choosing Chips over scanners I would try to get Dutch into the list for repeat TL shenanigans

I'm 100% behind Homing Missile Miranda, and I actually think it's strong enough that you can get away without the Stresshog. 5 super dice ignoring an Evade is just as good at smoking and ace as the Stresshog.

Thanks for being well behaved Phoenix8472 haha. On the subject of weapons engineer I thought it was unnecessary originally but I've been thinking and having 2 target locks may be beneficial in not telegraphing what you doing and giving you another option if someone flies in your path. If you have the points I suppose it'd be an option. It is 3 points which is the same as c3p0 so thats a consideration.

Re Biophysical, glad your keen on it too. If you were to ditch the stresshog what would you do with the 26 pts? Would you keep jake? (I think the jake list is better than the 2ND k wing list tbh)

Interested to hear back.

Edit: you could do something like this instead of the stress hog but Im not convinced it'd add more than the y wing would.

A-Wing: Green Squadron Pilot (19)

Push The Limit (3)

Chardaan Refit (-2)

Autothrusters (2)

A-Wing Test Pilot (0)

Juke (2)

It's 24 pts so you'd have 3 pts left over to put a crew or something like that on Miranda. One of the points of the y wing was to try and draw a bit of fire from Miranda. I feel like they would just go after her now so you'd probably want to put c3p0 or something like that on her.

Edited by burningbush

I like the second list, but with a couple changes. I'd add LRS to the Warden, and then maybe swap extra munitions on Miranda for Tactician.

Then it starts to look a lot like Danger Zone, but adding Homing Missiles to Miranda in exchange for swapping one Warden for the stresshog. With LRS, Homing Missiles makes a lot more sense on Miranda (without needing backup like Cracken), and it adds a new and pretty powerful capability.

Yes if you were going to run the second list I think adding tactition over extra munitions may be quite beneficial. The second list is MUCH less impactful dmg wise on the first run so thats something to consider.

Procing tactician with Homing Missiles would give 1 stress on top of the inital dmg and would leave Miranda with more utility later in the game, IF you can get them back in arc at range 2. Harder said than done.

I watched Aaron Bonar struggle and lose in one game at worlds because he could only get the stress combo on the first engagement and that was with 3 k wings.

Edited by burningbush

Re Biophysical, glad your keen on it too. If you were to ditch the stresshog what would you do with the 26 pts? Would you keep jake? (I think the jake list is better than the 2ND k wing list tbh)

Interested to hear back.

Edit: you could do something like this instead of the stress hog but Im not convinced it'd add more than the y wing would.

A-Wing: Green Squadron Pilot (19)

Push The Limit (3)

Chardaan Refit (-2)

Autothrusters (2)

A-Wing Test Pilot (0)

Juke (2)

It's 24 pts so you'd have 3 pts left over to put a crew or something like that on Miranda. One of the points of the y wing was to try and draw a bit of fire from Miranda. I feel like they would just go after her now so you'd probably want to put c3p0 or something like that on her.

I like Jake, or at least some A-wing with Autothrusters (and maybe Wired) that you can use to abuse the massed TLT lists. Miranda may have some weaknesses to those because of the massed shots they can put out, but an A-wing with PTL and Wired (I'm not sure Prockets are necessary with that Miranda build taking the burden of ace-killing) would be great for a knife-fighter that you can use to finish games after Miranda nukes the biggest threat. They're great blockers as well.

Budget Build: Green Squadron Pilot, Refit, Test Pilot, PTL, Wired, Autothrusters = 23 (37 left)

Better Build: Jake, Refit, Test Pilot, PTL, Wired, Autothrusters = 28 (32 left)

It's tempting to put more points into Miranda. EM for a second shot, and some kind of crew would be great, making other ships better also matters. 32 points is a solid T70, maybe a Red Squadron Veteran with some stuff. You could also make the list beefier with a pair of Prototype Pilots for 30 (if you like A-wings) or Z-95s (with more room left over to upgrade other ships. If you went with the Budget Green for your A-wing, you have enough for:

Jan Ors (25), TLT (6), Wired (1), Nien Nunb (1) = 33

Jan could make your Homing attack even nastier, and even when someone dodges the Homing Missile arc, you can hit them with a 5-dice TLT shot to break a Stealth Device. It also lets you generate a 5-dice Primary shot if someone is at Range 1, and that's pretty mean. With the 4 points, I think I like Chewbacca crew on Miranda. It's not 3P0 in a long game, but in a shorter, intense firepower contest (hey, you're jousting to get that missile off), he can be better. He also lets you generate an extra shield at any point in the game, which translates into an extra dice you can use to try and finish someone off.

I really like Jake with VI and prockets, but the possibility of Jan getting you a 6 dice TL+F homing missile is too good to pass up. With LRS and SLAM it will be impossible for an enemy ace to jockey for position against her. Getting EM is mandatory in my eyes because it is too good to pass up at only 2 points.

And so the substantive discussion of my beloved list is eclipsed by the lols of kamikaze chimps. Feelsbadman. Lol.

You have my sincerest apologies. Also, cool list ideas, I'll be flying it tonight.

And so the substantive discussion of my beloved list is eclipsed by the lols of kamikaze chimps. Feelsbadman. Lol.

You have my sincerest apologies. Also, cool list ideas, I'll be flying it tonight.

And so the substantive discussion of my beloved list is eclipsed by the lols of kamikaze chimps. Feelsbadman. Lol.

You have my sincerest apologies. Also, cool list ideas, I'll be flying it tonight.

Man I want imperial veterans to be out before mid Feb so I can run one of these lists in my local store torny. God I want to kill poe.

Here is another possibility. Probably resulting in 2 6 dice missile attacks in consecutive turns. Thoughts? Are the missiles + stress lists above better? Let me know what yall think.

K-Wing: · Miranda Doni (29)

Homing Missiles (5)

Twin Laser Turret (6)

Long-Range Scanners (0)

HWK-290: · Jan Ors (25)

Nien Numb (1)

Twin Laser Turret (6)

A-Wing: Green Squadron Pilot (19)

Wired (1)

Proton Rockets (3)

Autothrusters (2)

A-Wing Test Pilot (0)

Push The Limit (3)

Or

K-Wing: · Miranda Doni (29)

Extra Munitions (2)

Homing Missiles (5)

Twin Laser Turret (6)

Long-Range Scanners (0)

HWK-290: · Jan Ors (25)

Wired (1)

Twin Laser Turret (6)

· Kanan Jarrus (3)

A-Wing: Green Squadron Pilot (19)

Wired (1)

Chardaan Refit (-2)

Autothrusters (2)

A-Wing Test Pilot (0)

Push The Limit (3)

The second list is gonna take a lot longer to get the second load off. But allows jan the crew and doesn't have the range 1 restriction of prockets which is really a big deal with ps 3.

I think the 1st list here is the better list as the alpha would be better at its more damage in a shorter time and allows jan to keep up with these fast ships easier with numb.

Edited by burningbush

In the first list I think you could drop Autothrusters for EM, and then put guidance chips on the A Wing.

Ok is it just me or is that a great suggestion? Sure auto thrusters are good but i do find that its hard to get them to proc sometimes and safe guarding against impotent prockets (for free) seems good especially in line with what we are trying to achieve.

So I'm going to try this list (with a few proxies til they come out!)

Miranda Doni (29)

- Homing Missiles (5)

- Extra Munitions (2)

- Long Range Scanners (0)

Jan Ors (25)

-Twin Laser Turret (6)

- Kanan Janus (3)

- Shield Upgrade (4)

Green Squadron Pilot (19)

- Proton Rockets (3)

- Guidance Chips (0)

- Opportunist (4)

Total 100

Miranda has a round two missile attack, 4 attack dice +1 from her abililty +1 from Jan Ors (6 dice cancelling evade tokens, twice)

Green Squadron has Prockets attack 2 attack dice +3 agility bonus +1 from Jan Ors +1 from Opportunist (7 dice, upgrading a blank to a hit)

and Jan has the TLT to increase base firepower (and the turret helps with poor manoeuvres dial), Kanan to clear stress and make her ability reusable and a shield upgrade to keep her alive!

Hopefully the alpha strike will significantly weaken the enemy enough that the low firepower afterwards would be enough to finish the job.

I really like that third list. Opportunist on the A wing is dangerous, but high risk=high reward!

If you want to be a little more conservative, you can switch out the shield upgrade and Kanan on Jan for Nien Numb. That frees up 6 points for a TLT on Miranda, which really helps her regen and stay dangerous.

That isn't a bad idea, considering Jan only really needs to boost the two missile attacks. I might even move the TLT off her and use an Ion turret to be disruptive instead, then it isnt as many points lost when she dies.

K-Wing: · Miranda Doni (29)

Homing Missiles (5)

Twin Laser Turret (6)

Long-Range Scanners (0)

HWK-290: · Jan Ors (25)

Twin Laser Turret (6)

· Nien Nunb (1)

A-Wing: Green Squadron Pilot (19)

Crack Shot (1)

Homing Missiles (5)

Guidance Chips (0)

A-Wing Test Pilot (0)

Push The Limit (3)

So I ran this list the other day. I liked the missiles on Miranda, they did well. Slow rolling this list is a must. The a wing was very hard to get the missiles off with. I was consistently out of arc or too close. I was playing against a palp shuttle + Vader and Turr so they were pretty zippy.

I killed Turr the round Miranda rocketed him with TL and focus. I ended up with 6 hits and 2 got through. Jan then finished him with here tlt.

It was probably my fault not getting the a wings off but it's really hard to set up the ranges against those ships when you are such low ps.

I think im gonna sub out the a wing for 2 z-95s, one with missiles. It will look like this:

K-Wing: · Miranda Doni (29)

Homing Missiles (5)

Twin Laser Turret (6)

Long-Range Scanners (0)

HWK-290: · Jan Ors (25)

Twin Laser Turret (6)

Z-95: Bandit Squadron Pilot (12)

Homing Missiles (5)

Guidance Chips (0)

Z-95: Bandit Squadron Pilot (12)

More bodies, more red dice, more blockers. Less of a big deal if one goes down but still has the 2nd missile but I won't be able to get the TL and focus combo unlike the a wing.

Will see how it goes. I'll let yall know next time I play.

I personally think this could be ok!

Miranda Doni (29)
Twin Laser Turret (6)
Extra Munitions (2)
Homing Missiles (5)
Long-Range Scanners (0)

Jake Farrell (24)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Chardaan Refit (-2)
Push the Limit (3)
Autothrusters (2)
A-Wing Test Pilot (0)

Prototype Pilot (17)
Chardaan Refit (-2)
Autothrusters (2)

Bandit Squadron Pilot (12)

Total: 99

Has the proto for some of the best blocking in the game! Jake for just being Jake and Miranda with the Homing missiles. You could drop EM if you think she wont get the second shot..but Slamming out of range to get that target lock again might be good.

It also has the bandit for more bodies/red dice plus we all know how annoying it can be from watching Paul

So I'm going to try this list (with a few proxies til they come out!)

Miranda Doni (29)

- Homing Missiles (5)

- Extra Munitions (2)

- Long Range Scanners (0)

Jan Ors (25)

-Twin Laser Turret (6)

- Kanan Janus (3)

- Shield Upgrade (4)

Green Squadron Pilot (19)

- Proton Rockets (3)

- Guidance Chips (0)

- Opportunist (4)

Total 100

Miranda has a round two missile attack, 4 attack dice +1 from her abililty +1 from Jan Ors (6 dice cancelling evade tokens, twice)

Green Squadron has Prockets attack 2 attack dice +3 agility bonus +1 from Jan Ors +1 from Opportunist (7 dice, upgrading a blank to a hit)

and Jan has the TLT to increase base firepower (and the turret helps with poor manoeuvres dial), Kanan to clear stress and make her ability reusable and a shield upgrade to keep her alive!

Hopefully the alpha strike will significantly weaken the enemy enough that the low firepower afterwards would be enough to finish the job.

This will be a scary list in that first couple rounds of shooting!