Hi there guys n gals,

I am quite new in here, pretty much a rookie pilot I have Rebels and Scum collection and I am looking for some underdogs squads to fly.

I mean I had a glance at the top winning lists, like fat han or something and I am aware of the meta things like tlt builts.. And I think I am looking for something completely different - to be more descriptive to those who play android netrunner analogy - there were times when 95% winners played andromeda/neh. I do not find playing what is considered to be the best atm satysfying and skill demanding. So I played others, forgotten IDs.

And that is a thing I'd like to continue in X.

So what are your lists with not popular ships/pilots? What are struggling with to make it work? If this thread is going to get some attention i think you should not limit yourselves to rebels/scum only!

My personal quest: make it work with 1 yt666! I do not have 2nd copy of it.

Cheers

Take a yv666 Slaver with Gunner and Bossk as crew. Very efficient piece for its points - I can attest to that, I'm using it in a tournament at this very minute!

I understand the desire to fly 'off-the-wall' lists, its fun to try to come up with devious squads that go against the grain so to speak.

However, I don't understand the attitude that 'net lists' or popular lists somehow require no skill to use. This isn't true at all. I admit winning isn't always about skill; choice of lists (because some things counter others) and dice/card luck (crits drawn) definitely influence the outcome of a match sometimes. But over the course of a tournament where you are playing 4+ games, the players that come out on top rarely do so entirely because of the list they brought or because they just rolled better than all their opponents.

Being able to predict your opponent's moves, to think 2 moves in advance and try to control the board positions, distances between your ships and the opponent's and that sort of thing is also very important. Even the 'simplest' lists, like 4 twin laser turret y-wings or 'fat' ships like the YTs and decimator require the same predictive skills as any other list.

Anyway, as to your post idea, I have a ton of lists that are off the wall and I love using stuff that other people have given up with because such ships are considered over-costed or broken in some way (broken as in not viable for tournament play).

For scum, the worst ships are thte Scyk, the khiraxz and the star viper.

For imperials, the bomber, punisher and defender (two of which are getting major fixes in the upcoming Imperial Veterans expansion).

For rebels, its the x-wing and e-wing (not counting some of the 'aces' of each ship, particularly corran horn). The x-wing has at least received the integrated astromech card that helps it out a bit.

Then of course there are individual pilots. THere's at least 1 'non-viable' pilot for every single ship in the game (more or less).

So yeah, that leaves tons of options for flying against the meta.

You're totally right. I meant no disrespect to the winners and I am fully aware that they deserve it. It's just I do not want to straight copy something.

Here's 2 scum builds I've been using lately that are pretty fun, but not forgiving if you make mistakes:

Predatory Scykos

Palob w/ predator, TLT, moldy crow + engine = 36

2 Tansari point vets w/ predator, hull upgrade, 'heavy' title + HLC = 32 x 2

100

Its an extreme glass cannon list. Its very tough to fly right though. You have to control the initial engagement range. Basically you want the Scyks at R3 of some ships and ideally, some opponents out of range. You have to be careful what direction they are pointing in though---if lower PS enemies block them and get R1 shots, your scyks are gonna die fast, so you have to leave yourself some exit strategies, or at least if you know you're gonna be blocked,, try to pick a blocked position where only 1 enemy ship can get a shot.

Palob skirts the edge of the battle and takes pot shots where he can. You don't want him to die early because he's your closer, so keep him safe!

If you get it right, the damage this list puts out is disgusting. You can kill lower PS ships before they fire which really helps it survive...

Aggressive Force

IG88A w/ predator, advanced sensors, autothrusters & ion bomb - 46

2 blacksun enforcers w/ autothrusters = 27 x 2

The trickk with this list is to not lose the vipers. They are PS 1, so great blockers, but they die fast to focus fire. You want to draw your opponent's attention towards the IG88, but be careful about taking too much damage on that too. Once the furball commences, the Vipers are fairly safe because its so difficult for your opponent to focus fire on them at that point, and they are quite durable against 1 shot here and there. Save the ion bomb for when someone k-turns in behind your IG88, or puts themself facing a rock or close to the edge of the board, or something like that. Or just use it as area denial if those kind of opportunities are not happening...

Its 'unconventional' because no one runs IG88 without a cannon and no one runs generic star vipers!

I like that your wanting to break the mold so to speak. Simply picking up the best ships/lists really can skew your impression of this game IMO. Theres actually a handful of ships and pilots that are obviously tier 1 with commonly excepted builds and proven results. Everything else is pretty wide open. I try to make it a point to fly something before I form opinion or comment on it and I tend to gravitate to the tier 2 ships. Flying rogue has its bennies..

I like to find a general build type I like to play. Usually its a rebel/scum 4ship build. Or 3 ship, 1 large 2 small.

I like quirky mid range pilots like blue ace and red ace, or torkil mux and palob. I start there and build my list with other ships that fit.

You're totally right. I meant no disrespect to the winners and I am fully aware that they deserve it. It's just I do not want to straight copy something.

I think I know exactly what you mean. I won't try to speak for you, but for me it's about challenging myself. If I just take a "net" list and play that, sure I might win with it, but is it me or the list? Which is why I almost always fly a different list every time I fly. That's not to say I don't enjoy "net" lists, but I do have to enjoy them and won't just take them for the sake of taking a good list. In fact, I have been losing quite a bit with dual IG-88s lately, but it's a list I like so I'm trying to practice with it. So, to your question, I suggest finding ships you like flying and practice with those. Find out how to make your own good list with that and fly it well and you can win.

Hound and Hawks

Bossk: Opportunist K4

Palob: VI TLT Recon

Torkil: TLT Recon

Been playing this, keeping hawks on support covering Bossk. Bossk is the heavy hitting Ace killer. If you can manage to make someone ps O with Torkil, strip or steal tokens with Palob, and shoot Bossk range 1 5 dice focus target lock, trying to put out a total of 6 hits. It's been very effective with Bossk taking down high agility arc dodger (arc dodging is difficult with 180 arc) and the hawks with recon TLT and pilot skill to chew thru generics and tanks.

I do not have enough XWing experience to tell yet, but I can describe how I am playing Netrunner competitively - I usually play for a minimum of 6 months with th same deck, switching only few copies of cards from time to time, just to tailor it best to myself. Also I think that this way, lack of skill or stroke of genius can compensated by simply knowing your list by heart and how to pilot it.

I really want to make Esege work. Seems like everything I do though is too expensive in places. I like to pair him with some advanced proton torpedo users but they are always hard to get off.