Title says it all.

Here's what i have for kits:

Both starter boxes, basic tie advance, imperial aces, a single phantom, raider.

I was thinking of grabbing Vader In a named tie, and picking up the box for soontir fel before the game. Alternately, I could grab a decimater for the raider/deci/Vader combo.

I've also got 4 basic ties so I could mini swarm.... Lots of choices. Also not too sure on the complete load out for the raider itself. I think it has potential to be quite Tanky and dish a ton of damage, just not too sure on the specifics.

Any help would be awsome. Thanks.

I love the idea of Tactician on the Raider. It's main weapon can shoot twice, double stressing any hapless ship at range 2. If you're flying with Push the Limit fighters, Comms Booster is a great upgrade to protect aces from enemy attempts to stack stress. For hardpoints I like having an Ion Cannon Battery and a Quad Laser Cannon on the aft, allowing the Raider to better protect itself. I usually equip Optimized Generators from the TIE Carrier expansion pack, which seems like it's made for the Raider: drop an energy on a hardpoint and it grants you 2 energy for a second volley with the Primary Weapon. I like adding Ion Cannon Battery on the front, too, so I can be really aggressive in the opening rounds of combat, but that gets expensive, and can be skipped. I also usually equip all three team upgrades (Sensor, Engineerign, and Gunnery). Together they cost the same as an Academy Pilot, but they make the Raider so much more valuable in combat.

Another favorite card is Grand Moff Tarkin because he's so versatile.

The Raider is a serious gunship, especially with the rules for firing its main guns twice but it is hungry on energy if tooled up this way.

I would suggest filling all hardpoints with weapons of your choice and then fitting optimized generators as well as some Tibanna gas as cargo for a one-off boost when you need it. IIRC, the latest FAQ states that upgrade cards start the game fully charged with energy which certainly helps.

You will need some close-in defense. The last time I fought against a Raider, I took it apart with a couple of B-wings and Rookie X-wings at Range 1. 4 red dice each against 0 agility that cannot shoot you is a recipe for a dead capital ship. At least 1 quad laser cannon is a good investment and then a couple of agile ships to chase the enemy off your tail. Interceptors excel in this role although most flavours of Tie are mobile enough to provide some protection.

If you have a free choice then some of the "mini-ace" Tie/FOs work really well here due to the combination of good dial, options and a shield to make them a bit tougher than regular Ties.

Lastly, don't forget that Capital ships can run over smaller opponents. If your opponent has left a PS4+ ship in front of you, don't hesitate to gun the engines and crush it.

Epic ships move after all other ships so if any ship ends in front of you crush it :-)

Yea I definitely like the ability to just smoosh a smaller sucker loitering in my lane. "Why the heck aren't you driving the speed limit/cut me off.... *scrunch* followed by a nice highway salute on the way past.

Let's me satisfy the inner road rage demon...

I've had a few games with the raider since orginal post - and I agree with keeping some guns for short range defense.

I was thinking: take the ordnance tubes modification, then in the front cluster missiles. They fire a bunch of times, and pair well with the main weapon (and no energy) and they aren't a one off on the raider. For the back, an ion and a turbo. The turbo I think is just there to shoot down enemy large/huge stuff.

Obviously all 3 teams are a must take.

Crew - originally I ran palpatine and he did quite well. I'm thinking of taking a deci as escort and moving him there tho, in favor of some "huge ship only" crew.

I'm not a big fan of one offs. I found that with planning and pacing I didn't find a lack of energy. The optimized generators looks enticing - but I have been using the upgrade that gets an extra energy on straight moves, and the title to gain an extra shield on recovers.

For escorts and close support does the deci even have a edge here? I also like phantoms a bit more then Interceptors so maybe something like a deci, 2-3 phantoms and maybe Vader ? Obviously it depends on total points. But for the deci - if it's job is to provide close support and keep fighters out of the range 1 bubble on the raider, is the ram boat best? Or go with the more shooty options?

Thanks

I'd say Defenders are a good shout, in Epic games you don't feel the pinch so much and they're really tough.

Rikk

Get Captain Jonus close escorting it, too - giving rerolls to ALL of a Raider's secondary weapons is brutal.

Ooo yea. Jonas looks sweet as a force multiplier. Him along the raider and defenders would be scary. I think the next boxes I'm getting will be the carrier/bomber/imperial vets boxes. Should add some real nice advantages to the fleet.

Total noob side question: the slave 1 box .... Boba fett is a bounty hunter, and would seem to me to be a scum and villainy faction. But the icon on his box and the dial seems to be imperial? Was this an oversight? I know he worked for the empire briefly in the orginal series but I always figured he was just freelance. Shouldn't be be a scum faction? Sorry my fluff knowledge is pretty minimal.

Ooo yea. Jonas looks sweet as a force multiplier. Him along the raider and defenders would be scary. I think the next boxes I'm getting will be the carrier/bomber/imperial vets boxes. Should add some real nice advantages to the fleet.

Total noob side question: the slave 1 box .... Boba fett is a bounty hunter, and would seem to me to be a scum and villainy faction. But the icon on his box and the dial seems to be imperial? Was this an oversight? I know he worked for the empire briefly in the orginal series but I always figured he was just freelance. Shouldn't be be a scum faction? Sorry my fluff knowledge is pretty minimal.

that was very early on in Wave 2, before Scum and Villainy was a faction, when they were still trying to figure out what each faction should have as ships - and the Firespray was released at the same time as the Millennium Falcon, so kind of an iconic match-off.

The Most Wanted pack DOES include dials and cards for S&V Firespray, including a much better Boba. But yeah, he's pretty terrible for Imperials and is useful only because he gives good cards.

For escorts and close support does the deci even have a edge here? I also like phantoms a bit more then Interceptors so maybe something like a deci, 2-3 phantoms and maybe Vader ? Obviously it depends on total points. But for the deci - if it's job is to provide close support and keep fighters out of the range 1 bubble on the raider, is the ram boat best? Or go with the more shooty options?

Tough call on the Decimator. I have been too afraid to use it in epic because Huge ship weapons could easily rip it to shreds, not to mention the often large amounts of smaller ships. If you do want to keep the Decimator close to the Raider to cover the range 1 bubble, I think Captain Oicunn would be the way to go. He would probably need Engine Upgrade to loop around if he strayed too far - large ships move way too fast to keep them close to the Raider for very long.

An idea I had was to put Tactical Jammer on the Decimator, and put the Assailer title on the Raider. That way you grant an extra die against enemy attacks, even against secondary weapons (which are just rampant in Epic), allowing the Raider to have a greater chance at blocking damage. Same problem of trying to keep the Decimator between the enemy and the Raider, and you have the additional problem of the enemy just shooting down the Raider instead

The Most Wanted pack DOES include dials and cards for S&V Firespray, including a much better Boba. But yeah, he's pretty terrible for Imperials and is useful only because he gives good cards.

Put Palpatine in the Raider (aft) and use your two Royal Guard Ties as part of the escort for the Raider. Then have a fully decked out Vader in the TIE Advanced fly with a squadron of 2+ TIEs (just like in Episode IV with the trench run).

Have Vader and the TIEs hunt down ships out in front, and then have the RGTs cover the Raider's flank.

Maximum thematics achievement unlocked.

Awsome ideas. There seems to be so many choices. Right now I'm ruining the missions that come in its box, it's been fun. The first one, the rebels managed to blow up my fighters and escape with only taking a single loss. Raider took zero damage. The next game I ran the raider with basic tie advance, and a loaded up ps9 whisper (VI, ACD, recon specialist, FCS) the ability to decloak start of turn, move last shoot first, free target lock, cloak and focus from the raider coordinating is just a beast. It alone accounted for 4 of the 5 kills I had during the game. When the rebels had only 2 ships left he conceded. The raider was in a cycle of not shooting and just recovering to keep shields up - and I had lost 6 on the rear and 2 hp on the front but lucky no crit damage. But it was still out of the game pretty much, since it wasent shooting. It also didn't manage a single kill. Best it did was strip some shields from one ship.

The next mission is gonna be hard. The rebels get 155 pts I get the raider with quad lazers everywhere (useless) a sensor and engineering team and a rebel captive - but I can't use recover actions. I also get the 5 sentries (wich need me to move to them and spend energy on activating) and 50 pts - requiring a unique ship. And I have no idea what to bring. The raider is gonna be near useless aside from primary weapon, and super vulnerable with no ability to regain shields. And with only 50 pts to spend on escort - and I have to take a unique I don't know where to go. The best aces run 30-40 each so that's a big gap. And no 10 pt basic tie to fill in. I really liked the phantom last game but vrs 155 pts of enemy I see him getting surrounded and shot down fast. The only other thing I think - maybe a decimater kitted for close support. Use it to protect the rear of the raider and keep the rebels in the front arc. It can take a beating and maybe absorb enough fire to be useful??

Any other ideas?

I've also got an idea for a build on a seperate game - I'll add that for thoughts later today. Thanks for all the help so far!

The raider was in a cycle of not shooting and just recovering to keep shields up - and I had lost 6 on the rear and 2 hp on the front but lucky no crit damage. But it was still out of the game pretty much, since it wasent shooting.

I was at zero energy. Any I gained was going into the shields with recovers. That, and the rebels had moved in beside/behind to get out of front arc. (And since I was focusing on staying alive - and denying the victory I was only moving slow to get max energy/shields)

Also the raider In these missions has a very specific build. I'm not allowed to change it. - and the gas is not part of the allowed build for the missions.