Hello fellows.

I've had a lot of fun in my local store with various builds, I had most fun with a Firespray and Defender list.

Anyway,i recently bought a Decimator and want to try it out, I'll have one chance to play in my store this week before the tournament (my first) on Sunday. I really want to try a 2 ship list and would be very grateful for the thoughts on the below. Happy for suggestions on changing the Decimator load out and companion ship.

I currently own:

Force awakens core set

B wing

Phantom

Tie defender

Millennium Falcon

Firespray

Decimator

I do have a Darth Vader crew card and experimental interface card on the way, but I'm not sure they'll be here in time.

Cheers!

Predator is better than Expose - the math supports that, even with Chiraneau, you'll want Focus actions instead of another die. Speaking of that, Gunner is probably better than Weapons Engineer, and Engine Upgrade will let it outmaneuver swarms.

If you're good at piloting, pairing chiraneau with a VI Echo is NASTY. You've got durability, high damage output, and a decent Ace.

PILOTS

Rear Admiral Chiraneau (55)
VT-49 Decimator (46), Veteran Instincts (1), Ysanne Isard (4), Engine Upgrade (4)

Krassis Trelix (45)
Firespray-31 (36), Heavy Laser Cannon (7), Tactician (2)

or

PILOTS

Rear Admiral Chiraneau (55)
VT-49 Decimator (46), Veteran Instincts (1), Ysanne Isard (4), Engine Upgrade (4)

“Whisper” (44)
TIE Phantom (32), Gunner (5), Fire-Control System (2), Veteran Instincts (1), Advanced Cloaking Device (4)

Thank you for the quick response! Is that right about the maths? I suppose thinking about it, it makes sense, it's just the thought of getting up to 5 Dice at range 1 is kind of intoxicating.

I think I will swap it out for predator though. I do like gunner a lot too, and think I'll take your advice and swap that in for weapons engineer, I don't tend to lock on as often as I should, thinking about it anyway...

I've had good success flying Whisper, but I've not really tried Echo. Im not sure what to do about fighting high PS turreted opponents.

Edit: CBMarkham I like that Whisper list...

Sorry, I meant to say Whisper, for some reason I get the names backwards. And I'd prefer Intelligence Agent on Whisper over Gunner CBMarkham; that way you know how best to use your decloaking move to get out of arc. And that gives you the points you need for Predator on Chiraneau, with 3 points left over for Rebel Captive on the Deci.

I don't have rebel captive yet but will probably pick one up at some point!

With expose I think I'd also not really appreciated that it was an action so thanks again for the advice.

Talking of actions, are you able to explain turn order etc with regards to Issard whilst having experimental interface on?

Can I take an action as normal during the activation/maneuver stage, say, focus, and then during the combat phase use Issard to trigger experimental interface to take another card action such as Engine Upgrade (or expose if I had it on)?

I'm guessing not as that seems like a pretty broken way of getting a actions last even if you had low PS. Cheers

You can trigger Push The Limit off Ysanne, so why not Experimenta Interface? However, I'm not sure you can use Engine Upgrade with EI, as the card says that your action bar gains the Boost action, and EI is specifically for non-action-bar actions.

Fair point! But that's interesting that you can trigger an action off of Ysanne after everyone else has moved. I wonder if there's any interesting /fun things you can do with that...

Edit: Amy ialso correct in thinking that you can use Ysanne after passing through an asteroid/bumping another ship, as long as you aren't stressed?

Edit2(!) : It was Expert handling I was think of, not EU. Though I'd welcome thoughts on the best thing to use with Experimental Interface. Marksmanship looks good to me, as I imagine I'd fly quite aggressively with he Decimator, trying to get range 1 so 4 attack Dice, with predator and gunner, but before attacking I could use Ysanne for an evade (when my Shields are gone) then experimental interface to declare I'm using Marksmanship? Then I can take a stress but automatically change eyes into hits and recollection a blank (or 2 depending on enemy PS) to try and get hits or eyes. Is that how Marksmanship works? When do you declare Marksmanship as your action? Can I do it after using Ysanne + Experimental Interface?

I used to run a very similar list for almost a year with a great deal of success (and a few tweaks as the meta evolved). Try:-

RAC

Engine Upgrade

Predator

53pts

Krassis

Heavy Laser Cannon

Recon Specialist

46pts

99pts total for a small initiative bid.

For a while I had Rebel Captive instead of Recon Specialist but needed the extra survivability on the Firespray that Recon Spec gives.

The very few games I lost was when I picked up the Elite Pilot Talent crit so I also swapped Predator out for Determination and Vader crew. Found that I gained a bit of durability but really missed the predator reroll.

Now with the new damage deck, I'm very tempted to break this list out again with the predator build.

Trick is to have both ships target the same ship/ace etc each turn as it will usually punch through even the most turtled ship. (had a lot of practice bursting Push the Limit Green Sqdn ships along with phantoms and interceptors)

Oh that list is nice too. I imagine adding a boost must be a pretty useful addition for such a big ships. I suppose another worry is eating hits from heavy laser cannons (very popular in my store) though guess that's negated slightly once Ysanne comes into play. I think I'll definitely go for a Decimator firespray build and see how I go, I don't think I'm a good enough pilot with Whisper just yet. Cheers!

Does the new damage deck not have the elite pilot talent criteria card? Or just less?

Also: what we're the big weaknesses you found when running that list? I might swap Engine Upgrade for Ysanne for more survivability, but I'm or sure. I imagine swarms could either be a piece of cake given the Decimator Turret and weird arcs on the Firespray.

I suppose Aces will be an embuggerance to the firespray though?

Exactly, my thoughts were if you wanted a two ship build you needed one to carry a heavy laser cannon to maintain the damage output with the current PTL Brobots and fat PWT lists.

I toyed with a defender but my green dice are so fickle I'd rather take the extra four hit points over an extra green.

The new damage deck from the Force Awakens removes some of the very conditional crits such as "Lose your EPT and Pilot ability" and "Lose one secondary weapon" and replaces them with crits that will affect all ships. So while TIE swarms laughed at either of those crits in the past, Vader/Soontir/RAC or a heavy laser cannon carrier were very harshly affected. It's to ensure that all crits have an affect on all ships.

The trick to flying it is target the ace first and shepherd the ace into the firespray's front arc. If you deploy on one flank and stagger your advance, the ace won't have an approach you can't cover with a 1 bank or 2 turn with the FS. RAC should be positioned to catch them at the same time with a 3 bank/turn and boost.

Best way I found was good placement of asteroids and then deploy on one flank, RAC on the outside and Krassis slightly on the inside. Slow roll the firespray with RAC about a base length in front and wait until they are just about in range. slow turn in with the FS (1 bank) and 3 bank and potential boost with RAC to catch your target in the crossfire. I've seen so many turtled aces go pop under that concentrated fire, even cloaked Whispers and Soontirs. Brobots are a bit tougher but they still can't stop all of it coming through.

Swarms were the toughest list to fight, especially BBBBZ, too many hit points and you can't one-shot one. I had some success dragging them through the asteroids but even with a recon specialist, the firespray got hammered and you can only arc dodge with the engine upgrade for so long.

Engine upgrade is far superior in my opinion to Ysanne, it is much better to not be shot at than to gain an evade each turn (after you've been stripped of shields) and a boosting large base ship is very fast, you'll often catch your opponent off guard.

Thanks again for the advice, that's a lot to think on. My reason for dropping the Engine Upgrade is because I'm not to sure of my piloting skills just now, though I suppose not practicing at all isn't going to help with that. If I get a chance tomorrow I'll have a fame with the engine upgrade and one with Ysanne and I'll see what suits my play style better. I think guaranteeing one evade a round is good, but suppose that's nothing if facing a swarm.

Thank you again for the setup and flying advice, sounds like a great way to open and fly.

No problem, good to see someone else giving the firespray a run out with the decimator, nice change from the Whisper or Soontir option.

No worries, I really like it's rear arc, it's saved having to K turn quite a few times.

Thinking more on the Decimator it must be very very vulnerable to ion cannons due to having no defence. I have to imagine getting ioned off the board is a very real threat? Particularly given the large base.

No worries, I really like it's rear arc, it's saved having to K turn quite a few times.

Thinking more on the Decimator it must be very very vulnerable to ion cannons due to having no defence. I have to imagine getting ioned off the board is a very real threat? Particularly given the large base.

Yes it is. Fortunately, you don't see a ton of ions....yet. Having said that, careful flying can keep your decimator safe (don't end its move pointing at a table edge, or facing directly at an asteroid, for example).

Good points! I suppose there's any number of things that can screw me, a Han with c3po/swarms etc but I'll just need to practice. If I don't feel happy with how I do tomorrow in friendly matches I may end up just going with the defender and Firespray which I really enjoyed.

The problem with Isard is she gets shutdown by stress. With all the stress being given out nowadays, she might not even be able to be used. I ran a similar list and ran into two panic attack builds in the same store championship last year.

Personally, I love Expose + Experimental Interface on Chiraneau and had great success with it. The rub is you Focus/TL, then trigger EI to Expose, which nets you a 4 dice turret at range 2-3, or 5 dice at range 1. Coupled with Chiraneau's ability, it's just really really mean. On the other hand, it's friggen 7 points, which will go to waste in a stress heavy meta. Predator is probably the safer choice.

Oh christ, I'd not even though about that (lack of experience using it again!). In that case I definitely see your reasoning for not including it. Just 4 points wasted if theyre dishing stress. I wonder if I should consider chucking in a Tactician (no rebel captive at the mo)?

A question about boosting then: I can measure for a boost, decide I don't like it and then take another action instead correct?

Oh christ, I'd not even though about that (lack of experience using it again!). In that case I definitely see your reasoning for not including it. Just 4 points wasted if theyre dishing stress. I wonder if I should consider chucking in a Tactician (no rebel captive at the mo)?

A question about boosting then: I can measure for a boost, decide I don't like it and then take another action instead correct?

No. once you place a movement template down, you have to complete that action (for both barrel roll or boost).

As for stress, it might impact Isard, but only if you get hit for a ton of stress. Ways to mitigate it are by boosting out of arcs or purposely bumping into enemies so they can't shoot you (and stress you). So its not like Isard is a bad choice---its only bad if you can't find a way to avoid or deal with the stress aspects of the opponent's list (such as blasting it off the board before it doles out much stress).

So you can only choose a different action if you can't complete a boost, rather than you change your mind?

Ill give Issard and Engine Upgrade a go tomorrow and report back!

Not that I'm planning on using it, but what are people's thoughts on Marksmanship with Chirenaeu? I know you are losing predator but if you roll 2 eyes at range one (4 dice) that's 2 critical hits right? And if you had a target lock either beforehand or using experimental interface you could reroll any blanks?

It's an odd card because it seems great at first but hard to justify the points and use of an action....

Never Marksmanship. NEVER!!

*ahem*

...never.

Marksmanship costs you an action.

If you have no action (common in StressWing meta) then you can't use it.

Predator + Focus + Chirenaeu > Marksmanship + Chirenaeu

Thanks, that makes sense really. I wonder if it'll ever find a competitive use. Have you had much luck with things like ruthlessness? It seems it'd work quite well with a 2 ship list like mine, especially if I come up against swarms.

Looking forward to trying out my Decimator tonight, I'll try a Chirenaeu and Oicunn build and if I get time a Whisper build: