Flew a pair of 88s tonight vs 5 Khiraxz fighters and got creamed 3 of 4 games. I only won the last one because my opponent split his forces and I managed to heavily damage two without taking return fire.

Anyone have any good ideas on handling a force of superior numbers flown in a relatively tight group? I have to admit I did some damage with seismic charges.

The formations he was using pretty much prevented me from k turning or doing a Segnor's loop to get behind him until he had k turned behind me. He did some decent blocking.

Flew B & D and tweaked the builds after each game. Dice were so-so both on attack and defense while his attack dice were above average.

My builds were not optimal but I think average or maybe a little bit better.

This was the second or third time I flew the 88s so take that into account.

Any advice would be appreciated.

How did you approach the opening engagement? Your OP says you were hoping to K-Turn or S-Loop behind the K fighters, and that (to me) sounds like you pretty much approached him head-on? With a tight formation you want to do everything you can to prolong the engagement and come in from the side or slow-roll until you get an opportunity to come in from behind.

Alternatively, set up asteroids and skirt the edges of them slowly -- force the tightly formed ships to navigate the obstacles or slowly go around the field of space rocks, then use the IG's superior dial to catch them in a K-Turn or just speed into their rear.

How did you set up the IGs? It's common for people to set them up in opposite corners, or parallel to the starting edge and fly straight for a few turns before turning in.

The Kirhasldfnlk swarm is actually much much better in the hands of a really good swarm player/blocker.

It still has a weakness to being focus fired. heavily modified FCS, crack, HLCs should be able to basically bop 0.75 ish Kihasdklfjls every turn.

Be at R3 first round, you should take only 1 shield, and still do Partial damage to one Kiashdfkj.

On the second round, regardless of bumping, have your guns pointed at a single ship, do partial damage to that ship.

3rd turn you now have 2 targets you can completely kill before they shoot. You will take damage in return however, you should still have 2 IGs, and they are now down to 3 clean Kiahsdjf and 1 wounded Kiaushdfj. That wounded Kirhjkd should not be taking the most risky move now.

They now have reduced ability to block you and less damage.

4th turn, focus fire a single ship, any. Now its 2 wounded.

At this point you will notice that being wounded does not now correlate much to whether they choose a risky move or not: They have to make damage done and are now willing to take risks.

5th turn, you should be able to kill a 3rd. You will probably have suffered considerable damage at this point, but preferably, not have lost an IG yet.

after this, run the weak one, so that its defending/attacking at R3, barely contributing, and use the other IG to clean up the now 3 Kirhadkjks, which now have a much harder time blocking you.

There. Done.

Tried opposite corners, one centered, one in the corner and one directly opposite. Tried both a slow roll and a speed run for protection from the rocks.

The first game was opposite corner and the last, which I won, was set up directly opposed to his two ship flight. The last game he k turned in front of me hoping I would overshoot but I one banked and bumped. With advanced sensors I focused, bumped but was still able to take shots on their sixes by cross shooting.

Five ships flying together, dropping 15 to 18 dice, is kind of tough to avoid. Rock positioning didnt allow enough room to Segnor to the outside and toward the center was very tight. If I'm not careful I end up being a rock magnet.

Oh also, how about try taking smallest rocks or debris?

And not flying straight at him. Use your high speed and boost to come in at an angle.

If he's setting up as a 'pack', I'd suggest setting both up in the opposite corner - one heading across the table (towards his empty corner) and the other heading down your own table edge. Might not work, but it's an option not mentioned.

The most important thing is (a) to open the shooting from range 3 and (b) to not let him get to range 1 - where blocking and range bonuses make the most of his edge of numbers.

Try to attack at an angle - head past him obliquely, turn in only enough to get him in arc - that way you can do a long straight or bank and boost without moving through his squad.

Also, standard anti-swarm approach applies - if in doubt, try to get him to move through the rocks (another reason to start both in the opposite corner and slow roll in). If you can force a swarm to break up, and only take fire from two or three ships, then an Agressor can avoid that kind of fire.

Khirakhakhakhakhakh are good little ships. The combination of near-x-wing stats, a hard 1 turn, and five ships in a squad makes them a bugger to face.

One thing against them is that (like a lot of scum ships) they have relatively thin shields. Whilst they take no more damage to kill than an un-upgraded X-wing or TIE advanced, they are more vulnerable to criticals; Mangler Cannons may be the order of the day.

Thanks guys! Appreciate all the answers and suggestions. Unfortunately I can no longer sucker hin into the roid belt. Like me, he can be a rock magnet if not careful. So hs avoids it like the plague.

Tonight, toss double the usual amount of asteroids on a mat and just fly through them for an hour or so. Only you can stop yourself from being a Rockbiter.

Toss in a few satellite tokens and try to catch one in arc every time you move as well.

If he doesn't like rocks....then you could always take the other approach. Lurk inside the rocks, or try and keep them between him and you, so if he wants to attack, he has to go through them.

If you circle the rocks the same way he does, either he has to go through, or split up, or he can't catch you if you decline to be caught - you're as fast, and have Boost.

If he tries to come through the rocks, the fact that he doesn't have barrel roll and doesn't have a speed 1 straight either will make tight maneuvers annoying. Pack the rocks in close!

If you take Adv sensors and predator (my favourite crab bro build)

you'll let them feel the fury of the bro-bots!

You said you had some success with siesmics, have you considered other bombs? This is something that can make a swarm in close quarters with you really pay the price, and the presence of a proton bomb may be enough to keep them from clumping up too much, which dilutes their firepower.

You said you had some success with siesmics, have you considered other bombs? This is something that can make a swarm in close quarters with you really pay the price, and the presence of a proton bomb may be enough to keep them from clumping up too much, which dilutes their firepower.

Expensive, put behind you, and 95% of meta consists of filthy repositioning aces. who don't really care about your 5 point proton...

but in this case it comes down to Expensive.

What EPT and sys are you running? Makes a big difference in strategy.

I always find sloops and k-turns a trap for brobots..... leaves you rather defenseless.

Range 3 is your friend. Be sure to split the damage between your bots by alternating which one takes the brunt of the shots. His main weakness is that he has to stay in formation otherwise he won't penetrate your 3 agility and AT's. When facing swarms, I often break off the engagement after the initial range3 shot with a wide 3 bank + boost.... while the other brobot starts his run. Swarms are only powerful when they can focus fire or can block, so force him to engage you on 2 sides of his formation.

I think if you have a good player that figures out brobots, it can be hard to beat them. Personally, that makes me very happy as I'm tired of seeing all the brobots.

Adv Sensors sounds like a plan, though.

When outnumbered, Range 3 is your ideal fighting ground, and Range 1 is your enemy.
​Of course, with Brobots and 88b with HLC and Autothrusters, Range 3 is your ideal fighting ground when on equal parity anyway.

How do you force this?

You have superior speed. Engage at Range 3, Speed through/around their formation the following rounds, then re-engage at Range 3. Hit-and-Run.

The fact they're flying in close formation helps.

Of course, the Kihraxz has a dial that can more readily dictate where the fight occurs, as they can slow-roll and you cannot without self-crashing.

Yyyeeeeeuuupppp

(1) Fly AdvS Brobots.

(2) Build as tight an obstacle field as you can, preferably in one of your own corners.

(3) Engage in the open swaths of map.

Between AdvS+Boost, S-Loop, and K-Turn, each ship has 18 final locations possible. Of course, after you dial in your maneuver, you'll be limited to three, but ...

Flying IG88-D has always been tempting to me, but I've never been able to give up the gunner-effect of B, nor the damage-soaking of C. But with D you have 36 possible ending locations/orientations.

Just remember to account for where your opponents might be when your Activation comes around. There will be times when you have to take a risk -- "If he doesn't move out of the way, and I can't AdvS Boost before I K-Turn, that's gonna suck" -- but take as few of those risks as possible.

Looks for situations in which one of your Brobots can intentionally block the other (especially if the other is not Stressed, and so can still get actions). Against some players, this type of move is even more effective than a silly-slick S-Loop.

Brobots need to arc-dodge and gets guns on targets to beat good players with good lists. This means S-Looping, K-Turning, and AdvS-ing. Learn to do it well, or hang up the Brobot Hat.

When you are out gunned and outnumbered the only choices left to you are out maneuver or out think your opponent.

"Sir, they have us completely surrounded!"
​"Great! The bastards can't run away from us now!"

Yyyeeeeeuuupppp

?

Something I've seen flying a slightly different build, and RPG's in general, is that focus fire WILL save time and HP in the long run.

Look at it like this: say we've got two large ships (Falcon and Outrider, for example) and we're facing a Kirkalala swarm (five ships)

Focus down one guy, that's a fifth of his squad. Sounds tiny, I know.

Then you drop the next guy, again with focus fire. Now you've stripped him of a QUARTER of his effective force.

It get's worse from there, but the results are plain to see.

If you spread damage against a swarm, you're basically tearing your clothes off shouting "TAKE MY BODY". Focus your shots, and be a **** with asteroids. Might not win, but you'll scare the hell outta the Kirkanos swarm guy.

Oh, while it seems you like using less ships with more weight, consider this highly dickish maneuver: Cracken, Blount, and a Tala, all three with Assault Missiles, Cracken with Swarm Tactics.

Had them strapped to my "Allons-y Asty" (BB-8, Outmaneuver) and I stomped a tie swarm. ASTEROIDS ARE YOUR FRIEND!!!