So, with ordinance being the cool thing, let's see some alpha strikes!

I wanted to increase my chance of being able to shoot first, so I put three of the four ships at pilot skill 8.

Poe Dameron (39)

T-70 X-Wing (31), R2-D2 (4), Proton Torpedoes (4), Guidance Chips (0)

Airen Cracken (25)

Z-95 Headhunter (19), Assault Missiles (5), Crack Shot (1), Guidance Chips (0)

Lieutenant Blount (19)

Z-95 Headhunter (17), XX-23 S-thread Tracers (1), Veteran Instincts (1), Guidance Chips (0)

Tala Squadron Pilot (17)

Z-95 Headhunter (13), Cluster Missiles (4), Guidance Chips (0)

I think you'll see a big bump in alpha strikes once Long-Range Scanners are available. No more having to wait until Turn 2 to get that target lock you need.

I'm liking Empire for an alpha strike.

4x TIE Adv+Title+Accuracy Corrector+Cluster missiles (and now Chimps).

5 TAP+Title+ClusterMissile+Chimps.

The first gives you a guaranteed alpha strike of 16 hit/crits. Enough to tank any large ship except IGs (3 green dice is tough to work through). If you get lucky you can take out 2 TLT Ys in that volley. Then a minimum of 2 hits from each ship every turn after that.

The second gives you an alpha strike of 30 dice. If you cant kill something after rolling 30 dice in sets of 3 then you need to go back to 40K and play Orks.

So, with ordinance being the cool thing, let's see some alpha strikes!

I wanted to increase my chance of being able to shoot first, so I put three of the four ships at pilot skill 8.

Poe Dameron (39)

T-70 X-Wing (31), R2-D2 (4), Proton Torpedoes (4), Guidance Chips (0)

Airen Cracken (25)

Z-95 Headhunter (19), Assault Missiles (5), Crack Shot (1), Guidance Chips (0)

Lieutenant Blount (19)

Z-95 Headhunter (17), XX-23 S-thread Tracers (1), Veteran Instincts (1), Guidance Chips (0)

Tala Squadron Pilot (17)

Z-95 Headhunter (13), Cluster Missiles (4), Guidance Chips (0)

Why not Blout+ spam of Bandits?

Because that only works vs. one enemy target, and then isn't that good anymore.

So, with ordinance being the cool thing, let's see some alpha strikes!

I wanted to increase my chance of being able to shoot first, so I put three of the four ships at pilot skill 8.

Poe Dameron (39)

T-70 X-Wing (31), R2-D2 (4), Proton Torpedoes (4), Guidance Chips (0)

Airen Cracken (25)

Z-95 Headhunter (19), Assault Missiles (5), Crack Shot (1), Guidance Chips (0)

Lieutenant Blount (19)

Z-95 Headhunter (17), XX-23 S-thread Tracers (1), Veteran Instincts (1), Guidance Chips (0)

Tala Squadron Pilot (17)

Z-95 Headhunter (13), Cluster Missiles (4), Guidance Chips (0)

Why not Blout+ spam of Bandits?

I was afraid that after the first volley a couple Z's might bight the dust, but Poe has enough juice to stick around. Plus, bandits are a lower PS and what if they don't get their shots off?

I'm liking Empire for an alpha strike.

4x TIE Adv+Title+Accuracy Corrector+Cluster missiles (and now Chimps).

5 TAP+Title+ClusterMissile+Chimps.

The first gives you a guaranteed alpha strike of 16 hit/crits. Enough to tank any large ship except IGs (3 green dice is tough to work through). If you get lucky you can take out 2 TLT Ys in that volley. Then a minimum of 2 hits from each ship every turn after that.

The second gives you an alpha strike of 30 dice. If you cant kill something after rolling 30 dice in sets of 3 then you need to go back to 40K and play Orks.

5Tap+title+Clusters is 105 pts

I'm liking Empire for an alpha strike.

4x TIE Adv+Title+Accuracy Corrector+Cluster missiles (and now Chimps).

5 TAP+Title+ClusterMissile+Chimps.

The first gives you a guaranteed alpha strike of 16 hit/crits. Enough to tank any large ship except IGs (3 green dice is tough to work through). If you get lucky you can take out 2 TLT Ys in that volley. Then a minimum of 2 hits from each ship every turn after that.

The second gives you an alpha strike of 30 dice. If you cant kill something after rolling 30 dice in sets of 3 then you need to go back to 40K and play Orks.

Four ships, Thread Tracers so everyone gets a lock, 6 torpedoes, 6 missiles, 22 hit points.

The Inquisitor (27)
TIE Advanced Prototype (25), XX-23 S-thread Tracers (1), TIE/v1 (1), Guidance Chips (0)

Scimitar Squadron Pilot (24) x 3
TIE Bomber (16), Plasma Torpedoes (3), Extra Munitions (2), Proton Rockets (3), Guidance Chips (0)

I like the idea for an alpha strike, but I wouldn't do it with Poe, he really wants a focus, that doesn't synergize well with shooting torps.

Try it with Wedge, or one of the B-wing pilots.

Also for an alpha strike plasma torps are a great deal.

I saw someone post a Miranda build that I really liked, and that got me thinking about ways to manipulate her ability even more:

The crazy 8's: 99 points

Miranda: Homing Missiles, EM, Autoblaster Turret, GC (38)

Jan Ors: Wired, TLT, Nien Nunb, Moldy Crow (36)

Airen Cracken: Crackshot (or VI), Homing Missiles, GC (25)

With this build Miranda can shoot a fully modified 6 dice attack that ignores evade tokens. Twice. Then she can use a R1 turret that can roll up to 4 undodgeable hits. I wish I had the points for R2D2 crew on her, but I don't.... This alpha strike is death to aces, but weaker to swarms.

I'm liking Empire for an alpha strike.

4x TIE Adv+Title+Accuracy Corrector+Cluster missiles (and now Chimps).

5 TAP+Title+ClusterMissile+Chimps.

The first gives you a guaranteed alpha strike of 16 hit/crits. Enough to tank any large ship except IGs (3 green dice is tough to work through). If you get lucky you can take out 2 TLT Ys in that volley. Then a minimum of 2 hits from each ship every turn after that.

The second gives you an alpha strike of 30 dice. If you cant kill something after rolling 30 dice in sets of 3 then you need to go back to 40K and play Orks.

PS2 pilots with range 1-2 missles. Not much of an Alpha strike if I have something firing range 3 with plasma torps.

The topic is Alpha Strikes, not how to deal with U-boats (another thread exists for that specific matchup).

Consider something like a Decimator-Ace (whisper) or Ghost-Ace or even Poe-Han. You will likely have a hurt TIE, but still able to shoot. With 16 guaranteed hits (4xCluster Missile + Accuracy) how long do you think those big ships will be around (hint: 16 hits vs 16 hull with 0 evades)? Or you can throw it all at the Ace and hope the concentrated fire will cause enough missed evades to kill him, then just shoot the big ship to death over the next 2-3 turns.

I was feelin' froggy so I put together a list with an alpha strike component for this week.

Dengar: Title, Gonk, R4 Agro, Adaptability

Black Sun Soldier: Concussion Missiles, Guidance Chimps

Black Sun Soldier: Concussion Missiles, Guidance Chimps

Black Sun Soldier: Concussion Missiles, Guidance Chimps

The idea is that I'll slow roll for a turn or two to build shield tokens up on Gonk and have Dengar approach from a different angle than the Headhunters. If they can do enough damage with their missiles before they die Dengar should be able to close out the match. The BSS is a deliberate PS bid against TLTs and to some degree contracted scouts so at least I can shoot off a missile on each Z95 before they go down because of simultaneous fire.

I messed around on Squad Benchmark with it and had mixed results. Obviously it all depends on getting the alpha off other wise I could just take four pirates instead, but this has potential to do some real damage at range 3 which Z95s normally struggle with.

I'm liking Empire for an alpha strike.

4x TIE Adv+Title+Accuracy Corrector+Cluster missiles (and now Chimps).

5 TAP+Title+ClusterMissile+Chimps.

The first gives you a guaranteed alpha strike of 16 hit/crits. Enough to tank any large ship except IGs (3 green dice is tough to work through). If you get lucky you can take out 2 TLT Ys in that volley. Then a minimum of 2 hits from each ship every turn after that.

The second gives you an alpha strike of 30 dice. If you cant kill something after rolling 30 dice in sets of 3 then you need to go back to 40K and play Orks.

Accuracy corrector cancels all your dice results and adds 2 hits so guidance chips are useless

Alpha strikes are a negative play experience and FFGs encouraging on them is bad for the game.

Alpha strikes are a negative play experience and FFGs encouraging on them is bad for the game.

I think I understand why you would say that but I don't know if I agree. I need to play against some more alpha lists before I can form an opinion, but it can't be any worse than multiple TLTs. I can and have beaten lists with at least 50 points of TLTs but it is not normally a fun match.

Alpha strikes are a negative play experience and FFGs encouraging on them is bad for the game.

I disagree, when they first came out, torpedoes and missiles were almost worthless. They got so few additional hits over primary weapons that they were rarely worth their points for a one-shot upgrade.

Now we are in a situation where ordnance looks viable, particularly in the context of an alpha strike. I don't see this as a bad thing at all. It means we have a new list type to consider. For a long time Fat PWTs and arc-dodging aces were the only viable lists at a competitive level. Now we have TLT-based lists, ordnance is on the way, Rebel-Regen is pretty cool too.

The more viable list types we have, the healthier the game will be as it moves away from rock-paper-scissors match-ups. People playing competitively will need to consider the multiple opposing archetypes that they may run into. This in turn brings more diversity to the game. People playing for fun will be able to try more combinations without feeling that they are totally worthless.

Aces are not dead but now they will need to carefully consider their approach rather than rushing straight into knife-fighting range at top speed. Fat ships are not dead either but they but they will need to consider that they may no longer be able to count on their pile of hull points lasting as long as they are used to.

How would one fly against an Alpha Strike list? Spread out and try to arc dodge or what?

How would one fly against an Alpha Strike list? Spread out and try to arc dodge or what?

It depends on what you are bringing to the table and what kind of ordinance you are facing. For example; if I am flying a couple aces against Proton Torpedoes or Concussion Missiles alpha strike I am going to try to split them up and then get into range 1 where they can't fire off their ordinance. If you are up against PRocket A-Wings then you have to try and stay away.

If you are flying a fat ship I hope you have Engine, Counter Measures, Expert Handling, or something else to help you get out of arc or better defend against ordinance.

There are lots of variables here because of the different range bands you may have to deal with.

Arc dodge them to death. Get an ace in behind them and pick them off, starting with Blount. If you've taken him out then the auto TL is gone. The Z's will have to K-turn to get you back in arc, but won't get a Focus or TL action because of stress.

You know that their next move needs to be green to clear the stress, so dodge them again and rinse and repeat.

Job done.

Cheers

Baaa

Yup, Range estimation and the consistency of your own fleet will play a part. Ships with boost can play chicken by creeping up in the first turn or so and then trying to race straight into Range 1. Asteroid placement can help break up an attack run and at least make it hard for them to take down one ship before it can really contribute.

Any ships that can interfere with enemy tokens will become useful. Every fleet has one of these guys. Wes, Carnor and Palob all spring to mind, can anyone think of any others. Well tooled up Aces like Soontir with AT, SD and PTL will still be very hard to take down. Tougher ships like the Tie Defender with the new x7 title will also do well. 3 Hull and 3 shields with a free Evade and either Focus or BR will not go down without some effort.

For small-base ordnance carriers, Tractor Beams may present another potential way to mess up targeting. Tanky Ghost with ablative Biggs is also going to be hard for ordnance to chew through before Ghost gets into their Range 1 and starts double-tapping on them. Tie Phantoms with their crazy movement options and heavy firepower may also provide another angle of attack.

In short, there are plenty of ways to tackle Ordnance-heavy lists. The only approach likely to be doomed to failure is a traditional line-up-and-joust. Make no mistake, Ordnance lists can usually count on at least 1 and usually 2 turns of laying down the pain so you have to plan how best to avoid/weather/interfere with that and then have enough strength left to hit back once the ordnance is exhausted.