Hi, with veterans out soon (hopefully) have been having some good form from Vessery with tie/D title

I ran this lately and finding that double tapping vess with double target locks is a real beast. He can go down quickly but it leaves Vader for the late game win if vess deals plenty of damage before. The shuttle flubs around early game where the unlimited range target lock works wonders for vess before closing in to provide support.

Vader /29 (34)

Engine Upgrade /4

Title /0

ATC /1

Colonel Vessery /35 (39)

ion Cannon /3

Mk2 Engines /1

Tie/D /0

Omicron Lambda /21 (27)

Rebel captive /3

Title /3

(100)

I have been thinking of repurposing the points from rebel captive as the shuttle doesn't seem to attract too much fire. But not sure where, I do like the idea of veteran instincts on vess and adaptability on vader so I can run them both at 8 or vader at 10. This leaves 2 points left to ensure vader goes before VI poe, corran etc. Or am I better off just going VI on vader to ensure he goes last and spend the remaining points on a cheap upgrade for the shuttle or vess

Thankyou

my only concern is you have 27 points in a ship that might not do much since it's just a shuttle for target locks only.

since we are thinking about Imperial Veterans,doesn't that seem like a waste. wouldn't it be better with a ship with long range scanner. maybe another tie advanced for arc dodging?

Dump the Mk 2 engines from Vess. Put VI on instead. Put Adaptability on Vader. Put in Omega Leader reather than the Shuttle, Juke/Comm is 26 points. Take your 1 point bid and two ships who love to keep a lock. Laugh.

If there's an enemy at PS9 or PS10 and you have the choice of initiative, you pass the initiative and put Vader at 10 when you place him, else you put Vader at 8 and relish the fact that he can shoot after the rest of your list and is therefore much more likely to land those tasty, tasty crits.

Vess is the core of a VERY tasty array of trip aces lists once Vets drops. Vess/OL/Vader, Vess/OL/Inq, Vess/Vader/Inq, Vess/Rex/OL, etc etc etc. It's a good time to be Imperial.

E: Also, Ion cannon? NO! Tractor beam. With the setup above you're looking at potentially 3 shots against the lowered agility from the TB which is very likely to hit because... well, Vessery. Tractor Vessery is a *beast*. And you can afford to put the Mk2 engines back, or pop a stealth device on OL.

Thanks guys, yeah the lambda generally doesn't do too much early on and switching it out would be better.

So OL for his shenanigans and permanent TL which vess loves or a TAP with title who also likes TL and gets some good action economy. Which one is better for this list?

The Mk2 Engines have been hit and miss, 1 point to ensure those dam red turns aren't causing too much problem is great but often if the banks were just white it would be manageable due to his pilot ability not needing actions. Though I find he really needs focus to help his green dice.

I have been having good success with the ion cannon combined with the k-turn, its been actually quite handy to help keep vess alive as only 1 or 2 turns behind the enemy helps keep him alive. It also makes for very easy range 1 vadering. That being said it is 3 points and lot of people keep saying how good the tractor is and those 3 points could get me to the Inquisitor.

Inq is a great second ship for Vessery, because he wants to be taking a lock every turn, so you can easily change targets as needed.

Any other TAP though is just going to be a worse version of OL in my opinion; the best loadout for them I think is Juke/Title/Autothrusters, for 24 points, and for just 2 more you lose AT, but you get OL, and OL is awesome.

Tractor Beams are seriously good on TIE/D Vessery. His insane accuracy means you have an excellent chance of landing the shot, and with the rest of the list shooting after him, including his own primary, it's potentially a HUGE buff to your entire shooting phase, because either the target will spend a tonne of tokens defending and leave itself open, or it will get hit and leave itself even MORE open.

The real difficulty you'll find with it is high-PS arc dodgers, especially Soontir. Unless you can set up traps to get them in Vessery's arc, you're really going to struggle to take them down.

It's not that ioning's not bad - though I really want a way to get two tokens on the same ship in a single round if I'm running it, so that I have a better chance against big ships - it's just that Vessery specifically is just amazing with TIE/D and Tractor Beam because of his superb accuracy.

Considering you have an empty EPT, Adaptability is a fantastic option for Vader, especially when paired with Vessery.

As a Palp + Aces player, I can honestly tell you that the Shuttle is a waste of points in this way -- you've already got Vader, who's going to keep a lock on someone for as long as he can. Find another ship that can give you TLs -- TIE/FOs, even the cheap ones, can set you up as needed.

I also prefer the Omega Leader setup, though I will be honest that I fear for the little gal w/out Palp as backup.

... but I may very well have become addicted to Palp. And Sensor Jammer. AND OH MY GOD I CAN NEVER PLAY ANYTHING ELSE AGAIN!

I've been using both tractor and ion on Vessery in some of my VASSAL games. They both have merit. Tracter can be a bit of a catch22 on Vessery. Its best on the ship in your squad that can shoot first. BUT, in order to get TLs reliably (to enable Vess' ability) you want really high Pilot Skill wingmen (higher the PS, easier the TL). Ion cannon on the other hand has the advantage of not caring about the firing order of your ships. It also offers control, which in turn keeps your ships alive longer, and in terms of damage potential, is still not far behind tracter beam all things considered.

My guideline so far has been: If you want to run high PS ships alongside Vessery, then go with ion cannon. If you want to run low PS ships, go with tracter beam. The cheapest low PS Vessery-enabler will be a TIE bomber with Long Range Scanners. The cheapest high PS Vessery-enabler is Epsilon Ace at 17 points (or 20 with comm relay---because that makes grabbing the TL safer).

Alternatively, if you don't want to fiddle with Vessery's ability, a glaive squadron pilot with predator has Pilot Skill 6 and can work almost as well as Vessery in terms of accuracy/damage ouput, but doesn't require a TL 'babysitter'.