Hi Everyone,

Am very new to X-wing but thanks to some good eBay trading have managed to build quite a large Imperial Fleet.

Am nowhere near ready to play in any kind of tournament (only played 3 games) but that hasn't stopped me from entering my local stores Spring tournament on 30th April.

This is the squadron I am going to take:

TIE Adv. Prototype - The Inquisitor with Determination, Proton Rockets and TIE/v1 title

TIE Interceptor - Royal Guard TIE, with Predator, Royal Guard title, Shield upgrade and hull upgrade

TIE Phantom - Whisper with Fire Control System, Agent Kallus, Stygium Particle Accelerator

Am going to have a test flight with it this Sunday against my friend. Would like to know from the wiser heads on this forum, what are the weaknesses of the squad? How am I best to fly it (am thinking super aggressive but no real idea)?

Well I hope you like the list and just wanted to introduce myself. Looking forward to many more posts in the future and hopefully reporting some success ( although I am one of those annoying players were winning isn't really that important).

Cheers

Matt

Any advice or feedback? Thanks in advance

I haven't really calculated the points, but Push the Limit and Autothrusters are kind of mandatory for Interceptors and TAP, becuase you really want to be able to Arc-dodge and two actions really let's you do that.

Whisper would love to have Veteran Instincs to be able to shoot first and Advanced cloaking device to cloak after shooting to get those two extra defense dice.

Since you have access to a royal guard pilot on the interceptor, I'm assuming you have imperial aces. Since you have that expansion I'll say, there's no better 3 point elite upgrade for an interceptor than push the limit. Far and away surpasses predator on that ship. The inquisitor doesn't really need determination, by the time it will matter he's only got 2 hull points.

Options to replace things here would be to drop the shield upgrade on the interceptor, replacing it with a targeting computer (adds to the damage consistency for your ship.) with the 2 points that frees up exchange determination for push the limit on the inquisitor. Then replace predator with push the limit on the interceptor. Your whisper looks just fine to me, assuming you don't have veteran instincts.

A typical whisper looks more like:

Whisper 32

-advanced cloaking device 4

-fire control system 2

-veteran instincts 1

Clocks in at pilot skill 9 so she can shoot and recloak very early in combat. With lower pilot skill your mileage may vary. Should still be a fun pilot though.

I would put your list to something like this:

New Squadron (100)
The Inquisitor — TIE Advanced Prototype 25
Push the Limit 3
Proton Rockets 3
Autothrusters 2
TIE/v1 1
Ship Total: 34

"Whisper" — TIE Phantom 32
Veteran Instincts 1
Fire-Control System 2
Agent Kallus 2
Advanced Cloaking Device 4
Ship Total: 41

Royal Guard Pilot — TIE Interceptor 22
Push the Limit 3
Ship Total: 25

Thanks everyone, really appreciate it. I have all imperial expansions apart from raider slave 1 and punisher and quite a few rebel ones just no scum. I'll try out all your lists Sunday and see what I can do. How is it best to fly them? Am very new to game.

Well, the Inquisitor is really good at range 3, get 3 attack dice and full use of the Autothrusters if they shoot back.

The general rule with TAP (Tie Advanced Prototype) and Interceptor is to use their full mobility (e.g. barrel roll and boost) which you can do with Push the limit. They clear stress pretty well, so the stress you recieve is not to worry about.

The biggest problem with playing imperial aces when you're new to the game is that they're really unforgiving. There's not a whole lot of room for mistakes since they can't take a lot of beating that rebel ships can.

I would recommend that you read the Earn your wings thread here which gives a good example on how the ships behave.

And don't be discouraged if you loose... I've lost so many game and still love the game.

Well, the Inquisitor is really good at range 3, get 3 attack dice and full use of the Autothrusters if they shoot back.

The general rule with TAP (Tie Advanced Prototype) and Interceptor is to use their full mobility (e.g. barrel roll and boost) which you can do with Push the limit. They clear stress pretty well, so the stress you recieve is not to worry about.

The biggest problem with playing imperial aces when you're new to the game is that they're really unforgiving. There's not a whole lot of room for mistakes since they can't take a lot of beating that rebel ships can.

I would recommend that you read the Earn your wings thread here which gives a good example on how the ships behave.

And don't be discouraged if you loose... I've lost so many game and still love the game.

Cheers for the advice, I'll check that thread out now.

I never lose heart from losing...played warhammer for years and think I only won 1 game

Another Interceptor build that Ive been seeing lately is a single Alpha Squadron Pilot with Autothrusters; this type of build really opens the door for experimentation with some of the less popular interceptor pilots and Im sure that if it works with an Alpha it could work on a Royal Guard. So, rather than PTL(push the limit) on your Royal guard, you can throw thrusters and either veteran instincts or crachshot on him. (Thrusters are really what define interceptors anyways)

I'm no expert, but I'll weigh in on Push the Limits and Autothrusters as great and basically mandatory adds to Interceptors. This may be unwise to admit to the experts on this forum, but I cannot stop selecting Soontir Fel every time over the other Interceptor Pilots due to the Stress Token advantage. I'll also add, and agree, that Whisper should always, always, always be tagged with Veteran Instincts as this makes the Cloaking Device work which is the reason to fly him. I tend to keep the ships simple and add those advantages that make the core differential shine in lieu of attempting to shore up or offset a weakness. I've learned, if you wanna win with Tie Variants, run full tilt on their strengths: go in hard and go in fast; refuse to joust; and keep 'em guessing. If you do, more often than not, victory may not come quick, but victory will usually be yours.

I'm no expert, but I'll weigh in on Push the Limits and Autothrusters as great and basically mandatory adds to Interceptors. This may be unwise to admit to the experts on this forum, but I cannot stop selecting Soontir Fel every time over the other Interceptor Pilots due to the Stress Token advantage. I'll also add, and agree, that Whisper should always, always, always be tagged with Veteran Instincts as this makes the Cloaking Device work which is the reason to fly him. I tend to keep the ships simple and add those advantages that make the core differential shine in lieu of attempting to shore up or offset a weakness. I've learned, if you wanna win with Tie Variants, run full tilt on their strengths: go in hard and go in fast; refuse to joust; and keep 'em guessing. If you do, more often than not, victory may not come quick, but victory will usually be yours.

I've been wondering about this jousting. I keep reading about. Makes sense in my mind as to why it is called that. Now my build did 10 shots with primary weapons if they all fired together but do you think they are just too delicate and too few in number to survive a front on assualt?

I don't have the star viper expansion but my friend who is not entering the torn does. (I've also seen a million copies on eBay) I like it

Your Aces are arc dodgers, not jousters. Jousters generally fall into the following categories; Swarms, High Hull/Shield, Regenerative Abilities, Able to attack twice in a single turn. With three arc dodgers, you need to be getting out of firing arcs and estimating your adversary's movements. If you have only 1 auto thruster upgrade card, then you can replace your Royal Guard with two academy pilots (Tie/Fighters) and they will work out way better for you. The fighters will also give you the ability to movement block your opponent which is awesome.
.

Practice practice practice Arc dodgers take a lot of work to get right. One mistake usually ends in death.

Kit tourneys are the place to try new squads. No pressure, you see people bring new tricks to try out, so you get a nice mix of games, and you fly your squad a few times and really see what works and what doesnt. I went 1-2 last week but every game was fun.

If you dont have a VI, you will get one in the Spring kit. Maybe they can give you your prize early and sneak it in Whisper, hehe. Good luck

The inquisitors and the interceptors absolutely must have push the limit and autothrusters

I'm no expert, but I'll weigh in on Push the Limits and Autothrusters as great and basically mandatory adds to Interceptors. This may be unwise to admit to the experts on this forum, but I cannot stop selecting Soontir Fel every time over the other Interceptor Pilots due to the Stress Token advantage. I'll also add, and agree, that Whisper should always, always, always be tagged with Veteran Instincts as this makes the Cloaking Device work which is the reason to fly him. I tend to keep the ships simple and add those advantages that make the core differential shine in lieu of attempting to shore up or offset a weakness. I've learned, if you wanna win with Tie Variants, run full tilt on their strengths: go in hard and go in fast; refuse to joust; and keep 'em guessing. If you do, more often than not, victory may not come quick, but victory will usually be yours.

I've been wondering about this jousting. I keep reading about. Makes sense in my mind as to why it is called that. Now my build did 10 shots with primary weapons if they all fired together but do you think they are just too delicate and too few in number to survive a front on assualt?

I don't have the star viper expansion but my friend who is not entering the torn does. (I've also seen a million copies on eBay) I like it

Your Aces are arc dodgers, not jousters. Jousters generally fall into the following categories; Swarms, High Hull/Shield, Regenerative Abilities, Able to attack twice in a single turn. With three arc dodgers, you need to be getting out of firing arcs and estimating your adversary's movements. If you have only 1 auto thruster upgrade card, then you can replace your Royal Guard with two academy pilots (Tie/Fighters) and they will work out way better for you. The fighters will also give you the ability to movement block your opponent which is awesome.

.

Troxygen said it as well as one can, I agree and fall in line. Practice dodging and getting your adversary confused and mis-directed; kill shots will then come right along; if the dice will just do their job, haha.

The inquisitors and the interceptors absolutely must have push the limit and autothrusters

"Plastic Crack Addiction's" number one rule.....or at least in the top five. Well put.