Came up with a 5 ship Imperial list and I'm on the fence about wampa or having a black with crackshot.

First off here's the list

Gamma vet

Crackshot

Extra Munitions

Long range Scanners

Concussion Missiles

Ion bombs

Gamma vet

Crackshot

Extra Munitions

Long range Scanners

Homing Missile

3 black squad

Crackshot

So this gives me 5 ships all with.crackshot. I think it should do alright if flown well, but I'm not sure about the Concussion missles on the vet. I figured since he has lrs and hopefully a Focus when he shoots that it should hit hard

If I want to have homing missles on both I need to lose 1 pt. So that's where wampa comes in. It's one less ship with crackshot, but wampa is good at being a threat, usually, so that maybe an option.

I could lose the Ion bombs on one of the Gamma, but then I'm left with 1 pt. This type of squad I feel doesn't really need that initiative bid, so I was trying to use it up, and Ion bombs, people always forget about them (or a lot do) it's a good counter for ships wanting to get behind, and possibly allow for a follow up shot/kturn behind iond ship.

So which would you think is better?

[insert joking complaint about racism here]

Personally i dont like Wampa. His ability is rather difficult to get off even if you have palp because you do his ability in the "compare results" step, meaning after defense dice are thrown. Every time i run him i either never get a crit or they dodge everything.

Wampa is primarily a threat against aces that can't be ignored. He may or may not be able to trigger his ability - but either way, he changes your opponent's targeting priority. Whether that's worth it is probably something you need to playtest. He also gives you an extra point to play with, which could be an initiative bid or another upgrade elsewhere.

Personally i dont like Wampa. His ability is rather difficult to get off even if you have palp because you do his ability in the "compare results" step, meaning after defense dice are thrown. Every time i run him i either never get a crit or they dodge everything.

It sounds like you are doing it wrong. Wampa received an errata as soon as he was released. His ability is used at the start of the Compare Results step. The defender has already rolled and done their modification but no dice have been canceled yet.

Wampa is primarily a threat against aces that can't be ignored. He may or may not be able to trigger his ability - but either way, he changes your opponent's targeting priority. Whether that's worth it is probably something you need to playtest. He also gives you an extra point to play with, which could be an initiative bid or another upgrade elsewhere.

Having 3 blacks all with crackshot means opponent will probably aim for the bombers first, since no wampa, but if that's the case then there are 3 ties with crackshot. Hard to ignore that, but if wampa was there I'd rather lose him over a crackshot Tie.

I'd use the Orange bases. Those are wicked good.

I'd use the Orange bases. Those are wicked good.

Not helpful

Personally i dont like Wampa. His ability is rather difficult to get off even if you have palp because you do his ability in the "compare results" step, meaning after defense dice are thrown. Every time i run him i either never get a crit or they dodge everything.

That's not how Wampa works. With Palpatine he works 100% of the time, that's what makes him scary. He's also the only TIE you'll see Targeting Computer on.

Wampa for sure. The crack shot is a one time use. Wampa can activate several times, sure he may do nothing, but it's a good gamble. At the very least he gives your opponent something to think about.

Personally i dont like Wampa. His ability is rather difficult to get off even if you have palp because you do his ability in the "compare results" step, meaning after defense dice are thrown. Every time i run him i either never get a crit or they dodge everything.

It sounds like you are doing it wrong. Wampa received an errata as soon as he was released. His ability is used at the start of the Compare Results step. The defender has already rolled and done their modification but no dice have been canceled yet.

This.

When Wampa uses his ability his actual attack will ALWAYS MISS because he's cancelled all of his attack dice most likely in exchange for handing over a damage CARD. Defense will always be successful which means a Stealth Device would stay but the target could still take a damage card.

A Crackshot TIE is far better than Wampa without Palpatine. The cumulative effect of several Crackshots is backbreaking.

I would take Wampa; even if his ability never procs, he forces your opponent to change their game plan. I run Vader with a mini Crack swarm that consists of Howlie, 2 BSPs, and Wampa. It works surprisingly well and have had Wampa's ability proc twice in a game with the Howlie re-rolls. With Palpatine, he is a guaranteed hit, but those crits can show up more than you would think even without Palpatine.

I would take Wampa with Palp, otherwise take a BSP with Crack

Black Crack is better without Palp IMO.

Wampa's ability is just too unreliable on his own, when you consider that at a bare minimum you need it to proc twice to kill any ships.

As the list might struggle against arc dodgers, I'd take Wampa. A Black crack is only scarry as long as Crack Shot is unused. Wampa is scaryy all the time.

I'd say Wampa is less scary to most arc dodgers personally. Without Palp, he has a ~25% chance of getting his ability off, which has to happen twise or three times for him to get the kill. Arc dodgers... you know, dodge.

I'd be much more scared of the Black Crack with someone like Soontir because Crack Shot makes me over-commit to my defence rolls (which burns tokens I need for future rolls) or lose my stealth device and is more likely to force a crit through.

Vineheart is not having a good showing lately on the rules.

I want to try out a pain swarm. Sort of like a mini Tie Swarm.

2x Black, Wampa, Backstabber, Mauler Mithel, Scourge.

Crackshot on all the pilots with EPTs. Targeting Computers on the ships without.

Probibly won't do as good but should be fun to try out.

this is a very simple question with a simple answer.

Do you have Palp in your squad.

if yes. Wampa.

If no. Crack Black.

You could drop the Ion Bombs, upgrade the Concussion Missiles to Homing and change a Black to Wampa with Targeting Computer. That should give you (essentially) 4 dice to a get a crit (2 dice + re-roll), meaning you will get it 50% of the time, theoretically speaking of course. This is the cheapest way to trigger Wampa's ability without Palp or Youngster with Marksmanship.

Of course this limits your action options with Wampa and you will have to predict pretty accurately where his target will end up so you can have it in arc, plus Wampa will be naked on defense, which is never good.

Wampa is great against certain match ups. Some shops, like Corran,are scared to death of him. He can evade every turn and still present a threat. I disagree that you need palp for wampa to be effective. I like him because he forces your opponent to think harder and second guess target priorities.

My favorite Wampa moment was hitting a titled Soontir at range three through a rock with stealth device. Six green dice with focus and evade? Sorry, here's your card. Next attack on Soontir was six turns later and managed to sneak in a critical. Direct hit. Dead.

Also, in my head, Wampa is not a nickname but an accurate description. He is a rare, nonhuman imperial pilot. (Even rarer non-sentient)

Go wampaffet!

Wampajack?

Wampwampa?

Wampa magic

As the list might struggle against arc dodgers, I'd take Wampa. A Black crack is only scarry as long as Crack Shot is unused. Wampa is scaryy all the time.

Tried it last night with 3 blacks and had a hard time trying to catch jax.

I'll admit I'm not normally a swarm player, but o figured this should do well as you do have 5 ships with crackshot.

I'd say I lost the game when I turned from the shuttle and tried catch jax. Tried to block but he squeaked by, had I done a barrel roll with the ties I would have caught him. After that I couldn't get any shots. The Ion bombs helped a bit as I caught wampa and he landed on an asteroid.

It'll take practice, but how do swarm players tend to try and deal with arc dodgers? Just block, or try get multiple guns pointing in the right direction?

I guess the difference with this type of list is I only have 3 ships which are my blockers. The bombers want to stay out of that range 1, so I guess that's the difference? Plus having 6-7 ties with crackshot means more ways to clog up lanes, vs 3

I will try wampa next time and go with homing missles on both. A good point that was made is wampa ability is always available, so long as you do roll a crit. Which is enough to be of concern for a ship like an interceptor. Where as crackshot is only one time. Plus I still have 4