In my continuing quest to refine and use the VSD-I, I am moving on to a new iteration. I had reasonable success with using Vader, APT's and Slaved Turrets, but I think it can be improved.

The Slaved Turrets really didn't bring much to the table and although APT's are very effective I am thinking ACM's may be better.

Hence I decided to go fishing (for crits). This has the potential to really lay down the pain and so we will fly it and try it.

Vader goes Fishing (for crits)
Author: Englishpete

Faction: Galactic Empire
Points: 398/400

Commander: Darth Vader

Assault Objective: Advanced Gunnery
Defense Objective: Contested Outpost
Navigation Objective: Minefields

[ flagship ] Victory I-Class Star Destroyer (73 points)
- Darth Vader ( 36 points)
- Intel Officer ( 7 points)
- Fire-Control Team ( 2 points)
- XX-9 Turbolasers ( 5 points)
- Assault Concussion Missiles ( 7 points)
= 130 total ship cost

Victory I-Class Star Destroyer (73 points)
- Intel Officer ( 7 points)
- Fire-Control Team ( 2 points)
- XX-9 Turbolasers ( 5 points)
- Assault Concussion Missiles ( 7 points)
= 94 total ship cost

Victory I-Class Star Destroyer (73 points)
- Intel Officer ( 7 points)
- Fire-Control Team ( 2 points)
- XX-9 Turbolasers ( 5 points)
- Assault Concussion Missiles ( 7 points)
= 94 total ship cost

5 Aggressor Assault Fighters ( 80 points)

I feel like 4VSDs have a greater range of formation options. And surely formation is the key.

Slaved turret, CF officer for the two flankers so they either shoot 5 dice or turn.

Intel officer xx9 gunners in the middle

Four is actually very hard to fly in formation due to only being capable of speed 2, you pretty much have to break into 2 groups with a fair gap in between the two. (my experience anyway).

I ran Slaved Turrets and it really didn't up damage by a great deal, I would have preferred my second arc shot most of the time, which I was not able to use with Slaved.

Like all VSD lists, the red dice are opportunist for chipping shields etc at long range. The real pain comes in close and this build maximizes that pain. On the weekend I killed an MC-80 Liberty and an MC-80 Home One in 2.5 turns of shooting and this list should do that better.

We'll find out soon :-)

I might swap an agressor for two TIE fighters, just for the extra deployment

Or dropping one could buy you some decent upgrades. You could upgrade the XX-9's to spinals or go with XI7s which would also help your black dice, which means you wouldn't need the fire control teams and would up your long range firepower. Gunnery teams also tend to be better than fire control teams despite the expense. APTs are almost better than ACMs in every way UNLESS the opponent doesn't have any shields. Number one goal should be to push damage onto the hull and APTs just do that more reliably.

Four is actually very hard to fly in formation

Hard? Or Impossible?

The former is possible to overcome!

Or dropping one could buy you some decent upgrades. You could upgrade the XX-9's to spinals or go with XI7s which would also help your black dice, which means you wouldn't need the fire control teams and would up your long range firepower. Gunnery teams also tend to be better than fire control teams despite the expense. APTs are almost better than ACMs in every way UNLESS the opponent doesn't have any shields. Number one goal should be to push damage onto the hull and APTs just do that more reliably.

But swap the acms for apts and suddenly you can turn that 5th aggressor into IG-88. Or two into firesprays.

I hear what you are all saying. I'll be trying ACM's first for the aid it gives in limiting redirects as I have no real way of negating defense tokens. If I see no significant advantage I'll go to APT's for a potential 4 face up cards per VSD, per turn with both arcs firing.