Been playing with this and need some advice on options.

Epsilon Pilot 15 pts x 4

Vessery: Tractor Beam, Ruthlessness, Tie D, Twin Ion Engine 40 pts

100 pts

Played it last night against whisper, echo and a bomber.

Highlight was being able to to throw the bomber onto an asteroid to kill it and it was in range one of Echo doing a point of damage to it. Vessery was then able to double tap Echo killing it.

The problem I found was I was doing more damage to my own FO than opponents ships with Ruthlessness so was thinking of an alt build for Vessery so wanted to see peoples thoughts

Alternate build could be:

Epsilon Pilot 15 pts x 4

Vessery: Ion Cannon, VI, Tie D, Twin Ion Engine 40 pts

100 Pts

Constructive criticism welcome, advice always taken, but not always listened too

Thanks in advance

Tractor Beam works well with a mini-swarm as there are more friendlies to take advantage of the reduced agility of the target. VI is decent on Vessery but tends to be more useful if he is flying with high PS wingmen.

How about Stealth Device and Adaptability? Outmaneuver might be fun as well and is another EPT that benefits both of his shots.

Vessery: Tractor, Ruthlessness Tie D, Twin Ion Engine 40 pts
Wired Zeta Leader 21

Juke, comms Omega leader 26
Academy 12

Could be an option too

That is possible but I still think the Academy Tie might be at risk from Ruthlessness due to its usefulness as a blocker.

Ruthlessness is a good way of boosting your damage output when you have relatively few ships. If you have more than 2 wingmen it offers diminishing returns as the extra point of damage will be significant compared to your normal damage output and you have more risk of hurting your buddies with it.

That is possible but I still think the Academy Tie might be at risk from Ruthlessness due to its usefulness as a blocker.

Ruthlessness is a good way of boosting your damage output when you have relatively few ships. If you have more than 2 wingmen it offers diminishing returns as the extra point of damage will be significant compared to your normal damage output and you have more risk of hurting your buddies with it.

So Ion cannon and VI would be better with the OL ZL and AP, loosing the splash but gaining Ion

Just played a quick game and found that Vessery's low ps vs OL and ZL high ps kinda nerfed the tractor beam Ruthlessness combo

I do love me some tie/d vessery. I also love the Idea of ruthlessness, but in my experience this squad has out performed any ruthless vessery I have built:

Vessery (39)

-VI

-ion cannon

-tie/d

The Inquisitor (31)

-PTL

-tie/v1

-AT

Omega Leader (29)

-juke

-comm relay

-SD

The 1 point left can get either mk 2 engines on vess, or be a bid. These wingmen love to target lock because it offers them extra advantages.

I will add however if a ruthless vessery is a requirement to your squad, he loves a ptl countess ryad wingman.

Played another test game against dash doni list

Vessery: Ion Cannon, VI, Tie D, Twin Ion Engine 40 pts

Wired Zeta Leader 21

Juke, comms Omega leader 26
Academy 12

99 pts

Worked much better and scored a win, taking down dash 1st and not loosing a single ship

TAP's are a better fit if your running vessery with generics, they have in built action economy and with AT better defence.

AC advanced are also great you get steady reliable damage on a ship that has a free action for defence.

TAP's are a better fit if your running vessery with generics, they have in built action economy and with AT better defence.

AC advanced are also great you get steady reliable damage on a ship that has a free action for defence.

Is that if I was doing the Ruthlessness build?

I would probably keep tractor over ion if you are flying Vess with a miniswarm but trade ruthlesness in for a hull upgrade and adaptability.

VI Is the best thing to get on Vessery. You want to guarantee moving after Dash. Otherwise with this list Dash just runs rings around you forever and you'll rarely get a shot on him whilst he does. He's not that common, but he's common enough to want to plan around.

I would probably keep tractor over ion if you are flying Vess with a miniswarm but trade ruthlesness in for a hull upgrade and adaptability.

Why keep Tractor Beam? Curious to know reasoning...

Ion does 1 pt of damage and so far everything I've seen/heard is that the ion seems to be a match made in heaven with the defenders Tie D title

VI Is the best thing to get on Vessery. You want to guarantee moving after Dash. Otherwise with this list Dash just runs rings around you forever and you'll rarely get a shot on him whilst he does. He's not that common, but he's common enough to want to plan around.

Yup found that last night and today, man i hate trying to take him down. I think I've learned my lesson and to kill him 1st when you have a full fleet to focus fire

I would probably keep tractor over ion if you are flying Vess with a miniswarm but trade ruthlesness in for a hull upgrade and adaptability.

Why keep Tractor Beam? Curious to know reasoning...

Ion does 1 pt of damage and so far everything I've seen/heard is that the ion seems to be a match made in heaven with the defenders Tie D title

The original list of 4 Epsilons and Vess was a good example. Each Agility dice will absorb 3/8 of a point of damage on average so against 4 attacks, that works out to 1.5 additional points of damage (assuming you can get all ties to shoot at the tractored target). That can go higher if the target also has Focus tokens to spend as these will modify fewer defense dice. Add to that, the Tractor Beam is 2 points cheaper and you can see a viable case for it compared to the Ion Cannon.

Of course there are no guarantees. Sometimes you may prefer to take the actual damage, especially with Vess's rerolls. Against slippery opponents like Soontir, you will have enough of a challenge lining up Vess to take a shot, never mind the rest of his mini-swarm.

I personally tried a list for a casual tournament where I went 3-0

Vessery

VI+Tractor+TIE/D

Ryad

Juke+TIE/X7

Inquisitor

PTL+TIE/X1+Autothrusters

I prefer my Vessery at 40pts with

VI

Tractor beam

Tie/D

Stealth Device

I like to pair him with Rexler Brath at 40pts

Juke

Tie/X7

Stealth Device

They both shoot at PS8 so you can choose who moves and shoots first. Few things are as satisfying as watching your opponent turn those damage cards face up. Stealth Device earns its cost almost every match.

There are several ships that I use to add flavor to this list, but my favorite is:

Scimitar Squadron Pilot 19pts

Tie Shuttle title

Darth Vader crew

Soontir at range 3? A crit for you! Whisper at range 3 behind a rock with an evade token? A crit for you! A 19 point generic that can take out an ace by itself if ignored? Fantastic! A 19 point generic that will draw enemy fire for a turn or two while my defenders unload? Sweet! A 1 point initiative bid? Yes please!

An opponent unsure about which ship to go after first? A crit for you!

VI Is the best thing to get on Vessery. You want to guarantee moving after Dash. Otherwise with this list Dash just runs rings around you forever and you'll rarely get a shot on him whilst he does. He's not that common, but he's common enough to want to plan around.

Yup found that last night and today, man i hate trying to take him down. I think I've learned my lesson and to kill him 1st when you have a full fleet to focus fire

Even then, he's tough to nail down, and he tends to pop TIEs. My experience is that it's far better to scatter your formation and spread your arcs out then try to get them all on him at once. The latter just results in him dodging everyone.

Blocking him is the ideal course of action, of course. But you do need to do it when there are guns on him, which can be tough to arrange.

VI Is the best thing to get on Vessery. You want to guarantee moving after Dash. Otherwise with this list Dash just runs rings around you forever and you'll rarely get a shot on him whilst he does. He's not that common, but he's common enough to want to plan around.

Yup found that last night and today, man i hate trying to take him down. I think I've learned my lesson and to kill him 1st when you have a full fleet to focus fire

Even then, he's tough to nail down, and he tends to pop TIEs. My experience is that it's far better to scatter your formation and spread your arcs out then try to get them all on him at once. The latter just results in him dodging everyone.

Blocking him is the ideal course of action, of course. But you do need to do it when there are guns on him, which can be tough to arrange.

I indeed scattered my 4 ships and didn't fly in any formation trying to cover as many angles as I could, so no mater where he tried to end up I had at least 1-2 shots. Even the lowly academy was able to have a few pop shots at him, as well as being able to hamper/block dash's movements

I prefer my Vessery at 40pts with

VI

Tractor beam

Tie/D

Stealth Device

I like to pair him with Rexler Brath at 40pts

Juke

Tie/X7

Stealth Device

They both shoot at PS8 so you can choose who moves and shoots first. Few things are as satisfying as watching your opponent turn those damage cards face up. Stealth Device earns its cost almost every match.

There are several ships that I use to add flavor to this list, but my favorite is:

Scimitar Squadron Pilot 19pts

Tie Shuttle title

Darth Vader crew

Soontir at range 3? A crit for you! Whisper at range 3 behind a rock with an evade token? A crit for you! A 19 point generic that can take out an ace by itself if ignored? Fantastic! A 19 point generic that will draw enemy fire for a turn or two while my defenders unload? Sweet! A 1 point initiative bid? Yes please!

An opponent unsure about which ship to go after first? A crit for you!

I tried defenders with Stealth device but find that in our area the meta is a lot of 4 dice attacks e.g. HLC, Phantoms etc etc And the stealth device seems to only work once or twice

I desperately wanted to try the vader shuttle in this list but can't seem to squeeze it in

I personally tried a list for a casual tournament where I went 3-0

Vessery

VI+Tractor+TIE/D

Ryad

Juke+TIE/X7

Inquisitor

PTL+TIE/X1+Autothrusters

Ryad is my fav ship at the moment, might try her with a vader shuttle tonight

I would probably keep tractor over ion if you are flying Vess with a miniswarm but trade ruthlesness in for a hull upgrade and adaptability.

Why keep Tractor Beam? Curious to know reasoning...

Ion does 1 pt of damage and so far everything I've seen/heard is that the ion seems to be a match made in heaven with the defenders Tie D title

In the case of a single ship in isolation, Ion Cannon is probably the best choice. However, if you have wingmen around to take advantage of the reduced agility then tractor beam rapidly starts to become more attractive.

The original list of 4 Epsilons and Vess was a good example. Each Agility dice will absorb 3/8 of a point of damage on average so against 4 attacks, that works out to 1.5 additional points of damage (assuming you can get all ties to shoot at the tractored target). That can go higher if the target also has Focus tokens to spend as these will modify fewer defense dice. Add to that, the Tractor Beam is 2 points cheaper and you can see a viable case for it compared to the Ion Cannon.

Of course there are no guarantees. Sometimes you may prefer to take the actual damage, especially with Vess's rerolls. Against slippery opponents like Soontir, you will have enough of a challenge lining up Vess to take a shot, never mind the rest of his mini-swarm.

This, and the ability to pull the target into r1 of the swarm, for even greater added damage.

I ran this a the last tourney and went 2 wins 2 losses, really should've won my last game but made a very silly mistake...

Vessery Tie/d, VI, Twin Ion Engine, Ion Cannon 40 pts

Omega Leader Com Relay, Juke 26 pts

Zeta Leader Wired 21 pts

Academy 12 pts

99 pts total

Was wondering peoples thoughts on this list, any changes? Am I missing something?

I think with more practice it could do very well

I ran this a the last tourney and went 2 wins 2 losses, really should've won my last game but made a very silly mistake...

Vessery Tie/d, VI, Twin Ion Engine, Ion Cannon 40 pts

Omega Leader Com Relay, Juke 26 pts

Zeta Leader Wired 21 pts

Academy 12 pts

99 pts total

Was wondering peoples thoughts on this list, any changes? Am I missing something?

I think with more practice it could do very well

I like it quite a bit. Zeta Leader is pretty great, I will say that the inquisitor has more synergy with vessery though. Juat because he gets more out of a target lock than ZL would. Maybe the academy blocker makes the difference though, I can't say. I will also add three 8's would be easier to plan and maneuver.

I like it quite a bit. Zeta Leader is pretty great, I will say that the inquisitor has more synergy with vessery though. Juat because he gets more out of a target lock than ZL would. Maybe the academy blocker makes the difference though, I can't say. I will also add three 8's would be easier to plan and maneuver.

Could you explain what you mean by the inquisitor getting more out of a target lock/ Are you referring to the free evade?

I didn't have ay issues with the different PS on Zeta leader and yes the Academy is a great blocker. In fact the Academy is mostly ignored and can actually get a LOT of range one shots in.

I could drop wired of Zeta and put on Adaptability to make them all 8's which would free up 2 points to spend elsewhere?

I like it quite a bit. Zeta Leader is pretty great, I will say that the inquisitor has more synergy with vessery though. Juat because he gets more out of a target lock than ZL would. Maybe the academy blocker makes the difference though, I can't say. I will also add three 8's would be easier to plan and maneuver.

Could you explain what you mean by the inquisitor getting more out of a target lock/ Are you referring to the free evade?

I didn't have ay issues with the different PS on Zeta leader and yes the Academy is a great blocker. In fact the Academy is mostly ignored and can actually get a LOT of range one shots in.

I could drop wired of Zeta and put on Adaptability to make them all 8's which would free up 2 points to spend elsewhere?

Will a barrel roll get me out of arc?

If yes: do it!

If no: Do I have an evade token stored?

If no: evade

If yes: is omega leader alive?

If yes: focus

If no: target lock for vessery

(my prebuff squad was vi hlc vess, wired ZL with comm relay + hull upgrade, and typical OL with Stealth device)

I really liked flying three ships, and vessery pulled his weight even before the buff. ZL swings way outside what his point cost suggests. Omega Leader is the best vessery supporter in the game bar none.

However, now that the inquisitor exsists and tie/d exsists, an Ion cannon toting vessery is cheaper, and your typical Inquisitor can put out the same kind of hurt as ZL while doing 3 major things for the squad.

1) better action economy, he is your typical ptl arc dodger, actions make the world go round.

2) to be fair he's probably a better closer than ZL if he's all you have left at end game.

3) Autothrusters. I can't tell you how bad it felt to run into that one guy carrying a couple tlt's in his squad. With an autothrusters ship the caliber of inky around, it won't hurt near as bad.

This is just my opinion from a squad I ran a while ago though. (I'm going to give it a whirl again soon though, with these changes)

Edit: I can add another perk to Inky as well, he can carry Proron Rockets for a massive alpha or an assured kill.