So trying to play a bit more Rebels as Love the X-wing but not a fan of the other ships in the rebel arsenal. With that said wanting to see how the T-70's react with PTL and different Astromechs. Again the build isn't meant to be competitive but a baseline to then apply to either Poe or Ello and potential Pilots from HotR that come out.

Red Squadron Veteran — T-70 X-Wing 26

Push the Limit 3

R2 Astromech 1

Vectored Thrusters 2

Ship Total: 32

Red Squadron Veteran — T-70 X-Wing 26

Push the Limit 3

R2-F2 3

Vectored Thrusters 2

Ship Total: 34

Red Squadron Veteran — T-70 X-Wing 26

Push the Limit 3

R7-T1 3

Vectored Thrusters 2

Ship Total: 34

Alternatively it looks like this for Ello as his skill seems to not play so well with PTL...

Wing 26

Push the Limit 3

R2 Astromech 1

Integrated Astromech 0

Ship Total: 30

Red Squadron Veteran — T-70 X-Wing 26

Push the Limit 3

R2-F2 3

Integrated Astromech 0

Ship Total: 32

Ello Asty — T-70 X-Wing 30

Lone Wolf 2

R7-T1 3

Vectored Thrusters 2

Ship Total: 37

I've flown lots of Ello. I don't fly rebels much, but I really like x-wings, and its the rebel ship I have the most 'cockpit' time with.

My favourite Ello build is similar to yours but its really hard to pass up regen:

Ello w/ LW, R2-D2 & autothrusters = 38

Its a solid build that really messes up anything with lower Pilot Skill. Its also decent against higher pilot skill enemies, provided you have another ship to help out (one blocks, the other shoots, or use both to cover all avenues of escape vs arc-dodgers)

Even with R2 astro, I find PTL is not ideal on a T-70. It is not an interceptor and trying to get it to fly as such doesn't quite work. Besides, using PTL frequently shuts out your very useful Talon Rolls, and not only is it a fun move, but it can be very useful to gain positional superiority.

With that in mind I highly recommend Predator. Since T-70s want to use their red moves at least some of the time, they get excellent value out of Predator all the time. It also makes action choice easy, you either boost or focus (you can still grab a TL from a position of safety when you have absolutely nothing better to do).

Lastly, I can tell you that R2-F2 is kind of a crappy droid. You can try it and see how it does, but there's a reason that its been around since wave 1 and almost no one in this day and age uses it. There are some corner cases where its not bad (like on Luke for example), but for generic x-wing pilots, its kind of meh. Perhaps there will be a future card that is released that combo's well with this card...

Appreciate the notes blade. I'm just curious if they fly more like said Intercepters with the use of the VT's which is why it's an experiment.

I'll keep predator in mind also looking at things like .. targeting Astomechs for the action economy when making said talon rolls/k-turns. Also Blue Ace with R2-D6 and perhaps predator or some other EPT. His ability just seems such a wild card for positioning.

Targeting Astro is pretty good actually. My triple T-70 list for a while was:

Ello w/ LW, R2-D2, autothrusters & flechette torps = 40

Red Vet w/ crackshot, R3-A2 + integrated = 29

Red Vet w/ crackshot, Target Astro + integrated & flechette torps = 31

100

The ol' T-roll/k-turn to gain lock and then fire flechette at someone that also did a red move (or an unsuspecting PTL user) was a fun trick (although most players learned not to fall for it again). In this list, I liked the fact that the Vet with R3-A2 was the cheapest ship (because everyone went after that one first). I never flew them in formation although I usually started them all together in a corner.

Another list that I've heard is not terrible (but still not great) becomes available with the new R3 astromech:

Red Vet w/ Juke, comm relay, R3 astro + integrated = 33 (take 3 of these guys)

99

R3 is still not great, but at least its different!

As to vectored thrusters, I love Barrel Roll. Its a great action to have available, but the opportunity cost for the T-70 is loss of either autothrusters or integrated astro. It makes it a very tough sell since these two mods are quite good...

So didn't get to use Vectoring Thrusters so the list came out like so.

Red Sq Vet w/ Stay on Target, Targeting Ast, IA, flechette Torps

Blue Ace W, R7-T1, IA

Ello w/ LW, AT, R5-P9

Ello was surprisingly underwhelming but you can also see where VT's would really help the X-Wings in a huge way. Big surprise was Blue Ace, paired with R7-T1. This pair was good about getting into tight spots and better firing positions with the target lock. Blue Ace's ability to do a hard turn Boost forces opponents to think a bit harder. The RSV shows a lot of Potential for higher end aces once we see what we get from HotR.

I understand wanting regen, it's obviously powerful and always will be. My friend that plays rebels has had a huge amount of fun (and is extremely difficult to pin down) flying this ello:

Ello

-ptl

-bb-8

-IA (or at)

He moves at 7 and is incredibly difficult to predict. If he plans a green he premaneuver barrel rolls and can push the limit off that and still not have a stress token after he performs his green

So he takes another action afterward and ends up stress less with 3 actions and the option to white tallon still available. He doesn't miss regen as he can arc dodge decently with all of his options. I can't claim it to be the best ship ever but it is definitely a massively different beast than your average t-70.

Bleak, the Ello build you posted is fairly common. This was about experimenting with outside the box ideas and see what will and will not work. Additionally, I've never been a fan of Barrel Rolling before moving, great help in the face of an asteroid but not much else but again personal preference.

I've found BB8's roll to also be handy for avoiding blocks that lower PS ships have set up. Especially when having PTL for the option of a boost too.

I don't think I've actually used this build before though saying that, but have played against it a couple of times.

My favourite tanky build is Red Ace with R2-D2, Comms Relay and either IA or Autothrusters (depending on points). Almost indestructible, especially if she survives to the end-game.

If you can proxy for your experimenting give sensor clusters a shot. I think that the t-70 would be a good home for that upgrade.

Builds I've used or seen used:

Poe Dameron

• Poe Dameron - Veteran Instincts, R5-P9, Integrated Astromech (because PS10 and hard to kill for surprisingly few points)
• Poe Dameron - Lone Wolf, R5-P9, Autothrusters (swarms categorically cannot kill this guy unless he screws up. Aces can, though - which is why people tend to default to the one above)
• Poe Dameron - Push The Limit, BB-8, Weapons Guidance, Autothrusters (Expensive for a reason. No regeneration, but exceptional action economy. More importantly, set up to use Poe's ability aggressively as well as defensively; if you can get out of arc of an attacker, Weapons Guidance allows you to convert one [focus] and one [blank] to hits from the same focus token - that's 80% in your favour of racking up 3-4 hits at range 1, even without a target lock - so you can spend your other action to boost)

Ello Asty

• Ello Asty - Predator, R2-D2, Autothrusters (I'm not a fan of R2-D2 on Ello, because end-to-end Tallon rolls are amazing, but people often feel they can't ignore the option of a shield-regeneration droid. Predator is good regardless; letting you get dice modifiers when boosting or stressed).
• Ello Asty - Daredevil, R2 Astromech, Autothrusters (I want to give this one a try! I've never seen anyone use Ello with Daredevil, but in theory it works well; the ability to Tallon Roll and then pull a speed 1 hard turn afterwards gives amazing manoeuvrability - seriously, try it with some templates and spare bases - and the R2 means you can come out of that into another hard turn with no penalties)

Red Ace

• Red Ace - R2-D2, Comms Relay, Integrated Astromech (Takes one hell of a pounding to kill. One dirty trick is to set up so Red Ace flies over an asteroid on turn 1 - knocking down a shield and charging up the Comms Relay before you ever reach weapons range)

Blue Ace

• Blue Ace - BB-8, Integrated Astromech (He won't take out high PS aces, but against PS4 or less this guy can dance like nothing, and fits nicely as a third ship in a lot of T-70 squads)
• Blue Ace - R7-T1, Integrated Astromech (Less manoeuvrable, but picks up the ability to get free target locks, meaning those three dice attacks you're getting actually do something reliably)
• Blue Ace - Predator, R2-D6, Integrated Astromech (expensive - for a PS5 ship - but able to turn and burn and still get dice modifiers whatever he does.

Blue Squadron Novice

• Blue Squadron Novice - R2 Astromech, Integrated Astromech (no real tricks, but 7 hit points, a 3-dice attack and a really good dial for 25 points....allowing you to pack four on the board. I've used the 'baby blues' squad and they're surprisingly good. Unlike classic rebel squads of four heavy fighters, you've actually got some decent ability to move thanks to green hard turns, tallon rolls and boost)

Sensor Clusters will be really good once they come out.

I'd agree that Predator is a really good general-purpose EPT for T-70s.

I'd imagine that the 'no expense spared' Poe using HotR would be:

• Poe Dameron (PS9) - Black One, Push The Limit, BB-8, Sensor Cluster, Autothrusters

A T-70 Squad I want to try (more for the manoeuvrability than anything else):

• Poe Dameron - Push The Limit, BB-8, Integrated Astromech
• Ello Asty - Daredevil, R2 Astromech, Integrated Astromech
• Blue Ace - R7-T1, Integrated Astromech

Sensor cluster is going to be big on the defensive pilots........

What I like about PTL red vets over predator red vets is being able to always TL and focus (or boost) and then clearing stress with R2 Astromech greens.

More modified dice is more better.

Plus you can use the focus for defense as needed and still have TL for more rerolls than predator.

Hey all, I appreciate the input. Bit of a reminder the whole idea of the thread is to use more unconventional builds to see what can be squeezed out of the T-70's.

Staples as presented by many of you such as the Tanky Red Ace, Regen Poe, and Ello builds are all reliable and proven overall.

What I am looking for is something that will catch an opponent off guard and force a mistake. Big example was the Targeting Astromech RSV with Stay on Target. You either forgot I had my droid and got target locked when I maneuvered or I was able to avoid a shot by doing a different Maneuver all together.

Not the best builds but they're different:

"Red Ace" (35) - T-70 X-Wing

R2-D6 (1), Comm Relay (3), Juke (2), Integrated Astromech (0)

-- Not quite as bulky but can deal a bit more damage.

Ello Asty (36) - T-70 X-Wing

Outmaneuver (3), R5-X3 (1), Autothrusters (2)

-- Talon Roll through a rock for an outmaneuver shot the enemy won't expect! Autothrusters helps with turrets and Integrated Astro doesn't work well with this astromech.

"Blue Ace" (34) - T-70 X-Wing

R2-D6 (1), Experimental Interface (3), Daredevil (3)

Hard 2 turn, boost sharp then experimental interface for daredevil and you've turned so, darn, much!

I love using Red Sqd Vets with Targeting Astro and Cool Hand.

Do a talon roll, grab a TL with the astro then use cool hand for a focus, catches people out!

I've also used Crack Shot in of Cool Hand.

I use two of these guys with Super Dash

I love using Red Sqd Vets with Targeting Astro and Cool Hand.

Do a talon roll, grab a TL with the astro then use cool hand for a focus, catches people out!

I've also used Crack Shot in of Cool Hand.

I use two of these guys with Super Dash

I love using Red Sqd Vets with Targeting Astro and Cool Hand.

Do a talon roll, grab a TL with the astro then use cool hand for a focus, catches people out!

I've also used Crack Shot in of Cool Hand.

I use two of these guys with Super Dash

I'd like to see that list!

What's good about it is that people underestimate the t-70's, that TL/F talon roll is a thing of beauty when you do it right and as they have integrated it makes them that bit tankier. Also at PS4 they shoot before certain ships...

I'd like to see that list!

Me too :-)

As a red sqn Vet is minimum, 26 pts, even with out upgrades, so which kind of "Super" Dash are you using, because he is not the 58 pt "Super" Dash

Outmaneuver on Ello is pretty nice. I use him a lot with it. Droid to fit what you want.

I also like Red Vets with Dardevil and R2 Astromechs.