oh im sure youve had it more than that and just forgot. Ive done that many times where i just write it off because generally its a bad idea, then later i go "wait...why didnt i just splitfire? i fired out my aux arc anyway!"

i even had the infamous doubledip large ship happen lol. Something that should never happen intentionally...and i'll probably never get it again rofl (land RIGHT next to a large ship with the center pegs lined up. He is in both front and rear arc now)

I never try for a split fire shot, but I've taken it a few times. I'll take it when I want to take out something in the rear arc, so I'll take the front shot just because I can, or I'll take it when both of my targets are fairly close and I have Rage going.

oh im sure youve had it more than that and just forgot. Ive done that many times where i just write it off because generally its a bad idea, then later i go "wait...why didnt i just splitfire? i fired out my aux arc anyway!"

i even had the infamous doubledip large ship happen lol. Something that should never happen intentionally...and i'll probably never get it again rofl (land RIGHT next to a large ship with the center pegs lined up. He is in both front and rear arc now)

ner, that was the only time

Driving backdraft between the enemy is a good way to get him killed (that's where the x7s go)

I feel like I'm missing something on saying "don't try to split fire."

I was playing QuickDraw against Palp Defenders, had wiped Ryad off the board before she even got an opportunity to attack, and was debating on whether to work down Vessery or the shuttle next.

I had the opportunity to BR QuickDraw to have a R1 rear arc shot on Vessery, with the shuttle at R3 out of my front arc. Even though the rest of my ships were angling toward the shuttle, and could not join fire on Vessery, it seemed like a no-brainer call to me ... take the 3-dice shot on Vessery, then plink 2 reds at the shuttle to see if I could scrape off a shield or two.

Things turned out well for me.

Its not always a bad thing. But majority of the time it is. The splitfire shot is best as a happy accident not an intended event. In your example i wouldnt have fired at the shuttle at all if i didnt have a splitfire option because range1 on a pesky Vessery would have been awesome, even if it is -1 die out the ass. Since splitfire was an option, take it, as the aux arc was the shot you'd want more anyway.

If you are intentionally trying to get it usually you will find yourself in a spot where someone has a good shot on you too. Odds are a 2die unmodded shot wont do damage, but better than not throwing any dice.

I feel like I'm missing something on saying "don't try to split fire."

dead enemies, usually

as opposed to live ones that will shoot you back

Missile SF's made top 16 at worlds, if that means anything to you.

What was the list? I missed that one.

I couldn't find a single SF in any of the posted lists (out to 4-2a) so I'm not sure which list he means.

I had a glance at it while watching the stream, it was something similar to this:

“Quickdraw” (38)

Special Forces TIE (29), Crack Shot (1), Fire-Control System (2), Homing Missiles (5), Primed Thrusters (1), Special Ops Training (0), Guidance Chips (0)

“Backdraft” (36)

Special Forces TIE (27), Crack Shot (1), Fire-Control System (2), Homing Missiles (5), Primed Thrusters (1), Special Ops Training (0), Guidance Chips (0)

“Omega Leader” (26)

TIE/fo Fighter (21), Comm Relay (3), Juke (2)

Crackshot could have been VI instead, but both backdraft and quickdraw had homing missiles teamed up with Omega leader.

Edit: And it was North Carolina Regionals, not worlds

My bad. The proximity of the two events got me confused.

Its not always a bad thing. But majority of the time it is. The splitfire shot is best as a happy accident not an intended event. In your example i wouldnt have fired at the shuttle at all if i didnt have a splitfire option because range1 on a pesky Vessery would have been awesome, even if it is -1 die out the ass. Since splitfire was an option, take it, as the aux arc was the shot you'd want more anyway.

If you are intentionally trying to get it usually you will find yourself in a spot where someone has a good shot on you too. Odds are a 2die unmodded shot wont do damage, but better than not throwing any dice.

Having flown a two SF list for a month or two (plus a rather interesting Regional) I can say that it's better for Backdraft if you can get it, since his best shot is his butt shot. If you've got a target, throw some dice at them! Engineering it is very tricky but with barrel rolls you can get it to Range 1 more often than you think and that's where the dual shot really shines. You might get lucky on the front shot and then you'll have the target lock on the back (cuz you're using FCS on him right? If you're not using FCS, you're doing it wrong).

The trickier part is that you don't want to use him as a main threat. He dies too easily. I flew the very slim, very effective VI, FCS, Title, MK2 for 31 points. If he wasn't focused-down immediately, he always did more than his points worth in damage. Free crits are legit. And pairing him with Vader is super fun. Double crits ahoy!

I struggled with adding more points to him because as noted by others, he's just too fragile. that 35 point build looks fun in a vacuum but the standard defensive roll with an SF appears to be <blank, focus> when you've BR or taken a target lock and then <blank, blank, blank> at Range 3/obstructed when your focus. It's scarily consistent. If you rely on them to roll defense dice at all, they will die.

I use both the 35pt and 30pt list i have a few posts above for Backdraft all the time. Rarely does he evaporate on me because the way i move him he doesnt get shot at to begin with, or if he does its not a good shot for my opponent (range3, obstructed, or both). Aux arc allows him so much freedom is hilarious.

I mentioned that for Backdraft the splitfire is purely beneficial in terms of him firing, as he doesnt want to fire out his front anyway. Its still not recommended to strive for it because it generally puts him in places where he can get return fired upon.

2die ships rarely get away scott free from any attack, even other 2die attacks. Poke damage is usually how they die. You want to avoid any and all possible incoming attacks, and if you can splitfire i'd say 7/8 of the time someone has a decent shot on you too and you just took damage because of it.

ive made my local meta absolutely hate him lol. I should have ran him in the regionals in omaha but i really wanted to run a dumpster list for some reason (literally, chewie/dash with chutes lol)

I use both the 35pt and 30pt list i have a few posts above for Backdraft all the time. Rarely does he evaporate on me because the way i move him he doesnt get shot at to begin with, or if he does its not a good shot for my opponent (range3, obstructed, or both). Aux arc allows him so much freedom is hilarious.

I mentioned that for Backdraft the splitfire is purely beneficial in terms of him firing, as he doesnt want to fire out his front anyway. Its still not recommended to strive for it because it generally puts him in places where he can get return fired upon.

2die ships rarely get away scott free from any attack, even other 2die attacks. Poke damage is usually how they die. You want to avoid any and all possible incoming attacks, and if you can splitfire i'd say 7/8 of the time someone has a decent shot on you too and you just took damage because of it.

ive made my local meta absolutely hate him lol. I should have ran him in the regionals in omaha but i really wanted to run a dumpster list for some reason (literally, chewie/dash with chutes lol)

Hilarious! That was the regional I was at - missed your list though. How'd you do?

My biggest challenge was getting the SFs to survive against the abundance of turrets and high accuracy missiles. Their defense dice don't give you much protection against high variance attacks (like ordnance) and the most common ordnance users can usually outmaneuver the poor little SF. Couple that with a return of TLTs and there's a lot of opportunity for the SF to be in a bad spot. Still super fun to play and I'm sure there's a better combo then my PS9 gimmick (vader, QD, and VI Backdraft)

I ran chewie/dash with chutes and trickshot as the main gimick. Dash had mangler because i couldnt risk the donut problem and Rey crew for pseudo double action, Chewie had new title and kanan/kyle for sloop = focus + normal action goodness.

Went 3-3, only 1 of my losses was horribly bad, other 2 were still 60+ points gained. Didnt quite kill a partybus + dengar list so i only got 23pts for that one - somehow i got 41st in the end, thought i did a lot better than that, but like i said it was LITERALLY a dumpster list lol

Both got a lot of compliments about the list being really, REALLY off the wall and still oddly effective as well as a lot of arguments over people not understanding the basic fundamentals of timing windows. "Kanan doesnt clear stress on debris" ...read the faq bro -- "Kanan doesnt remove stress on falcon title" ...read the timing windows bro -- "You hit a debris you lose your action" ...read the obstacle rules bro..thats rocks youre thinking.

All 6 games i probably spent a good 30mins throughout the match explaining crap. The only time i was proven wrong was when i hit 2 debris he pointed out you suffer both effects, something i didnt knew was changed in the TFA box. Which sorta shafted me but wasnt the end of the world.

Stupid fun list to run, however im not buying the models to run it lol. I borrowed 2 chutes, the tokens for the chutes, a 2nd smuggling compartment, and mangler cannon to run that lol

For the record i was the tall guy in the Luigi jacket and Link as a Jedi t-shirt saying "The *triforce icon* is strong with this one"

edit: oh, on topic right. Yeah turrets suck, i usually gun them down asap. Same reason i despise Dengar when im flying Echo, he is the #1 Echo counter as i cant dodge him.

I got to split fire the first time I flew backdraft actually hah, R1 out the front and R2 out the back.
Never again will it happen.

I ran chewie/dash with chutes and trickshot as the main gimick. Dash had mangler because i couldnt risk the donut problem and Rey crew for pseudo double action, Chewie had new title and kanan/kyle for sloop = focus + normal action goodness.

Went 3-3, only 1 of my losses was horribly bad, other 2 were still 60+ points gained. Didnt quite kill a partybus + dengar list so i only got 23pts for that one - somehow i got 41st in the end, thought i did a lot better than that, but like i said it was LITERALLY a dumpster list lol

Both got a lot of compliments about the list being really, REALLY off the wall and still oddly effective as well as a lot of arguments over people not understanding the basic fundamentals of timing windows. "Kanan doesnt clear stress on debris" ...read the faq bro -- "Kanan doesnt remove stress on falcon title" ...read the timing windows bro -- "You hit a debris you lose your action" ...read the obstacle rules bro..thats rocks youre thinking.

All 6 games i probably spent a good 30mins throughout the match explaining crap. The only time i was proven wrong was when i hit 2 debris he pointed out you suffer both effects, something i didnt knew was changed in the TFA box. Which sorta shafted me but wasnt the end of the world.

Stupid fun list to run, however im not buying the models to run it lol. I borrowed 2 chutes, the tokens for the chutes, a 2nd smuggling compartment, and mangler cannon to run that lol

For the record i was the tall guy in the Luigi jacket and Link as a Jedi t-shirt saying "The *triforce icon* is strong with this one"

edit: oh, on topic right. Yeah turrets suck, i usually gun them down asap. Same reason i despise Dengar when im flying Echo, he is the #1 Echo counter as i cant dodge him.

haha yeah kinda of a downside about running intricate lists. Explaining how all the parts of the machine work can eat up a surprising amount of time. I had a Palob, Torkil, Guri list that was also crazy complicated and I ended up just verbally talking through each step every turn so my opponent wouldn't get confused.

Feel like Rey/Poe is the same way....

I was with the Des Moines crew that arrived late so apologies if that messed up your travel plans. Car trouble ain't no joke

Be interesting to see how the meta shapes up with turrets making a comeback. I'm still holding out for Rey to be viable cuz her ship is so dang thematic but we'll see how she does against some of the new wave stuff. There's some swarm potential that's really scary with the salvage crane and quadjumpers....

Having flown some TIE/sf my advice is: don't fly TIE/sf.

But if you really have to fly TIE/sf then fly them as cheap as possible, because they're shockingly bad.

Curious: can you explain your reasoning? I have one, planning to fly it at game night today, and I'm curious how you arrived at this? What quads did you face? What was the pilots/builds you used?

The people that claim the SF is horrible generally arent flying them right. Theyre not a typical imperial ship, not in the slightest. Until the SF, we had 2 styles with the Decimator being the oddball - arcdodge or bomber. SF technically falls under the arcdodge since he REALLY doesnt wanna get shot at, but he doesnt arcdodge in the traditional sense so it gets a lot of people in trouble.

The generics are kinda meh, Quickdraw i view as a trap, but Backdraft is ridiculous. Like i said, ive made my local meta absolutely HATE him lol. And they all originally didnt understand why i kept using backdraft when "SFs suck ass wth man?"

@Simonsays3 - nah i drove myself since i live in Lincoln. Dont think you being late affected much if anything.

Didnt even see that list there, then again i was just flabbergasted at the sheer amount of falcons rofl

The people that claim the SF is horrible generally arent flying them right. Theyre not a typical imperial ship, not in the slightest. Until the SF, we had 2 styles with the Decimator being the oddball - arcdodge or bomber. SF technically falls under the arcdodge since he REALLY doesnt wanna get shot at, but he doesnt arcdodge in the traditional sense so it gets a lot of people in trouble.

The generics are kinda meh, Quickdraw i view as a trap, but Backdraft is ridiculous. Like i said, ive made my local meta absolutely HATE him lol. And they all originally didnt understand why i kept using backdraft when "SFs suck ass wth man?"

@Simonsays3 - nah i drove myself since i live in Lincoln. Dont think you being late affected much if anything.

Didnt even see that list there, then again i was just flabbergasted at the sheer amount of falcons rofl

The main trap I've found with Quickdraw is trying to force the Activation-phase shots. You'll be better off flying him like a miniature Dengar, and using his ability as a deterrent against getting shot at all.

Even thats a bit of a trap to me.

I tried that, both with good damage mitigation (evasiveness/jammer) and just raw power (crack/fcs) and again it just falls under that same issue Backdraft has: she does NOT want to get hit. I almost never got her ability more than once because every time i lose a shield i lose multiples if not all of them. If i fly her like i do Backdraft, i dont get shot at, but then im primarily firing out the ass so i'd be better off with a generic for -5pts or so.

Dengar has the HP to weather a bad defense, Quickdraw doesnt. Plus he has the ability to sidestep people at any angle w/o loss of firepower, Quickdraw has limited alternate firing and its weaker.

Probably the best i got out of her was i ran Adapt to PS10, PTs, and Acc Corrector and thats it. I just dove her right into the fray and Acc Corrector splitshots, which caused more chaos than it did damage. Against a player that has half a brain that wouldn't work because they know she isnt going to do much anyway and its bait.

What do you prefer to run with Backdraft?

Personally also love Backdraft to bits, had some success running him with a Bomber and a Tie/D Ion defender against a double YT-1300 list recently.

Also have tried him accompanying a Stress Rhymer.

In general people seem to ignore him because he looks like a TIE fighter, so they go for the more "threatening" ships first.

Pretty much anything. Hes a bit of a lone wolf, though not a good pick for that ept since he generally cant get a good shot and be outside range2 of his buddies. Ive slapped the 35pt Backdraft build in so many lists its not even funny and he usually does a lot of work.

My favorite list is "The Mighty 7s"

Mauler Mithel 17

Predator (3)

Scourge 17

Predator (3)

Omega Ace 20

PTL (3)

Comm Relay (3)

Backdraft 27

Outmaneuver (3)

FCS (2)

Mk2 Engines (1)

Title (0)

Primed Thrustors (1)

Total: 100pts

Its a bit of a glass cannon list with no real clear cut answer as to whos the best initial target. Backdraft because he can outfly you? The two TIE/lns because theyre the squishiest? Or the TIE/fo because auto crits is not pretty to deal with?

Theyre all PS7. Ive never had my initial volley, even if Backdraft didnt have a shot, fail to cause heavy damage to my target.

I did have a variant with Scourge using Opportunity but then it was obvious who to kill first: the guy that can throw 5 dang attack dice lol.

Oh, thats also why OA has Comm, even though i want to be TL + Focus all the time. It gives him enough bulk on the initial joust to make people not want to pick him first. And if they do, that banked evade has saved his bacon so many times lol

Quickdraw and Backdraft made the top16 in NC regionals, both with homing missiles so thought I would give it a try.

Flying the S/Fs with a homing missile is a great way to up their survivability. Lot of ships today are not scared of a 3 die single mod attack in the first engagement when they are getting shots on a 2agi 30+ costed ship. A homing missile gives them reason to try and avoid your arc and not straight up joust an SF.

I tried Quickdraw with Crack Shot + Homing Missile + FCS + Primed Thrusters + Title + GC. She can target lock being a high PS, then fire that homing missile, spend the TL for rerolls, and end with a TL for her double tap. If an enemy fires before she does, she returns fire, setting up the TL with FCS, then fires the HM as her main shot. Way more damage than rage + baffle shenanigans and scares the bejesus outta your opponents.

Lets be honest, nobody is scared of Backdraft in the first engagement, he doesnt have a lock yet with his FCS, so he has a single modded front attack. Backdraft is scarier as the game progresses and your shields are dwindling down and he gets closer to you and flies passed you with his butt cannon. So, that early game sounds like the right time to fly into his face and take him out ASAP. Unless of course he has VI + Homing Missiles. Now most ships move before him, not exactly knowing what range to be at, and he has a mean first shot.

Try the SFs out with a Homing Missile

That was the same list the ran Omega Leader along with them?

That list is currently waiting for me on my bench to fly next!

Glad that it is a fun list to fly

I've also picked up a 3rd SF as I have plans to run them with ordinance and Targeting Synchronizer once the Upsilon is released.

Quickdraw and Backdraft made the top16 in NC regionals, both with homing missiles so thought I would give it a try.

Flying the S/Fs with a homing missile is a great way to up their survivability. Lot of ships today are not scared of a 3 die single mod attack in the first engagement when they are getting shots on a 2agi 30+ costed ship. A homing missile gives them reason to try and avoid your arc and not straight up joust an SF.

I tried Quickdraw with Crack Shot + Homing Missile + FCS + Primed Thrusters + Title + GC. She can target lock being a high PS, then fire that homing missile, spend the TL for rerolls, and end with a TL for her double tap. If an enemy fires before she does, she returns fire, setting up the TL with FCS, then fires the HM as her main shot. Way more damage than rage + baffle shenanigans and scares the bejesus outta your opponents.

Lets be honest, nobody is scared of Backdraft in the first engagement, he doesnt have a lock yet with his FCS, so he has a single modded front attack. Backdraft is scarier as the game progresses and your shields are dwindling down and he gets closer to you and flies passed you with his butt cannon. So, that early game sounds like the right time to fly into his face and take him out ASAP. Unless of course he has VI + Homing Missiles. Now most ships move before him, not exactly knowing what range to be at, and he has a mean first shot.

Try the SFs out with a Homing Missile

If it is the list I saw it should be as follows:

OL - Juke, Comm

Quickdraw - Crack Shot, Homing Missiles, FCS, Chips, Title, Primed Thrusters

Backdraft - Crack Shot, Homing Missiles, FCS, Chips, Title, Primed Thrusters

100/100

Quickdraw and Backdraft made the top16 in NC regionals, both with homing missiles so thought I would give it a try.

Flying the S/Fs with a homing missile is a great way to up their survivability. Lot of ships today are not scared of a 3 die single mod attack in the first engagement when they are getting shots on a 2agi 30+ costed ship. A homing missile gives them reason to try and avoid your arc and not straight up joust an SF.

I tried Quickdraw with Crack Shot + Homing Missile + FCS + Primed Thrusters + Title + GC. She can target lock being a high PS, then fire that homing missile, spend the TL for rerolls, and end with a TL for her double tap. If an enemy fires before she does, she returns fire, setting up the TL with FCS, then fires the HM as her main shot. Way more damage than rage + baffle shenanigans and scares the bejesus outta your opponents.

Lets be honest, nobody is scared of Backdraft in the first engagement, he doesnt have a lock yet with his FCS, so he has a single modded front attack. Backdraft is scarier as the game progresses and your shields are dwindling down and he gets closer to you and flies passed you with his butt cannon. So, that early game sounds like the right time to fly into his face and take him out ASAP. Unless of course he has VI + Homing Missiles. Now most ships move before him, not exactly knowing what range to be at, and he has a mean first shot.

Try the SFs out with a Homing Missile

I've been running that QD build and it is nasty. The one downside is that it is expensive and can get burned down more quickly than almost any other decent ship in that price range. Of course, if you've crippled the enemy squadron by that point, it's not a problem.

If it is the list I saw it should be as follows:

OL - Juke, Comm

Quickdraw - Crack Shot, Homing Missiles, FCS, Chips, Title, Primed Thrusters

Backdraft - Crack Shot, Homing Missiles, FCS, Chips, Title, Primed Thrusters

100/100

The NC regionals were:

Omega Leader + Juke + Comm Relay

Backdraft + Veteran Instincts + Fire-Control System + Homing Missiles + Guidance Chips

Quickdraw + Veteran Instincts + Fire-Control System + Homing Missiles + Guidance Chips

(98 points)

Quickdraw and Backdraft made the top16 in NC regionals, both with homing missiles so thought I would give it a try.

Flying the S/Fs with a homing missile is a great way to up their survivability. Lot of ships today are not scared of a 3 die single mod attack in the first engagement when they are getting shots on a 2agi 30+ costed ship. A homing missile gives them reason to try and avoid your arc and not straight up joust an SF.

I tried Quickdraw with Crack Shot + Homing Missile + FCS + Primed Thrusters + Title + GC. She can target lock being a high PS, then fire that homing missile, spend the TL for rerolls, and end with a TL for her double tap. If an enemy fires before she does, she returns fire, setting up the TL with FCS, then fires the HM as her main shot. Way more damage than rage + baffle shenanigans and scares the bejesus outta your opponents.

Lets be honest, nobody is scared of Backdraft in the first engagement, he doesnt have a lock yet with his FCS, so he has a single modded front attack. Backdraft is scarier as the game progresses and your shields are dwindling down and he gets closer to you and flies passed you with his butt cannon. So, that early game sounds like the right time to fly into his face and take him out ASAP. Unless of course he has VI + Homing Missiles. Now most ships move before him, not exactly knowing what range to be at, and he has a mean first shot.

Try the SFs out with a Homing Missile

What was the exact list you tried? Despite its absurdity I can really see the merits and think, depending on the cost and if it's a title or mod, lightened frame might make this even more ridiculous...

The list I ran was:

"Quickdraw" (29)

Crack Shot (1)

Fire-Control System (2)

Homing Missiles (5)

Primed Thrusters (1)

Guidance Chips (0)

Special Ops Training (0)

Rexler Brath (37)

Predator (3)

Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)

TIE/x7 (-2)

Scimitar Squadron Pilot (16)

Fleet Officer (3)

Rebel Captive (3)

Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)

TIE Shuttle (0)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Scimitar gives quickdraw a full modded Homing (or double tap if he doesnt need focus for HM) that can strip shields from opponent, then Rex fires second with two focuses and predator, hoping to get some crits through.

Tore through a Moralo + IG-88B list. Only losing the bomber. Couldnt get Rex's ability off since I had to save focuses on defense with double taps coming at me on top of HSCP on Moralo. The list still hit hard though. Primed thrusters came in handy also, as Quickdraw slooped behind Moralo, and then b-rolled into range 1 of brobot so he couldnt double tap and didnt yet have a TL on Quickdraw.