Okay, so I've still got a lot to learn about squadron play but in the mean time I'm really enjoying playing ships and figured it would be fun to give Imperial a try (I'm also a bit of a contrarian and there's a lot of Rebels in my area). Here's a list I've brainstormed and would appreciate some feedback on:

Points: 386/400

Commander: Admiral Ozzel

Assault Objective: Advanced Gunnery
Defense Objective: Fleet Ambush
Navigation Objective: Superior Positions

Raider-I Class Corvette (44 points)
- Impetuous ( 4 points)
- Agent Kallus ( 3 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Assault Proton Torpedoes ( 5 points)
= 60 total ship cost

Raider-I Class Corvette (44 points)
- Instigator ( 4 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Assault Proton Torpedoes ( 5 points)
= 57 total ship cost

Gladiator II-Class Star Destroyer (62 points)
- Demolisher ( 10 points)
- Wulff Yularen ( 7 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Engine Techs ( 8 points)
- Assault Proton Torpedoes ( 5 points)
= 96 total ship cost

[ flagship ] Imperial II-Class Star Destroyer (120 points)
- Admiral Ozzel ( 20 points)
- Relentless ( 3 points)
- Tactical Expert ( 6 points)
- Gunnery Team ( 7 points)
- Electronic Countermeasures ( 7 points)
- X17 Turbolasers ( 6 points)
- Leading Shots ( 4 points)
= 173 total ship cost

So here's the idea - the Demolisher we're all familiar with and can operate on its own. It will either be deployed away from the main force early to bait my opponent in setting up for it or deployed with the main force and jumping out on its own in the first round. If my opponent goes for it, it turns tail and runs - if my opponent runs, it goes for their flank.

The main force comprises of an ISD2 and a pair of Raiders set up for anti-squadron fire and crits against ships. The Raiders will screen for the big guy, taking out as many squadrons as possible then jumping in towards any of my opponents ships to apply crits with APT & OE. The ISD2 will attempt to stay at range and pound my opponent.

Thoughts?

Demo may be better served by having Skilled First Officer. It's even cheaper!

Reason I use it is that tractor beams and slicers are rife in my meta. Wulf can't help you if you lose your token to tractors AND have your dial changed out.

Demo may be better served by having Skilled First Officer. It's even cheaper!

Reason I use it is that tractor beams and slicers are rife in my meta. Wulf can't help you if you lose your token to tractors AND have your dial changed out.

Haven't picked up a Liberty/Interdictor yet so I'm SFO-less at the moment. For the time being I haven't seen a lot of Slicers or TB's in my area but who knows, could show up.

Okay, doubling down on anti-squadron ability:

Points: 389/400

Commander: Admiral Ozzel

Assault Objective: Advanced Gunnery
Defense Objective: Fleet Ambush
Navigation Objective: Superior Positions

Raider-I Class Corvette (44 points)
- Impetuous ( 4 points)
- Agent Kallus ( 3 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Quad Laser Turrets ( 5 points)
= 60 total ship cost

Raider-I Class Corvette (44 points)
- Instigator ( 4 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Quad Laser Turrets ( 5 points)
= 57 total ship cost

Gladiator II-Class Star Destroyer (62 points)
- Demolisher ( 10 points)
- Wulff Yularen ( 7 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Engine Techs ( 8 points)
- Assault Proton Torpedoes ( 5 points)
= 96 total ship cost

[ flagship ] Imperial II-Class Star Destroyer (120 points)
- Admiral Ozzel ( 20 points)
- Relentless ( 3 points)
- Intel Officer ( 7 points)
- Gunnery Team ( 7 points)
- Electronic Countermeasures ( 7 points)
- H9 Turbolasers ( 8 points)
- Leading Shots ( 4 points)
= 176 total ship cost

With 389 I should be able to get initiative often enough to maximize the Demolisher. I dropped APT's off the Raiders to make room for QLT's and swapped in an Intel Officer & H9's on the ISD to give it a better chance of taking out Flotillas.

I would change my tactic a bit, the Raiders would be dedicated anti-squadron screens with the Demolisher & ISD doing all the heavy lifting.

Okay, so OE on a Raider 1 is great. Rerolls vs ships, rerolls vs squadrons. I wonder if some of these upgrades are unnecessary, and if you could scrape together enough for a Gozanti flotilla. That would give you another activation/deployment for more flexibility, which is a buff to Demo.

Consider taking off Gunnery Teams (you want to focus fire anyway, and if an opponent actually does take your Advanced Gunnery objective you know where to put it), Quad Lasers, Quad Lasers, and Impetuous. Add a Gozanti Cruiser flotilla. Your Raider 1s will shoot 2 black with rerolls vs squadrons. Now your flotilla will shoot another black vs squadrons, plus you could put Kallus here as an extra flak source. If you think you could spare the points, a Comms Net is only 2 and could feed tokens efficiently to your fleet, possibly replacing Wulff for a savings.

I would disagree about Gunnery Teams, as it is a good antisquadron upgrade (so you have the option to use that second shot to shoot squadrons in the front arc). I'm not sure about H9 on ISD2, I usually prefer Spinals.

I would disagree about Gunnery Teams, as it is a good antisquadron upgrade (so you have the option to use that second shot to shoot squadrons in the front arc). I'm not sure about H9 on ISD2, I usually prefer Spinals.

Gunnery Teams are awesome. I just think a flotilla would do enough for the fleet that it's worth finding the points somewhere. If it were me, I'd say that GT does less than the flotilla could.

Unless you're hitting good rolls and they're getting poor ones, I wouldn't bank Raiders as your only source of anti squadron, or the bulk of it. They're great support for dedicated AS squadrons for sure, but not resilient enough to handle the entire job by themselves. Against dedicated bomber wings, they survive two turns at most.

I do have a variant with a Comms Net'd Gozanti but it just didn't feel like I was getting anything other than an additional activation - that said I think I was pillaging the ISD to find those points and not the Raiders.

I'm still pretty new to the game so I still struggle with knowing how little I can get by with.

Unless you're hitting good rolls and they're getting poor ones, I wouldn't bank Raiders as your only source of anti squadron, or the bulk of it. They're great support for dedicated AS squadrons for sure, but not resilient enough to handle the entire job by themselves. Against dedicated bomber wings, they survive two turns at most.

Seems like you just have to accept that max bombers will always be the Achilles heel of a fleet with no fighters of its own to intercept with.

You could try to keep the Quad Lasers to bounce a little more damage back, but honestly I'm not so sure that would Even break even with more flak from the flotilla of you did the exchange. The strategy is going to have to be a gamble: delay and thin out bombers with the Raiders while the big ships blast down the enemy carriers asap. Otherwise OPs gotta go back to the drawing board and give up on the no squad list.