I normally play xwing on friday anyway, but today was icy out (**** you nebraska and your completely random weather...) so i didnt expect anyone to show. I still went because i actually felt safer going there than home after work, less traffic lol. Anyway,

Only got 1 game in unfortunately, but it was a nutty one.

My list:

Tomax Bren 24

Cool Hand (1)

Mk2 Engines (1)

Fleet Officer (3)

System Officer (2)

Title (0)

Scarif Defender 18

Lightweight Frame (2)

Title (0)

Countdown 20

Mk2 Engines (1)

Title (0)

Pure Sabacc 22

Swarm Leader (3)

Lightweight Frame (2)

Title (0)

Total: 99

First off, ignore the Tomax Shuttle. Bad idea lol. My thoughts were to give them Targetlocks (specifically Sabacc) since they cant take it normally and pass out focus since im going to be eating the Evades for Swarm Leader. Problem was misjudgment on these things raw speed...like holy crap bad misjudgment lol. The entire game, which took about an hour and a half, i got 3 targetlocks lol. Got plenty of focus pass but was almost always just out of range1. So i already know that was a bad idea and i need to rethink the list: however, i can still talk about the striker itself.

These things are nasty. They are ridiculously fast with the title, have tons of weird angles to approach with, and can reengage almost immediately after disengaging. Theyre a hit-and-run ship, unless they are stressed or you dont have the title they are effectively moving at speed3 MINIMUM. It took me a bit to realize this, so i kept missing arcs or bumping myself trying to turn sharply or do the 1bank title into a 1turn the other way to try and go a little slower forward. The moment i realized these things can disengage and reengage really fast and stress-free, they started to cripple things.

My opponent ran Breylan, Biggs, and Cassian, probably should have wrote down his exact cards. Breylan wasnt a stressboat build though, which would have been really annoying to deal with. Until i noticed the hit-and-run tactic, he was doing consistent trickle damage to me as i kept evading some but never all of his attacks. Lost Sabacc early (after blowing Biggs sky high hehehehe), Tomax basically did nothing due to the before mentioned issues, and Countdown and the Scarif Defender started completely demolishing Breylan and Cassian.

I seriously, seriously love the way these things move. Its hard as hell to predict right, and i contribute my Echo playing being the reason why i only hit a rock 3 times with them. Course i lost the generic because he hit a rock twice and took damage both times but he did a ton of damage before he went. I actually never got to use Countdown's ability, my opponent completely ignored him except for the one time he had a shot after i did a 2sloop. Probably not a wise idea on his part tbh.

Despite the list, i basically felt like i was flying them on their own due to their flight patterns. They performed vastly better when i stopped trying to synchronize them. Getting range 1 is almost impossible unless you barrelroll, but they dont need it. They can approach and leave at such odd angles they simply DONT get shot at. Im honestly tempted to slap EU on one and see if that adds an even deeper level of complexity worth bringing, or just too expensive to bother.

Theyre both cheap enough to slap into most lists with little effort and powerful enough to operate alone/draw attention. This might be my new go-to ship for a cheap addition rather than a blackcrack tiefighter, even though the price isnt the same.

Lot of people were pissed that 5+cracks is not a thing since the EPT generic is 20pts. I honestly dont think that would be a good list. After the initial joust, which they dont like doing, that many bodies on the board would severely hamper their movement. And if you dont take the title theyre slow as hell (when i REALLY felt when i was stressed). Though i admit i wish they had a bomb slot...oh the amount of times i had the perfect lineup for a bomb....

I love these things. It might take me several games before i play with the Uwing to try that out just because i had way too much fun flying these things. Im a sucker for wonky flightpattern ships (SF, Phantoms, T70s, Tomax w/ Lightning Reflexes, Kwings, and now Strikers) and this is an awesome addition to have.

So you ran 3 strickers in your list? I picked 2 Muskegon yesterday and I'm really excited to start seeing people'say squads. Please repost when you tweak it to satisfaction!

I love them too. My list was Pure Sabaac Carnor, Deathfire and an Academy. Sabaac was so dodgy he never became Impure/Tainted Sabaac

It seems that a bank one direction followed a 1 speed turn the other would be really useful.

I like the Striker, but haven't played it yet. I have, however, won four games against them in a row so far. They're just so fragile...

I'll be getting 1 or 2 for Lightweight Frame, but other than that its not so hot for me. I'll stick to Royal Guard interceptors for PTL generics, and Inquisitor and Fel for aces.

Thats the thing though, theyre fragile but they are hit-and-run ships. They dont stick around or they get in trouble, both with the lack of really slow speed and fragility.

LIke i said, the moment i adapted the hit-and-run strat they never got shot at again. I killed my own generic through misjudgment and hitting a rock 3 times taking damage twice, the other 2 was before i started hit-and-run.

i think im going to work on a flight-pattern guide. Both to increase my own knowledge of where that 1boost will put them before the maneuver as well to let others know. There was another guy playing them as well and he claimed they were horrible because he did the same thing i did before i started hit-and-run strats: attempt to joust and bank on LF to help me not die in 1 shot. Sabacc lost that bet, but at least he took Biggs out with a bang lol. I mentioned the hit-and-run idea to him and he said he didnt even think about that and it makes sense.

An Interceptor may technically be equally as fast in terms of raw forward speed, but it cant turn as much without sacrificing an action. Which means the only interceptors worth bringing are pushing 30pts or breaking 30pts. Countdown was 21pts and did a ridiculous amount of work, all without an EPT. The "boost" into their 2k/2sloops is also crazy wide where they can go and i got several angles where he couldnt shoot me because of it. And this was against an ARC, so i was dodging both his face and ass multiple turns in a row.

I doubt these ships would replace Soontir/Jax/Vader/Ryad/Vessery in Palpaces but they could easily replace OL/Inqy, both because theyre cheaper and that 3rd die primary makes their power only marginally lower w/o the abilities.

I have been playing with Whisper and 3 of the PS 1 strikers. If (and it is a big if) I can learn to fly these things better, I think it will be good. Currently, it is like driving an office chair on a tile floor while drunk.

I'll be getting at least 2. All three named seem silly fun. I also plan on playing Deci, countdown, duchess and painting the squad a special color of its remotely COMPETATIVE.

My concern is, what do they do against things they can't hit and run against? Like turrets for example. If they could take Autothrusters I'd be more inclined to play them, otherwise I don't know that I can justify bringing one competitively. Much the same as Soontir right now IMO, they'll be great in the right meta, but I don't really see them doing much to the current one. Should definitely be some fun to fly though once I pick one up!

Decided to not do a full fledge guide because im finding it difficult to take pictures of the board with my lighting/camera and get clean pictures. Instead, heres some of the odd patterns Strikers can do that i find myself using a lot. Pics are in spoilers because personally i hate it when people post multiple giant images on the forums, it makes scrolling take forever.

As for the turrets, they really cant do anything about them other than keep out of arc to dodge any in arc perks such as Dengar.

For reference, this is how fast they are in a straight line.

A tactic i was playing with for awhile i ditched because Daredevil just plain blows was move forward and 1turn into the side of a ship. Strikers are fixed as to how far they can do this, but they can do it w/o an action. Did this several times in my game.

Their 2sloop allows them to flip around on someone much wider than other sloops or tallonrolls. It goes out about as far as a 3Troll, but extends to the side by quite a bit.

Using a 1turn after a 1bank turns you very sharply, and unless someone was right behind you often you end up with a shot on them anyway. And if you didnt, barrelroll will let you get it.

I mentioned i did a 1bank into a 1turn the other way to try and not go forward as fast. That was actually a bad idea, as you can see here you actually end up a little bit further than you would with a 1fwd into a 1fwd.

Finally, you can almost get a 5K out of these guys. Soontir stands in to show how close you'd be if you could barrelroll after the sloop.

...isn't that all completely obvious?

I don't really need a photo to prove that 2+3=5

This is great! I can't wait to try them out! Thanks for the batrep!

...isn't that all completely obvious?

I don't really need a photo to prove that 2+3=5

I appreciated it.

Was your post necessary?

Only problem with the striker is goddamn turrets really neuter what you can get out of them

Otherwise, they look fun as hell

Thank you for the visuals! They really helped, especially with the 5k turn approximation.

...isn't that all completely obvious?

I don't really need a photo to prove that 2+3=5

The 5-straight comp may be obvious, but I appreciated the visualization anyway. The various S-loop photos were especially illuminating.

Lightning Reflexes on these guys are going to be hilarious.

Yeah I liked seeing them, cheers for that.

I'm all in on running these anyway, but it's clear that with the title and dial, this will become one of those lists I fly A LOT just to learn how it works best and base 90% of the skills on picking the right moves and boosts at the right time.

Love lists like that, not flown one in ages.

The title makes them a blast to fly. I played against a friend of mine who was flying Dash and both of us were surprised with just how quickly Strikers could get into range 1. I mean, one second Dash was shooting at just barely range 3, and the next the Strikers were blocking his escape route.

These suckers also pack a punch. Slap a Scout with Predator and Lightweight Frame and the title and you've got a fairly durable ship that can hold it's own.

I definitely agree that turrets are this ships bane, but turrets are a bane to anything that isn't named Fel or Autothrusters.

The title makes them a blast to fly. I played against a friend of mine who was flying Dash and both of us were surprised with just how quickly Strikers could get into range 1. I mean, one second Dash was shooting at just barely range 3, and the next the Strikers were blocking his escape route.

These suckers also pack a punch. Slap a Scout with Predator and Lightweight Frame and the title and you've got a fairly durable ship that can hold it's own.

I definitely agree that turrets are this ships bane, but turrets are a bane to anything that isn't named Fel or Autothrusters.

Was going to say the same thing, turrets like anything that doesn't have autothrusters....

Strikers are also incredibly weak against stress-dealing mechanics. I've used a Stress Bomber to stress them on the Aileron move, therefore preventing them from taking actions. Then, I stress it again in combat and bam, ship neutered.

I could see 4 x TLTs making a comeback if a worthy Striker build presets itself.

Part of why i think a support shuttle carting hux and a systems officer around could be okay

4 hl 2 agi matters less when theyre sporting focus evades

So what can you do with 55pts that really punishes turrets? That's how much I have left to bring the paying with.

@OP, my question is, how did you find Swam Leader on Pure Sabaac, and would you have gone with something else, like VI or Predator?

Yeah, stress dealing mechanics will probably neuter them. However the Rhymer Stresser specifically wouldnt be a problem.

The title is a maneuver, so it procs Snapshot. You dont know what my dial is yet, so you may lose the shot if you opt to not fire at me now, but if you do fire at me now, my revealed green maneuver just removes that stress and you cant snap me twice and i still get my action.

Breylan will be a problem, and Asajj. The rest will only be annoying imo but not a dealbreaker. The ywing stress build has been dead for eons it feels like, random Tactician is easily avoided, and i'll outfly Nein Nunb like crazy so he'll never get range1 on me, forcing him to take that stress and leave himself vulnerable or not stress at all.

The more i list build the less im liking countdown it seems. Im always 1-2pts shy of putting in the last ship i want and i keep looking at him going "hes not really THAT important...is he?"

His ability is gnarly but it also puts him in one of those Tarn Mison situations, where unless you got multiple ships able to hit him or you can bypass his shenanigans (stressbot stresses before the compare results step, unlike tactician, so i couldnt use his ability and wind up doublestressed but not dead) hes going to be largely ignored.

I think i'd rather him as my random Striker inclusion than any others simply because hes cheap and potent enough to be a problem on his own, but in a striker-specific list i think im better downgrading him to a Scarif Defender and bringing the third striker in lol.

edit: @SirCormac: Swarm Leader on Sabacc was hilarious - i 1shotted Biggs through his IA hehehe. If i have the ability to use Swarm Leader, i'll take it over any other EPT, but i could easily see VI for PS8 as a stand-alone striker since he's going to draw a lot of attention and he needs to position properly to dodge everyone.

Swarm Leader is basically an alpha-strike in an EPT form rather than ordnance. I run a bit of a risk doing it because of both im taking evades away from friends and im probably going to be the #1 target (and i was lol), but the reward was epic. Vaporized biggs and the other two strikers just lit the Uwing up afterwords...then he died to Breylan via really bad defense and unlucky crit...

So what can you do with 55pts that really punishes turrets? That's how much I have left to bring the paying with.

Fight turrets with turrets on a Decimator? Oiccun could fit there with a few upgrades.