Phoenix Home

First of all, anyone who hasn't listened to the latest IFF, those guys are spot on. This is a tough ship to fit into the current Rebel meta. I think it use is more that it does some of the things that the Rebels already do differently and at a slightly lower point cost. It isn't uncommon for AFMKIIs already to be used without any dice modification, so it shouldn't be a detriment to the Pelta if it doesn't.

For the points, I'd think something like Yavaris, Pelta, max squads, certainly a Bright Hope with BCC, and then a couple more activations. That list should be doing well both on placement and on activation count, both of which can do a lot to keep the Pelta alive, if that's a concern to people.

I think another dimension of flying it well is going to come down to staying mostly at red range while forcing an opponent to fly through your squadron mass first. Then your ships finish off what's left. If a ship or two doesn't get through to shoot at your Pelta, then they'll have a hard time concentrating fire.

All squads follow me is definitely attractive in a squadron heavy list. It particularly makes Xs and Ys very mobile, and even Bs can get a move on it when paired with FCT.

Entrapment formation should be very useful with MC30s or anything that really wants to change speeds without a Nav command, though MC30s are the key that springs to mind.

Shields to Maximum might be the dud card. First, even though opponents should be focusing down a target, that's not always possible. I've certainly had multiple ships damaged on the same turn simply because of where they are positioned. I think the real key is that you want to be trading fire at red range where damage totals are lower, and you want your fleet built to throw a lot more at the opposing fleet. In practice, I've not got that to work out very well. Its just too hit/miss as an upgrade.

Pelta Assault: This is the wildcard. You really want the modification,but don't have a great way to get it. In some ways, the Pelta Assault is really just a beefier Raider with a better defensive token layout. So theoretically speaking, you really ought to be able to fly it in similar ways. One wonders if you could insert it into a Rieekan list with Engine techs and get slightly better performance than an SW-7 Corvette. In some ways, wave 5 is the expansion of "small ships that are not easy to one-shot," so there's probably a build or two out there in which the Pelta Assault ends up pretty strong.

On the whole, I think the Interdictor will make more of a comeback, and the Pelta will be around with some people getting it to work, but it ending up largely ignored.