I've gotten one game with my Tie Striker in it. I threw it in for the heck of it. I bumped and got blasted and spent the rest of the game running with it. I admit that I don't really have a clue on how to fly it. How does one fly the Tie Striker? Do you try to approach from the sides and boost in for a flank shot? Should you ever attempt to joust with it?

I'll admit that I care less about tournament level lists and really more about fun games. So, I don't care to hear comments like, "well, you are just better off taking x, y, or even z in a list". I want to fly my new ship and I don't care about beating the netlists. My opponents won't be flying them, so I'm not worried.

With that in mind, what else goes well with the Tie Striker? I've got one, so no double or triple lists. Please no Palpatine or Tie Defender /x7's please.

Explosions, TIE Strikers go well with explosions.

On a more serious note, they do well in TIE Swarms and alongside Bombers + TIE /D's

The strikers unique abilities are really diverse meaning you fly each one different. I also have not yet put them on the table, but it strikes me that countdown can joust pretty effectivly, duchess makes a great arc dodger, and pure sabaac a great flanker. I've heard of a couple people using the generics as blockers thanks to thier unpredictability and speed. Hope that helps

I've flown mine to try to flank and come in from the sides. They seem to fragile to joust with. I've seen a recommendation here yesterday that noted you should be trying to attack from range from the sides, and stay at range. This way you can use the firepower to effect while getting limited damage fired back. I haven't tried it yet...

I've only got three games in with mine, so I'm hardly the expert. In fact, I've run over rocks (in one case, dealing two damage cards to Sabbacc all by myself) in two of those games due to poorly planned adaptive aileron situations... one I bumped and my turn put me on a rock - the other I just visualized more room and I ended up face planting on the rock and forced to go through it the next turn as well. It's a really different beast to fly and quite unforgiving.

Fast and loose!

Kick the tires and light the fires, you fly it in the Danger Zone.

I'm interested in this as well, having just gotten mine. I was shocked at the max speed of 3 on the dial, but then if you add the aileron move, it's actually speed 5 so pretty decent.

I would say start with Countdown until you get the hang of it. Countdown can't get one shotted so you won't be as worried.

IME, poorly.

It's hella fun but so easy to make mistakes, and force help you if you try to synchronise your approach with non-Striker ships. I tried to run it alongside a Bomber Buddy and got absolutely hammered trying to get the approaches to line up.

Hit and Run strats.

Strikers are not good at knifefighting due to the ailerons, but can skirt around at range2 almost flawlessly due to the extra turn from ailerons. Bank away into a 1turn in followed by a barrelroll usually lets you dodge a lot of people. If you had a range1 shot last turn or was just barely in range2, dont even try to get a shot on that ship again unless you think you can kturn without getting shot at. Just look for an escape vector and book it, their ability to swipe around rocks saves their butts a LOT (both for obstruction and dodging arcs since most ships cant turn like that so it it wasnt planned for)

Dont be afraid to abuse your weird kturns/sloops. A 1bank aileron to the left followed by a 2left sloop will send you off to the side about the same distance as a 3turn + 1 fwd (at the end of the 3turn) and facing back in. Abuse the hell out of your on-the-fly choice for the ailerons too: ive had multiple situations where i planned a bankleft into a 2k but when it was time to move that ship i had a better option to bankright instead. Stress isnt the end for strikers, they just lose a ton of speed after that kturn so gotta be careful of that.

When deploying i tend to start them behind a rock. Even against a large rock a 1bank left into a 3bank right will sidestep the rock perfectly and give me about half a base extra speed. Rocks are your friend, hug them well but dont kiss them (especially with the aileron move, as you can hit a rock twice!)

Sabaac is the ultimate Striker imo. VI + Ailerons is all he needs to be a problem, as his ability removes range1 requirements he's a threat even at range3. Ive been royally pissing off some locals with this guy lol

13 minutes ago, thespaceinvader said:

It's hella fun but so easy to make mistakes, and force help you if you try to synchronise your approach with non-Striker ships. I tried to run it alongside a Bomber Buddy and got absolutely hammered trying to get the approaches to line up.

Yeah, the approach is rough. I flew mine once so far and messed up the approach. Totally bumped into the Tie Fighter next to me.

I got to play both of mine the other day. I used Sabaac with VI, LWF, and AA and Duchess with Juke, LWF, and AA along with Quickdraw with all kinds of upgrades. I flew the Strikers from opposite sides. Duchess is great at dancing and flitting in and out with her ability to turn off AA. Sabaac I would try to shoot from range 2-3 then use AA plus one of the turn around moves to get to the other side of my target. With Sabaac now stressed he can easily keep range 1 for the (hopefully) final engagement with that ship

On the bomber topic: my first game attempted a Tomax Shuttle strat (Fleet Officer, System Officer, Mk2, and Cool Hand). Your bombers will rarely be near the striker even if you try lol. I havnt tried normal bombers since Black One came out.

For the approach they need to flank. They turn like crazy, abuse it. If you try to joust with them they will evaporate quickly. They pair wonderfully with Defenders though, since Defenders are the polar opposite in strat and tend to draw initial attention anyway.

All three named strikers (VI/AA/Frame, VI/AA/Frame, AA/Hull) plus a support ship or fourth pocket ace (OL, Bomber Buddy, Palp) is such a fun list. BUt it's vulnerable enough to bombs and turrets, especially TLTs, that I really wouldn't want to run it in a serious competition.

57 minutes ago, Tbetts94 said:

I would say start with Countdown until you get the hang of it. Countdown can't get one shotted so you won't be as worried.

try flying countdown against a tlt ghost/phantom.... One shot just the same

1 minute ago, smccaughan said:

try flying countdown against a tlt ghost/phantom.... One shot just the same

Or anything with Gunner. Ugh.

My first game with a Striker (proxied at the time) was against someone who was, just for fun, running Echo/Whisper (VI/FCS/Gunner/ACD) and nothing else. I had Countdown, ExpInt/Baffles/Conner Net/Conner Net/EM deathrain, and Lone Wolf/Sensor Jammer/Pattern Analyser/Frame Backdraft.

Poor, poor Countdown never even stood a chance.

Initially i thought Countdown would be the best pilot but his problem is the moment he faces a gunner or tlt he is doomed.

The Gunner/Vader/HSCP deci is kinda common around here. That bastard practically autokills Countdown no matter how bad he rolled.

Just now, Vineheart01 said:

Initially i thought Countdown would be the best pilot but his problem is the moment he faces a gunner or tlt he is doomed.

The Gunner/Vader/HSCP deci is kinda common around here. That bastard practically autokills Countdown no matter how bad he rolled.

Yeah he will eat you up real quick.

I like duchess with lone wolf, lightweight frame and ailerons pretty well for 27 points but make sure you're flying her with friends who can punish turrets. Turrets ruin everything about strikers so if you can jam something (x7 defenders are nice for this though you seem to be adverse) in the turrets to take care of them duchess will either be Biggs or do decent work as a closer.

Of note, most of you may know this already but Adaptive Ailerons is a maneuver, not a boost. I made the mistake in a tourney this past weekend that cost me Duchess because i was thinking it was a boost and not a movement. Basically i had a 1 hard dialed in and planned on going slight right with a hard left to follow but misjudged the rock to my right and thought well i can't complete that because i can't boost onto a rock. i had to 1 hard left into range one of Soonts. 1 shot duchess right away. looking back after the match if i had gone through with the move i may have taken a damage but i would have had soonts at range 1 and been out of his arc.

so yeah don't make my mistake folks.

Yes AA is a maneuver not a boost. Important for a number of reasons.

I even ran Sabaac with EU once. Be surprised how potent that was being able to "double boost" lol

This is why its VERY important you dont hit a rock with that aileron move. Also the crit that gives you a stress after a white maneuver is a pain in the ass.

4 minutes ago, Vineheart01 said:

This is why its VERY important you dont hit a rock with that aileron move. Also the crit that gives you a stress after a white maneuver is a pain in the ass.

I have actually sometimes found it useful to aileron onto a rock/debris if I need/want to go through it. You don't lose actions from it and you can clear your stress from a follow-up green maneuver if you're hitting debris.

Likewise, the crit can be unexpectedly useful (for duchess). Dial in an sloop and if they move to where that would be bad you can take the surprise of aileron, get a stress, reveal a red, do a white 2 straight.

For other strikers that crit is probably the worst thing ever but duchess can use it in interesting ways.

Well yeah overlapping the rock with the aileron entirely isnt that bad, i more meant you tagged it so now your normal move hits it too. The #1 reason i lost in a local tourney a couple weeks ago with Sabaac was this reason: he clipped a rock, took a damage, hit it with the normal move, took a crit -> double damage. I was livid....

51 minutes ago, Vineheart01 said:

Hit and Run strats.

Strikers are not good at knifefighting due to the ailerons, but can skirt around at range2 almost flawlessly due to the extra turn from ailerons. Bank away into a 1turn in followed by a barrelroll usually lets you dodge a lot of people. If you had a range1 shot last turn or was just barely in range2, dont even try to get a shot on that ship again unless you think you can kturn without getting shot at. Just look for an escape vector and book it, their ability to swipe around rocks saves their butts a LOT (both for obstruction and dodging arcs since most ships cant turn like that so it it wasnt planned for)

Dont be afraid to abuse your weird kturns/sloops. A 1bank aileron to the left followed by a 2left sloop will send you off to the side about the same distance as a 3turn + 1 fwd (at the end of the 3turn) and facing back in. Abuse the hell out of your on-the-fly choice for the ailerons too: ive had multiple situations where i planned a bankleft into a 2k but when it was time to move that ship i had a better option to bankright instead. Stress isnt the end for strikers, they just lose a ton of speed after that kturn so gotta be careful of that.

When deploying i tend to start them behind a rock. Even against a large rock a 1bank left into a 3bank right will sidestep the rock perfectly and give me about half a base extra speed. Rocks are your friend, hug them well but dont kiss them (especially with the aileron move, as you can hit a rock twice!)

Sabaac is the ultimate Striker imo. VI + Ailerons is all he needs to be a problem, as his ability removes range1 requirements he's a threat even at range3. Ive been royally pissing off some locals with this guy lol

Excellent Write up Vineheart01; spot on. I wish I had one to practice on (a pair is on the "to get" list)

Maybe you should be a guest on a podcast .....oh, idk, like Shuttle Tyderium or another good one, to give a great synopsis on this and/or other new ships.

9 minutes ago, clanofwolves said:

Excellent Write up Vineheart01; spot on. I wish I had one to practice on (a pair is on the "to get" list)

Maybe you should be a guest on a podcast .....oh, idk, like Shuttle Tyderium or another good one, to give a great synopsis on this and/or other new ships.

Literally never listened to a podcast lol appreciate the compliment though.

8 minutes ago, Vineheart01 said:

Literally never listened to a podcast lol appreciate the compliment though.

It basically for when you are driving and can't be on the FFG forums too much, but still want to think about X-wing.