Continuing my effort with trying to make Whisper work in the current meta, I've been thinking more about which crew to take on her. Currently I'm running this list:

Whisper: ACD, VI, FCS, Agent Kallus

Delta Squadron pilot: TIE/x7

Omicrom group pilot: Emperor Palpatine, Collition detector

98 points

In general I'm quite happy with the list. Palpatine is good, and the Delta is an excellent blocker at PS1, and not a bad ship in the endgame if Whisper goes down. So far I've almost automatically tried to keep lists with Whisper at 98 points to get the initiative, but taking another look at the meta, I've been reconsidering that, and I'm thinking about replacing Agent Kallus with another crew on Whisper.

First, I've looked at the possible matchups where initiative matters (I.E. lists with one or more PS9), and if the bid could make a difference:

Dengaroo: Often at 96 or 97 points (or less), so I'll loose that bid.

Parattani: Locked at 100 points, so 99 points would be enough.

Fat Han and imperial aces: not really common at the moment.

Rey or RAC: I've never seen either of these flown with Adaptablility.

In addition, Whisper has both advantages and disadvantages no matter who gets initiative.

So the conclusion so far is that I might risk taking a 3 point crew over Kallus. The two I've been considering are Kylo Ren and Rebel Captive. Kylo can protect both Whisper and the rest of the list with blinded pilot (if I can get that crit throught), or reduce the danger of higher PS with Damaged cockpit. The disadvantages is that it takes an action, and whitout Kallus, that means that my green dice might be completely unmodified. Rebel Captive might be less of an issue for some lists, but it will make mindlink lists more predictable, and it makes Whisper an even less attractive target.

What do you guys think? Kallus, Captive, Kylo Ren, or something I haven't thought about?

Given popularity of Attani Mindlink upgrade I would experiment with Rebel Captive. It really can screw up Attanni and Aces lists - also Defenders don't like to be stressed (with the exception of Ryad).

I'd go for Captive. It is good versus Parattanni and pretty much everything else.

6 minutes ago, Embir82 said:

Given popularity of Attani Mindlink upgrade I would experiment with Rebel Captive. It really can screw up Attanni and Aces lists - also Defenders don't like to be stressed (with the exception of Ryad).

I agree with traditional aces (having played them quite a lot), but my experience is that parattani does care abut stress, but not as much at one might think. It will make all the ships more predictable, but the amount of green maneuvers in that list is quite generous, an only one of the ships need to be able to take an action for everyone to get a focus. Ryad probably isn't an exception, since she most likely will have PtL. The great advantage with Captive is that it's on all the time, but i think the reward is significantly lesser.

Kylo is great. Damaged cockpit is outstanding for Whisper. Getting it in play is tricky and usually requires skirting asteroids and staying cloaked until it's on.

2 minutes ago, Dave Grant said:

Kylo is great. Damaged cockpit is outstanding for Whisper. Getting it in play is tricky and usually requires skirting asteroids and staying cloaked until it's on.

I didn't even consider staying cloaked to get it of. I thought the best situation to do the Kylo action is in the second or third round of engagement, when Whisper has a sub-optimal shot, but might be out of some of the opponents arcs. being cloaked is really not that strong without modifiers, so i don't know if that's a position I'm willing to put myself into to get Kylo in play. Is your experience positive with that strategy?

Generally yes. Getting to Range 3 behind a rock is the objective - giving you 6 dice which even without mods is generally fine. With Palp even 4-5 dice should be fine.

Out of arc would be better, but my most common PS9+ opponent is Dengar. Vs others 2-3 rounds of shooting second can often be enough for Whisper to be dead.

I have a lot of fun and success with this list:

Whisper 42(adv cloaking 4, fcs 2, vi 1, rebel captive 3)

Omega leader 29(common realy 3, juke 2, stealth device 3)

Palpmobile 29

100/100

I was secound of 57 in local regionals. Whisper is monster as always but need some skills and safety flying against TLT and ps9 and more. In those matches OL is really good with palp, evade, focus and stealth device he is very hard to kill. I manage to kill fenn in 2 turns only with OL. Rebel captive is good against mindlinks, defenders and expertise.

I think I've decided to try out Kylo Ren for å while. Attanni players I have talked to does not worry about captive at all since they have incredible greens. Also, Kylo gives me the ability to check range, the way many people use target locks and I think it might give me a proper strategy against some of the worst matchups.