I have my fun with the Rhymer Ball, but I want to try something else. I also realize that the days with no fighter are over, so I am trying to put together and list with minimal cheap, deterrent fighters. Really just a bunch of TIES to defend my ISD and VSD's from someone else's fighter attack.

I have found that you can get a pretty large fighter screen of TIEs for pretty cheap, but I am also considering equipping all my ships with Quad Laser Turrets, but I just don 't know if they would provide any deterrent. Imagine I get attacked by B-wings. With 5 hits it will take about 10 counter attacks to kill them. 10 bombing runs from a b-wing will seriously ruin just about anything.

My ISD has 2 blue and one of my VSD is the Warlord so they will do okay at AA fire. And I would hope my TIEs would do some damage too, but their real purpose is to tie stuff up.

The Question is the Quad Laser Turrets a viable part of the anti-fighter strategy or is it just too little to justify the points and the upgrade slot.

They are Ok but on their own they just aren't good enough. I don't think they are meant to deter anyone but offer a way to pile up the damage in a larger AA strategy. they tend to work better when you are trying to kill the enemy fighter hordes. They tend to not be worth it when you are trying to delay, the general strategy when you are taking a minimal screen.

Problems:

1. Don't work on Rhymer at all.

2. Cost.

3. Require additional AA assets to be worthwhile.

It is as long as you have a plan to support it with AA/squadrons. It won't kill any sqaudrons but it may force low health squads to disengage early.

In regular games, with regular lists... Probably not.

IN the Corellian Campaign... Where you are guaranteed to never have to face Rhymer as an Imperial Player?

GOLD

QLTs will not do it alone. You need to get damage in before, and potential damage in after.

Say you attack that 5 hull B with a TIE for two damage first. If the bomber wing runs with Intel you will not tie it up and the BWing goes on to attack your ISD. It now has 3 blue dice coming its way, one from QLT and two from the regular attack afterwards. It is at three hull so it can potentially be destroyed without getting another attack against you.

Now if that will prevent any attacks, I don't think so. Keep in mind that even if you reduce the bomber to one HP before its attack it will still hit you first. But QLTs might just be the one additional attack necessary to score the kill and keep the bomber from running away.

Can QLT prevent attacks? No. But they can absolutely help you to score points for squadron kills.

You'll also find that, very often, once an opponent's bomber gets to 1 hull remaining, they'll often be loathe to attack a ship that might get the kill with QLT. From a defensive perspective, this effectively reduces the bombers' hull by 1, in that your objective defensively is to stop them from bombing your **** . Whether they do so voluntarily because of the threat of losing the squadron, or because you blew up the squadron, doesn't much matter to your ship--either way, you've removed that source of damage from the game.

Now, does that make them worth taking? Eeehhhh... As part of a larger squadron defense strategy, possibly... but they certainly won't keep you safe on their own.

i used to glue quads onto my ships that had a close range mentality (VSD1 for instance) because i felt they were the most likely to need it.

i almost never even get to use it. Either Rhymer balls denying it or getting shredded by the ships alone always negates it.

Just now, Ardaedhel said:

Now, does that make them worth taking? Eeehhhh... As part of a larger squadron defense strategy, possibly... but they certainly won't keep you safe on their own.

Completely and utterly situational, but I gave my opponents the Sophie's choice of sending Z-95s towards my 2 Die ISD supported with the 1 die Interdictor...

... Or take on a Pair of QLT equipped VSDs...

It certainly stops those Red Die Swingers becoming adventurous... Does it slow down a dedicated bomber wing of Ys? Not yet, but it certainly softens them for the Bosskman to do his thing.

7 minutes ago, Drasnighta said:

In regular games, with regular lists... Probably not.

IN the Corellian Campaign... Where you are guaranteed to never have to face Rhymer as an Imperial Player?

GOLD

This was the beautiful realization I just had as I'm struggling through three lists of 150+ points of rebel bombers. I'm very excited now

Just now, Card Knight said:

This was the beautiful realization I just had as I'm struggling through three lists of 150+ points of rebel bombers. I'm very excited now

Its not a solution, but it certainly helps .

1 minute ago, Drasnighta said:

Its not a solution, but it certainly helps .

A little help is all I need right now. Not enough points to add in adequate anti squad squads, not enough points to add in a anti-squad Raider. A QLT might be just enough in the middle ground to help out what I have on the cheap

I like QLT on an ISD I with PDR, Kallus, and H9. You always deal 1 damage to scatter aces now.

You have to make a list with QLT to work. You can't just throw it in at the end because you have 5 points remaining and a slot available. You should have a plan to force squads to attack you and a way to deal extra damage to them.

14 minutes ago, Card Knight said:

This was the beautiful realization I just had as I'm struggling through three lists of 150+ points of rebel bombers. I'm very excited now

Hey. I only have 52 points in bombers and 111 in a hot mess of smugglers.

1 minute ago, Church14 said:

Hey. I only have 52 points in bombers and 111 in a hot mess of smugglers.

Shhhh you're not supposed to see my strats before next game. And some of those smugglers are either throwing two dice or have bomber anyway...

Update: Also bringing cluster bombs

8 minutes ago, Undeadguy said:

I like QLT on an ISD I with PDR, Kallus, and H9. You always deal 1 damage to scatter aces now.

You have to make a list with QLT to work. You can't just throw it in at the end because you have 5 points remaining and a slot available. You should have a plan to force squads to attack you and a way to deal extra damage to them.

PDR is next to useless there I think (the only situation I might consider PDR is Warlord).

25 minutes ago, pt106 said:

PDR is next to useless there I think (the only situation I might consider PDR is Warlord).

PDR is a useless card anyway. I was trying to find a use for it and it works nice on an ISD I when you need to get an Acc off blue dice.

26 minutes ago, Undeadguy said:

PDR is a useless card anyway. I was trying to find a use for it and it works nice on an ISD I when you need to get an Acc off blue dice.

But H9 already guarantees that for you.

Just now, Ardaedhel said:

But H9 already guarantees that for you.

True, but if you decide not to run H9 it can be useful. I've yet to find anyone else trying to use PDR. You might want to run XI7 on an ISD I because of the extra damage. I did it for Kallus.

1 hour ago, Card Knight said:

Shhhh you're not supposed to see my strats before next game. And some of those smugglers are either throwing two dice or have bomber anyway...

Update: Also bringing cluster bombs

You guys seriously hate those Ewings.

1 hour ago, pt106 said:

PDR is next to useless there I think (the only situation I might consider PDR is Warlord).

QLT + Warlord + H9 Turbolasers = guaranteed 1 damage on counter. Also a guaranteed damage on a normal attack.. I'm about to add that in round 2 of CC to supplement my TIE fighter screen. I think that's much better than PDR.

<Edit: Didn't see the full thread. This is a duplicate of Undeadguy's thought.>

I've got a Raider I with Agent Kallus, Ordnance Experts, Quad Laser Turrets, Flechette Torpedoes and Impetuous. It's sudden death on Rebel squadrons. The Raider 1 has longer range, which is nice when I don't expect the enemy to come to me, but the black dice are more fun.

Don't bother. I once made a list of two GSD-IIs, an ISD-II, and a RDR all armed with Quad Laser turrets to fling at a fighter ball. It was so hilariously ineffective that it wasn't worth finishing out the game. Blue dice do nothing when rolled individually. Had QLTs been Black dice, then that would be something.

Your best counter against fighters is other fighters. Take TIEs if nothing else, Interceptors if you want some quality and blowback.

If everyone stopped putting them on Raiders they might get better rep.

1.) Noone wants to park their squadron ball next too a raider, so they won't attack it unless it will die.

2.) If they focus it, 5 bombers will probably kill it. Suddenly you are thinking that 3 damage on 3 squadrons was a bit rubbish, and you are wondering why you bothered wasting 5 points.

QLTs belong on ships that have the hull to survive a few rounds of bombers, which then lets the damage add up. It still needs other sources.

It also then needs to be on a ship that they actually want to attack, like a flagship, or main threat.

I use QLTs in my dual ISD list.

With Kallus, Mauler, and Leading shots, and supporting AA fields from both ISDs, you kill squadron balls very quickly.

54 minutes ago, TheCallum said:

If everyone stopped putting them on Raiders they might get better rep.

1.) Noone wants to park their squadron ball next too a raider, so they won't attack it unless it will die.

2.) If they focus it, 5 bombers will probably kill it. Suddenly you are thinking that 3 damage on 3 squadrons was a bit rubbish, and you are wondering why you bothered wasting 5 points.

QLTs belong on ships that have the hull to survive a few rounds of bombers, which then lets the damage add up. It still needs other sources.

It also then needs to be on a ship that they actually want to attack, like a flagship, or main threat.

I use QLTs in my dual ISD list.

With Kallus, Mauler, and Leading shots, and supporting AA fields from both ISDs, you kill squadron balls very quickly.

wut. I don't think thats how it works.

also, enjoy having your brace locked when you fight medium and large ships?

5 minutes ago, Blail Blerg said:

wut. I don't think thats how it works.

also, enjoy having your brace locked when you fight medium and large ships?

How what works?

What does the brace have to do with it? I have ECMs...