While we were waiting for a few more people to show up before getting some games in the other day, a friend and I were discussing random bits of X-Wing when both Rage and Inspiring Recruit got brought up together... This turned to us attempting to find somewhere you could use the pairing of them in hopes of getting reliable damage through rerolls & focus provided by Rage, without sacrificing too much in the way of maneuverability...

First we thought of the B-Wing, as we have both run variations of Raging Keyan in the past... Sadly no generic B-Wing has an EPT which means no Rage, and the Uniques would be too expensive or have their abilities simply be wasted... After that we turned to the HWK, which was quickly knocked out of contention due to the fact that it, well, only has the 1 attack-die, not to mention once again being all Unique pilots with EPTs... We also considered TIE Bombers with the TIE Shuttle title; it would allow for 4 Gamma Squad Vets with Shuttle, Rage, Recruit, Tactician, and MkII Engines to be flown at 96 points. While this wasn't terribly bad, 2 attack-die wasn't going to do much work, even with the benefits of Rage... Then we thought of the G-1A.

So here is the nonsense we came up with in a moment of boredom.

100 points

4-LOM (27)

Rage (1)

Advanced Sensors (3)

Inspiring Recruit (1)

Inertial Dampeners (0)

Mist Hunter (0)

Tractor Beam (1)

Gand Findsman (25) x2

Rage (1)

Advanced Sensors (3)

Inspiring Recruit (1)

Inertial Dampeners (0)

Vectored Thrusters (2)

Advanced Sensors allows you to squeeze your actions in before moving, meaning you can Rage and then Green to clear the stress, or even Rage before popping ID. It also allows you that pre-move Barrel Roll if you feel it to be more important than modification. No telling how it might work, as sadly I'm quite a few cards short of flying it, but I'd love to give it a shot!

But..if you clear all the stress from.4-Lom, why take him? Maybe Zuckuss or a third Findsman?

With Rage, 4-LOM will still have stress at the point when the pilot ability triggers. If at range 1 of an enemy ship, trigger 4-LOM. Clear any stress you have left with a green move, Rage for action, wash, rinse and repeat.

You don't have to trigger Inspiring Recruit every time you remove stress. If you think you'll be at range 1 of a target, then you leave a stress on 4-LOM until the end phase. Otherwise, clear both stress to open his dial for the next round.

I've been using Rage and Inspiring on Keyan Farlander for a while now. I find it pretty effective. I've added Braylen Stress hog and Cassian (in various configurations). I think it's decent, but I may be way off. What do you mean waste their pilot ability? I though Keyan's calls for Inspiring/Rage?

Edit: to clarify, I do see the problem with manueverability. Hence the stresshog to make the enemy ships equally clunky or to keep aces from being able to reposition. Cassian just adds a level of utility incase Braylen can't manage his own stress or Keyan ends up stressed w/o a shot.

Also, I've seen someone fly an Attack Shuttle with Rage + TLT + inspiring. It makes sure you push through those 2 damage every turn, but I think there may be better TLT configurations out there.

41 minutes ago, RittsMJ said:

I've been using Rage and Inspiring on Keyan Farlander for a while now. I find it pretty effective. I've added Braylen Stress hog and Cassian (in various configurations). I think it's decent, but I may be way off. What do you mean waste their pilot ability? I though Keyan's calls for Inspiring/Rage?

Edit: to clarify, I do see the problem with manueverability. Hence the stresshog to make the enemy ships equally clunky or to keep aces from being able to reposition. Cassian just adds a level of utility incase Braylen can't manage his own stress or Keyan ends up stressed w/o a shot.

Also, I've seen someone fly an Attack Shuttle with Rage + TLT + inspiring. It makes sure you push through those 2 damage every turn, but I think there may be better TLT configurations out there.

The wasting of the ability thing was more targeted towards the other aces (Like Nera) who would need to be loaded down with other upgrades to be of much use.

As for Keyan, we run him with Rage, Advanced Sensors, the mod to get a crew slot that I always forget the name of, Jan Ors, then cannon-to-taste, if you have the points. Advanced Sensors to Rage, Jan Ors to turn the Focus into an Evade, reveal green maneuver, clear 1 stress, burn the other stress when attacking.

4 hours ago, Innese said:

The wasting of the ability thing was more targeted towards the other aces (Like Nera) who would need to be loaded down with other upgrades to be of much use.

As for Keyan, we run him with Rage, Advanced Sensors, the mod to get a crew slot that I always forget the name of, Jan Ors, then cannon-to-taste, if you have the points. Advanced Sensors to Rage, Jan Ors to turn the Focus into an Evade, reveal green maneuver, clear 1 stress, burn the other stress when attacking.

That's a build of Keyan I've not considered before. Personally, I prefer my 32 point variant of Keyan (Rage and Inspiring via Bwing E2) versus you're ~40 point variant (assuming mangler). First off Bwings greens are extremely limited (1/2 straights & 1 banks), so having inspiring onboard to clear both Rage stress (if you get a shot) opens up the dial to make you a bit less predictable. Secondly a 32 point Keyan opens up lots of other options for wingmates where as a ~40 point Keyan is a bit harder to match up with other useful builds. I originally ran Keyan with HLC to make his Rage more potent outside of R1, but I've found I get more out of having decked out wingmates and a slightly weaker R2/3 engage from Keyan.

I do agree that Jan Ors is basically a must for Keyan (or any 1 agility rebel ship). I just choose to have Jan on my support ship, which is typically a Uwing (currently Cassian).

38 minutes ago, RittsMJ said:

That's a build of Keyan I've not considered before. Personally, I prefer my 32 point variant of Keyan (Rage and Inspiring via Bwing E2) versus you're ~40 point variant (assuming mangler). First off Bwings greens are extremely limited (1/2 straights & 1 banks), so having inspiring onboard to clear both Rage stress (if you get a shot) opens up the dial to make you a bit less predictable. Secondly a 32 point Keyan opens up lots of other options for wingmates where as a ~40 point Keyan is a bit harder to match up with other useful builds. I originally ran Keyan with HLC to make his Rage more potent outside of R1, but I've found I get more out of having decked out wingmates and a slightly weaker R2/3 engage from Keyan.

I do agree that Jan Ors is basically a must for Keyan (or any 1 agility rebel ship). I just choose to have Jan on my support ship, which is typically a Uwing (currently Cassian).

We usually ran him along a Super Dash, where he could run in while Dash ran around the side/rear.

I'm still trying to figure out why you'd want to use Inspiring Recruit on Keyan, however, since his ability requires having a stress token to trigger; if you clear them both, then his ability does you no good.

I don't use the green maneuver to clear the stress. I use Keyan shooting using his pilot ability to remove both stress. Keyan "removes" a stress to change eyeballs to hits (regardless of whether you roll any eyeballs). I then trigger Inspiring Recruit. IR says "...when a friendly ship at range 1-2..." and since Keyan is a friendly ship he's a valid target (I believe). That means Keyan can Rage, take a shot, ditch both stress, and be stress free going into his next maneuver.

I also run Cassian so on the off chance I Rage on Keyan and don't get a shot I use Cassian's ability to clear the stress before Keyan moves. Granted that means Keyan holds onto a stress going into the next round if he Rages again.