5 minutes ago, BlodVargarna said:

I worry about spending the focus and being left without the benefit of a focus token for the eyeball to crit ability of the Proton torps.

I think I’d rather see crack shot with these and just rely on AO to have a fully modded shot when you get them.

You don't need to have the token to change focus to crit for Proton torps. I think if given the choice, if you've got focus + tl you probably still spend the TL to shoot the torpedoes since I think for a 4 dice attack you're averaging 3 hits using either focus or TL to modify. Given that though, crack shot is an interesting idea that could push through an additional 3 damage on something. I might try both and see what I end up liking better.

3 minutes ago, imrandy85 said:

You don't need to have the token to change focus to crit for Proton torps. I think if given the choice, if you've got focus + tl you probably still spend the TL to shoot the torpedoes since I think for a 4 dice attack you're averaging 3 hits using either focus or TL to modify. Given that though, crack shot is an interesting idea that could push through an additional 3 damage on something. I might try both and see what I end up liking better.

Good catch on proton torps.

I went to a tournament last weekend that was intended to be a regional warm-up event. Unable to decide which of my potential regional lists to take, I decided to use one of the T-70 lists I posted on the previous page. This was the list I went with:

“Blue Ace” - BB-8, Primed Thrusters, Integrated Astromech

“Snap” Wexley - Intensity, Flight Assist Astromech, Primed Thrusters, Integrated Astromech

“Red Ace” - R2-D2, Comm Relay, Autothrusters

Total = 100pts

Unfortunately the event did not go well for me, and I had my worst set of results using 3 X-Wings yet (T-70's or T-65's), which was disappointing as I think this was one of the strongest triple T-70 lists I've used. Also, as a lot of people were practicing for next months regional I think the lists I faced were a higher tier than I was used to facing. Here's a quick rundown of the games:

Round 1 - Kannan (Maul/Rey/TLT/Sensor Jammer), Ezra Attack Shuttle, PS10 Fenn (HSCP/FAA)

I had terrible red dice for most of this game, even rolling 4 dice I wasn't getting any hits some of the time. Took me 4 attacks on Fenn to remove his shield. Kannan only used his ability once and Fenn's ability didn't come up that often either, it was Hot Shot Co-Pilot that caused most of the problems. Blue Ace died halfway through the game (I think Fenn killed him) and after several turns of chasing Kannan, Snap eventually died too. Red Ace was never seriously threatened. At the end of the game my opponent made a mistake, dialling a red move for Kannan and forgetting he was stressed already. This meant he headed straight for the board edge. Fortunately for him time ran out that round before we could get to placing dials again. If we had another turn, Kannan would have been unable to avoid going off and would have taken the Attack Shuttle with him. I got half points for Kannan as by that point he was down to 2 hull, but lost by 35pts when I was 1 minute from a guaranteed 13pt win.

Round 2 - Dash (HLC/Lone Wolf/Recon Spec/EU) and PS11 Poe (Optics/BB-8/Autothrusters)

Basically a lot of chasing and trying to get a decent shot on either Dash or Poe. Turn 2 I was tempted to just spend the game running away and play for final salvo (as I had 9 red dice to his 5) but you can't play a game like that. Blue Ace got badly damaged early on and I tried to get him out the way but Poe hunted him down. Shooting at Poe was pointless but I was starting to get some damage through on Dash. On the very last turn Snap had Dash trapped in the corner, but I was unable to remove his last shield to get half points from him. I lost 30-0 but even if I had taken Dash's shields I still would have lost 30-29.

Round 3 - Talonbane Cobra, Sol Sixxa, Constable Zuvio

This was an interesting list, very Ion-heavy with bombs, missiles, EMP device and Conner Net, plus Minefield Mapper laying down a set of Cluster Mines. He deployed all his ships together and I sent Blue and Snap the long way round to avoid the closely packed debris and mines, while Red Ace advanced slowly straight towards them. Red Ace got repeatedly ionised and ended up heading towards the table edge, but I managed to boost her away. Sol Sixxa also got ionised by being caught in his own bomb blast and went off (he almost certainly would have been killed by Snap next turn if he hadn't). In a bizarre twist, both my opponent and I got our dials set to the wrong direction in the same turn. He banked Talonbane in the wrong direction, leaving him pointing straight at the table edge with not enough space to turn round. I dialled a left talon roll for Red Ace when I meant to dial right and sent her straight off the table! First time I have sent a ship off the table in years. Talonbane went off the next turn. If we had both got our manoeuvres right Red and Talonbane would have been shooting at each other at point blank range that turn, which would have made things interesting. This just left Blue and Snap to hunt down the damaged Zuvio, and they duly dispatched him 2 turns later. I won 100-38 but if it hadn't been for flying Red off it would have been 100-0. The only damage I sustained that game was one shield off Red Ace.

Round 4 - Ryad (PTL/X7), Vessery (Ruthlessness/TIE/D/Tractor Beam), Harpoon Nu

With boosts, K-turns and Slams this was a game where both sides had to take their shots where they could get them. I got the upper hand early on by reducing the Gunboat to 1 hull (aided by Vessery's Ruthlessness) and stripping Vessery's shields. Red Ace then did the same to Ryad, before coming under a barrage of fire from the 2 Defenders at range 2. Without the benefit of Autothrusters and my agility reduced to 1 by the Tractor beam Red Ace was reduced to 1 hull in a turn (Direct Hit crit didn't help). Ruthlessness meant I lost 2 shields from Blue as well. Red was forced to go over a debris marker the following turn, taking the shield I had just got back from R2 and was easily killed by a fully-tokened up Ryad (the first time Red Ace had been destroyed in all the time I had used her). I got some revenge by destroying the Gunboat the next turn before it could fire it's Harpoons. We then jostled back into position, Blue Ace being destroyed trying to get away and Snap taking out Vessery (Direct Hit helping me this time). On the last turn Snap and Ryad found themselves facing each other at range 1. Snap shot first, but Ryad evaded it all with her dice and evade token, and then did just enough damage in return to make sure my Integrated Astromech was no help. Final score 100-64 to my opponent.

So I only won 1 out of 4 games, but 2 of them could easily have swung my way and things would look very different then. I missed Pattern Analyser on Snap, as being able to take a standard focus action after K-turning would have helped me flip Intensity more often. To fit it in I would swap BB-8 on Blue Ace for another Flight Assist Astromech. BB-8 was very useful for dodging rocks and a Conner Net, but I think it would be worthwhile to get a bit more out of Snap who was definitely a more useful pilot.

FAA on blue ace is definitely awesome ... I'd recommend it to anyone. It's my new favorite ship.

1 minute ago, Dreadai said:

FAA on blue ace is definitely awesome ... I'd recommend it to anyone. It's my new favorite ship.

In trying out trip T-70s a few times, Blue Ace with FAA is definitely the most fun you can have!

On ‎13‎/‎02‎/‎2018 at 2:54 PM, Dreadai said:

FAA on blue ace is definitely awesome ... I'd recommend it to anyone. It's my new favorite ship.

Yeah that would have been my preferred choice over BB-8 but as it was a tournament I had to go with the cards I actually had.

Came up with another idea for triple T-70 Red Squadron Veterans that definitely falls into the uncompetitive category but should be fun to try out:

JUKING T-70's

3 x Red Squadron Veteran (26) - Juke (2), R3 Astromech (2), Comm Relay (3), Integrated Astromech (0) - 33pts

Total = 99pts

R3 does not have a good reputation and for the most part that is fully justified, but because you cancel the focus result and gain the evade token before your opponent rolls his defence dice you can get the benefit of using Juke on him, so missing out on the opportunity to change a focus to a hit is mitigated somewhat. the Comm Relay means you then should keep the token for the next turn when facing higher PS ships (the main downside of R3). The best thing is it means you can afford to use your focus token for defence a bit more, or choose to boost and still have a way of potentially improving your damage output.

7 hours ago, JudgeDeath said:

Yeah that would have been my preferred choice over BB-8 but as it was a tournament I had to go with the cards I actually had.

Came up with another idea for triple T-70 Red Squadron Veterans that definitely falls into the uncompetitive category but should be fun to try out:

JUKING T-70's

3 x Red Squadron Veteran (26) - Juke (2), R3 Astromech (2), Comm Relay (3), Integrated Astromech (0) - 33pts

Total = 99pts

R3 does not have a good reputation and for the most part that is fully justified, but because you cancel the focus result and gain the evade token before your opponent rolls his defence dice you can get the benefit of using Juke on him, so missing out on the opportunity to change a focus to a hit is mitigated somewhat. the Comm Relay means you then should keep the token for the next turn when facing higher PS ships (the main downside of R3). The best thing is it means you can afford to use your focus token for defence a bit more, or choose to boost and still have a way of potentially improving your damage output.

It's an interesting idea, I'll give you that! Dumping a focus result to assign an evade is useful if you want tanky T-70s, and also frees up your actions when it gets tough (example focus for attack/defence or boost to get closer/out of arc). Ultimately I think you run the risk of losing a ship before you even fire (a common problem with low PS ships, even with IA giving you a "free" hit so to speak). If they ever release a Chardaan Refit-style card for the T-70 (which I think it kinda needs), you could maybe add Autothrusters to increase survivability, which might make this list more viable.

That said, give it a try! We can theorycraft and talk about probabilities, strengths/weaknesses and "the meta" all day long, but ultimately it's also the dice and your tactics on the day that are the deciding factor. Plus, even if it isn't "good", if you enjoy flying it isn't that kinda the point?

Further thoughts on the topic based off my results this weekend! Here

1 hour ago, Stryker359 said:

Further thoughts on the topic based off my results this weekend! Here

So, going on your experience how would you approach making a viable build?

1 minute ago, Estarriol said:

So, going on your experience how would you approach making a viable build?

I'm not entirely certain, yet. The R3/Juke/Comm Relay build suggested above may have legs, as does the Intensity/Comm Relay mentioned a few pages previously. I also think a fair amount of the triple T-70's viability is down to luck and strategy. My list failed me because for the most part, I did not play it properly and my dice were cold all day. In the hands of someone competent with the right levels of practice, it might have gone very differently.

Looking at your list and pictures I was surprised you flew in formation. Blue ace is an exceptionally good flanking ship. Glad you enjoyed the list though. Regional is a baptism of fire for any list, kudos for sticking to your guns.

3 minutes ago, Dreadai said:

Looking at your list and pictures I was surprised you flew in formation. Blue ace is an exceptionally good flanking ship. Glad you enjoyed the list though. Regional is a baptism of fire for any list, kudos for sticking to your guns.

Looking back, it was stupid. Jess' rerolls mean she needs wingmen, but she was dying so early on usually that I may as well have run all three individually. With the original list, which had an RSV rather than Jess, I probably would have done just that.

Mistakes were made, as they say, and it was a learning experience!

It looks like you ran into some of the same difficulties I did in my tournament @Stryker359 , which is unsurprising I guess as our lists were fairly similar. Having Jess definitely makes you want to fly in a certain way, which is why I went for Snap instead as I wanted them to act a bit more independently. I think the Intensity/Comm Relay Red Squadron Vet list looks pretty strong, but will probably require a lot of practice to get the best from. The main difficulty I see with that list is getting hold of enough copies of Intensity and Flight Assist Astromech as they aren't that widely available yet.

I'm definitely a fan of the idea that you should take a list you enjoy using to a tournament rather than chasing the meta, especially if its your first major event. I took triple T-65's to my first regional last year and enjoyed myself, even though I got destroyed in a couple of games. It was after that I moved onto using mainly T-70's instead.

8 hours ago, JudgeDeath said:

It looks like you ran into some of the same difficulties I did in my tournament @Stryker359 , which is unsurprising I guess as our lists were fairly similar. Having Jess definitely makes you want to fly in a certain way, which is why I went for Snap instead as I wanted them to act a bit more independently. I think the Intensity/Comm Relay Red Squadron Vet list looks pretty strong, but will probably require a lot of practice to get the best from. The main difficulty I see with that list is getting hold of enough copies of Intensity and Flight Assist Astromech as they aren't that widely available yet.

I'm definitely a fan of the idea that you should take a list you enjoy using to a tournament rather than chasing the meta, especially if its your first major event. I took triple T-65's to my first regional last year and enjoyed myself, even though I got destroyed in a couple of games. It was after that I moved onto using mainly T-70's instead.

I agree with just about everything you say there! That said, I think the list has legs and could have performed so much better if I'd known how to fly it effectively. I don't think I'd have necessarily won any more games, but I might not have been battered to death 100-0 so many times

Definitely going to keep experimenting with the ship in casual play, and maybe smaller-scale tournaments/events. If there's a way to make it work, I think it's up to us to find it, the game deserves multiples list with X-Wings to be competitive. You can bet your butt I'm going to be flying the **** out of the T-65 again when the fix is announced, so maybe we brave few will try and make X-Wings of all generations viable again!

I think they're just not very forgiving of mistakes, that makes you a better pilot in the long run. After playing T70s exclusively for so long I find other ships a lot easier to fly!

The Red Squadron list is probably the most solid I've seen for ages, but I do like the named pilots still. Just getting autothrusters etc on everything is what makes them more reliable, but is also pretty expensive.

I'm running Snap/Jess/Norra for fun at the moment, it's decent. I'd like to play more games with the three RS Veterans as well though.

Trying this tonight. I think it’s got legs. Let’s see if it’s actually a quadriplegic.

http://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Rebel Alliance&d=v4!s!176:-1,253,254:-1:15:;197:96,-1,163,204:39:20:;177:232,-1,253,153:-1:20:&sn=Unnamed Squadron&obs=

Here's a run-n-gun list with some Novice cover fire:

Nien Nunb (29)
Push the Limit (3)
R2 Astromech (1)
Advanced Optics (2)
Vectored Thrusters (2)

"Snap" Wexley (28)
Push the Limit (3)
R2 Astromech (1)
Advanced Optics (2)
Vectored Thrusters (2)

Blue Squadron Novice (24)
R3-A2 (2)
Primed Thrusters (1)
Integrated Astromech (0)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

3 hours ago, Dreadai said:

Trying this tonight. I think it’s got legs. Let’s see if it’s actually a quadriplegic.

http://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Rebel Alliance&d=v4!s!176:-1,253,254:-1:15:;197:96,-1,163,204:39:20:;177:232,-1,253,153:-1:20:&sn=Unnamed Squadron&obs=

Whether it works or not, that list looks hilarious to fly/fly against! Where is he coming from? Where will he go? Is he in range one? Nobody knows!

Just came up with this, which could be good for a giggle or two!

https://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Rebel Alliance&d=v4!s!196:27,-1,148,203:39:15:;177:214,-1,253,203:-1:15:;177:214,-1,253,203:-1:15:&sn=Poe %26 Co.&obs=

11 minutes ago, Stryker359 said:

Just came up with this, which could be good for a giggle or two!

https://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Rebel Alliance&d=v4!s!196:27,-1,148,203:39:15:;177:214,-1,253,203:-1:15:;177:214,-1,253,203:-1:15:&sn=Poe %26 Co.&obs=

You’ve got a real primed thrusters addiction there. You can get help with that.

14 hours ago, Dreadai said:

You’ve got a real primed thrusters addiction there. You can get help with that.

I can, doesn't mean I want to! Primed thrusters are so much fun!

On 2/20/2018 at 5:07 PM, Dreadai said:

Trying this tonight. I think it’s got legs. Let’s see if it’s actually a quadriplegic.

http://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Rebel Alliance&d=v4!s!176:-1,253,254:-1:15:;197:96,-1,163,204:39:20:;177:232,-1,253,153:-1:20:&sn=Unnamed Squadron&obs=

Finally got a few games in with this ... 0-3 against

• Scum Jank (Jostero, Nym, Kulda)
• Palp Aces (OGP, QD, Ryad)
• Imperial Aces (Vader, Soontir, Turr Phennir)

I learned that the list is huge fun to fly, and a great list to break out against newer players who are flying meta lists. I didn't feel like I should have won any of the games I played ... two strong meta lists and a horrid ace list filled with repositioning was a tough call for a mid PS T-70 crew.

Biggest point about these lists is that the lack of a high PS closer is really tough. T-70s are resilient enough, and you can leverage abilities to spread firing arcs out ... but without a Poe in there to be PS9/11 I struggled.

On 26/02/2018 at 11:01 AM, Dreadai said:

Biggest point about these lists is that the lack of a high PS closer is really tough. T-70s are resilient enough, and you can leverage abilities to spread firing arcs out ... but without a Poe in there to be PS9/11 I struggled.

PS is everything these days, which really sucks when you want to play mid-PS lists. That said, I think triple T-70s can potentially stand up to meta lists IF (and I really do stress IF ) the dice are on your side.

That said, it makes me wonder whether a PS11 Poe supported by two other T-70s might be worth a shot at some point. Chances are your opponent will focus on Poe, leaving the two others to outmanoeuvre and pounce, or vice-versa. I can't say it'll be any good , but it might work?

On 2/20/2018 at 1:00 PM, SpikeSpiegel said:

Here's a run-n-gun list with some Novice cover fire:

Nien Nunb (29)
Push the Limit (3)
R2 Astromech (1)
Advanced Optics (2)
Vectored Thrusters (2)

"Snap" Wexley (28)
Push the Limit (3)
R2 Astromech (1)
Advanced Optics (2)
Vectored Thrusters (2)

Blue Squadron Novice (24)
R3-A2 (2)
Primed Thrusters (1)
Integrated Astromech (0)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

I like it but flight assist astromech might be a good swap for R2.

1 hour ago, BlodVargarna said:

I like it but flight assist astromech might be a good swap for R2.

But the stress from PtL needs to clear.