In a long line of crazy lists I'm willing to try... I present this shred of insanity.

Sanity Save - Critical FAIL (99)

"Howlrunner" (18) - TIE Fighter
Adaptability (0)

Shadow Squadron Pilot (27) - TIE Phantom
Shadow Squadron Pilot (27) - TIE Phantom
Shadow Squadron Pilot (27) - TIE Phantom

In discussion, I mentioned how I might try four generic Phantoms and fly them like Xwings. I know PS3 however has some flaws to little gain... So Howlrunner may be of more use with the better generics. It's an all or nothing list, it's got gaping holes, but green dice don't seem to matter anyway these days so lots throw some red ones!

6 minutes ago, LagJanson said:

In a long line of crazy lists I'm willing to try... I present this shred of insanity.

Sanity Save - Critical FAIL (99)

"Howlrunner" (18) - TIE Fighter
Adaptability (0)

Shadow Squadron Pilot (27) - TIE Phantom
Shadow Squadron Pilot (27) - TIE Phantom
Shadow Squadron Pilot (27) - TIE Phantom

In discussion, I mentioned how I might try four generic Phantoms and fly them like Xwings. I know PS3 however has some flaws to little gain... So Howlrunner may be of more use with the better generics. It's an all or nothing list, it's got gaping holes, but green dice don't seem to matter anyway these days so lots throw some red ones!

Well Shadow Squadron is PS 5, so that's cool. If you dropped to the Sigma Squadron Pilot at 25 points each, you'd be at PS 3 BUT you'd get access to either FCS, Stygium Particle Accelerator or Lightweight Frame on each of them.

This is true! Swarm tactics on Howlrunner is affordable too. I don't plan on a lot of cloaking though.... Ah, the train wreck.

Interesting idea.

If you make them Sigma it opens all sorts of options with remaining 7 points (LWF, various crew.. etc)

I think this would work better without Howlrunner:

Shadow Squadron Pilot (27)
Fire-Control System (2)
Recon Specialist (3)
Stygium Particle Accelerator (2)

Shadow Squadron Pilot (27)
Fire-Control System (2)
Recon Specialist (3)
Stygium Particle Accelerator (2)

Shadow Squadron Pilot (27)
Fire-Control System (2)
Intelligence Agent (1)
Stygium Particle Accelerator (2)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Holy cow I actually love this idea. Never thought I'd see a phantom list I liked that wasn't just Whisper. Personally, I REALLY dig triple Sigma Squadron Pilots, all with FCS, Recon Specialist, and LWF.

6 hours ago, Nikolishin said:

I think this would work better without Howlrunner:

Shadow Squadron Pilot (27)
Fire-Control System (2)
Recon Specialist (3)
Stygium Particle Accelerator (2)

Shadow Squadron Pilot (27)
Fire-Control System (2)
Recon Specialist (3)
Stygium Particle Accelerator (2)

Shadow Squadron Pilot (27)
Fire-Control System (2)
Intelligence Agent (1)
Stygium Particle Accelerator (2)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

I would replace Stygium by lightweight frame. You get to approach the way you want with the cloak and then you can survive some exchange once decloaked. After the initial approach i do not believe you will get to cloak that often without the advanced device. Stygium would give you 1 free evade vs frame giving you an extra defense die vs most ship for all incomming attack.

It seems like LWF is going to be a better deal for low PS Phantoms than SPA would be. SPA kind of depends on constantly cloaking and recloaking. Low PS Phantoms will probably cloak to engage or disengage but may end up going a few rounds without cloaking. You can't have too many turns in the early game where you aren't getting all three attacks off.

If you are going multiple Phantoms, I'd try this for an amazing alpha strike:

Shadow Squadron Pilot + Systems Officer + Fire-Control System + Stygium Particle Accelerator (33)

If you line up in a row you can 2 bank or 2 straight each one after decloaks and hand off free TL's. You basically get all 3 tokens with no stress on engagement round 1. Could be nasty. I tried this list once and while fun, it got lit up by Turret ships:

“Whisper” + Agent Kallus + Fire-Control System + Veteran Instincts + Advanced Cloaking Device (41)

2x Sigma Squadron Pilot + Systems Officer + Collision Detector + Stygium Particle Accelerator (29)

i still don't understand why people think LWF is better than stygium, sure if your not cloaking, but if you're not cloaking why are you flying a phantom?!?!?, if you want 4 hp good firepower and don't care about agility try the striker for fewer points

55 minutes ago, mad mandolorian said:

i still don't understand why people think LWF is better than stygium, sure if your not cloaking, but if you're not cloaking why are you flying a phantom?!?!?, if you want 4 hp good firepower and don't care about agility try the striker for fewer points

You're flying a Phantom for cheap firepower. The Striker and Interceptor both have 3 red, true. Throwing that fourth though is quite handy. There aren't many ships that naturally throw four red. Also, don't discount shields. Striker and Phantom both have 4HP, but I'd rather the 2 shields to deal with that floating crit problem that tends to pop up.

That said, I have personally never seen a Phantom flown for this purpose. I'm sure it's done, I'm not the only crazy person around.

While I can see the value of LWF, I still think SPA is superior. Of course I believe its silly to assume that after the initial engagement, you won't use your cloak action anymore. Nonsense! The cloak action on the low PS phantom is excellent for blocking. Its also excellent for fleeing slower ships. Positioning is a huge part of this game, and de-cloaking gives you options that other ships simply do not have. Not taking advantage of that is a missed opportunity, imho.

I've flown a lot of generic phantoms. I think its still a pretty good ship. Its squishy though, and can struggle against some types of enemy, so its certainly not 'top tier'.

That said, I would still run my low PS phantoms with SPA. Generally what happens is one phantom gets damaged in the first turn of shooting. Next turn, you can cloak that one and either flee with it or use it as a blocker to limit fire against it. The free evade token + focus + 4 green dice means your opponent will have a really tough time hurting that ship while your other ships can do some damage. And if your opponent switches targets, then its generally advantageous getting your opponent to split fire...

1 minute ago, blade_mercurial said:

While I can see the value of LWF, I still think SPA is superior. Of course I believe its silly to assume that after the initial engagement, you won't use your cloak action anymore. Nonsense! The cloak action on the low PS phantom is excellent for blocking. Its also excellent for fleeing slower ships. Positioning is a huge part of this game, and de-cloaking gives you options that other ships simply do not have. Not taking advantage of that is a missed opportunity, imho.

I've flown a lot of generic phantoms. I think its still a pretty good ship. Its squishy though, and can struggle against some types of enemy, so its certainly not 'top tier'.

That said, I would still run my low PS phantoms with SPA. Generally what happens is one phantom gets damaged in the first turn of shooting. Next turn, you can cloak that one and either flee with it or use it as a blocker to limit fire against it. The free evade token + focus + 4 green dice means your opponent will have a really tough time hurting that ship while your other ships can do some damage. And if your opponent switches targets, then its generally advantageous getting your opponent to split fire...

The only time you are going to have 4 green dice + focus + evade is on a round that you decloak, take the focus action, and then get shot at range three through an asteroid.

I think the choice between SPA and LWF is really going to come down to play style. I never know on lower PS Phantoms when I'm going to need to be defensive and when I'm going to have an attack of opportunity. I often end up cloaked when I want to attack and uncloaked when I'm taking some fire. A lot of times I'll err on the side of defense and end up not attacking as often as I could.