I'll just reinforce what has already been said (with experience from both sides of the table): ion and tractor are both really solid. And use those rocks.

10 hours ago, Biophysical said:

If you don't have built in control, or a rear arc or turret, I've found flanking to be useful. Part of the problem is that if you're approaching nose to nose, you get maybe one good round of fire at the K-wings. If you get one on a flank, it can often get multiple turns in a row firing on the K-wing, which should drop one without too much trouble.

Yeah, the trouble with that is the immense maneuverability that K wings have. With SLAM, they will always have an upper hand dictating where the engagement will happen if you keep your force together. What ships do you use to flank with, and what ships do you bait with to make them ignore the flanker?

Simplest answer for K's Slam-bombing you at R3 is making sure there's something that they won't want to land on, behind the most obvious/tasty target.

Imagine those 3 situations, where K is obviously a K, H is your TIE, O is a rock, and | is the board edge. I'm assuming that the Ks have lower PS/initiative, otherwise it's an easy match-up.

K H |

You've hugging the edge of the table facing inwards. Easily done with ships having access to hard 1s and Barrel Rolls. Obviously can't drop bombs if it's off the mat.

K HO

Moving close to an obstacle, then Barrel Roll/Boost so that it's right behind you. Rock = no actions.

K H H

Easy and doable for all ships. Just keep a second one nearby. Bump with the trailing one = no actions, and if it somehow manages to squeeze in, it's getting a bad trade of bomb vs R1 shot with no defensive mods on the K.

One Imperial ship I've really struggled against when flying Sabine's Special Ks is a Decimator with rebel captive. The bombs alone aren't able to deal enough damage and I reallly don't want to shoot it as stressed K wings suck. Without rebel captive they melt just fine to bombs and a 2dice PWT.

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