2 minutes ago, Megatronrex said:

The toys I can't wait to use her with most are Jendon, Bossk with Zertic or ruthless strategists.

Bossk remember has rogue and wont directly benefit from her ability. I'm assuming you are referring to his indirect benefit by having a token stripped off his target squadronand his auto accuracy locking down their remaing token?

My only concern with Sloane potentially being OP is intel. Without intel, I can run an intelligent squad screen that denies my enemy the capacity to hit my ships directly. With intel, it is impossible for me to stop shots on my ship. Barring maybe 15 Z95s and Blount just clogging the mat.

She does present a fun tactical problem where I need to engage TIEs under the flak umbrella of their carriers.

3 hours ago, Undeadguy said:

Guys, I'm pretty sure if you run Ackbar you should take Salvation. Just sayin'.

In all seriousness I rolled a CC Campaign using Salvation in an Ackbar fleet. They work well together tactically, even if their strengths don't overlap.

3 hours ago, Madaghmire said:

And yet I believe all the commanders save Garm (Schmitty?) have won a regional this season

Garm, Tagge, and Konstantine never even made a Top 4. Additionally Cracken and Vader didn't win in the Wave 5 sub-season.

You can take out intel very easily with imperial squads these days.

Working out how to do the same with rebels. Ten Numb plus 2 Ewings should do it backed by Toryn.

6 minutes ago, Madaghmire said:

Bossk remember has rogue and wont directly benefit from her ability. I'm assuming you are referring to his indirect benefit by having a token stripped off his target squadronand his auto accuracy locking down their remaing token?

**** forgot that.

32 minutes ago, Megatronrex said:

**** forgot that.

Don't worry. Bossk still the boss.

How often do you see Nym?

Exactly

49 minutes ago, Megatronrex said:

The toys I can't wait to use her with most are Jendon, Bossk with Zertic or ruthless strategists.

Nevermind Bossk has Rogue

If you're fishing for accuracies, Steele is hilarious. Blue/Blue anti-ship gives you a good shot at an accuracy anyway, ut if you roll Hit-Hit you can convert one to a crit and then reroll that. You always effectively get 3 chances to get an accuracy.

7 minutes ago, Valca said:

If you're fishing for accuracies, Steele is hilarious. Blue/Blue anti-ship gives you a good shot at an accuracy anyway, ut if you roll Hit-Hit you can convert one to a crit and then reroll that. You always effectively get 3 chances to get an accuracy.

And remember BCC becomes more interesting with those tie defender now.

1 hour ago, Ginkapo said:

You can take out intel very easily with imperial squads these days.

Working out how to do the same with rebels. Ten Numb plus 2 Ewings should do it backed by Toryn.

We might see a resurgence of good old Chiraneau.

35 minutes ago, Ginkapo said:

How often do you see Nym?

Exactly

You don't see Nym because he's extremely specialized for something that may or may not happen.

This is kind of the opposite: you've generalized for something that may or may not happen. I don't think the proc itself is reason enough to see this; the proc on the previously-hyperspecialized antisquadron imperial aces, though, might be.

2 hours ago, Ginkapo said:

How often do you see Nym?

Exactly

He also costs almost the same as 3 TIEs, sucks against squadrons, and is the only Rebel squadron with a similar ability. Adar/Yavaaris makes him more worth it.

But Ard pointed out, Sloane offers a more generalized approach, and this ability happens to synergize very well with Imperial playstyle-their power is in their capital ships much more than it is in their squadrons. The defense tokens of the enemy are much more effective in dealing with ship attacks than with squadrons. Thus, this effect is a far more powerful buff for the Imps than it would be for the Rebels (MC30s aside).

So, while buffing the main means of dealing ship damage for the empire, Sloane also increases the chances of the average Tie fighter for getting something useful against ships from 50% to over 90%, and they still keep their usefulness in their primary role.

I appreciate this buff to TIE's- it's similar to how Jan and Biggs (and to a lesser extent BCC) really brought x-wings back to the table, whereas they were kind of nonsense relative to a-wings long, long ago in wave 1. This may rub a lot of folks the wrong way, but anything that rewards thematic fleet builds is a big plus in my book- having an excuse for TIE fighters and x-wings duking it out all over the place is great.

7 hours ago, xerpo said:

Im not going off the Rails, ackbar has rectrictions, and he has weaknesses, and he is pricey. You cant just create a fleet with ackbar an anything else. Im so fed up with ackbar haters, he is just adding two red dices, Ive rolled million times 2 or 3 blank dices with ackbar out of 4-5. You dont need to study aeronautics engineering to sudenly avoid a AFMK side arc.

your gunners need some upgrading to become vet then, if you're firing at long range

The point with Nym is that once you have built the architecture round him, Toryn, Adar and Yavaris, you take a step back. Look at your list and think, rather just have pure bombers.

Looking at all the Sloane lists so far, once you have taken gozanti etc for squad activations, take a step back. Looks like Tie Bombers would be preferable...

Sloane goes with Gladiators, Raiders and occassionally ISDs. Carriers which after winning the squad war can bring hell on the enemy without fear of being bombed.

30 minutes ago, Ginkapo said:

The point with Nym is that once you have built the architecture round him, Toryn, Adar and Yavaris, you take a step back. Look at your list and think, rather just have pure bombers.

Looking at all the Sloane lists so far, once you have taken gozanti etc for squad activations, take a step back. Looks like Tie Bombers would be preferable...

Sloane goes with Gladiators, Raiders and occassionally ISDs. Carriers which after winning the squad war can bring hell on the enemy without fear of being bombed.

Yup. Personally I'm looking at an ISD, 2 Raider, and a single Gonzo with an aggressive bid. You don't need to max out on squads for her to work. She'll be fun. Too many people are focusing on making the squads attack ships. She's there so that once you win a squad fight, your fighters have something else to do.

And that @Truthiness is why I respect you as a fleet builder.

53 minutes ago, Truthiness said:

Yup. Personally I'm looking at an ISD, 2 Raider, and a single Gonzo with an aggressive bid. You don't need to max out on squads for her to work. She'll be fun. Too many people are focusing on making the squads attack ships. She's there so that once you win a squad fight, your fighters have something else to do.

You're not seeing the GSD/Raider fleets yet because they want to roll with the Quasar, and we'll need more details before we can list build with it.

TIEs are fragile against squadrons. That means that, if you're building your fleet for them, you need a big alpha strike, probably with Flight Controllers. The only two ships with a 6-TIE alpha are the ISD and the Quasar, which means just the ISD right now. If you're going with the ISD variant, you're throwing away points in an already point-constrained list if you don't build it to dual-role as a carrier/gunship.

Once you've done that, you're looking at somewhere between 100-150 points left, depending how hard you leaned into that alpha strike and how heavy you built the ISD. That's not a lot of space for credible second threats in the form of enough activations to avoid complete out-activation, which means at least a couple of Gozantis, or maybe a pair of Raiders or even Gozanti/Gladiator if you were frugal with your ISD and squadrons.

But the more frugal you were with your squadrons, the harder that squadron battle is going to be, the longer it's going to last, the more you're going to lose in it, and the less benefit you're getting from your admiral.

Once we get the QF, you don't have to bring a dual role ISD to get that alpha strike, and you can afford, say, a pair of GSDs or a trio of Raiders along to make your money. But with the ISD variant, I think you're dropping efficiency if you're stripping it down far enough to be able to afford multiple other credible threats.

There's definitely a balance to be stuck on the squadron count. I don't think it's 134 points of TIE fighters, but I also think it's more than an average antisquadron screen. Without seeing it in play, though, it's hard to say just what that number is.

1 hour ago, Ardaedhel said:

You're not seeing the GSD/Raider fleets yet because they want to roll with the Quasar, and we'll need more details before we can list build with it.

TIEs are fragile against squadrons. That means that, if you're building your fleet for them, you need a big alpha strike, probably with Flight Controllers. The only two ships with a 6-TIE alpha are the ISD and the Quasar, which means just the ISD right now. If you're going with the ISD variant, you're throwing away points in an already point-constrained list if you don't build it to dual-role as a carrier/gunship.

Once you've done that, you're looking at somewhere between 100-150 points left, depending how hard you leaned into that alpha strike and how heavy you built the ISD. That's not a lot of space for credible second threats in the form of enough activations to avoid complete out-activation, which means at least a couple of Gozantis, or maybe a pair of Raiders or even Gozanti/Gladiator if you were frugal with your ISD and squadrons.

But the more frugal you were with your squadrons, the harder that squadron battle is going to be, the longer it's going to last, the more you're going to lose in it, and the less benefit you're getting from your admiral.

Once we get the QF, you don't have to bring a dual role ISD to get that alpha strike, and you can afford, say, a pair of GSDs or a trio of Raiders along to make your money. But with the ISD variant, I think you're dropping efficiency if you're stripping it down far enough to be able to afford multiple other credible threats.

There's definitely a balance to be stuck on the squadron count. I don't think it's 134 points of TIE fighters, but I also think it's more than an average antisquadron screen. Without seeing it in play, though, it's hard to say just what that number is.

Can't disagree with that sentiment. Just going with what I have for now. Quasar, Glad, double Raider sounds fun.

Actually slightly disappointed about Sloane's ability being fighter based, not really sure why I would take her to lead my ships when Motti seems the way to go. Especially since she's basically a less insane, (arguably) even more intelligent version of Admiral Daala (who I still want as a commander despite being a major Sloane fan):

BATTLEGROUP RELENTLESS (400/400 pts)
Flagship: Imperial I-Class Star Destroyer "Relentless"
Admiral Motti
Enhanced Armaments

Victory II-Class Star Destroyer
Director Issard
Overload Pulse

Victory I-Class Star Destroyer
No addons

Squadrons:
Mauler Mithel
Sontir Fel
Howlrunner
Major Rhymer
Tie Interceptor
Tie Fighter

-VS-

REBEL FLEET (400/400 pts)
Flagship: MC80 Command Cruiser "Home One"
Admiral Ackbar
Point Defense Reroute
XX-9 Turbolasers

Assault Frigate Mark II B "Paragon"
XX-9 Turbolasers

Nebulon-B Escort Frigate "Salvation"
No Addons

CR90 Corvette B "Tantive IV"
No Addons

Squadrons:
Luke Skywalker
Wedge Antilles
A-Wing Squadron

I will probably look for other screens but I want to try her with my favourite screen right now:

Ciena Ree

Howlrunner

Valen Rudor

Saber

Lambdasx2

And an FC on the carrier. All blue against ship and a lot of blue against squadrons too. They will need some changes, maybe drop out saber and put Mithel or Soontir or even Whisper. I didn't try her yet and it is funny how the fleet grows to "women rules!" XD

Probably the Lambdas should become something more useful for the alpha strike.

I have to admit I'm worried about Sloane's impact on the game. A handful of cheap fast TIE squadrons taking out a brace just seems to take all the agency away from the defender.

Sure, make TIE fighters great again (tm) isn't a bad intention, but having the defender choose and exhaust a defense token of would still be a great effect (especially combined with being allowed to reroll crits), while not completely removing the defender from the equation.

One of the things I liked the most about Armada coming from X-wing, was the use of defense tokens. I could choose to brace an attack, or use an evade. If my opponent got an accuracy, that was painful but OK because my token was still there for the next attack. If they used an Intel officer, it was my choice whether to burn the token (a delightfully painful choice).

Nym is a unique squadron that's rarely seen (around here anyway) and relatively easy to try and counter by attacking or engaging (and if your squadron engagement isn't sufficient - at least you got to try - you had a chance). By definition a swarm is much much harder to completely engage.

Sloane is the same cost as Motti for ***** sake! It's not like we're talking about a 40 point commander - this is almost as cheap as it gets.

@Truthiness I guess the only thing Sloane brings to ships is she's a pretty cheap commander - that and the fact that some people think she's OP is why we talk about squadrons attacking ships so much.

6 minutes ago, OgRib said:

@Truthiness I guess the only thing Sloane brings to ships is she's a pretty cheap commander - that and the fact that some people think she's OP is why we talk about squadrons attacking ships so much.

Sloane removes or mitigates (depending on your composition) the need to bring any kind of anti-defense mitigation on your heavy hitter ships. Less need to bring XI7, H9, IO, QTT, etc means more points and slots freed up to increase your absolute damage instead.

She's a little more indirect about it, but Sloane wants a strong combined-arms fleet in much the same way Sato does.

11 minutes ago, OgRib said:

I have to admit I'm worried about Sloane's impact on the game. A handful of cheap fast TIE squadrons taking out a brace just seems to take all the agency away from the defender.

Sure, make TIE fighters great again (tm) isn't a bad intention, but having the defender choose and exhaust a defense token of would still be a great effect (especially combined with being allowed to reroll crits), while not completely removing the defender from the equation.

One of the things I liked the most about Armada coming from X-wing, was the use of defense tokens. I could choose to brace an attack, or use an evade. If my opponent got an accuracy, that was painful but OK because my token was still there for the next attack. If they used an Intel officer, it was my choice whether to burn the token (a delightfully painful choice).

Nym is a unique squadron that's rarely seen (around here anyway) and relatively easy to try and counter by attacking or engaging (and if your squadron engagement isn't sufficient - at least you got to try - you had a chance). By definition a swarm is much much harder to completely engage.

Sloane is the same cost as Motti for ***** sake! It's not like we're talking about a 40 point commander - this is almost as cheap as it gets.

With Sloane if your opponent get an acc he spend 1 defense token that you can use. The effect is pretty similar to IO and requires a squadron at least 8 points). If you choose to spend the spent token you loose it. If you spent it before you will loose it now. Of course several squadron could discard you a token but your opponents needs at least 2 tie fighters what means 16+24 and more probably 6 (48 points + Sloane).

If you are fine with H9 or IO I don't see why not with Sloane. She gives you an IO each 3 tie fighters you take.