My plan is to experiment with the generic Phantom ships and see if they can maybe hold their own. The list is simple:

3x Shadow Squadron Pilots w/ collision detectors, Tactician, ACD (33 points each)

What I hope to accomplish with the list is, if all goes well, A huge alpha strike on the biggest threat followed by a war of attrition with the three Phantoms and my opponents remaining ships. I've flown a lot with single Phantom lists, what I like about this particular list is that if you lose one Phantom its not necessarily the end of the world. You have two more to finish the job without being out approximately 42 points (My usual Whisper cost). I also chose the Shadow squadron pilots because of the 5 pilot skill which is still not great by any stretch but offers a slight chance of advantage in instances were my opponent takes lower PS ships.

So I guess my questions are;

1 Will this hold up in even remotely competitive games? (I'm not a very competitive player, it would just be nice to know)

2 Does anyone have experience flying a similar list or have any insight into improving the list?

Thanks!

A lot is going to depend on what you face. Remember the Phantoms are a 2 agility ship when decloaked so you're basically a Z-95 waiting to get shot at. You will need to be very good at guessing the opponent's movement so you don't end up in arc and decloaked. Aces and turrets are your bane. Turrets for the obvious reasons and aces because they move later and shoot before you. Phantoms are also one of the hardest ships to fly well. Stress will also be a problem. While decloaking is not an action, cloaking is and with so many ways to stress a ship you might end a turn stressed, decloaked and in a world of hurt.

There's a reason that VI is almost always put on Whisper. If you always move last and shoot first you'll live a lot longer. Use one high PS pilot like Whisper and build your squad around that.

I think conventional wisdom with generic Phantoms is Stygium Particle Accelerator. It guarantees you the evade, which is a lot better than getting two bonus dice halfway through the combat maybe.

Opening up that six points gives you room to play with; if you bump them down to Shadow Squadron Pilots, you can fit a Major Stridan with Systems Officer, FCS, and Hux, giving you three four dice beatsticks with focus and (two of them) target locks. Watch the opponent quail at your mighty list and mighty fists of dice. It also provides you a bit of a sturdier body in Stridan, ensuring that you can't just be Wampa'd or ISYTDS'd or BMST'd to death.