I recently got into X-wing and am still a novice with formation flying, but I love the idea of flying a bunch of "classic" looking tie fighters around the board, but also not so many that flying them in formation would be really challenging. One Special forces Tie with Lightweight Frame and Special Ops training comes in at 25pts. This means you could run four of them for 100pts (I was aiming for a four Tie Fighter List). But would this be an ok build direction to go with the special forces TIE, or is this build too linear?

Thanks for the input.

The offense is too weak. You are only getting one action, that isnt good enough these days. You are better dropping lwf for FCS if you want four of them.

39 minutes ago, wurms said:

The offense is too weak. You are only getting one action, that isnt good enough these days. You are better dropping lwf for FCS if you want four of them.

Pay attention, please. Like the OP, I'm new to this game, and "FCS" means **** all to me. Spell it out.

Thanks

1 hour ago, Alekzanter said:

Pay attention, please. Like the OP, I'm new to this game, and "FCS" means **** all to me. Spell it out.

Thanks

FCS stand for Fire Control System.

A good resource when new for the game is :

The Tie SFs are good ships if outfittet right, but are very expensive moneywise to out fit. You will want at last FCS for each and the mean buying one B-wing or Phantom expansion for each tie sf to get FCS. And thats not even enough to make them good. You need more

If you like tie fighters I would recommend buying the tie FO expansion. Then you can field Omega Leader with Juke and Comm relay right out of the box. This Omega Leader build is generally a really good ship and if fighting one on one with another ship, it is one of the most powerful ships in the game. Trust me you will never regret buying this expansion

If you want to run tie swarms. The Tie fighter expansion pack contains Howlrunner, which is the best ship ever, if you run a swarm of tie fighters. Her ability affects the whole swarm and at 18 points its a bagain

When I started playing, I picked up three core sets. It gave me 6 Ties and 3 X-wings. It was a good foundation for my addict, er collection.

2 hours ago, Stoneface said:

When I started playing, I picked up three core sets. It gave me 6 Ties and 3 X-wings. It was a good foundation for my addict, er collection.

I hear ya; I snagged four The Force Awakens cores for $12 each at Target, then hooked a friend and coworker who just so happened to be a big Star Wars fan on the game by offering to sell the four T-70s to him for $20. We split the tokens and templates evenly.

44 minutes ago, Alekzanter said:

I hear ya; I snagged four The Force Awakens cores for $12 each at Target, then hooked a friend and coworker who just so happened to be a big Star Wars fan on the game by offering to sell the four T-70s to him for $20. We split the tokens and templates evenly.

Shortly after "buying in" to X-wing, I found a flgs. My friend and I were having a casual game when a high school student walked in. After a couple of moments of watching us play he said, "You know that's plastic crack, don't you." We had a good chuckle about his comment. Little did we know he wasn't joking. Going strong after 3 years and a lot of $ with no end in sight. If you listen carefully, you can hear my wallet sob when each new release is announced.

If taking four TIE/sf, fire control system is better than lightweight frame.

Youve got four ships. All four will hopefully be firing (and using Fire Control Systems), but only one or two will be being shot at (and using lightweight frame.

Four Zeta Specialists should do okay.

You might want to consider three slightly better kitted fighters - the named pilots for special forces ties are bloody lethal.

22 hours ago, Alekzanter said:

Pay attention, please. Like the OP, I'm new to this game, and "FCS" means **** all to me. Spell it out.

Thanks

I know that it is a bit ridiculous, but this https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/x-wing-companion-card-vie/bilhapljfgefhhepedfaanikpailghbm can make your life a lot easier on that front, because lets face it - X-Wing players are humans and humans are lazy. So instead of spelling everything out when there are some rather long and spelling-mistake-prone (non-native speaker here) card names, acronyms, like FCS, PTL, EU and their likes will be used, regardless of how apropriate that is.

Anyways, on topic - I have been in love with the idea of this list:

"Quickdraw" (29)
Juke (2)
Fire-Control System (2)
Comm Relay (3)
Lightweight Frame (2)
Special Ops Training (0)

"Backdraft" (27)
Juke (2)
Fire-Control System (2)
Comm Relay (3)
Lightweight Frame (2)
Special Ops Training (0)

Zeta Specialist (23)
Fire-Control System (2)
Hyperwave Comm Scanner (1)
Special Ops Training (0)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

The generic loads up the Comm Relays of both characters at the start of the game. The Evades are then held like hull points until the very last moment so the characters can use Juke throughout almost the entire game, which is amazing as it works on every attack, making Quickdraw a bit more scary, and from any arc, so your auxiliary arc gets that extra sting, too. All ships have excellent actions thanks to FCS.

Things to look out for:

• Throwing 3 dice at one target is better than two 2 dice attacks at different targets.
• However, focus fire is essential, so if your main target turns up in your aux-arc with another one in your front, go ahead and double tap.
• Quickdraw draws hate. While you do need her to take damage to benefit from her ability, you are ill advised to just throw her into fire. Ideally, she takes one hit per turn, but taking none is a lot better than taking more than one. So be defensive, they will try to go for her anyways.
• There is a neat trick with Backdraft, where if you are up against a large base ship and manage to park him right along its side and have it in both arcs, you get to double tap it and add a crit to both attacks. Two 3 dice attacks at the same target with added crits are amazing.
• You have to know when a formation makes sense and when it doesn't. Usually, unless you run a range one shared buff like Howlrunner, it doesn't. Sticking together close still has its benefits, though!
• I have not tried this list, yet and neither do I know of someone who has. Do not buy stuff you don't have for it, try it by printing out the list, first. That way you only need 3 TIE/sf.

How are you getting evades to trigger Juke? Tie SF don't have a native evade

1 hour ago, Iksentrik said:

How are you getting evades to trigger Juke? Tie SF don't have a native evade

At the beginning of the game with Hyperwave Comm Scanner.

2 hours ago, PoorGreedo said:

At the beginning of the game with Hyperwave Comm Scanner.

Doh! Missed that

bit gimmicky isn't it? That's 10 whole points tied up in it, Wouldn't Lightweight frame be better and a missile?

@Hotziggety TIE/SFs are a great ship to fly. As others have pointed out, the named pilots are the best version to fly if you can do it. And as others have mentioned, Omega Leader is deadly--and everything you need is included in the TIE/FO expansion! What I have to add to the conversation is this: the other TIE/FOs you should consider bringing along are Epsilon Ace : While you do not have any Damage cards, treat your pilot skill value as "12," and Zeta Leader : When attacking, if you are not stressed, you may receive 1 stress token to roll 1 additional die.

You won't be able to fit more than Quickdraw, Backdraft & Omega Leader on a list, but they're a pretty solid combo. Personally, I drop one of the SFs so I can run Omega Leader, Ep Ace or Zeta Leader + Howlrunner.

They're fun to fly together, and you might be surprised by how far they can take you.

Here's a sample list:

6 hours ago, Iksentrik said:

Doh! Missed that

bit gimmicky isn't it? That's 10 whole points tied up in it, Wouldn't Lightweight frame be better and a missile?

Yeah it is 10 points, but they do multiple things at once. You have 2 faux-hull upgrades doing sometimes less and often more than a simple hull point. And while you keep them you get to Juke, multiple times in a turn with Quickdraw and pushing a crit pretty reliably for Backdraft. It just fits together, especialy the point values.

I wouldn't know where to put a missile without it bloating a ship. And LWF isn't needed to make the Zeta efficient, I would only run it on the high value ships. I am a bit mad that I won't get to try the list in a while, because it does look promising.

Thanks for the the input everyone. I noticed a couple themes in the responses. Fire Control System is good, the named pilots are good. So how about this list:

Quickdraw: Fire Control System, Outmaneuver, Title, Lightweight Frame, Sensor Cluster

Backdraft: Fire Control System, Outmaneuver, Title, Lightweight Frame.

Omega Leader: Juke, Comm Relay

98 pts

I have been flying this in non competitive games.

4 hours ago, Hotziggety said:

Thanks for the the input everyone. I noticed a couple themes in the responses. Fire Control System is good, the named pilots are good. So how about this list:

Quickdraw: Fire Control System, Outmaneuver, Title, Lightweight Frame, Sensor Cluster

Backdraft: Fire Control System, Outmaneuver, Title, Lightweight Frame.

Omega Leader: Juke, Comm Relay

98 pts

Outmanouver isn't a popular upgrade, but there is nothing wrong with it and it works well with the auxiliary arc. A bit on the expensive side, but not unreasonable. This is a pretty solid list you have there.

I've been experimenting with this pure-offense variant, with some success. Won an 8-player local the other day at 3-0.

"Quickdraw" (34)
--Crack Shot
--Pattern Analyzer
--Fire Control System
--Special Ops Training

"Backdraft" (32)
--Crack Shot
--Pattern Analyzer
--Fire Control System
--Special Ops Training

Carnor Jax (34)
--Push the Limit
--Royal Guard TIE
--Hull Upgrade
--Autothrusters

I'd take Lightweight Frame if I could, but when going for offense Pattern Analyzer is just far too valuable. It lets Backdraft use 3-turn/Sloop + Barrel Roll to line up rear arc shots, and Quickdraw can Focus after Sloops. Similarly, Jax the Jerk makes the /sf offense go much further, and he can't reasonably be trimmed at all and retain his effectiveness.

On 2017-04-10 at 3:18 AM, Admiral Deathrain said:

I know that it is a bit ridiculous, but this https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/x-wing-companion-card-vie/bilhapljfgefhhepedfaanikpailghbm can make your life a lot easier on that front, because lets face it - X-Wing players are humans and humans are lazy. So instead of spelling everything out when there are some rather long and spelling-mistake-prone (non-native speaker here) card names, acronyms, like FCS, PTL, EU and their likes will be used, regardless of how apropriate that is.

Anyways, on topic - I have been in love with the idea of this list:

"Quickdraw" (29)
Juke (2)
Fire-Control System (2)
Comm Relay (3)
Lightweight Frame (2)
Special Ops Training (0)

"Backdraft" (27)
Juke (2)
Fire-Control System (2)
Comm Relay (3)
Lightweight Frame (2)
Special Ops Training (0)

Zeta Specialist (23)
Fire-Control System (2)
Hyperwave Comm Scanner (1)
Special Ops Training (0)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

The generic loads up the Comm Relays of both characters at the start of the game. The Evades are then held like hull points until the very last moment so the characters can use Juke throughout almost the entire game, which is amazing as it works on every attack, making Quickdraw a bit more scary, and from any arc, so your auxiliary arc gets that extra sting, too. All ships have excellent actions thanks to FCS.

Things to look out for:

• Throwing 3 dice at one target is better than two 2 dice attacks at different targets.
• However, focus fire is essential, so if your main target turns up in your aux-arc with another one in your front, go ahead and double tap.
• Quickdraw draws hate. While you do need her to take damage to benefit from her ability, you are ill advised to just throw her into fire. Ideally, she takes one hit per turn, but taking none is a lot better than taking more than one. So be defensive, they will try to go for her anyways.
• There is a neat trick with Backdraft, where if you are up against a large base ship and manage to park him right along its side and have it in both arcs, you get to double tap it and add a crit to both attacks. Two 3 dice attacks at the same target with added crits are amazing.
• You have to know when a formation makes sense and when it doesn't. Usually, unless you run a range one shared buff like Howlrunner, it doesn't. Sticking together close still has its benefits, though!
• I have not tried this list, yet and neither do I know of someone who has. Do not buy stuff you don't have for it, try it by printing out the list, first. That way you only need 3 TIE/sf.

The Hyperwave Comm Scanner is a pretty good idea. I would add to your advices that Juke is probably one of the easiest ability to forget to use. I played hundreds of games with it and i still forget it from time to time. Especially when i'm tired :-)