SOTL, are you worried at all about being PS9 against Dengar Tel worlds list? Was just thinking about Adaptability on both Quickdraw and Vader, to kinda nullify their free target lock from K4?

PS awesome blog btw!

I'm something like 23-3 with the squad so far.

3 of those 3 losses are to Dengar. He poses some huge challenges other squads don't pose. I know how to win but forcing it to happen on the table has eluded me so far.

Theres plenty of Dengar here today so I'll either crack that puzzle or die trying.

1 hour ago, SOTL said:

I'm something like 23-3 with the squad so far.

3 of those 3 losses are to Dengar. He poses some huge challenges other squads don't pose. I know how to win but forcing it to happen on the table has eluded me so far.

Theres plenty of Dengar here today so I'll either crack that puzzle or die trying.

I've played that matchup a few times. I won't insult you by saying "use the rocks", because it's more complicated than that, but all of my successes have been when I've engaged him at close range in an asteroid field. If makes it easier to get some ships on his flanks, and blocking him on a rock can avalanche the game in your favor.

11 hours ago, Hos said:

SOTL, are you worried at all about being PS9 against Dengar Tel worlds list? Was just thinking about Adaptability on both Quickdraw and Vader, to kinda nullify their free target lock from K4?

PS awesome blog btw!

I practised QD, BD and OL vs the worlds list pretty extensively. It came down to a roughly 50/50 split depending largely on dice. It is fully possible to trade QuickDraw for Dengar if you have all of your guns lined up on him, provided you get QD into range one for two 4 dice attacks. Your list has even more power than mine, so should do well.

Wierdly though, I NEVER see that list at tournaments in Holland. Making all my preparations useless.

Got top 8 at a store championship today (no more games were played after 5 rounds of Swiss).
I smashed a Dengar/Tel list by sheer weight of fire,Tel was a little bastard though.

I lost to an old fenarro. I got really unlucky as I knocked Fenn to 1 Hull on the second round and couldn't get the last damage on.

Old Terry I threw 11 Dice at with various mods between range 1 and 2 and didn't kill him. I'll be honest, my opponent flew very well but I also had super bad rolls.

My other loss was to a weird list. Two headhunters with Thread tracers,3 Y wings with Plasma torpedos, and guidance chips, 2 with autoblaster Turret, 1 with TLT.

I've never really played agains Y wings before, which is no excuse, but I really ****** the opening engagement. Basically lost the Shuttle to all the ordnance on first round of combat. And then got torn to pieces by the rest due to really poor maneuvering on my part.

Got myself a new range template though which was nice.

My list:

TIE/sf Fighter: · "Quickdraw" (29)
Adaptability (Increase) (0)
Fire Control System (2)
Lightweight Frame (2)
Special Ops Training (0)
Primed Thrusters (1)

TIE/sf Fighter: · "Backdraft" (27)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Fire Control System (2)
Lightweight Frame (2)
Special Ops Training (0)

Upsilon-class Shuttle: Starkiller Base Pilot (30)
Fire Control System (2)
Pattern Analyzer (2)
-- TOTAL ------- 100/100p. --

Not sure what I'd change in it. I might drop an SF to beef the shuttle and take pure Sabacc.

The winning list was Expertise, tie D Vessery with tractor beam and twin ions, Quickdraw with Decoy, FCS, LWF and title, and pure Sabacc with I think just LWF and title. It was flown really really well and his MOV was nuts.

I am pretty new to this game, and to flying tie/sf in particular, but I built a list with three tie/sf thinking that when flown in formation the three aux arcs would be more threatening and make more difficult movements for the opponent. Is it a pretty poor decision to take the un-named tie/sf pilot over, say, an Omega Leader?

Here is my list:

TIE/sf Fighter: · "Quickdraw" (29)
Expertise (4)
Fire Control System (2)
Lightweight Frame (2)
Special Ops Training (0)
TIE/sf Fighter: · "Backdraft" (27)
Crack Shot (1)
Fire Control System (2)
Lightweight Frame (2)
Special Ops Training (0)
TIE/sf Fighter: Omega Specialist (25)
Crack Shot (1)
Fire Control System (2)
Lightweight Frame (2)
Special Ops Training (0)
-- TOTAL ------- 99p. --

SOTL, did you crack the puzzle?

Took this to a store championship yesterday:

Quickdraw: Expertise, FCS, Title, LWF (37)

Inquisitor: PTL, Title, AT (31)

Backdraft: Adaptability, FCS, Title, LWF (31)

Total: 99

Was 2nd after Swiss. Beat Brobots, a couple of Rey/Jan lists, that Z-95/Y-wing with tracers swarm (**** good list btw, was tearing stuff up). Lost to the Heaver list and Parattani, both piloted by 2 of the best players in Holland, so I didn't feel too bad about losing, and I gave them both a good run for their money. Ended up top 4 and got those pretty orange range rulers.

The Inquisitor really takes it to the next level. He's such a good flanker, and really flies well alongside the SF's in that he has the nice slow rolling banks and turns that allow you to set up a winning opening engagement. As much as I love Omega Leader, The Inquisitor is a real star in the current meta. Had I had slightly better red dice I would have evaporated Fen, but rerolling blanks into blanks on a couple of key moments sealed my fate.

Players here are rolling their Parattani down to 98 points though this really caught me off guard. I will be dropping Expertise for A Score to Settle and popping Backdraft up to PS9 for 97 points. Should do the trick.

On 23/06/2017 at 10:08 PM, wurms said:

Very close to a list I was about to run for my SC. Adapt Vader instead of Backdraft. Let us know how it goes. I am very interested in how it does.

It does not... Mainly because I did not fly it very well and because Tomax Bren lacks a lot of punch. I'll go back to Soontir Fel (I finished second at a small 10-person tourney) or I will give up my self-esteem and use a x7 defender.

I took this list to a 28 person Store Championship :

In this thread I don't need to praise the merits of QD and Backdraft. Kylo is great against list built around large ships. But Tomax is not a good carrier for it. I was hoping the infinite crackshot would compensate for his 2 primary dice. It did not. As Tomax was using his action to Kylo the opponent biggest threat, he did not have any dice modification.

First match was against RAC (VI, EU, Darth Vader, Ysane) and Maarek Stele (???, x7, Twin Ion). Tomax took a Damaged Sensor Array crit ("You cannot perform any actions except actions listed on Damage cards.") on the first round of shooting and kept it until he died so he became a practice target. I wrongly focused the Decimator first and my full health QD could not kill the x7 defender before the end of the game.

Second match was against Rey (expertise, Finn) and Poe. I give up on initiative So I Kyloed a Blinded Pilot to Rey (I was lucky to roll a natural hit and crit with Tomax) so I was free to focus on a bumped Poe next turn.

Third match was against two TLT Y-wing and two Mangler Cannon Sycks (one being Serissu at PS 10). Kylo was nearly useless here. This match exhibited clearly the lack of firepower of Tomax Bren (and my poor flying skills). QD and Backdraft shinned here until I misjudged distance and barrel-rolled QD at range 3 of the last mangler cannon.

Fourth match was against Vador, Inquy, Carnor Jax. The only interesting piece of information is that when Backdraft has the choice between a range 1 rear shot on a target-locked tokenless Carnor Jax and a range 2 rear shot against a Kyloed fully tokened Inquy, you MUST shoot Carnor ! I was the blinded pilot...

@Bonza I've never really put much thought into flying the Inquisitor, I think I'm not very good at flying him but have to imagine that comes with practice! I'd rather take Adaptability to PS10 Quickdraw and forgoe a bid to give both the SF's pattern analyser:

TIE/sf Fighter: · "Quickdraw" (29)
Adaptability (Increase) (0)
Fire Control System (2)
Lightweight Frame (2)
Special Ops Training (0)
Pattern Analyzer (2)

TIE/sf Fighter: · "Backdraft" (27)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Fire Control System (2)
Lightweight Frame (2)
Special Ops Training (0)
Pattern Analyzer (2)

TIE Avanced Prototype: · The Inquisitor (25)
Push The Limit (3)
Autothrusters (2)
TIE/v1 (1)
-- TOTAL ------- 100p. --

6 hours ago, Bonza said:

Took this to a store championship yesterday:

Quickdraw: Expertise, FCS, Title, LWF (37)

Inquisitor: PTL, Title, AT (31)

Backdraft: Adaptability, FCS, Title, LWF (31)

Total: 99

Nice list. I went 4-1 (5th overall out of 34) with VI Vess, Inquisitor, and Swarm Leader Backdraft. Inquisitor was solid and I didnt lose him in any game I played. And with just a TL/evade to stay stress free on certain turns, or in range 2 Asajj, he is still survivable.

5 hours ago, Goseki1 said:

@Bonza I've never really put much thought into flying the Inquisitor, I think I'm not very good at flying him but have to imagine that comes with practice!

He is a fantastic flanker for the two SFs (or in my case 1 SF and Vessery) able to PTL through rocks with those sharp ones. I can hide him behind rocks for more green dice until I am ready for combat (did that versus HLC Dash, and great against missile carriers). And he turns off autothrusters against Fenn and Teroch as well.

Just dont joust with him in close unless its 1v1. Treat him like a delicate flower. Use the 4 straight green to get out of dodge and turn around. If a jumpmaster blocks you, and Fenn gets him, he is dead. Snipe with him from distance. Parattanni is his worst matchup I believe, Jumpmaster to block him, Asajj to stress him, and a 5 dice range 1 PS9 ace. He no likey any of those ships

Ran this list at a SC over the weekend.

"Quickdraw" (29)
Adaptability (0) , Fire-Control System (2) , Targeting Synchronizer (3) , Lightweight Frame (2) , Special Ops Training (0)

"Backdraft" (27)
Veteran Instincts (1) , Fire-Control System (2) , Ion Pulse Missiles (3) , Targeting Synchronizer (3) , Lightweight Frame (2) , Special Ops Training (0)

"Pure Sabacc" (22)
Veteran Instincts (1) , Lightweight Frame (2) , Adaptive Ailerons (0)

Total: 99

I went 3-2 but one of my losses was a real stroke of bad luck/dice. Second round of combat I had flanked with Sabacc, ended up with a nice r1 shot on a tokenless Vader who had bumped, and my opponent had 1 ship barely with arc on Sabacc. He ended up with a hit-crit and I blank out on greens and take hit->major explosion->roll a hit->direct hit, bye bye Sabacc. I was flying 2 vs. 3 at that point and a round later I get a double tap at r1 with Quickdraw and a butt-shot with Backdraft and my opponent took 0 damage. Game was basically over at that point. My other loss was Dash/Miranda which I felt was winnable with better flying on my part.

Anyone interested in Sabacc with Targeting Synch, it's great. Sabacc will get even more attention than normal so make your 1 or 2 shots count and position the SF's to take full advantage. If your opponent doesn't prioritize Sabacc first it's almost an auto-win with decent flying. I sacrificed Sabacc in a couple games to get my SF's in great positions to set up r1 shots out both arcs in the next round.

I've tried Sabacc a few times but really need more practice with him, he's hard to fly, even at PS8 I think!

With the Aggressor hitting soon I'm thinking of using one as a 3rd. PS9 Kestal with TLT could be interesting, but I don't think you'd often trigger her ability without support ships feeding focus tokens. I wonder if Double Edge as pure bait would be good? I'd run him a fair distance from the SF's and plink away if they don't chase him, and just go fast trying to keep opponents out if range 1 (depending on dial) if they do chase him.

If you have something in arc and a focus token, fire a rocket, hopefully hit, or miss and strip tokens, then TLT. If you have nothing in arc just TLT. Lone Wolf doesn't help Unguided rockets but helps with the TLT atttacks and defence

TIE/sf Fighter: · "Quickdraw" (29)
Adaptability (Increase) (0)
Fire Control System (2)
Lightweight Frame (2)
Special Ops Training (0)
Pattern Analyzer (2)

TIE/sf Fighter: · "Backdraft" (27)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Fire Control System (2)
Lightweight Frame (2)
Special Ops Training (0)
Pattern Analyzer (2)

TIE Aggressor: · "Double Edge" (19)
· Lone Wolf (2)
Unguided Rockets (2)
Twin Laser Turret (6)
Lightweight Frame (2)
-- TOTAL ------- 100p. --

If I was adding Kestal as 3rd ship (which I'll try) it would likely be Lone Wolf.

I think you're probably right. PS9 in a TLT carrier is kind if pointless

A Lone Wolf Aggressor could be amazing next to the SF's, though Predator is also an option (For Double Edge). Though I don't know if Unguided Rockets are necessary, as you will almost certainly spend your time flying circles round the fight whilst the SF's get in close and personal.

Whats everyone's opinion on Pattern Analyser and Primed Thrusters? There have been very few times flying SF's when either PA or PT have been necessary or game defining (for me). I would rather put my points into boosting my chances of winning the first encounter (Like having Expertise/A small initiative/a better 3rd ship).

Pattern analyzer is tremendous and has likely been the downfall of most games I've lost. The sloop with Quickdraw cam be hard to block at times but more importantly has put me in very strong positions with my front arc and a focus via pattern analyzer. I've learnt that saving the focus for defence boosts survival a stupid amount.

Primed thrusters is good, but I much prefer PA.

1 hour ago, Bonza said:

A Lone Wolf Aggressor could be amazing next to the SF's, though Predator is also an option (For Double Edge). Though I don't know if Unguided Rockets are necessary, as you will almost certainly spend your time flying circles round the fight whilst the SF's get in close and personal.

Double edge also doesnt specify 2ndary weapon with his extra attack, so you can just use your primary if your tlts miss

Sure I just figure that 3 Dice is better than 2 if you're at a distance. I've got nothing else to spend the points on but could save them for a bid I suppose. Or expertise.... On a PS4 ship...

On 6/22/2017 at 8:45 AM, Jarval said:

I've posted this elsewhere on the forums today, but I've been getting great results with the list below. (Winning a 30ish player Q2 kit tournament, a Store Championship, and a 10ish player weekday tournament evening without losing a game.)

It's all about the opening exchange though, and a lot of the time you're flying it in a very aggressive way to get shots over arc dodging or keeping tokens for defence. If you can PS kill a ship, that's the best form of defence of all... Omega Leader is a great "closer" for the list - if she's going one on one against almost any ship, she can probably win the game for you, especially if that ship is worth 51 points or less.

"Omega Leader" (21)
Juke (2)
Comm Relay (3)

"Backdraft" (27)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Fire-Control System (2)
Homing Missiles (5)
Guidance Chips (0)
Special Ops Training (0)

"Quickdraw" (29)
Crack Shot (1)
Fire-Control System (2)
Homing Missiles (5)
Guidance Chips (0)
Special Ops Training (0)

Total: 98

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Thanks for this list, I took it to a store championship today and managed to win it with a 7-0 run. The homing missiles did good work!

The lack of LWF utterly frightens me with that list!

Can I ask what kind of lists you faced?

1 hour ago, Goseki1 said:

The lack of LWF utterly frightens me with that list!

Can I ask what kind of lists you faced?

I was nervous about no LWF also and was seriously considering at least putting it on Quickdraw to maybe save a shield but it turned out that 2 point bid was incredibly important locking initiative choice so I could be sure get the two homing missiles off at the optimum time.

These are the lists I faced:

Round 1: Assaj, Manaroo, Contracted Scout (Torp Boat)
I got the ideal range setup so I had locks on the torp scout and he had none in return, so the intial volley took it down to a hull or two. I finished it off in the next round of fire and an unfortunate bump for him let me lay pretty hard into the other ships. I won, only losing Omega Leader.

Round 2: Vader, Rexlar (Expertise + Tie x/7), Omega Leader
Another round where the initial homing missile shot worked out in my favor and I took Rexlar off the board before he could do anything. It was uphill for him the rest of the round and I think I finished without any losses.

Round 3: Dengar w/ Torps + Assaj /Latts and Gryo
Homing missiles on Dengar right away, followed by he and Quickdraw exchanging revenge shots first round left him at 1 hull. Dengar just barely scratched a rock on his next movement and left the table. Quickdraw then got some lucky evades while running away to survive while Backdraft and OL finished off Assaj.

Round 4: 3 Contracted Scounts /w Torps + Agromech, Attani and Intelligence Agent
This one was rough, and a team where my bid actually hurt because the third dice would have helped and initiative didn't really buy me anything. I got the double missile off on a scout and finished it off second round while avoiding any locks at range 2 or 3 against me. Unfortunately that still means I'm taking 3 fully modified dice at range 1. So after a couple rounds of great blocking on his part it ended up with just an untouched OL and untouched Scout squaring off against each other. I spent a couple rounds drying to knife fight in close, but with agent he could bump me all day long, so I had to turbo speed OL away and come back on long sweeping passes to guarantee some in arc shots. After 25 minutes of that I finally wore it down to where I had the lead and got the modified win.

Round 5: Palp Aces w/ Vader, Soontir
My opponent was very familiar with his list and avoided the missiles perfectly by tearing past me full speed. I got some great hits on Vader after turning away from them out the back arcs which allowed me to take him out. OL focused on Soontir exclusively and his green dice just did nothing despite some great dodging. Quickdraw was down to 1 hull but the three of them managed to burn the shuttle down and they survived.

Semi-Final: VI RAC + Kylo, and Backdraft with ion pulse missiles.
I knew I needed to eliminate Backdraft immediately so I didn't have both of them plinking away at me while I burned the Deci down. The range worked out in my favor as I rushed the two SF's in at speed 4 to get the range 3 lock on turn 2 and I took Backdraft down to 1 hull. Poor OL spent those two turns getting forced crushed by Vader, so she was out by round 3. My two SF's finished off Backdraft next round and then worked on the deci, burning it down over the next couple of rounds. This is probably the round where my getting to choose initiative was most valuable.

Final: Rematch against the three Contracted Scouts torp boats.
I was worried about having to do this match again given how close the first round was. I set up at a slight angle and offset hoping to get me a little more range during the initial salvo so I could avoid the intel agents for at least one more round of moving and shooting. The stars aligned and I got both missiles off at range 3, taking the lead scout down to 3 hull I think. I finished it next round and put some solid damage into the second. Then the next round was decisive in that two of my ships (Backdraft and OL) managed to maintain arcs on the damaged scout and finish it. My opponent was incredibly good at blocking my shots on the injured scouts and that one round just worked out for me. So the last scout did finish off OL after I blanked out on my evades and it was a 1 hull QD and full health Backdraft left to finish off the last Scout. I had some great rolls and they finished it off.

So in the end the list was all about that first engagement and making sure I could get two missiles + OL's shots into something. I managed to pull it off 6 out of 7 rounds and had great results. It needs to hit hard enough early so that the opposing list has to play catch-up. With the near endless target locks and OL's ability the offense is surprisingly high.

Thanks for the write up man! A few more questions if you don't mind?

How much practice did you have before hand? Im generally good at guessing ranges correctly but it still feels like something that would need a lot of practice?

How did you set your ships up at the start and fly them?

Did you generally fly them on a formation or with OL separately?

Cheers!

13 minutes ago, Goseki1 said:

Thanks for the write up man! A few more questions if you don't mind?

How much practice did you have before hand? Im generally good at guessing ranges correctly but it still feels like something that would need a lot of practice?

How did you set your ships up at the start and fly them?

Did you generally fly them on a formation or with OL separately?

Cheers!

Sure,

I actually had never run the list before. I started playing in February but the SF and the ARC-170 are probably my two most played ships so I'm familiar with how they fly. OL's dial is great so she was pretty straight forward.

I did run the list in the SquadBuilder program mostly studying approaches to Fenn who I was most concerned with (and then never played!). That helped me arrive at the setup I used for every game but the last. It was basically QD and BD next to each other with OL next to whomever was closest straight line to my priority target. OL would two straight and the SF's would 1 straight on the first turn. The on the second OL would either pull in on a 3 bank and TL while both SF's one 1 straight again and TL. All but one round had me getting missiles off unanswered on that second round.

I tried to keep OL with QD as much as possible. A lot of times I would turn QD and BD in opposite directions to cover the most area.

Sounds similar to how I'd run it. I think I'd feel fairly confident against a lot of lists except maybe heavy TLT lists and jank like Kanan Biggs is tough even for a LWF SF to withstand.