I have been trying to make Operations Specialist good for some time now. It requires a very unique type of list, and basically necessitates at least two of the card before it's really providing enough to be worth the missed shot. I have decided the best way to go about this is with two sigma Phantoms and something that can shoot really early in the round. The following are three lists I have come up with to take advantage of this.

List 1:

Major Rhymer w/ LWF, Snap Shot, title, Op Spec, Tactician.

2x Sigma w/ LWF, FCS, Op Spec

List 2:

Quickdraw w/ LWF, Rage, title, Baffles, Sensor Cluster

2x Sigma w/ LWF, FCS, Op Spec

List 3:

Rexlar Brath w/ D title, VI, Tractor Beam

2x Sigma w/ SPA, Collision Detector, Op Spec

All three lists include 2 sigmas and a +1. Rhymer can take pot shots at dudes with snap shot before combat, QuickDraw can rage/baffles before combat, and Brath at ps 10 will get a tractor beam and a primary before pretty much anything. Then (hopefully) one of those attacks miss and token up your sigmas, or whoever needs it most.

These are all probably not super competitive, but if I had to pick one, I'm leaning towards Quickdraw. With that one at least, all the ships can end out the game if they need to. What do you guys think?

I just thought of the idea of Op Spec on a Phantom too!! I've been running Rhymer with Op Spec, Snap Shot and 2 SF's with snapshot and Rhymer is just super squishy, so I thought of the idea of replacing him with a Sigma. This is the list I came up with.

Test (100)

Sigma Squadron Pilot (33) - TIE Phantom
Advanced Sensors (3), Operations Specialist (3), Stygium Particle Accelerator (2)

Omega Specialist (35) - TIE/SF Fighter
Snap Shot (2), Fire Control System (2), Ion Pulse Missiles (3), Primed Thrusters (1), Special Ops Training (0), Lightweight Frame (2)

Omega Specialist (32) - TIE/SF Fighter
Snap Shot (2), Fire Control System (2), Primed Thrusters (1), Special Ops Training (0), Lightweight Frame (2)

Theoretically, Sigma's could be amazing support ships and can just hammer your opponent on a turn or two when not expecting it. 4 dice with Focus, Evade or 2 Dice with an Evade and maybe a Focus means it can take plenty of shots before it goes down.

I think you're onto something!

1 hour ago, Caboose2900 said:

I have been trying to make Operations Specialist good for some time now. It requires a very unique type of list, and basically necessitates at least two of the card before it's really providing enough to be worth the missed shot. I have decided the best way to go about this is with two sigma Phantoms and something that can shoot really early in the round.

This is not true at all. Ops Spec is a very good card and doesn't require anything special. And you absolutely do not need more than one in your list (the fact that you believe it to be so makes me wonder if you understand how it works?)

I really do not think it is a good fit on a phantom simply because phantoms don't miss very often. The best value for this card is in conjunction with ships that have two attack dice or that have the ability to attack more than once (such as gunner or TLT). Its value goes up dramatically the more ships you put on the board (or at least the more shots you can take), so for that reason, its best if you can get 4+ ships in the list.

The only way I'd consider putting ops spec into a list that included phantoms is if there was a ship with high Pilot Skill but only a two dice attack (although this is a really good fit with any list that has ops spec).

In all three of the lists you posted, you'd greatly improve each list simply by replacing ops spec with recon specialist. You just aren't using it to good effect, except on Rhymer in the 1st list.

Well, Op Spec gives you a focus. One focus per miss. Not necessarily to the ship that missed, but still, one focus for one miss. But if you have 2 Op Specs in a list, you still only need one miss to trigger both. So then it becomes one miss, two focus. That's my reasoning behind wanting two (or more). I'm not super comfortable trading a 2 dice attack for 1 focus. I am much more okay with 2 for 2 though.

The idea isn't really for the Phantoms to miss. The Op Specs are so that the Phantoms can get actionless focus. But in reality, it probably isn't the best way to go about it, especially considering how inefficient it is compared to Mindlink...

16 hours ago, Caboose2900 said:

I'm not super comfortable trading a 2 dice attack for 1 focus. I am much more okay with 2 for 2 though.

I think this is the problem here. You should be super comfortable trading a 2 dice shot for a focus token! Its a great deal! Keep in mind that missing normally means you get nothing. But with ops spec, your opponent has to think hard about spending tokens against that piddly 2 die attack that shot first. If he spends a token to stop it, sure he takes no damage, but Ops Spec triggers, potentially making the next shot all the more lethal...

However, the value of Ops Spec increases with the MORE ships you have in the list. That's why I don't think it works super well with a list that has only 3 ships (as is the case with the lists you posted).

Again, I think it could work alright with your first list if you leave Ops Spec on Major Rhymer and put recon spec on the Sigmas. That's a solid list there. It won't win super competitive events, but its decent.

But leaving the ops spec on the Phantoms makes no sense when you can just take Recon Spec instead.

Here's some list ideas to give you an idea how to get good value out of Ops Spec:

Bomber Swarm

Scimitar w/ TIE shuttle, TIE mk 2, tactician & systems officer = 21

Scimitar w/ TIE shuttle, TIE mk 2, tactician & systems officer = 21

Scimitar w/ TIE shuttle, TIE mk 2, tactician & intel agent = 20

Scimitar w/ TIE shuttle & ops spec = 19

Scimitar w/ TIE shuttle & ops spec = 19

100

In this list, Ops Spec ensures that most of your bombers are shooting with TL + Focus, so your opponent is forced to spend tokens to avoid damage in the early game, and if his ships get stressed from tactician, you are free in later turns to TL with your ships and rely on Ops Spec to provide the focus token for fully modded shots against actionless targets.

TIE Swarm

Scimitar w/ TIE shuttle, ops spec & intel agent = 20

Howlrunner w/ VI = 19

5 academy pilots = 60

99

Again, the power of Ops Spec frees your TIE fighters to take EVADE as their action. This is huge because they are much harder to kill with that evade token, and they do not lose out on offense because Ops Spec provides the focus token (plus howlrunner re-roll).

Boba + Mini-swarm

Boba Fett w/ swarm leader & ops spec = 45

Howlrunner w/ VI = 19

3 academy pilots = 36

100

Once again, EVADE is the key action here. Ops spec allows your ships to take evade and ops spec will generate their focus during shooting.

So yeah, I think Ops Spec is an amazing card because really it should probably be worth more points. But you are only going to get super efficient value out of it if you bring lots of ships. But what makes ops spec shine is the fact that your ships can take OTHER actions and then get their focus token from Ops Spec triggering.