Triple Nines

By Nickel, in X-Wing Squad Lists

TIE Advanced: · Darth Vader (29)
Expertise (4)
Proton Rockets (3)
Engine Upgrade (4)
TIE/x1 (0)
Advanced Targeting Computer (1)
TIE Interceptor: · Soontir Fel (27)
Push The Limit (3)
Autothrusters (2)
Royal Guard TIE (0)
Targeting Computer (2)
TIE Striker: · "Duchess" (23)
Adaptability (Increase) (0)
Lightweight Frame (2)
Adaptive ailerons (0)
-- TOTAL ------- 100/100p. --

I had really good luck with this last night versus four X-Wings. I managed to win 100-0 without taking any damage. I'm considering bringing this to an upcoming tournament, but I haven't really payed much attention to the recent meta. Suggestions?

4 x wings is really not the meta...

Well of course you destroyed 4 x-wings! That isn't even remotely a fair fight (not your fault though---the game suffers some serious balance issues these days...)

As for taking this list to a tournament....well, it depends on how much you care about winning the tournament. Also depends on how much experience you have flying an all arc-dodger list. If you feel pretty good about it, then go for it! Keep in mind though that this type of list is very taxing mentally, and therefore, if the tournament is long, you are likely to make more mistakes as the day drags on (and if you've been flying this kind of list for a while, you know how bad that is!)

Your worst nightmare in terms of bad matchups are PS 10 Rey (especially with inertial dampeners). And a bombing k-wing with sabine crew. All you can do to beat Rey is hope to trade two ships for her and hope your remaining ship can beat whatever your opponent has left.

As for k-wings, they are actually easy to beat if you know how to deal with them. Basically, the secret is not flying into their forward firing arc. As long as you aren't flying straight at them, its very hard for them to drop a bomb on you. The best way to achieve this is the '3 flankers' deployment. That is, you spread your ships out as far as possible (1 in the middle of your deployment and the other two in each corner). Whichever ship they go after initially, you run away with (and I mean turn around and run---but not right away----let them get close to range 3 first, but not actually in shooting range before you flee). Your other two ships then shoot at the k-wing carrying sabine until its dead. Probably your opponent will switch targets, forcing you to flee with the new ship they turn on, but that lets your other ship come back to the fight. Its a slow fight requiring a lot of patience on your part, but if you follow the cardinal rule (no flying straight into a k-wing's forward arc) you should be able to win on time.

There's other things that could give you trouble, but I'm not going to write a novel here! Anyway, good luck if you decide to take this list to a tournament (you'll need it!).

29 minutes ago, Nickel said:

TIE Advanced: · Darth Vader (29)
Expertise (4)
Proton Rockets (3)
Engine Upgrade (4)
TIE/x1 (0)
Advanced Targeting Computer (1)
TIE Interceptor: · Soontir Fel (27)
Push The Limit (3)
Autothrusters (2)
Royal Guard TIE (0)
Targeting Computer (2)
TIE Striker: · "Duchess" (23)
Adaptability (Increase) (0)
Lightweight Frame (2)
Adaptive ailerons (0)
-- TOTAL ------- 100/100p. --

I had really good luck with this last night versus four X-Wings. I managed to win 100-0 without taking any damage. I'm considering bringing this to an upcoming tournament, but I haven't really payed much attention to the recent meta. Suggestions?

I would argue that all 9's with no initiative bid will present a challenge. You might want to consider a way to get down to 97 or even 96.

The obvious things would be to drop to Predator or Lone Wolf on Vader (Pred is probably better than Expertise there anyway, he doesn't get rerolls and wants them a lot more than eyeball upgrades), and to scrap the missiles.

Yeah, you want a bid. Change expertise to predator on Vader, expertise is kinda wasted on two attack base ships. While predator is amazing.

Then drop the proton rockets to change soontir's targeting computer to stealth device. That i believe gets you to 98 points.

You're very likely to see a lot of direct counters to Soontir Fel at a competitive event. Assaj is popular, PS9 with better initiative bids are common, and bombs backed by Sabine crew are all pretty likely to show up.

I'd recommend grabbing something more survivable, and not worry too much about the Pilot Skill. Inquisitor, for example, can be built for slightly cheaper, and has the potential to be more effective.

All of your ships dislike bombs, so those are going to be your scariest matchups, and it'll take some practice being able to stand up to the variety of Jumpasters you'll see -- from bumping to ordinance, they have so many tools in their arsenal that triple aces have their work cut out for them.

End of the day, I'd fly exactly what you want and consider the competitive event a learning experience -- as has been pointed out, 4 X-Wings isn't a good benchmark, but a couple tournament rounds will give you a much better idea of a list's strengths and weaknesses.