“If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared.”

― Niccolò Machiavelli , The Prince

After Dengar / Tel see so much success i though to myself as a strictly imperal player "How can the Empire possibly achive a similar good Alpha Strike?"

Even Machiavelli knew this wisdom! If my first attack is hard and fast enough, the enemy will be so severly damaged or broken, that I have not to fear any meaningful counterattack.

What do we need? 3 ships that attack at PS 9 and each with 4 Dice - mostly with rockets! So I came up with this list:

"Quickdraw" (29)
Swarm Tactics (2)
Fire-Control System (2)
Homing Missiles (5)
Targeting Synchronizer (3)
Guidance Chips (0)
Special Ops Training (0)

Tomax Bren (24)
Crack Shot (1)
Extra Munitions (2)
Proton Torpedoes (4)
Guidance Chips (0)

"Pure Sabacc" (22)
Swarm Tactics (2)
Adaptive Ailerons (0)

Total: 96

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Quickdraw chooses the most juicy target - it is critical to break the enemy list in the opening shooting. Quickdraw must shoot first, because Sabacc (who takes a focus) will surely want to modify his rolls with rerolls.

At the beginning of the combat phase we up every ships PS to 9 with swarm tactics! QD did take the TL action. And fires his Homing Missile, rerolls if needed. With guidance Chips I have most of the time 3 to 4 hits. Then I let Pure Sabacc attack -if he needs he can reroll his red dice by using QD´ target lock. With focus an TL you get most of the time 3 to 4 hits again. Now even a Ghost is shieldless. Now bring Tomax. With his Proton Torpedo and GC he will surely be devastating too! Don´t forget he has Crackshot. So that Crit has a high possibility to get thru!

If all 3 can focus a target it will go down - maybe even in Round 1 of combat. This friday I will test this list in real life!

I still have 4 points to spend. In the first edition of the list I gave Tomax Homing Missiles too. Would you think they are better?

With the free points I can give Sabacc a LWF. Or Tomax a set of Cluster Mines... What do you think?

As far as Proton vs. Homing for Thomax that's a meta call: Proton for heavy targets, Homing for those with evades.

Then there's the extra points. Keep the bid or get some upgrades? Take initiative or give initiative? Tough call. In a matchup with Dengar-Tel you want initiative to ensure that Sabacc gets his bonus before he takes damage, but then your target might not be in range when you move first...

7 minutes ago, nitrobenz said:

As far as Proton vs. Homing for Thomax that's a meta call: Proton for heavy targets, Homing for those with evades.

Then there's the extra points. Keep the bid or get some upgrades? Take initiative or give initiative? Tough call. In a matchup with Dengar-Tel you want initiative to ensure that Sabacc gets his bonus before he takes damage, but then your target might not be in range when you move first...

Yes, the Jumpmaster has no such Problems with K4 usually. They even can bump with a green move and still have their Torpedos available.

How much Ini Bid has Dengar / Tel usually?

I could take Plasma Torpedos - but I surely will miss the 1 nearly sure crit from the protons. Then Tomax would be firing first at high Shield Targets (mostly big ships). Then I could take LWF and still fave points left... maybe for a bomb?

Last one I saw was 99, I think the World Champ version is 98? It's the difference between Plasmas or protons for Tell.

You can do this with all ordnance so you don't give up range bonus with Sabacc. Also, since Tomax is only PS8 during activation he might not get his TL to fire his torps and then he has no rerolls either. If you do something like this:

"Quickdraw" (29)
Swarm Tactics (2) , Fire-Control System (2) , Homing Missiles (5) , Targeting Synchronizer (3) , Guidance Chips (0) , Special Ops Training (0)

Omega Specialist (25)
Swarm Tactics (2) , Fire-Control System (2) , Homing Missiles (5) , Targeting Synchronizer (3) , Guidance Chips (0) , Special Ops Training (0)

Scimitar Squadron Pilot (16)
Proton Torpedoes (4) , Extra Munitions (2) , Guidance Chips (0)

Total: 100

You can take TL with Quickdraw to get off the homing missile with rerolls. The Omega takes a focus and uses Quickdraw's TL from FCS to fire his homing missile and can spend it if needed to reroll. The Scimitar takes a focus and can spend Omega's TL from FCS to fire his torp and if the Omega didn't spend Quickdraw's he has rerolls as well. You can change the torpedo to a concussion missile if you want blank protection just in case you don't have rerolls. You could also drop extra muni's from the Scimitar and upgrade the Omega to Backdraft with VI and a 1pt bid. That still fires all at PS9 and might be a bit more punchy after the alpha-strike. You're also somewhat bump-proof. If Quickdraw bumps or can't take a TL for some reason the rest of the list can still fire their ordnance off the FCS TL's and synchronizers.

You're absolutely correct in pairing Bren with Targeting Synchronizer as it increases his threat level significantly, however as far as alpha strike is concerned, one doesn't need to have everyone at PS9 as long as there is a good chance that a lower-PS ship isn't going to be destroyed before delivering that alpha strike (and Draw Their Fire does wonders in that regard). I tried several different Imperial alpha-strike lists at SC and so far I like this one for it's performance and synergies: