As I'm Rebel only, I know I'm going to see her a lot for awhile and have been thinking up some tactics, but I think she's going to be a real ball buster.

Counter ideas so far...

-Ewings to take out Intel fast so they can be pinned.

-Ten Numb

-Walex

-Generics rather than a ton of named squads so Token stripping is less effective

-Fingers crossed that that as yet mystery card is an AA boost

-finding room for AF2s and Neb Escorts with double AA

-Toryn to make those blues more effective

-PDR or QLT? Ugh.

-Flechettes don't really have a great platform for Rebels ATM, so...

What are y'all's thoughts?

I think Sloan is balanced by needing light-hull squadrons. Sure, Defenders work with her too, and amazingly well, but then you're only fitting about 8 or so. To get lots of benefit from her you need TIE Fighters and Interceptors, and they burn down quick to AA, and even faster to AA + Squadrons.

My excitement about Sloane is more about her threat. I'm hoping that the threat of her presence changes some things up a bit.

8 minutes ago, Caldias said:

I think Sloan is balanced by needing light-hull squadrons. Sure, Defenders work with her too, and amazingly well, but then you're only fitting about 8 or so. To get lots of benefit from her you need TIE Fighters and Interceptors, and they burn down quick to AA, and even faster to AA + Squadrons.

Anything I missed for counters?

Gallant Haven with Walex on a AF2 is sounding good to lead the charge.

I think she wont be as dominate as you think. Light hull squads will be mowed down quick and remember, they still need to roll that ACC to get the token spend. Not that easy of a task. Plus you are hard pressed to take a bunch of ties as you will not have enough ships to activate them via squad commands and if you wait till the squad phase they are screwed anyways.

I have already tried Sloan and she is pretty nice, not really overpowered in any way as far as I have seen.

She is truly great with regular Tie-fighters/interceptors but you should still bring a few bombers... her ability to give Ties extra potential against ships should not really be looked upon as you have no use of bombers. Your bombers are the threat you need early on to draw out rebel fighters in areas where AA can't help them.

As for opposing Sloan you need to invest in a decently balance fighter force. A few aces and mostly bog standard squadrons and a few of each to give you options, it is also useful if you are not up against Sloan. Screening with a Nebulon B escort have always been a thing for the Rebels and is always a good choice, A Nebolon B Escort with "Flight Commander" and "Flight Controller" is always nice.

80p of fighter squadrons seem like the minimum for any fleet at 400p,

Just now, jorgen_cab said:

A Nebolon B Escort with "Flight Commander" and "Flight Controller" is always nice.

Nice.

But regrettably Illegal.

Man, if Nebs could take Gunnery Slot Items...

Just now, Drasnighta said:

Nice.

But regrettably Illegal.

Man, if Nebs could take Gunnery Slot Items...

I meant "Flight Coordination Team"...

Just now, jorgen_cab said:

I meant "Flight Coordination Team"...

Figured That is the awesome Combo... More heavily-handed used ot move B-Wings and YT-1300s into position - but Yavaris'd up Fighters are always useful, too..

9 minutes ago, ripper998 said:

I think she wont be as dominate as you think

I totally agree with this. I do think though, that she will be a blast to play, and will totally wreck a fleet not prepared to deal with her.

13 minutes ago, RogueCommander said:

As I'm Rebel only, I know I'm going to see her a lot for awhile and have been thinking up some tactics, but I think she's going to be a real ball buster.

Counter ideas so far...

-Ewings to take out Intel fast so they can be pinned.

-Ten Numb

-Walex

-Generics rather than a ton of named squads so Token stripping is less effective

-Fingers crossed that that as yet mystery card is an AA boost

-finding room for AF2s and Neb Escorts with double AA

-Toryn to make those blues more effective

-PDR or QLT? Ugh.

-Flechettes don't really have a great platform for Rebels ATM, so...

What are y'all's thoughts?

Some of what you are concerned about is why she is so great for the meta!

Over-use/abuse of aces in either reeikan lists or "super friends" lists has really neutered the possibility space in building lists and now knowing that a relatively modest investment in an inexpensive mixed-use squadron complement under Sloane can significantly reduce the value of aces will shift the meta-efficiency of aces down and open things up for variety.

I foresee using a couple of defenders plus Ties plus Interceptors and a tie advanced or 2 would be a good Sloane complement. It would also be a good idea to have a serious ship based threat Eg a Demolisher or a Devastator

With the new ships and imperial Aces getting a boost, I don't think you have to worry about Intel with her so much. She can burn through fighter screens and the new ships can help with that as well. The real problem is those carriers get real expensive when they are loaded up to make those squadrons sing. It leaves few points for pawn ships to take the fire to keep those carriers safe. I don't see the bombers killing faster than the carriers dieing.

Bring a tarpit Rebel squadron unit and you'll do OK. Either you get the jump on her squads, activating before her, which means more dead TIEs, or she activates before you. If she activates before you, then she either hits your squadrons first and they do the job they were meant to, of taking hits and dying like champs for your ships/other squadrons, or she hits your ships, and then you're in that same spot before where you get the jump on her TIEs. Unless you're playing her badly, Sloane won't shoot Jan Ors, and Jan is still the best 19 points you can spend on the Rebel side. Flak the crud out of everything (TIEs die to a solid breeze, just make sure you keep hitting them) and then when she's out of squadrons she's in trouble. And if she brings 134 points of squadrons, how does she fit other ships in super well? THAT's the Sloane problem, haha

Has everyone forgotten how fragile TIE fighters are? A Cr90 squad attack alone is brutal on them.

Don't forget about the synergy of the imperial scatter aces. Yes, they are fragile, but they can cause tremendous headaches.

Sloane gives them use after neutralizing enemy squads.

Sloane??? Bahhh played against her in the vassal turnament... Flew in ans let the apt do the talking... You just need to kill Gozantis that are activating the ties... And she is dead meat...

People will need to learn how to CAP effectively.

Sloan has the tools to first-strike well... Fly enough TIEs in there to get 2 ACC results, and boom, your big ship has lost its non-redundant token. Who care if you basically tear through the TIE fighters at that point? They've done their job. You're now lacking a Brace.

Becuase of the reliance on that first strike, the typical "Kill the Carriers, they won't have enough to command." at that point is.. moot. They've done their Expendable Job. Sloane is now going to be taking on the enemy with a distinct advantage of Defense Tokens to use.

Whereas a decent BARCAP layout might just save your butt - or make them over-commit with Intel to guarantee taht first strike capacity. Sloane, like the majority of the Imperial Admirals, can be actively countered... Whereas most of them (Motti, Vader, Screed) can only be passively countered.

36 minutes ago, Green Squadron 3 said:

Sloane??? Bahhh played against her in the vassal turnament... Flew in ans let the apt do the talking... You just need to kill Gozantis that are activating the ties... And she is dead meat...

I think it is more the player commanding the fleet that is deciding the outcome anyway...

Sloan will need a large squadron compliment to work effectively and also need quality activation not quantity and a balanced fighter force, using only weak Tie-fighters is a mistake, it makes you vulnerable. Same goes for most rebel fleet fighter wings as well, although Rebels are not as vulnerable to quantity squadron activation as Imperials are.

Howl, Ciena, Saber, Dengar, Soontir, Mauler, Maarek, and Valen is 132 points. 6 Scatter Aces of 8 squads, 7 with blue anti ship dice. Now you have counter 1, 2 or 4. Boost with Flight Controllers and you can toss 6 of them and with +1/2 blue dice.

That's a tough squadron complement to engage with. If you focus AA, then the rest of the fleet will get you. I'm currently thinking Demo since it's an excellent solo threat.

I don't think you can just sneeze on a well thought out ace ball and continue on your way.

Sloane is going to be a threat like Rieekan. I don't expect her to dominate like Rieekan has done, but I do expect her to be one of the more powerful Imp commanders.

Ironically, I think the best combo to Sloane is going to be generic squads. Jan and 3 X-Wings is going to negate Sloane's ability. Running A-Wings or Tie/I will do the same. Running generics means you can fit more points into a list, and taking aces can be a liability.

At least it's thematic. As I recall in the New Dawn novel... she was a ballbuster

Motti and blast doors..... Hull up.....and dam the defence tokens....

1 hour ago, Drasnighta said:

Whereas a decent BARCAP layout might just save your butt - or make them over-commit with Intel to guarantee taht first strike capacity. Sloane, like the majority of the Imperial Admirals, can be actively countered... Whereas most of them (Motti, Vader, Screed) can only be passively countered.

Somewhere in there is a missing negative.

1 hour ago, Drasnighta said:

People will need to learn how to CAP effectively.

Sloan has the tools to first-strike well... Fly enough TIEs in there to get 2 ACC results, and boom, your big ship has lost its non-redundant token. Who care if you basically tear through the TIE fighters at that point? They've done their job. You're now lacking a Brace.

Becuase of the reliance on that first strike, the typical "Kill the Carriers, they won't have enough to command." at that point is.. moot. They've done their Expendable Job. Sloane is now going to be taking on the enemy with a distinct advantage of Defense Tokens to use.

Whereas a decent BARCAP layout might just save your butt - or make them over-commit with Intel to guarantee taht first strike capacity. Sloane, like the majority of the Imperial Admirals, can be actively countered... Whereas most of them (Motti, Vader, Screed) can only be passively countered.

i know CAP, but what's BARCAP?

Don't get me wrong, I think she's going to be strong. I just don't think she's going to be unbeatable or somehow problematic.

1 hour ago, Undeadguy said:

Howl, Ciena, Saber, Dengar, Soontir, Mauler, Maarek, and Valen is 132 points. 6 Scatter Aces of 8 squads, 7 with blue anti ship dice. Now you have counter 1, 2 or 4. Boost with Flight Controllers and you can toss 6 of them and with +1/2 blue dice.

That's a tough squadron complement to engage with. If you focus AA, then the rest of the fleet will get you. I'm currently thinking Demo since it's an excellent solo threat.

I don't think you can just sneeze on a well thought out ace ball and continue on your way.

Sloane is going to be a threat like Rieekan. I don't expect her to dominate like Rieekan has done, but I do expect her to be one of the more powerful Imp commanders.

Ironically, I think the best combo to Sloane is going to be generic squads. Jan and 3 X-Wings is going to negate Sloane's ability. Running A-Wings or Tie/I will do the same. Running generics means you can fit more points into a list, and taking aces can be a liability.

To maximize on soontir Fel's ability, I'd switch one of the aces (probably Cienna) out for Zertik Strom for maximum headaches. Granted, he folds fast even with redundant brace tokens, but you guarantee extended survival of your remaining aces, ensures you can dish out copious amounts of damage from Fel, and has counter 1 from Dengar for either additional damage or token burning if it's an ace firing upon him. Without some escort squadron, Soontir Fel will be public enemy number one for his free damage, and force him to burn his scatter early.