I want to run Kestal with a TLT, I've only ever played imperial and I've never fired a TLT before.

What I can't figure out is how to do that without it being ridiculously expensive. TLT is expensive, should I just double down on her being expensive and run her with Expertise?

How is everyone running their TIE/Aggs? Any success stories (or crushing defeats) yet?

I expect that most TIE/Agg lists will consist of 4 of them running TLT alongside LWF.

2 hours ago, HammerGibbens said:

I want to run Kestal with a TLT, I've only ever played imperial and I've never fired a TLT before.

What I can't figure out is how to do that without it being ridiculously expensive. TLT is expensive, should I just double down on her being expensive and run her with Expertise?

How is everyone running their TIE/Aggs? Any success stories (or crushing defeats) yet?

Hey that's a good idea.

Also LWF.

2 TLT LWF for = 50 pts.

or 4 TLT LWF for 100pts. Either works.

I'm liking the look of this list,

TLT, Lone wolf and LWF is a strong build for Ketsal, I believe. Mainly because the Ketsal playstyle is so much a flanker's. Expertise is fairly unnecessary to guarantee damage.

Lone Wolf is my call too. Two good solid ships engage the enemy while Kestal pings from range.

That said I don't think TLT Aggressors are good.

VI, double threads, chips, autoblaster or Ion.

She can bring in Ordinance Aces and then just harass for the rest of the game.

Lightweight Frame, Ion Cannon Turret and Crack Shot.

For me, Kestal seems to be calling for Ruthlessness with the Twin Laser Turret, yes it will only trigger once, but seems fun.

•Lone Wolf and an Ion Cannon seem a great choice as well - do your best to walk someone off the board.

LoneWolf + LWF is indeed the goto idea for Kestal.
Personally im not putting TLTs on her, i feel it renders her ability kinda pointless.

8 hours ago, BadMotivator said:

I'm liking the look of this list,

95 points

PILOTS

“Whisper” (41)
TIE Phantom (32), Agent Kallus (2), Fire-Control System (2), Veteran Instincts (1), Advanced Cloaking Device (4)

Sienar Specialist (27) x 2
TIE Aggressor (17), Unguided Rockets (2), Twin Laser Turret (6), Lightweight Frame (2)

You got a big bid, and one heck of a question.

Go after the TLTs, and let Whisper eat your face. Or go after Whisper and get plinked by TLTs. Could even reduce the bid to make of the Aggressors Double Edge. Or take no bid and have Kestal.

What is the value of the rockets here? They seem really poor with TLT equipped. Might as well drop them in favor of 4 extra points to bump one of the pilots up to a named pilot.

Kestal seems to be a decent candidate for Rage as well if you wanna go even more budget. Not a lot of red on the dial, provides the focus you need for ability and allows rerolls for your turret shots. Inspiring recruit somewhere in the list would obviously be a big help

Kuestion*

still think you need missiles because pushing one damage through with TLTs is no longer impressive

2 hours ago, ficklegreendice said:

Kuestion*

Dang it. I say around for 10 minutes brainstorming

"Kestal Conundrum...? No... Kestal Questal? Doesn't make sense..." and then you come and slam dunk on me.

I'm gonna run her with Crack Shot, Homing Missiles and a TLT.

Bye bye Fenn Rau.

I've been thinking about Kestal with an ion cannon turret. Imperials haven't really ever had ion control lists like the Rebels before. I realise that the most damage an ion cannon turret can do is 1 at a time while a TLT can do 2, but with her ability virtually guaranteeing the ion effect her chances of walking an enemy onto a rock or off the board are higher than normal, and if she can control where her enemy will go then she can stay behind them out of their arc and just chip chip chip away at them and there's nothing they can do. Or she can just ion someone and let the squad converge on them.

5 minutes ago, GreenLantern1138 said:

I've been thinking about Kestal with an ion cannon turret. Imperials haven't really ever had ion control lists like the Rebels before. I realise that the most damage an ion cannon turret can do is 1 at a time while a TLT can do 2, but with her ability virtually guaranteeing the ion effect her chances of walking an enemy onto a rock or off the board are higher than normal, and if she can control where her enemy will go then she can stay behind them out of their arc and just chip chip chip away at them and there's nothing they can do. Or she can just ion someone and let the squad converge on them.

The thing about Kestal is that his ability is actually a terrible fit for TLT.

What Kestal is good at is making sure a single attack hits, which is the WORST thing you can apply to TLT because the benefit of your attack hitting is limited to a single point of damage.

The more you make that one attack hurt (ie. with ICT) the more value you get from Kestal's ability to ensure that attack hits the target.

8 minutes ago, GreenLantern1138 said:

I've been thinking about Kestal with an ion cannon turret. Imperials haven't really ever had ion control lists like the Rebels before. I realise that the most damage an ion cannon turret can do is 1 at a time while a TLT can do 2, but with her ability virtually guaranteeing the ion effect her chances of walking an enemy onto a rock or off the board are higher than normal, and if she can control where her enemy will go then she can stay behind them out of their arc and just chip chip chip away at them and there's nothing they can do. Or she can just ion someone and let the squad converge on them.

The best way should be stress them and then ionize. In such a way the white one straight will make them unelegible for boosting or barrelrolling.

On 7/10/2017 at 4:09 AM, Stay On The Leader said:

That said I don't think TLT Aggressors are good.

I'm curious about your thoughts on this.

My sense is that low mobility/low PS TLT platforms these days are not top-tier since alpha strike power has grown to the point where a low PS TLT carrier can be fairly reliably killed before even firing. TLTs can't spike damage so they need to survive a while to be worth bringing. TIE Aggressors are squishier than Y-Wings and will be less reliable offensively since they are more likely to need to spend their focus on defense rather than having it to spend on offense. Same story if they are spending actions to Barrel Roll. So they will need to avoid attention to really contribute offensively to a squad and earn their points - if they are getting shot at they aren't going to last long or be putting out reliable damage against anything but 0-1 agility. So basically one TIE Aggressor to round out a list is probably fine in the right context but running more is risky.

Im tired of repeating myself. I can't see any role for TLT Aggressors where the Empire doesn't already have a better ship for around the same cost.

Quad Y-Wings aren't good enough and quad Aggressors should be no better. Their base stats/dial are weak if you don't utilise the turret platform. Kestal's ability is mediocre. TLT is good with the Ghost double tap, it's good with R3-A2, it's good with Miranda regen... Aggressors don't get any of that synergy they get the base Gold Sqd experience that is proven to be not good enough.

Maybe I'm wrong, maybe they're great. But I can't see any particularly persuasive reason to put one on the table.

7 minutes ago, Stay On The Leader said:

But I can't see any particularly persuasive reason to put one on the table.

I've never gotten to use a TLT before and I only play imperial.

there can't be a strictly better ship if no other ship can TLT

sure, if you pigeon hole it into TLT spam it probably won't hack it in the meta (though you can field 4 5s to out ps scouts). But if you just fly one with two other self sufficient ships, it could be a great add

Question: Does Rexler Brath have a place in the meta? Why not?

The answer is the same for Kestal: focus is at a premium, and in order to survive/deal reliable damage you need a focus for offense/defense. You rarely have a free focus token which you can blow on an ability like Brath's or Kestal's. Even if you run Kestal/Brath with expertise, you still have to blow your focus on the pilot ability- leaving you vulnerable. Also, if you take expertise, you're just going to get out PS'd and completely hosed by PS9 Dengar Alphastrike or something.

Kestal is purely meaningless window-dressing, just like Brath always has been.

Rexlar doesnt have a place for the sheer fact that spending a focus for his ability is either 1) Not even a factor because shields 2) Only cards are already face up or 3) Killed the ship anyway.
In DOZENS of attempts to abuse his ability (Tractor + Expertise + Mk2 Engines + TIE/D) ive actually only gotten use of it once. Granted, i contribute that win to that ability since i flipped 3 cards faceup on an ARC-170 and all 3 were nasty crits, but every other game he did absolutely nothing - not because i needed the focus elsewhere, but because i just simply never HAD the chance to use his ability. Almost always had a focus to spend, but almost never even had 1 card to flip with it. If i used it at all, it was a defensive mod after i already attacked anyway.

Kestal's ability is in the same general mindset, yes. That being you have to not use your focus for anything else in order to actually use it. The difference is Kestal's negates Autos and enemy defensive focuses and rerolls, which unless you rolled really bad on offense (always a factor even with double mods) it WILL make a difference, especially against Autos and as a turret user thats huge. Give her Lone Wolf and Ion Turret and make her flank, she wont 1shot anyone due to 1 damage per attack but that is a VERY likely ion-chaining effect on a very flexible platform.
Cheap too, while Rexlar is definitely not.

3 minutes ago, Vineheart01 said:

The difference is Kestal's negates Autos and enemy defensive focuses and rerolls, which unless you rolled really bad on offense (always a factor even with double mods) it WILL make a difference, especially against Autos and as a turret user thats huge.

This is what baffles me. A turret ship is given the ability to shut down Autothrusters, the defense against turrets, and people are acting like its worthless? Sure, if you roll a bunch of attack roll focus results, you use your token on the attack roll. If you don't need it, you can still shut down AT to effectively add/keep a point (or more) of damage beyond what any other similar ship could do.