4 hours ago, GreenDragoon said:

I don't know about you guys, but setting up diagonally and drawing them into the asteroids usually prevents a 4 straight pretty effectively. An alpha strike wants to focus fire, and disrupting formation is a good idea against that.

And even if they don't come into the middle of the board, you'll probably get an approach vector that makes a 4 straight+range2 almost impossible.

As someone who does/will use cruise missiles frequently and in the future, one option is to use them after a 4/5 kturn if you can get the TL earlier. Maybe keep that in mind, too, when approaching.

Great points! It's hard to choose to set up diagonally against PS 10 or 11 ships if that is not their plan, however.

I am planning on trying this in a causal setting. I almost always run rebels and my friend always runs imps, but we are gonna swap for a day so this may just be bad:

"Quickdraw"(38) ["Quickdraw"(29), Veteran Instincts(1), Shield Upgrade(4), Fire Control System(2), Special Ops Training(0), Pattern Analyzer(2)]

Darth Vader(38) [Darth Vader(29), Veteran Instincts(1), Engine Upgrade(4), Advanced Targeting Computer(5), TIE/x1(0), Cruise Missiles(3)]

Duchess(24) [Duchess(23), Veteran Instincts(1), Adaptive Ailerons(0)]

On 7/22/2017 at 7:02 PM, Thormind said:

Who would have known that Lohwwrick + Biggs was a bad idea. It's not like they talked about it in the preview article. It's almost as if they wanted to make sure that a rebel squad would win the next World....

I don't think this list is a great one to fight it, but its not that hard to deal with. Lost 0 ships against a friend practicing Biggs+jess+low for on upcoming tournament. (i had New chewie, and 2 crack/snap procket A-wings)

Biggs can be dealt with by flying not by math, you need to put your ships between biggs and his friends.

To the 3x PS 11 cruise missile list... **** never thought of that i am defiantly going to try it even if it does not one shot a biggs+low list it certainly makes it easier turn 2 of combat to finish off a ship. (is it better then a 4x lower ps with deadeye, or 4x really low ps with a 5 ship with tracers? i don't know)

You'll beat both of these lists in the flying and postioning.

Even at ps 11 the inqus and quickdraw aren't repositioning unless they alrady have target lock, which means you know who to run or donut hole with. In my mind Qd would be better off with ps 9 and deadeye, while the inquis took his usual ptl to eat the other 2 pnts

Jankyard cant joust for poop unless they leave low (and biggs once he eats his 1st stress bowl) behind, which kind of kills all the synergy

12 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

Any alpha strike can be messed up by:

Range 4-to-Range-1 dash.

• As you noted, it's not easy. But as @Chibi-Nya suggests, it does work.
• Against cruise missiles it's easier than you think (because the firing ships cannot be doing speed 1 'slow' straights or else the cruise missiles are worthless).
• Pretty much any squad can do this, if you can master the timing. Assuming you start just outside range 3, if the firing ship is only doing a speed 1 straight move (because they've got concussion or homing missiles not cruise missiles) then a speed 4 move on the part of the 'target' will get them safely into range 1 and inside the missile's minimum range.
• To get maximum effect with cruise missiles, the firer won't be doing speed 1, they'll be doing a speed 4 straight. The massive combined speed means that even at speed 4 without boost, the two ships can be half the board apart and still end up at range 1 with no missile shot allowed.

One thing to point out is that while speed 4 is the best case scenario for cruise missiles, speed 3 still does a lot of damage. However, if your opponent is only willing to fire at speed 4, then they are limited themselves and are going to be predicable.

12 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

Disallow the shot.

• You need a target lock (or focus for Deadeye), and an opportunity to attack.
• Countermeasures and Wes Janson can mess up the first, as can anything generically which dishes out stress (Snap Shot Tactician Major Rhymer) or disallows actions (Carnor Jax, Palob Godahli, or Hotshot Copilot for Deadeye).
• Kylo Ren on a high Pilot Skill ship can Blinded Pilot a target before it can shoot.

While great advice for alpha strike lists in general, unless you are doing tricks with Roark or Palob, only Countermeasures works against the base list discussed in this thread. PS11/10 is a problem as the rest require higher PS to be useful.

12 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

Mess with the dice pool

• You may not get a range 3 bonus against a cruise missile, but you do get "obstructed shot" bonuses.
• Assuming a target lock-ed missile, sensor jammer is really annoying.
• Anything which takes away stacked dice modifiers (Dark Curse, Omega Leader) really bites into the value of those shots.
• If you can prevent them doing a speed 3+ move (mines, ion tokens, you name it) then cruise missiles are pretty wimpy.

Omega Leader only works if he has the target lock. Unfortunately, PS11/10 prevents this on the first engagement, unless you are running either Jendon with ST-321 or Quickdraw with VI , Fire Control, and Targeting Synchronizer.

12 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

Share, mitigate or regenerate the damage

• This is what Rebel Jankyard does - R4-D6 can cut the worst of a missile hit, and selflessness and draw their fire can 'smear' hits around the squad so no-one actually dies.
• Sensor Jammer Xizor could do the same - although you can't force your opponent to fire at him.
• With 5 dice incoming, triggering Reinforced deflectors is all but a certainty.

I used to love flying Xizor with four Z95 Headhunters. The release of Twin Laser Turrets ended that list for me.

I'd like to try this list against either of the two primary lists offered here. I concocted it to challenge Rebel Hug.

Keytsu-

Lone Wolf

Glitterstim x2

Dengar

Countermeasures

Fenn-

VI

Title

AT

Z-95-

Cruise Missile

Glitterstim

GC

Basically you fly Keytsu straight at the formation to joust it. Bump, no bump doesn't matter much. Pop GS and CM use Keytsus ability to barrel roll Biggs or Selflessness out of range 1. Missiles and Keytsu attack rolled ship now at 1 or 0 AG. Keytsu tanks all damage with LW, CM and GS. Fly past, k turn, repeat. Fenn cleans up.

17 hours ago, Icelom said:

Biggs can be dealt with by flying not by math, you need to put your ships between biggs and his friends.

To the 3x PS 11 cruise missile list... **** never thought of that i am defiantly going to try it even if it does not one shot a biggs+low list it certainly makes it easier turn 2 of combat to finish off a ship. (is it better then a 4x lower ps with deadeye, or 4x really low ps with a 5 ship with tracers? i don't know)

The 3x PS11 list would probably not have been able to shoot the missile if between Biggs and his partners. That would most likely have been at range 1 of the target if we consider the Biggs range requirement... Still 15 fully moded reds in the face with no casualty is too much jousting power when you consider they can throw back a potential 11 reds.