TIE strikers at Store Championships [picture heavy]

By Parakitor, in X-Wing Battle Reports

I'm just waiting for my flgs to receive the 2 strikers I ordered and then I'll have a full 5. I'm really eager to fly them but I am curious about which rocks you use and how you set them up. Do you go big and rely on their maneuverabilty or small to have plenty of movement options?

Sorry if this was asked before.

14 hours ago, DXCrazytrain said:

I'm just waiting for my flgs to receive the 2 strikers I ordered and then I'll have a full 5. I'm really eager to fly them but I am curious about which rocks you use and how you set them up. Do you go big and rely on their maneuverabilty or small to have plenty of movement options?

Sorry if this was asked before.

  • Debris is your friend, because you can pull some dirty tricks.
    • If you can judge a move such that you cross debris on your adaptive aileron move, receive the stress, then execute a green move on your dial, you essentially fly straight through the debris, receive no stress, and still get your action.
    • You still have to roll damage, but it's only a 1/8 chance of taking a hit. Compared to the positional advantage which you can get from the move which opponents not used to strikers rarely see coming, it's not a huge risk
  • As a rule, smaller obstacles are good.
    • Because of the adaptive ailerons rule, you make two moves a turn, both of which are capable of triggering obstacle collisions. Big rocks and debris where you can find your aileron move clipping the rock then your main move clipping it again are bad ju-ju.
    • One of the TIE striker's 'party pieces' is a banked aileron move followed by a hard turn. a good rule of thumb is to look for obstacles which will fit 'inside' that curve, such that you can skin dance round an obstacle to escape or flank an opponent.
  • Make sure you have plenty of space between rocks
    • You're not in TIE fighters or TIE interceptors. They have the 'party piece' of a speed 1 turn, which is great for weaving through tight obstacle fields.
    • Yes, all right, you can do a speed 1 turn as well, but since yours has to come after an aileron move, your tightest turn and slowest straight is more like speed 3. Long banking sweeps you can do. Tight corners you can't.
    • Making sure you have an area of open space either to deploy in, or where you expect to engage, is generally good. Placing a small obstacle at range 3 in from the sides at the corner that's important to you is a good trick - it gives you a nice bubble of open space but is just close enough to the corner that your opponent won't be able to put a second obstacle nearer the corner.
    • The TIE striker's preferred engagement range is range 2 - at range 1 you risk easy kills from 4-5 dice primary attacks, whilst at range 3 Lightweight Frame will often mean you are short a green die compared to a 'proper' agility 3 ship. Wanting to weave around at range 2 means you want plenty of open space.
  • Obstructed shots are not your friend
    • Because of the way Lightweight Frame works, if you and your opponent have mutually obstructed shots, it generally favours them, because they'll get extra green dice and you won't.

Thanks @Magnus Grendel . Small debris it is. I really like your dirty trick of going over a debris with ailerons and then a green move. I got my 4th and 5th Strikers last night and can't wait to get them on the table Monday. I'm not the best at remembering match details but I will try to post some results here.

9 minutes ago, DXCrazytrain said:

Thanks @Magnus Grendel . Small debris it is. I really like your dirty trick of going over a debris with ailerons and then a green move. I got my 4th and 5th Strikers last night and can't wait to get them on the table Monday. I'm not the best at remembering match details but I will try to post some results here.

I hear you saying I should bring my Ruthlessness squad. Got it...:P

10 minutes ago, hothie said:

I hear you saying I should bring my Ruthlessness squad. Got it...:P

Do your worst! (Starts weeping quietly in corner)

21 minutes ago, DXCrazytrain said:

Do your worst! (Starts weeping quietly in corner)

Actually I'm looking at seeing if i can make Torkil work. The trouble is i have to spend something like $150 to get the cards I want.

7 minutes ago, hothie said:

Actually I'm looking at seeing if i can make Torkil work. The trouble is i have to spend something like $150 to get the cards I want.

Ouch! I'm probably stating the obvious, but proxy first to see if it works then ebay then cards. Personally, I've had great success with ebay card purchases, even overseas.

As I recall you want to Torkil to counter the ps 11s, which makes my ps 3 Scariff Defenders breathe a sigh of relief. ;)

As a rule, I don't bring debris unless it strongly favors my squad. There are other squads (including Dash Rendar) that really like debris, and I don't want to give any advantages. Plus, with no shields, that crit roll can hurt.

I usually bring medium-sized asteroids, and maybe one small asteroid. I used to bring big ones, but those are popular right now, so I can rely on my opponent to bring one. @Magnus Grendel is right about tight turns, but you can plan for that the round before so you can make the turn. And if your opponent surprises you, you can always bank-1, bank-3 to run away next round so you can regroup.

All that said, I really like the debris stress trick, so maybe I'll start bringing those instead.

I just wanted to share that a 5-striker list made top 4 in the regional I helped organize last weekend (Barcelona - 123 players), and I'm going to try taking the list to a regional in ten days. I've flown lists with 3 and 4 strikers a few months back, so going up to 5 shouldn't be too difficult for me... I hope =).

16 hours ago, DXCrazytrain said:

which makes my ps 3 Scariff Defenders breathe a sigh of relief. ;)

I know you could drop to Imperial Trainees and get a few points for [something] but over the last few games it's been surprising how often PS3 has been 'a thing'. Between Nu Squadron Gunboats (PS2!) and Wookie Liberators (PS3) it's actually a useful chunk of PS again, and it's quite satisfying that it juuust lifts you out of the 'multiple rerolls' bracket for Predator.

Torkil is an incredibly annoying pilot but he's essentially much like someone spending points on Veteran Instincts and so on - with a heavy swarm it's a case of

"I get to shoot first!"

[Looks at entirely sub PS4 squad]

"No, really?"

That said, pairing Torkil up with predator elsewhere in the squad is a very nasty trick.

7 hours ago, darthlurker said:

I just wanted to share that a 5-striker list made top 4 in the regional I helped organize last weekend (Barcelona - 123 players), and I'm going to try taking the list to a regional in ten days. I've flown lists with 3 and 4 strikers a few months back, so going up to 5 shouldn't be too difficult for me... I hope =).

Awesome to hear! Do you happen to know who the player was?

20 minutes ago, Magnus Grendel said:

Awesome to hear! Do you happen to know who the player was?

Alberto Diaz. As far as I know, he doesn't have any titles to his name above the Store Championship level, at least in X-Wing, but he's a regular in the top cuts. In Barcelona he was the runner-up in the 2015 regional (Han/Corran), made top 8 in the 2017 regional (Corran/VCX/Prototype), and now top 4 in the 2018 regional (5 strikers). He also made top 8 in the Valencia regional (Thweek/Fenn/Teroch) two weeks ago.

Will have to see if I can find any streams/battle reports. Getting to top 4 in a >100 player event means almost inevitably he must have had to engage several of 'the meta' squads*, and it'd be interesting to plagiarize learn from his tactical approach for different opponents.

* All hail the great and wrathful god 'The Meta'....

Edited by Magnus Grendel
1 hour ago, Magnus Grendel said:

Will have to see if I can find any streams/battle reports. Getting to top 4 in a >100 player event means almost inevitably he must have had to engage several of 'the meta' squads*, and it'd be interesting to plagiarize learn from his tactical approach for different opponents.

* All hail the great and wrathful god 'The Meta'....

I was there as well, but didn’t get to play him. There was no streaming available... what a pity. It would have been awesome

Just ordered 4 more Tie Strikers, can’t wait to put all 5 on the table!

Sorry, Doom Shuttle, I've found a replacement:

swx75_spread.png

I will be running 3-4 TIE strikers with the TIE Reaper as soon as it comes out. I cannot wait! Dude, think of the Epic squads! Maybe I should by a TIE reaper and a couple more TIE strikers...

5 hours ago, Parakitor said:

Sorry, Doom Shuttle, I've found a replacement:

swx75_spread.png

I will be running 3-4 TIE strikers with the TIE Reaper as soon as it comes out. I cannot wait! Dude, think of the Epic squads! Maybe I should by a TIE reaper and a couple more TIE strikers...

Same here!

i will be trying my first game with 5 strikers in two days, can’t wait!

This thread inspired me to pick up the two Strikers I found at the store last night (only had one previously). Flying them with the Reaper will be awesome! In the meantime, has anyone tried Strikers with a Silencer? You mentioned debris, @Parakitor - Blackout with Trick Shot loves debris. I'm going to try a list with Blackout, Pure Sabacc and two Imperial Trainees.

Also, I ordered one of those Striker pins from Disney. Looks great!

21 minutes ago, dadocollin said:

This thread inspired me to pick up the two Strikers I found at the store last night (only had one previously). Flying them with the Reaper will be awesome! In the meantime, has anyone tried Strikers with a Silencer? You mentioned debris, @Parakitor - Blackout with Trick Shot loves debris. I'm going to try a list with Blackout, Pure Sabacc and two Imperial Trainees.

Also, I ordered one of those Striker pins from Disney. Looks great!

I don't suppose you have a link for the Striker pins from Disney? I'd love to get one.

Edit: nevermind, googled it.

Edited by DXCrazytrain

Yeah, just google or search "Tie Striker" on the disney shop online. If you search "Star Wars pins" on the disney shop you might see some other pins like the X-wing pilot, the squadron pin set, or the U-Wing pin that players of this game might be interested in as well.

18 hours ago, dadocollin said:

Also, I ordered one of those Striker pins from Disney. Looks great!

Yikes! $12.99? We could almost buy our own ship for that!

Still...still a lot of spirit. I think I may need to pick one of these up.

Edited by Parakitor
5 minutes ago, Parakitor said:

Yikes! $12.99? We could almost but our own ship for that!

Still...still a lot of spirit. I think I may need to pick one of these up.

Yes, the Mouse always gets his due! Some of those pins would probably make nice prizes for store tournaments (including the Striker one).

Just thought I’d chip in with my striker experiences. Flew countdown with twin ions 3 trainees with LWF and a bomber shuttle with systems and fleet officers and twin ions at a local toury over the weekend. Won my first 3 games including one vs Rebel alpha with harpoons, but then my tired brain gave up and I lost the next 2 >< love flying strikers, so looking forward to the reaper to replace my bomber shuttle!

9210EFCC-A72B-4AD2-BC1A-34AC95F862D6.jpeg

Must resist.... must resist...

Just now, Arkanta974 said:

Must resist.... must resist...

Your are beaten, it’s useless to resist!

yup, waiting for my 5 to come in the mail... Lets make this the new meta list!