Mostly out of curiosity and lack of good ideas for Imperial builds, I started running the Upsilon Shuttle. I wasn't sure which upgrades were important, so I settled on all of them, and figured I'd trim back the ones that weren't pulling their weight. Turns out the Upsilon likes upgrades. After a few games were under my belt, and I tried put a few wingmen, I settled on this shuttle build:

Kylo Ren, Veteran Instincts, Fire Control System, Pattern Analyzer, Intel Agent, Rebel Captive, Engine Upgrade, Kylo Ren's Shuttle (title) = 49 points

The most successful wingman thus far has been: Rexler Brath, Expertise, Ion Cannon, TIE/D, Engine Upgrade, Cruise Missile = 51 points. I'm not convinced this is the best, but it's what I'm used to, and the Ion Cannon+Stress combo has been solid.

Anyway, back to the shuttle. It's got a huge gun, great speed, a good bit of hit points, and a big bag of tricks. It tends to really screw over single, powerful ships with stress and I'll Show You the Dark Side. It's also great in a mess in the middle, because Pattern Analyzer makes the short stop moves (1-hard and stop) extremely useful. Intel Agent and Engine Upgrade make it a very effective blocker, and Coordinate allows you to get the most out of the rest if the squad when there's nobody in front of Kylo's guns.

Yeah, it's 49 points, but somehow it keeps working. I've played, and won, a half dozen games with this version, about half have been against players that I know are good playing solid lists, half against lists a little further off the reservation. I think the biggest consistent strength has been throwing stress and ISYTDS around, but the giant gun, large base boost, Intel Agent, and Coordinate have all been huge elements on multiple occasions.

I want others to try it just to see if anyone else is seeing what I'm seeing.

4 minutes ago, Biophysical said:

The most successful wingman thus far has been: Rexler Brath, Ion Cannon, TIE/D, Engine Upgrade, Cruise Missile = 51 points. I'm not convinced this is the best, but it's what I'm used to, and the Ion Cannon+Stress combo has been solid.

I think you forgot the EPT. It looks like it's probably Expertise judging by the points.

5 minutes ago, MenaceNsobriety said:

I think you forgot the EPT. It looks like it's probably Expertise judging by the points.

Yes, you're correct, thanks.

that makes pretty good sense to me. If your missing EPT is Expertise, you've got a roughly 8 effective action swing per round, which can actually increase based on getting lucky with Brath's ability or ion + stress holding a stress on the opponent longer than necessary. with some additional synergy. When Kylo's ability triggers you swing your actual action advantage even further with a blinded pilot, or with a damaged cockpit helping you avoid arcs in addition to what gains you may get through damage card flips. If you can keep that up and hurt the opponents action economy enough - you make it impossible for the opponent to recover action advantage.

I think people are just starting to figure out how good the Upsilon is. When it first came out everyone wanted to just stick Palp on it but that really doesn't work very well. I am personally a big fan of Striden with PA, Hux, Systems officer and EI. I have only ran Kylo a couple of times because I am not a big fan of IWSYTDS. He always worked well and the condition is much less of an NPE on the pilot.

4 minutes ago, MenaceNsobriety said:

I think people are just starting to figure out how good the Upsilon is. When it first came out everyone wanted to just stick Palp on it but that really doesn't work very well. I am personally a big fan of Striden with PA, Hux, Systems officer and EI. I have only ran Kylo a couple of times because I am not a big fan of IWSYTDS. He always worked well and the condition is much less of an NPE on the pilot.

Hux is insanely good - he's probably one of the strongest cards in the entire game.

I have found the shuttle to be better than expected. Major Striden with and of the imperial support crew have done me well.

Kylo- expert handling,engine upgrade,pattern analyzer,hyperwave com scanner and FCS.mabe some Palpatine.

And...a whatever.

One step forward...half step back....one step forward half step back.one step forward half step back.

Then...Zoooooooom!

Hard turn and a boost gets you turned around pretty good.

Barrel roll for all the funk.

That baby really moves.

It's a hell of a ship.

Even the basic Starkiller Base Pilot is both a good support ship with Co-ordinate and still simultaneously a beating-stick you can't ignore with a 4-dice primary.

it's not a good palpatine buggy because you can't afford to leave it out of the fight (like you can with a lambda). But as the core of a fleet it's great.

I still want to try a squad of three of them.

I still envision this having trouble with turrets. Also bad vs TLT. And also, if you really want to, you can easily down a Upsilon in one turn of focus fire.

Remember that 15 dice taht Biggs can't die to? Guess what. 3 cruise missiles will finish off Stridan. Or rexler for that matter. Easily.

3 hours ago, Ravncat said:

Hux is insanely good - he's probably one of the strongest cards in the entire game.

He is way too fair Attanni Mindlink, which is good because balance is better than not.

I did a rough experiment where Imperials has the Jumpmaster to put Hux on and it was pretty amazing.

The only thing really holding him back is the ships he can go on and how much they cost.

6 hours ago, MenaceNsobriety said:

I think people are just starting to figure out how good the Upsilon is. When it first came out everyone wanted to just stick Palp on it but that really doesn't work very well. I am personally a big fan of Striden with PA, Hux, Systems officer and EI. I have only ran Kylo a couple of times because I am not a big fan of IWSYTDS. He always worked well and the condition is much less of an NPE on the pilot.

Doesn't Hux+EI leave you double stressed? Do you have Inspiring Recruit in there somewhere?

2 hours ago, Blail Blerg said:

I still envision this having trouble with turrets. Also bad vs TLT. And also, if you really want to, you can easily down a Upsilon in one turn of focus fire.

Remember that 15 dice taht Biggs can't die to? Guess what. 3 cruise missiles will finish off Stridan. Or rexler for that matter. Easily.

With this list, I've beaten Dengar, Dash, Miranda, and Rey. I don't think turrets are a major issue. When they get stressed and/or ioned, and lose actions and maneuverability, and maybe get Blinded, they put out an acceptable level of damage. Generally, I've found that with Engine Upgrade, Kylo can disengage and then come around before a turret gets many free shots on him.

I haven't played it against an alpha strike list, and it could be a very real issue if i let the other squad get the missile volley off, but i think the worst of that list is avoidable, and then it's hard, but there are options.

2 hours ago, DodgingArcs said:

He is way too fair Attanni Mindlink, which is good because balance is better than not.

I did a rough experiment where Imperials has the Jumpmaster to put Hux on and it was pretty amazing.

The only thing really holding him back is the ships he can go on and how much they cost.

Yeah, that is what has kept me away from using him. There never seems like a good ship to use him on.

20 minutes ago, Biophysical said:

...I don't think turrets are a major issue. When they get stressed and/or ioned, and lose actions and maneuverability, and maybe get Blinded, they put out an acceptable level of damage.

Quote of the year!

I have been looking at the Upsilon for a little while now, trying to figure out how to fit it in a lists with other ships I like. The points just add up so fast on it, and I am not sure on what to cut back. I had been trying to fit it in a three ship list, but always returned to Tomax as the better support. He is less expensive, and I have limited experience flying large ships. Last night, however, I decided I need to fly it in my next game. Reading this, I might have to give it a try paired with a lone Defender.

I've only once had a problem killing an Uspilon, and that was when it set up sideways and I stupidly set up in the corner of the board it was facing, rather than the other. And every time I've tried to use one (when I've used two or more though, different story), it's been trivial for my opponent to keep out of the way, except for that one time when I worked out you could use BoShek on Oicunn to perma-stop and get actions via op spec fcs gunner.

This feels like it might be an outlier based on you being a very good player of the game, rather than a top tier list.

5 minutes ago, HungryFFG said:

I have been looking at the Upsilon for a little while now, trying to figure out how to fit it in a lists with other ships I like. The points just add up so fast on it, and I am not sure on what to cut back. I had been trying to fit it in a three ship list, but always returned to Tomax as the better support. He is less expensive, and I have limited experience flying large ships. Last night, however, I decided I need to fly it in my next game. Reading this, I might have to give it a try paired with a lone Defender.

I have the same problem. On that 49 point Kylo build, I don't know what to get rid of. It feels dumb having so many points, but I feeling i need everything to do what it does.

4 minutes ago, thespaceinvader said:

This feels like it might be an outlier based on you being a very good player of the game, rather than a top tier list.

I definitely don't think it's top tier, but I do think it's way better than I thought.

Have you played 4 ship rebel yet? Curious how it would work there.

7 hours ago, Biophysical said:

Mostly out of curiosity and lack of good ideas for Imperial builds, I started running the Upsilon Shuttle. I wasn't sure which upgrades were important, so I settled on all of them, and figured I'd trim back the ones that weren't pulling their weight. Turns out the Upsilon likes upgrades. After a few games were under my belt, and I tried put a few wingmen, I settled on this shuttle build:

Kylo Ren, Veteran Instincts, Fire Control System, Pattern Analyzer, Intel Agent, Rebel Captive, Engine Upgrade, Kylo Ren's Shuttle (title) = 49 points

The most successful wingman thus far has been: Rexler Brath, Expertise, Ion Cannon, TIE/D, Engine Upgrade, Cruise Missile = 51 points. I'm not convinced this is the best, but it's what I'm used to, and the Ion Cannon+Stress combo has been solid.

Anyway, back to the shuttle. It's got a huge gun, great speed, a good bit of hit points, and a big bag of tricks. It tends to really screw over single, powerful ships with stress and I'll Show You the Dark Side. It's also great in a mess in the middle, because Pattern Analyzer makes the short stop moves (1-hard and stop) extremely useful. Intel Agent and Engine Upgrade make it a very effective blocker, and Coordinate allows you to get the most out of the rest if the squad when there's nobody in front of Kylo's guns.

Yeah, it's 49 points, but somehow it keeps working. I've played, and won, a half dozen games with this version, about half have been against players that I know are good playing solid lists, half against lists a little further off the reservation. I think the biggest consistent strength has been throwing stress and ISYTDS around, but the giant gun, large base boost, Intel Agent, and Coordinate have all been huge elements on multiple occasions.

I want others to try it just to see if anyone else is seeing what I'm seeing.

I've had some good success with Kylo Ren with Daredevil, IA, EU, FCS, KRS and either Rebcapt./ Tactician. People seem to forget the hard left 2 hard left 1, which means you can use the ship like a battering ram before getting a pseudo tallon roll.

I use a fast ace, typically a buzzsaw whisper for a 96 or 97 point list. It's really effective. The major difficulties have always been if I whiff the approach and lose whisper before the shuttle. The shuttle has a lot of trouble closing out any battle on its own, which for a 40-50 odd point ship is a pretty big price to pay.

7 hours ago, Biophysical said:

Kylo Ren, Veteran Instincts, Fire Control System, Pattern Analyzer, Intel Agent, Rebel Captive, Engine Upgrade, Kylo Ren's Shuttle (title) = 49 points

The most successful wingman thus far has been: Rexler Brath, Expertise, Ion Cannon, TIE/D, Engine Upgrade, Cruise Missile = 51 points.

Biophysical, you are always a bright spot in a dark time. I really don't see Imperials, much less the batwing showing up on mats when a win is wanted. Heck, its so devoid of Imp gray that it seems this is a two faction game. I going to get up the courage one day to run a Kylo Shuttle, but it just seems like a super expensive Lambda (I dig my Rebel captive/Engine/Buzzsaw Lambda), and Lambda's are a beer night only ship currently. Again, this thread is either encouraging me or making me blind to the facts before me; either way, I thank you for it sir. ?

31 minutes ago, NervousSam said:

Have you played 4 ship rebel yet? Curious how it would work there.

Pretty poorly. It doesn't have the damage to crack it and the stress just doesn't do enough. Both ships are vulnerable to the massed fire that comes back. You can pilot to try to avoid the worst of it but the war of attrition isn't in your favor. Doable, but a bad matchup for sure.

34 minutes ago, Biophysical said:

I definitely don't think it's top tier, but I do think it's way better than I thought.

I've been running it without Cruise Missiles and Gunner/Daredevil on Kylo instead of your upgrades. Loving it so far, although it melts hard to high PS alphas unless you can outright outfly them by a significant margin.

How important is the Engine Upgrade? I am still set on building a three ship list and I need to either get rid of either Kylo Ren's Shuttle or Engine Upgrade. I could get rid of Veteran Instincts on Backdraft, but it does not quite free enough points, and I really want him at PS9.

Kylo Ren (34)
A Score to Settle (0)
Fire-Control System (2)
Rebel Captive (3)
Pattern Analyzer (2)
Kylo Ren's Shuttle (2)

"Backdraft" (27)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Fire-Control System (2)
Pattern Analyzer (2)
Lightweight Frame (2)
Special Ops Training (0)

"Epsilon Leader" (19)
Pattern Analyzer (2)

Total: 98

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Kylo Ren, Veteran Instincts, Fire Control System, Pattern Analyzer, Intel Agent, Rebel Captive, Engine Upgrade, Kylo Ren's Shuttle (title) = 49

I like that set up and want to try it out with Whisper. Nice work man.

Rebel Version?