Because of how negative the online community is about T-65's I decided to run 3x of them in the Q3 kit tournament
My list:
Luke + R2-D2 + VI +Vectored thrusters
Wes + BB-8 +integrated Astro +VI
Wedge + R7-T1 + Integrated Astro + Adaptability
Was a 15 player Q3 tournament, I finished 4th with my only loss to the tournament winner.
Game 1 vs HLC Dash + Ghost
I lost everything but wedge in this nail-biter of a game, all credit to luke's solid regen and defence and a super clutch R7-T1 boost to bring wedge into range one of dash to do some big damage at a critical moment (this was the only time I used R7-T1 but it gave me the game so I have some huge respect for that droid) My opponent flew really well and laid dome some epic dice. The last round had wedge sitting at 1hp remaining and dash at 2hp remaining, I had to do a hard 2 maneuver onto debris to have any hope of having dash in arc, I did the maneuver rolled a focus. My range 1 shot landed hit+hit+crit his 2 dice defense with focus (2 dice + 1 dice from debris I was on -1 dice for wedge) he rolled 1x evade 1 blank and I grabbed the win... this was a very close game.
Game 2 vs fully loaded Miranda TLT Bomblet/clusters + Corran horn.
100-0 victory for me. This game my T-65's flew circles around Corran taking him down in a few rounds of combat, I did some really stupid things like BB-8 barrel rolling to move into an asteroid and still be in bomb range to eat some stupid damage and not get a shot of (really stupid play). Luke +R2-D2 zombied 6 damage back and his barrel rolls were crucial in keeping him alive and doing damage, luke should have died on the last round of combat but my opponent made a slight misjudgment and picked a maneuver that allowed me to miss his clusters a simple one straight and I would have hit them and died with 1hp left. (i had no maneuver that would have saved me as it was at the edge of the board, however, my other 2 ships were ok and the game was over either way)
Game 3 vs Nym + ps1 scourge + mux
100-0 victory for me. God ****, i hate mux that ship is just obnoxious. I had the initiative bid over ps10 nym. First round of combat was looking amazing for me, my ships were in great position, however I only ended up doing 2x damage to mux and was very very nervous afterwards luckily Wes only took a 2 damage from the speed 3 cruise missile and luke took 1 damage from nym, Mux did nothing 3x blank roll on his turret. Next round I popped mux and started chewing into nym from there on it was a fairly quick grind to kill the 2 scourges and take the win. Luke just followed nym eating a few bombs and regening while putting damage into him until he popped. My opponent missed a key bomb drop and we rolled the damage just to see I would have still won with all my ships alive but all 3 would have been on 1hp instead of 2 or 3.
Game 4 vs 2x contracted scouts + fen rau
34-100 loss for me. This game was looking fantastic I took out the first contracted scout on round 2 of combat and was only 2-3 damage into wes at that point. However, 2 turns of me second guessing my initial maneuvers and switching them to ones that left me at range 1 of Fen instead of having fen at range one of me like my initial maneuvers vaporized me extremely quick. I was outflown pretty hard in the second half of this game and all credit to my opponent for getting in my head and making me choose the wrong maneuvers. I certainly don't put my loss in that game on my list it goes entirely on my flying if I had done my initial instincts I believe the game would have gone in my favor. It is a frustrating but satisfying way to lose being outflown means its all on me not on some perceived sense of balance.
I loved my list it was amazing fun to fly and did really well, countered the bomb lists i faced with relative ease. All 4 games luke was a huge tank eating tons of fire and regening tons of health on top of that Vectored Thrusters allowed him to keep enemies in arc and still do damage, without vectored he would have really struggled. Wes is a machine, i striped lots of missile target locks helping keep the squad alive and BB-8 is always strong. R7-T1 only was usefull once but that one time was a game changing action so it's hard to complain about him, i think I would certainly give the list a try with Targeting astro instead and having that TL after a k-turn would have come in handy multiple times in most of the games.
My real take home.... stop complaining about T-65's at least the names ships are pretty **** solid. My respect for luke has gone up 10 fold he was just a beast with vectored thrusters and really obnoxious to kill. My solid 100-0 games were both against bombing lists personally I have not felt like bombs are as OP as others think and this validates my own opinion on the matter. Lastly I feel if you are a solid flyer and decent list builder you can take most ships and do well in a competitive environment, people are complaining a lot about balance right now and I just don't see it as as bad as the complaints not everything is perfect but its far from what these forums in particular seem to think.
Fly safe and have fun!
I'm firmly of the opinion that BB-8 and ptl belong on Wedge. I used to use R3A2 on Wes but I wonder if M9G8 might be a better call to give Luke some mods if he's barrel rolling about? keep us informed with how your list evolves please!