STAR WARS: IMPERIAL TACTICS EPISODE I: WHISPER

This is the first in what will hopefully be an on-going series of posts. These will probably focus on starting a conversation or discussion about 1 particular ship that I have learned something about from playing or from other people in the community.

Nothing I list below is particularly earth shattering but its what I know so far. Since alot of you have been doing this much longer than me I am sure some people can add to this or find some things wrong with everything below. For future installments of this I might actually go on Vassal and try to mock up some "situations" screenshots so we can discuss what maneuvers people would consider for that turn and the next 2 turns after kinda deal. If someone beats me to it here that would be cool to. Either way looking for help to fill in some of the blanks on this and lend some real insights. If you know of some streams of a particular tournament matchup that illustrates "good" whisper pilots add em here. If you have nothing specific or positive to add please still feel free to post an unrelated GIF or a one sentence breathtakingly sarcastic salty comment about Tacos. Those are appreciated to.

Pilot Card:

EPT Upgrades:

• Veteran Instinct
  • The default choice for most builds
  • Advanced Cloaking Device generally wants you to shoot first. VI is critical to helping make that happen
  • PS9 wont help you against Nym or QD or Vader or the occasional Rey.....but it will help against everything else!
  • And remember you just need to be higher Pilot Skill than most of the list....Kylo Ren can help level the score against whatevers higher PS than you.
• Intensity
  • With Whispers Pilot Ability you do at least have a chance at flipping this card
  • Advanced Sensors Barrel Roll suddenly becomes a whole lot more interesting if it also gives you a focus or evade
  • Keeps you at PS7 of course but opens up a few other options and strategies if your not constantly bidding to shoot first

System Upgrade:

• Fire Control System
  • No native Target Lock Action makes FCS a first choice for most players
  • Landing consistent hits with Whisper gives you a focus which helps considerably on defense if you chose an evade after flying yourself into a bad situation.
• Advanced Sensors
  • Pre-Movement Barrel Rolls let you essentially juke left and right with cloak to move backwards
  • Also allows you to move "strafe" slightly further left or right before a hard turn or move
  • Allows you to take a focus or cloak before a K-Turn
  • Useful for avoiding bombs in some cases
  • Useful for setting attacks after intentionally bumping a big turret like Rey
• Collision Detector
  • Occasionally useful for de-cloaking over rocks or helping Whisper fit into certain lists

Crew:

• Agent Kallus
  • Great crew for Whisper that improves your offense and defense against a specific ship.
• Intelligence Agent
  • Lets you look at a nearby opponent dial at the start of the activation phase ( order depends on initiative )
  • This can be pretty huge as it allows you to decide where to decloak with some key info.
  • Pairs well with Advanced Sensors but is useful in general, especially against high PS opponents
• Kylo Ren
  • The Imperials 2nd best card ( behind Palpatine )
  • Kylo can keep Whisper in a game it otherwise would auto lose
  • As a crew it can work if you fly Vader next to Whisper, or a ship with Mangler Cannon and consistent Focus/TL ( Boba/Defenders etc. )
  • Sacrificing an Action with Whisper to use Kylo though is a big draw back
  • Typically used on a nearby ship like the Decimator, Upsilon, Lambda, Boba, Bomber, etc.
  • Still it can work as a Whisper Crew in some contexts
  • Makes Whisper an even bigger target than she already is....
  • I really enjoy flying Whisper with Kylo Ren or at least with Kylo nearby. Makes her so much less stressful to fly.
  • I always imagine him force freezing laser shots with blinded pilot or mind reading an opponent as he assigns PS0.
  • Helps Whisper out soooo much and helps even the odds against Turrets in particular
• Rebel Captive
  • One of my favorite Whisper Crew
  • It helps discourage attacks on Whisper and gives you a serious advantage over other Aces that often rely on PTL
  • Also helps with anything carrying Expertise
  • Paired with Quickdraw or Kylo Ren's Upsilon and you can really make your opponents brain hurt
• Recon Spec
  • Tired of relying on landing a hit for that extra focus to use on defense.....
  • Have no fear, Recon Spec is here!
  • Paired with Advanced Sensors this helps you to still push out decent damage and if you miss you still have a 4 green dice and a focus
  • Kinda awesome against TLT or concentrated fire as you can end up with 3 focus tokens to use on defense against 3 separate attacks
• Mercenary Co-Pilot
  • Flown correctly Whisper spends alot of time at Range 3
  • With enough practice this can help alot with landing those much needed Kylo Crits to assign PS0 or Blind a high PS opponent
• Navigator
  • So much fun to use.....
  • Combined with Advanced Sensors and Decloaking....you can really seriously adjust your chosen move and avoid blocks or intentionally block etc.
  • Some might call it a crutch....and it kinda is....but its still super useful for avoiding Bombs.
• Inspiring Recruit
  • Stress Kills Whisper, this can help sorta
• Weapons Engineer
  • This ones actually kinda cool
  • Gives you a ton of flexibility when paired with FCS as you can acquire 2 Target Locks
  • Also works pretty well if you have something nearby like System Officer granting you a TL in the early game.
• Gunner
  • Commonly referred to as Buzzsaw whisper
  • Gives you more flexibility to regularly take an evade and still land hits
  • Provides a ton of insurance against not getting that focus for defense
  • And can help strip tokens

Modification

• Advanced Cloaking Device
  • The best by far, however, you must shoot first or have kylo ren nearby to allow you to shoot first to survive
  • If your not cloaked you will die quickly
• Light Weight Frames
  • Fun for casual games.....but Whisper is to many points and has to few hit points to protect with just 2.5 green dice
• Engine Upgrade
  • You havent lived until you have used PTL and EU on a Phantom in a casual game....but yea....just use Advanced Cloaking Device.
• Stygium Particle Accelerator
  • Hard to justify using this
  • If you are smart about deciding when to turtle behind cloak vs decloak it can work....but it usually results in to many rounds where I cant do damage

Favorite Wingman

• RAC
  • Whispers best dancing partner
  • With the ability to get to PS9 and equip Palpatine/Kylo crew, RAC does everything you want a Whisper Wingman to do and more
  • Flown as a big base Arc dodge turret with engine upgrade RAC can assign those much needed PS0s early to anything that might shoot Whisper First
  • Its a quick ship that can bring the pain at Range 1 and survive alot
  • Will help you crush 2 ship lists....but struggles against multi-ship lists and biggs
• Firespray
  • Boba or Kath with Kylo/Mangler/Expertise can actually do some good work for Whisper
  • Performs a similar function to RAC in supporting the PS race.
  • With Bomblet it can help control how your opponent flies
  • With Cruise Missiles and Expertise Boba or Kath can bring the rain and allows a mini alpha strike if you time a 5 dice shot from Whisper
  • If they chase you the rear arc makes them pay
  • Not as optimal as RAC but still a ton of fun to fly with Whisper
• Upsilon
  • Kylo Ren Upsilon with Expert Handling, Advanced Sensors, EU, and Palpatine.....
  • The barrel roll here allows you to fly the Upsilon as a gigantic big based Whisper.....barrel roll out and two turn in to throw 4 dice
  • Rebel Captive on Whisper presents terrible options
  • The game here is to try and force your opponents biggest threat to shoot Kylo first.....not easy to do if they have a brain.
  • But still possible if you roll up for a 5 dice shot that they cant ignore.
  • Major Stridan with Kylo and Systems officer is also pretty fantastic....particularly if your running Whisper with Advanced Sensors
  • A Generic Upsilon with Kylo or Palpatine also can put in work
  • Targeting Synch allows whisper to use the Upsilons Target lock....this can really catch opponents by surprise
  • Coordinate is FANTASTIC for whisper. Lets you take Advanced Sensors and barrel roll or evade more frequently while still getting a focus.
  • Also lets you do some silly things like fly behind a Upsilon with Tactical Jammer and juke left right to stay behind it all the while bumping it to go on a jousting run....smart no...fun yes
• Darth Vader
  • Slap Kylo Crew on Whisper.....and then hope Vader can land the crit you need with Advanced Targeting Computer.
  • You want to be at PS11 here so you dont have to choose between shooting first with Whisper and moving last with Vader
  • Should leave about 20 pts left over and if you take Cruise missiles you can get a mini alpha going between the two ships
  • Consider Countdown or Sabacc
• Quick Draw
  • Another solid partner
  • Rebel Captive Whisper presents a terrible choice. Leaving QD alive is a bad idea....so who ya gonna chase fan.
  • Again like Vader shoot for PS11 to avoid the bad choices on Initiative
  • Leaves about 20 pts left over....consider Countdown or Sabacc
• Lamda Shuttle
  • Generic with Palp is pretty great. Its a lower cost "bad" upsilon
  • Captain Yorr makes K-Turns with Whisper a thing!
  • Palp on a shuttle and Kylo on Whisper......palping a crit here really helps Whisper be a bit self sufficient with the crit generation
  • Hard to do dmg with the shuttle but still a great partner.
  • Leaves enough for Omega Leader
• Tie Bomber
  • Works pretty well as a partner since it can carry Kylo or Systems Officer or Fleet Officer
  • Presents awkward remaining choices though
• Pure Sabacc or Countdown or Duchess
  • Flying Whisper with a Tie Striker nearby is great fun
  • The strikers have lots of premovement boost goofiness like the decloak so you they just feel right together
  • Pure Sabacc in particular can be a great partner since ignoring Whisper is bad, ignoring Sabacc is bad to

Worst Matchups

• Nym
  • PS10 TLT Bomblet Nym is scary for Whisper
  • Throw down a PS0 Kylo Crit early or die
  • It is possible to Alpha murder Nym without Kylo to
  • Also can use Advanced Sensors to avoid a bomb or to
  • Palp helps a bunch with calling a blank for one of those red bomb dice
  • Recon Spec helps a bit against that TLT
  • But overall.....a sketchy matchup!
• Miranda
  • Advanced Slam Action bombs at PS8 can and will ruin your day
  • Same drill as Nym......kill this thing quick and blind it as much as possible to avoid its regen
  • Usually I will sacrifice Whisper's Wingman in an effort to get Miranda on its last leg before engaging with Whisper
  • But yea.....be afraid....I havent worked out a consistent predictable tactic to beat Nym or Miranda without blinded pilots or damaged cockpits
• RAC
  • If its at PS10 be very afraid...if you cant Kylo it quick your probably done but if your smart about keeping tokens for defense and you shoot first its manageable.
  • Below PS10 the matchup improves but you have to burn it down as you will lose the war of attrition if your not careful
• Whisper
  • Playing Whisper against Whisper is kinda hilarious.....
  • Ultimately comes down to who shoots first and who can get out of arc moving last.
• Fenn Rau
  • Whisper vs Fenn is probably the most fun 1 v 1 I have ever experienced
  • Your hopefully shooting first and if your smart you can keep him in Arc
  • But if you go one turn without a shot Fenn is going to bring the pain!
• VCX
  • Ok so this is brutal....but same rules as everything else
  • Kylo Crit to blind
  • Attempt the Alpha on biggs who is probably nearby
  • Bump while you try to kill biggs
  • There is a sweet spot where you can avoid the TLT an the front or forward arc right on the side
• Bossk and other 180 Arcs
  • Get behind them and you will be fine but keep your distance or you can over run them and end up in arc again.
  • Be very wary of their hard turns and banks....putting you in Range 1 arc
• Dengar
  • I literally have no idea what to do when I see Dengar.......besides hope and pray I am shooting first....Kylo blind him or Alpha Strike him to the ground
  • The only thing I know for absolute sure.....stay the **** out of his arc and dont get into Range 1 unless its for a kill shot.

General Flight Advice

• So this little section and whisper specific tips on how to fight certain bad matchups above is the area I am most interested in insight from the community on.
• Use Whisper as bait to set up favorable engagements. She is a priority target for your opponent and real danger for them in the end game
• Avoid letting someone get behind you at all costs
• Avoid the K-Turn but if you have to or "want" to advanced sensors focus first, get a TL first, or do it with Captain Yorr nearby.
• Dont be afraid to K-Turn if your reasonably sure you wont take a shot the next turn if you do, this can win you some games
• I try to fly Whisper like I am drawing with a Spiral Graph.....
• Basically you have to think more in terms of how Whisper moves laterally than a typical ship.
• Thinking enough turns ahead you can essentially keep whisper "circling" an opponent. Like in old FPS shooter games like Doom were you would just aim at a boss and hold the left or right key in a direction
• Hard 1 turns are a gift and a curse. Any experienced player will expect you to over use them. Dont. Use the 2 and 3 turn to throw them off sometimes. The 2 Bank sets up a lot of pretty good angles with decloak.
• Set Up.....you usually want to cloak after your first movement to give you some options but sometimes....if you want to hang back dont bother.
• Think about your next turn...if you land somewhere that you cant decloak because of rocks your are in serious trouble
• Sometimes you want to stay cloaked and run away. Particularly if someones behind you but there are other times.
• Remember that running away from a Defender who has a 5 forward is unlikely to work out for you
• Whisper can actually be a FANTASTIC blocker. Use that cloak correctly and you can deny actions for lower Pilot Skill big base ships and still turn in on other ships in their list.
• There is so much more........Whisper gets better with practice and flys on a knife edge

Questions for the Experts:

• How do you give yourself a fighting chance against ships with a higher PS than Whisper or an initiative bid....are there specific tips on how to approach that scenario?
• How do you keep Whisper at Range 3 consistently?
• When do you typically decide to stay cloaked?
• When do you typically decide to take an evade instead of a focus with Whisper?
• How do you practice with Whisper?
• Can you provide your take on any of the categories above Upgrades, Wingmen, Flight Tactics, Making the best of Bad Match Ups, ya get the idea....

Practice Tip:

• I found early on that it can be super useful with Whisper to put one ship at the center of a play mat with rocks all around. Dont move that ship
• Then put Whisper on the edges and get familiar with how to "circle strafe" that ship staying at as close to Range 3 as possible but keeping it in arc turn to turn without get stuck on rocks
• You can do it without rocks to start to learn
• Just dont get to addicted to those Hard 1 turns since....like I said before good players will make you pay for it
• Example of what im describing.....starting where the focus token is......what do you have to do to keep the Falcon in arc without unintentionally getting so close to R1. When is it maybe "smart" to consider a barrel roll to set up next turn, or fly away turtle to set up the next series of moves closer to R3. This will help you learn how to circle something but also eventually how to basically stay in one spot and just alternate shooting angles.
• 

Ok back to **** posting. The planned sequel...........Star Wars: Imperial Tactics Episode 2: Boba Fett

I don't really have much experience flying the phantom, but good topic, helpful, well thought through, positive, and concise.

I hope that you continue to do this, and I look forward to reading them, and the responses.

You have gained eleventeen forum points!

We need so much more of this kind of thing. Well done.

In a meta where p.s. nine isn't helping whisper a great deal, I would recommend getting a bunch of playtime with echo as well. It's my personal favorite ship to play.

If nine isn't great anymore...then eight can't be much worse. And that banky decloak is an absolute joy to play.

Two ruthlessness tlt aggressors and a rebel captive echo make a mighty janky and effective squad.

Nicely done!

Good, great post! Very detailed breakdown of a classic pilot. Sooooooooo long tho. I feel like it needs a hyperlinked table of contents!

Love the post. I... Have nothing of value to add. I successfully beat myself when I flew her. Forgot to decloak on approach which drove me through a rock, dealing damage, then smacked into another due to bad positioning trying to correct course and get back on plan... Before bouncing out near two of three dead eye scouts. Seriously, slapstick genius in my first best shot at winning anything. Spoiler... I deservedly didn't win.

I look forward to when you get to ships more my speed. And durability... Stupid rocks.

Once upon a time, I used to use Whisper a LOT to test my other lists. In so many ways, such a powerful ship, and so satisfyingly janky to fly. But I have to admit that I have never, ever tried to fly her against anyone else. And I think you nailed it here - to an extent, most folk have either seen Whisper before and know how to counter her, or they go straight for the PS advantage.

This is a great analysis, and has encouraged me to perhaps give her another shot. Or maybe, as i've been having so much fun proxying the 'Viper mk.2, i'll just head over to Echo, ha ha.

Thanks for making a such a truly useful contribution to the community!

edit: For what it's worth, I tended to run Whisper with FCS, Advanced Cloak, and either Rebel Captive or Intelligence Agent. Because those are what I have, no access to Kallus.

Nice topic! A good change from everything complain-ey.

I need to get a phantom now...

58 minutes ago, Infinite_Maelstrom said:

Nice topic! A good change from everything complain-ey.

I need to get a phantom now...

It's fun to fly! And it's easily the better of the two packs with FCS, which you'll want for Quickdraw too.

Epic! Solid post and very well thought out. My wife flies it pretty heavily and she usually rocks me with it even though I fly bulkier Rebel turret ships.

She almost exclusively used Kallus on there and he's a great fit as most lists these days really only have 2 ships in them. And the true swarms are hiding. I really like the RAC Kylo and Palps wingmate idea and think I will have to pick one up for my wife to try.

Great article and please make more! Looking forward to see your fire spray one!

First off, thank you for making these forums a better place. This is a great read, and I'm excited to see what other people have to offer on here as well. My main contribution with Whisper, and Phantoms in general is to practice feinting and kiting opponents.

Performing a feint is what I usually try to do on the first engagement. I usually try to run Phantoms with 2-3 small ships that have a high threat to the enemy. I usually end ships like Backstabber, Pure Sabacc, and Backdraft. When I deploy I have Whisper deployed centrally, and the rest of my list on a flank. The list will then operate like an Angler fish. Whisper is the bright light. Opponents see her on the table and know that they have to kill her quickly otherwise she will be an end-game terror. For the first few rounds I will pull the other ships up off of the flank and ready to engage the enemy from the side. Whisper will then move as fast as possible past the enemy, usually a forward decloak followed by a 3 bank, and recloak action. The next turn you should be able to do a decloak and a hard turn to get the enemy back in arc, and they will have to choose whether to K turn and engage Whisper or to hard turn to engage the flanking group.

Kiting is when Whisper gets injured, and you just use the tremendous speed of a forward 2 decloak and a 3 bank to run away and preserve your points.

Fantastic effort. I think it's easy to go bullet-blind on something like this, though. You should work to try and cut down a bit, I think. You would benefit from thinking more about structure, and maybe consolidating some points into one bullet of actual prose, and summarising other options.

The crew list is a great example. There's too many crew namechecked, and each crew had multiple sub-bullets, often just of one sentence or a low-value catchphrase... 'the buzzsaw starts here' means nothing to any player who joined the game since the start of 2015!

You could have consolidated that list a lot into the top 3 or 4, then had a bullet of "Also worth a try:" and I think a lot of the piece could use this sort of editorial control to ensure it stays tight.

• Agent Kallus - Solid crew choice for Whisper that helps keep his dice well-modified without burning focus tokens. Particularly good against dangerous opponents with TLT, like Miranda or Kanan.
• Intelligence Agent - Lets you look at a nearby opponent dial at the start of the activation phase which allows you to decide where to decloak with some key info. Great value for just 1pt, especially against high PS opponents
• Rebel Captive - discourages attacks on Whisper and gives you a serious advantage over other Aces that often rely on PTL or Expertise. Stressed opponents move more predictably, so it's easier for your Phantom to flank them.
• Recon Spec - an option instead of Agent Kallus. You see it on Echo sometimes, as the second Focus token kind of makes up for not having Whisper's pilot ability.
• You'll sometimes see: Kylo Ren, Navigator, Weapons Engineer, Gunner

5 hours ago, Polaritie said:

It's fun to fly! And it's easily the better of the two packs with FCS, which you'll want for Quickdraw too.

I have a B-wing. But If I want to fly quickdraw, I'll need a TIE/sf expansion, too...

I play TIE defenders.

Thank you, this is the king of thread that make my day! I learned a lot, and I love this pilot. I discovered many tips, thank you very much.

@Gersun

Thanks for the tip and explanation! Using Whisper as a decoy during the initial engagement makes a lot of sense for some specific match ups.

Oh Phantoms, one of my favorite ships. Great article! Here's a few tips from my experience:

Something someone (I'm sorry I don't remember) once said that changed how I flew Phantoms: "You can always decloak one turn later." Knowing this, and using it now and again makes you so much more unpredictable! It really messes up your opponents plans, especially if they are planning a couple turns out. Just stay decloaked one extra turn. Do a 1 hard while cloaked, barrel roll backwards, and see what options are better for you now for the next 3 turns in positioning instead of that first blood shot where you won't have great options immediately afterwards. This also helps with skirting the outside!

Basics crew: Try a pair of PS3/5 Phantoms with Stygium Particle Accelerator and Systems Officers. They move REALLY fast with the decloak, and all the 2 straights and banks leave them in range one of each other (do the same move and cloak, and move the outside one first if you bank). You'll hopefully be in range 1 with all three tokens: TL/Focus/Evade. Great fun!

Wingmates:
I love Whisper with Fel. You can build to 100 points because you leave the difficult decision to your opponent. If you have initiative, use Fel as a blocker for PS9+ and shoot with Whisper, If opponent has initiative use Whisper to bait and arcdodge with Fel!
Duchess is a great wingmate for VI Echo as well, as they both fly similarly.

Keep up the good articles!

@jonnyd

Its really really really hard to fight the urge to decloak every turn since whispser has those sweet 4 red dice.

But I totally agree.

Sometimes if your not comforable with the odds that your going to kill something or if it looks like the next couple turns will put you to close to youe opponent or rocks or worse put you in a spot that requires a k turn.....then yea air on the side of caution and turtle up. Trouble though is recognizing when even 4 green dice and a focus isnt going to help you out. And there alot of situations like that.

Which is why FFG gave us Imperials our lord and savior Kylo Ren

Dont mistake that to mean Whisper is only good with Kylo. A really good player with Agent Kallus and Palp nearby can wreck alot of things even without a clear PS advantage since they know how to leverage blocks elsewhere in their lists. Those green dice really can fail you under concentrated fire or if you dont have both a focus and evade to tank a shot though. Especially without autothrusters helping you out at R3 or out of arc. So yea....it sounds simple but overall do whatever you have to "not" to take an incoming shot. Against turrets that means burning them down quick or leveraging a Kylo Blind Crit. And keeping turtled like you described if you have no better options.

Great thread! I would love much more of this stuff. One request: don't use acronyms if possible.

Great article!! I've only flown the phantom a few times, and I can see how it could be tricky to get used to, but man what fun! Thanks again. As an exclusive Imperial player, I'm looking forward to more articles in the future.

Excellent read.

Minor niggle - the crit from Vader crew doesn't trigger I'll Show You The Dark Side; a crit from Vader with Advanced Targeting Computer will...

10 minutes ago, Antipodean Ork said:

Excellent read.

Minor niggle - the crit from Vader crew doesn't trigger I'll Show You The Dark Side; a crit from Vader with Advanced Targeting Computer will...

Yea darth vader crew definitely doesnt work with Kylo. I was referring to the Vader Pilot as a wingman there.

On 9/26/2017 at 10:10 AM, Boom Owl said:

Questions for the Experts:

• How do you give yourself a fighting chance against ships with a higher PS than Whisper or an initiative bid....are there specific tips on how to approach that scenario?
• How do you keep Whisper at Range 3 consistently?
• When do you typically decide to stay cloaked?
• When do you typically decide to take an evade instead of a focus with Whisper?
• How do you practice with Whisper?
• Can you provide your take on any of the categories above Upgrades, Wingmen, Flight Tactics, Making the best of Bad Match Ups, ya get the idea....

Not claiming to be an expert in flying Phantoms or an expert at all as a matter of fact, still here's my 2cents.

I ve been back to flying Whisper a lot lately with several different wing men. Tried the classic RAC-Whisper, Swarm leader Whisper with 2 Barons, Kylo Ren Whisper etc etc. By far my favorite squad that I ve gone 5-0 against Nym builds is this:

Kylo Ren + Daredevil + Reinforced Deflectors + Emperor Palpatine + Pattern Analyzer + Engine Upgrade
"Whisper" + Gunner + Advanced Sensors + Advanced Cloaking Device + Intensity

First and foremost, ever since intensity came out, its the only PS card I use on her, with her ability its almost like the designers had her (apart the obvious Poe) in mind when designing the card.

• The aforementioned squad is build around killing higher PS than her. It doesn't look like much but its actually one of the fastest moving squad I ve tried. You obviously want them to fire at Ren first, so she serves as the bait to drag them towards him for the first engage of the game, unless they do you the favor and go for Ren first! To do so, place them apart at the opposite corners on your setup side. If they go for her first, drag them towards Ren with decloak 2 straight and 4 straight moving along the edge of the map, while Ren slowly approaches from the middle. If they go after Ren first, reveal a stop and then 1 green. That should give her enough time to flank them. Once Ren and has done his "hero to 0" ability on the first ace, Whisper can dance around them and spit on their face occasionally and kill them at her leisure.

• Whisper does not need to be kept at r3 constantly, you are not flying brobots! Its far far easier to arcdodge at closer range than at r3. Even a high PS pilot will have hard time pining her down and unless you are facing turrets it should not be hard to keep her out of arcs for the most time. This is where the Advanced sensors + Intensity combo comes in handy. Even if you cant keep her out of all arcs, the free evade + Palp will fend off an attack from a single ship easily even when not cloaked.

• Personally I always decloak, re-positioning is her best defense. There are very few instances I will keep her cloak and thats usually when she obviously wont have anyone in arc in combat and keeping her cloaked will put her in a favorable position for next round. When she can fire she is always decloaked for combat.

• For me is the other way around, I typically take evade with intensity unless she will obviously be out of all arcs for combat. Gunner will do the rest in the squad above.

• Play as much as possible?

• At least when it comes to the squad mentioned above, an uphill battle is a well flown swarm. Something I am not worried I will face many times in the current meta. As long as you manage to have them shoot at Ren first, every other squad is in even or favorable terms.

PS: Since this was a thread about my second favorite lady in my life at the moment, I deliberately avoided mentioning how awesome is Daredevil Ren.

@tsondaboy

Thank you for that! Some great ideas and tips in there. Particularly like break down of the opening rounds and the idea of Advanced Sensors and Intensity on Whisper!

8 minutes ago, Boom Owl said:

@tsondaboy

Thank you for that! Some great ideas and tips in there. Particularly like break down of the opening rounds and the idea of Advanced Sensors and Intensity on Whisper!

The opening rounds are what people usually fundamentally do wrong and start complaining that the squads they are facing are OP. Half the game is the initial setup and approach towards the first engagement, no matter what squad you fly!

Awesome! I can offer a few suggestions for these. I have something around 100+ games with whisper under the belt, and I've seen a lot of exploding phantoms so I've picked up a few tricks along the way...
I will restrict my answers to meta-current ones where possible. I've had to continuously change my approach depending on what was common at the time to stay competitive.

• How do you give yourself a fighting chance against ships with a higher PS than Whisper or an initiative bid....are there specific tips on how to approach that scenario
  • There are two kinds of lists you will see in this category, those with one or two ships with higher PS, or all with higher PS. The solution to the first one is your flight approach. You absolutely must fly whisper like a bait on a string, they KNOW it's the biggest target, so you should try to have the rest of your list die first. Yes, I said that right, the rest of your list will die. What matters is that you've pulled their high PS ships into an exposed position, whilst keeping whisper in a guarded position. Ie. preferably with asteroids in between. Also, you have brought down shields on your target of choice, this is also key. when you do send in whisper, you should then turn on the jets and be EXTREMELY aggressive, like, decloak straight 2, 4 forward aggressive. you can usually blow by one ship and go for the rear one, and if your wingmen have done their job, you've probably got a r1 shot, will likely lose a shield or two, but will have 5 dice on a weakened ship.
    This tactic works very very well. Especially with tough wingmates, like TIE s/fs, x7 Defenders, even bombers.
    
    For the second, you need Kylo ren if you want to consistently beat these lists. You just can't consistently tank damage uncloaked against a list of ps10 or 11 ships. With Kylo though, preferably on a second ship, you can typically get one or two ships to ps0 fairly fast, and then the tactic becomes the above one.
• How do you keep Whisper at Range 3 consistently?
  • asteroid placement on a diagonal across the board. you need as thick a line across the centre of the map as possible, and use that as a line to dive whisper in and out of whenever you are at risk of getting too close. a decloak hard 3, with careful positioning, will clear asteroids really well. with practice, whisper should really thrive in a dense asteroid cluster.
• When do you typically decide to stay cloaked?
  • rarely, but when I do it's for blocking unexpectedly. If I have another ship that can do good damage, I will sometimes not decloak for a perfect whisper shot because its a perfect whisper shot and my opponent knows it. Then they bump whisper, lose their tokens, whisper zips out of the way and takes a focus, maybe loses a shield that turn, and I pulverise the bumped ship with the others.
• When do you typically decide to take an evade instead of a focus with Whisper?
  • I run gunner whisper a LOT, so almost always. Always always, unless I know I'm not going to be shot. Without gunner, I'd only take the evade if I have a target lock,, and I know i'm going to be hit by at least two ships. If just one, I'll take the focus and use it to guarantee the ability focus while maximising damage.
• How do you practice with Whisper?
  • Stop playing with RAC all the time. seriously. RAC is your tournament build, it's the best build at the minute for consistent whisper play, but having a turret leaves you at risk of bad habits over sensible play the rest of the time. Play a squad where you absolutely must at all costs keep whisper alive to win. You'll build up the experience you need such that when you hit a hard counter for RAC whisper in a tournament, you can afford to sacrifice the decimator to gain good positioning, and then not have bad habits about sensible solo whisper play.
• Can you provide your take on any of the categories above Upgrades, Wingmen, Flight Tactics, Making the best of Bad Match Ups, ya get the idea....
  • seems pretty nice to me. I would disagree with gunner on whisper not being great, it's almost vital in a solo whisper squad, but you want to be taking r3 shots through asteroids on your first pass, taking evades and triggering gunner. THEN you get to r1 for a fully modified shot, and yes, that shot won't trigger gunner, but the real gem is when you hit round 10 and your opponent forgets gunner exists, they spend a focus and evade to dodge whisper, call 'safe', and then you melt their ship. 3 consecutive games at UK nationals 2014, my opponents forgot about gunner and I won the game because of it. obviously this is only a perk, but the real reason you take it is to give yourself r3 defense. you need to keep whisper close enough for them to want to shoot you and for you to look like you can shoot back, but far enough away that they miss and gunner gives you 1-2 damage every now and then before diving in and going for straight 5 hits.
  • Kallus and rebel captive are the standout picks for crew at the moment. Others work but are situational on your squad build to cover deficiencies. I would be content filling a squad with any other wingmen with a Kallus/RebCap whisper.
  • Kylo ren is not ideal, the loss of the action is too great a price for whisper. you need that extra focus or evade for attack and defence. Ren has to go on another ship. I have tried very hard to make this one work but it's just not as powerful as kallus or repcaptive or gunner on whisper and kylo ren elsewhere.

making the best of a bad matchup? don't be afraid to lose a shield or two. It happens, and dragging your opponent into an asteroid belt levels out the ps11-ps9 divide rapidly. You can't arc dodge if you're bracketed by asteroids, and even tokened up, a focused up whisper taking a r2 shot through an asteroid decloaked is still 3 dice and a focus. you'll probably take 1-2 shields. you have a gunner on your side to maximise your damage. And don't forget to reroll your hit if you roll 3 blanks and a hit. gunner will trigger and you get a second chance.

My favourite list currently is naval intel phantoms (100pts):

Whisper: FCS, VI, Gunner, ACD
Echo: Col.Detec., VI, Agent Kallus, ACD
Scimitar: Radar Tech (Kylo Ren)

have fun flying!