Countess Ryad - Push The Limit, TIE Mk. II, TIE/x7

Colonel Vessery - Veteran Instincts, Tractor Beam, TIE Mk. II, TIE/D

Omega Leader - Juke, Comm Relay

100 Points

Can it work in today's meta? I've got a tournament in a few weeks!

2 minutes ago, SDCC said:

Countess Ryad - Push The Limit, TIE Mk. II, TIE/x7

Colonel Vessery - Veteran Instincts, Tractor Beam, TIE Mk. II, TIE/D

Omega Leader - Juke, Comm Relay

Good but give Ryad Outmanuever and take VI off of Vessery and replace the Beam with an Ion Cannon.

5 minutes ago, Celestial Lizards said:

Good but give Ryad Outmanuever and take VI off of Vessery and replace the Beam with an Ion Cannon.

Can you explain why? I like hearing rationales!

6 minutes ago, Celestial Lizards said:

Good but give Ryad Outmanuever and take VI off of Vessery and replace the Beam with an Ion Cannon.

These are terrible suggestions, and your list is perfectly fine as is for a local level event.

Just now, SDCC said:

Can you explain why? I like hearing rationales!

A free reroll pretty much always never hurts.

Ion is better against Nym, especially with a white K-Turn

The list is fine.
Ryad is still a great ship, most people are flocking to Quickdraw now though because he gets that nice doubletap at least once, and FCS makes him just as synergistic with Vessery as anyone else.

Getting an Ion Cannon in there might help, but Tractor is fine. Many people are suggesting Ion over Tractor because Ion stopps Miranda and Nym from dropping reveal bombs.

I won a store championship with nearly this exact list earlier in the year. But I dropped the Comms on OL for Ruthlessness on Vessery. It was really nasty against those Biggs + lists!

I think it's an excellent list, should be pretty good against lists having low agility ship(s). Just fly Vess carefully, since he's much more prone to hits than good old Ryad.

It should serve you well. The only concern I have is if stress control is prevalent, then that Ryad is gonna be hurting. But that could be a very minor concern.

1 hour ago, SDCC said:

...can it work in today's meta? I've got a tournament in a few weeks!

Probably! I flew 2 x7 Defenders and Tractor Vessery to a 3-1 record this past weekend against a couple of meta builds. If anything, your list is more flexible. A lot depends on your ability to isolate a single target and take it down fast - the one game I lost was against Fenn/Dengar, I lost Vessery early and just couldn't focus on a single ship for long enough.

Thanks guys! Nice little confidence boost knowing it could do the trick.

Trying to get Expertise onto Vess was thought about. As was something else instead of OL.

But as is seems like a good bet.

I won a store champ with ptl, x7 mk2 ryad, expertise x7 vessery, and juke comm relay OL. It'll be an uphill battle against certain lists, but if you avoid asajj you should be ok.

3 hours ago, Captain Pellaeon said:

I think it's an excellent list, should be pretty good against lists having low agility ship(s). Just fly Vess carefully, since he's much more prone to hits than good old Ryad.

With that list I really don't mind if my opponent goes after Vessery first, he's the least effective of the three in the late game by himself. Especially with /d instead of /x7. As long as he gets some punches in, by all means kill him first.

Can OL/Vess/Ryad Cut It?

...the cheese?

Perhaps.

I really like the X/Vessery/Omega Leader framework, I've played it a lot since it was first available. My original build used Vader since both he and Omega Leader can grab target locks at high PS and have reason not to spend them, but there are many ways to build it with other ships and either /x7 or /D on Vessery as you like.

Quickdraw or other tie/sf can work with fire control system to keep a lock even after attacking, but it's more finicky to make sure you TL the right ship. I've also used Ryad before and her having lower PS than Vessery makes the target locks work out but again the lower PS can be tricky. I always run push the limit on Ryad in this case so she can still do stuff for herself even if throwing out a lock for Vessery.

I tend to run outmaneuver on Vessery so that he has something even after his TL buddies are dead and it meshes well with the white K-turn in general. Expertise is also good but can be hard to fit in without eating into your 3rd ship's points, especially on a TIE/D Vessery

I can't really speak on competitive viability but it seems like as good a place to start as any for Imperial lists

My buddy has flown intensity Ryad against me a few times, and that is very nice

I like TIE/D Vessery in the current meta. Having at least one ion cannon really helps you deal with all the Nym and Miranda nonsense that's going on atm.

5 minutes ago, CRCL said:

I like TIE/D Vessery in the current meta. Having at least one ion cannon really helps you deal with all the Nym and Miranda nonsense that's going on atm.

But then you run into an alpha strike list and all Vess does is be more expensive when he is inevitably removed in a round.

Which is the Empire in a nutshell at the moment. You can make yourself good against one half of the meta, but then the other half roflstomps you.

I'd say maybe try Ryad with intensity and see how you like it. If it suits you I'd say go for it. If not , well Ryad has the best stress clearing dial in the game For jousting.

57 minutes ago, DR4CO said:

But then you run into an alpha strike list and all Vess does is be more expensive when he is inevitably removed in a round.

Which is the Empire in a nutshell at the moment. You can make yourself good against one half of the meta, but then the other half roflstomps you.

Yeah but people in the west don't run all those disgusting cheese alpha-strike lists

I am foreseeing lots of 3x Scouts at Nationals, and also lots of Dash + Miranda. Yay, what fun!

I dig this! With all the low agility out there, I have been trying to bounce around ion lists (I know you have tractor, but that is also good), and have been looking at defenders a lot.

I think the idea to switch PTL to Outmanuever was supposed to be switch it to Predator. Getting the free reroll is pretty good, and it is always there; stress, bump, land on debris, etc. you still get the reroll. Thus, You can focus, evade, and have a reroll from Predator (so like a bad TL) every round. Only problem is if you need to barrel roll and do not have PTL, you wont get a focus :/

But yeah, I think it would do pretty good! Since PS 10+ is the new thing, odds are OL and Vessery at PS8 are going to get arc dodged at points anyways, so you could even drop VI on Vessery (he is still above Biggs and Lowhrrick at 6), and maybe throw something else on. Idk, maybe a score to settle, or crack shot, etc.

If you throw a score to settle on Vessery, you could put Expertise on Ryad, which would let her have focus and evade solely for defense. Or TL for max offense (again, though, if it is a stress meta, low PS expertise might not work. But Ryad at PS 5 would still out PS Breylen or Stresshog).

Idk, just thoughts - or keep it the same, and I'm sure it will do good!

The idea for PTL Ryad on a Vessery list, is for her to get TL + Focus every (possible) turn, so you have 2 "spotters" for Vessery.

I want to give another try on X7/juke Defenders, but the problem with low PS Defenders (Vess and Ryad) is that it's hard to keep that evade token.

1 hour ago, CRCL said:

Yeah but people in the west don't run all those disgusting cheese alpha-strike lists

I am foreseeing lots of 3x Scouts at Nationals, and also lots of Dash + Miranda. Yay, what fun!

It's a National, you're supposed to pull out all the stops. And in this meta that means flying your own stupid turrets so you're at least on even footing with all the other stupid turrets. Sucks, but what can you do?

4 hours ago, HanScottFirst said:

But yeah, I think it would do pretty good! Since PS 10+ is the new thing, odds are OL and Vessery at PS8 are going to get arc dodged at points anyways, so you could even drop VI on Vessery (he is still above Biggs and Lowhrrick at 6), and maybe throw something else on. Idk, maybe a score to settle, or crack shot, etc.

If he was paired with X/7 Defenders, maybe Swarm Leader?

Ryad/Vessery/Omega Leader should be able to do some work - it'll take practice and need a plan for any given archetype you want to face, though.

13 hours ago, FTS Gecko said:

w 2 x7 Defenders and Tractor Vessery to a 3-1 record this past weekend against a couple of meta builds.

x/7s Deltas are lovely and tough for their price. With that evade and a focus they're tough as old boots for not much more than the price of an X-wing, and without the risk of being blocked.

With people looking at Miranda Donis and Nyms, I wonder if triple Ion Cannon TIE/D might be decent, too?

39 minutes ago, Magnus Grendel said:

x/7s Deltas are lovely and tough for their price. With that evade and a focus they're tough as old boots for not much more than the price of an X-wing, and without the risk of being blocked.

Agreed, the x7s did much of the heavy lifting in my games at the weekend, and caused a little bit of frustration in my opponents at times due to their ability to shrug off a shot. But that's knd of the point, isn't it? We're in a 2-3 ship meta - without many Gunner mechanics in the top lists other than TLT - and x7 Defenders can tank a single shot pretty easily. You really need to focus fire from multiple sources to bring them down.

43 minutes ago, Magnus Grendel said:

With people looking at Miranda Donis and Nyms, I wonder if triple Ion Cannon TIE/D might be decent, too?

I had a similar idea at the European Championships, and took two Delta TIE/Ds with Ion Cannons alongside Maarek. It didn't go so well. It's fine in theory but you don't have enough mods to both protect yourself and make the most of your attacks, and you miss the resilience of the x7. Both Ions and Tractor Beams can really throw a spanner in the works for your opponent, but you need a reliable way to get those tokens.

That said, I have considered the following:

Omicron Group Pilot - Electronic Baffle, Fleet Officer, Operations Specialist
Delta Squadron Pilot - TIE/D, Ion Cannon, Hull Upgrade x 2

Plenty of tokens to spread around, but you need to keep the distance close. Would have liked to fit a Tractor Beam on the Shuttle as well, but not going to give up Baffle for it