Whooooo. I'm falling in love with the Tie Silencer. (Well, mostly Kylo + PTL AdvSen shenanigans.) Whoo, you can really go anywhere in the world with it. The sad sad part is of course playing against PS9+ turrets again. And bombs. Yuck.

Still looking for wingmen though. Gunboats leave a lot of points left over. Or utterly blank HLC Linked rolls.... =(

Also, tried Advanced Optics on Kylo (Very good), and Advanced optics on PS1 Tie FOs. Sadly, the Tie FOs are pretty garbage. It would be nice to have useful pilots other than OL but... sadly its not to be. The rest are pretty garbage.

Advanced Optics though, makes Tech feel like Tech. Makes FO and Res stuff feel strong. Tried it on some T70s too. Not bad. The stuff is like glue.

^ The answer is RAC, Oiucunn, or Nu Sq. Pilots.

Edit: But mostly the answer is RAC.

Every player has their preferences/likes/dislikes, etc, and I'm starting to fall in love with this squad:

https://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Galactic Empire&d=v4!s!208:100,36,-1,-1:42:31:;70:100,22,-1:34:17:;49:-1,-1,-1,-1,-1:35:17:u.61,u.95&sn=Ruthless Aggression&obs=

Alternately the bomber could be changed out for a Nu with various loadouts (I had one with Flechette Cannon in an earlier version.) But without Fleet Officer, Vessery dies right away. between Fleet Officer and Tactician, the bomber is a fantastic support ship, especially combined with an Ion Cannon. Vessery and QD FCS are a natural pair, and the bomber definitely helps out.

I know that Ruthlessness on QD is not what most people do, but I faced 2 VI QD's on the table last night and beat them both. In one game I never did attack his QD, but still killed her due to Ruthlessness damage. I also faced a PS10 Nym and Boba squad and won against that, although not easily. I really feel like where the meta is right now, Ruthless Aggression has great counters for.
Bombs? Ion Cannon and Tactician work wonders for control
Lowie/Jess/other Range 1 abilities? Ruthlessness will either force them to fly differently than they want to or take some big time splash damage
Low Agility ships? Please bring them against all of the attacks and splash that I have.
High PS Alpha? Fleet Officer and 3 AGI gives my ships double focus to be able to help withstand it.

And against, say, an AdvS Kylo, you just have to plan for covering lots of area with your arcs. I mean, sure, there are match-ups that are more difficult than others, but this squad has tools to deal with them.

Give it a try and see what you think.

i ran PS11 Kylo with FCS, TTracker, Title, and Autos paired with 2 PS1 TIE/FO's w/ Optics and Epsilon Leader w/ Optics the other day.

It was intended to be a thematic list but ended up being rather deadly. Epsilon Leader lets you flip around multiple times if you play your cards right because he removes 1 stress from all friendly ships (including him) at R1. And people are scared of Kylo so they TLock him up first, but he just slips right by anyway thanks to TTrackers.

Kylo's damage was weakened because i virtually never got the targetlock or the title reroll, but in all 3 games i played he literally never got shot at more than 3 times each game, two games never even took damage.

On 11/8/2017 at 9:30 AM, Thormind said:

Like @ficklegreendice said, adv sensor is much bettre than PA by providing more flexibility. PA just let you take an action before receiving your stress token. Advanced sensor allows you to use PTL and remain stressfree.

Just need to point out that this is wrong.

If you dial a green move in with PA, and PtL that round, you get to remove the PtL stress during your delayed Check Pilot Stress step.

So PA also lets you PtL stress free under the same conditions that AdvS would.

I will also add that PA lets you double action on a red move, which AdvS does not, and PA allows for post-maneuver double reposition stress free, which AdvS does not.

That said, apart from those examples, AdvS is the more versatile and powerful choice between the two, and if 1 point doesn't matter, you should really think hard about why you're not taking AdvS.

AdvSensors are technically superior to PA but theyre not an all around better choice. Personally i'd rather have PA anyway purely because that lets me also take FCS.

4 hours ago, hothie said:

Every player has their preferences/likes/dislikes, etc, and I'm starting to fall in love with this squad:

https://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Galactic Empire&d=v4!s!208:100,36,-1,-1:42:31:;70:100,22,-1:34:17:;49:-1,-1,-1,-1,-1:35:17:u.61,u.95&sn=Ruthless Aggression&obs=

Alternately the bomber could be changed out for a Nu with various loadouts (I had one with Flechette Cannon in an earlier version.) But without Fleet Officer, Vessery dies right away. between Fleet Officer and Tactician, the bomber is a fantastic support ship, especially combined with an Ion Cannon. Vessery and QD FCS are a natural pair, and the bomber definitely helps out.

I know that Ruthlessness on QD is not what most people do, but I faced 2 VI QD's on the table last night and beat them both. In one game I never did attack his QD, but still killed her due to Ruthlessness damage. I also faced a PS10 Nym and Boba squad and won against that, although not easily. I really feel like where the meta is right now, Ruthless Aggression has great counters for.
Bombs? Ion Cannon and Tactician work wonders for control
Lowie/Jess/other Range 1 abilities? Ruthlessness will either force them to fly differently than they want to or take some big time splash damage
Low Agility ships? Please bring them against all of the attacks and splash that I have.
High PS Alpha? Fleet Officer and 3 AGI gives my ships double focus to be able to help withstand it.

And against, say, an AdvS Kylo, you just have to plan for covering lots of area with your arcs. I mean, sure, there are match-ups that are more difficult than others, but this squad has tools to deal with them.

Give it a try and see what you think.

I've always wanted to try Ruthlessness but no guts. I'll have to give it a go.

Now THAT's an imperial play. Kudos.

AdvSen beats out PA in this case. I made that mistake early. Its NOT equivalent. Its SOOOOOOOOO much better. Like, trust me. Like 5 points better. Not 1 point better.

Namely for the bumping.

The question I have now is, Primed Thrusters for red move shenanigans (dial in a 4k, give yourself stress to change to a 2white), or Advanced Optics for holding focus.

Good thing they didn't give this thing evade, cuz otherwise it would literally be a perfect ship. (Well, a 4th die would make it PURRRRFect)

Alt Kylo build: Intensity, FCS, Adv Optics, Auto, Title.

44 minutes ago, Blail Blerg said:

I've always wanted to try Ruthlessness but no guts. I'll have to give it a go.

Now THAT's an imperial play. Kudos.

The cheeky part of it is that I can trigger my own Quickdraw's extra attack with Vessery splash damage. I did that twice in consecutive rounds in my last game where I had my opponent's ships in both front and rear arcs of my QD. It was beautiful. My write up is on my thread in the Bat Reps section.

6 minutes ago, hothie said:

The cheeky part of it is that I can trigger my own Quickdraw's extra attack with Vessery splash damage.

That's so cool, I can't wait to try it.

I played for the first time today after not being able to play for about four months. Flew 7 TIEs, and beat Poe/Zeb TIE and a resistance bomber. Almost beat Poe/Dash to, got Dash down to one hull.

7 hours ago, Sir Orrin said:

I played for the first time today after not being able to play for about four months. Flew 7 TIEs, and beat Poe/Zeb TIE and a resistance bomber. Almost beat Poe/Dash to, got Dash down to one hull.

Nicely done. Classic tie swarm? How do you feel about it?

--

In other notes, Intensity PS9Poe + Dash and a 2 pt bid is my absolute highest T1 test build right now. (As in the most malleable and capable of defeating nearly anything I can even imagine.) Ooops. I just let out a huge secret.

Someone said "Imperial Play"?

This is Imperial play now days:

8 hours ago, Blail Blerg said:

Nicely done. Classic tie swarm? How do you feel about it?

--

In other notes, Intensity PS9Poe + Dash and a 2 pt bid is my absolute highest T1 test build right now. (As in the most malleable and capable of defeating nearly anything I can even imagine.) Ooops. I just let out a huge secret.

I played what I believe is called the "patty swarm", three acadamies, three black squadrons with crackshot, and howlrunner with crackshot. I only own 6 TIE fighters, but since I was using my buddies stuff I had access to 7, so I figured I would change it up. Having the 7th ship is totally worth downgrading a couple Black Squadrons, I think I might have to buy another TIE fighter!

12 hours ago, Sir Orrin said:

I played what I believe is called the "patty swarm", three acadamies, three black squadrons with crackshot, and howlrunner with crackshot. I only own 6 TIE fighters, but since I was using my buddies stuff I had access to 7, so I figured I would change it up. Having the 7th ship is totally worth downgrading a couple Black Squadrons, I think I might have to buy another TIE fighter!

8 tie swarm might not be competitive, but it sure is pretty fun to field.

9 minutes ago, FlyingAnchors said:

8 tie swarm might not be competitive, but it sure is pretty fun to field.

Sigh, it has potential, but the amt of thinking required and how badly it feels to lose each piece one by one to one shots is really discouraging.

Also, really how well can it do right now? in actual practice. Instead of theory. On the table, is it worth it?

Sadly, I don't feel the might of the empire from 8 or 7 ties.

Whooo. The gunboat and the Silencer are seriously good.

Has anyone seen anything that Kylo must fear?

This just looks really fun. I love the Upsilon. But its not a ship suitable to all situations. It could really use some more versatility. So many unused slots. I wish we had double tech upgrades...

Starkiller Base Pilot (30)
Fire-Control System (2)
Courier Droid (0)
Kylo Ren's Shuttle (2)

Nu Squadron Pilot (18)
Harpoon Missiles (4)
Long-Range Scanners (0)

Nu Squadron Pilot (18)
Harpoon Missiles (4)
Long-Range Scanners (0)

Nu Squadron Pilot (18)
Harpoon Missiles (4)
Long-Range Scanners (0)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

23 minutes ago, Blail Blerg said:

Whooo. The gunboat and the Silencer are seriously good.

Has anyone seen anything that Kylo must fear?

I recently played against PS 11 Wedge & Poe plus a Stresshog. Wedge went down reasonably quick, but the stresshog... That was one Pain in the ***... Flight assist is great on T65 X Wings, they really add a lot of manoeuvring that the old X Wing doesnt normally have. I won on points, was down to his Poe vs Kylo. Stresshog messes with advanced sensors as well as PTL, which can really hurt the Silencers survivability.

Here it is if anyone wants to play it.

Poe - 43
VI
Autothrusters
Advanced Optics
R2-D2
Black One

Wedge - 31
VI
Flight Assist droid
Integrated AM

GSP - 26
TLT
R3-A2
BTL A4

Total - 100

I should add I was playing with PTL Kylo, Intensity Darth and VI Scourge. Was a casual game and was trying to run a, "Kylo had a dream" style list where Kylo imagines himself doing the trench run with his grandpa. Yep I am a nerd

14 minutes ago, Archangelspiv said:

I recently played against PS 11 Wedge & Poe plus a Stresshog. Wedge went down reasonably quick, but the stresshog... That was one Pain in the ***... Flight assist is great on T65 X Wings, they really add a lot of manoeuvring that the old X Wing doesnt normally have. I won on points, was down to his Poe vs Kylo. Stresshog messes with advanced sensors as well as PTL, which can really hurt the Silencers survivability.

Here it is if anyone wants to play it.

Poe - 43
VI
Autothrusters
Advanced Optics
R2-D2
Black One

Wedge - 31
VI
Flight Assist droid
Integrated AM

GSP - 26
TLT
R3-A2
BTL A4

Total - 100

I should add I was playing with PTL Kylo, Intensity Darth and VI Scourge. Was a casual game and was trying to run a, "Kylo had a dream" style list where Kylo imagines himself doing the trench run with his grandpa. Yep I am a nerd

Yeah the two aces + Stressbug Ezra also is a big pain in the butt right now. The sheathipede design generally makes me mad lol.

I'm really not sold on Wedge/oldXwings still, but I've been hearing reports of T-65 revival with FAA.

3 hours ago, Blail Blerg said:

Whooo. The gunboat and the Silencer are seriously good.

Has anyone seen anything that Kylo must fear?

In my limited experience flying against him and seeing him on the table, i think he fears 3 things:

1. Stress generators

2. Being out-PSed

3. Being outnumbered.

You could probably add turrets, but Autothrusters is a given. Bombs he can generally avoid.

I could be wrong, but that's generally what i have seen.

On 12/30/2017 at 5:34 AM, hothie said:

In my limited experience flying against him and seeing him on the table, i think he fears 3 things:

1. Stress generators

2. Being out-PSed

3. Being outnumbered.

You could probably add turrets, but Autothrusters is a given. Bombs he can generally avoid.

I could be wrong, but that's generally what i have seen.

I didn't reply to this before, because... its like a truism.... what tier1 list DOESN'T have at least two elements of this?

Frankly, I still think Kylo is fun, but is likely tier1.5. He's quite good.

---

Tried some Palp Alpha vs Kylo recently. First, Palpatine is actually pretty fun and useful still. Especially, in this harpoons list. The bad is that both QD and Vader seem a bit gimped... Vader basically feels like a garbage jousting Xwing with no boost. And QD really misses having advanced optics. QD has more play potential. But Vader. Is clunky as a manned-missile.

The list however, does work. Especially with harpoons and Palp adding like 2 damage to the effect.

And Palp is still good on his Lambda shuttle in a list like this at PS 11.

If you want a safe Imperial list. This is a decent go-to.

Played some Kylo vs Miranda Nym in with Genius + Traj Sim (FAQ'ed).

Whoo. Okay, kudos FFG for fixing some abusive stuff. Tried it first game without the FAQ. Holy Moley. Move and then eat a Proton Bomb? NO.

Post nerf? Traj Sim is still quite fun, but most of your forward moves will get in the way, you'll likely need a BR or not care. But its eminently more beatable.

So... what's the next boogeyman? 2 Shadowcasters?

Is this a good list? Has anyone tried it? Or is it kinda just meh? Any suggestions on better builds for this? (So continues my anti-meta testing). (Can The sheathipede take the title without the Ghost in the list?)

Miranda Doni (29)
Twin Laser Turret (6)
Sabine Wren (2)
Long-Range Scanners (0)

Captain Nym (Rebel) (30)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Twin Laser Turret (6)
Bomblet Generator (3)
Trajectory Simulator (1)
"Genius" (0)
Long-Range Scanners (0)
Havoc (0)

Fenn Rau (Sheathipede) (20)
A Score to Settle (0)
Courier Droid (0)
"Chopper" (Astromech) (1)
Guidance Chips (0)
Phantom II (0)

Total: 99

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

In other news, I've been winning quite a bit with Kylo as a pilot. As long as you know what you're doing, he seems to do just fine. I've been adjusting to using his Vanguard title more for the attack, meaning, separate one ship from the rest during your attack run. Its some good stuff.

Might try him with Soontir for some double ace madness, what should be the 3rd ship?

Also, for my readers who want something useful from this thread, imo, a bid of 2 is a great thing.

Also, this forum's search function is absolutely awful. It took a second search to pull up more than 2 results (and it didn't contain this thread) when I searched "the imperial play"

Is QD 3 Nu hard countered by Non-BB8 Poe and Dash?

Palp Aces is only semi: Countermeasures works, but Poe has to be PS11 and go after to remove locks.

So. Played some games recently vs meta stuff, lots of turrets and lots of bombs. Whooo. Everything kills small arced ships.

The dust has settled. As it turns out right now. It seems like there are extremely few Imperial options at the top level, and none with anywhere near the flexibility of the recent large base boogey men (Ghost Fenn, Timewalk Asajj, Miranda Nym, Dash Poe).

Here's what I've got, and it feels like all of these lists can be seriously outplayed.

Palp Alpha
QD 3 Nu
3 Defenders
QD Inq Palp

If you had to win a Regional or give $100 to charity if you lost, what Imperial list would you pick?

Generally, I think its not just Imperials are bad.. its nearly, everything that isn't a super upgraded, heavy hp, turret/bomber, PS10+ PS11Coordinate or without harpoons doesn't do well.