Tried out the new Chopper mech on Horton last night, alongside Miranda and Rex. AND IT WAS EPIC.

Horton had TLT, Chop, EM, Bomb Loadout, Ions, Engine. Tried it with the title and didn’t like it (based on PRS, you’re stuck with the title until you take damage). With EM and Loadout, you get four freebie shields (token and card for each), and at no point did I need any more than that. He’s not quite as good as Miranda—he has a donut hole, his repositioning is worse, and he has no defensive action on regen—but he’s still really solid, and the rerolls on that TLT are really strong offensively.

Faced Rey/Ello, triple Scurrg, and QuickDraw RAC. They were all still casual games, but they gave me a good feel for the list—and I’m honestly considering flying it at Regionals. Lost Rex twice, Horton once. Try it out, folks. The mustachio lives.

8 minutes ago, Ailowynn said:

With EM and Loadout, you get four freebie shields (token and card for each)

If you wish to do an initial firing round in arc, just add the title. Then discard the thing for one more shield , then continue with out of arc shots if needed

I'm considering BTL with Flight Assist myself. Still need to get it on the table though.

Hmmm. 2 points for EM, 2 points for Ions, 1 point for chopper, worse than a 3 point R5-P9 in the regen area, BUT having two ions helps a TLT-Y-Wing a lot to protect that donut hole. Not sure about the engine to be honest, makes Horton rather expensive.

I'm much more a fan of Horton+TLT+FAAstromech (edit: +Title) for 32 points.

That means that the only disadvantageous situation possible is to have an opponent within your range 1 arc, which is a pretty small place and should be avoidable. All other places you either have a TLTshot already, or you can boost/roll away/closer to get a shot.

Edit: but careful, FAA restricts to the firing arc!

32points are not bad for 2 damage a turn

@GreenDragoon FAA prohibits firing out of arc, so it probably only goes on a y-wing that's taking the title, right?

Looks interesting. I think I'd swap Engine for Vectored Thrusters, though.

Just now, Incard said:

@GreenDragoon FAA prohibits firing out of arc, so it probably only goes on a y-wing that's taking the title, right?

ah of course I forgot that part again...

But even so he should be able to get it into arc reliably enough with basically 135° turns, right? But maybe he's not worth the 32points then. HortonTLT with vectored thrusters was a thing for a very short time until it turned out that he's not that good. Maybe this build works because it's cheap enough?

You can add a Jake for 28pt and a 39pt Poe/Norra, but now we're getting back to jank territory. Hmmm

41 minutes ago, GreenDragoon said:

ah of course I forgot that part again...

But even so he should be able to get it into arc reliably enough with basically 135° turns, right? But maybe he's not worth the 32points then. HortonTLT with vectored thrusters was a thing for a very short time until it turned out that he's not that good. Maybe this build works because it's cheap enough?

You can add a Jake for 28pt and a 39pt Poe/Norra, but now we're getting back to jank territory. Hmmm

I think it still a thing!

I fought a 44-point Horton and it was pretty brutal with Mangler Dash.

1 hour ago, GreenDragoon said:

I'm much more a fan of Horton+TLT+FAAstromech for 32 points.

That means that the only disadvantageous situation possible is to have an opponent within your range 1 arc, which is a pretty small place and should be avoidable. All other places you either have a TLTshot already, or you can boost/roll away/closer to get a shot.

32points are not bad for 2 damage a turn

Horton with ion mines and regen can protect the aft, while more 25pt Golds with FAmechs take the lead and roll as needed to keep anything out of R1.
Oh darn, FFAmechs don't attack out of arc. Forget about it.

Still, Horton protecting the rear with regen and mines is still good.

Looks interesting, but think I’d swap it out for an X7 Glave with juke.

I dunno, Horton is pretty expensive already, and he's in a Y-Wing, which flies like a boat and isn't as tough as it could be.

I was running a simple Horton + TLT w/ 3x GSP + ion turrets in the Vassal league and doing about 50-50 with it...thing is that there are just such HEAVY hitters out there anymore, that a Y-Wing isn't going to last more than about 2-3 shots, which makes that kind of heavier investment...questionable.

3 hours ago, Fuzzywookie said:

Looks interesting, but think I’d swap it out for an X7 Glave with juke.

That’s a little more interesting, but I’d swap it out for a Jumpmaster with Intel and Rigged Cargo.

Horton, FAA, Plasma, EM, Chimps. 31 points, alpha strike and then have decent mods and action economy on a pea shooter. Not bad..?

Problem is when you build horton up he just gets shot down. So the question is what else do you have to take the fire from Horton, Biggs didn't make it back from the Death Star in case you haven't noticed.

8 hours ago, Ailowynn said:

H orton had TLT, Chop, EM, Bomb Loadout, Ions, Engine. Tried it with the title and didn’t like it (based on PRS, you’re stuck with the title until you take damage). With EM and Loadout, you get four freebie shields (token and card for each), and at no point did I need any more than that. He’s not quite as good as Miranda—he has a donut hole, his repositioning is worse, and he has no defensive action on regen—but he’s still really solid, and the rerolls on that TLT are really strong offensively.

I'd probably drop Engine for Vectored Thrusters, tbh. It would shave off 2 points and is probably slightly better with a TLT Y-Wing.

3 hours ago, GrimmyV said:

Horton, FAA, Plasma, EM, Chimps. 31 points, alpha strike and then have decent mods and action economy on a pea shooter. Not bad..?

I guess I just don't see the advantage of turning him into an alpha striker with torps as opposed to BTL-A4. One extra point gets you an arc locked TLT Horton with FAA. Compare the two:

On the initial range 2-3 shot, Torpton gets to fire his Plasma at something lower PS than he is (since he needed that TL). He spends the TL, rolls a statistically average hit, hit, focus, blank, rerolls the blank, Guidance Chips the focus, so it's three and a half average hits.

BTL Horton gets the same shot (range 2-3). He fires his TLT and his primary, rolling a total of 8 dice for a maximum of four damage, and a pretty good chance of getting them through. The maths is completely dependent on other factors (mainly what you're shooting at and how well they're defended), but I suspect the expected damage is comparable. Maybe Torpton has the advantage against a Decimator or Ghost (decent odds of 5 damage with plasma effect), but I would guess that TLT Horton does better against anything with two or more agility, and only falls short by 1 in most low agility cases.

Anyway, if the damage is comparable, then the real difference is in the long game. BTL Horton effectively has infinite "torps" and he jousts better because he can still fire his "torps" after a K Turn.

Even if you expect a short game I'd prefer BTL Horton, because if you're worried about him getting hit by an Alpha strike and taken off the board early, you're probably worried in this meta about a High PS alpha strike of 9 or higher. At PS8, Horton's not likely to have the TL to shoot his torp back should he survive an Alpha strike on one or two HP, so his return shot would be with his two die primary anyway.

So, personally, I think Chopper and FAA have given Horton the tools to make use of his turret, but I don't see Torpedo Horton having the tools to compete.

Action: Discard 1 other equipped Upgrade card to recover 1 shield.

I have a feeling BTL-A4 maybe the reason Chopper's card doesn't use the terminology 'up to your shield value'. If it were to use that wording, you could argue that you can still action to remove the title, even if you have no shields to recover.

With the wording it currently has, you have to take shield damage in order to use the action.

2 hours ago, Marinealver said:

Problem is when you build horton up he just gets shot down. So the question is what ese do you have to take the fire from Horton, Biggs didn't make it back from the Death Star in case you haven't noticed.

That’s why you have chopper to tank? Also notice he flew Miranda , that’s a pretty juicy target to draw fire from Horton already. No one hates Horton (except me,The stupid idiot was a total jerk to Tycho for nothing. If it was up to me he’d be cleaning ackbars latrine for the rest of his alliance carreer.)

Everybody dislikes Miranda.

10 hours ago, Giledhil said:

If you wish to do an initial firing round in arc, just add the title. Then discard the thing for one more shield , then continue with out of arc shots if needed

I tried that originally, but I’m pretty sure you have to take damage to use Chopper . That’s conjectural, but I’m basing it off of the Pulsed Ray Shield FAQ (which says you can’t take the ion unless you have a shield to regen); and being fixed to in-arc shots until someone hits you is really obnoxious, for a ship that wants to kite.

2 hours ago, Marinealver said:

Problem is when you build horton up he just gets shot down. So the question is what ese do you have to take the fire from Horton, Biggs didn't make it back from the Death Star in case you haven't noticed.

For what it’s worth, I’m five games in with this list now. It’s 5-0, Horton only died once, and only then because I forgot to drop a Conner Net with Miranda ?. Anecdotal evidence to be sure, but you might be surprised if you try it out.

Also...Rex

35 minutes ago, BVRCH said:

Action: Discard 1 other equipped Upgrade card to recover 1 shield.

I have a feeling BTL-A4 maybe the reason Chopper's card doesn't use the terminology 'up to your shield value'. If it were to use that wording, you could argue that you can still action to remove the title, even if you have no shields to recover.

With the wording it currently has, you have to take shield damage in order to use the action.

They clarified shield recovery pretty emphatically pay FAQ, I expect it to continue.

1 hour ago, FlyingAnchors said:

That’s why you have chopper to tank? Also notice he flew Miranda , that’s a pretty juicy target to draw fire from Horton already. No one hates Horton (except me,The stupid idiot was a total jerk to Tycho for nothing. If it was up to me he’d be cleaning ackbars latrine for the rest of his alliance carreer.)

Everybody dislikes Miranda.

If you kill Horton in the first round of combat, there will be no shields for chopper to tank. It has been done before, I have been on the receiving end where horton goes from 3 shields 5 hull to removed in a single round of combat.

But yeah having 2 regen ships will put your opponent at a choice which one to focus down first. In that case which ever one is the most points will be the primary target.

what about vector instead of engine. can control the TLT band easier.

1 hour ago, Wiredin said:

what about vector instead of engine. can control the TLT band easier.

I thought about it, but I figured if I’m running away from you—which is what I want to do—then VT won’t do ****. Plus, the Y-Wing is slow. It needs some speed.

I may try VT on both Horton and Miranda at some point, though. Just for grins.