On 1/16/2018 at 10:07 PM, hothie said:

Rexler with Adapt, TIE D, Ion
Maarek, VI, TIE D, Ion
Scimitar with Fleet Officer, Intel Agent, MKII, TIE Shuttle title

Are you using MKII on the Defenders too, or keeping a 2 pt bid?

39 minutes ago, dragonorta said:

Are you using MKII on the Defenders too, or keeping a 2 pt bid?

Rexler is 40. Maarek is 39. Scim is 21. 100 points.

33 minutes ago, hothie said:

Rexler is 40. Maarek is 39. Scim is 21. 100 points.

Right, I had a tractor instead of ion on rexler. Oops

3 minutes ago, dragonorta said:

Right, I had a tractor instead of ion on rexler. Oops

That was a previous iteration. It was effective, but the ion is more effective.

I'm gonna have to give this squad a go at my FLGS tuesday night league. I've been running different iterations of Ryad/Vessery and Ion and/or Tractor with a wingman. Last one was

Vessery - Tractor - TIE/D - MKII - 37 points

Ryad - Ptl - Ion - TIE/D - MKII - 41 points

Nu squad - LRS - Harpoon - 22 points

It flew well together, until Ryad was gunned down during second round of combat.

51 minutes ago, dragonorta said:

I'm gonna have to give this squad a go at my FLGS tuesday night league. I've been running different iterations of Ryad/Vessery and Ion and/or Tractor with a wingman. Last one was

Vessery - Tractor - TIE/D - MKII - 37 points

Ryad - Ptl - Ion - TIE/D - MKII - 41 points

Nu squad - LRS - Harpoon - 22 points

It flew well together, until Ryad was gunned down during second round of combat.

Yeah, the major troubles with TIE Ds is that they don't last long and their low ps. The fleet officer helps to keep them alive longer, and in my squad they're both ps9. Vessery has the best ability _if_ you can feed him a tl. If not, I take Maarek over Vessery any day for the same cost.

Give my squad a go and let me know what you think.

Two games on the table today with this list:

Rexler with Adapt, TIE D, ion cannon

Maarek with VI, TIE D, ion cannon

Scim with fleet officer, intel agent, mkii, shuttle title

First game was against a Boba Asajj list where they were both PS8, so having my defenders at PS9 was critical. First combat round he used stim on Asajj, so i went after Boba. I was able to ion Boba with both cannons. Next round i moved the bomber in to block Boba. Asajj moved to block Maarek and Rexler moved in behind the bomber. Boba popped stims, which is what saved him that round, as I think I only put 1 damage on him between both defenders. Asajj hit Rexler and rolled into Range 1 of Boba. 5 hits (fearlessness) later and Rexler was dead. Next round Maarek kturns behind Boba and deals him a Blinded. Next round Maarek finishes off Boba with a Direct Hit before he can shoot. A few rounds of cgasing Asajj later Maarek had her ioned near the corner and finished her off with a Direct Hit for the 100-40 win.

Next game was against a Nymiranda list. Basically my list is designed to face Nymiranda, and the TO decided to go the the FFG Regional rules that Genius and TS don't work together. As it was, i managed to take 2 shields off of Miranda at Range 3. Next round I ioned both of his ships. He didn't set another dial for the rest of the game. I focused Miranda down, then kept Nym ioned and pounded on him for the 100-0 victory.

Unfortunately I had to leave, so I had to drop at 2-0. Overall i felt pretty good with the squad.

Vassal game with Darryl running his QD, Rho, SS with TLT. My rock placement was sub par, so we chatted about it afterwards. We engaged in the rocks second turn. Maarek ioned his rho, then Rexler ioned his QD, which I think was another mistake. I could have tried to focus down his rho. Instead i ioned QD, giving him the extra attack on the bomber. Rexler missed his second attack, so i couldn't strip more shields off of QD. QD then pooned the bomber, killing it. Then his Rho pooned Rexler. Next round Maarek blocked his QD, and Rexler banked in, but QD still had arc on Rexler's base, so he killed Rexler that round with QD at 1 h left. Maarek killed his SS. Next round he self bumped his Rho into QD, which was big. I expected the 3 fwd and slam, so Maarek did a 3 turn where i thought the rho would be. Cost me the game. Rho stayed behind me and flechette cannon hit, stressing Maarek. I really didn't have anywhere to go that his 1 fwd couldn't hit me with his second poon, so Maarek ate that and died next round in a simult with QD.

Then 3 games Monday night. I dropped intel agent and MKII on the bomber for MKII on both defenders. First game against Dash Poe. I managed to get Dash behind me and went after Poe. I was able to focus down Poe before he could regen. Dash killed my bomber, but the 2 defenders managed to ion and take down Dash for the 100-19 win.

Next game against a Nym Bossk partybus with mangler/boba/dengar. I focused down bossk at the cost of maarek. Then was able to keep nym ioned for the rest of the game for the win. Nym didn't drop a bomb all game long.

Third game was against Nymiranda. I went slow to draw him to me. He came fast with his, but we didn't get into combat until round 3. I ioned both of his ships. Next round the bomber blocked Miranda. Rexler flanked in. A mistake I made here waa not rolling Rexler into Nym's path. As it was Nym had range 1 and killed Rexler before he could shoot Miranda. So Maarek was left to finish off Miranda, which he did. But since Maarek had to shoot Miranda, Nym was left without an ion token. Next round between the bomblet and TLT he put 4 damage on Maarek in 1 round. That greatly affected how I played Maarek the rest of the game, as now he could easily die to Nym's harpoon. We jockeyed for a bit before a bomblet finished off Maarek and we called it.

I've been debating about having double ions vs having PS10 Rexler with tractor alongside Maarek ion. It's a tough call against harpoon spam because the tractor could potentially remove a key attack, thus keeping my ships alive longer, which is always the goal. The double ions is better against large ships, but the tractor ion combo is really good against small ships.

So tonight I tried out:

Rexler, VI, tractor, TIE D

Maarek, VI, ion, TIE D

Scim with fleet officer, intel agent, lightweight frame, shuttle title

Of course, my opponent flew a RacLo and Inqy list. He put a Damaged Cockpit on Rexler early, which was big. I made a few mistakes this game. One was taking a range 1 on tokenless inqy with maarek when i should have stayed on RAC. He flew really well. I managed to kill RAC, but inqy was too slippery for maarek to catch, so i lost. I'll go back to double ions.

8 hours ago, hothie said:

I've been debating about having double ions vs having PS10 Rexler with tractor alongside Maarek ion. It's a tough call against harpoon spam because the tractor could potentially remove a key attack, thus keeping my ships alive longer, which is always the goal. The double ions is better against large ships, but the tractor ion combo is really good against small ships.

So tonight I tried out:

Rexler, VI, tractor, TIE D

Maarek, VI, ion, TIE D

Scim with fleet officer, intel agent, lightweight frame, shuttle title

Of course, my opponent flew a RacLo and Inqy list. He put a Damaged Cockpit on Rexler early, which was big. I made a few mistakes this game. One was taking a range 1 on tokenless inqy with maarek when i should have stayed on RAC. He flew really well. I managed to kill RAC, but inqy was too slippery for maarek to catch, so i lost. I'll go back to double ions.

I almost wish this thread wasn't up here, because I'm having so much fun with my DIONS and I don't want it to explode into a more popular list.

I've had far and away more success with double ions (Maarek/Rexler) and the shuttle. I'm a little torn on Intelligence Agent, I'm tempted to dump that for a small bid. I spend so much time using banks on my shuttle that I'm not sure I can remove MKII from there and still keep it successful.

How would you approach a Kanan/Low or a Kanan/Fenn list? I'm tempted to say walk Kanan off the board, but a well flown Fenn is such an enormous pain.

3 minutes ago, bydand said:

I almost wish this thread wasn't up here, because I'm having so much fun with my DIONS and I don't want it to explode into a more popular list.

I've had far and away more success with double ions (Maarek/Rexler) and the shuttle. I'm a little torn on Intelligence Agent, I'm tempted to dump that for a small bid. I spend so much time using banks on my shuttle that I'm not sure I can remove MKII from there and still keep it successful.

How would you approach a Kanan/Low or a Kanan/Fenn list? I'm tempted to say walk Kanan off the board, but a well flown Fenn is such an enormous pain.

I'm personally torn between lightweight frame or MKII and intel agent on the bomber. Both have their merits, depending on who my opponent targets first.

I've been thinking about kanan Fenn. The kicker for me is that Fenn gets a stress for using his ability. Ion him and he can only use his ability once. And I have 2 chances to ion him. The 0 agi vcx them doesn't become a problem against multiple attacks per round. And Kanan isn't a fan of crits, which my list will deal plenty of. Kanan Lowie, same I think.

13 minutes ago, hothie said:

I'm personally torn between lightweight frame or MKII and intel agent on the bomber. Both have their merits, depending on who my opponent targets first.

I've been thinking about kanan Fenn. The kicker for me is that Fenn gets a stress for using his ability. Ion him and he can only use his ability once. And I have 2 chances to ion him. The 0 agi vcx them doesn't become a problem against multiple attacks per round. And Kanan isn't a fan of crits, which my list will deal plenty of. Kanan Lowie, same I think.

I think that's fair. Ion control on Fenn/Low and save primaries for the VCX.

I know there isn't a complete cut and dry answer to this question, but how often do you feel you're taking a TL over trying to feed double focus to your Defenders?

Without the evade from X7, I feel like I'm somewhat forced into FO + Focus action for a little defense and trying to keep at least one attack modded.

9 hours ago, hothie said:

I've been debating about having double ions vs having PS10 Rexler with tractor alongside Maarek ion. It's a tough call against harpoon spam because the tractor could potentially remove a key attack, thus keeping my ships alive longer, which is always the goal. The double ions is better against large ships, but the tractor ion combo is really good against small ships.

So tonight I tried out:

Rexler, VI, tractor, TIE D

Maarek, VI, ion, TIE D

Scim with fleet officer, intel agent, lightweight frame, shuttle title

Of course, my opponent flew a RacLo and Inqy list. He put a Damaged Cockpit on Rexler early, which was big. I made a few mistakes this game. One was taking a range 1 on tokenless inqy with maarek when i should have stayed on RAC. He flew really well. I managed to kill RAC, but inqy was too slippery for maarek to catch, so i lost. I'll go back to double ions.

I saw a good chunk of that game. Don't feel too badly about that loss -- Andrew did win the Minnesota Regional last year (so you may see that list again this weekend!). I actually thought you had him until I realized you didn't have two ions and weren't going to be able to push him off the board (and he probably would have flown differently). I think you'll like having that as big ship lists really have to change how they fly or they risk getting neutralized quickly. I also think it presents a better endgame in 1v1 where tractor isn't quite as useful.

28 minutes ago, bydand said:

I think that's fair. Ion control on Fenn/Low and save primaries for the VCX.

I know there isn't a complete cut and dry answer to this question, but how often do you feel you're taking a TL over trying to feed double focus to your Defenders?

Without the evade from X7, I feel like I'm somewhat forced into FO + Focus action for a little defense and trying to keep at least one attack modded.

I generally will only tl if i know I'm not getting attacked. Otherwise I do focus all of the time for defensive purposes.

On 1/19/2018 at 9:48 AM, dragonorta said:

I'm gonna have to give this squad a go at my FLGS tuesday night league. I've been running different iterations of Ryad/Vessery and Ion and/or Tractor with a wingman. Last one was

Vessery - Tractor - TIE/D - MKII - 37 points

Ryad - Ptl - Ion - TIE/D - MKII - 41 points

Nu squad - LRS - Harpoon - 22 points

It flew well together, until Ryad was gunned down during second round of combat.

Another option is:

Vessery, VI, Ion Cannon, Tie/D, Twin Ion Engines 40

Quickdraw, VI, FCS, Advance Optics, Special Ops, Lightweight Frame 36

Nu Squadron, XG-1 Assualt Config, LRS, Flechette Cannon, Ion Cannon 24

Vessary has two ships spotting him target locks, one of which cannot be removed by Black One or other options until the next round (shoot what QuickDraw just targeted). You also have two ion shots for large ships. The Nu is always shooting with some type of control (Ion or Stress), even after slamming.

I have been toying with taking off the Nu's Ion Cannon and Twin Ion Engines for a Harpoon Missile for the Nu to make it a larger threat. It might help it too if it is the last ship

8 hours ago, The_Alchemist said:

Another option is:

Vessery, VI, Ion Cannon, Tie/D, Twin Ion Engines 40

Quickdraw, VI, FCS, Advance Optics, Special Ops, Lightweight Frame 36

Nu Squadron, XG-1 Assualt Config, LRS, Flechette Cannon, Ion Cannon 24

Vessary has two ships spotting him target locks, one of which cannot be removed by Black One or other options until the next round (shoot what QuickDraw just targeted). You also have two ion shots for large ships. The Nu is always shooting with some type of control (Ion or Stress), even after slamming.

I have been toying with taking off the Nu's Ion Cannon and Twin Ion Engines for a Harpoon Missile for the Nu to make it a larger threat. It might help it too if it is the last ship

The trouble, IMO, with the list is Vessery gets killed quickly with only a focus token for defense. And in my experience the Nu gets one good shot then spends multiple turns trying to get another.

Two games last night prepping for Minneapolis. I won't reveal squads, but I expect them both to be top 16 there. I lost both, and in both games i wish I would have had PS10 Rexler Tractor Beam. Sigh. It's such a tough call. Against small ships the tractor works better, but against large ships the ions are better. I dunno.

Thanks hothie for the feedback. Were you referring to it hard to get another shot to the gunboat with missile or cannons? The cannons I usually have a shot each round, just one damage. I am still debating if it is worth the shift

Vessery is a big target, but hits hard with all the re-rolls. I always save the focus for defense, so yes another one would be nice. FCS solves for the most part the target lock stripping that is going on, so it is another option for the gentleman wanting to play Vessery

After this weekend I want to give hothie's build a try since it looks fun.

How do you generally set up against Nymanda with defenders.

Do you joust them hoping to survive the bomb launch/missile alpha strike,or do you prefer another approach?

How do you generally set up against Nymanda with defenders.

Do you joust them hoping to survive the bomb launch/missile alpha strike,or do you prefer another approach?

22 minutes ago, rookie35 said:

How do you generally set up against Nymanda with defenders.

Do you joust them hoping to survive the bomb launch/missile alpha strike,or do you prefer another approach?

Fleet officer is range 2. Also my bomber is the only one that moves before Miranda (if she doesn't have long range scanners.) I spread out my defenders to cover both of his ships with ion cannons. It also keeps me away from poon splash damage and the first (and usually only) bomb. Ion Miranda and Nym, block Miranda with the bomber (if it lives,) kill Miranda before she gets a second shot, then focus down Nym. Ion Nym can't drop "reveal" bombs, which means he usually only gets tlt the rest of the game.

My first ship destroyed, and the doors aren't even open yet! Maarek broke off of his base. I was able to glue him back on before the tourney started.

Round 1 against 4, count them 4, JM5Ks with trick shot and courier droid. First combat he hit me for 2 Direct Hits on my bomber, which got the bomber down to 1 hull left. Next round he tried to block me, but i went slow and got his hurt one down to 2 hull left with double ion tokens. Maarek put an ion token on another, but i wasn't able to focus down the hurt one, so it escaped onto debris next round before i could kil it. He took 3 shields off of rexler. Next round i was able to double ion another, but the end was getting nearer. I turned rexler to chase tye hurt one, but couldn't finish it off. Instead it killed rexler in return. So it was down to Maarek vs his 4 ships. I did end up killing the hurt one and got half on another, but lost in the end. L 100-38.