I flew a list I call Cygnus Spaceworks Demo Squad against a couple lists the other night. The first match was against Dash and an Auzituck, and the second was against Dash and Poe.

Overall, it was pretty fun trying out some SLAMming shenanigans. I did learn that arc-locked ships don't do very well against high-PS ships that get at least two maneuvering actions each turn, as well as learning (after the first game) to take out the obstacles early, so I don't have to waste time trying to do so in the middle of a dogfight. Just clearing 2-3 gave my Lambda plenty of room to fly, though if I try this list again I'd probably swap out the Ion Cannon for a Flechette Cannon and Tactician.

Also, I learned that I'm really sick of facing Dash pretty much every single game. I hope one of the dozen people who shows up to our X-Wing night will decide to try a list that doesn't have Dash on it. If I'm really lucky, they'll even try having more than two ships!

Oh, and if anyone's curious how the games turned out, I was absolutely slaughtered both games. I never shot down a single ship, and I'm not even sure if I managed to drain any completely of shields. Oh, well. Maybe next time.

So I haven't played with any of the new ships yet, but I have played against a couple of them, including a game against triple kimos last night on vassal.

I know it's only one game, but I think the bullseye arc might be a dud. Even though my list had ZERO repositioning abilities, and two of my 3 ships moved before my opponent's, he still had a hard time getting bullseye on my ships. Basically unless both lists are jousting head on, the angles will change over the game making it hard to get a ship within that narrow range.

What's also funny, is that even with barrel roll as an option, against small ships, you can sometimes be just out of range of the bullseye on one side, do a barrel, and then be just out of range on the other side of your target. Kind of funny.

I wonder if Bullseye will encourage people to do more 22.5 degree set ups

Today finally had the chance to try out the new Shuttle, and fielded the following:

Kashyyyk Defender (24)
Jyn Erso (2)
Jan Ors (2)

Jess Pava (25)
Flight-Assist Astromech (1)
Integrated Astromech (0)

Gold Squadron Pilot (18)
Twin Laser Turret (6)
Bomb Loadout (0)
"Chopper" (Astromech) (1)
Guidance Chips (0)
BTL-A4 Y-Wing (0)

AP-5 (15)
Weapons Engineer (3)
M9-G8 (3)

Total: 100

Having offensive re-rolls on all 3 front-line ships and Coordinate each round was glorious. Really liked the Chopper Y, too. Having re-rolls on all 3 shots (main gun and 2xTLT), and an option to ditch the title after initial joust is such a boon, and you get a shield back when you do, too! Very well spent 25 points imho.

Even if the Shuttle has to be kept away from the fight, and those 21 points are not contributing outside action economy & mods, it still feels well worth it. And if you really need to save it from trouble, that Jyn+Jan combo helps a lot. Especially when you can choose whether to use it before or after the Wookie ship has moved, maximizing the defensive token stacking.

Overall, had a lot of fun, would recommend.

I flew the following list over two tournaments and went 7-1

Kylo Ren (35): VI (1), Title (2), TT (3), AT (2), FCS (2) -- 45

Quickdraw (29): VI (1), Title (0), FCS (2), LWF (2) -- 34

Zeta Leader (20): ASTS (0) -- 20

Total: 99

First impressions, I love the Silencer. It was only destroyed once, most games he was either full or down to hull. The title procs quite often, but you have to make sure to count your ships too while checking for your arc. VI, TT and FCS worked wonders, either boosting out of arc (Rey or Decimators) to get autothrusters or just completely skipping an arc. That means you can fly aggressive by boosting, getting a range 1 shot with title (most of the time), and the barrel rolling out of arc. If you feel it won't work, then just focus. When his ability procs, it's very helpful especially with ZL having ASTS. I only once used the title to reroll and I went to 1 evade via autothrusters to 3 evades, so it was definitely useful.

Jousting is definitely not something to do with him, I would send him by himself as a flanker while keeping the other two together.

Weaknesses from my experience:

- If he gets kylo'ed by RAC (although i managed to win that game, you just have to fly him completely differently but he's still a potent ship)

- Tractor beams, stress, ion (anything that controls)

- I played Thweek who Shadowed me so same PS as QD and Kylo, and I had initiative so I was moving first. (His list was 97 pts I believe). I won that game but again, you pretty much fly completely differently. He had bossk with EU and a quadjumper (CD+tractor array), so it was very difficult to maneuver in order to avoid tractor beams, and also Bossk was doing a good job keeping arc with his EU.

- My only loss came to Oicunn and Ryad. Oicunn with EU+daredevil+title+Boshek+Intel Agent and a bunch of other goodies that you always have to keep in mind. Ryad was Tie D with tractor beam+PTL. Ryad was always able to keep me in arc because of IA. Oicunn pretty much took care of my QDs Shields by bumping twice and QD was unable to block both of the Defenders shots (I believed i blocked the Tractor Beam by spending a focus) but he still had a TL for second attack. Overall a very good game that came down to the wire.

I really enjoyed ZL, his ability + ASTS was very useful. He did die in most games because he was the first one targeted, but he managed to get me his worth!

Still haven't gotten a chance to play yet, but I did share my experience painting one of them here!

I flew Miranda, Lowhrick, and Fenn Rau in a local tournament. I did very well, and, with the exception of playing poorly against a bump master, I did very well. The 20 Fenn Rau with VI, R4-D6 and Chopper is surprisingly mean and messes with the opponent's target priority and mods. It's worth it to pick up 1 Phantom II, and maybe a 2nd if you like the Flight Assist Astromech.

Just played a game with the Silencer (ran PtL, advanced sensors Kylo) and it was awesome! We ended up calling the game because most of my list was destroyed and my opponent was struggling to chase Kylo down. I made some mistakes with him and it cost me the game. He is great fun to play and I look forward to practicing more. The Silencer might be my new favorite ship.

Also played a game with the Resistance Bomber (ran crimson specialist with TS, title and bomblet generator). I was pleasantly surprised. I was not very excited for this ship but it really pulled its weight. The trajectory simulator is really disruptive to lists that try to joust you. Also his pilot ability allows for a crazy level of board control and area denial against low health ships.

I've played a couple of games with Kimo, here are my thoughts; bullseye is built for taking out large base ships; whenever i face one of those no problem worked a dream and clobbered them.

Against small base; not so easy to get them in bullseye. Am forever the optimist; I don't think it's D.O.A. like some people claim.

What i will say is; if your local meta is littered with Large base; Kimo will be a solid choice. if on the other hand you have small bases, much like blackouts ability treat it as a nice to have; rather than something to work towards.

As for the gunboat; I posted my thoughts in the "If you building your gunboats with missiles thread....."

As for the silencer; it does struggle to push damage true enough; but no more than a TIE Defender does. The main difference is you can get in and out of range 1 easy. It's not a ship that is easy to fly it moves fast. It's not bad, not by a long shot. but it needs some good wingmen to really make it shine. This is a long game ship; if you want your matches to be over in minutes don't bother.

I am really liking Deflective Plating more than I thought. Because of the wording, you roll the mine damage before deciding to avoid it or not. If you have Sabine floating around, you can run over your own mines, avoid the effect, and still damage a nearby enemy. Or if you roll no damage (on a cluster mine), you don't have to worry about using your Plating.

I've posted on a few other threads now, but missile Gunboats are really not that effective. At least not in my first go-round with them. I think a cannon buildout with at least one of the named pilots is the way to go with them. If you fancy yourself a missile platform, take one of the shuttles alongside you for support.

I have flown missile Gunboats in only 2 matches so far. They seem to work better when used to hit and run. Cannon Gunboats are all about shooting every round.

On 12/9/2017 at 11:27 AM, BadMotivator said:

The Silencer however has better greens than the E-wing, without having to pay for and use up a slot. Plus the Silencer also has a Tech slot and choice of Talon rolls or a K-turn.

Still viewing this bird at a distance, trying to gather Intel. It does have the wicked dial, but Horn has the awesome double-tap and regen, so he's still the man in an arced ship IMO. I mean, without better damage output, I'm simply not yet sold on probably is the best looking ship FFG has ever produced, dislodging any of the top ten ships in the current meta. Let's hope it's not an over-hyped casual only kinda ship, the game needs more arced ships to shine again in the current, stale turret-wing (yes, I consider Auzitucks pretty much turrets).

On 12/9/2017 at 7:30 PM, gennataos said:

Shuttle is going to be really good.

I knew coordinate would be really great when the Upsilon came out, but it's on a whale of a ship that costs huge squad points which makes it very had to use effectively. So the designers give coordinate to the Phantom II at a tiny 15 SPs? Yeah, it will be in strong meta lists.

1 hour ago, jwilliamson12 said:

I've posted on a few other threads now, but missile Gunboats are really not that effective. At least not in my first go-round with them. I think a cannon buildout with at least one of the named pilots is the way to go with them. If you fancy yourself a missile platform, take one of the shuttles alongside you for support.

This is sad if true; @MajorJuggler almost has me convinced as well with his strong thread about "....I'm pretty sure you're doing it wrong."I was so hoping the Empire would get a meta secondary weapon boat that can hold up, but it looks like its so very well balanced. Why couldn't the Azituck design team have designed the gunboat? Oh well, we'll see if I can make one work as well as my TIE/Ds do; but I cannot see them overtaking their spot, unless that Advanced Slam works duty cycle wonders on that chassis.

I haven't even gotten mine yet to mat them, and it seems the shine is already loosing a bit of its luster.

1 minute ago, clanofwolves said:

This is sad if true; @MajorJuggler almost has me convinced as well with his strong thread about "....I'm pretty sure you're doing it wrong."I was so hoping the Empire would get a meta secondary weapon boat that can hold up, but it looks like its so very well balanced. Why couldn't the Azituck design team have designed the gunboat? Oh well, we'll see if I can make one work as well as my TIE/Ds do; but I cannot see them overtaking their spot, unless that Advanced Slam works duty cycle wonders on that chassis.

I haven't even gotten mine yet to mat them, and it seems the shine is already loosing a bit of its luster.

3

I'm not fully giving up on them as missile carriers. I'm planning on giving them another go with an Upsilon to support them. I'm also not a huge Imperial player. I tend to like shields and scum-craziness. So I've had to adjust to the fragility of Imperial ships at the same time I'm learning the new ships. It's not a total write-off, but the cannons giving you shots every round seems so much more valuable.

1 hour ago, clanofwolves said:

This is sad if true; @MajorJuggler almost has me convinced as well with his strong thread about "....I'm pretty sure you're doing it wrong."I was so hoping the Empire would get a meta secondary weapon boat that can hold up, but it looks like its so very well balanced. Why couldn't the Azituck design team have designed the gunboat? Oh well, we'll see if I can make one work as well as my TIE/Ds do; but I cannot see them overtaking their spot, unless that Advanced Slam works duty cycle wonders on that chassis.

I haven't even gotten mine yet to mat them, and it seems the shine is already loosing a bit of its luster.

To be fair, that is @Biophysical 's thread, I just did some rough math on the HLC Gunboats.

2 hours ago, MajorJuggler said:

To be fair, that is @Biophysical 's thread, I just did some rough math on the HLC Gunboats.

Sorry @MajorJuggler , you’re correct, I defaulted. Thanks @Biophysical , very smartly done, yet internally depressing, thread. ?

Who said the Silencer can't get strong attacks? For me, it usually gets 2-3 hits with a focus and the title. If you have VI-TT-FCS you can focus, get a couple hits in, get the TL after am attack, and roll away. Fantastic. I'm not sold on it for the FO Test Pilot, unless your opponents are less than PS8 (mine typically are after my Upsilon's through with them).

I am loving 2 Resistance Bombers with Ezra. 5-0. Tonight I faced Jake, Nora, & Sabine (Shuttle) and Soontir, Carnor, and Quickdraw. Then I tried a Kylo (Silencer), Echo, and Countdown, I lost but swapped Kylo to Blackout and won against a similar list.

On ‎12‎/‎8‎/‎2017 at 2:27 PM, Wiredin said:

The Fenn one seems like you'll never get an action after the first engagement? Am I wrong?

You don't use R3-A2 every round, save it for Expertise carriers, stressed aces, or to limit maneuvers on a ship for the following round.

10 hours ago, jwilliamson12 said:

I'm not fully giving up on them as missile carriers. I'm planning on giving them another go with an Upsilon to support them. I'm also not a huge Imperial player. I tend to like shields and scum-craziness. So I've had to adjust to the fragility of Imperial ships at the same time I'm learning the new ships. It's not a total write-off, but the cannons giving you shots every round seems so much more valuable.

You really have to lose the mentality of "MUST ATTACK EVERY ROUND!!!" with Missile Boats.

You have to use them hit and run, and preferably have multiple gunboats hitting the enemy at various stages. Like say you have 3. You have 2 in attack position while a 3rd is disengaging to reload. Then the next round you have one in attack position while the other 2 are reloading. And all approaching from different directions so the enemy can't focus on them, because then he leaves himself open to the others. A mixture of damage and control works good here. It lets you do damage, then if the enemy puts himself in a bad spot you can ion walk him off the table.

Furrballs are bad. nice wide arcs of missile death are good!

10 hours ago, clanofwolves said:

I knew coordinate would be really great when the Upsilon came out, but it's on a whale of a ship that costs huge squad points which makes it very had to use effectively. So the designers give coordinate to the Phantom II at a tiny 15 SPs? Yeah, it will be in strong meta lists.

Yup. I'm a bit displeased with FFG decision of giving the imperials the 30 points minimum black whale-bat (and big base) and the rebels the 15 points support ship.

Let's hope for a generic crew that gives the action.

But probably it'll be a 1 point Scum Only.

8 hours ago, BadMotivator said:

You really have to lose the mentality of "MUST ATTACK EVERY ROUND!!!" with Missile Boats.

You have to use them hit and run, and preferably have multiple gunboats hitting the enemy at various stages. Like say you have 3. You have 2 in attack position while a 3rd is disengaging to reload. Then the next round you have one in attack position while the other 2 are reloading. And all approaching from different directions so the enemy can't focus on them, because then he leaves himself open to the others. A mixture of damage and control works good here. It lets you do damage, then if the enemy puts himself in a bad spot you can ion walk him off the table.

Furrballs are bad. nice wide arcs of missile death are good!

Yeah, that is a viable strategy. Though it's really difficult to rely on SLAM to hit and run. Dual turret lits are pretty common, which is one problem I ran into with them. It's hard to get out of range of two TLT ships or run away from higher PS ships like Dash who can barrel roll back into range with the HLC.

the existance of that stupid freakin stressbug really makes me wish imperials had a crew carrier that WASNT a fat large ship or a useless tie shuttle.

Literally only other option we got is a Phantom, which has its own issues.

Why do i want a crew slot? Inspiring Recruit. Its virtually impossible to use it unless were using a tie shuttle (which is dead weight otherwise), decimator (forces 2ship lists and not that great in it), or upsilon (which i have 1 list thats amazing with it but he uses the recruit for himself to make the list work)

I want the TIE Reaper or Delta shuttle to actually be good when they come out. C'mon FFG, gimme a shuttle with green turns.

Or at least, a TIE reaper which has all three speeds of bank available, that might be manageable.