Just for the lols and HP Spam

Nu Squadron Pilot (18)
XX-23 S-Thread Tracers (1)
Guidance Chips (0)

Nu Squadron Pilot (18)
XX-23 S-Thread Tracers (1)
Guidance Chips (0)

Nu Squadron Pilot (18)
Flechette Torpedoes (2)
Guidance Chips (0)

Nu Squadron Pilot (18)
Flechette Torpedoes (2)
Guidance Chips (0)

Nu Squadron Pilot (18)
Harpoon Missiles (4)
Guidance Chips (0)

Total: 100

Not sure about the Ordnance loadouts though.

I remain unconvinced by the Star Wing. Munitions are a dead end given the number of hoops you have to jump through, relegating it to a cannon platform, and 28pts is a lot (and that's the minimum for a decent HLC version) for a ship that gets one shot at best and then spends three-four turns not contributing as it Lambdas it's way around the board.

I find it quite sad that what was supposed to be a munitions carrier is terrible at doing that unless you completely ignore its tricks and go as cheap as is possible (22pt Harpoon+LRS, no titles). Anything more than that starts comparing infavourably to the TIE/SF or Aggressor - certainly the named pilots are far too expensive for what they can do and how often they'll actually fire.

My built was super heavy armed, but somehow I have lost anyway. Guess that's a clear proof for the underpowereness of these ships.

They can't even win with all these weapons.

Major Vynder (26)
Expose (4)
Advanced Proton Torpedoes (6)
Advanced Proton Torpedoes (6)
Unguided Rockets (2)
Long-Range Scanners (0)
Os-1 Arsenal Loadout (2)

Lieutenant Karsabi (24)
Ruthlessness (3)
Advanced Proton Torpedoes (6)
Assault Missiles (5)
Autoblaster (5)
Heavy Laser Cannon (7)
Long-Range Scanners (0)
XG-1 Assault Configuration (1)

Total: 97

Shocking(!)

20 minutes ago, Hannes Solo said:

Just for the lols and HP Spam

Nu Squadron Pilot (18)
XX-23 S-Thread Tracers (1)
Guidance Chips (0)

Nu Squadron Pilot (18)
XX-23 S-Thread Tracers (1)
Guidance Chips (0)

Nu Squadron Pilot (18)
Flechette Torpedoes (2)
Guidance Chips (0)

Nu Squadron Pilot (18)
Flechette Torpedoes (2)
Guidance Chips (0)

Nu Squadron Pilot (18)
Harpoon Missiles (4)
Guidance Chips (0)

Total: 100

Not sure about the Ordnance loadouts though.

I've been wondering about 5xLRS and Flechettes. Makes you less dependent on any one ship surviving long enough to fire.

2 hours ago, Schu81 said:

My built was super heavy armed, but somehow I have lost anyway. Guess that's a clear proof for the underpowereness of these ships.

They can't even win with all these weapons.

Major Vynder (26)
Expose (4)
Advanced Proton Torpedoes (6)
Advanced Proton Torpedoes (6)
Unguided Rockets (2)
Long-Range Scanners (0)
Os-1 Arsenal Loadout (2)

Lieutenant Karsabi (24)
Ruthlessness (3)
Advanced Proton Torpedoes (6)
Assault Missiles (5)
Autoblaster (5)
Heavy Laser Cannon (7)
Long-Range Scanners (0)
XG-1 Assault Configuration (1)

Total: 97

I see your problem.

You had Expose.

That will make any build lose.

If they were Rebel, they'd have a turret and Regen or 180 degree arc and reinforce.

...salt aside, I have yet to get mine. I hope the doomsayers are incorrect and these are very good additions to squads. My other factions squads (especially Rebel) have fantastic adds (Lowhhrick is sick OP with that 180 degree and Reinforce, you kidding me?!? and the bug will be fantastically cheap free actions for a real tough Rebel squad). Imps seem to be, once again, getting simply balanced ships, which don't get the job done. Let's all hope some build with Gunboats get to add to the Imps an OP squad as well, so some balance in games can attempt to come back to the game.

2 hours ago, Schu81 said:

My built was super heavy armed, but somehow I have lost anyway. Guess that's a clear proof for the underpowereness of these ships.

They can't even win with all these weapons.

Major Vynder (26)
Expose (4)
Advanced Proton Torpedoes (6)
Advanced Proton Torpedoes (6)
Unguided Rockets (2)
Long-Range Scanners (0)
Os-1 Arsenal Loadout (2)

Lieutenant Karsabi (24)
Ruthlessness (3)
Advanced Proton Torpedoes (6)
Assault Missiles (5)
Autoblaster (5)
Heavy Laser Cannon (7)
Long-Range Scanners (0)
XG-1 Assault Configuration (1)

Total: 97

That squad looks pretty op but I guess in the end any build is just as good as the player flying it.

2 minutes ago, clanofwolves said:

If they were Rebel, they'd have a turret and Regen or 180 degree arc and reinforce.

...salt aside, I have yet to get mine. I hope the doomsayers are incorrect and these are very good additions to squads. My other factions squads (especially Rebel) have fantastic adds (Lowhhrick is sick OP with that 180 degree and Reinforce, you kidding me?!? and the bug will be fantastically cheap free actions for a real tough Rebel squad). Imps seem to be, once again, getting simply balanced ships, which don't get the job done. Let's all hope some build with Gunboats get to add to the Imps an OP squad as well, so some balance in games can attempt to come back to the game.

I think just the overall firepower is enough to make most lists shake a little.

Assuming you get good rolls (which, with HLC, LRS and Linked Battery shouldn't be too terrible unless your dice just hate you) you can bring Rey down to 1 health with one volley from your GUNBOATS. Of course, this requires you to have all three of them pointed at her, which as all Imperials know is very difficult if the ship in question is a turret (funny how those are the root of every problem in Imperial list building) but this is where good flying comes into play.

Like I said before I found myself not using SLAM very often, but I also only faced off against one list so it's not the best data to go off of.

GUNBOATS are built off of hope...and strength. You must have both if you're going to succeed.

I want to try dual Gunboats and dual Aggressors:

Nu Squadron Pilot — Alpha-class Star Wing (18), Linked Battery (2), Long-Range Scanners (0), Heavy Laser Cannon (7), XG-1 Assault Configuration (1), Ship Total: 28 x2

Sienar Specialist — TIE Aggressor (17), Ion Cannon Turret (5), Ship Total: 22 x2

Yes, no LWF and I know the TLT is much better, but I want to put as many ships in the table as possible. I guess I could downgrade the cannon in the Gunboats for the Mangler and bring full-equipped Aggressors...

30 minutes ago, Warlon said:

Assuming you get good rolls (which, with HLC, LRS and Linked Battery shouldn't be too terrible unless your dice just hate you) you can bring Rey down to 1 health with one volley from your GUNBOATS. Of course, this requires you to have all three of them pointed at her

If you roll all hits, she rolls 3 evades or less (w/ added Finn blank and rerolls), allows every gunboat to be at range 2-3 and she and her wingmate(s) haven't PS killed something.

Sorry for ruining your GUNBOAT party. You just keep talking about killing Rey, and that makes me sad and twitchy.

CONTINUE!

They fly differently than other ships, which is a bit of an imperial thing if you pay attention.

All of their non-standard TIEs (fighter/interceptor/bomber) have something about their movement pattern thats oddly unique. Strikers get a totally-not-a-boost-free-boost, SFs have an aux arc and a dial that compliments use of it, Phantoms cloak, and now Gunboats are hit-and-run.

Flying my gunboats like another ship (slowrolling forward to get as many shots as possible) generally got them killed pretty fast every time. However, firing once then GTFO'ing with SLAM made them incredibly difficult to take out since they rarely got shot past that initial strike. Having someone that can dogfight is key though, i dont think spamming gunboats is a wise idea unless you wanna bank on the alphastrike.

Vessery + 2HLC gunboats so far as been the greatest to me. I ran it two ways, one with xD vess + Nus one with x7 + Rhos. The xD version had Tractors, so of course the gimick there was reduce agi and hlc's hit even harder. The x7 variant uses Rho's, with the only real difference being the obvious cannon loadout on Vess and the Rho's have Crackshot. I think thsi one is better because it lets Vessery actually tank and be a major thorn, which is the point of him to begin with. Double LRS to ensure Black One cant remove all my targetlocks unless he goes modless or facing a weird direction (generally when i see BB8-Black-Snap if he uses both in R1 of his buddy he ends up facing an odd angle)

Typically i'd get one shot with the HLCs, sometimes 2 but usually just 1 then i had to vacate the area with SLAMspam while Vess plays bumperships to stall out. Reason i had to vacate every time is because its pretty obvious Vessery is a distraction, so people bolt right for the gunboats. Have fun catching them though!

3 hours ago, Schu81 said:

My built was super heavy armed, but somehow I have lost anyway. Guess that's a clear proof for the underpowereness of these ships.

They can't even win with all these weapons.

Major Vynder (26)
Expose (4)
Advanced Proton Torpedoes (6)
Advanced Proton Torpedoes (6)
Unguided Rockets (2)
Long-Range Scanners (0)
Os-1 Arsenal Loadout (2)

Lieutenant Karsabi (24)
Ruthlessness (3)
Advanced Proton Torpedoes (6)
Assault Missiles (5)
Autoblaster (5)
Heavy Laser Cannon (7)
Long-Range Scanners (0)
XG-1 Assault Configuration (1)

Total: 97

Your build is terrible. Try something that's less carazy on points.

1 hour ago, clanofwolves said:

If they were Rebel, they'd have a turret and Regen or 180 degree arc and reinforce.

...salt aside, I have yet to get mine. I hope the doomsayers are incorrect and these are very good additions to squads. My other factions squads (especially Rebel) have fantastic adds (Lowhhrick is sick OP with that 180 degree and Reinforce, you kidding me?!? and the bug will be fantastically cheap free actions for a real tough Rebel squad). Imps seem to be, once again, getting simply balanced ships, which don't get the job done. Let's all hope some build with Gunboats get to add to the Imps an OP squad as well, so some balance in games can attempt to come back to the game.

Yeah as expected Lowrisk+Stress bug is a major pain.

I was comparing the Gunship and the Gunboat. One of them falls short.

Gunship: 3reds, 180 arc, 1 green + 1 free evade, 9 hull+shield, wookie commando 25 pts

Gunboat: 3reds with 1 crit switch (mangler), 2 greens, 7 hull+shield, Linked battery 25pts

In term of defense the Gunship is vastly supperior, no contest. In term of offense they are comparable but that 180arc favors the Gunship. That was 1 wave prior to the Gunboat.

Why cant FFG make ships that are balanced?? How hard is it to compare 2 ships and see imbalance like that? The Gunboat is missing 1 thing to make it as good as current meta defining ships: being able to use deadeye with the title. Just that would have made the ship top 10 worthy without being overpowered. They had to make that TL restriction in the title. Why dont they do the same thing when they design ships for the other factions??

Same thing with the new stressbug. Its far above anything else in the wave. It appears as a clear top 10 ships even before having a chance to test it. On release night in my local area, more than half of the players were using some form of Gunship+Bug combo. The Silencer was really shining with all the stressbugs running around...

Other example:

yeah, balance...

Edit: I bought the Silencer and sold it at the end of the night. Morning after i announced on Facebook that i was selling all my Xwing collection. If it does not sell locally, it's going to be on ebay in 1 or 2 weeks at a really good price. If anyone is interested im selling averything at less than 1/2 price. For example all my large ships except the Ghost are 15$ Canadian each (around 12$ US!)... Im only selling in one big lot.

4 minutes ago, Celestial Lizards said:

Your build is terrible. Try something that's less carazy on points.

I think hes being sarcastic...

3 minutes ago, Thormind said:

Poe Dameron (PS9) — T-70 X-Wing	33
Veteran Instincts	1
R2-D2	4
Advanced Optics	2
Autothrusters	2
Black One	1
Ship Total: 43

Kylo Ren (TIE Silencer) — TIE Silencer	35
Push the Limit	3
Advanced Sensors	3
Autothrusters	2
First Order Vanguard	2
Ship Total: 45

yeah, balance...

Thing about this one is this is one of those examples where direct comparisons are bad

1on1 Kylo would SHRED Poe because Poe cant turn around for jack while Adv/Push Kylo can turn on a dime, he'd get like 2-3 shots more than Poe, possibly more if Poe is trying to regen

But, enter the stressbug. If the imperials dont manage to insta-gib that thing he autoscrews over half of the imperial powerhouses, QD being one of the few he doesnt really mess with that much. Thats pretty much the focus of any of my builds now is i need to explode that thing immediately, it simply counters way too much for how cheap it is.

20 minutes ago, Vineheart01 said:

Double LRS to ensure Black One cant remove all my targetlocks unless he goes modless or facing a weird direction (generally when i see BB8-Black-Snap if he uses both in R1 of his buddy he ends up facing an odd angle)

Fair warning, VI Poe with Adv Optics will pull off both of those target locks.

12 minutes ago, Thormind said:

Other example:

Poe Dameron (PS9) — T-70 X-Wing	33
Veteran Instincts	1
R2-D2	4
Advanced Optics	2
Autothrusters	2
Black One	1
Ship Total: 43

Kylo Ren (TIE Silencer) — TIE Silencer	35
Push the Limit	3
Advanced Sensors	3
Autothrusters	2
First Order Vanguard	2
Ship Total: 45

yeah, balance...

I'd go more like, or maybe Threat Tracker instead of Adv Optics?

Kylo Ren (TIE Silencer) (35)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Fire-Control System (2)
Advanced Optics (2)
Autothrusters (2)
First Order Vanguard (2)

Total: 44

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

5 minutes ago, Vineheart01 said:

Thing about this one is this is one of those examples where direct comparisons are bad

1on1 Kylo would SHRED Poe because Poe cant turn around for jack while Adv/Push Kylo can turn on a dime, he'd get like 2-3 shots more than Poe, possibly more if Poe is trying to regen

I...uh...disagree. But I'd be running VI/BB-8 Poe, sooo...?

EDIT: I'm not trying to be a ****, just trying to give you guys perspective from a Rebel player. HLC gunboat IS scary.

23 minutes ago, Vineheart01 said:

Thing about this one is this is one of those examples where direct comparisons are bad

1on1 Kylo would SHRED Poe because Poe cant turn around for jack while Adv/Push Kylo can turn on a dime, he'd get like 2-3 shots more than Poe, possibly more if Poe is trying to regen

But, enter the stressbug. If the imperials dont manage to insta-gib that thing he autoscrews over half of the imperial powerhouses, QD being one of the few he doesnt really mess with that much. Thats pretty much the focus of any of my builds now is i need to explode that thing immediately, it simply counters way too much for how cheap it is.

Poe would move after Kylo. Try it with a friend... Its actually the opposite. Vs higher ps and regen, Kylo doesnt stand a chance.

The problem with the stressbug is the protection he can get from lowrisk. It's almost impossible to focus it down fast enough to limit the kind of dmg he can do to imperial lists. Oh and it has a rear arc just to make sur it can stress as much as possible. Im not a bad player at all and i got screwed by double stress in most matches i played. I played half of my matches with double defenders and the other half with RAC as partners. Blackout+RAC vs stressbug is not fun at all.

20 minutes ago, gennataos said:

Fair warning, VI Poe with Adv Optics will pull off both of those target locks.

I'd go more like, or maybe Threat Tracker instead of Adv Optics?

Kylo Ren (TIE Silencer) (35)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Fire-Control System (2)
Advanced Optics (2)
Autothrusters (2)
First Order Vanguard (2)

Total: 44

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

I...uh...disagree. But I'd be running VI/BB-8 Poe, sooo...?

EDIT: I'm not trying to be a ****, just trying to give you guys perspective from a Rebel player. HLC gunboat IS scary.

IMO nothing beats ptl+advanced sensor on Kylo.

R2 or BB8 Poe both wins vs Kylo :-)

Dont know, im more scared when facing 4x Gunship flying in formation with that crazy 180d arc than i am when facing triple HLC gunboat. At least vs the gunboat if you play your approach carefully you can get into the range 1 bubble of at least 1 or 2 ships (3 if you are lucky).

To me playing vs triple HLC Gunboat is a bit like playing vs 4xTLTs. Its scary until you figure out how to correctly plan the 1st engagement. I think 4x TLT aggressors are actually better than 3xHLCboat. With a better dial (kturn + white 4 speed) and barrel roll, they are impressive when flying into obstacles. I've surprised more than 1 opponent by flying through a thigh asteroid field instead of going around it... Especially when comming out of that field in an almost perfect formation :-)

10 minutes ago, Thormind said:

To me playing vs triple HLC Gunboat is a bit like playing vs 4xTLTs. Its scary until you figure out how to correctly plan the 1st engagement. I think 4x TLT aggressors are actually better than 3xHLCboat.

I think a better comparison would be 4xTLT vs 4xOrdnance Gunboats and I feel they are comparable (i.e. a solid Tier 2, although Gunboats are harder to fly)

1 hour ago, Thormind said:

Yeah as expected Lowrisk+Stress bug is a major pain.

I was comparing the Gunship and the Gunboat. One of them falls short.

Gunship: 3reds, 180 arc, 1 green + 1 free evade, 9 hull+shield, wookie commando 25 pts

Gunboat: 3reds with 1 crit switch (mangler), 2 greens, 7 hull+shield, Linked battery 25pts

In term of defense the Gunship is vastly supperior, no contest. In term of offense they are comparable but that 180arc favors the Gunship. That was 1 wave prior to the Gunboat.

Why cant FFG make ships that are balanced?? How hard is it to compare 2 ships and see imbalance like that? The Gunboat is missing 1 thing to make it as good as current meta defining ships: being able to use deadeye with the title. Just that would have made the ship top 10 worthy without being overpowered. They had to make that TL restriction in the title. Why dont they do the same thing when they design ships for the other factions??

Same thing with the new stressbug. Its far above anything else in the wave. It appears as a clear top 10 ships even before having a chance to test it. On release night in my local area, more than half of the players were using some form of Gunship+Bug combo. The Silencer was really shining with all the stressbugs running around...

Other example:

Poe Dameron (PS9) — T-70 X-Wing	33
Veteran Instincts	1
R2-D2	4
Advanced Optics	2
Autothrusters	2
Black One	1
Ship Total: 43

Kylo Ren (TIE Silencer) — TIE Silencer	35
Push the Limit	3
Advanced Sensors	3
Autothrusters	2
First Order Vanguard	2
Ship Total: 45

yeah, balance...

Edit: I bought the Silencer and sold it at the end of the night. Morning after i announced on Facebook that i was selling all my Xwing collection. If it does not sell locally, it's going to be on ebay in 1 or 2 weeks at a really good price. If anyone is interested im selling averything at less than 1/2 price. For example all my large ships except the Ghost are 15$ Canadian each (around 12$ US!)... Im only selling in one big lot.

You know there is pretty nice cheap card for 1 pt - it is called Inspiring Recruit, you can put it on Deci, Lambda, TIE Shuttle or Upsilon, legends say it is pretty good against stressing lists.

God I hate whining so much, lets just cry about assumed imbalance instead of trying to find some working solution!

18 minutes ago, Embir82 said:

You know there is pretty nice cheap card for 17+ pt - it is called Inspiring Recruit, you can put it on Deci, Lambda, TIE Shuttle or Upsilon, legends say it is pretty good against stressing lists.

FTFY.

The cost of using any crew for imperials is to dedicate a ship for it.

Yeah imperials are the only faction that lacks a cheap ship for crew.

TIE Bomber is 100% dead weight when its using crew. It cant do ANYTHING except its crew effects (Rhymersnapping w/ Tactician is a slight exception but thats 33pts)

Yup. Imperials don't have floating extra crew slots to devote to ignoring stress.

And the Stressbug is why Primed Thrusters will be essential on the Silencer I think.

The real key to not allowing ships to get behind you is to NOT fly in formation. Its cool, but I think it is a mistake. You cannot formation fly gunboats. They have to approach from multiple angles so the enemy can't get behind all of them at once.

1 minute ago, BadMotivator said:

The real key to not allowing ships to get behind you is to NOT fly in formation. Its cool, but I think it is a mistake. You cannot formation fly gunboats. They have to approach from multiple angles so the enemy can't get behind all of them at once.

This

Flying in formation needs to die off. It gets you in trouble more than it helps these days.

I am horribly guilty of this i generally do it by instinct due to flying a lot of TIE swarms in past. I dont even think about it anymore lol they just.. end up flying side by side perfectly even if i dont set them up that way on deployment.