My third version of the high PS imperial alpha strike. This Vader is way stronger, this Quickdraw is WAY stronger, and a NuPoon ‚just‘ lacks the PS of Inquisitor (from my v1) or OL (from v2), but gets infinite Harpoons.

ImperialAlpha v3 (100)

•Darth Vader (38) - TIE Advanced
Veteran Instincts (1), Cruise Missiles (3), TIE/x1 (0), Engine Upgrade (4), Advanced Targeting Computer (5)

•"Quickdraw" (40) - TIE/SF Fighter
Veteran Instincts (1), Fire Control System (2), Harpoon Missiles (4), Advanced Optics (2), Special Ops Training (0), Lightweight Frame (2)

Nu Squadron Veteran (22) - Alpha-class Star Wing
Harpoon Missiles (4), Long-Range Scanners (0)

YASQ

My Problem: I need to shave off a single point. I had two games against other PS11, and the initiative roll heavily determined the outcome.

Both VIs are necessary, and so is LWF. The ATC on Vader is something I don‘t want to give up.

The only point I see is to change QD-Harpoon to Cruise... what do you think? Is there a better choice, or would you rather stay at 100 entirely?

harpoon to cruise would work, or you could switch the tech on QD around, but thats just what I see

I have been using basically this since the gunboat came out, just recently switching to harpoons on the boat. Its very solid but ultimately unforgiving. I max out to 100 with harpoons on all three and Thrusters on QD. Drop thrusters for a 1 pt bid.

20 minutes ago, Boom Owl said:

I have been using basically this since the gunboat came out, just recently switching to harpoons on the boat. Its very solid but ultimately unforgiving. I max out to 100 with harpoons on all three and Thrusters on QD. Drop thrusters for a 1 pt bid.

That‘s the other option. But Optics allow the stronger alphastrike with double mods...

Skip Engine on Vader? That's a hard ask, but all the trade-offs are pretty tight. It also frees up too many points. There's not really another Modification worth taking other than Guidance Chips, but I guess a PS upgrade to a Rho (with any of the 0-point Elite ugprades) wouldn't be bad. Or the OS-1 title on a Nu, while not strictly needed, isn't necessarily trash, either.

4 hours ago, theBitterFig said:

Skip Engine on Vader? That's a hard ask, but all the trade-offs are pretty tight. It also frees up too many points. There's not really another Modification worth taking other than Guidance Chips, but I guess a PS upgrade to a Rho (with any of the 0-point Elite ugprades) wouldn't be bad. Or the OS-1 title on a Nu, while not strictly needed, isn't necessarily trash, either.

That was the first version I had. And just the few games with Vader+EU since reminded me how awesome Vader with a boost is!

One game I set up the cruise missile by first going 5 straight +1bank, then 4 straight through two rocks the next turn +Focus+TL. His Poe rolled max evades, and he still lost all 3 shields.

I think I rather learn to play cruise missiles instead, or play without a bid

So far the list works very well.
I lost a game against triple defenders, but I made some mistakes (plus my opponent played very well) that contributed at lot to the loss. The list still works quite nicely, but several 3agi 6HP ships seem to be a hard matchup! The Gunboat still didn't do much besides drawing attention and shots, which is of course extremely valuable!

I played most (or all?) games with 100 points, and so far I was lucky in matchups. A Poe that moves after me is not such a big problem - two missiles can hurt him quite badly, or I can try to separate the ships and shoot the other one. A mirror match will be decided on initiative to a large extent, and other PS11 ships outside of Poe are relatively rare.

With that in mind, maybe I stay with 100 points for the moment until I have some more games in. An alternative is to put cruise on the Nu. Maybe it would not draw enough attention then, and it will hardly ever shoot 5 dice due to the stress. But right now I'm not even firing 4 dice... I got 3 harpoons in 5 games, and one game had even two due to reload. 3 games where I didn't manage to fire the harpoon. So maybe a change to cruise is reasonable.

Take EU off Vader.

1 minute ago, Estarriol said:

Take EU off Vader.

Hm, no EU, increase to Harpoon and add Chips?

I‘m warming up to the idea, but I‘m not yet convinced

Gives you the bid, too.

51 minutes ago, Estarriol said:

Gives you the bid, too.

Played a game with it.
Bid did not matter, at all, and of course I boosted once because I'm so used to EU Vader now...

I think your call to remove the EU is correct, but I like it too much. I heavily gravitate towards ships/pilots like Jake, Snap, or interceptors, because they can boost + barrel roll. So I think I'll try Cruise-Nu instead for now.