I'm planning on taking this list to a local tournament in early February.

Nu Squadron Pilot [XG-1 Assault Configuration, Long Range Scanners, Linked Battery, Heavy Laser Cannon] (28) x 2

Colonel Vessery [Tractor beam, Expertise, TIE/D, Twin Ion Engine Mk. II] (41)

97 points

I'm 3-1 against and it seems to suit me well. But!

I know that my local area doesn't conform to the meta. We all play what we like, or what's new, or some list that we thought might be worth a crack. So those wins aren't against anything that might come from people who come to the tournament to win.

Personally I'm torn. I want to win after several disappointing tournaments. But everything meta relates seems high PS and missile-ey - which sounds boring.

So what to do? I don't have a lot of time left to practice. Hope people just fly in front of me so can hammer them? Try to find a list that might combat the meta but still interests me?

Decisions decisions!

I've flown TIE /Ds a lot, a whole lot.

The question I think you should ask yourself is, in terms of raw efficiency; and apart from the Tractor, what will a 41pt Vessery give you that QD and beefier wingmen won't?

Rho Squadron Veteran — Alpha-class Star Wing 21
Crack Shot 1
Harpoon Missiles 4
Long-Range Scanners 0
Os-1 Arsenal Loadout 2
Ship Total: 28

Rho Squadron Veteran — Alpha-class Star Wing 21
Crack Shot 1
Harpoon Missiles 4
Long-Range Scanners 0
Os-1 Arsenal Loadout 2
Ship Total: 28

"Quickdraw" — TIE/sf Fighter 29
Expertise 4
Fire-Control System 2
Harpoon Missiles 4
Lightweight Frame 2
Special Ops Training 0
Ship Total: 41

-

97pts total

7 minutes ago, Keffisch said:

I've flown TIE /Ds a lot, a whole lot.

The question I think you should ask yourself is, in terms of raw efficiency; and apart from the Tractor, what will a 41pt Vessery give you that QD and beefier wingmen won't?

Rho Squadron Veteran — Alpha-class Star Wing 21
Crack Shot 1
Harpoon Missiles 4
Long-Range Scanners 0
Os-1 Arsenal Loadout 2
Ship Total: 28

Rho Squadron Veteran — Alpha-class Star Wing 21
Crack Shot 1
Harpoon Missiles 4
Long-Range Scanners 0
Os-1 Arsenal Loadout 2
Ship Total: 28

"Quickdraw" — TIE/sf Fighter 29
Expertise 4
Fire-Control System 2
Harpoon Missiles 4
Lightweight Frame 2
Special Ops Training 0
Ship Total: 41

-

97pts total

Good point. My main answer is that love having all the ships be from TIE Fighter PC game. There's a theme and that holds a lot of power. But I get where you're coming from.

I had another idea, and it's to go the other way entirely.

100 points

Nu Squadron Pilot (22) x 2 XG-1 Assault Configuration, Advanced SLAM, Tractor beam Delta Squadron Pilot (28) x 2 TIE/x7 (-2)

QD is good stuff though.

IMO, ion vessery is way more critical for this meta than tractor vess, and you have the points for it and still have an init bid.

Bombs are the primary reason, but control will do you well if your opponent can't chase your Nus while they turn around.

I personally like mine with Ruthlessness and Fleet Officer support, but you can flavor to taste.

29 minutes ago, hothie said:

IMO, ion vessery is way more critical for this meta than tractor vess, and you have the points for it and still have an init bid.

Bombs are the primary reason, but control will do you well if your opponent can't chase your Nus while they turn around.

I personally like mine with Ruthlessness and Fleet Officer support, but you can flavor to taste.

You can find Hothie's list in the battle report forum, I played it this weekend and its pretty good! He mixes FCS quickdraw with Vessery, probably because titled Poe and countermeasures are popular (at least in my area its getting there)

OP: For your list - its possible to do well with things slightly outside the meta (and you've basically got control/double shot + 2 gunboats which isn't bad by any stretch), you just have to come up with plans on how to fly against things like 3x harpoon Nu squadrons and Quickdraw. Even just changing your gunboats to Rho squadrons like keffish suggested would be better on the initial pass than planning to exactly hit range 3, ion something, and follow up with two more HLC shots the next turn. I'd suggest getting rid of expertise and figuring out how to upgrade your NU's to Rho's with crack shot.

Thanks guys. It's really helpful to hear some other thoughts on it.

My main concern has been the PS. Worried they'll get blown out of the sky before they can hit hard.

Ion does sound interesting, in giving the Boats a chance to turn around.

Drop Expertise for Ruthlessness, you won't be disappointed! Ruthlessness kicks the teeth in of any list with Lowrhick

Also there's a TON of stressbugs and general stress mechanics out there now. Expertise might work on the first round but after that good luck!

12 minutes ago, AngryAlbatross said:

Drop Expertise for Ruthlessness, you won't be disappointed! Ruthlessness kicks the teeth in of any list with Lowrhick

Also there's a TON of stressbugs and general stress mechanics out there now. Expertise might work on the first round but after that good luck!

This harks back to my meta problems. I've not flown against a Wookie ship yet!

Only seen Nym once.

My town is great for enjoying ships and what you think is cool, but it's terrible for facing the meta or anything popular.

???

Rho Squadron Veteran (29) x 2 Alpha-class Star Wing (21), Crack Shot (1), XG-1 Assault Configuration (1), Linked Battery (2), “Mangler” Cannon (4)

Colonel Vessery (42) TIE Defender (35), Ion Cannon (3), Ruthlessness (3), TIE/D (0), Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)

100 points

Not sure about Ruthlessness . Don't ever see it being used. But coming off both Vess guns it would soften targets up nicely.

1 hour ago, SDCC said:

Rho Squadron Veteran (29) x 2 Alpha-class Star Wing (21), Crack Shot (1), XG-1 Assault Configuration (1), Linked Battery (2), “Mangler” Cannon (4)

Colonel Vessery (42) TIE Defender (35), Ion Cannon (3), Ruthlessness (3), TIE/D (0), Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)

100 points

Oooo...I like this!

Have you picked up a Silencer yet? Or are you dead-set on running the defender?

I have flown Vess with Tractor Ruthlessness and Ion Ruthlessness. I have to say that Ruthlessness is much better with the tractor, and I wouldn't take it with the Ion. With tractor you can reposition the enemy ship to get the most out of ruthlessness, but with Ion you end up hitting your own ships half the time with Ruthlessness.

Id fly Ion Vess with VI or something and put more on the Rho's or take Ruthlessness with Tractor

on tractor+ruthless didnt they faq it where you HAVE to do the tractor first?

About the only time i'd ever say ruthlessness is good because its pretty hard to avoid the splash from it.

45 minutes ago, Vineheart01 said:

on tractor+ruthless didnt they faq it where you HAVE to do the tractor first?

About the only time i'd ever say ruthlessness is good because its pretty hard to avoid the splash from it.

FAQ:

Nope, found it, its under the tractorbeam faq

"If a ship equipped with Ruthlessness uses Tractor Beam to attack an enemy small ship and hits, that ship must first boost or barrel roll the enemy ship, then Ruthlessness triggers"

yet another one of those "Why did you rule it this way for that one instance, but not others?" problems FFG is so well known for

Hey, OP, just a quick suggestion! Seems like your build is already off to a good start, and I don't play Vessery a ton, so I won't make a ton of comments on that (although I am leaning towards the Ion Cannon variant). I really think Linked Batteries is a trap when you have LRS. Yes, you will definitely get some use out of it, but in my own experience, GUNBOATS vastly prefer Flechette Cannon, because that way if you want to SLAM to turn around or block, you still get an attack (and that's what my GUNBOATS end up doing every other round or so). Sounds like you have something that works for you, so if it ain't broke don't fix it, but I think being able to also control when you block might really help you against the high-PS turrets you'll inevitably run into.

10 hours ago, SDCC said:

I'm planning on taking this list to a local tournament in early February.

Nu Squadron Pilot [ XG-1 Assault Configuration , Long Range Scanners, Linked Battery , Heavy Laser Cannon ] (28) x 2

Colonel Vessery [ Tractor beam , Expertise , TIE/D , Twin Ion Engine Mk. II ] (41)

97 points

I'm 3-1 against and it seems to suit me well. But!

I know that my local area doesn't conform to the meta. We all play what we like, or what's new, or some list that we thought might be worth a crack. So those wins aren't against anything that might come from people who come to the tournament to win.

Personally I'm torn. I want to win after several disappointing tournaments. But everything meta relates seems high PS and missile-ey - which sounds boring.

So what to do? I don't have a lot of time left to practice. Hope people just fly in front of me so can hammer them? Try to find a list that might combat the meta but still interests me?

Decisions decisions!

I'd switch the tractor beam for ion cannon, but otherwise its a solid list against a lot of things.

7 hours ago, SDCC said:

My town is great for enjoying ships and what you think is cool, but it's terrible for facing the meta or anything popular.

Out of curiosity, where are you located?

Is the tournament you are going to mostly going to see locals or is it large enough that you'll see plenty of non-regulars/out-of-towners?

Also, if you're not opposed to meta lists, why not go that route? If your scene isn't used to seeing them regularly, that would likely work in your favor.

9 hours ago, hothie said:

IMO, ion vessery is way more critical for this meta than tractor vess, and you have the points for it and still have an init bid.

Bombs are the primary reason, but control will do you well if your opponent can't chase your Nus while they turn around.

I personally like mine with Ruthlessness and Fleet Officer support, but you can flavor to taste.

I would heavily advocate that your first TIE/D Defender be an Ion Cannon.
I would then advocate any second TIE/D Defender be a Flechette Cannon, and that this should in fact be on your otherwise most dangerous pilot.

Double-ion is great, but ion+stress is death. And even against Large, a single ion token and a stress token can so severely alter their planned manouvers that it's a gamechanger in itself. Not relevant for this particular build, but just sayin'.

I will say though, that while Tractor is fun, your Vessery would love that extra damage point - and your gunboats will love ionised targets even better than the reposition of Tractor Beams.

9 hours ago, Force Majeure said:

Out of curiosity, where are you located?

Is the tournament you are going to mostly going to see locals or is it large enough that you'll see plenty of non-regulars/out-of-towners?

Also, if you're not opposed to meta lists, why not go that route? If your scene isn't used to seeing them regularly, that would likely work in your favor.

Portsmouth, England. We all know we don't help ourselves but we just like what we like!

I think it will a 50/50 split of local and out of town. I'm not opposed to meta lists, I just generally find them really dull, and I need a little spark with a list to have any interest in flying it.

22 hours ago, SDCC said:

Nu Squadron Pilot

Reads "No Squadron Pilot".... Well then, Pilotless ship... Tie Droid?

14 hours ago, Kieransi said:

I really think Linked Batteries is a trap when you have LRS.

I've been flying a pair of HLC Gunboats with Linked Batteries and LRS. They are both very useful on the same ship. You can safely target lock the most squirrely ship in the list and then focus on other targets, knowing that you have serious mods against 'that evadey ship' if it ends up where you can hammer it with cannon-fire. Also, Poe with Black One title constantly removes target locks, and seems to be just about everywhere. Linked Batteries works when you bump, works against all targets, and works at all ranges. For 2 points, it's a steal.

16 hours ago, Vineheart01 said:

Nope, found it, its under the tractorbeam faq

"If a ship equipped with Ruthlessness uses Tractor Beam to attack an enemy small ship and hits, that ship must first boost or barrel roll the enemy ship, then Ruthlessness triggers"

yet another one of those "Why did you rule it this way for that one instance, but not others?" problems FFG is so well known for

Not remotely. They have different timings. Tractor beam takes effect when you hit, Ruthlessness takes effect after attacking. The former is strictly before the latter.