The Chimaera and Profundity packs have ship variants that I want to use both of. I was mildly impressed, so I was going through the binder to see if I use every ship variant. I found I still don’t get effective use out of:

-AFmk2A

-MC30S

-GR75/Gozanti Combat Refit

-Raider 2

-Interdictor combat variant

-GSD2

Does anyone have:

A) Builds for these variants that have worked?

B) There own specific ship variants they just don’t find a use for and would like to see a loadout for?

I've gotten decent use out of the AKmk2A in a very minimal squadron Ackbar build (with Toryn on a transport behind them, of course). The extra AA dice makes all the difference. Similarly, the GSD2 shines in my TIE Bomber heavy Ruthless Squadrons build. The rest I can agree with (MC30S has been used with Ackbar, but meh). For me though, the ship I cannot for the life of me figure out is the Pelta. Too expensive and too slow, it's too much of a tax to get the fleet command.

Liberty Battle Cruiser.

My Red Die Hate is so strong that in every circumstance it’s better to just take the Star Cruiser for less points.

oh, and Interdictor Combat. No point to it. If you are taking an Interdictor (or two) then you should be going all in on experimental retro fits rather than trying to half or two thirds-assing it with an extra red die...

Otherwise, I’ve fairly successfully used everything else at one time or another... given my relative levels of success, of course.

5 minutes ago, Drasnighta said:

Liberty Battle Cruiser.

My Red Die Hate is so strong that in every circumstance it’s better to just take the Star Cruiser for less points.

See, I tried Star Cruisers, both cheap and heavily fitted, and I never got anywhere. Then I switched to heavily armed Battle Cruisers and I started one-shotting Nebs. (The list has other issues, but stopping power is not one.)

To the OP, the Arq Command Cruiser has yet to be worth the expense, despite probably being worth it on paper.

Just now, GiledPallaeon said:

See, I tried Star Cruisers, both cheap and heavily fitted, and I never got anywhere. Then I switched to heavily armed Battle Cruisers and I started one-shotting Nebs. (The list has other issues, but stopping power is not one.)

To the OP, the Arq Command Cruiser has yet to be worth the expense, despite probably being worth it on paper.

That’s just Proof that you can roll worth a **** compared to me, mate ?

Although with Caitken and Shollan on the horizon , I may retry that Liberty Battle with Spinals at some stage.

Victory-class star destroyers of any kind

45 minutes ago, IronNerd said:

I've gotten decent use out of the AKmk2A in a very minimal squadron Ackbar build (with Toryn on a transport behind them, of course). The extra AA dice makes all the difference. Similarly, the GSD2 shines in my TIE Bomber heavy Ruthless Squadrons build. The rest I can agree with (MC30S has been used with Ackbar, but meh). For me though, the ship I cannot for the life of me figure out is the Pelta. Too expensive and too slow, it's too much of a tax to get the fleet command.

I run the Command with EHB/FCT and that is it. 68 for a carrier that pushes 4-5 squads.

I run the assault with Ahsoka, Fleet Command, and nothing. Sometimes Hondo/Phoenix Home. If points allow, Extenral Racks.

Basically, invest as little as possible. Force them to feel like they are wasting shots on it.

4 minutes ago, Drasnighta said:

Liberty Battle Cruiser.

My Red Die Hate is so strong that in every circumstance it’s better to just take the Star Cruiser for less points.

oh, and Interdictor Combat. No point to it. If you are taking an Interdictor (or two) then you should be going all in on experimental retro fits rather than trying to half or two thirds-assing it with an extra red die...

Otherwise, I’ve fairly successfully used everything else at one time or another... given my relative levels of success, of course.

I am hopeful that the fish twins weapons team reroll will make the Battle cruiser work for me. Otherwise, the only other ship that I have never found a strategy for is the Interdictor Combat.

Now to be fair, I have never used the Quasar II, I always get drawn in by that second Offensive Retrofit, but I see it's value.

8 minutes ago, Green Knight said:

Victory-class star destroyers of any kind

When all else fails, "creep menacingly forward" and for the Emperor's Sake, bank that nav token turn 1!

57 minutes ago, IronNerd said:

For me though, the ship I cannot for the life of me figure out is the Pelta. Too expensive and too slow, it's too much of a tax to get the fleet command.

Dude, Pelta Command is life (or death, if youre on the other side of the table)

GSD 2 with Captain Jonus is just wonderful.

MC30 scouts I have seen do fairly well with ackbar and trcs.

The interdictor combat refit is almost completely useless with d caps out all it has going for it is double flack so it's worth considering if you just want targeting scramblers and are light on fighters it can help supplement damage more in the Squadron game than it's predecessor.

The afmk2 a is pretty much in the same boat as the combat interdictor if you don't need your assult frigate to push squdrons it might be worth looking into because of double flack and I have seen it come in handy in some lists.

GR-75 combat paired with Tyorn Farr is amazing great flacker and will pretty much always damage a ship if it has a shot.

The combat gozanti is kind of fun with Darth Vader I think it will see more play when intensify forward firepower is released.

Asfor raider 2 I have a hard time with this guy dcaps has made him better but because of the lack of good ion cannon upgrades its what makes him hard to use I would always put d caps on and the proboly ion cannon batteries but still not the greatest.

For me the Arquitens command is just too expisive for what it is and the major difference is the support team slot, but that makes them even more expensive! Arquitens are best cheap with a turbolaser upgrade to increase damage output, and maybe a crew. I find it hard to want to take an Arquitens command, Thrawn may change that as I could use them as pocket carriers a bit more effectively, but I'm just really not sure about them.

How do you make hammerheads work as they are an expansion I am yet to aquire but when building lists if I try to include one it usually ends up being changed for a CR90A

I will be getting them anyway eventually for the cards but the only ship lower on my priority list is the pelta as im not a fan of max squads

11 minutes ago, Parkdaddy said:

Dude, Pelta Command is life (or death, if youre on the other side of the table)

Is it just because I don't like heavy squadron lists? Even then, why does it beat out the AFmk2B? I completely don't understand. It's slow and it doesn't swing very hard...

I'd love to be convinced of their worth, but outside of the first couple games where people tried them, they don't show up in lists around here.

4 minutes ago, Yosh6314 said:

How do you make hammerheads work as they are an expansion I am yet to aquire but when building lists if I try to include one it usually ends up being changed for a CR90A

A torpedo hammerhead with external racka is just a good little finisher, but in most cases if I could I would use a mc-30 torpedo in its place, however the mc-30 torpedo is almost twice the cost of a torpedo hammerhead. In regards to the scout hammerhead I was having the same problem as you then I looked at the ship and said what makes it different? The biggest thing to me was all it's power is in its front arch and it has a wepons team slot so I slapped on a spinal armament and put on gunnery teams and well that's fun with a con fire you roll as many dice at long range as an ISD I have found it to be rather fun, though I most play imperial but this is the best use for the scout hammerhead I have found.

Take note as well that it’s kind of pointless to try to work in a single hammerhead when you can only buy two-packs...

Pelta's make an excellent center. Fly them how you would fly a VSD, and the do ok. Funny thing is, the opponents I have faced, mostly ignore it, and go for other targets. While I can't promise that will work, it is amazing how everyone is totally convinced the Pelta is a worthless turd. I managed to double arc and kill an ISD two months ago, because it settled for a side arc on the Pelta so it could get a long range front arc on my MC30 scout.

2 hours ago, Church14 said:

-AFmk2A

Works okay with Sato and Ordnance Experts double-arcing with the Paragon title and Spinal Armament. When it works, it's a lot more effective than you would've thought, but getting it to work is tricky.

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-MC30S

Built for Ackbar, basically. Gunnery Team and your choice of turbolaser with External Racks for an emergency means if someone gets too close you can pop them with 5 black and 4 red dice.

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-GR75/Gozanti Combat Refit

Blue dice flak GR75s work great with Toryn Farr and make Opening Salvo more appealing for the Rebel player.

Gozanti Assault Carriers also can get some work done with the blue dice flak and the red die out the front with concentrate fire ain't bad for the cost you're paying. The main issue is when it comes time to cut points in a fleet, reducing flotillas to their cheapest form is usually the first and easiest chocie.

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-Raider 2

Disposable Capacitors + Gunnery Teams has worked much better than I expected. It's still not top tier just yet, but results so far have been surprising. It's important to zoom in on the flanks so you can ping two targets just about every turn without being exposed to serious danger. Works best with Ozzel or Jerry.

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-Interdictor combat variant

If you only wanted one experimental retrofit. Otherwise, you got me. I've tried it and it did okay but I feel like the upgrade bar would've been vastly improved by adding a turbolaser slot for this guy.

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-GSD2

In fleets with Captain Jonus you can get a guaranteed accuracy out your side and front arcs to make the black dice really add up. It's also better with flak, so you can get some fun times with Demolisher flakking the same group of squadrons twice (once pre-move, once post-move) with Kallus adding his die against uniques to each salvo. External Racks helps with Jonus - with your lessened black dice battery on the side, I don't like fishing for crits quite as much.

Combat Gozanti with Intensify Fire Power... It will get use.

Interdictor Combat Refit I have not used but havent used an Interdictor much anyway.

Vic 1

Pelta Assault

Nebulon Support

GR75 Combat

Scout torpedo boats with Sato are a lotta fun.

I LOVE my Glad2s with Kallus and Jonus in the fleet. Against squad heavy fleets you can do the legendary demo triple tap... but against their squadrons! It can be a big surprise! Against lower squads, Jonus makes you into a small ship deleting machine.

Combat GR75s are good for flak with Toryn. Combat Gozantis... IDK. I've tried and they feel like a waste of points. Maybe next wave with my super secret Tagge + IF! combat gozanti spam list, bwahahaha.

Raider2s: I have played around with them. Dcaps and ion cannon batteries can be pretty nice!

Personally the variant I struggle with is Arquiten2s. I haven't had great results with the default ones, and spending points to spend more points upgrading them has never been appealing.

5 hours ago, IronNerd said:

Is it just because I don't like heavy squadron lists? Even then, why does it beat out the AFmk2B? I completely don't understand. It's slow and it doesn't swing very hard...

It’s largely because they’re squadron carriers. Two schools of thought on Pelta Squad builds:

most popular—use with flight Commander, Fighter Coordination Teams, All Fighters follow me, and B wings to launch a long range alpha against ships.

My school of thought: use with engine techs, flight Commander, and rapid launch bays. It costs a lot and is risky, but adding engine techs makes the Pelta very much similar to the Afm2b. With a double arc, the Pelta throws the same number of dice as the AF. The only downsides are no access to Gallant Haven or Electronic Counter Measures.

The Pelta’s other great strength: Phoenix Home makes it the only ship able to take 2 Officer upgrades. I pair mine with Adar Talon and Flight Commander so that the Pelta can deliver any squadron to exactly where I want it, and then follow up with a Yavaaris Double tap.

Victory-I. Because close range firing versus close range maneuvering. I don't want to use Jerjerrod all the time!

And just when I need concentrate fire I have to use nav.

For me, Hammerhead scout corvette.

Agree on star cruiser>battle cruiser.

Builds that worked me:

GSD2: Demo, Kallus, Sensor team, ET, APT (under Screed)

VSD1: Flight commander,FC, EH, ER, QBT

VSD2: Warlord, GT, Dcap,LS, H9 or GT, DCap, LS, QBT

MC30(torp): Admo, SFO, OE,H9, APT/ER

The only ship that I truly do not see a nice for, at all, is the Combat Interdictor. I'm not paying more to halve the slots that are the reason I'm paying the efficiency penalty on this ship in the first place, and FFG generally WAY overvalues reds IMO (or maybe reds have just ****** me too many times and I'm scarred,but the point stands regardless).

I think everything else fits somewhere, even if it's not great. Yes, that means I think the Combat Interdictor is even worse than the MC30S.

Up until W6/7 the Raider 2 would've been on this list too, but its stock just went waaaay up recently.

36 minutes ago, axe238 said:

Victory-I. Because close range firing versus close range maneuvering. I don't want to use Jerjerrod all the time!

VSD-IIs have come into favor due to Disposable Capacitors, but VSD-Is were far and away the superior VSD for many waves. The important thing to keep in mind is the black dice are a deterrent. You won't get regular use from them in general (about 0-2 times per game I'd say). You can have a very affordable little pain triangle with just QBTs and External Racks for a very reasonable 81 points (Gunnery Team optional, but brings it up to 90).

18 minutes ago, Coldhands said:

For me, Hammerhead scout corvette.

I know @geek19 has had some success using 2 Torpedo Hammerheads and 1 Scout Hammerhead in a 3-man group, all with Task Force Organa. Throw a Gunnery Team, QBTs, and D Caps on the Scout Hammerhead and it can lay down more spray and pray than you'd think (especially with commander Leia for the concentrate fire +die and reroll) and can generally rely on the Torp Hammerheads' Task Force Organa 2-dice rerolls when necessary, as the Torps are frequently maneuvering in for close ranged attacks on the turn the Scout goes all-out.

In terms of running them en masse, I'm not sure it's a great plan. Intensify Firepower might change that, but we'll see.

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Agree on star cruiser>battle cruiser.

Overall I also prefer the Star Cruiser, but a Battle Cruiser outfitted to excel at long range (usually with Spinals, Leading Shots, H9s, and Gunnery Team) can get it done in ways a Battle Cruiser can't, should long range excellence be a thing you're willing to pay (big) for. In general the Star Cruiser is an easier fit as it doesn't want as many upgrades and most people want the LMC80 for battlecruiser/half-ISD duties, which it does perfectly well.