Been messing around with ideas for my TAP swarm. Previously I ran 5 Procket TAPs, but now that I'm getting back in(I've missed a couple waves) I'm thinking of using Barons and cutting it to 4, and I've got three ideas for builds:

Autothrusters, squad tracers, and Juke

Cruise Missiles, Juke, and Adaptability or Trick Shot

Cruise Missiles, Guidance Chips, and Juke

All three have their issues, though I'm leaning towards the last one. Less survivability without Autos, but Cruise Missiles make for a great Alpha, or a decent jousting tool as a 4k gives you a full shot(though no focus hurts).

Thoughts?

(Yay for swarms!)

The TIE advanced Prototype is an interesting ship. Like the TIE/fo, it only packs a 2-dice attack, but it's got one of the best dials out there (arguably superior to the TIE interceptor), ischeap enough to pack a fair wodge of extra kit and still have 5 ships on the board - and if you only want a single missile volley, it's got to be one of the most cost-efficient carriers going.

I'll warn you that with only 4 ships, you'll really start to feel the loss of firepower compared to an Interceptor.

[Note: I'm assuming you're equipping the TIE/v1 title on each ship]

• Autothrusters, squad tracers, and Juke
  • XX-23 S-Thread Tracers are a great little asset but actually not all that useful for a TIE Adv. Swarm because they pair badly with TIE/v1 - you acquire a target lock, and hence trigger TIE/v1 to get an evade, but in a world where people regularly whine that "PS9 isn't enough", it's a fair assumption that you'll receive your evade token after everyone else has fired, meaning you get no defensive benefit from it.
  • Juke is nice, but if you're planning to fire thread tracers, you're giving up one attack, and juke only really benefits you on the second and subsequent attacks (because barring Omega Leader, Carnor Jax and so on, the first attack just forces the target to spend a focus token) - meaning you're not getting a huge amount of punch, even with focus/target locked shots.
  • You've got a grand total of 8 attack dice - I've not flown TIE Adv but I've used TIE/fo a lot, and that's frankly not enough. The fact that even with all four ships concentrating fire, a VT-49 Decimator or VCX-100 Ghost can literally just take all the damage you can hand out for 2-3 turns of continuous pounding is a real issue.
  • At the same time, a TIE Adv. with Autothrusters is hella tough for its points.
  • Basically, good squad idea, but I don't think the extra cost for Thread Tracers, Juke, and Baron of the Empire is justified - 5 TIE/v1, Autothruster-equipped Seinar Test Pilots I can see doing well.
• Cruise Missiles, Juke, and Adaptability or Trick Shot
  • I'm assuming 'Juke' is meant to be autothrusters here.
  • Adaptability is....erm. The Baron of the Empire is PS4 - going from PS4 to PS5 is a nice-to-have, but essentially you're talking about spending 3 points - and losing a ship - to go from PS2 to PS5. I guess it might be worth it if you fight Rho squadron gunboats or Lok Revenant scurrgs a lot, but it strikes me as bugger all use against 90% of opponents.
  • Trick Shot - if you're carrying missiles, ideally you probably want an unobstructed shot, because the point of missiles is to get a kill early.
  • This is a nasty force at range 3 - theoretically you've got 4 5-dice cruise missile shots and you can ignore the return fire with 4 green dice, autothrusters and a TIE/v1 evade token.
  • In reality, it's unlikely to work that well - to get an 'ideal' shot with cruise missiles you're locked into a speed 4/5 straight, and then you need to be in range to target lock, and then you need to still be in range 2-3 in arc after the enemy has moved.
  • That's really awkward in practice - if you pull a speed 4 straight and I do likewise (let's assume I'm in a ship which doesn't have a speed 5 straight or boost) I can go from out of range 3 turn to range 1 the next really, really easily.
  • If you really want to try 4 cruise missile/autothruster armed ships, I'd seriously consider dumping TIE/v1 and taking Deadeye instead. Firstly, it comes in the TIE Adv packet, and secondly, it massively increases the flexibility of the missile strike that is basically going to represent the win/lose moment of the game for the squad. With autothrusters you can, at long range, live without the evade token, and after the missiles are gone hopefully you should have taken a big enough chunk out of the enemy not to need it.
• Cruise Missiles, Guidance Chips, and Juke
  • Basically as above, swapping autothrusters to guidance chips.
  • Juke and TIE/v1 is a nice pairing, but remember that you're paying 3 points to upgrade a Seinar Test Pilot to a Baron of the Empire, and 2 to give him Juke - in short, you're swapping 5 TIE/v1s with Cruise Missiles and Guidance Chips for 4 TIE/v1s with Cruise Missiles and Guidance Chips, in return for giving them juke.
  • Is Juke really that great to give up a ship for? Bear in mind you're still going to have the acquiring-target-locks-on-higher-PS-pilots issue that you had with the squad above, but if your 'big trick' is Juke, you're not going to be able to use Deadeye to short-cut the PS wars. TIE Adv with Proton Rockets don't have this problem....
  • Juke and TIE/v1 is a much more capable combination for the post-missile dogfight, but again, no matter how many shenanigans you attach to those red dice, the fact that you've only got 4 2-dice attacks is likely to hurt you in the long run.

Short version:

• If you want to try a different 5-ship squad:
  • Sienar Test Pilot x 5
    • TIE/v1
    • XX-23 S-Thread Tracers (because you might as well if you've got the point spare)
    • Autothrusters
  • or
  • Sienar Test Pilot x 5
    • TIE/v1
    • Cruise Missiles
    • Guidance Chips
• Or if you really, really want to try a 4-ship squad
  • Baron Of The Empire x 4
    • Deadeye
    • Cruise Missiles
    • Autothrusters

Now, 5x STP w/ Cruises, Title, and GC is hella frightening. That's a lot of dice early on. Of course, after the missile are spent, I worry.

If you went to 4x Barons, I'd keep them based around that same Cruise/Title/GC. Honestly though, Juke is the only EPT I think would be worth it. I'd like PTL, but you don't have the points. So, Juke does a good job when you have multiple carriers of it.

17 minutes ago, Greebwahn said:

Now, 5x STP w/ Cruises, Title, and GC is hella frightening. That's a lot of dice early on. Of course, after the missile are spent, I worry.

Someone was playing this during the last French National. I can't remember his final ranking.

Yeah, prior to this I was running 5, only with Prockets instead of Cruises, but I like Cruises a lot more for obvious reasons. I was seeing if it was worth it to drop a ship for a pilot skill. I'll stick with 5 Cruises, I think

Also worth noting, while it isn't as optimal because you don't get a focus, I've had some great luck getting off a Cruise Missile after a 4k. You get five dice, and as long as you already have a target lock you can use that to modify your shot in addition to GC.

3 hours ago, joyrock said:

Yeah, prior to this I was running 5, only with Prockets instead of Cruises, but I like Cruises a lot more for obvious reasons. I was seeing if it was worth it to drop a ship for a pilot skill. I'll stick with 5 Cruises, I think

Also worth noting, while it isn't as optimal because you don't get a focus, I've had some great luck getting off a Cruise Missile after a 4k. You get five dice, and as long as you already have a target lock you can use that to modify your shot in addition to GC.

I think that's a fair comment. Cruise Missiles are devastating if flown right, but they aren't an alpha strike weapon like harpoons or homing missiles because using them to their full effect telegraphs your plans to an insane degree. If your opponent is going to calmly let your squad do an en-masse 4 straight and land in missile range, then frankly they deserve whatever they get*. It's having some ships come in from the flank, and some use their evade and k-turn behind the enemy to fire, and so on, that will give you the best value - much like proton rockets, they're a weapon of opportunity; harder to set up a 'good shot' but providing better synergy with TIE/v1 when you do.

* and since what they're getting is sufficient rerolled red dice to kill a ghost in a single combat phase without breaking a sweat, that's saying something.