First turn Alpha

By Biggsy_boy, in X-Wing Squad Lists

Lt Dormitz - collision detector, courier droid, hyperwave comm scanner - 32 points

Quickdraw - VI, FCS, title, lightweight, cruise missiles - 37 points

Major Vyner - VI, poons, guidance chips - 31 points.

I took this to a casual tournament this weekend and went undefeated with it. It wasn't a giant tournament, but it was still a lot of fun. The goal of the list is to knock something off the board in the first round of the game with fully moded missiles.

Dormitz can deploy at PS 8 with courier droid. Vynder and QD deploy after him and get a focus with hyperwave comm scanner. Dormitz can also co-ordinate and action to one of them as well. So, I can choose to give QD an evade with hyperwave, and a focus with co-ordinate. Both ships blast forward and try to missile something off the board.

Curious as to thoughts, recommendations on improving the list.

Did you have anyone questions the courier droid and the Hyperwave interaction?

I had someone ask when we first started playing. It's basically to give me the PS8. Plus courier doesn't cost anything, so it doesn't hurt me.

What do you do against someone who sees through your plan and deploys out of range of your fastest movements?

42 minutes ago, Biggsy_boy said:

I had someone ask when we first started playing.

What I mean is courier droid says pilot skill of 0 or 8. Hyperwave says pilot skill of 0, 6, 12.

What determines how you place the ship if they both say different ps values?

A lot of this list is based on predicting your opponent. If deploy in the middle of the board, I can hit most areas with a 3 speed movement. The only time I think it's a problem is if they deploy moving sideways and hug the far side of the board. I had someone do that with the Falcon. 1 of my ships was in range, the other was just out, so I only got one missile off. But next turn, the 2nd went off and QD was in range 1.

The bigger thing is people trying to block or do range 1. Which is fine with Quickdraw. He likes up close. I had Miranda SLAM right up in my face. But I expected it and 1 straighted both my aces. Miranda melted in the first turn of the game. It's not easy, but predicting

2 minutes ago, ImperialOfficer said:

What I mean is courier droid says pilot skill of 0 or 8. Hyperwave says pilot skill of 0, 6, 12.

What determines how you place the ship if they both say different ps values?

Ah, both cards say "may," so that means you get to choose. So, when that step starts, I make my choice.

1 minute ago, Biggsy_boy said:

Ah, both cards say "may," so that means you get to choose. So, when that step starts, I make my choice.

Ah, there it is. That's what I was failing to focus on. Got it! Thanks. Looks fun.

13 hours ago, Biggsy_boy said:

A lot of this list is based on predicting your opponent

That‘s one way to see it. But the plan is pretty obvious and should not work at all if it gets recognized. And once it does then you fight 100 points with just 69.

Personally I would deploy at the back, then do a 1 bank and roll backwards. That makes me unreachable for you, and you lose the additional token in the next round.

Also you won‘t be able to do a 4 straight anymore, so your cruise will be doubly weakened.

How do you react?

I had someone running something similar in my local meta with PS 10 Cruise missiles

Lieutenant Dormitz — Upsilon-class Shuttle 31
Fire-Control System 2
Systems Officer 2
Courier Droid 0
Hyperwave Comm Scanner 1
Hyperwave Comm Scanner 1
Ship Total: 37
Tomax Bren — TIE Bomber 24
Veteran Instincts 1
Extra Munitions 2
Cruise Missiles 3
Guidance Chips 0
Ship Total: 30
Darth Vader — TIE Advanced 29
Adaptability 0
Cruise Missiles 3
Advanced Targeting Computer 1
Guidance Chips 0
TIE/x1 0
Ship Total: 33
This rather hard to avoid, especially Vader
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I mean, you can calculate the max distance.

Dormitz adds range 2, that's 5 bases. Then the ship itself, and going 5 straight, and the ship again, that's 12 total. Then the range 3 shot, which is plus 7.5. The whole board is 22.75, but 2.5 are already gone from Dormitz' deployment. So 19.5 out of a bit more than 20.

As you see, using Vader and a 5 straight works if you can move perfectly straight. Using QD and just a 4 straight is not enough.

ZFqeYaS.png

Edit: Also, just in case it isn‘t clear: you can 2turn + roll. That baits the approach and aligns you with the edge at maximal distance. Completely safe from a 4straight. So @Biggsy_boy, there‘s no way how you can reach that far with QD. All it takes is an opponent who understands distances and your whole squad loses a lot of punch.

Edited by GreenDragoon

You can get a little bit further in, if you setup Dormitz at an 45° angle.

2 hours ago, Crimsonwarlock said:

I had someone running something similar in my local meta with PS 10 Cruise missiles

Lieutenant Dormitz — Upsilon-class Shuttle 31
Fire-Control System 2
Systems Officer 2
Courier Droid 0
Hyperwave Comm Scanner 1
Hyperwave Comm Scanner 1
Ship Total: 37
Tomax Bren — TIE Bomber 24
Veteran Instincts 1
Extra Munitions 2
Cruise Missiles 3
Guidance Chips 0
Ship Total: 30
Darth Vader — TIE Advanced 29
Adaptability 0
Cruise Missiles 3
Advanced Targeting Computer 1
Guidance Chips 0
TIE/x1 0
Ship Total: 33

Why two Hyperwave Comm Scanner ? I can't see any limitation on the number of time you can use one.

2 hours ago, Cartchan said:

Why two Hyperwave Comm Scanner ? I can't see any limitation on the number of time you can use one.

Each comm scanner can give neighbouring ships a token, so every nearby ship gets two extra tokens for the first round of the game.

It's totally moot in 100/6 though, as an intelligent opponent can easily avoid the turn 1 trap with no disadvantage to themselves. In epic play though, Dormitz with two comm scanners is a force to be reckoned with.

OK. Thanks.

6 hours ago, GreenDragoon said:

That‘s one way to see it. But the plan is pretty obvious and should not work at all if it gets recognized. And once it does then you fight 100 points with just 69.

Personally I would deploy at the back, then do a 1 bank and roll backwards. That makes me unreachable for you, and you lose the additional token in the next round.

Also you won‘t be able to do a 4 straight anymore, so your cruise will be doubly weakened.

How do you react?

That's true. Keeping yourself within range 1 of the board edge will keep you away from the attack. However, putting yourself on the board edge also limits where you can go next turn. With QD, I don't mind having him in range one the next turn. Because more than likely, I'm getting 2 4 dice attacks. And with Vynder, I can just do a 1 or 2 straight(depending on distance and PS) and get the missile off next turn. I can also move Dormitz up and co-ordinate an action to one of them. And dormitz will still get shots off. When you're focused on the ships with missiles, you tend to forget about the big lumbering beast with the 4 dice primary. He did alot of work in all my games.

All 3 of my opponents recognized what I was doing, but recognizing it and dealing with it are 2 different things.

5 minutes ago, Biggsy_boy said:

Keeping yourself within range 1 of the board edge will keep you away from the attack. However, putting yourself on the board edge also limits where you can go next turn.

But look at the image I posted: a 45deg angle is possible and easy if the ship can barrel roll.

And that does not limit my options for next turn. I also won‘t make the mistake of shooting QD when she‘s at range 1.

I‘m just saying that your strategy will be enough against new/less good players, and just won‘t work anymore against a better player.

It‘s like a 6pool in Starcraft. As soon as you reach a level where they are able to deal with you‘ll end up with a not-so-good squad and play from behind.

3 minutes ago, GreenDragoon said:

But look at the image I posted: a 45deg angle is possible and easy if the ship can barrel roll.

And that does not limit my options for next turn. I also won‘t make the mistake of shooting QD when she‘s at range 1.

I‘m just saying that your strategy will be enough against new/less good players, and just won‘t work anymore against a better player.

It‘s like a 6pool in Starcraft. As soon as you reach a level where they are able to deal with you‘ll end up with a not-so-good squad and play from behind.

I get what your saying, and you're right. There are ways to deal with this. But the seeing it and going against doesn't always go the way you think.

The last guy I played last (double lancer build) was experienced enough to make day 2 at Hoth last year. I still won while only losing Vynder. He 5 straighted at me first turn and was too close for missiles.

I like the Starcraft reference BTW, it's a good analogy. It works fast, but your screwed if your opponent survives the rush. In my case, the rush ends with Dormitz, if you get behind him, I'm probably in trouble. With that said, if I cripple you on that rush, and it's 3 on 1, or 3 on 2, than I'll make do. It's why QD is a such a staple. She's a great end game ship, especially if you didn't focus on her and she has shields.

I've ran a similar list before and I agree that in practice against good opponents it can be hard to pull off.

"Backdraft" (27)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Collision Detector (0)
Cruise Missiles (3)
Hyperwave Comm Scanner (1)
Guidance Chips (0)
Special Ops Training (0)

"Quickdraw" (29)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Fire-Control System (2)
Cruise Missiles (3)
Hyperwave Comm Scanner (1)
Guidance Chips (0)
Special Ops Training (0)

Lieutenant Dormitz (31)
Collision Detector (0)
Hyperwave Comm Scanner (1)

Total: 100

The beauty here is you can deploy everyone at PS 12 with full knowledge of your opponents deployment. You can also stack Hyperwave tokens quite well. Either BD or QD can get focus/evade. The downside is there is no initiative bid so, if someone goes PS11 you are relying on winning the initiative roll. The big drawback to the list is against fast large base ships. They can basically fly full speed at you and nullify any Cruise missile alpha you are trying to get off. You can account for that, but its like a game of chicken. Also, QD and BD cannot fit LWF, so they are fairly fragile.

13 hours ago, Crimsonwarlock said:

I had someone running something similar in my local meta with PS 10 Cruise missiles

Lieutenant Dormitz — Upsilon-class Shuttle 31
Fire-Control System 2
Systems Officer 2
Courier Droid 0
Hyperwave Comm Scanner 1
Hyperwave Comm Scanner 1
Ship Total: 37
Tomax Bren — TIE Bomber 24
Veteran Instincts 1
Extra Munitions 2
Cruise Missiles 3
Guidance Chips 0
Ship Total: 30
Darth Vader — TIE Advanced 29
Adaptability 0
Cruise Missiles 3
Advanced Targeting Computer 1
Guidance Chips 0
TIE/x1 0
Ship Total: 33
This rather hard to avoid, especially Vader
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Why does this use Tomax? His ability is totally wasted here, you could get a much more cost-effective carrier.

5 hours ago, Greebwahn said:

Why does this use Tomax? His ability is totally wasted here, you could get a much more cost-effective carrier.

Cheapest way to get 2 PS 10 cruise missiles

Hi, as far as I can see, there can be much more fun with Upsilon then I've expected! Thanks for sharing your lists!

But let me ask something - I'm still missing reason to use the collision detector. Is the avoiding of damage roll so important? Or is there another reason to use it? You still don't want to overlap obstacle, don't you? Isn't better to try fly around them? Or is firing 4 dice without focus or target worth taking chance for damage? Because in my case that means damage to Upsilon and two hits at maximum for sure...

7 hours ago, MadMystic said:

Hi, as far as I can see, there can be much more fun with Upsilon then I've expected! Thanks for sharing your lists!

But let me ask something - I'm still missing reason to use the collision detector. Is the avoiding of damage roll so important? Or is there another reason to use it? You still don't want to overlap obstacle, don't you? Isn't better to try fly around them? Or is firing 4 dice without focus or target worth taking chance for damage? Because in my case that means damage to Upsilon and two hits at maximum for sure...

Collision detector is 0 points. If I had points for FCS, or something else, but since I didn't, there is no reason not to take it. With a ship like the upsilon, there will be situations where you hit an obstacle, so damage negation doesn't hurt when it's free.

Ook, thanks for the info. I just thaught, it has also some other tactical purpose :)