Hello! New player here who has finally found a wargame I'm actually willing to invest in this decade. I love the Flightpath system.
My skill level is best defined as "I have now had a few matches where I haven't crashed into a single asteroid, and consider this an achievement" and I've naturally gravitated to the nippy and slippery Imperials; esp. the First Order ships that look like they have been designed by a petulant teenager, which of course: they have.
My current collection stands at:
The Force Awakens Core Set
Tie Advanced Expansion Pack
Inquisitor's Tie Expansion Pack
Tie Silencer Expansion Pack
Upsilon-class Shuttle Expansion Pack
+ 1 each of Tactician, Predator and Crack Shot (kindly given to me by a FLGS )
(Full list of upgrades in my collection is at end)
I'm interested in what lists I can pull together with my existing collection for casual games against my friends, and maybe very gentle local tournament play.
I am aware there are some key cards lacking from my list, particularly with Tie/x1, Advanced Targeting computers, Emperor Palpatine, Veteran Instincts, Push the Limit, Collision Detector, Trick Shot, Epsilon Ace... etc… etc...
… But I’m not interested in buying more packs, trawling Ebay specifically to find them, or proxying them.
Likewise I'm not fussed if I can't compete with the current meta, because I don't care much or have the time for competitive play.
My current go to 100pt squadron:
28pts Tie Adv. Prototype: Inquisitor (25pts, PS 8) with TIE/v1(1), Autothrusters (2)
36pts Tie Silencer: Blackout (31pts, PS 7) with Autothrusters(2), Primed Thrusters(1), First Order Vanguard (2)
36pts Upsilon-class Shuttle: Major Stridan (32pts, PS 4) with Kylo Ren’s Shuttle (2), Tactician (2)
It's done well so far in a few games including winning both that I played last night; obliterating an 2x Interceptor Ace and Tie Bomber squadron) in six turns (with a very lucky shot) and just clawed back a victory against a Punisher and 2 Bomber with just the Inquisitor with no shields and a Damaged Cockpit crit' left. A match my opponent rightly deserved to win with excellent proton bombage as I derped into myself trying to avoid them (losing the Upsilon to proton crits without it losing a single shield).
Tie Advanced Prototype. Between the Lock&evade combo and always Range 1 primary shots, and the Inquisitor has consistently been the star player of my team. I've tried missiles with Guidance chips, but really the always Range 1 primary already has some of the traditional benefits of secondary weapons and I'd rather have Autothrusters. I possibly like the Inquisitor a *bit too much* so I ignore the very idea of a lower PS pilot.
The Tie Silencer is great to fly, even if I appear to manage to steer it through asteroids to a worrying degree.
I feel Blackout with PS7 is a little vulnerable to true aces, but I only tried Kylo once when I didn’t really understand how his special ability works. And I am simultaneously loath to pour so many points into a single ship, or fly him without appropriate upgrades.
Upgrade wise, First Order Vanguard seems very worth it for the second chance with a calamitous defence roll and the odd occasions when the offensive power kicks in. Primed Thrusters seems the best use of 1 points to ensure I can keep arc-dodging, which it’s already brilliant at.
On both Silencer and TAP Autothrusters really pay for themselves, many times over.
The Upsilon-class is a wonderful area denial hunk of shields and hull, and I've had devastating shots with it’s 4 dice primary (including one shotting a Tie Interceptor which had managed to get six defence dice).
Sure it’s not turreted, but I find it nicely herds foes away .
Flying a large ship is awkward, and I have amusingly flew it off the battlefield at least once.
I really like having Stridan’s range 3 co-ordinate, which I believe can cover over a third of the board, over twice the area of the range 2 version, if my maths is right.
Tactician can sometimes step on the toes of Kylo Ren’s Shuttle if there is only one valid target for both, but it’s great when it’s not.
Until I got Tactician I had Ion Projector instead, which is fun with blocking, but overall I think Tactician is more reliably useful.
I should also probably try Hux or Kylo as crew, now I think I finally get how they works.
Other ships I have
Compared to the rest, the Tie Advanced is sadly just a little underwhelming given it’s age, the subsequent power creep and not having the Tie/x1 fixes, although I would be interested in seeing what people think they can squeeze from it.
I could swap out the Silencer or Upsilon for 2 Tie/fo fighters (likely Epsilon Leader (19) and Omega Squadron Pilot (17) for 36pts. I don’t have Epsilon Ace which is just better).
I do tend to find that 2 Primary Weapon value is just too underwhelming, but perhaps it'll be fun to try them for a bit.
Am I also overlooking using lower PS pilots?
So, what semi-effective/fun squadrons would you recommend I try?
My entire collection:
Ships: 2x Tie/fo, Tie Advanced, Tie Advanced Prototype, Tie Silencer, Upsilon-class Shuttle
Upgrades(point cost) [43 cards]
Modification [5]
Guidance Chips(0), 2x Autothrusers(2), 2x Ion Projector(2)
Titles [3]
TIE/v1(1) (Tie Adv. Prototype), First Order Vanguard(2)(Tie Silencer), Kylo Ren's Shuttle(2) (Upsilon Shuttle)
Elite Talents [11]
Crack Shot(1), 2x Debris Gambit(2) , Deadeye(1), Expert Handling(2), Predator(3), 2x Snap Shot(2), Squad Leader (2), Swarm Tactics(2), Wired(1)
Tech [11]
2x Advanced Optics(2), 2x Hyperwave Comm Scanner(1), 2x Primed Thrusters (1), 2x Targeting Synchronizer(3), 2x Threat Tracker(3), Weapons Guidance(2)
System [1]
Sensor Jammer(4)
Crew [5]
General Hux(5), Kylo Ren(3), 2x Operations Specialist(3), Tactician(2)
Missiles [4]
Cluster Missiles(4), Concussion Missiles(4), Homing Missiles(5), XX-23 S-Thread Tracers(1)
Torpedoes [1]
Proton Torpedoes(4)
Astromechs [2]
BB-8(2), R5-X3(1)
Corrected collection list