Solid Anti-Squadron Raider or Just Take Squadrons?

By AlexW, in Star Wars: Armada

Raider-I Class Corvette (44 points)
- Impetuous ( 4 points)
- Minister Tua ( 2 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Early Warning System ( 7 points)
- External Racks ( 3 points)
= 64 total ship cost

So this gives an additional activation and is more flexible than going with dedicated anti-squadron fighters. It also doesn't need a anything else to work to its full effect. Can this kind of ship work wave 7 over fighters?

There is no solid anti squadron raider.
The problem is, that the Raider does not have the Demolisher titel. This means you have to attack first, and after this fly in. You give the squadrons a full round of attacks.
If you do not have any squadrons that can protect the raider, it will just vanish in a ball of fire.

A Raider has 4 hull and two shields. With one Brace Token. It does not matter if Rebel or Imperial Squadrons are attacking the Raider. It will (if the squadron player want) just die without being able to fire a single shot on the squadrons.

A better choice would be Instigator with the Early Warning System and Flechette Torpedos. This way you could be able to send in the raider, engage all the squadrons, and force them to attack the protected side. If you want to build an anti squadron raider, i would use this combination. Still not perfect, but way better i would say.
The obstructed attack is good enough against single attack die squadrons. But it might be still not enough against a B/Y-Wing fleet.

It could, but the one thing that ship has to worry about that 6ish interceptors don't is being 1 shot by an ISD.

It's not the sort of thing that I'd totally replace my squadron force with. But it makes something like 3-4 TIEs a possibility, I think.

The biggest problem with it is that it's tricky. You have to dedicate a lot of time and practice to figuring out how to move it just right so that you can catch the bombers in an ideal situation. But I bet it's the sort of thing that can work well once you've figured it out. Dropping to Speed 0 will be essential, and you'll probably lose it. But trading a single raider for preventing bombing attacks on your tooled up ISD for 2 rounds? Priceless. If you can manage to make it work

EDIT - doesn't have Instigator. In that case - flat no. I assumed Instigator because I've put one together using that title. Impetuous will be useless for what this is trying to do.

Edited by Onidsen

Raiders are great ships to supplement a small screen but they do need at least a few fighters to help them out.

36 minutes ago, Tokra said:

There is no solid anti squadron raider.
The problem is, that the Raider does not have the Demolisher titel. This means you have to attack first, and after this fly in. You give the squadrons a full round of attacks.
If you do not have any squadrons that can protect the raider, it will just vanish in a ball of fire.

A Raider has 4 hull and two shields. With one Brace Token. It does not matter if Rebel or Imperial Squadrons are attacking the Raider. It will (if the squadron player want) just die without being able to fire a single shot on the squadrons.

A better choice would be Instigator with the Early Warning System and Flechette Torpedos. This way you could be able to send in the raider, engage all the squadrons, and force them to attack the protected side. If you want to build an anti squadron raider, i would use this combination. Still not perfect, but way better i would say.
The obstructed attack is good enough against single attack die squadrons. But it might be still not enough against a B/Y-Wing fleet.

Exactly this.

Add 4 ties and its great.

The problem is that EWS is only going to cover one of your very small arcs. Its very easy to get around them. And it takes I believe 4 Bwing attacks to down a standard raider on average with BCC.

To give you an idea that 2/3s of a single Yavaris attack only!!!

16 minutes ago, xero989 said:

Raiders are great ships to supplement a small screen but they do need at least a few fighters to help them out.

This, one thousand times this.

People run Raiders expecting them to replace fighter coverage, but all by themselves they are miserable at taking down squadrons. With fighter support, though, they can contribute quite a bit while still being good against ships (depending on what you need them to do). You just need the right kind of fleet to really maximize their value.

Thanks for the thoughts. So, bottom line is that it's not a bad build (or could be tweaked), but it needs some fighter support in addition to be effective.

Edited by AlexW

Here, this is one point cheaper and does it better:

Raider I Corvette ( 44 points )
* Flechette Torpedoes (or External Racks) ( 3 points )
* Ordnance Experts ( 4 points )

TIE Advanced ( 12 points )

Deploy at speed 2.

Round 1: bank a squadron token.

Rounds 2-3: dial in navigate.

When you are ready to dive into the enemy squadron ball, use the squadron token to activate the TIE Advanced. Put it in the middle of the squadron ball and make an attack with it. Navigate the Raider so that it hits the edge of the squadron ball — you want all of the enemy squadrons in no more than 2 arcs. Ideally, you will have other squadrons there as support also. This way your Raider is supporting your squadrons, not replacing them.

Edit to add: Think of the TIE Advanced as extra hull for your Raider. With the TIE Advanced there, you don't need Early Warning System. Without Early Warning System, you don't need Minister Tua. You could add the Impetuous title back in if you want. I used to think that Instigator was better, but lately I've been keen on Impetuous , especially with External Racks (potentially 8 black dice at a single squadron that you really want dead).

Edited by stonestokes

Why not use the instigator title to prevent the squadrons from moving to an unprotected arc? This could potentially force them to attack the arc with the chaff token.

1 minute ago, Panzerninja said:

Why not use the instigator title to prevent the squadrons from moving to an unprotected arc? This could potentially force them to attack the arc with the chaff token.

Add 9 points with Tua. And then 4 more for instigator title.

Doable... just... Raiders have a tendency to pop if something goes wrong yknow.

1 minute ago, Blail Blerg said:

Add 9 points with Tua. And then 4 more for instigator title.

Doable... just... Raiders have a tendency to pop if something goes wrong yknow.

I thought the point of this thread was to try and polish the turd that is the raider :) .

1 minute ago, Panzerninja said:

I thought the point of this thread was to try and polish the turd that is the raider :) .

Still a shiny turd.

I mean, it works afaik. Instigator lock, EWS protect that arc. Move 1st next round with your ludicrous 15+ point bid. Maybe add 2 tie fighters to protect that raider. Sure. I see it working.

I had a little success running Impetuous with Ord Experts and Flechettes being supported by Valen and 2 Decimators at the regional here.

It won't stand up to a full squadron ball, but it does hold its own for a turn or two, which may be all you need.

20 hours ago, AlexW said:

Raider-I Class Corvette (44 points)
- Impetuous ( 4 points)
- Minister Tua ( 2 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- Early Warning System ( 7 points)
- External Racks ( 3 points)
= 64 total ship cost

So this gives an additional activation and is more flexible than going with dedicated anti-squadron fighters. It also doesn't need a anything else to work to its full effect. Can this kind of ship work wave 7 over fighters?

With EWS you want Instigator. Also FT if you want it anti-squadron focused.

Ciena is also a great friend. I played her carried by a RLB raider with Instigator and FC. It works perfectly and even easily. All you need is a banked squadron token.

However Ciena has enough speed to move without RLB making the raider even cheaper an optimal. This way you need some navigating practice though. It is not like you could go ahead and overlap enemy squadrons with this setup. But EWS would fix that.

I have to try the new tools.

Instigator with Ciena, Tua, EWS, FT and OE. Engage with Ciena, move, instigate and done. It will be a madness for any squadron force commanded by relay.

Glad II. Demolisher. Kallus, Ordnance experts. Flechette torpedos.

Well you lot werent even trying.

Raider I (44)
• Minister Tua (2)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• Quad Laser Turrets (5)
• Flechette Torpedoes (3)
• Instigator (4)
• Early Warning System (7)
= 69 Points

Squadrons:
• Ciena Ree (17)
• Valen Rudor (13)
• Dengar (20)
• Darth Vader (21)
= 71 Points

I'll just leave this here for a comparison on similar points spent....

Edited by moodswing5537
closer on points....
3 hours ago, moodswing5537 said:

Raider I (44)
• Minister Tua (2)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• Quad Laser Turrets (5)
• Flechette Torpedoes (3)
• Instigator (4)
• Early Warning System (7)
= 69 Points

Squadrons:
• Ciena Ree (17)
• Valen Rudor (13)
• Dengar (20)
• Darth Vader (21)
= 71 Points

I'll just leave this here for a comparison on similar points spent....

While true, the Raider is doing more than just killing squads. (I prefer External Racks over Flechette Torps). Against a squadronless opponent, only Vader retains his usefulness. While I still have a Raider I with External Racks (with 13-18 points, depending on QLT, that otherwise wouldn't be there, so it's worth a bit more for my opponent to kill).

I don't think it's a good replacement for squads for every list. I do think that, if you're already including a Raider I, the extra 13-18 points (about the equivalent cost of a single scatter ace) can be a good investment for your squadron cover.

4 hours ago, Ginkapo said:

Glad II. Demolisher. Kallus, Ordnance experts. Flechette torpedos.

Well you lot werent even trying.

Glad II has blue anti-squadron dice. Can’t flechette.

edit: Oh, Kallus... so you can flechette, but only uniques.

Edited by SmogLord
29 minutes ago, SmogLord said:

Glad II has blue anti-squadron dice. Can’t flechette.

edit: Oh, Kallus... so you can flechette, but only uniques.

You could take expanded racks. Then it could do regular demolishing against a list with no or few squads. But it’s still not a tur — raider, still not a raider.

33 minutes ago, SmogLord said:

Glad II has blue anti-squadron dice. Can’t flechette.

edit: Oh, Kallus... so you can flechette, but only uniques.

You could take expanded racks. Then it could do regular demolishing against a list with no or few squads. But it’s still not a tur — raider, still not a raider.

(sorry for the double post, phone did it by itself somehow)

Edited by Tayloraj100