I’m a big fan of the Raider I corvette but I’ve never laid hands on the Raider II. That changed with Wave 7 and the introduction of Heavy Ion Emplacements.

I watched Crabbok’s batrep where he melted the shields of an MC75 early with the Raider w/HIE + DCaps combo. Intrigued I tried it myself and achieved a similar result against an ISDII Sloane list. A single Raider II stripped at least 5 shields over 2 rounds not counting regular dmg. And just yesterday a friend of mine completey burned the shields off an ISD with a pair of Raider IIs in his opening salvo. Thats 6 dmg to shields from HIE plus 4 more regular dmg after brace.

Based on my admitted limited experience with this built, its seems to me that the HIE Raider II is quite a potent little opener ship. A pair of them can leave a large ship very vulnerable to follow up attacks early and with DCaps they can deliver their payload from a safe distance. They cost 9 points more than a Raider I w/ER+OE, significantly more pricey but I feel its worth it for the ability to burn shields at long range. Works best with Screed and Vader, while still pretty useful with most other Imp commanders. Their only weakness is against CR90s and MC30s and possibly flottilas but those shouldn’t be your prime targets.

I was wondering if others have tried this build and what are the community’s thoughts on it. Seems legit to me but only time will tell if it becomes a thing.

I haven't tried it myself yet (I definitely will when I get a chance), but I have been at the receiving end. Nasty little things. Pretty sure they're gonna be a thing, you just need something a bit punchier to follow up with.

Now just give me a way to get DCaps on a CR90B. Hiding one in a Profundity seems like it could work well though.

26 minutes ago, Wraithdt said:

Their only weakness is against CR90s and MC30s and possibly flottilas but those shouldn’t be your prime targets.

Hard when sometimes they are your only targets!

Called it =D

this finally gives us a good reason to use them, they can actually stay at long range where there tokens actually do something

I used one against Biggs in the fleet patrol, freaking awesome amounts of damage from a small ship

1 minute ago, Dr alex said:

I used one against Biggs in the fleet patrol, freaking awesome amounts of damage from a small ship

Can confirm. Hit like a sack of bricks.

This intrigues me. I've hardly touched my Raiders since I got them, but now my ears are pricked.

12 hours ago, Wraithdt said:

I’m a big fan of the Raider I corvette but I’ve never laid hands on the Raider II. That changed with Wave 7 and the introduction of Heavy Ion Emplacements.

I watched Crabbok’s batrep where he melted the shields of an MC75 early with the Raider w/HIE + DCaps combo. Intrigued I tried it myself and achieved a similar result against an ISDII Sloane list. A single Raider II stripped at least 5 shields over 2 rounds not counting regular dmg. And just yesterday a friend of mine completey burned the shields off an ISD with a pair of Raider IIs in his opening salvo. Thats 6 dmg to shields from HIE plus 4 more regular dmg after brace.

Based on my admitted limited experience with this built, its seems to me that the HIE Raider II is quite a potent little opener ship. A pair of them can leave a large ship very vulnerable to follow up attacks early and with DCaps they can deliver their payload from a safe distance. They cost 9 points more than a Raider I w/ER+OE, significantly more pricey but I feel its worth it for the ability to burn shields at long range. Works best with Screed and Vader, while still pretty useful with most other Imp commanders. Their only weakness is against CR90s and MC30s and possibly flottilas but those shouldn’t be your prime targets.

I was wondering if others have tried this build and what are the community’s thoughts on it. Seems legit to me but only time will tell if it becomes a thing.

And this is why Damage Control Officer is so nice on ships with Contain (or Captain Brunson).

Sadly the imperials have way to many officer cards to choose from. Wave 7 really made it worse.

I've used a duel Raider 2 HIE+DCap combo, they stripped the shields off an ISD front and sides in one round of shooting.

It’s nice to hear others are finding success with HIE Raiders too. Good to see the otherwise unused Raider II having new life.

...and people said double contain on MC75 sucks. #damagecontrolofficer