52 minutes ago, Blail Blerg said:

Cool.

So, he Raddus'ed in a MC75 in your face. The popped a HH in your side or face, and flew that away as the 1st engagement. Made you move into his MC75, then activated the MC75?

Just asking so I can replicate this skin-affliction myself.

Even as I am reading your description I am reaching for the skin cream. It still hurts.

i've played 2 games with them and they have worked stellar, i used to hate Raiders because i would get in close, then get destroyed before they even shot. Now i stick to long and medium range using my evades and they actually stay alive. In both games i used Vader and a Cymoon(1 game had 2 Cymoons) and once the ISD activated they where hitting like 1-2 shields on an MC80

2 hours ago, Darth evil said:

i've played 2 games with them and they have worked stellar, i used to hate Raiders because i would get in close, then get destroyed before they even shot. Now i stick to long and medium range using my evades and they actually stay alive. In both games i used Vader and a Cymoon(1 game had 2 Cymoons) and once the ISD activated they where hitting like 1-2 shields on an MC80

but but but black dice

I’ve only had about 3 games with them but I’ll echo what others have said; HIE Raiders are effective ships. Somewhat expensive compared to the Raider I w/ Ex Racks but the ability to strip shields at long range should not be understated.

They work best in twos supporting ISDs, Demo or any ship that can throw out a lot of dice to punch through and finish off a target ship once its shields have been depleted enough from the opening HIE shots. Survival depends on staying at long to mid range but they also do that by helping your big ships kill their targets faster.

So far I’ve been playing the slightly more expensive 65pts version w/VG in my Thrawn fleet and the 2 of them have been pulling their weights. So long as I can keep them alive, which is slightly easier to do than the Raider I, they will do their jobs.

They love attacking Large and Medium ships with no evades. Ships with a single evade are not much of an issue too as locking it down with acc is relatively easy, but ships with dual evades are indeed tricky. You’d need either 2 accs or 2 crits to proc HIE but it’s still possible though they’re certainly not ideal targets. Therefore MSU fleets are its weakness, that and Damage Ctrl Officer.

4 hours ago, Wraithdt said:

I’ve only had about 3 games with them but I’ll echo what others have said; HIE Raiders are effective ships. Somewhat expensive compared to the Raider I w/ Ex Racks but the ability to strip shields at long range should not be understated.

They work best in twos supporting ISDs, Demo or any ship that can throw out a lot of dice to punch through and finish off a target ship once its shields have been depleted enough from the opening HIE shots. Survival depends on staying at long to mid range but they also do that by helping your big ships kill their targets faster.

So far I’ve been playing the slightly more expensive 65pts version w/VG in my Thrawn fleet and the 2 of them have been pulling their weights. So long as I can keep them alive, which is slightly easier to do than the Raider I, they will do their jobs.

They love attacking Large and Medium ships with no evades. Ships with a single evade are not much of an issue too as locking it down with acc is relatively easy, but ships with dual evades are indeed tricky. You’d need either 2 accs or 2 crits to proc HIE but it’s still possible though they’re certainly not ideal targets. Therefore MSU fleets are its weakness, that and Damage Ctrl Officer.

What's VG?

Mmk. Noted on that weakness to accuracy.

Against large ships, what's your flight pattern? Say an ISD, how do you get the Raider into range, then back out safely? How often do they become sacrificial?

Do you find that they do not get to attack at close range as much anymore?

What do you tend to do if your Raider flies past the enemy? (Not an issue, since it got to fire and get away? Do you circle back? Do you plan another run on something else?)

1 minute ago, Blail Blerg said:

What's VG?

Mmk. Noted on that weakness to accuracy.

Against large ships, what's your flight pattern? Say an ISD, how do you get the Raider into range, then back out safely? How often do they become sacrificial?

Do you find that they do not get to attack at close range as much anymore?

What do you tend to do if your Raider flies past the enemy? (Not an issue, since it got to fire and get away? Do you circle back? Do you plan another run on something else?)

VG = Veteran Gunners. Not quite sure what it adds to the build.

Best approach against an ISD would be to have your ISD in its front arc, and your Raider(s) in the side, but LoS to front. Ideally you want to end Round2 at long range with no shots taken. Then delay activations as much as possible to hope he moves his ISD so he's shooting you at long range (if at all), but in all likelyhood you'll have to activate the Raider before his ISD. Dcaps + CF for 4 blues at range, and whatever tricks you have (screed, VG, Vader) to ensure you have a crit. You'll likely have that crit, an accuracy, and 2 hits onto the front hull. I suppose you accuracy the brace (or contain if it has DCO, but we're talking ideal scenario here, so he won't) - not like he was going to spend it anyways. HIE triggers 3 shields, and then 3 more damage. He redirects 2 of them to the far side (shieldless), and takes another one at the front (2 shields remaining F, 2 shields remaining close side). Then you take some flak shots out the side with your second shot :). He shoots your ISD at long range out the front, and either finds another target, or shoots your Raider out the side, and you're likely in mid range, so he'll roll his 2 blue 2 reds for an accuracy hit blank and double hit. He'll lock your brace, and you'll evade to reroll the accuracy for a single damage, and take 2 shields. Then your ISD take some damage, and ends up with a mid range shot back at his ISD. You roll your 4B/5R (because you can take Spinals instead of XI7) and end up with 8 damage (w/ LS), he ECMs the brace, and your 4 damage gets 2 redirected to the far side (now shieldless) and brings the front down to 1 shield.

Next turn he tries to get his ISD fixed up by repairing for 2 shields to the front, shoots at your Raider again and does 2-3 damage, leaving him limping along. Your Raider reveals another CF token to shoot 3blue 2black now to the side, triggering HIEs along with 5 damage. His front, side and rear take a shield, and he's left redirecting 1 to the rear (saving the 2 remaining shields on the front for the ISD), and the final shield on the side along with 3 facedown cards. In the prefect world, you'll follow that up with a blue/black side shot for 2 damage - he'll be forced to redirect to the front to prevent a face up damage card, so he's now shieldless. You can now choose to ram him or GTFO depending on the board situation. When your ISD activates, you repair 2 shields to your front hull (leaving you with 1-2 shields missing elsewhere) and then you pour your 8 damage into him, braced down to 4, bringing him down to 7 hull remaining. At this point your ISD gets up in his face and keeps him from running away (unless he's going speed 3 that is)... If both ships bump, then he's down to 5 hull total. Another shot from the ISD plus a ram and he's done. Meanwhile your ISD is still very healthy.

Alternatively, you can go for non-ISD ships, choosing to get in close to them with your front arc, getting the 3 blues and 1 black on them (perhaps a pesky Gozanti with BCC?), and then spend your CF dial and Dcaps to shoot 2 blues out the side at the ISD. Screed then ensures that you can cancel one to push the crit through. Do this with two Raiders, and you're barely diverting resources away from whatever their primary mission is, but they've effectively done 2 shields to the rear, 2 to the front, 3 to 1 side, and either a face down, or a 3rd to the front. This allows your Demolisher to come in on the same side and triple tap the ISD for massive damage (3black/2red demo attack =5.8 damage braced down to 3, 5 blacks w/ OE yields 6 damage, braced down to 3, then the 2black/2red front arc is 4.5, burning the brace for good, and eating 3 damage, totaling 8-9 damage+3APT = 11-12 damage - of which, only 1 is on a shield)... And what you're left with is that those two HIE shots pulled enough of the shields off the ISD that the Demo can triple tap and kill it. And all the while, all of your ships are relatively safe (your Raiders staying at long range with double evades, and your Demo coming in/out of the main threat before it gets to shoot). This is probably the better use of the HIE Raiders. These 3 ships are 203 points plus 26 for Screed. They all make use of Screed as your commander, and they still leave you plenty of points for flavor - do you pair them with an ISD? How about some Arquitens with TRCs and just keep everything at range? What about a massive squadron force and a couple of Gozantis or a Quasar Fire? Heck, you could probably get away with putting them with a pair of VSDs if you really wanted =P. Now I kinda want to try that out. And the Raiders can always double as squadron support with their double flak - it's not as good as the Raider 1 double black flak w/ OEs, but they still punch above their weight when you run into a squadron heavy list.

On 27/2/2018 at 4:40 PM, BozoLtD said:

I have been running one or two for a couple weeks. I brought one to regionals with a bomber fleet to assist.

Raider II (48)
• Veteran Gunners (5)
• Disposable Capacitors (3)
• Heavy Ion Emplacements (9)
= 65 Points

This little guy does wonders. I have dropped an ISD to Zero shields and 2 hull tapping it twice long range then medium. I have done the same to an MC75 leaving it with 4 hull left. I use Veteran Gunners since I love running Jerry and Raiders. They put out an amazing amount of damage then get out. I have found it is great at taking out flotillas as well if you get the ACC and Crit.

Can you post all the list? It seems interesting

Just now, Sharego said:

Can you post all the list? It seems interesting

Name: Regional - Jerry
Faction: Imperial
Commander: Moff Jerjerrod

Assault: Most Wanted
Defense: Planetary Ion Cannon
Navigation: Superior Positions

Gozanti Cruisers (23)
• Comms Net (2)
= 25 Points

Gozanti Cruisers (23)
= 23 Points

Raider II (48)
• Veteran Gunners (5)
• Disposable Capacitors (3)
• Heavy Ion Emplacements (9)
= 65 Points

Raider I (44)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• External Racks (3)
• Instigator (4)
= 55 Points

Quasar Fire I (54)
• Moff Jerjerrod (23)
• Agent Kallus (3)
• Flight Controllers (6)
• Boosted Comms (4)
• Pursuant (2)
= 92 Points

Squadrons:
• Colonel Jendon (20)
• Darth Vader (21)
• Dengar (20)
• Gamma Squadron (10)
• Maarek Stele (21)
• Mauler Mithel (15)
• Tempest Squadron (13)
• TIE Bomber Squadron (9)
= 129 Points

Total Points: 389

Took 8th in San Antonio Regional.

28 minutes ago, Khyros said:

VG = Veteran Gunners. Not quite sure what it adds to the build.

For me, it is so I don't have to run Screed or Vader to be able to reliably get the crit though you can still flop your rolls. Jerry helps getting the raiders in a better position either to line up the shot or getting out after they do their damage.

4 hours ago, Khyros said:

VG = Veteran Gunners. Not quite sure what it adds to the build.

So that I can run Thrawn and still fish for crits. Being forced to reroll all my blue dice isn’t as bad since I’m only interested in triggering HIE.

Veteran Gunners are normally a fairly trash weapon team, but the specific exception here is the Raider-II with HIEs, where being able to reroll while fishing for a crit (that against most targets, especially earlier on) adds three damage is absolutely worth it.

Raiders-IIs with HIEs are absolutely a thing now, especially in our current meta where large ships are fairly common.

5 hours ago, Snipafist said:

Veteran Gunners are normally a fairly trash weapon team, but the specific exception here is the Raider-II with HIEs, where being able to reroll while fishing for a crit (that against most targets, especially earlier on) adds three damage is absolutely worth it.

To put some actual numbers here, a Raider-II adding a blue die with concentrate fire has a 68% chance of getting 1+ blue critical results. With Veteran Gunners factored in, that increases to a 90% total chance, which is very reliable.

If you're not concentrating fire, you've got a 58% chance on the initial 3-blues roll and Veteran Gunners improves that to an 82% chance.

Given that Raider-IIs generally just want the one big front arc to fire and HIEs exhaust to use, it doesn't even matter that Veteran Gunners exhaust to use as well - everything in the build cares about the one important attack and anything else is nice but relatively unimportant.

18 hours ago, BozoLtD said:

For me, it is so I don't have to run Screed or Vader to be able to reliably get the crit though you can still flop your rolls. Jerry helps getting the raiders in a better position either to line up the shot or getting out after they do their damage.

Fair enough. I'm a big fan of Jerry, but Screed seems to match very well with Raider HIEs, especially since it does allow you to use them on your side shot at long range with a CF as in the scenario I gave above (allowing you to attack something else with your competent front arc).

On 2/27/2018 at 8:24 AM, Darth Sanguis said:

I've been running dual kuats with FCTs, HIEs, and ACMs, using screed as my commander.

I love this so much. Not a lot of extra points for Squads, though.

56 minutes ago, JgzMan said:

I love this so much. Not a lot of extra points for Squads, though.

I manage 3 activations + SAs and Howl, Ciena, Valen for squads... which... though small can be fairly effective.

3 squads?? Do you ever regret not getting a 4th for a deployment?

10 minutes ago, Blail Blerg said:

3 squads?? Do you ever regret not getting a 4th for a deployment?

I don't **** with the deployment game.

If I see I'm out deployed, I'll park those ISD asses in a corner. Few fleets, barring ones with ships that reach speed 4 or higher (because duh, they can do it no matter the deploy), can manage to flank a well corner-deployed dual ISD. At least not well enough to earn a success.

Though it's still vulnerable to fast and small, MSUs and of course max squadron fleets, it's been fairly effective.