double fun-buses - Double YV666

By Surak, in X-Wing Squad Lists

ok so it isn't very meta, and it probably won't break a top anything anywhere, however - I love the YV666, and more importantly I love flying them aggressively. So here's a double down list for comments

Moralo Eval with - heavy laser cannon, Maul, Inspiring Recruit, scav crane, countermeasures

Bossk with - Fearlessness, Mangler, Dengar, Merc Co-Pilot, Scav Crane, Countermeasures.

100pts exactly, perfect 50/50 points split so there it no obvious target (complete accident, but hey) and neither ship should be short of damage potential

regards

The only thing I really dislike is Mercenary Co-pilot. With Mangler already there to generate crits, I'd rather have something which has a different effect. Outlaw Tech would be great. Gain a focus on a turn you stall.

The other route to explore would thought I'd have is to go for Engine Upgrades rather than Countermeasures. That'll add a lot of speed and maneuverability to those YVs. Depends on what you're more afraid of; folks getting behind you, or Harpoon Missiles. That'd leave 1 point for each ship, presuming everything else stays the same. Perhaps Inertial Dampeners would work. It is kinda redundant, given 0-stall, but it'd be something you don't have to dial in, and can pop when you need it. Alternately, Boba Fett crew on Bossk, and 4-LOM on Moralo would work well. Denying someone tokens for a big HLC hit is great. And since Bossk already has the tools to gain crits, having the option to Boba Fett away a key card might be pretty handy. The list isn't build around it, but it's the kinda thing which can come in handy in a lot of games.

I'd also vote to replace the grossly over-costed Merc Co-Pilot. I'd suggest going with Boba Fett and (hear me out here) Greedo. See, the Mangler auto-upgrades your hits. Once the dice are settled, Bossk converts that crit into a pair of hits. But when the damage finally hits the hull, Greedo makes it a critical damage anyway... which is EXACTLY what Boba Fett wants to see. The danger, of course, is that you'll be eating some crits yourself... but hopefully you can pour in some ugly damage before risking face-ups yourself.

I would also recommend filling any empty crew slots with Courier Droids, too. Yes, they're next to useless, but you may still find situations where you want to deploy at something other than your printed PS value.

ok some fun ideas in there - I had forgotten about courier droid, so the one copy I have will be filling an empty crew slot (probably on Moralo)

now on to the Merc co-pilot. Yes its 100% an over-costed card, I won't deny that. However, here its serving a specific purpose so hear me out.

no-one would really want to be in range one of a fearlessness+Bossk+dengar mangler cannon, its just going to hurt. However, range 2-3 doesn't look that scary unless you add in the crit conversion of Merc copilot to deliver either two crits OR a crit and an extra damage from Bossk - the same firepower as range 1.

as for dropping scav + countermeasures for Engine upgrade, yeh, the first version of this list did exactly that and added burnout SLAM to both ships as well to give some repositioning - but I've used scav + either countermeasures or stealth device to good effect on YT2400's, lancers, and IG2000's so I wanted to see if the same held true for the buses.

keep the ideas coming, as I'm going to try and fly this list (in some form) in the next week or so in a casual match so it could be fun to work through the options

The reason that Countermeasures aren't as potent here (as they would be on a more evasive ship) is that you're only increasing your green dice from 1 to 2, in most situations. That's not going to prevent much damage in the long run, if you're being focus-fired, especially because you lack any notable dice modifiers for defense. On your other examples, you're jumping to 3/4 defense dice, which gives you a fighting chance to luck out and dodge a heavy attack on dice alone.

The Mercinary Copilot, by the way, only works at Range 3, so you're only getting a slightly improved Mangler in your regular fire arc (change 2 hits to crits instead of one), or a slightly worse-than-usual mangler in your aux arcs (since range bonuses now count).

The great flaw of the YV-666 is a near complete inability to turn around. Even Engine upgrade takes it up to about a T-65 in movement ability. If you're fixed on flying two of them, I'd recommend:

Bossk (51)
YV-666 (35), Fearlessness (1), “Mangler” Cannon (4), Cluster Missiles (4), K4 Security Droid (3), Boba Fett (1), Greedo (1), Glitterstim (2), Guidance Chips (0)

Moralo Eval (48)
YV-666 (34), Heavy Laser Cannon (7), Dengar (3), 4-LOM (1), Courier Droid (0), Glitterstim (2), Maneuvering Fins (1)

Any opponent in their right mind is going to go for Bossk first, and in this setup he can deal as much as 10 damage on that crucial first turn. Boba and greedo give him a chance of breaking an enemy list then and there, and K4+Glitter give him full mods without worrying about bumping.

Moralo is a little bit lighter, but maintains full mods on every shot, even when bumped and 4-LOM gives you a great change of doing damage against aces with that wide, wide arc.

thanks for the feedback,

the reasoning on engine upgrade over countermeasures and scav crane makes sense, and is a change I'll make - and thanks for the reminder on Merc co-pilot not working at range 2, time for a re-think on that one

On ‎19‎/‎03‎/‎2018 at 4:46 AM, Astech said:

Bossk (51)
YV-666 (35), Fearlessness (1), “Mangler” Cannon (4), Cluster Missiles (4), K4 Security Droid (3), Boba Fett (1), Greedo (1), Glitterstim (2), Guidance Chips (0)

Moralo Eval (48)
YV-666 (34), Heavy Laser Cannon (7), Dengar (3), 4-LOM (1), Courier Droid (0), Glitterstim (2), Maneuvering Fins (1)

i do like this list, it's suitably un-subtle (i do like my ultra aggressive lists) and either ship can be a valid threat.

now I'm going to open the scope a little wider - basically my only requirement is that both my YV666's make it into the list. I've got at least 1 of each scum ship in my collection, so has anyone got any other uses of double YV666's (i was thinking two Trandosian slavers with anti-pursuit lasers + and ace of some sort)?

So, I would go with a little lighter build on these chaps:

Bossk

Calculation

Navigator

Dengar

Maneuvering Fins

Trandoshan Slaver

Navigator

Intel Agent

Maul

Maneuvering Fins

Now, with Navigator and Maneuvering Fins, and intel from Intel Agent, you should be more than capable of keeping arc even without a boost. They both can then focus for their action, which can give Bossk his crit anywhere in arc, while Dengar provides re-rolls. Meanwhile, Maul provides rerolls on the Slaver.

This setup leaves you 20 points to work with. You could upgrade to Moralo Eval with HLC, or add another ship - if so, I would advise a Jakku Gunrunner with Pattern Analyzer, Spacetug Tractor Array, and Ketsu Onyo. The best little interferer in the Scum faction, and can lock down those Tractor token from round to round, making the YV attacks brutal.

8 hours ago, Greebwahn said:

Bossk

Calculation

Navigator

Dengar

Maneuvering Fins

Trandoshan Slaver

Navigator

Intel Agent

Maul

Maneuvering Fins

interesting take on it, and as I've never used maneuvering fins it could be fun to see if they actually work :)

On 3/18/2018 at 11:46 PM, Astech said:

The great flaw of the YV-666 is a near complete inability to turn around. Even Engine upgrade takes it up to about a T-65 in movement ability. If you're fixed on flying two of them, I'd recommend:

Bossk (51)
YV-666 (35), Fearlessness (1), “Mangler” Cannon (4), Cluster Missiles (4), K4 Security Droid (3), Boba Fett (1), Greedo (1), Glitterstim (2), Guidance Chips (0)

Moralo Eval (48)
YV-666 (34), Heavy Laser Cannon (7), Dengar (3), 4-LOM (1), Courier Droid (0), Glitterstim (2), Maneuvering Fins (1)

Any opponent in their right mind is going to go for Bossk first, and in this setup he can deal as much as 10 damage on that crucial first turn. Boba and greedo give him a chance of breaking an enemy list then and there, and K4+Glitter give him full mods without worrying about bumping.

Moralo is a little bit lighter, but maintains full mods on every shot, even when bumped and 4-LOM gives you a great change of doing damage against aces with that wide, wide arc.

I'd say switch K4 for Dengar and put Maul on Moralo. You want to mod those clusters for sure. And Dengar would give you re-rolls on both shots. Plus, you're not restricting Bossk to only greens. the bus isn't exactly known for them.

47 minutes ago, Biggsy_boy said:

I'd say switch K4 for Dengar and put Maul on Moralo. You want to mod those clusters for sure. And Dengar would give you re-rolls on both shots. Plus, you're not restricting Bossk to only greens. the bus isn't exactly known for them

that sounds interesting, bounty hunter fun-bus on Bossk - possibly swapping glitterstim for scav crane for multiple missile attempts?

34 minutes ago, Surak said:

that sounds interesting, bounty hunter fun-bus on Bossk - possibly swapping glitterstim for scav crane for multiple missile attempts?

I think glitters is good for clusters. Let me show you my current Bossk build. Keep in mind, this is flown alongside a loaded out Ketsu.

Bossk - Expertise, Harpoon Missiles, Greedo, 4-lom, boba fett, scavenger crane, chips - 48 points.

I like scavenger on the Harpoons because I don't spend the lock to shoot the missiles like I would with clusters.. There is no cannon, which is a downside, of course. But expertise means consistent mods. And it is still a party bus full of bounty hunters. This guy is built for multiple shots, where as yours is built for mass damage on one target.

Yours can do well, especially in a ghost heavy meta. 10 damage on a ghost, plus boba the TLT off, that changes the entire scope of the game.

23 minutes ago, Biggsy_boy said:

Yours can do well, especially in a ghost heavy meta. 10 damage on a ghost, plus boba the TLT off, that changes the entire scope of the game.

and here is where our venue is....odd - we don't have a ghost meta here - in fact we don't actually have any of the big meta lists here at all.

my last games were against the following lists;

Inquisitor, Howlrunner , Captain Oicunn

and

Inquisitor, Ryad, Glaive Squadron

our last tournament had two bomb heavy lists in first and second, but third was 3 T-65's and an Arc170, and four (me) was ManglerDash and two bumpercar U-wings.

as I said, our meta is all over the shop - I've never seen a ghost on the table here, there is a bomber swarm doing the rounds, and my last list was Tweek, Guri, and IG88C

this is probably why I'm thinking more about multi-shot than massive alpha

11 minutes ago, Surak said:

and here is where our venue is....odd - we don't have a ghost meta here - in fact we don't actually have any of the big meta lists here at all.

my last games were against the following lists;

Inquisitor, Howlrunner , Captain Oicunn

and

Inquisitor, Ryad, Glaive Squadron

our last tournament had two bomb heavy lists in first and second, but third was 3 T-65's and an Arc170, and four (me) was ManglerDash and two bumpercar U-wings.

as I said, our meta is all over the shop - I've never seen a ghost on the table here, there is a bomber swarm doing the rounds, and my last list was Tweek, Guri, and IG88C

this is probably why I'm thinking more about multi-shot than massive alpha

I see. And the inquisitor would be awful to try to get range 1 in arc with the bus. You have a better shot with the harpoons. If you pulled it off, you'd probably wipe him off the board, but your chances are slim. I can see why people would run bombs thou. Defenders can tank a lot of shots, but bombs are guaranteed damage. Instead of double buses, consider Ketsu in the lancer.

Ketsu Onyo - fearlessness, Dengar, 2X glitterstim, shadow caster title, countermeasures.

She's not as tanky as assaj can be, but the potential of 2 tractor tokens makes opponents run. What has worked best for me is to bump aces. Ketsu's pilot ability can still affect a ship you are bumping, so, if you can bump an ace in her arc, than you can straight up murder it. Unless it's advanced sensors Kylo. It just doesn't happen unless your opponent screw up big time.

7 hours ago, Biggsy_boy said:

I'd say switch K4 for Dengar and put Maul on Moralo . You want to mod those clusters for sure. And Dengar would give you re-rolls on both shots. Plus, you're not restricting Bossk to only greens. the bus isn't exactly known for them.

If you don't take K4 then all your opponent needs to do to win the game is block Bossk on the first combat turn. Glitterstim + Guidance Chips will give you pretty reliable 3-hit combos (4 with fearlessness). Bossk's going to die very rapidly; probable before he turns around, so thinking about turning him all the way around is a bit unnecessary.

14 hours ago, Biggsy_boy said:

Instead of double buses, consider Ketsu in the lancer.

oh I do like me a good lancer, and I have run one several times - I just really wanted to try and get both my YV666 on the table outside of epic :)

on the subject of YV666 mobility, and considering the concept for this list is already way off of competitive, might there be some room for a card like Expert Handling that gives the bus a barrel roll (at a cost of course) or something equally "left field"?

Try Jabba and hot Shot Blasters ;) Sounds not only like fun, its also worth it.

(I flew Bossk with Jabba like this in about 10 Games. and it's realy nice! Together with a Assajj with 4x Glitterstim, but could work with Moralo as well.)

Bossk (35)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Harpoon Missiles (4)
Dengar (3)
Jabba the Hutt (5)
"Hot Shot" Blaster (3)
Guidance Chips (0)

Moralo Eval (34)
Heavy Laser Cannon (7)
Inspiring Recruit (1)
Maul (3)
4-LOM (1)
"Hot Shot" Blaster (3)

Total: 100

Edited by Dragon_King

i do like Hot-shots as on option for YV666, and I've not used Jabba yet - I may put this on the table just for those reasons

ok, a little bit of thread necromancy here, I've finally got round to putting double busses on the table last night - and I was very surprised by the result.

so I flew;

Moralo with; Heavy laser cannon, Maul, Inspiring Recruit, Courier Droid, Rigged Cargo Chute, Engine Upgrade

Bossk with; Fearlessness, mangler cannon, Dengar, 4-LOM, courier droid, Ion discharger, engine upgrade

total - 100pts

play this twice last night vs Silencer kylo with 2 Rho squadron gunboats (same player)

not going to do a blow-by-blow but; the first game the Rho's tried to out-joust the busses (the other player had never played against yv's before) and it didn't end well. Second game my opponent was a little wiser, unfortunately I got incredibly lucky and destroyed Kylo in the second turn, and it pretty much went downhill for my opponent from there.

only upgrades that I'm not 100% set on are the rigged cargo (only dropped it in the first game, and it didn't do much) and the 4-LOM/discharger combo (which went off twice in the first game and not at all in the second).

The party buses are still fun to fly!

I flew this recently and had fun with it! My opponent was not too happy that I stripped off his TLT with Boba.

Bossk — YV-666 35
Fearlessness 1
"Mangler" Cannon 4
Harpoon Missiles 4
K4 Security Droid 3
Boba Fett 1
Greedo 1
Guidance Chips 0
Ship Total: 49
Moralo Eval — YV-666 34
Heavy Laser Cannon 7
Dengar 3
Zuckuss 1
Inspiring Recruit 1
Engine Upgrade 4
Ship Total: 50

I saw 4-LOM/Discharger combo, thought about how cool it was, then you go and say it didn't amount to much. :{ Anyhow, my first go-to for a YV-666 in the Illicit Slot is usually a Burnout SLAM, since it's a cheap way to try to counteract the fact that they can often wind up out of a fight for two turns turning around, and that would cut it down to one. However, that seems like it wouldn't be needed with Engine Upgrade.

I almost feel like the Illicit slot on YV-666 isn't that great other than that. Inertial Dampners doesn't really add much (two stops in a row is kinda neat, but whatever), Contraband Cybernetics might be handy along those same lines, but will seriously stress out a ship with mediocre greens. Hotshot Blaster seems quite handy, but it's so expensive. Glitterstim can sometimes be good, but they have low agility, and usually don't need to take actions other than focus (since Dengar/K4 Security Droid can handle rerolls).

I think, riffing off of @nj3478 , it'd probably be great to toss on Boba Fett for Bossk. With the Mangler already there, being able to sometimes pop a key upgrade seems nice. While Glitterstim doesn't seem overall amazing with a YV, I think it works here due to Engine Upgrade. With Bossk already having Dengar, being able to Boost into a Glitterstim/Fearlessness round would be pretty brutal.

I think I'd keep 4-LOM, since he's so cheap, and replace the Courier Droid on Bossk with Boba Fett, and Ion Discharger with Glitterstim. Going up one PS in deployment isn't that important , and Ion Discharger seems... likely to be under-utilized. I feel like there are some ships which can probably work well with it, but I don't know that Bossk/4-LOM needs it.

so I'm at a charity tournament today, and decided to fly this;

Moralo with; Heavy laser cannon, Maul, Inspiring Recruit, Courier Droid, Burnout SLAM, Engine Upgrade

Bossk with; Fearlessness, mangler cannon, Dengar, Fett, courier droid, Rigged Cargo Chute, engine upgrade 

total - 99pts

I know from practice games that this is a pretty brutal alpha strike, but arc-dodgers really mess this list up, hence the Rigged Cargo.

wish me luck

so round one done, against Ketsu/Asajj double Lancers, didn't go to well after a 4 ship pile up in turn 2 - 100-26 (half of Asajj)

round 2 - 100-24 win vs Imperial firespray and a deci

round 3 - 100-74 win vs ReyLow, some controversy on this one as initially we though it had gone to ReyLow, but on re-counting damage cards it turn out Rey had taken 8 before she killed Bossk.

round 4 - 100-0 loss vs Soontier and Kylo shuttle, got suckered into hunting Soontier