4 hours ago, AngryAlbatross said:

3 Defenders isn't super good in the meta at the moment

It just won regionals here beating Ghost/Fenn in the finals and beat another Ghost/Fenn in swiss.

8 hours ago, ficklegreendice said:

is this our QD leader?

"Quickdraw" — TIE/sf Fighter	29
Swarm Leader	3
Fire-Control System	2
Advanced Optics	2
Lightweight Frame	2
Special Ops Training	0
Ship Total: 38
Colonel Vessery — TIE Defender	35
Crack Shot	1
TIE/x7	-2
Ship Total: 34
Delta Squadron Pilot — TIE Defender	30
TIE/x7	-2
Ship Total: 28

[100]

This is what I fly nowadays for imps but Score to Settle & mk.ii on Vessery for rebel Fenn, Sensor Jammer shenanigans and also I'd rather them go for Vessery first instead of Quickdraw.

@wurms what was the list?

I am assuming it is less good because it seems hard to get tokenless mods on defenders (since they are so expensive base)

37 minutes ago, wurms said:

It just won regionals here beating Ghost/Fenn in the finals and beat another Ghost/Fenn in swiss.

I think we gotta define "super good"

the x7 errata was fantastic because it brought consequences and added weight to decisions players made when flying with or against x7s. Top tier "super good" meta stuff, at the very least the VCX Fenn Combo, doesn't seem to care about that except to the barest possible degree (ie being plopped on a rock). Between a slew of action-independent modifiers, an incredibly potent arc-independent turret, and ps 11 coordinate with large base boost

x7s are still great and I'd be a fool to suggest or even imply that they need anything resembling a fix. They're **** good, hardy ships. But if you're flying against meta turrets, you're simply in for an uphill battle. Obviously, you can win, you're just not as likely to and you'll have to put in a lot of effort to succeed.

that and x7s really don't like stress, apart from Ryad who can handle a stress token pretty effortlessly

32 minutes ago, AngryAlbatross said:

@wurms what was the list?

I am assuming it is less good because it seems hard to get tokenless mods on defenders (since they are so expensive base)

Vessery w/ Swarm Leader, x7

Ryad w/ Ptl,mkii,x7

Delta w/ x7

Same person who won, flew same list last year at regionals and got 2nd.

For trip x7s I like Glaive and Vessery with Adaptability and Maarek with Juke. The Glaive grabs a target lock early for Vessery and then you have 3 tanky ships that put out a decent amount of damage and the PS7 can help against the likes of Lowhrick and other Defenders. I don't think it can quite compete with the current top meta lists but it is pretty fun to fly.

17 hours ago, Malabor said:

So, I've decided to pick up Triple Defenders. Currently it's

Delta Squadron Pilot (30)
TIE/x7 (-2)

Colonel Vessery (35)
Swarm Leader (3)
Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)
TIE/x7 (-2)

Countess Ryad (34)
Crack Shot (1)
Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)
TIE/x7 (-2)

Total: 99

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Question is: Who's better? Vessery or Marek? They're the same price. Vess gets his TL goofiness,but Stele gets a bump is PS AND his fancy crit schtuff.

What's your experience with the squad? I know it can be competitive, and it's fun to fly. Just curious about the pilots.

i run Ryad with glaives for flexible choice of activation. add upgrades to taste.

you get out PSed, not super fancy, but no one ship is key to your victory so its hard to focus. just 3 fast tanks with evades and white k-turns

I love me some Defenders, great ships with lots of flexibility. I've had some pretty good success with the following list. I run Expert Handling so that they can shed target locks which really helps in the current "Everything has harpoons" meta. The TIE Shuttle with Systems Officer and Fleet Officer helps the action economy by handing out target locks and focus tokens, you just have to be quite careful on how you fly it. The Ion Cannon/Tractor combo is fun, Ionise an enemy and then tractor them in front of a rock for extra glee. You can add Twin Ion to Countess as well if you want but I've never found shedding stress on her to be a problem.

Countess Ryad (34)
Expert Handling (2)
Ion Cannon (3)
TIE/D (0)

Glaive Squadron Pilot (34)
Expert Handling (2)
Tractor Beam (1)
Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)
TIE/D (0)

Scimitar Squadron Pilot (16)
Systems Officer (2)
Fleet Officer (3)
Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)
TIE Shuttle (0)

Total: 99

5 hours ago, UberMunchkin said:

I love me some Defenders, great ships with lots of flexibility. I've had some pretty good success with the following list. I run Expert Handling so that they can shed target locks which really helps in the current "Everything has harpoons" meta. The TIE Shuttle with Systems Officer and Fleet Officer helps the action economy by handing out target locks and focus tokens, you just have to be quite careful on how you fly it. The Ion Cannon/Tractor combo is fun, Ionise an enemy and then tractor them in front of a rock for extra glee. You can add Twin Ion to Countess as well if you want but I've never found shedding stress on her to be a problem.

Countess Ryad (34)
Expert Handling (2)
Ion Cannon (3)
TIE/D (0)

Glaive Squadron Pilot (34)
Expert Handling (2)
Tractor Beam (1)
Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)
TIE/D (0)

Scimitar Squadron Pilot (16)
Systems Officer (2)
Fleet Officer (3)
Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)
TIE Shuttle (0)

Total: 99

You know, I've been thinking about putting together some sort of Imperial synergy list like this. Any problems with people just nuking your shuttle right off the bat?

The reaper is going to break the possibilities for imperial synergy wide open

And I'm sure the x7 will be a **** good candidate for the Optimized prototype condition

I think I need to play a few more games with both just to see how they feel. Or I may just throw down with some Palp/Aces. I'm trying to build a fun list that will still be competitive for the CAC tourney next weekend.

I'm relatively new to the game, only been playing since January. That said, I stumbled upon the awesomness that is the TIE Defender pretty early, and have played them more or less non-stop. While the net and even more experienced players often prefer the x7 version, I love the sheer firepower of the TIE/D title. Nothing like shooting twice with multiple ships every round to ruin somebody's day. Right now I've got two Defender heavy lists that have proven themselves in several games.

My main list, and the one that I took a slightly different version of to regionals:

Colonel, Countess, Taxi (100)

2 hours ago, Malabor said:

You know, I've been thinking about putting together some sort of Imperial synergy list like this. Any problems with people just nuking your shuttle right off the bat?

His experiences may be different, but I've not run into a situation with anybody trying to take out the Bomber first. To be fair, my bomber isn't worth as much as the one in his list, but I usually keep it back far enough that it's not the obvious target. Additionally, bombers tend to be ignored because they aren't quite as much of a threat as twin TIE/Ds.

So I ran Adapt Rex/Tractor + VI Maarek/Ion + Scimitar/Fleet Officer for a while and it really worked during the Nym/Miranda phase, against Ghost/Fenn. . . not so much.

Now however, I run Glaive/Pred/Stealth x 2 and a Scimitar/Fleet/Captive and i'm winning against Ghost/Fenn the majority of the time. Matches against Rey/Miranda or Nym/Miranda are more difficult, as are matches against Fenn/Low + Heavy Hitter (Norra or Miranda, sometimes Wedge or Poe), I really miss the tractor + Ion combo but these are winnable thanks to the token stack and stress.

A 3/4/3/3 ship with native re-rolls, two focus tokens and an evade token are not something you can reliably hit, meaning people focus on the shuttle . . which if Fenn wants to shoot at, he takes a stress. If he does, both Glaives put him in the ground fully modded. If he shoots at a Glaive, they lose a focus and still have one for later.

Hopefully, I can swap out the Shuttle for a Reaper with Death Troopers, meaning I can take Opportunist on the Glaives and dish out Jam tokens to aid their use. Also, being able to double stress a Ghost simply because it shot at something that wasn't the Reaper is a nice bonus, if not, it essentially gives me an Imperial Biggs and my Glaives surviving until late game.

took my list up against a NymRanda last night. It was an uphill struggle from the very start (TLT's, piles of Bombs, + stacks of Harpoons). It was a good game, and certainly a learning experience (Managed to get both Nym & Miranda down into their hull), he finally was able to TLT me to death. Swarm leader did not help much with not being able to fly too close together (bombs), joust (launched bombs + missles) or sneak around behind them (bombs).

I'm going to try the Stele version, with X7 & Juke, with Pred on Ryad next and see how being a little more offensive + PS bump will be. I may also switch out Ryad for a Glaive (but Ryad is just SO good!)

from what I've played, jousting a bomb list rarely turns out well when you can't boost out of bomb radius next turn. Course, if you can burn a K or SCURRG down ASAP with SL that'd be wonderful, but you're leaving yourself open to **** dice that WILL bone you no matter how well you play.

if you manage to approach from the side, however, the 3-turn can generally take you out of where bombs could possibly land and minimize the amount of turns that you'll have to suffer TLT fire without being able to retaliate

remember that Swarm Leader doesn't care about your squad's positioning relative to Vessery, but to the defender (no not the x7, I mean the target of the attack ). Even if the Delta is in base to base contact after having caused a bump, you can still trigger swarm leader off of it if it has its arc on the enemy regardless of how far Vessery is from it. If the Delta is on the opposite side of the table to Vessery, it still won't matter so long as the defender is in the Delta's firing arc and at Range 1-3 of the Delta. This will let you split up your squad to avoid the worst of the bombs

2 hours ago, ficklegreendice said:

if you manage to approach from the side, however, the 3-turn can generally take you out of where bombs could possibly land and minimize the amount of turns that you'll have to suffer TLT fire without being able to retaliate

this is the only reason I was able to stay alive as long as I did.

Good point on the SL tactic. I completely forgot that they don't have to be within range of the SL, just have to have the defending ship in arc at range 1-3. Keeping this in mind in the future.

3 hours ago, ficklegreendice said:

from what I've played, jousting a bomb list rarely turns out well when you can't boost out of bomb radius next turn. Course, if you can burn a K or SCURRG down ASAP with SL that'd be wonderful, but you're leaving yourself open to **** dice that WILL bone you no matter how well you play.

1

Jousting a bomb list is often quite problematic unless you've got ions. If you ion one of their bombers, however, you don't have to worry about reveal dial bombs, and even if you get one of two, there's a fair chance your opponent will debate bombing with the other bomber if there is a chance they'll hit their own ship. Probably one of the biggest advantages of the TIE/D over the x7 right now.

On 28/03/2018 at 3:46 PM, Malabor said:

You know, I've been thinking about putting together some sort of Imperial synergy list like this. Any problems with people just nuking your shuttle right off the bat?

Hi there. Apologies for the slow reply but I took the week(end) off to play X-Wing with some friends.

To answer your question. Yes that can be an issue but if they do that then they have to spend one or two turns focusing on the shuttle which gives the Defenders free reign to blow the absolute snot out of them.

One build we've seen at our local store a few times recently is Ryad*, TIE/x7, Lone Wolf, Stealth Device.

The sheer amount of fire it took to even wing that ship was insane -

* Technically it doesn't have to be her, because it's not using her pilot ability in any way. But it was.

A story that @ficklegreendice is sure to love:

I took triple Defenders to the UK Open. A list I'd been flying regularly last year, with fairly decent results: Intensity, Stealth Device, TIE/x7 Vessery and two x7, Stealth Device Deltas. Although Vessery is quite obviously public enemy number one in the list, he usually weathers the opening storm quite well and sticks around for a bit. the Deltas are often the difference maker, being able to stack tokens for defence and block or 4K pretty much with impunity.

I can only assume that at the morning of the Open the Dice Gods took one look at my list and said "Nope. Not today.".

In the opening game, Vessery lost his Stealth Device to Poe in the opening round of combat. Range 2, through a rock, Focus and Evade. Two hits from Poe... five blanks from Vessery. I LOLed, my opponent LOLed, it was clearly just one of those unfortunate incidents, right?

Yeah, no. In the first two games combined I rolled a grand total of three natural evades. Vessery's Stealth Device went down in the opening engagement in all three games.

I like Defenders, I really do. I like x7. I don't like blaming the dice either. But man, it was ugly.

1 hour ago, FTS Gecko said:

A story that @ficklegreendice is sure to love:

I took triple Defenders to the UK Open. A list I'd been flying regularly last year, with fairly decent results: Intensity, Stealth Device, TIE/x7 Vessery and two x7, Stealth Device Deltas. Although Vessery is quite obviously public enemy number one in the list, he usually weathers the opening storm quite well and sticks around for a bit. the Deltas are often the difference maker, being able to stack tokens for defence and block or 4K pretty much with impunity.

I can only assume that at the morning of the Open the Dice Gods took one look at my list and said "Nope. Not today.".

In the opening game, Vessery lost his Stealth Device to Poe in the opening round of combat. Range 2, through a rock, Focus and Evade. Two hits from Poe... five blanks from Vessery. I LOLed, my opponent LOLed, it was clearly just one of those unfortunate incidents, right?

Yeah, no. In the first two games combined I rolled a grand total of three natural evades. Vessery's Stealth Device went down in the opening engagement in all three games.

I like Defenders, I really do. I like x7. I don't like blaming the dice either. But man, it was ugly.

I used triple Defenders at the Open too, as one of my hangar bay lists and my hyperspace list (after using Ghost/Ahsoka in the main event and deciding it wasn't fun). I did very badly in hyperspace - 4 consecutive losses in rounds 1-4, my opponent was a no-show for round 5 so I dropped there.

I think the red dice creep has hurt the triple defenders - their evasion ability isn't what it used to be in comparison (and that's the main strength of the frame), and their offence is a bit behind the curve too.

8 minutes ago, Dasharr said:

I used triple Defenders at the Open too, as one of my hangar bay lists and my hyperspace list (after using Ghost/Ahsoka in the main event and deciding it wasn't fun). I did very badly in hyperspace - 4 consecutive losses in rounds 1-4, my opponent was a no-show for round 5 so I dropped there.

I think the red dice creep has hurt the triple defenders - their evasion ability isn't what it used to be in comparison (and that's the main strength of the frame), and their offence is a bit behind the curve too.

Defence, definitely. When you consider that an Advanced Optics TIE/fo is only one shield token behind a TIE/x7 in durability, for 11 points less*. The Defender is still a very capable chassis and has some awesome unique pilots, but on those days the Emerald Octahedrons Of Inevitable Betrayal turn against you, it can fall apart disturbingly quickly.

* Yes, it has a pea-shooter primary weapon and no white K-turn. I know it's less capable but the point is that the darn thing is almost as tough despite being a five-per-squad ship.

28 minutes ago, Magnus Grendel said:

Defence, definitely. When you consider that an Advanced Optics TIE/fo is only one shield token behind a TIE/x7 in durability, for 11 points less*.

One shield token behind a Defender..?

Are you running Krennic?

Sorry. That was meant to be TIE/D, not TIE/x7.

The issue is, when the green dice roll average and you have your focus + evade tokens, it can be just as frustrating for your opponent to play against when simply nothing but the best of rolls get through.

I rolled five dice and scored five hits after mods at a Lone Wolf + X7 + Palp + Stealth Device Defender and scored zero hits once it was all said and done and the funny thing is, if I rolled anything less than five, I wouldn't hit. He automatically dodges two (evade and Palp) and then has four dice plus a re-roll to get the rest, it's disheartening.

Just like it's disheartening to have that same defender roll four natties against Norra who:

Calls C3PO "0" and rolls a focus.
Spends target lock to add a focus.
Spends a focus token for three total evades.
Uses R2-D2 to regen the one damage that went through
(Alternatively, uses Lowrisk ability to evade the forth)

So as much as we moan about red dice creep, the amount of defensive options out their are just as disgusting. I mean, throw in Fenn's ability prior to that (with hotshot) and you MUST roll six natural hits to score ONE lasting damage against the above list. Without modifiers. Then do it again the next turn or she will regenerate it anyway.

It's so offensively defensive, you don't even bother shooting at her until Fenn's dead. . Which means she is pushing four to five dice at you uninterrupted which unless you also have huge defense, is going to hurt.

It's not just defenders, it's just the way the game is now.

2 hours ago, FTS Gecko said:

@ficklegreendice

I can only assume that at the morning of the Open the Dice Gods took one look at my list and said "Nope. Not today.".

lol "today"

EVERY. DAY.

main reason I play less x7s nowadays is because TLTs, despite rolling 1/2 hits, are simply autoblaster shots to me. and there are a LOT of TLTs