I see so much pseudo-formation flying happening. Fortressing Scurgg. Wookies. Stress Bunker. 100 points. Ghost-Fenn... is Ruthlessness such a horrible meta call right now?

I feel like I want to fly it... but I've been wrong before hah.

I'm personally more of an Advanced Optics than Pattern Analyzer QD person myself, but that's a style choice. All in all, looks fine, I'd just personally fly different ships. Countess/x7 is going to be tankier than a TIE/D, and Omega Leader is a classic.

Part of me says I'd love to get TIE/D on there. Going for... Flechette Cannon would be 40 points, leaving 22 for the 3rd ship, which could be something like Countdown or a Harpoon Nu. Ion Cannon would be nicer, but that requires even fewer points in the 3rd ship. Going to a 19 or 20 point Epsilon Ace with Comm Relay or Advanced Optics would also free up points to switch from Countess Ryad to Colonel Vessery, who'd do TIE/D proud with his target locks snagged off of QD's FCS.

30 minutes ago, theBitterFig said:

I'm personally more of an Advanced Optics than Pattern Analyzer QD person myself, but that's a style choice. All in all, looks fine, I'd just personally fly different ships. Countess/x7 is going to be tankier than a TIE/D, and Omega Leader is a classic.

Part of me says I'd love to get TIE/D on there. Going for... Flechette Cannon would be 40 points, leaving 22 for the 3rd ship, which could be something like Countdown or a Harpoon Nu. Ion Cannon would be nicer, but that requires even fewer points in the 3rd ship. Going to a 19 or 20 point Epsilon Ace with Comm Relay or Advanced Optics would also free up points to switch from Countess Ryad to Colonel Vessery, who'd do TIE/D proud with his target locks snagged off of QD's FCS.

I've been flying TIE/D Vessery through the Regionals season and league, and have missed that evade action economy quite a bit.

Vessery hit hard, definitely, but I lost him on more than one occasion to a nasty round from Rey or a Ghost primary.

4 minutes ago, bydand said:

I've been flying TIE/D Vessery through the Regionals season and league, and have missed that evade action economy quite a bit.

Vessery hit hard, definitely, but I lost him on more than one occasion to a nasty round from Rey or a Ghost primary.

I'm kinda still in a honeymoon phase with TIE/D. I haven't played them too much lately (been too into Fenn Rau + a M9-G8/Weapons Engineer ARC + 3rd Ship), but I've been usually carrying in my travel box Rainbow Deltas with one each Tractor/Ion/Flechette for a while. I've had a few "just roll paint to not die" Defenders get smashed, but not enough yet to have it sour me on TIE/D. Flipside: I've been a bit more bored with TIE/x7. I guess that'll flip back the other way at some point.

Still, perhaps Vessery would be good still. Dropping TIE Mk.II would get you him, and he'd have better offensive mods, although weaker stress resistance. Alternately, either swapping to VI/Advanced Optics on Omega Leader, or going with something like Pure Sabacc with VI would allow a Vess to buy back TIE Mk.II. With Quickdraw, particularly also if flying some form of Omega Leader, you'll have great TL support for Vess. It's really just a judgment call on how much stress you think you'll face, and how good your opponents are at blocking 4-K turns. Nothing wrong with Ryad, but in a world where I rarely get stressed, Vess just hits a bit harder.

The cool interaction with TIE/D and Ruthlessness, it triggers the extra damage with both the cannon and the primary attack.

As someone who has flown defenders with ruthlessness, there's definitely some nuances to the pairing. First off, running more than a single ruthlessness means you will end up hitting one of your ships part of the time. It will literally be unavoidable as the game progresses. That being said, if you can manage to keep QD close to whatever target you're focusing AND your opponent isn't shooting her, you can pop off her shields yourself to get a little extra mileage out of it. It's risky, but with Ryad shooting at PS 5, you probably will know by then if QD can be safely poked or not. It's also incredibly easy for most ships to stay out of range 1 of each other, and only a few rebel lists really benefit from staying that close under adverse conditions. You will probably get a few plinks in on enemy ships, assuming you have the mods to hit consistently, but what you will really get out of it is you'll split up your opponent's flight pattern and more easily isolate one ship to be focused down.

If you do decide to run a tie/D with ruthlessness, tractor beam is absolutely the way to go. If you hit, you get that reposition to put them in range of another enemy ship and gets you a lot more value from your ept, even if it means you miss out on a single damage from the cannon. You will often make that up in the second shot anyway with their reduced agility and the increased likelyhood you will get that splash damage on an enemy ship.

two ship lists basically make it a bad idea

even if the one thing you'd hit, low rey, is mildly inconvenienced by it, stuff like Ghost/Fenn doesn't care (coordinate is range 1-2). You're better off with less wonky epts that'll be less likely to only end up hurting yourself

Harpoons are the new ruthlessness

'again'?