Hi Everyone, Im new to the game, so please be gentle.

After the odd lucky win against my friend, who usually thrashes me. I came up with a team of

Countess Ryad- tie/d, flechette cannon, expertise.

Dark curse

and either the standard Vader build

or a tie phantom build using Whisper (didnt use cloak.) Kallus. SJ VI

And I whipped the floor with him 5 games on the trot. Playing againg Poe and an Outrider taking Poe out in 1 round and finishing the game in 35 mins. Beaten the Falcon and a y-wing amongst others.

Was thinking of playing Echo next game and the original 2 I mentioned How would you build your echo? Was thinking Echo with VI, ACD, SJ and Rebel captive as he loves his expertise. To try some Arc dodging.

Thank you for any help.

Idk how the flechette worked out but it is generally pretty... overwhelmingly lackluster

Would definitely push for an x7 Ryad. I'm sure you could put the four leftover points to good use (advanced Cloaking)

That's really it. You might consider FCS over sensor jammers, but sensor jammers are actually fine...unlike flechette Cannon

It looks like you're leaving a lot of points on the table, presumably for a good initiative bid. I'd probably dip into that a bit and maybe look at replacing dark curse, but ultimately you should play what you enjoy and it does seem like you're getting some success from your list.

First upgrade I'd make, would be to swap Ryad for Vessery and potentially the flechette to an ion cannon. Stress is fairly easy to shed or ignore in most cases, where as ions stick around and can absolutely destroy most small ships by denying them maneuverability. Vessery also makes sense as the tie/D carrier because he has almost everything the other pilots have but a step better. He will have free target locks on every attack, as long as he shoots at a ship you already have target locked from someone else (namely Vader or possibly your phantom), can save his action for repositioning or a defensive focus and only ryad has slightly better movement options with her green K-turns. If you need to cut points for either a stronger third ship or to fit points on your phantom, consider Ryad with tie/x7 and either juke or PTL. Frees up plenty of points to get the most from the rest of your list.

As for building your list with Echo, it comes down to are you hard targeting your friend or do you just want a balanced list? If you know your friend likes expertise on most of his ships, Sensor jammer and Rebel Captive would be a huge deterrent and keep you in the game just fine. Agent Kallus will probably get you better mileage in other games where Expertise isn't a factor, and Fire Control Systems can make your damage more consistent and free up your actions for something more defensive. An evade token, free target lock and soft focus from kalus nets you more offense and defense combined over a focus token and sensor jammer. Those builds are 42 and 39 points respectively. Ryad with x7 and juke is 34 points, or 35 with push the limit. Feel free to add TIE mk. IIs if you like the extra green options to limit your own stress. That Ryad is terribly tanky and a menace to shoot down, but a little weak late game. If you like the tie/D option, Vessery is a huge early game threat and can really help you narrow the field down to just your phantom and one enemy ship, which is your ideal situation. Vessery with tie/D, Expertise and your cannon of choice will run you 41 or 42 points. You can cut expertise for something like A score to settle to save 4 points, but it amounts to about the same thing. Just know that he'll take harder hits as well with ASTS. If you go light on one of your options, you'll have about 20 points left, or 25ish with x7 Ryad. Good 20 point options include tie bombers, interceptor/strikers, a first order tie fighter or a tie adv. prototype. If you can make it 25ish points, you have a lot more options, but that will be easier to pin down once you have your first two ships built the way you like.

If you want TIE/D, I'd agree, go with Vessery with Ion Cannon. If you want Ryad, then I'd go TIE/X7 and PTL.

I'd also choose Vader over a Phantom, but that's just me lol