So for those of you who still care about 1.0 store champs, I think the 4-5 x-wing castling lists are going to bully the meta this summer. What are you doing to tech against those lists?

No doubt in my mind that 4x cavern Angel's (FAA and crack shot) + AP5 (intel agent) will dumpster:

Raclo

Ghost Fenn

Imp aces

Other swarms

What are we doing about this? Im an Imp player and I'm kinda at a loss.

Trajectory bombs and poons. That will force your opponent out of a straight joust, or force them to split up. That would make it easier for aces to do what they do.

And if they do come straight at you, than multiple ships will take damage.

As an imp player, what do you normally run?

As an imp player, I've run everything from aces to a 5-bomber unguided rocket/lwf swarm. I've been playing a lot of Tie-D defenders lately, which I love. (I know, they aren't that competitive). I love the interceptors and strikers, the former of which are too expensive now, and the later are too squishy. The reapers are fun and add loads of utility.

My best answer for the current 20-pt X-wing meta is:

(99 pts)
4 x Scimitar bombers with Long Range Scanners and a harpoon

1 x Sienar Test Pilot (TAP) with scrambler missile, chips and title

The Sienar shoots the missile at the swarm to strip focus tokens, and the bombers follow up to kill at least one if not 2 ships. The problem is this list is teched so specifically against PS1 x-wings that I don't think it can beat anyone else, especially not higher-PS Imps. What do you think?

I’ve been giving Bob’s Builders a go to break up those formations. It’s been working on fairship Rebels where damage is hard to do with the spreading. I imagine it’ll do the trick on anything that requires close flying.

Had to look up Bob's builders as I wasn't familiar with that name. Looks like a cool list, just very unlikely I'll ever fly a resistance bomber. Not my kind of thing.

I think key to beating these X-wing swarms is to kill at least 2 ships in the opener before they shoot back, and that requires a lot of artillery. Otherwise there's a good chance they one-round your expensive ace (eg: Nym) on the way back.

3 hours ago, Makalu19 said:

I think key to beating these X-wing swarms is to kill at least 2 ships in the opener before they shoot back, and that requires a lot of artillery. Otherwise there's a good chance they one-round your expensive ace (eg: Nym) on the way back.

I currently fly a heavy swarm myself - in this case 3 x Scarif Defenders (Adaptive Ailerons & Lightweight Frame).

I would agree with this assessment; a heavy swarm almost assumes it's going to lose one ship before it fires, but if you can kill two it's seriously on the back foot.

Killing two T-65 X-wings in one pass does take a fair chunk of firepower which 2-ship lists can't usually provide.

Remember, it's a swarm. So standard swarm rules apply - they have to deploy first, you deploy second and force them to come to you. Bring them through obstacle fields where even if they stay together they can't hold a nice 'box' with everyone firing at once.

Bombs, mines, harpoons, you name it. A lot of the better imperial ships (Vader, The Inquisitor, Quickdraw) also have a missile slot.

Saying they 'dumpster' other swarms is a bit dismissive, though. Yes, Crack Shot but a Cavern Angels heavy swarm is PS1. That means that against almost any other heavy swarm (aside from Zealous Recruits and Alpha Squadron Pilots) they have to take their lumps from five attackers first . Add to that, if you use AP5, there are only four 'combat ships' in the squad - losing one is a big deal.

If you want a close equivalent squad, consider Unguided Rockets/Lightweight Frame Scimitar Squadron Pilots as a heavy swarm element. Statline-wise, they are more or less identical to the X-wings - a bit more unwieldy, but with an extra green die at range 2 and no range bonus for enemies at range 3. Advanced Optics/Crack Shot TIE/fo could do some nice heavy lifting, too.

Or, for the world's least subtle squad - 5 x Scimitars with Long Range Scanners and Harpoon Missiles. This can do nasty work, but will come dramatically unstuck against other squads (especially Poe Dameron!)

I strongly agree that CAZ swarms, and even Rookie swarms, are tremendously vulnerable to being PS killed. You get some blokes like Vader and QD (QD feinting to draw fire), and you can wipe one or 2 on the initial joust, then outfly them after the pass. Remember, they are still VERY fragile, and their greens are not too reliable.

Harpoon Rhos, or even Nus, could very likely wipe them off the board, and they have enough toughness to tank them. That might be my favorite option.

On 7/3/2018 at 1:21 PM, Biggsy_boy said:

Trajectory bombs and poons. That will force your opponent out of a straight joust, or force them to split up. That would make it easier for aces to do what they do.

And if they do come straight at you, than multiple ships will take damage.

As an imp player, what do you normally run?

Doesnt work. I flew 5X in store champs and just went head on into bomblets so i can still wipe a ship off the board.

Xwings have hull to waste on bomblets, and IA guarantees no bad crit ruins your day.

Ion bombs and thermals probably makes my decision different. Bomblets and seismics not so much.

I think a key to beating 5X types of list is stress and ion control. It forces the arcs to separate because some can kturn, some cant. Some can hard 2 and b-roll, some cant. When you are only taking 2 shots at a time from the 5X, then they can be handled.

When they create those kill boxes and one gets a block, game over.

You need to split those arcs up, and stress/ion is best way to do it.

---------

Been wanting to try deathtroopers on a tie bomber. You could stress an entire list unless they attack the bomb first. Have an hlc boat or two and you could get two turns of hlc fire, which should take out an X per round.

The only thing from the Imperial faction which gives me pause with a bunch of X-Wings right now is a multiple ISB Slicer reapers. Bombs can also be a pain, but isn't a solution by itself. And, if you're shooting it with harpoons, you better kill it, or you've just created a Deadman's Switch X-Wing. 4-5x doesn't need to be loss adverse, it's often okay to lose a ship or two.

There's the assumption that 4-5x flies in a swarm. It doesn't need to and I say it doesn't want to. We've seen that happening because opponents are letting them and not punishing them.

I’m a long time Rebel player, but always hated being part of the crowd. I love the x-wing love resceny, but a tournament coming up I am switching to the Empire.

Same question... good ‘ol Crack Black/Howler swarm?

What about something a bit more diversified:

-QuickDraw: VI, FCS, LWF, Title

-NU: Poins and LRS

-2x Obsidian TIEs

-Striker, with Title to use the rest of the points

recently at store championship, I ran :
2 Tie-Striker - Imperial Trainee
1 Tie-SF - Quickdraw
1 Tie-Reaper - Scariff Base Pilot

And I managed to destroy a 4 T-65 list. There was some good luck involved, but basically from what i've played :
Try to bait them. They moved first (which against my PS1 was a matter a initiative, but will probably happen a lot against other list) and one T-65 broke off to try and bump me. When that happens, just disregard the joust, fly away, and come back for another pass if you can (advanced ailerons are key here)
take them one at a time. Do run away if need be. They're tanky, but not that maneuverable. I've found that the striker is perfect to counter the T-65. More manoeuvrable, hit strong enough to put a dent from a long range, is cheap, can block and/or run away when needed.