10 hours ago, Norsehound said:The only TIE Fighters anyone takes are aces, to prevent them from dying instantly.
Nice to see you know everyone!
Personally I like taking 3 or 4 TIE/LNs ... sure they die quick but they tie up the oponents sqns where you want them for a turn
25 minutes ago, CDAT said:I do not know what, but it would have to be massive as they suck so bad right now.
It actually took me a second to realize. Kudos to you, sir.
37 minutes ago, slasher956 said:Nice to see you know everyone!
Personally I like taking 3 or 4 TIE/LNs ... sure they die quick but they tie up the oponents sqns where you want them for a turn
I can't recall the last time I've seen generic TIE Fighters being fielded. I've seen generic TIE bombers, but the "lowest" TIE/LN is black squadron. I can't reason why someone would take them instead of rendering the points on better, longer-lasting ace squads. That seems to be what every player in my local area is doing.
Years ago I took a swarm of about 12 generic TIE Fighters to a regional tournament once, hoping to swarm something to death with massive amounts of blue dice after annihilating their squadrons in an avalanche of fighters. I regretted it through the entire tournament- ending with a triple ISD list just farming points out of my 3 hull fighters. It convinced me investing in numbers of TIE fighters is a huge mistake, since they'll die too quickly and are only good for an alpha strike.
I can't think of a scenario where having a few TIE Fighters would work. I took a TIE Advanced squadron with Zetrick recently, with Dengar, as a speedbump against any other fighter-dominant list and it appeared to work for some lists (not heavy fighter alpha strikes), but at least 5 hull and two aces with tokens lasted longer than 3-hull fighters would. In my judgement all those fighters would do is soak up attacks from squadrons... but you're paying 8 points per negating 1-2 squadron hits. That buys you about a turn of squadron-stopping.
Aces on the other hand can last much longer, for about the price of two squadrons, and some have great abilities that let them do their jobs better. Really as much as I'd love to actually run the unsung Imperial generic cookie-cutter non-heroes I think of efficiency and what works and... they don't. They're too easily broken.
On the other hand I've been recently reassessing my assumptions, and perhaps this is a signal to field some TIE Fighters again. Still, I can only think of their use as I described: The best alpha strike possible for the cost.
Sloane, Quasar, Flight Controllers. These are things that make the bog-standard TIE punch way above it's weight.
Took this to Store Championships recently and took 1st place, including a final-round matchup against Rieekan Aces:
QuoteCommander: Admiral Sloane
Assault Objective: Most Wanted
Defense Objective: Fire Lanes
Navigation Objective: Sensor Net
[ flagship ] Quasar Fire I-class Cruiser-Carrier (54 points)
- Admiral Sloane ( 24 points)
- Squall ( 3 points)
- Admiral Chiraneau ( 10 points)
- Flight Controllers ( 6 points)
- Expanded Hangar Bay ( 5 points)
- Disposable Capacitors ( 3 points)
= 105 total ship cost
Imperial Star Destroyer Kuat Refit (112 points)
- Relentless ( 3 points)
- Strategic Adviser ( 4 points)
- Gunnery Team ( 7 points)
- Electronic Countermeasures ( 7 points)
- Leading Shots ( 4 points)
- External Racks ( 3 points)
= 140 total ship cost
Gozanti-class Cruisers (23 points)
- Comms Net ( 2 points)
= 25 total ship cost
Gozanti-class Cruisers (23 points)
- Hondo Ohnaka ( 2 points)
- Comms Net ( 2 points)
= 27 total ship cost
6 TIE Fighter Squadrons ( 48 points)
1 "Mauler" Mithel ( 15 points)
2 Lambda-class Shuttles ( 30 points)
1 Black Squadron ( 9 points)
= 102 total squadron cost
And this is with me toning down the number of generics from earlier versions pretty significantly.
The thing to remember with your TIEs is that they're expendable. Sorry little fellas but it's true. At 8pts you can easily afford to lose a few without eating into your MoV too much. Now I'm not saying just to throw them away, just don't get too attached to them and be willing to trade up.
8 hours ago, idiewell said:Evidently so is heavy armor, heavy firepower, hyperdrives and dedicated life support systems...:-)
Those things are crutches.
5 hours ago, Norsehound said:I can't recall the last time I've seen generic TIE Fighters being fielded. I've seen generic TIE bombers, but the "lowest" TIE/LN is black squadron. I can't reason why someone would take them instead of rendering the points on better, longer-lasting ace squads. That seems to be what every player in my local area is doing.
Years ago I took a swarm of about 12 generic TIE Fighters to a regional tournament once, hoping to swarm something to death with massive amounts of blue dice after annihilating their squadrons in an avalanche of fighters. I regretted it through the entire tournament- ending with a triple ISD list just farming points out of my 3 hull fighters. It convinced me investing in numbers of TIE fighters is a huge mistake, since they'll die too quickly and are only good for an alpha strike.
I can't think of a scenario where having a few TIE Fighters would work. I took a TIE Advanced squadron with Zetrick recently, with Dengar, as a speedbump against any other fighter-dominant list and it appeared to work for some lists (not heavy fighter alpha strikes), but at least 5 hull and two aces with tokens lasted longer than 3-hull fighters would. In my judgement all those fighters would do is soak up attacks from squadrons... but you're paying 8 points per negating 1-2 squadron hits. That buys you about a turn of squadron-stopping.
Aces on the other hand can last much longer, for about the price of two squadrons, and some have great abilities that let them do their jobs better. Really as much as I'd love to actually run the unsung Imperial generic cookie-cutter non-heroes I think of efficiency and what works and... they don't. They're too easily broken.
On the other hand I've been recently reassessing my assumptions, and perhaps this is a signal to field some TIE Fighters again. Still, I can only think of their use as I described: The best alpha strike possible for the cost.
I found them pretty succesful delaying the enemy squadrons. I tried the CGYSO blogs recommendation (@Snipafist if i'm not mistaken) of 6 TIE/Lns and it's a blast! It took me 4-5 games to get them working but boy they are effective. 3 deployments, I command them with 2 Goz' and I have 300 points to build my fleet and generally worry less of squadrons. With proper deployment I can delay the opponents bombing 1 turn (especially slow rebels), the TIEs can buy me 1 or 2 and that's usuall more than enough to take out the carrier or be done with a hit 'n' run. It's definitely not a life insurance, and essentially free points for enemys who only field anti squadrons, but concerning bombers they are quite good (supported by raider or ISD flak)