200 Points:

Whisper(52) + Sloane (10)

6x Academy tie fighters (23)

Will this list be decent? Obviously your opponent wants to kill Whisper first so they dont suffer 2 stress. But you can just run with whisper which should be fairly easy with the decloak and I5. Or you can stay cloaked and evade and hope your greens hold up. You can also engage early with whisper as long as its 1v1 and then decide to run once she gets injured.

I really like sloane because it discourages your opponent from using linked actions and red maneuvers. It really creates a win/win situation for you. Also range 3 is pretty big so it shouldnt be too hard to stay close enough to the swarm.

The reason i think im gonna try this list over the other tie swarm thats all the buzz (Iden, Howlrunner + 4-5 more ties) is that I love that they are all I1. It seems daunting to try and fly a swarm in formation that is a mix of I5, I4 & I1.

Yes, will be good.

I went with Echo cause she is harder to pin down.

12 hours ago, wurms said:

Yes, will be good.

I went with Echo cause she is harder to pin down.

Nice, we are on the same page. Its a tough choice between whisper and echo. I would want echo in the early game for being squirelly. But i think whisper is better in the late game due to her ability and initiative5.

I like this list a lot. For me it's more about being freed from a tight formation than keeping initiative consistent, though that's a nice benefit, too.

Another version that frees you from the Howl bubble is 4 Academies plus 4 Black Squadron with Ruthless. If the timing window on Ruthless were after you saw the evade dice I'd totally go for it, but as is I don't think I want to rely too heavily on it. Ruthless on Echo in this list is a very nice option, though.

It's a shame to not be able to fit just a bit more on Whisper, but the idea of a 7-ship list including Whisper is already amazing coming from 1.0.

Whisper is a LOT squishier than her 1E counterpart. Pretty much any squad worth its salt is going to be able to focus her on the first turn of engagement (heavy swarms, high PS alphas and possibly bomb throwers) or the top of the second turn (fat turrets, triple aces, low PS alphas). In that time the TIES have at best taken out 33 points or so, because TIEs without Howl are garbage at pushing damage on the inevitable AGI2+ starting meta. Once Whisper dies you're left with half a list (as unsupported TIEs aren't worth their points) against whatever is left standing once 6 TIEs have shot for two turns.

Clever play and blocking could win you some matchups, but the trouble is that so many things hard counter TIEs. For instance, the already popular Jonus Bomber swarm can quite easily wipe out 3-4 TIEs before they can even shoot. Sure, the bombers get some stress, but at that point your list simply doesn't have the firepower to kill in time.

I think a better approach to Sloane is on a Lambda with escorting Bombers. More punch, more durability, and the same level of spam and anti-ace potency.