In early stages right now, basically Miranda ionizes a target for the T65s to kill. Might go with A’s instead, but they can’t carry protons with their strong alpha. Thoughts?

Ions & Xs

(50) Miranda Doni
(4) Ion Missiles
(6) Concussion Missiles
(6) Ion Torpedoes
(2) Munitions Failsafe
(5) Bomblet Generator
(2) Skilled Bombardier
(3) Sabine Wren
Points 78

(43) Red Squadron Veteran
(2) R4 Astromech
(0) Servomotor S-foils
(1) Trick Shot
(9) Proton Torpedoes
(6) Shield Upgrade
Points 61

(43) Red Squadron Veteran
(2) R4 Astromech
(0) Servomotor S-foils
(1) Trick Shot
(9) Proton Torpedoes
(6) Shield Upgrade
Points 61

Total points: 200

Everything just seems so overloaded. Miranda has three kinds of Torpedos and Missiles, plus Failsafe. She won't shoot often enough to get any real use out of all of that.

If I felt I really wanted Miranda, it'd be Ion Torpedos, Sabine, and either Bomblet or Proton Bombs (Proton always works, and for a crit, while Bomblet is dice luck; Bombet gets action-free reloads at the cost of shields, which Miranda can regenerate, but at the cost of turning her attack into a total nothing). That's 62 points. I could see adding Advanced SLAM maybe, on a Proton Bomb version.

For X-Wings, if you're using Ion to set up favorable range-control situations, having the higher Init of Red Vets might be less important. 50 points gets a Blue Squadron Escort with a Proton Torpedo. This would leave 38-35 points depending on Miranda loadout for a 4th ship. A Zeb or AP-5 Sheathipede would fit in nicely (Coordinate for extra mods on the attacks is nice), or a generic A-Wing. A Green Squadron Pilot with either Crack Shot or Composure seems like it could be a nice flanker.

I kinda feel Miranda is really expensive, however, mostly because of bombs. And if you cut the Bombs, it'd probably be better to have Dutch Vander. At 56 points, he'll carry R4 Astromech, Ion Torpedos, and Ion Cannon Turret. This frees up a few points for the X-Wings, to bring them back to Red Squadron Veterans (52 points with just Proton Torpedos), and upgrade the A-Wing flanker to Arvel Crynyd with Intimidation.

Thanks for the feedback. Yeah, might have overloaded Miranda.

If you want Ion really bad you can swap miranda for Norra in a Y wing. I played a list with Norra Jake and Dutch and it was great fun (you can totally deck out a y wing ace for 73 points comfortably). You lose the regen but can also gain some survivability with Norra's evade.

This all just reminded me of some random episode of the Mynock from like a year ago or something. They were discussing early X-Wing listbuilding, where folks would be trimming upgrades from pilots in order to squeeze in one more ship. Cut here and there, to squeeze in the extra Academy Pilot. But by the time you get to Miranda/Nym in late 1e, the wise thing became to cut the Academy to add more upgrades. I'm put in the mind, also of the Tala Squadron Pilot in Paul Heaver's Poe/Y/Y/Z worlds winning list.

To that end, I kind of tend to think 2e X-Wing is still in that "cut things down and add an extra ship" stage, rather than the "add a bunch of upgrades" stage.

To that end, Sabine Wren in a TIE Fighter with Trick Shot is wicked fun. Flew it a little in 1e, and I may have to dust her off in 2e.

3 hours ago, theBitterFig said:

Miranda has three kinds of Torpedos and Missiles, plus Failsafe. She won't shoot often enough to get any real use out of all of that

This is a problem of trying to find a role for bombers designed to knock out capital ships in a dogfighting game.

10 minutes ago, Ambaryerno said:

This is a problem of trying to find a role for bombers designed to knock out capital ships in a dogfighting game.

Not really.

"Don't fill upgrade slots with more stuff than you can use" is good advice when building *ANY* ship in this game.

A trimmed down Miranda which has only one missile or torpedo seems totally reasonable. 62 points for either Ion Torpedo or Barrage Rockets, with Sabine and a Bomb seems fine.

*edit*

Likewise, the Red Vets at 61 points with talents, droids, torpedoes, and mods are pretty overbuilt, too, IMHO.

On 9/4/2018 at 12:53 PM, Ravenhull said:

In early stages right now, basically Miranda ionizes a target for the T65s to kill.

Right. I'm going to stop you there because to me this fundamental genus of the list is weird.

Miranda is I4. The Red Squad Vets are I3. What scenario are you imagining where I4 Miranda gets to shoot a range 2-3 4 dice ion torpedo, but the I3 RSVs can't shoot a range 2-3 4 dice torpedo at the same target? Miranda doesn't get target locks any easier than the RSVs, and doesn't have any easier access to double mods to make her ion shot more reliable

Or is the aim to ion the target, shoot one torp the same round, then 1 forward and shoot it again with the second target? Because if so, I'm curious what target you have in mind that will die in 4 torp shots but not 3. Your flying's also got to be pretty on point to make that happen as well, because if you're any closer than the outer half of range 3 for the first shot, you'll be at range one for the second and unable to shoot.

In other words, if your vector for ionising is an alpha torp shot, why not just maximise the alpha torp shots with damage? And if the problem is that lower Init X-Wings struggle to get target locks because of activation order, why not just run them with Dutch, who's the same Init as Miranda? Or why not maximise the high Init benefit and use someone like Wedge to hit them with the ion first round, while you keep the lower generics out of range and then guarantee the two torps next round?

Ion control isn't something to be used to set up a joust, IMO. It's more about making it easier for your ships to turn round and pursue them after the first engagement. It's why I'm not really sold on ion ordnance in general, they're not cheaper than damage ordnance by enough to make them worth taking.

On 9/4/2018 at 12:53 PM, Ravenhull said:

(50) Miranda Doni
(4) Ion Missiles
(6) Concussion Missiles
(6) Ion Torpedoes
(2) Munitions Failsafe
(5) Bomblet Generator
(2) Skilled Bombardier
(3) Sabine Wren
Points 78

Ion Missiles and ion torpedoes is just redundancy incarnate, especially on a ship with white reload. Do you really see Miranda firing four ion ordance shots in a game? And even if you do, why bother when you can take Adv SLAM for a point less than Ion Missiles and SLAM and Reload in a turn? Would also free up the missile slot so you can take Barrage Rockets instead of Conc Missiles and actually have a range 1 option.

78 points is also pretty much Supernatural Luke's cost as well, just to throw that out there.

I'd almost be tempted to completely reverse the list and run Super Luke with two Warden K-Wings carrying Barrage Rockets, Proton Bombs and Adv SLAM. You can then either take Proton Torps, R3 and a bid on Luke or take Conner Nets on the Ks and R4 on Luke. You'd probably find those Conner Nets and a ridiculously maneuverable, tanky and accurate Luke make for more effective ion control than torps to set up generics. Your opponent's going to want to focus Luke first to avoid him being an end game nightmare, so you're free to use that time to get as many rockets, turret shots and bombs off from the K-Wings as possible.