@bydand when looking at a Sloane list with only 4 total ships (Sloane + 3), I'm not sure if having 2 efficient fillers (30-36 pt range) is the right way to go, especially in that setup. If only 4 total ships and Sloane is on Lt Sai, then all 3 ships need to be pocket ace type (ex. named Strikers, Saber Interceptors, etc.). If Sloane is on Whisper, then 2 of the other ships should be pocket aces and 1 efficient filler. In your build, if I go all in on Whisper, I don't see the Alphas being that much of a punishment if I take out your most expensive and damage dealing ship.

In the Sloane Carrier + 4, you have enough ships to act as a screen and force the opponent to go through them to get to Sloane. In the Sloane + 3, I'm not convinced 3 ships is enough to have an effective screen while maximizing the 0-3 Sloane bubble, so then more of the ships in the + 3 should provide a higher threat to the opponent to make either going directly after Sloane or the clear end game / damage dealing / generally most expensive ship less desirable or a more difficult decision.

8 minutes ago, RStan said:

@bydand when looking at a Sloane list with only 4 total ships (Sloane + 3), I'm not sure if having 2 efficient fillers (30-36 pt range) is the right way to go, especially in that setup. If only 4 total ships and Sloane is on Lt Sai, then all 3 ships need to be pocket ace type (ex. named Strikers, Saber Interceptors, etc.). If Sloane is on Whisper, then 2 of the other ships should be pocket aces and 1 efficient filler. In your build, if I go all in on Whisper, I don't see the Alphas being that much of a punishment if I take out your most expensive and damage dealing ship.

In the Sloane Carrier + 4, you have enough ships to act as a screen and force the opponent to go through them to get to Sloane. In the Sloane + 3, I'm not convinced 3 ships is enough to have an effective screen while maximizing the 0-3 Sloane bubble, so then more of the ships in the + 3 should provide a higher threat to the opponent to make either going directly after Sloane or the clear end game / damage dealing / generally most expensive ship less desirable or a more difficult decision.

Fair.

I think in my mind I was planning on being able to fly Whisper well enough to either run or flank while my interceptors and shuttle jammed things up in the middle.

Perhaps I'm not approaching flying the list the right way ... I'm so used to flying aces, but so far my ace experience has been "get caught on the tip of R3 and proton torpedoes ruin your day".

38 minutes ago, RStan said:

and Sloane is on Lt Sai,

Why Sai? I'm not seeing any particular synergy between sloan and coordinating.

@Forgottenlore There's not any specific synergy for having Sloane on Sai vs any other Lambda and the same can be said for Whisper vs any other Phantom. It's the abilities on Sai and Whisper that make them the #1 choices.

She's just become the counter to the new Rey Falcon title.

That's fine Rey, do all the stressed actions and Segnors, we don't mind...we'll just be rerolling dice at you from 3/4/5 ships...

Go on, kill one of us and take 2 MORE stress, I dare you...

22 minutes ago, RStan said:

@Forgottenlore There's not any specific synergy for having Sloane on Sai vs any other Lambda and the same can be said for Whisper vs any other Phantom. It's the abilities on Sai and Whisper that make them the #1 choices.

So when you said this,

2 hours ago, RStan said:

Things I've discovered using Sloane:

- Top 2 places to put Sloane, on Whisper or on Lt. Sai.

You meant in lists that had both, so that ... Sai can help whisper turtle up and keep Sloan alive longer?

8 minutes ago, Forgottenlore said:

So when you said this,

You meant in lists that had both, so that ... Sai can help whisper turtle up and keep Sloan alive longer?

No, in most cases a list that has either Sai or Whisper carrying Sloane has been more successful than other lists I've seen with other carriers.

8 minutes ago, Forgottenlore said:

So when you said this,

You meant in lists that had both, so that ... Sai can help whisper turtle up and keep Sloan alive longer?

No, he just meant that Whisper and Sai are the best Sloane carriers independent of each other. What Imperial ships can carry crew?

Phantom

Lambda

Reaper

Decimator

Now which of those crew carriers are most efficient in terms of survivability? Phantom (2 agi Focus/Evade) and Lambda (10 health w/ Reinforce).

Now what are the best Phantom and Lamdba pilots? Whisper and Sai respectively. Simple as that.

In order to fit 4x 34 point ships (strikers or barrage bombers) and a Phantom you either have to skip Juke or sub Echo for Whisper. With initiative mattering significantly less on the new Phantoms I've had better success just not being in arc with Echo than leveraging the extra evade from Whisper and Juke is just so good that I lean towards Echo

42 minutes ago, Makaze said:

In order to fit 4x 34 point ships (strikers or barrage bombers) and a Phantom you either have to skip Juke or sub Echo for Whisper. With initiative mattering significantly less on the new Phantoms I've had better success just not being in arc with Echo than leveraging the extra evade from Whisper and Juke is just so good that I lean towards Echo

Or knock one of those 34 pt ships down to Wampa to gain Juke on Whisper. Retain 3 dice unless opponent uses a shot on Wampa. Use that as bait. Profit.

Folks have discussed a Sloan’s carrier accompanied by 4 barrage bombers or 4 strikers. I’ve split the baby and run 2 strikers and 2 bombers. Bombers joust and strikers flank. It has worked well so far.

I'm going to be trying something like this at my league this weekend. I think the Mynock's might have talked about it a little.

TIE/in Interceptor - Alpha Squadron Pilot - 34
Alpha Squadron Pilot - (34)

TIE/sk Striker - Planetary Sentinel - 37
Planetary Sentinel - (34)
Seismic Charges (3)

TIE/sk Striker - Planetary Sentinel - 37
Planetary Sentinel - (34)
Seismic Charges (3)

TIE Reaper - •“Vizier” - 58
•“Vizier” - Ruthless Tactician (45)
•Admiral Sloane (10)
Hull Upgrade (3)

TIE/in Interceptor - Alpha Squadron Pilot - 34
Alpha Squadron Pilot - (34)

Total: 200/200

View in the X-Wing Squad Builder

I didn't think about TIE/sa and Sloane. That might be worth some experimentation...

Used juke whisper with 3 interceptors and Wampa last night and killed with it, such a fun list! I really believe interceptors are the way to go, their dial plus autothrusters allows you to easily retain guns on targets and block

bombers are stronger range 3 but really can’t remain in the fight the same, and although strikers can retain their arcs on target well too, I feel like the one green die makes a big difference, even if it’s subject to variance, 1 green die is more valuable overall then one hull

Wampa worked like a charm, took two shots to kill on average but triggered the double stress and ruined that ship for several turns(and turned the games on my side)

basically I like the 5 ship version because it allows you to be really aggressive and when a ship dies you still have tons of firepower. If you can kill a big part of their squad, then whisper can start to contribute more to the fight and really can clean up the match, which is something the shuttle really can’t do

What? Nobody is talking about Captain Feroph?

"While you defend, if the attacker does not have any green tokens, you may change one of your blank or [focus] results to an [evade] result."

This is EXACTLY the kind of ability you want on your Sloane carrier. I double down by giving her Elusive and Shield Upgrade. She's surprisingly tanky, and keeps the Admiral quite safe from your opponents' assault.

The key thing about the 5-ship squad is that you NEED all ships on target on the opening engagement. With Feroph hanging in the back at range 3, it puts the opponent in a really uncomfortable situation regarding target priority. They want to kill Sloane first, but they waste a lot of shots on this ship, especially if one of the strikers can get up close enough to block up the enemy to deny them green tokens.

Oh, and Captain Feroph w/ Sloane and 4 alphas won a local 13-person tournament this past weekend. Anecdotal, but it supports my stance, so I'm referencing it!

19 minutes ago, Parakitor said:

Oh, and Captain Feroph w/ Sloane and 5 alphas won a local 13-person tournament this past weekend. Anecdotal, but it supports my stance, so I'm referencing it!

Uhh...I assume you meant 4 Alphas because there's only 7 pts left when you take 4 of them with Feroph w/ Sloane.

Also I've looked at either Feroph or Vizier as carriers for Sloane, mostly Feroph. Although I'd like another source to strip tokens from the attackers via something like a Juke Whisper or Juke something. Seems interesting and likely the #3 choice for Sloane carrier.

8 minutes ago, RStan said:

Uhh...I assume you meant 4 Alphas because there's only 7 pts left when you take 4 of them with Feroph w/ Sloane.

Also I've looked at either Feroph or Vizier as carriers for Sloane, mostly Feroph. Although I'd like another source to strip tokens from the attackers via something like a Juke Whisper or Juke something. Seems interesting and likely the #3 choice for Sloane carrier.

Edited. Yes, I meant 4 alphas.

I can see wanting better options for stripping tokens, but you have to pay a bit to get initiatives high enough to matter. I don't worry about it because between blocking and red maneuvers, there are lots of times there opponent has no green tokens. Also, see bat rep for why Feroph is surprisingly good.

https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/254788-tie-strikers-at-store-championships-picture-heavy/?do=findComment&comment=3451246

I think the shuttle is stronger just for the Reinforce option.

Speaking of which, turns out you can do 5 ship Sloane with Vader crew:

Omicron w/ Sloane and Vader

3x Planetary Sentinels

Wampa

199 pts

4 Alpha Squadron Interceptors

Omicron Group Pilot with Sloan, Collision Detector, Tractor Beam and Hull Upgrade.

9 minutes ago, defkhan1 said:

I think the shuttle is stronger just for the Reinforce option.

actually, Feroph can be thought of as a kind of perma-reinforce. Opponent spend focus to modify dice? Then they have no token and you get a free evade. Opponent keep focus? Then they're shooting without the benefit of a mod. It's a bit different in that some loadout can cancel this ability pretty easily (force, double calculate, etc) but it works on all arc and will not always let one damage go though, so I think of them as similar ability. Also, doesn't necessitate an action and can be done even while stressed.

10 minutes ago, Rossetti1828 said:

4 Alpha Squadron Interceptors

Omicron Group Pilot with Sloan, Collision Detector, Tractor Beam and Hull Upgrade.

I do really like the new Collision Detector. And Tractor Beam on a shuttle is always fun.

16 minutes ago, DarthSempai said:

actually, Feroph can be thought of as a kind of perma-reinforce. Opponent spend focus to modify dice? Then they have no token and you get a free evade. Opponent keep focus? Then they're shooting without the benefit of a mod. It's a bit different in that some loadout can cancel this ability pretty easily (force, double calculate, etc) but it works on all arc and will not always let one damage go though, so I think of them as similar ability. Also, doesn't necessitate an action and can be done even while stressed.

Yep its very similar, I just prefer Lambda for that role because of the extra health. Feroph is the same cost as Sai, but Sai can make one Striker Focus/Evade early game and then Reinforce with 10 health for the rest of the game.

47 minutes ago, defkhan1 said:

I think the shuttle is stronger just for the Reinforce option.

Speaking of which, turns out you can do 5 ship Sloane with Vader crew:

Omicron w/ Sloane and Vader

3x Planetary Sentinels

Wampa

199 pts

The problem with Sloan and Vader on a basic shuttle is

a-too many points in a ship that will probably at least get half pointed every game

b-sai s ability helps the squad and gives sail that focus he needs to be more offensive, vader is offensive yes, but is way more costly for his offensiveness

overall sai with Sloan is just really efficient and perfectly capable for the points

feroph I think is sort of the invetwee. Whisper and sai and therefor not really better then the other two where it counts

not as resilient as sai, but not quite as maneuverable and arc dodgy as whisper, probably not bad because I think a 5 ship Sloan list is just a good archetype, but I think just doesn’t bring what these two platforms do

now ultimately I think whisper is the best because she can close games, if your spam ships of choice kill anything higher ps then whisper, now you have an amazing end game ship that can close, making the spam ships more disposable, while the shuttle can’t really close a game on its own, so if your other ships die, it’s probably game over

also I think if you can fly whisper with caution you can save Sloan much easier, especially with the ability to decloak and do a 3 to 4 speed maneuver to get out of dodge, then come back into the game through another angle because well decloak is just so good. Whisper can easily get out of range for one turn and return to range the next turn.

@TheOz I think that's why I still lean towards Whisper overall. She has the ability to be an end game ship. The Sloane carrier is always the #1 target anyway, but the games overall with Sai or Feroph hinge more on the rest of the squad to not die as quickly and get their shots through to doing damage since none of the ships are end game pieces. Sai and Feroph offer higher survivability for Sloane only because of overall health and defensive tech, but don't offer a lot for positional advantage or offense alone. Besides keeping Sloane alive, Sai and Feroph offer a mid initiative 3 dice shot (2 rear arc for Sai), Sai offers coordinate support, and Feroph offers jam token stripping. Those are all valuable, but they are predictable positionally and don't offer as many turns of valuable shots added to the fight.

Whisper has the token stack, stripping tokens via Juke, positional advantages with decloak on a smaller base, and at the highly contested initiative 5 which I think is required for an endgame piece. Yes there is always the chance of messing up on a turn with Whisper could spell the end of her where as Feroph and Sai won't have that happen, but as long as you learn how to fly Whisper better, I think you can get more out of her. I think all 3 choices have merit and in the end not a large margin of difference between them, so not taking Whisper I don't think is flat out wrong. That gives a lot of opportunity of experimentation which I continue to look forward to.

Yup I agree, I think Whisper is still the best Sloane carrier. She has so much going for her: survivability, offense, end game closer...

Have you guys played games with Whisper, or is this theorycraft? Because she can't take a lot of abuse since she cloaks in the end phase. I'm not saying she's not good, but if I have low health/high agility ships en masse, then I want my support ship to be the opposite - bulky, but not agile. that's why I really like the Lambda and reaper.

Edit: because that way my ships have different weaknesses.

Edit 2: and I'm concerned that this love if Whisper may be a carry over from first edition.