So I was messing around with the squad builder during work and came up with a list that I haven't seen before. I'm a fan of generic pilots, and both Phantoms and TAPs, so I decided to make something up. My view is that the TAPs will work as semi-blockers who can use their Force Abilities to shoot at far higher Initiative than most people would think with FCS/Homing Missiles providing some solid damage potential at far ranges, while the Phantoms just do their normal Phantom thing. Thoughts?

I just don't think you can get enough damage through before your phantoms go down (trust me, they aren't invincible) your spending half of your points on two ships that will do two damage a turn.

I don't think Heightened Perception is going to be valuable enough on ships with such low damage output. 2 red dice, or else 1 damage from the Homing Missiles. If I'm flying against this list, I'm not worried about getting killed before I shoot. Well, thinking more about it, maybe. Second round of combat, a pair of Homing Missiles might constitute a threat to a damaged ship. Maybe. Eh, I still think Heightened isn't going to really be worth the points. And these still have all the issues of other low-Init ships with Lock-based ordnance.

Then there's two options. One is Instinctive Aim. Boost and Barrel Roll around with focus tokens, and shoot off the missiles with the Force. Going with InstAim, FCS would be a little redundant in my opinion. It provides some benefits, but I'd still cut it for points. At 4 fewer points per TAP, that could upgrade both your Phantoms to Echo and Whisper, or get Collision Detectors for the generics. I've found those to be great on Phantoms. Intentionally decloaking and flying through asteroids can put you into places where your opponent might not be expecting. I suppose Instinctive Aim TAPs could also switch to other missiles, but I think I'd prefer Homing there, and ColDet on the Phantoms.

Another choice could be a switch to Sense. Getting a bead on where your opponent's ships will be can be pretty handy, with the strong actions of the v1, and the decloaks of the Phantoms. Due to the cost, the TAPs would need to lose either Homing Missile or Fire Control System. FCS can be decent for knife fighting with your sweet Barrel Roll into Focus, but Homing Missile could still have a place. Sense potentially lets you know when you need to reposition, when you will have range to shoot after your opponent moves, or so forth.

One note on Sense: it not only should but *MUST* be used before decloaking. Sense and Decloak are Systems Phase abilities, which are activated in ascending Initiative, so you'd Sense at Init 3, after any Init 1-2 effects, and before Init 4 ships like your Phantoms.

I should mention another option. *one* TAP, one Soontir Fel. Same two Sigma Phantoms. Trimming the build down a little (the v1 with either just Sense, or InstAim+Homing) would allow a Soontir with a pretty meager bid, but still a ship which probably can inflict a bit more damage. Dodge some arcs, do some 4-dice range 1 shots.