Played a list very similar to this one, but I'm not entirely happy with it:

Lieutenant Tavson — Upsilon-Class Shuttle 62
Pattern Analyzer 5
Biohexacrypt Codes 1
Electronic Baffle 2
Ship Total: 70

"Quickdraw" — TIE/SF Fighter 45
Elusive 3
Special Forces Gunner 10
Electronic Baffle 2
Ship Total: 60

"Recoil" — TIE Silencer 63
Predator 2
Pattern Analyzer 5
Ship Total: 70

Total: 200

The fact that Recoil profits from being stressed also means that he's not available for a coordinate from Tavson. Maybe his pilot ability should rather be seen as a bonus used only sparingly? He would also profit from Primed Thrusters instead of Pattern Analyzer, but this costs 3 points more.

Any ideas?

I like FCS on QD to just lock one target and then mod on every shot against them. I really want the Upsilon to be good but every time I try it my opponent gets behind it and Tav never shoots again. If you run this is highly recommend hugging a board edge and bumping into QD to make Tav go as slowly as possible, the Silencer is your flanker and will hopefully survive to beat whatever QD hasn't murdered.

Pattern analyzer is one of the strongest cards on the SF imo. It locks up the hard one and sloop so u get access to all the manovers in game +sloop.

The trick with Tavson is Phasma, helps a ton.

(63) "Recoil"
(8) Primed Thrusters
(2) Predator
Points 73

(62) Lieutenant Tavson
(5) Captain Phasma
Points 67

(45) "Quickdraw"
(10) Special Forces Gunner
(5) Pattern Analyzer
Points 60

Total points: 200

My 10 cents?

The foundation should be Predator on Recoil and FCS and the Gunner on QD. Other than that, points can go anywhere, I'd say.

21 hours ago, One_Laniakean said:

Maybe his pilot ability should rather be seen as a bonus used only sparingly?

I would agree. Much like Nien Numb, it's an awesome ability but it's not like you're going to trigger it all the time, since it requires you to end your move & action sequence stressed and at range 1 of an enemy ship in your forward arc.

I'm personally leaning towards Proton Rockets/Crack Shot. That's a big investment but it only has to trigger once to realistically blow a lighter ship out of the stars.

Predator is a nice budget version, though.

42 minutes ago, Magnus Grendel said:

I would agree. Much like Nien Numb, it's an awesome ability but it's not like you're going to trigger it all the time, since it requires you to end your move & action sequence stressed and at range 1 of an enemy ship in your forward arc.

I'm personally leaning towards Proton Rockets/Crack Shot. That's a big investment but it only has to trigger once to realistically blow a lighter ship out of the stars.

Predator is a nice budget version, though.

If only Proton Rockets stacked with primary-only Crack Shot.

Man, I don't know how many times I've started thinking about a list, then remembered Predator/Crack Shot it don't work with HLC or PRockets.

22 hours ago, One_Laniakean said:

Played a list very similar to this one, but I'm not entirely happy with it:

Lieutenant Tavson — Upsilon-Class Shuttle 62

"Quickdraw" — TIE/SF Fighter 45

"Recoil" — TIE Silencer 63

Not exactly an adjustment on this list, but I was just musing on the core idea of an Upsilon/Silencer/SF list myself. It's more of an Ace-Silencer and Filler-SF, however.

• Blackout (Fanatical, Advanced Optics) 76
  • Mostly for Init 5, but without a bid... does it even matter? I guess there are some Init 4s out there... Plus, Tavson can coordinate him out from behind a rock, depending on the stage of the game, if I wanted to try for an early shot.
• Omega Squadron Expert (Fanatical, Special Forces Gunner) 48
  • A filler pest who dies slowly with Evade actions and still getting red dice mods.
• Tavson (Advanced Optics, Perceptive Copilot) 76
  • Tavson can more easily use coordinates or reinforces, knowing that if he's attacked, he'll get strong mods from his attack with a single action. Alternately, Focus up to begin, and Reinforce once your opponent commits.
  • Could also be a Starkiller Base Pilot with Pattern Analyzer, to open up the red move while still getting well-modded 4-dice shots.

Just now, theBitterFig said:

If only Proton Rockets  stacked with primary-only Crack Shot.

Man, I don't know how many times I've started thinking about a list, then remembered Predator/Crack Shot it don't work with HLC  or PRockets.

Ah buggeration. I keep forgetting the dratted thing doesn't have a systems slot anymore, either.

1 minute ago, theBitterFig said:

Omega Squadron Expert (Fanatical, Special Forces Gunner) 48

• A filler pest who dies slowly with Evade actions and still getting red dice mods.

Definitely a nice 'filler' unit. It's a shame there's not a lot you can buy for 2 points, or I'd be tempted to try fielding 4.

2 minutes ago, theBitterFig said:

Tavson (Advanced Optics, Perceptive Copilot) 76

4 dice with focus and blank modifiers hits like a truck.

There are certainly other combinations of upgrade cards for a list with Upsilon/Silencer/SF that look interesting. But the goal with my proposal was/is to build upon the myriad possibilites that Tavson and QD get especially in combination with Electronic Baffle.

Like, reinforce/focus/whatever Tavson, do a red turn. During the end phase remove the stress token, suffer one damage, give QD or Recoil or even Tavson a target lock for next round.

Or focus/whatever with Tavson, red turn, stress removal, reinforce. Next round, reinforce again - Tavson now has two reinforce tokens.

Or remove QD's stress, suffer one damage, and then attack during the end phase after all the focus and evade tokens have been removed.

FCS on QD - I'm a bit worried about QDs 2 green dice. If he moves last, fine, but if not, Elusive might be worth it.

I agree that the shuttle has problems with agile opponents, but I think this is where Tavson really shines, compared with other shuttle pilots - you can hit me, but then i get an action. And next turn I might do a red stop, maybe causing bumps, and still get an action from Pattern Analyzer, and then I burn off that stress and get another action.

Phasma on a shuttle sure seems like a good idea, and/or Perceptive Copilot, but then I'd have to drop QD or Recoil. Giving away Pattern Analyzer on the shuttle to do that would really hurt imo.

Tavson with Advanced Optics and Perceptive Copilot really hits like a truck, but against an agile opponent he might not get a chance to do that more than once or twice.

But maybe getting another SF and Silencer might work - though not having an INI 6 pilot in the end game might be highly problematic:

So I made 2 lists inspired by this thread one with scorch and null/longshot instead of recoil.

Then i did this, only had one game and it needs tweaking and a larger bid. But this list sure had some game.

UPGRADES!!

(45) "Quickdraw"
(10) Special Forces Gunner
(6) Shield Upgrade
(5) Pattern Analyzer
(2) Predator
Points 68

(62) Lieutenant Tavson
(5) Captain Phasma
(5) Pattern Analyzer
(2) Hyperspace Tracking Data
(2) Electronic Baffle
Points 76

(44) "Midnight"
(6) Outmaneuver
(4) Advanced Optics
Points 54

Total points: 198

Only suggestion - 198 isn't so huge a bit that you obviously must keep it all - especially with I6 pilots. With Tavson being a decent co-ordinate buddy to pass out actions as needed, one more point would let Predator become Fire Control System - unlocking you from the bullseye and letting Quickdraw be a bit more circumspect than 'head on pass'.

Outmanoeuvre is a good call on "Midnight". It's expensive, but it's as close as we can probably get to the old Comm Relay/Juke combination for reducing the defender's dice further. I think I'd rather have pattern analyser than advanced optics, though - optics improve the odds of 2 dice when shooting with a focus, but pattern analyser lets you still get a focus or evade (or switch your lock!) when needing to pull a segnor or koiogran - Omega Leader is a remarkable pilot for the ship's raw stats and cost but tends in my experience to get killed in one turn (because, you know, TIE fighter) if ever caught tokenless.

20 minutes ago, Magnus Grendel said:

Only suggestion - 198 isn't so huge a bit that you obviously must keep it all - especially with I6 pilots. With Tavson being a decent co-ordinate buddy to pass out actions as needed, one more point would let Predator become Fire Control System - unlocking you from the bullseye and letting Quickdraw be a bit more circumspect than 'head on pass'.

Outmanoeuvre is a good call on "Midnight". It's expensive, but it's as close as we can probably get to the old Comm Relay/Juke combination for reducing the defender's dice further. I think I'd rather have pattern analyser than advanced optics, though - optics improve the odds of 2 dice when shooting with a focus, but pattern analyser lets you still get a focus or evade (or switch your lock!) when needing to pull a segnor or koiogran - Omega Leader is a remarkable pilot for the ship's raw stats and cost but tends in my experience to get killed in one turn (because, you know, TIE fighter) if ever caught tokenless.

I just bumped in as many upgrades I could to try them out.

Midnight - The few vounreble moments I had was while K-turning and slooping. Since midnight is a flanker in this list Pattern Analyzer was my thought as well (often out of coordinate range.)

Outmanover just cut through those T70s like butter, felt like cheating.

Im considering shieldupgrade, 4-5hp is Hughe in terms of 1 shot and half points. But Outmanover, PA and shield wont fit hehehe 😛

63point midnight!

QD - Personally I dont think FCS is worth it for 3pts specially for the loss of PA. A QD without tokens is a prio 1 target

Might be an option though when trying to shave of points. Since im only compeating with I6 i think a 6-8pt bid will go far.

1 hour ago, Muppetfluffer said:

Im considering shieldupgrade, 4-5hp is Hughe in terms of 1 shot and half points. But Outmanover, PA and shield wont fit hehehe

Indeed. Be very, very cagey about putting shield upgrades on a TIE fighter - the ship isn't that tough no matter what you do and you do pay top dollar for them because you're agility 3.

1 hour ago, Muppetfluffer said:

Outmanover just cut through those T70s like butter, felt like cheating.

I can imagine. "You have 1 green die that you can't modify.....what do you mean you're having trouble dodging shots!??!"

1 hour ago, Muppetfluffer said:

Personally I dont think FCS is worth it for 3pts specially for the loss of PA.

I'm not suggesting removing anything:

45) "Quickdraw"
(10) Special Forces Gunner
(6) Shield Upgrade
(5) Pattern Analyser
(3) Fire Control System
Points 69

(62) Lieutenant Tavson
(5) Captain Phasma
(5) Pattern Analyser
(2) Hyperspace Tracking Data
(2) Electronic Baffle
Points 76

(44) "Midnight"
(6) Outmanoeuvre
(5) Pattern Analyser
Points 55

takes you to 200 exactly.

You can recover a similar bid by Tavson's Hyperspace Tracking Data, but plonking down the Upsilon at lower Initiative does kind of ruin the "counter-deploy at I6" bit of the plan.

The idea at the engagement is that Tavson co-ordinates Quickdraw a focus or evade, then in her activation she moves up and target locks - hanging on to the lock for multiple rerolled attacks from fire control system.

Yea, girlfriend was about to high-five me...in the face......with a chair.

Then I only have one green? WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CANT USE MY FOCUS!

With predator I just love the arcdodge in to predator move and efficiancy, gona try to skip the shield for FCS+Predator and PA in my next version.

Hyperspace tracking data allows a more offensive move in the 1st round, the extra tokens helps So will propably use it in the final version.

So this is the more stripped version that i will try out before finalizing the details.

Guess ill bring this to Sundsvall 12th Jan.

UPGRADES! 1,1

(44) "Midnight"
(6) Outmaneuver
(5) Pattern Analyzer
Points 55

(45) "Quickdraw"
(10) Special Forces Gunner
(2) Predator
(5) Pattern Analyzer
(3) Fire-Control System
Points 65

(62) Lieutenant Tavson
(5) Captain Phasma
(2) Electronic Baffle
(5) Pattern Analyzer
Points 74

Total points: 194

QD is unlikely to get Predator all that often...the extra Shield would be better

26 minutes ago, Greebwahn said:

QD is unlikely to get Predator all that often...the extra Shield would be better

After three games tonight the predator vs FCS summary (for my playstyle). Predator outperforms FCS while there are 3 or more ships on the table.

Endgame or less FCS is better.

Outmanover Midnight is really bad vs Y-wing (and most likley Bobba and HWKs ). So back to the drawing table