While the concept seems solid, after a round or two, that Upsilon is just never gonna shoot...

5 hours ago, Greebwahn said:

While the concept seems solid, after a round or two, that Upsilon is just never gonna shoot...

It's got a better chance than you might think - It's dial is, after all, better than a lambda - with speed 1 turns or white speed 2 turns. Plus - with some canny flying - "Muse" can let it pull speed 1 turns two rounds in a row by eating the stress token, making it much more mobile, and you do have a mobile mini-swarm to block for you.

Having the two aces supporting the shuttle whilst the two cadets play 'flanker' is a sensible setup.

My concern is that you're sinking too many points in this tractor attack - Yes, Linked Battery makes it a 4-dice tractor beam, but if all you want is the agility reduction, you only need a single un-cancelled hit (granted you need a lot more to forcibly roll or boost a bigger ship).

Advanced Optics/Perceptive Copilot is a great pairing, but it's also 14 points - half the price of "another TIE/fo". I'd spend that investment to lamp someone heavily with a damage-causing primary weapon, but not for a tractor or jamming beam where the 2nd and 3rd hit are often irrelevant.

Equally, the starkiller base pilot already shoots before the cadets and can already shoot before "Muse" as they're the same initiative. The only thing Swarm Tactics does is make him shoot befoe "Null", who's only there as a caddy for the talent in the first place.

That leaves you quite a few points - not enough for an extra cadet, but enough for (off the top of my head):

• Taking Lieutenant Tavson or Captain Cardinal instead of the generic Starkiller pilot which in turn makes Swarm Tactics redundant as they're better than "Muse"
• Captain Phasma crew - lets you stress anyone who ends up in close proximity to Tavson
• Lieutenant Rivas instead of one of the cadets - potentially picking up free target locks whenever the tractor beam hits (or Phasma stresses anyone, or Tavson locks anyone, or jams anyone)

A random version:

• Captain Cardinal
  • Tractor Beam
  • Pattern Analyser
  • Captain Phasma
  • Hull Upgrade
• "Muse"
  • Fanatical
• Lieutenant Rivas
• Epsilon Squadron Cadet
• Epsilon Squadron Cadet

At the other end of the scale, sticking to a basic Upsilon:

• Starkiller Base Pilot
  • Tractor Beam
  • Biohexacrypt Codes
• Epsilon Squadron Cadet
• Epsilon Squadron Cadet
• Epsilon Squadron Cadet
• Epsilon Squadron Cadet
• Epsilon Squadron Cadet

That's now 5 TIE/fo - a respectable swarm even if the shuttle gets shot down. The Upsilon is a lot less capable, but the Codes let it switch from tractor-beam buddy in the initial engagement to a co-ordinator or long range jamming platform whilst it (slowly!) swings its nose around.

5 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

It's got a better chance than you might think - It's dial is, after all, better than a lambda - with speed 1 turns or white speed 2 turns. Plus - with some canny flying - "Muse" can let it pull speed 1 turns two rounds in a row by eating the stress token, making it much more mobile, and you do have a mobile mini-swarm to block for you.

Having the two aces supporting the shuttle whilst the two cadets play 'flanker' is a sensible setup.

My concern is that you're sinking too many points in this tractor attack - Yes, Linked Battery makes it a 4-dice tractor beam, but if all you want is the agility reduction, you only need a single un-cancelled hit (granted you need a lot more to forcibly roll or boost a bigger ship).

Advanced Optics/Perceptive Copilot is a great pairing, but it's also 14 points - half the price of "another TIE/fo". I'd spend that investment to lamp someone heavily with a damage-causing primary weapon, but not for a tractor or jamming beam where the 2nd and 3rd hit are often irrelevant.

Equally, the starkiller base pilot already shoots before the cadets and can already shoot before "Muse" as they're the same initiative. The only thing Swarm Tactics does is make him shoot befoe "Null", who's only there as a caddy for the talent in the first place.

That leaves you quite a few points - not enough for an extra cadet, but enough for (off the top of my head):

• Taking Lieutenant Tavson or Captain Cardinal instead of the generic Starkiller pilot which in turn makes Swarm Tactics redundant as they're better than "Muse"
• Captain Phasma crew - lets you stress anyone who ends up in close proximity to Tavson
• Lieutenant Rivas instead of one of the cadets - potentially picking up free target locks whenever the tractor beam hits (or Phasma stresses anyone, or Tavson locks anyone, or jams anyone)

A random version:

• Captain Cardinal
  • Tractor Beam
  • Pattern Analyser
  • Captain Phasma
  • Hull Upgrade
• "Muse"
  • Fanatical
• Lieutenant Rivas
• Epsilon Squadron Cadet
• Epsilon Squadron Cadet

At the other end of the scale, sticking to a basic Upsilon:

• Starkiller Base Pilot
  • Tractor Beam
  • Biohexacrypt Codes
• Epsilon Squadron Cadet
• Epsilon Squadron Cadet
• Epsilon Squadron Cadet
• Epsilon Squadron Cadet
• Epsilon Squadron Cadet

That's now 5 TIE/fo - a respectable swarm even if the shuttle gets shot down. The Upsilon is a lot less capable, but the Codes let it switch from tractor-beam buddy in the initial engagement to a co-ordinator or long range jamming platform whilst it (slowly!) swings its nose around.

Thanks a lot for all the feedback!

11 hours ago, Greebwahn said:

While the concept seems solid, after a round or two, that Upsilon is just never gonna shoot...

I agree.

Too many points on the shuttle.

Upgrade those cadets to Fanatical Omegas.

On 12/21/2018 at 5:21 PM, Bucknife said:

Upgrade those cadets to Fanatical Omegas.

I might suggest advanced optic epsilons rather than fanatical omegas.

Sticking to I1 pilots means no order-of-fire issues with the tractor beam and the TIE/fo, and advanced optics provides an attack boost before any given ship loses its shield.

Plus, if you do take 'cardinal', it plays well with his ability, letting you modify blanks and reroll focuses.