So participated at the Cedar Rapids Hyperspace Qualifier event yesterday. Had a lot of fun could have done better though. Work schedule and weather prevented any practice or tweaking time with the list I ran.

4X Red Squadron Veteran: R2, Crackshot and S-Foils. Totaling 192. A pretty healthy bid. I wanted to stay above Y-wings if I saw them and be flexible against higher Ace list.

First match was against a resistance list of Jess, and 3 Red Squadron Elites. Started off really well. Then I got aggressive and cute, not a good idea. Basically gave up a ship with no return fire of any kind. The match went downhill for me from there. The R2’s were totally worth their points. Preventing me from being tabled, and saving 1/2 points on a ship. Lost 168-25

Second round. Vs- Fenn Rau and two Bounty Hunter Firesprays. We started in opposite corners. He sent the firesprays in to joust and tried to flank with Fenn. I sent 2 ships in to joust hard, kept on back for a wider arc coverage and be able to break off if Fenn showed his had too soon. The fourth went wide in case one Firespray tried to break away and flank. Little happened in the first engagement to the firespray jousting hard. 2 Damage nothing more. Fenn was caught range 2 and took 3 Damage including a stunned Pilot crit. One X-wing took 2 Damage off the shields. Fenn broke off and ran, too close too the muck to risk blocking or obstruction damage. The Damaged X-wing broke off and used R2- not going to get a shot at Fenn that turn. The others tried to chip at the firespray dice we cold that round for me though I got 1 Damage on 3 shots total the asteroid did 1 as well to the different firesprays. Next round the previously rocked firespray tried to talon roll off and into the fray and hit the next asteroid. The other gave chase to the bulk of my squad which turned to go after Fenn and the rocked Firespray. Fenn did go down. After that the x-wings either recharged or focused on one firespray. The other ended up well out of position for 3 rounds. Ended up at time winning 134-72.

Round 3 was against Poe and 2 RZ-2 Aces and a blocker RZ-2. The match was closer than the scores reflected. Sadly again poor choices on my part cost me and credit to my opponent who flew excellent. Lost 120-24.

Having to work that evening I dropped out. At 1-2, but impressed with the list. The R2’s were work horses. Not sure what else could really help the list. It’s super resilient, and the crack shots were getting used in every game though the impact was minimal. The list certainly needed the R2’s cannot state that enough. 4 ships felt the right way to go, not sure 3 would have done enough. More work on this list will happen.

Sounds solid. Sounds like it just needs practice, eh? I like the use of base R2's; I think they are sadly underrated. Thanks for the write-up!

13 minutes ago, Kleeg005 said:

Sounds solid. Sounds like it just needs practice, eh? I like the use of base R2's; I think they are sadly underrated. Thanks for the write-up!

Practice and a healthy dose of patience and perhaps sleep the night before.

I reckon that knowing when to be patient comes with practice, eh? But yes.

You went up against some pretty solid lists there! I think you probably did a fantastic job with point denial through the R2s.

So had a couple of local games today with this list. First was a Scum List not at all optimized but still enjoyed the flight time. List was a Gunrunner w/ pattern Analyzer, proton bombs. A trandoshian slaver with Lando, Dalen Orebos (Kimoglia) Cluster missals Marksmanship, and N’duru w/ Clusters and Evasive Maneuvers.

Managed to get the Slaver early, then worked on Dalen, N’Duru was able to push a little damage through but ended up a kill box and went down quickly. The Gunrunner ran and tried to push damage through but was unable. The mix of pilot skills my opponent used allowed me to test switching from offense to defense better as most ships took some damage but quickly was able to regenerate shields and stay in the fight.

Second Battle was 3Arcs Jag, Wolfe and Oddball. My opponent chose not to joust with the arcs for whatever reason hoping to draw me through the mix of Asteroids and Gas Clouds. I was able to easily handle the field and switched on and off from offensive to blocking/defensive. Sadly he had to leave with a round left. He managed to focus one X-wing down after it’s Regens were used from rear arc shots while the others were swarming the ARCs. I managed to get Wolfe, Oddball would have gone down the next round due to Disabled power Regulator forcing an ion maneuver making him a sitting duck. Jag was out of the fight and would have either had no impact or been swallowed by the remaining X-wings. The Arc’s really were brutalized by the crackshots the RSV’s had. Even moving second with Wolfe and Oddball the crackshots were effective because of blocks helping prevent repositioning.

Solid list showed up well at medium Initiative is encouraging. Still need more flying against some different list.

I have done a lot of Regen Ships.
For the first two or three months of this year, I flew four R2 T70s.
I found that they were Great, won something like 65-70% of my games... until the rise of Rebel Beef and Quad/Five Ys. Once Resistance ARCs came out in force, I knew that their time had come to retire. They are pretty good at bullying aces, but can not stand to massed Initiative 2 (who are trying to do the same job they are, only at higher initiative). Bumps can only get you so far.

The trick is to know when to bug out. I found that being down to anywhere between 1 Shield remaining and 3 Hull remaining was a good choice: You are not so injured that someone is going to chase you but you are injured enough that they have to consider it. With 1-2 Hull remaining, you are too weak to stay in the fight but Regen won't save you against a concerted attack. If the opponent splits their forces to chase you, that is a plus... but I wouldn't count on it. With 2 Shields remaining on a T70, you are back to being a regular XWing, so you press the attack. 1 Shield is a little sketchy to get out, because you are still mostly healthy and so might be able to survive another attack round, but a concerted attack has a good chance of snuffing you... this is a bait or block ship.

I have an itch to scratch with Predator R2 Red Veterans.
Having run Predator Strikers for a few weeks, I am interested to see how the Pred Vets hold up, with the lower manoeuvrability but significantly extra tank. The Focus/Boost is better at getting you out of dodge than the T70's Focus/Barrel Roll.
I have concerns against anything that can throw multiple mostly/fully modified 4 dice attacks. T70s can reliably tank two fully modded Proton Torpedoes or three fully modded 3 dice primaries, T65s can not.
I have less concerns about facing massed I2: I should be throwing considerable damage out to them prior to retaliation.
Seeing some good things for your Crack R2 Reds, so that is promising.