6 hours ago, Cuz05 said:

Shield over Afterburners? Que?

I kind of go against conventional wisdom here, although Afterburners is also a good choice.

I go this way for two reasons:
1. It gives Vader one extra health, although I realize it doesn't raise the half-health level.
2. I found that I wasn't using the Afterburners all that much anyway. Not having them means you just have to fly a little more conservatively.

The only (almost) mandatory upgrades I have in this list are the FCSs on Vader and Stele. It just makes the Advanced chassis better. But I'm also running a fairly large bid.

If I was building closer to 200 I'd probably put Passive Sensors on Vader instead.

4 hours ago, theBitterFig said:

Maarek just won a 10 player kit tournament at the FLGS.

• Maarek Stele (Marksmanship, Fire Control System) 49
• Duchess (Fifth Brother) 51
• Rear Admiral Chiraneau (Darth Vader, Dauntless, Proton Bomb) 99

A bunch of hard-hitting Init 5s.

As the individual who flew this list I will say that I had high Hope's for Maarek, but they didn't pan out except in my last match (and even then, just good, not amazing).

The biggest issue has been laid out nicely- he only has one action and unless you can save the lock you have to really think about it. I took focus and had 2 dice shots a lot (especially after my second match when Maarek died to two 2-dice attacks and rolled 6 focuses on defense).

On the flip side, Marksmanship, ATC and his ability can be ridiculously fun. If crits make it through, the right combo is devastating. Fuel Leak->Direct Hit or Hull Breach->Direct Hit can easily end a ship.

I think in the future I would be more likely to coordinate to Maarek (I passed Duchess evades for 3-4 rounds in one match and never needed it). This gives him double mods and potentially a linked barrel roll before a blue move(so valuable to get triple actions).

I don't think my time with Maarek has ended, but I do think I will focus more on using him as an annoying gnat rather than a crit king in the future.

15 minutes ago, SwampyCr said:

As the individual who flew this list [...]

...and flew it well...

32 minutes ago, SwampyCr said:

[...] I will say that I had high Hope's for Maarek, but they didn't pan out except in my last match (and even then, just good, not amazing).

The biggest issue has been laid out nicely- he only has one action and unless you can save the lock you have to really think about it. I took focus and had 2 dice shots a lot (especially after my second match when Maarek died to two 2-dice attacks and rolled 6 focuses on defense).

Seems like some of Maarek not getting to do his tricks was due to his being targeted fairly early. I left him mostly alone in our game and went for RAC, and he dialed in a lethal Direct Hit, and a game-foreclosing Damaged Power Regulator to ensure I had no chance at a shot next round.

1 hour ago, SwampyCr said:

As the individual who flew this list I will say that I had high Hope's for Maarek, but they didn't pan out except in my last match (and even then, just good, not amazing).

The biggest issue has been laid out nicely- he only has one action and unless you can save the lock you have to really think about it. I took focus and had 2 dice shots a lot (especially after my second match when Maarek died to two 2-dice attacks and rolled 6 focuses on defense).

On the flip side, Marksmanship, ATC and his ability can be ridiculously fun. If crits make it through, the right combo is devastating. Fuel Leak->Direct Hit or Hull Breach->Direct Hit can easily end a ship.

I think in the future I would be more likely to coordinate to Maarek (I passed Duchess evades for 3-4 rounds in one match and never needed it). This gives him double mods and potentially a linked barrel roll before a blue move(so valuable to get triple actions).

I don't think my time with Maarek has ended, but I do think I will focus more on using him as an annoying gnat rather than a crit king in the future.

I see Stele as being the most valuable when he's the second, or even third, threat in a list.

I don't believe he's going to work very well if he's the primary threat. With his single action he's just too easy to take off the table.

Where I've had the best luck with him is when he's been left alone because opponents were worried more about his wing-mates.

I vote Stele gets a single force which he is required to use to activate his ability.

...if only.....