Figuring out Ric

By Skitch_, in X-Wing

So I was at a tournament last weekend and did better than I have ever done in a tournament. (3-1, Yay me)

I was flying Anakin 7B R2, Obi-Wan CLT R4 Brilliant Evasion, Ric Juke FCS R2.

Before I get into Ric I must say the more I fly Obi-Wan with CLT and R4 the more I like it. I used Brilliant Evasion once or twice in the tournament, I don't know how I feel about it yet.

Now Ric. I feel like Ric wants to go fast to take advantage of his pilot ability and ship ability. I found myself almost always wanting to do a 3+ to get the evade but also try and get the extra red/green die even when a 1 straight or a 2 turn would have been the better option. As such I feel that if you are trying to maximize his pilot/ship ability R2 is the better call on Ric than R4 because if I am always going fast what do I care about expanding my blue slow maneuver selection. I was in this mindset because Juke on only 2 reds is pretty lackluster. So I figured FCS would help out with that so I can get a reroll and hopefully get at least 2 hits going. Throughout the tournament I realized that I wasn't taking target lock very often so the FCS wasn't being utilized. I also started to feel that having a 3 tallon roll as the only advanced maneuver feels very limiting. As such I found myself boosting most of the time with Ric to get him turned around because I wasn't taking the tallon roll. When I wasn't boosting I was focusing or barrel rolling.

I love the idea of Ric as a pilot. A cheap I5 with a cool ability and Full Throttle seems like a great combo but he felt really lackluster with the setup I had on him. Thinking back I don't think of Ric as an ace, even though he is I5 and wants to go fast and has Full Throttle. The dial is far too basic to try and fly him as an ace. He is more of the guy who wants to target the slower ships on the board and beat up on them. I think he wants to be flown like a slower (no SLAM), more nimble (tallon roll, boost, barrel roll) Alpha Class Starwing in that he wants to come jetting in for a pass and then take a turn or two to turn around. I'm just not quite sure what to put on him because Juke is super situational on him. It can be devastating if you are playing against a slower list and are always getting his extra dice + getting range 1, or it can be a non-factor. I don't know that I like Juke for 7 points with how situational I have found it to be for him. I've thought about Outmaneuver but the basic dial creeps back into my mind and his flight path becomes pretty obvious and probably pretty easily countered.

My next experiment with him is to drop Juke for Daredevil and drop FCS for Collision Detector. I'm hoping that maybe this will make him a better knife fighter and will help him be a bit unpredictable so he can spend more time on target. R4 would probably be the way to go with this setup but R2 is just so nice.

Edited by Skitch_
5 minutes ago, Skitch_ said:

My  next experiment with him is to drop Juke for Dared  evil and drop FCS and putting on Collision Detector. I'm hoping that maybe this will make him a better knife fighter and will help him be a bit unpredictable and spend more time on target. R4 would probably be th  e way to go with this setup but R2 is just so nice. 

My initial experiences also show that the lack of 4 or 5k severly curtailed the ability to stay engaged. And that while Juke has natural synergy, Davredevil is a very interesting option.

I just haven’t had a chance to get that on the table, but Daredevil Ric seems like a decent choice.

R2-C4 Daredevil Ric comes in at 50 points and keeps his offense fairly relevant if you're looking to go that route

I'm loving R2-C4 + Daredevil for Ric too. On their own, both are nice for Ric (Daredevil gives him better flexibility and time-on-target, R2-C4 gives him double-modded shots on turns where it's safe to take a Lock), but they're even better together. For example, having both means Ric can do a 180 by doing a 3-turn + red 1-turn (from boost), and still have the Evade from Full Throttle for defense or a modded shot.

Fly Ric with daredevil. So good.

You want a naboo fighter with Juke, use anakin. He can turn and boost and have mods with force, or use force to get a better shot or not be blocked by obvious 3 speed moves.

Honestly, I've flown Ric a bunch; I don't think his ability is as amazing as people think. Now, I'm not saying the effect isn't good; he is incredibly tanky with 3 greens and an auto evade. Rather, his trigger is very lackluster. It's super easy to turn off his ability. And 3 reds isn't really a good boom and zoom.

I'm just going to come out and say it, I think the N1 is a kind of eh platform, and that it isn't the offensive badass its "Full Throttle" makes us think it is.

I'm starting to think it's an entirely defensive platform meant to escort.

1 hour ago, wurms said:

Fly Ric with daredevil. So good.

You want a naboo fighter with Juke, use anakin. He can turn and boost and have mods with force, or use force to get a better shot or not be blocked by obvious 3 speed moves.

What astros? If any. R2? (Seems like the expected, but then again Juke is the expected here, but Daredevil seems to work much better for the flight path). R2C4? Sounds expensive to me.

No sensor? I think FCS is of little use here.

R2c4 is good with daredevil ric. But r2 astro is probably the best for tournament play. Can easily get away and regen above half. I dont run r2 astros in casual games, so I run r2c4 until tournament time, then r2 goes on.

Fcs isnt bad, especially with r2c4 since you can get a reroll and eyeball mod.

R3 fcs is a solid loadout for him but regen is how you win tourneys.

I'm very curious indeed to try Daredevil on Ric Olié. I haven't tried the Naboo ship yet, but this is the list I made so far:

- Anakin Skywalker [Aethersprite] (R2 Astromech, Shield Upgrade, Delta-7B)
- Ric Olié (R2-A6)
- Padmé Amidala (Juke, R2 Astromech)
200 points

I think R2-A6, giving the option to modify the speed according to the enemy ships that have already moved, might be useful to help trigger Ric's ability. No initiative bid though, so maybe the Shield Upgrade on Anakin could be removed to assure that even the enemy's initiative-5 ships move before Ric. Juke on Padmé can be very good I think. Again, it's only theory so far though.

I feel increasingly that the way to run Ric is as cheaply as possible, so that you lose less of your list during his extended disengagements. Trying to buff him up so he can carry more of the load seems Sisyphean. One upgrade would be my limit unless I had points to burn.

Ric is a high speed jouster, and while his possible three greens and evade token will take some heat off him, he might well take a hit or two, meaning you'll get at least something out of that R2 Astro on the way out. Also, his action economy is not great, so grab a lock as you recharge your shields, and have FCS ready for the second engagement. But then there's R3, R4 (with Daredevil), the named astros, Collision Detector...

Juke, I'm not entirely sold on. It's great, sure, but it penalizes you even more for going slow, it's expensive, and it occasionally does little to nothing (especially in a meta full of force users). Predator, Marksmanship and Crack Shot all seem decent? Daredevil and Elusive are both interesting, but I don't know. Lone Wolf would be great, but he's going to be flying alongside at least two more pilots. Late game insurance? Outmaneuver seems reliable and useful, but like Juke it's expensive.

So...a good design? Lots of options, no obvious build. Good job FFG!

I played the list below at my LGS earlier today and Ric was a beast. The only time I didn't do a 3-5 maneuver was when I wanted to setup a torpedo shot and I didn't leave any torpedos on the board at the end of the game. The three dice and evade came in handy many times. Ric was still battling at the end of both games I played today.

Anakin Skywalker (62)
R2 Astromech (6)
Calibrated Laser Targeting (5)

Ship total: 76 Half Points: 38 Threshold: 2

Ric Olié (42)
Juke (7)
Passive Sensors (3)
R2 Astromech (4)
Proton Torpedoes (13)

Ship total: 69 Half Points: 35 Threshold: 3

Gold Squadron Trooper (25)
Ship total: 25 Half Points: 13 Threshold: 3

Gold Squadron Trooper (25)
Ship total: 25 Half Points: 13 Threshold: 3


Total: 192

View in Yet Another Squad Builder 2.0: https://raithos.github.io/?f=Galactic Republic&d=v8ZsZ200Z273X199W2W200WY333X123W240W2W136Y321XWY321XW&sn=Anakin Scouts&obs=

Edited by Cav Scout
Edit the total points.

Disengage and setup speed 4 strafing runs so your opponent can't easily nerf his ability. Daredevil and R4-P have really helped with this, as being stuck doing a 3-straight when you're stressed and coming in for an attack makes it so easy for the opponent to counter with something like a 3-turn or 3-Talon roll, and Daredevil basically gives you a very wide talon roll that also lets you get your evade on that turn if you need it. For me the common play pattern has been to boost him into a diagonal lane on the early turns, rush into my opponents at speed 4-5 on the opening engagement, shoot past them and boost around a rock, and then 3-hard and boost around that same rock into a new firing lane that Ric can 4-straight through at the opponents ships. He pairs really well with Jedi that can keep the opponent occupied without taking much damage while Ric sets up for another run or threaten to flank and hit them hard if they decide to chase after Ric.

Edited by Tvboy
20 hours ago, Captain Lackwit said:

I'm just going to come out and say it, I think the N1 is a kind of eh platform, and that it isn't the offensive badass its "Full Throttle" makes us think it is.

I'm starting to think it's an entirely defensive platform meant to escort.

I'd go a step farther than eh and say bleh. Wants to go fast, but crappy selection of turns around and greens. Remind of the unfortunate e-wing in terms of awkwardness.

I played Ric quite a bit with Crack Shot and R2 and was pretty impressed because of:

1) Ric is pretty tanky with regen, evade and 3 green dice if he went faster than the opponent ship.

2) He’s pretty cheap for what he’s capable of. He comes in at only 47 points as an I5 pilot with regen and Crack Shot.

3) I really like to disengage in X Wing, therefore Ric is my ship. He’s coming in fast to deal some damage, followed by a disengage to acquire a lock.

4) Ric changed the way my opponents where playing because they dialed in faster maneuvers at some point in the game.

I also think that it’s not necessary to dial in a >3 speed maneuver just for the evade+ability. Two dice are better in a good spot than having 3 dice without doing anything...

Daredevil and maybe even Juke are good ways to build him. I stay with Crack Shot because it’s cheap and awesome.

Edited by Ryuneke

Daredevil & R2. Really fun with Advanced Protons & his extra die from his speed.

On 7/27/2019 at 4:39 PM, Captain Lackwit said:

I'm just going to come out and say it, I think the N1 is a kind of eh platform, and that it isn't the offensive badass its "Full Throttle" makes us think it is.

I'm starting to think it's an entirely defensive platform meant to escort.

I dare say you haven’t flown Ani with ProTorps.

9 hours ago, pakirby said:

Daredevil & R2. Really fun with Advanced Protons & his extra die from his speed.

You probably already know this, but Ric's ability only works on his primary attacks. Wasn't sure based on how you worded your post.

14 hours ago, Archangelspiv said:

I dare say you haven’t flown Ani with ProTorps.

I dare say you don't know what "platform" means.

1 hour ago, prauxim said:

I dare say you don't know what "platform" means.

Well you would be wrong 😉

15-0

3 hours ago, Archangelspiv said:

Well you would be wrong 😉

15-0

Was this supposed 15-0 with naked bravos? Otherwise, its just as irrelevant as your last comment. A ship having a pilot that works says nothing about the platform being good, esp when that pilot has no-force-cost supernatural built-in

Just now, prauxim said:

Was this supposed 15-0 with naked bravos? Otherwise, its just as irrelevant as your last comment. A ship having a pilot that works says nothing about the platform being good, esp when that pilot has no-force-cost supernatural built-in

Anakin has to burn his force charge for his not an action barrel roll.

36 minutes ago, prauxim said:

Was this supposed 15-0 with naked bravos? Otherwise, its just as irrelevant as your last comment. A ship having a pilot that works says nothing about the platform being good, esp when that pilot has no-force-cost supernatural built-in

Are you sure you understand the “platform”?