so i am thinking of dipping my toe into CIS and was wondering what is best option to look to fly, best way to get into the faction, whats best to look at for competitive and casual play etc, any ideas on some squads would also be appreciated

any advise would be appreciated

TIA

Really is only one way to use CIS. Fly 5+ ship lists usually more than half of it being Vultures.

DBS-32C (42)
Kraken (10)
Landing Struts (1)

DBS-404 (30)
Adv. Proton Torpedoes (6)
DRK-1 Probe Droids (5)
Landing Struts (1)

DFS-311 (23)
Energy-Shell Charges (5)
Grappling Struts (1)

Trade Federation Drone (19)
Energy-Shell Charges (5)
Grappling Struts (1)

Trade Federation Drone (19)
Energy-Shell Charges (5)
Grappling Struts (1)

Trade Federation Drone (19)
Energy-Shell Charges (5)
Grappling Struts (1)
Total: 199

View in Yet Another Squad Builder 2.0

This is my current fave one right now mostly because all droids.

Techno Union Bomber (26)
Energy-Shell Charges (5)
DRK-1 Probe Droids (5)

Ship total: 36 Half Points: 18 Threshold: 3

DBS-404 (30)
Adv. Proton Torpedoes (6)

Ship total: 36 Half Points: 18 Threshold: 3

General Grievous (44)
Crack Shot (1)
Impervium Plating (4)
Soulless One (6)

Ship total: 55 Half Points: 28 Threshold: 4

Trade Federation Drone (19)
Energy-Shell Charges (5)

Ship total: 24 Half Points: 12 Threshold: 2

Trade Federation Drone (19)
Energy-Shell Charges (5)

Ship total: 24 Half Points: 12 Threshold: 2

Trade Federation Drone (19)
Energy-Shell Charges (5)

Ship total: 24 Half Points: 12 Threshold: 2


Total: 199

Hyenas are really good, should definatley invest in two,

Many lists uses the probes from the Infiltrator to get early locks and Mauls is alot of fun to play.

1 Bubble and 6-7 drones is fairly common build.

2hyenas, Strife box and a loose droid should be a good start, then just flesh it out.

As a basis I would buy

Servants of Strife Squadron Pack

Vulture-class Droid Fighter Expansion

AND EITHER

Sith Infiltrator Expansion Pack

OR

2 Hyena-class Droid Bomber Expansion Pack

With this you can make a lot of fun builds

Early CIS meta was double Infiltrators but the points adjustment hit that list extremely hard. Now I think their best option is massed bombers and drones with ordnance set up by probe droids and tactical relays. My opinions on CIS:

- Probe droids are very good and let you threaten ships at of any pilot skill with ordnance that isn't as vulnerable to dice variance.

- Bumping your droids up to PS3 from PS1 is worth it (especially with the Sinker Swarm running around these days)

- DBS-404 is good enough to be an auto-include imo. Run him naked since he's probably going to die in early game (but trade above his point cost on damage).

- Grievous is a popular pocket ace

- A lot of people like using DFS-311 as a cheap blocker and support ship who can pass off calculate tokens

- Landing/Grappling Struts are great. Drag your opponent through the rocks on the initial approach and you'll get a huge benefit from them for the minimal investment. Note that when you are on an obstacle with the struts activated you get +1 for obstruction on defense but your opponent does not.

- The tactical relay Kraken gives you a ton of tokens to work with which is really effective with the droids' token sharing ability

- Infiltrators get focused down quickly with the exception of Dooku with title who has cloaking shenanigans. Maul is usually run with Hate and can crank out a ton of damage.

Count Dooku (63)
Heightened Perception (3)
Perceptive Copilot (8)
General Grievous (3)
DRK-1 Probe Droids (5)
Hull Upgrade (3)
Scimitar (4)
Kraken (10)

Ship total: 99 Half Points: 50 Threshold: 6

DBS-404 (30)
Landing Struts (1)

Ship total: 31 Half Points: 16 Threshold: 3

Separatist Bomber (29)
Proton Torpedoes (13)
Landing Struts (1)

Ship total: 43 Half Points: 22 Threshold: 3

Separatist Drone (21)
Energy-Shell Charges (5)
Grappling Struts (1)

Ship total: 27 Half Points: 14 Threshold: 2

Total: 200

thanks everyone so far, defo want to try more droids i think more so than the infiltrator, they seem fun and a bit more difficult to play against with energy shells and discord missiles etc