Go with Duchess, Countdown’s ability is not that great. Plus the lower cost and higher initiative on Duchess makes her worthwhile.

As far as 7th sister, I haven’t used her myself

If you're trying seventh sister, why not put some stress sources on the list? normally I would say Sloane, but that doesn't work on that archetype. However, since you have Vader, why not try 0-0-0? It's a pretty efficient piece

2 hours ago, Rubales said:

Hi!

recently I've found this list, and I'm very intrigued about it:

TIE Advanced x1: Darth Vader (67 + 😎
+ Fire-Control System (2)
+ Afterburners (6)

TIE Reaper: Major Vermeil (49 + 12)
+ Seventh Sister (9)
+ Hull Upgrade (3)

TIE/sk Striker: "Duchess" (42 + 21)
+ Juke (7)
+ Fifth Brother (9)
+ Hull Upgrade (5)

Has anyone tested something similar?

I don't have any previous experience with seventh sister... is she worth it?

Also, I always have doubts about Duchess vs. Countdown.

I love i5 and unpredictability, but Countdown 'only 1 hit' ability is great.

What do you think?

33 minutes ago, LeMightyASP said:

If you're trying seventh sister, why not put some stress sources on the list? normally I would say Sloane, but that doesn't work on that archetype. However, since you have Vader, why not try 0-0-0? It's a pretty efficient piece

This was a friend of mines list that we tested quite a bit, and he flew it for like two months straight. He went with passive sensors on Vader so he didnt need to worry about Vader being outbid. With PS Vader can lock and b-roll before engaging (and after all ships have moved).

He tried and had 0-0-0 on vermeil for quite awhile. All it did was provide Vermeil with a calculate, because nobody is gonna take a stress with 7th sister on board. So he eventually dropped it, since his toughest matchup were swarms, and swapped 000 for proton bombs on Dutchess.

He ended up top 4 at one HST, then won the next HST he attended a few weeks later.

7th Sister is less about her ability, and more about Vermeil being able to have mods when slooping, or coordinating, or jamming, and also able to take an evade. But her ability does provide protection against those linked action ships like Fang Fighters trying to close range 1, or bwings b-rolling, and any ship kturning behind vermeil.

The list takes practice, to know how to approach all the various archetypes.

If you are not going Passive Sensors on vader, I would then highly recommend Sense on Vader. With two aileron ships, blocking should be a cinch.

Great explanation, it makes totally sense!

I hadn't considered bombs on duchess... Isn't she too fragile without shield or hull upgrade? Are the bombs worth it?

14 minutes ago, Rubales said:

Great explanation, it makes totally sense!

I hadn't considered bombs on duchess... Isn't she too fragile without shield or hull upgrade? Are the bombs worth it?

She is only fragile if you fly her like a madman. At range 3, with a force and evade, her average roll dodges three hits. Its when she is being attacked by multiple ships, she is in trouble. Bombs, create an area of denial, so even if you don't drop em, they can still have an impact on how your opponent flies. It would be hard for a swarm player to commit to chasing/kturning behind dutchess knowing proton bombs are on board. With ailerons on dutchess, you can position her to dodge all arcs, and position yourself for a nice bomb drop, which then your opponent now has to account for and may have to scramble and blow up his formation to prevent multiple hits from a bomb. You probably wont drop them every match (like against other trip ace lists), but it doesnt mean they didnt have an impact on the game. Kind of like taking HLC. Maybe you dont fire it, but when your opponent has to waste an action to b-roll out of your bullseye, it still is playing a part in your list.

Yeah, you've convinced me 🙂

I will try that list, including proton bombs, this weekend in a local tournament.

Thank you so much for the advices!

14 hours ago, wurms said:

This was a friend of mines list that we tested quite a bit, and he flew it for like two months straight. He went with passive sensors on Vader so he didnt need to worry about Vader being outbid. With PS Vader can lock and b-roll before engaging (and after all ships have moved).

He tried and had 0-0-0 on vermeil for quite awhile. All it did was provide Vermeil with a calculate, because nobody is gonna take a stress with 7th sister on board. So he eventually dropped it, since his toughest matchup were swarms, and swapped 000 for proton bombs on Dutchess.

He ended up top 4 at one HST, then won the next HST he attended a few weeks later.

7th Sister is less about her ability, and more about Vermeil being able to have mods when slooping, or coordinating, or jamming, and also able to take an evade. But her ability does provide protection against those linked action ships like Fang Fighters trying to close range 1, or bwings b-rolling, and any ship kturning behind vermeil.

The list takes practice, to know how to approach all the various archetypes.

If you are not going Passive Sensors on vader, I would then highly recommend Sense on Vader. With two aileron ships, blocking should be a cinch.

So I’ve seen these shenanigans for PS Vader

Afterburners boost

Spend a force to perform a target lock

Passive sensors during the perform action step

When he engages, perform a PS calculate

spend a force to do a focus linked to a red barrel roll.

22 hours ago, pakirby said:

So I’ve seen these shenanigans for PS Vader

Afterburners boost

Spend a force to perform a target lock

Passive sensors during the perform action step

When he engages, perform a PS calculate

spend a force to do a focus linked to a red barrel roll.

Its pretty nuts. He went up against an anakin and obi 2 ship list with a 27pt bid and 200-0 it.

1 hour ago, wurms said:

Its pretty nuts. He went up against an anakin and obi 2 ship list with a 27pt bid and 200-0 it.

Tried it this afternoon, I think he can get 5 actions if he does afterburners boost into the other actions.

5 hours ago, pakirby said:

Tried it this afternoon, I think he can get 5 actions if he does afterburners boost into the other actions.

I'm not following. Care to elaborate? Txs.

I tested the list yesterday and worked pretty well. I'm happy with the results, next time I will try with passive sensors instead of fire control system

Vader is a proven powerhouse as you have him, and Duchess is potent as all get-out, though I think you stick Predator and 5Bro on her and leave it at that.

Vermeil, however, seems less appealing without Vader crew...

You could replace him with 2 Alpha Squadron Pilots as blockers, or a few TIES, or Soontir and then beef up your three aces with some Hull and/or Shield Upgrades

Think I'd rather have Maarek over Duchess but that's just me.

How about Whisper instead of Duchess?

On 9/6/2019 at 2:31 PM, Rubales said:

Hi!

recently I've found this list, and I'm very intrigued about it:

TIE Advanced x1: Darth Vader (67 + 😎
+ Fire-Control System (2)
+ Afterburners (6)

TIE Reaper: Major Vermeil (49 + 12)
+ Seventh Sister (9)
+ Hull Upgrade (3)

TIE/sk Striker: "Duchess" (42 + 21)
+ Juke (7)
+ Fifth Brother (9)
+ Hull Upgrade (5)

Has anyone tested something similar?

I don't have any previous experience with seventh sister... is she worth it?

Also, I always have doubts about Duchess vs. Countdown.

I love i5 and unpredictability, but Countdown 'only 1 hit' ability is great.

What do you think?

I like this list

Since you have 1 point left (if i did math right and if you don't care about bid) i would change hull upgrade for afterburners on duchess.

On ‎9‎/‎6‎/‎2019 at 4:23 PM, Rubales said:

I hadn't considered bombs on duchess... Isn't she too fragile without shield or hull upgrade? Are the bombs worth it?

Bombs are a nice way to use the extra points. And - for that matter - if you really want to give her a bit of a kick, try equipping her with Afterburners.

Adaptive Ailerons =/= Boost, despite their superficial similarity. The amount of ground you can cover in big swoopy turns with speed 1 bank/speed 3 straight/speed 1 bank verges on the insane - it's about equivalent to a speed 8 hard turn, and Her Grace can do that straight out of a red segnor or koiogran, and still end up unstressed and getting her action.

Strikers with afterburners are a bit of an acquired taste, but it's proper "Where the ********* did she come from?" territory.

On ‎9‎/‎6‎/‎2019 at 3:46 PM, LeMightyASP said:

If you're trying seventh sister, why not put some stress sources on the list?

I suspect she's mostly there as the cheapest force-granting crew....

Considering the new points, do you think this list is still solid?

Maybe with some adjustments...

TIE Advanced x1: Darth Vader (67 + 9)
+ Passive Sensors (3)
+ Afterburners (6)

TIE Reaper: Major Vermeil (49 + 12)
+ Seventh Sister (9)
+ Hull Upgrade (3)

TIE Striker: Duchess (42 + 20)
+ Crack Shot (1)
+ Fifth Brother (11)
+ Proton Bombs (5)
+ Targeting Computer (3)

What do you think about it?

Don't overload Duchess. She has no shields and only two Agility. She is even more prone to sudden combustion than Soontir. If we are talking Extended, Fifth Brother and Predator is enough on her. Alternatively Fifth Brother, Elusive and Targeting Computer. But it's better to aim Bullseye and have a focus/evade or dodge arc.

54 minutes ago, Schanez said:

Don't overload Duchess. She has no shields and only two Agility. She is even more prone to sudden combustion than Soontir. If we are talking Extended, Fifth Brother and Predator is enough on her. Alternatively Fifth Brother, Elusive and Targeting Computer. But it's better to aim Bullseye and have a focus/evade or dodge arc.

Maybe adding Juke, keeping 5bro and targeting computer... and dropping the proton bombs:

TIE Advanced x1: Darth Vader (67 + 9)
+ Passive Sensors (3)
+ Afterburners (6)

TIE Reaper: Major Vermeil (49 + 12)
+ Seventh Sister (9)
+ Hull Upgrade (3)

TIE Striker: Duchess (42 + 21)

+ Juke (7)
+ Fifth Brother (11)
+ Targeting Computer (3)

Having an evade (to trigger Juke) should increase Duchess' life expectancy 😅

3 hours ago, Rubales said:

Maybe adding Juke, keeping 5bro and targeting computer... and dropping the proton bombs:

TIE Advanced x1: Darth Vader (67 + 9)
+ Passive Sensors (3)
+ Afterburners (6)

TIE Reaper: Major Vermeil (49 + 12)
+ Seventh Sister (9)
+ Hull Upgrade (3)

TIE Striker: Duchess (42 + 21)

+ Juke (7)
+ Fifth Brother (11)
+ Targeting Computer (3)

Having an evade (to trigger Juke) should increase Duchess' life expectancy 😅

I played her with Juke, Fifth Bro and Shield. She goes down in flames quickly.

You usually want to Roll, to dodge arcs. Predator is cool for a passive mod, if you can aim the bullseye.

My favourite builds on her so far are just Fifth Bro and Predator and that's about it. She is meant to be annoying but not worth enough points to be a main focus.

Ifyou want to run Juke, you are better of picking "Whisper". He has free Evade for it. You can TC, FCS and Juke him for some sweet damage and survivability.

Vader: FCS, Afterburners + Whisper: FCS, Targeting Computer + Vermeil: 0-0-0, Seventh Sister.

EDIT:

Maybe even ditch Vader and run "Whisper": Juke, FCS, Targeting Computer with "Duchess": Elusive, Fifth Brother, Targeting Computer and finally Vermeil: Agent Kallus, Seventh Sister. 9 points to do whatever with. You can upgrade Seventh Sister to Vader (Crew) and slap "Whisper" with BT-1, because you never know.

I've won a store tournament and a tourney at Gen Con with this list:

TIE Advanced x1 - •Darth Vader - 78
•Darth Vader - Black Leader (67)
Fire-Control System (2)
Afterburners (6)
Hate (3)

TIE Advanced x1 - •Maarek Stele - 54
•Maarek Stele - Servant of the Empire (45)
Marksmanship (1)
Fire-Control System (2)
Afterburners (6)

TIE Reaper - •Major Vermeil - 65
•Major Vermeil - Veteran of Scarif (49)
Predator (2)
•Director Krennic (4)
•Grand Moff Tarkin (6)
Shield Upgrade (4)

Total: 197/200

View in the X-Wing Squad Builder

Duchess is nice but Maarek is just awesome.

A very interesting proposal! I only have a single tie advance right now, but I'm planning adquiring a new one, so then I will try this list 😉

I've found most of the empire's small ships work best in pairs and trips.