I just kinda got back into the game the other night because my buddy just got the game and some expansions. He flew the Falcon, Poe Dameron X-wing, and standard X-wing (all resistance). I flew a gunboat, TIE Defender, and TIE Phantom. On the Defender I had "Outmaneuver", and on the gunboat I had "Shield Upgrade". I did not put anything on the Phantom. The pilots I used were "Whsiper" for the phantom, Rexler Brath for the Defender, and Major Vynder for the gunboat.

I got destroyed, most I did was take the shields on the falcon down, and also take down the shields and 1 hull damage on his regular x-wing. Seemed he had all manner of stuff that let him re-roll, or change blank die or focus die.

I will say the dice were not on my side either as I had a LOT of blank rolls or focus rolls, but nothing to alter the focus die with.

I will also say that I really did not think a whole lot about any upgrades and whatnot because it was taking me so long to get ready I just wanted to start the game. But it seemed I was always in his firing arc.

Are there any builds anyone can recommend that are good counters to the falcon and x-wings? He was also using a force user and would just use the force every turn to turn his die into whatever he wanted (had 3 force for Rey I believe)

Vader with Passive Sensors is a good counter to Poe, since you can reposition off the TL and barrel roll+focus into a shot, or OUT of his shot.

The same things that work against most aces will also help against Poe:

• An initiative 6 ace with a bigger bid (or something like Passive Sensors Vader), which makes it harder for him to arc dodge.
• Having enough ships / guns that he can't always dodge out of arc.
• Upgrades that let you see where he's going, like the Force power Sense.
• Janky stuff that prevents him doing what he wants to do, e.g. give him stress, tractor him through a rock etc.

Rey is strong, but her ability only works in her front arc, so try to get beside or behind her. Also she has to spend Force to use it, so if you shoot her multiple times per turn she'll run out. Other than that I don't know that there's anything that specifically counters her.

Also, if you're running Vynder, you probably want one of the configs and a secondary weapon so you can shoot while disarmed.

Also empire can field a lot of force users/force crew/gunners, which would help with your focus roll problem.

Whisper can have Fifth Brother for a force for example.

Rexler is probably too expensive, tanky as he is you either want proper aces or more ships against Resistance.

You could fly something like this:

Major Vynder (41)
Marksmanship (1)
Advanced SLAM (3)
Xg-1 Assault Configuration (0)
Autoblasters (2)

Ship total: 47 Half Points: 24 Threshold: 4

"Duchess" (42)
Fifth Brother (9)

Ship total: 51 Half Points: 26 Threshold: 2

Inquisitor (35)
Supernatural Reflexes (8)
Fire-Control System (2)
Concussion Missiles (6)

Ship total: 51 Half Points: 26 Threshold: 2

Inquisitor (35)
Supernatural Reflexes (8)
Fire-Control System (2)
Concussion Missiles (6)

Ship total: 51 Half Points: 26 Threshold: 2


Total: 200

View in Yet Another Squad Builder 2.0: https://raithos.github.io/?f=Galactic Empire&d=v8ZsZ200Z161X125WWWW104W144W232Y211XW82WWY171X74W113W99Y171X74W113W99&sn=Unnamed Squadron&obs=

Supernatural on Inquisitors lets them BR/Boost->focus, blue maneuver, target lock.

You could also go for the Imperial Aces with a bid, and outfly him.

Darth Vader (67)
Hate (3)
Passive Sensors (3)
Afterburners (6)

Ship total: 79 Half Points: 40 Threshold: 3

Soontir Fel (53)
Predator (2)
Shield Upgrade (8)

Ship total: 63 Half Points: 32 Threshold: 2

Seventh Sister (43)
Cluster Missiles (5)

Ship total: 48 Half Points: 24 Threshold: 2


Total: 190

View in Yet Another Squad Builder 2.0: https://raithos.github.io/?f=Galactic Empire&d=v8ZsZ200Z173X204W240WW105Y179X127W165WY170XWW98&sn=Unnamed Squadron&obs=

Vader and mini TIE swarm:

Darth Vader (67)
Hate (3)
Passive Sensors (3)
Afterburners (6)

Ship total: 79 Half Points: 40 Threshold: 3

Seyn Marana (30)
Marksmanship (1)

Ship total: 31 Half Points: 16 Threshold: 2

Gideon Hask (30)
Predator (2)

Ship total: 32 Half Points: 16 Threshold: 2

"Wampa" (30)
Ship total: 30 Half Points: 15 Threshold: 2

"Night Beast" (26)
Ship total: 26 Half Points: 13 Threshold: 2


Total: 198

View in Yet Another Squad Builder 2.0: https://raithos.github.io/?f=Galactic Empire&d=v8ZsZ200Z173X204W240WW105Y224X125WY223X127WY221XY226X&sn=Unnamed Squadron&obs=

Vader is your endgame piece. Wampa and Night Beast your blockers(and Wampa is a 3 dice gun if he lives), Seyn pushes in automatic damage with his ability, and Gideon is another 3 dice gun(thanks Seyn). Joust and focus fire his X-Wings, make it Vader+surviving TIEs vs Rey, at that point the TIEs should be able to block Rey every time.

On 11/9/2019 at 7:23 PM, voltagejim said:

I will also say that I really did not think a whole lot about any upgrades

Thats your main problem right there. Need the right upgrades to make ships more efficient killing machines 😁

Not sure what ur collection looks like. But passive sensors vader, or sense fcs vader is a good way to start. If you have inquisitor ties, those are nice and beefy and can hit hard once inside. Whisper LOVES 5th bro gunner for 1 force. Targeting computer or passive sensors gives whisper a ility to take locks.

Darth Vader (67)
Passive Sensors (3)
Afterburners (6)

“Redline” (52)
Passive Sensors (3)
Proton Torpedoes (13)

Soontir Fel (53)
Total: 197

Redline matches Reys Power. Soontir and vader give you two i6s to move and shoot before Rey. Redline setups two locks on his turn. Move passive sensors, aquire lock. Take calc with passive sensors gain another lock. Redline shoots after your two i6s who should plink shields so proton torp does crit damage.

Whisper 5th bro slots into the Vader roll if you want to go that route. Grand Inquisior slots into soontir spot if you like that or have that ship.

On ‎11‎/‎10‎/‎2019 at 3:23 AM, voltagejim said:

Are there any builds anyone can recommend that are good counters to the falcon and x-wings? He was also using a force user and would just use the force every turn to turn his die into whatever he wanted (had 3 force for Rey I believe)

Rey has only 2 force charge by default, but adding Leia as crew gives her a third.

If it was Rey as the pilot, the critical thing to remember is that Rey's ability only works in the ship's forward arc. The Falcon is a brute of a ship - especially the Resistance version - but it gets torn to shreds in a crossfire.

On ‎11‎/‎10‎/‎2019 at 3:23 AM, voltagejim said:

But it seemed I was always in his firing arc.

Is the big problem. Note that if he had to rotate the falcon's arc sideways, then Rey's 'blank-to-hit' and 'blank-to-evade' won't work when shooting broadside. Without knowing what happened, I can't tell you why he was able to keep you in arc, but you've got three ships which are great at coming at people from unexpected angles, so something clearly went wrong....

If you're facing Rey and Poe and a third X-wing, then the ships must be pretty much clean of upgrades - even assuming the third X-wing is a Rookie, that's still 186 points just on pilots.

I was flying against a Lando YT, Wedge and Jake yesterday and it was... Ehh... A lot of Action economy and Strongholding. In a list of Rey, Poe and generic, you kind of want to focus fire Poe. Rey while being an annoyance, has too much health to succesfully pop her quickly. And she throws as much dice as the X-Wings do.

"Whisper" is very good, although I would slap it with a Fifth Brother (Gunner) at the very least. I wouldn't bother with bid to be honest... He has a lot of tools just in his pilots. So...

1. Darth Vader - Afterburners, Passive Sensors
2. "Whisper" - Fifth Brother, Passive Sensors
3. Grand Inquisitor - Passive Sensors

You don't care, if you move second. Pop passives and wait. Each ship has Force for the Focus results and Target Locks after engaging. I'd send Vader in slowly, use Whisper to create a massive outflank for Rey and perhaps bite Poe to chase after him. Inquisitor is there to be a knife fighting annoyance. He is super mobile and agile, can prevent Range 1 bonus and grant it to himself.

1. Darth Vader - Hate, Afterburners, Passive Sensors
2. Grand Inquisitor - Fire-Control System, Proton Rockets
3. "Duchess" - Fifth Brother, Targeting Computer

Is a second alternative. While I do prefer "Whisper" for his Decloak mobility, "Duchess" can realy surprise enemies with the randomness of her Adaptive Ailerons. Inquisitor with his Boost/Roll > Focus can be super deadly with the Proton Rockets. And with Falcon being this obnoxiously large base, aiming the bullseye will be easy. Again each ship has Force in case it needs it. "Duchess" with a Lock and Force>Crit is just mean. You also have 6 points to play around. Like Outmaneuver on "Duchess" for zero bid for example. Up to you.

Idea is, to make the enemy choose, who they want to chase after. Then collapse with the other flank. While Poe and the generic can turn around quite nicely, the Falcon is much more unwieldy. Set up a very tight rock formation in the middle and use it for the Grand Inquisitor shenanigans. Vader with Hate and his pilot ability is very hard to take down. Spending a Force to get a Focus Token is big.

Thanks for the replies! I will try some of those out and hopefully get better results haha

5 hours ago, voltagejim said:

Thanks for the replies! I will try some of those out and hopefully get better results haha

You may want to get a copy of your opponent's list too. Based on what you described, there isn't any way Rey could have gotten 3 Force points without the list going over 200pts.

4 hours ago, AceDogbert said:

You may want to get a copy of your opponent's list too. Based on what you described, there isn't any way Rey could have gotten 3 Force points without the list going over 200pts.

The only way Rey can get three Force on the Falcon is if she has Leia Organa as Crew, who costs 19 points, so is 5 points over the limit, if he was flying with Rey, Poe and a basic T-70 rookie. I don't see anything else... Unless he had a Pilot Rey and a Gunner Rey for that additional Force Charge, which is also against the rules.

I would assume OP made a mistake or the friend is just "that" player

My friend may have been "That" player haha, When I rolled a good attack roll the first time I had 2 crits and 2 regular damage, he rolled his defense and got 3 evade, he said the crits cancelled first so he only got 1 face down damage card. Then when I was on defense and he rolled crits and regular hits, and I had some evade, he switched the rules and stated the crits go through, and I cancel regular hits first.

Yeah. Either they need to get clearer on the rules or they're flat out misleading you to begin with. Regular hits are definitely cancelled before critical hits.

(there is a specific pilot who's pilot ability does the reverse, but he's a Rebel - not Resistance - pilot so not relevant)

Check cards, both pilot and upgrades. If a card has a dot or dots by the name, only a given amount of cards equal to the number of dots can be used at once in a given squadron. Thus a YT-1300 with Rey as a Pilot cannot have Rey as a Gunner at the same time. Both of those cards have a single Dot by the name, meaning only one card with the name Rey can be in use.

The same applies to all named pilots and their corresponding gunner or crew upgrades. A Rebel Squadron cannot have an R2-D2 (Astromech) in an X-Wing and another R2-D2 (Crew) in an YT-1300 at the same time. Similarly an Imperial Squadron cannot have a Tie Advanced V1 piloted by the Grand Inquisitor while having a Tie Reaper with the Grand Inquisitor (Crew) on it.

Usually Hits are negated before Crits, there are only a few situations, when that is not the case. I believe a Tie/ln Rebel pilot was avoiding Crits first. Then there is another pilot that does not allow people to avoid crits at all.

Overall vs a YT-1300... I would say maintain a Range 3 engage, as you will roll 2-3 dice vs its 1 and he will roll 3 vs your 4. I'd go for Vader with FCS or Passives and Afterburners, Grand Inquisitor with FCS and maybe... "Duchess" with Fifth Brother and Predator. Maintain a somewhat close distance between ships, letting Striker go the wide side around the enemy while Vader and Inquisitor stick closer to the center. If the X-Wings engage, the three ships can melt them in seconds. Just ensure, that you have the ability to turn your ships into the engagement, if you sense it happening. Don't rush into the fight with fast maneuvers, keep your distance at first. You have the dice advantage there, as each of your ships can fire 3 attack dice vs their 3 defence and they shoot 3 vs your 4. You also have lots of Force and potential Evade actions.

Forceful Empire Aces:

1. Darth Vader (Tie ADvanced X1) - Passive Sensors, Afterburners
2. Grand Inquisitor (Tie Advanced V1) - Fire-Control System, Concussion Missiles
3. "Duchess" (Tie Striker) - Targeting Computer, Fifth Brother, Outmaneuver

Each ship has a constant modifier from at least one Force Token.

"Duchess" always shoots with three dice and can easily outflank the enemy with her mobillity. I just love to do a Left 1 Bank followed with a Right 2 Hard and a Barrel Roll. No one ever expects this. A very awkward position, as you move to the left with the ship, but you arc is now pointing 45degrees to the right. She also strips a Defence die against her attacks, if the enemy she is shooting doesn't have her in arc.

Grand Inquisitor can spend a Force to use 3 attack dice or remove an attack die at Range 1 from the enemy. He can Target Lock at Range 3 and maintain the Force while popping a Concussion Missile. Those are especially deadly against the Falcon, as he will have lots of Damage Cards on herself to flip. Be careful though, as the ship needs to have damage cards before the missile deals its damage for the additional effect to trigger. I am almost tempted to swap this for Proton Rockets, as the ship has a Barrel Roll > Focus and a Boost > Focus. Aiming a 5 Dice hit into the Falcon will be child's play. You can set up a Lock at Range 3 and clsoe in for a double tap from the Proton Rockets for a Lock + Focus + 2 Force on a 5 Dice attack. Something is sure to stick.

Darth Vader just does very Darth Vadery things. He comes in at Range 3, does a Target Lock, spends a Force to get himself a Focus. If you go the Passive Sensors route, you pop the sensors and wait. Then when you shoot, you perform a Target Lock and then can pick, if you want to just spend a Force into Focus, or perhaps a Barrel Roll will get you out of an arc as well. He is an amazing arc dodger with his ability to link a Barrel Roll from the Passive Sensors engagement actions.

Thanks for the suggestions! I did fly Darth Vader in the TIE Advanced with Afterburners, brilliant evasion, and fire control systems. Dutchess with targeting computer, outmaneuver, and fifth brother, and Major Rhymer with homing missiles, proton bombs, skilled bombardier, and munitions fail safe.

My buddy played 2 resistance A-wing and the Falcon with Rey. I actually took out one of his A-wings very quickly, and almost took the other one out but ultimately lost in the end. My bomber was never in front of anyone so I never had opportunities to drop bombs. I did once and he just flew right over it and away from the 0-1 distance for the detonation. Vader was no where in the fight due to my horrible flying. Actually the way he won was vader was my last guy left and he had no damage, but I had flown so close to the edge, that any move I made made he fly off the edge and auto destruct It was really cool how vader can just popping barrel rolls though! I will probably use him again.

Next match I played against a friend we convinced to buy a core set and some expansions yesterday haha. He played the sith infiltrator and the nantec fighter. I just used the same squad. I lost again, but was able to kill his nantect fighter. The infiltrator didn't even suffer one damage. He had so many freaking upgrades on the infiltrator it was ridiculous. Tons of force points (had palpatine, plus already had 4 force to begin with) so he could always re-roll, or give himself 2 focus, or spend force to change focus attack results to hits, etc.

In both battles I just always still seemed to be in the firing arc of their turret ships constantly. I think part of the problem is I need to get better at flying in general. At the start of the match I usually always make my fighters go 5 straight (or their highestes straight) so I can get into battle range as fast as possible.

2 minutes ago, voltagejim said:

In both battles I just always still seemed to be in the firing arc of their turret ships constantly. I think part of the problem is I need to get better at flying in general. At the start of the match I usually always make my fighters go 5 straight (or their highestes straight) so I can get into battle range as fast as possible.

Don't blindly rush into combat. Try to set up a pincer/killbox. Fly max speed with the ship furthest from your opponent, and slowroll the closest, so that when the engagement comes, you have all your ships engaging at the same time, and from different angles, so you cover more area, and/or can focus fire the same ship. It also makes it easier to have at least some ships on target AFTER the first engagement.

Disregard above when you fly a jousting block, then you just stay in formation until engagement, and possibly after, if you k-turn as a block.

Try to anticipate where your opponent will be, and where he thinks you will be. The most obvious "best move" isn't always the best move. Sometimes it's better to do something less predictable.

gotcha. Also I am learning I should do more stress moves. I normally never do a move that gives me stress cause it means I cannot take an action, and I felt I could never afford to do that, but my friend did a lot of stress moves, and he was fine

It's better to be stressed and in a good spot than to have an action, but also multiple guns pointed at you

5 hours ago, Revanur said:

It's better to be stressed and in a good spot than to have an action, but also multiple guns pointed at you

Agreed. It should be noted ships with the force can tolerate stress better, too, since they have access to a pot of sort-of-mini-focus

You seem to be more of a Rebel Mind when it comes to flying. A bit of Rebel Beef can easily do 4 Straight and bite for a joust.

Empire is all about attacking from flanks and making sure your enemy has no arc on you. What you seem to need is more practice. Try to predict, where your enemy will fly and set up a maneuver, that will let you shoot, but also he out of arc.

It is always better to throw some unmodded dice, if a Barrel Roll took you out of range of the enemy. What I mean is, take a roll over focus, if that makes you dodge.

Regarding your enemies, Rey is worth over half his list. Has lots of hp but almost zero defence dice. A round of focused fire should take her down to half. You are throwing 10 attack dice if Rhymer shoots Proton Toros or something like that against a 1 Agility ship that has 11 hp total. If you are lucky, you can take it down in one turn. Important to remember, is that her pilot ability works only in the forward arc, does not turn with the turret. So attack from the flank. Rey hates that, as she cannot flip blanks there. I wouldn't worry too much about the A-Wings. They will throw two dice against your three.

In short, don't rush into the centre. Split your ships and see where he decided to engage. Then collapse on him from the side he left open. A-Wings are super mobile, so when going against them, go slow to keep your arcs open in a wide area.

With Major Rhymer I'd focus on Torpedoes or Missiles. With his pilot ability you suddenly have Range 3 Cluster Missiles. Although I'd go with Captain Bonus, as you can pick Focus and still have a micro Target Lock when you fire Torps or Missiles.

Edit:

That's what I would fly with your ships: Darth Vader (Hate, Afterburners, Fire-Control System), "Duchess" (Outmaneuver, Targeting Computer, Fifth Brother) and Major Rhymer (Shield Upgrade, Proton Torpedoes, Ion Missiles).

Your Bomber can pop a 4 Dice attack at every range and can Ionise any ship at any range with the Missiles. An Ionised Rey is a dead Rey. She moves 1 forward and can only Focus.

Just keep the Bomber rolling forward and keep the A-Wings at bay with Vader and "Duchess". Ideally you throw 6 dice at them with Locks each turn.

Last hint, if you can, always burn a Force Charge for a Focus Action on Vader.