With the arrival of the first order interceptor, I was wondering which is the interceptor type ship that is the most fun to play. To be more specific, I consider that an interceptor type ship is one that can easily evade an arc and has a good dial, its maneuverability is above all others. They generally have a lot of agility and about 3 or 4 life points spread between helmet and shields.
I am going to list the ships that I consider to fit the description:
- Wing A
- Tie Interceptor
- Advanced Tie v1
- Fang Fighter
- StarViper
- RZ-2 A-Wing (resistance)
- Tie Silencer
- Delta-7
- Nantex

Which is your favorite and why?

If you think there could be another ship on the list that I haven't mentioned just comment it

technically allmost all fighters built for speed are interceptors, but my favorite of them is probably the Tie Striker. super fun to fly

Even the T-65 X-Wing is a speedy ship, and it has good maneuverability too. Not as agile as a Tie/LN Fighter, but still pretty agile. And with the S-Foils closed it's even more fast and agile due to having Boost and Focus>Boost. And with Daredevil I'd imagine the T-65 would have even more agility.

30 minutes ago, Vontoothskie said:

technically allmost all fighters built for speed are interceptors, but my favorite of them is probably the Tie Striker. super fun to fly

If you ask someone in-universe I think it's technically a fighter-bomber, but it certainly plays like an interceptor in-game. I agree it's great fun.

- M3-A Interceptor (+ Ion/Autoblaster) - Almost by name only, go fast then block
- Fang Fighter - Go fast then stay at range 1 at all costs
- StarViper - Dance around for a good engagement then once at range 1/2, Dance harder

Viper > Fang > Scyck in terms of fun.

Delta 7B > Silencer > Tie Interceptor in terms of what i want to try flying becuase it looks fun.

StarViper.

The good dail + the wonky roll just keeps opponent guessing. Add advanced sensor to the mix and its a real party.

My favourite is the v1, but it doesn't really play like a typical interceptor. Either it's a sniper with missiles, or it's a reliable, agile knife fighter with somewhat weak guns. The StarViper is somewhat similar, also a very good knife fighter. The I2 is very enjoyable to fly.

I'm not sure I'd class Silencers, E-Wings and Delta 7B Aethersprites as Interceptors. I mean, they move like Interceptors, but they also have a ton of hit points, upgrade slots and other tricks. I'd say these are multirole or air superiority fighters.

36 minutes ago, Magnus Grendel said:

If you ask someone in-universe I think it's technically a fighter-bomber, but it certainly plays like an interceptor in-game. I agree it's great fun.

It is actually a very good fighter-bomber in-game as well. I usually leave the bombs off Sabacc, since he tends to die almost immediately, but the rest of them can make great use of Seimics. Bomb + aileron + sloop/kturn is a great combo when setting up killboxes, and I've killed a lot of aces with my Sentinels that way.

Call me basic, but the TIE Interceptor's where it's at for me. Having access to boost+roll and one of the best dials in the game or token+move is life.

Plenty, I love interceptors. Off the top of my head, I've got a few personal favs, each for different reasons:

- Deltas with CLT are fun to me, smooth to fly and more tricky than 7Bs

- RZ2 A-wings, for their large amount of options thanks to plenty of blues and a rotating arc. Pretty unpredictable, and with Advanced Optics can sting consistently. Also Tallie makes a great plugger to tie other aces in fruitless chases.

- N1s could qualify as interceptors to some degree - fly fast, have emergency evade, and Ric with Juke can be a nuisance. Sadly can't fly slow, is predictable and can't maneuver well at close ranges but if you go fast, it's simple fun.

- The yet unreleased TIE baron (thanks to the Fly Casual simulator) - very similar to deltas but with a risk-reward gimmick. Fly fast, maneuver **** well at very close ranges and with pinpoint precision. I was never fond of Daredevil, but for TIE baron it works surprisingly well, especially with Vonreg's Bullseye hunt.

- Nantex is a ship I appreciate more rather than like (not a fan of 5 attack dice on Sun Fac without rerolls, and Chertek's PS4 is pretty risky), just for the fact it's unusual and can pull off crazy shenanigans at close ranges.

Other than these, I'd also add TIE/sfs (good dial and can fire missiles backwards), E-Wings (very nice to fly with R4 and fcs, also early TL) and TIE strikers (very fun and inventive gimmick with Ailerons about building up momentum).

Win: Fang . I like how Concordia Faceoff enables aggression--get into someone's teeth, get those free Evades. As with other interceptors, dodging your opponent's firing arc is the goal, but the Fang has two options. Get out of arc, or get up close. That kinda can cover up a lot of mistakes. There's a lot more "mostly safe" space for a Fang after the dials are revealed.

Place: TIE Silencer . These are the Chonk interceptor. They're terrible and I love them.

Show: CLT Aethersprite . Now, based on my definition below, 7B isn't an interceptor anymore. Still a strong ship, but having 2 agility really changes the feel of it. But CLT Aethersprites are fun. The force is great, bullseye is an interesting challenge, and they can take regen droids.

//

In general, as to describing the terms, here's how I'd describe an Interceptor in X-Wing:

1. Access to both Barrel Roll and Boost
2. Access to two actions per round
3. Three agility
4. Generally blue hard turns, but maybe it's a ship which doesn't need them. Essentially, the dial to consistently support their two actions per turn.

So, the ships...

• Nantex doesn't need blue turns, nor Aethersprite, since they don't run stressed.
• Belbullab wouldn't count in my mind, because those are 2 agility, and they don't have the dial to support their double actions consistently, but they're on the bubble of being interceptors. I regret nothing.
• Starviper is kind of on the edge to me (their highest-initiative pilot almost never uses double-actions!), but I won't fight it too much.
• E-Wings are also on the edge, but I'd say that their dial holds them back. That's R4 fixable, but I think the on
• TIE Defender might count, by my rules above. I love them, but they don't really feel the same. Then again, I mostly (only... I think only...) ever fly Deltas at Init 1.

It's worth noting that going fast isn't a determining factor: in gameplay, Interceptors are knife-fighters as often as not. But unlike a more prototypical knife fighter such as a B-Wing, Interceptors can either go fast or fight close and tight. There's a sort of on-table "feel" of playing an interceptor-type ship, and the definitions are mostly me working backwards.

Not sure if I would classify a B wing as a "knife fighter". It's a decent ship, but the maneuverability isn't very good due to all the red maneuvers that don't do anything but turn you. Fortunately the named B-Wing pilots like to be stressed. But it still means they either move slowly and predictably, or they move somewhat fast but with really poor handling.

Old school, just need a regular TIE Interceptor for me to have fun. High risk, high reward.

TIE Interceptor and A-Wing for me. Can't go wrong with the classics.

2 hours ago, Faerie1979 said:

Not sure if I would classify a B wing as a "knife fighter". It's a decent ship, but the maneuverability isn't very good due to all the red maneuvers that don't do anything but turn you. Fortunately the named B-Wing pilots like to be stressed. But it still means they either move slowly and predictably, or they move somewhat fast but with really poor handling.

The B-Wing, Torrent, TIE/v1, Starviper and similar are knife fighters because their most maneuverable speed is speed 1 or 2. Most ships have to do a giant 4K or 3 Sloop/Troll to turn around. These can keep it in close.

Of course they can't do it back to back, but turn over turn they do very well at R1.