Put your favorite nightmare-inducing anti-Nantex swarm lists here.

Try to keep conversations around tactics and gameplay experiences and not negative dissertations or Sith-like absolutes.

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Everything Must Burn

(26) Colossus Station Mechanic [Fireball]
(2) Deadman's Switch
Points: 28

(58) Finch Dallow [MG-100 StarFortress]
(4) Novice Technician
(3) Seismic Charges
(5) Proton Bombs
(7) Paige Tico
(3) Hull Upgrade
(6) Collision Detector
Points: 86

(58) Edon Kappehl [MG-100 StarFortress]
(4) Novice Technician
(3) Seismic Charges
(5) Proton Bombs
(2) Skilled Bombardier
(3) Hull Upgrade
(6) Collision Detector
Points: 81

Total points: 195

I chose Novice Tech crew because trading out a nasty crit at the end of the round could be a game-changer.

This meant I chose Hull instead of Ablative Plating mod, to maximize opportunity for Jawa Crew proc (and it's cheaper).

I chose Collision Detector over Traj Sim because I think Traj is still overcosted and based on my experience with the Cows, I need that flexibility to land on a rock way more than the limited launch control.

VTG won't get enough milage in this list even on Finch with Paige, so nix that.

CSM with DMS is self explanatory.

If they don't shoot him, he's going up in flames with the bombs.

200-200 list here... Hopefully.

Or a knee-slapping good time that Mr. TryHard bug player will never forget.

I haven't figured out a squad yet, but I have been thinking about individual parts that might do well, primarily out of the First Order, given they're my primary faction.

#1: Scorch. Scorch sets up alone and flanks up the board edge screaming "Witness Me!" The spamtex player can joust him and win, but that puts them slightly out of position (and I cannot emphasize enough just how hard it is for a Nantex to be out of position) and Scorch is guaranteed a simultaneous fire shot.

#2: Starkiller Base Pilot/Tavson. Large base ships are fodder for those bullseyes, but reinforce can't be cracked, so this thing can take longer than expected to burn down

#3: Holo. The cheapest ace for FO that's guaranteed to move after the Spamtex and can either double repo for caginess or lock focus for violence.

#4: Vonreg. Basically Holo #2.

#5: Rivas. Rivas will always have a lock against the Nantex. At 27pts, turning in on Rivas feels even worse than turning in on Scorch.

Honorable mention: Kylo and other Silencers. I'm terrible with this chassis, so I can't accurately rank them. I'm worried they have to spend too much time running and losing a war of plinked shields and hull.

I think the list becomes exponentially more manageable once two are destroyed, but you will have to accept casualties to get there. 4 ships is my bare minimum count right now to have a chance against these guys.

Bombardment Drone (29)
Trajectory Simulator (6)
Proton Bombs (5)
Landing Struts (1)

Bombardment Drone (29)
Trajectory Simulator (6)
Seismic Charges (3)
Proton Bombs (5)
Landing Struts (1)

Bombardment Drone (29)
Trajectory Simulator (6)
Proximity Mines (6)
Proton Bombs (5)
Landing Struts (1)

Separatist Bomber (28)
Energy-Shell Charges (5)
Landing Struts (1)

Separatist Bomber (28)
Energy-Shell Charges (5)
Landing Struts (1)
Total: 200

View in Yet Another Squad Builder 2.0

I think I won 7 games in a row with this list. It definitely has weaknesses but will catch a lot of lists off guard. Hyenas are the only ship that can 1 forward and not get hit by their own traj sim bomb. The 3 bombers have protons, plus seismics and proxes are mixed in as well. Basically all the bomb tools you need.

You can drop proxes out the front or a bomb w/a 1 straight, too. Then going 4 straight or 3 hard w/a barrell roll or 5 straight will get you out of the radius.

But yeah, if nantexes joust you, most of them will eat 2-3 protons. People also try to "skip" over the traj sim protons, but even getting R1 of the Hyena that launched it will still usually result in the rear of the ship getting clipped by the bomb.

Chewicide Squad (5fireballs 4 DMS)

(61) Chewbacca [Scavenged YT-1300]
(1) Heroic
Points: 62

(26) Colossus Station Mechanic [Fireball]
(2) Deadman's Switch
Points: 28

(26) Colossus Station Mechanic [Fireball]
(2) Deadman's Switch
Points: 28

(26) Colossus Station Mechanic [Fireball]
(2) Deadman's Switch
Points: 28

(26) Colossus Station Mechanic [Fireball]
(2) Deadman's Switch
Points: 28

(26) Colossus Station Mechanic [Fireball]
Points: 26

Total points: 200

I think my old kaboom squad may fit here:

Sarco Plank (29)
Proton Bombs (5)
Deadman's Switch (2)

Ship total: 36 Half Points: 18 Threshold: 3

Unkar Plutt (29)
Proton Bombs (5)
Deadman's Switch (2)

Ship total: 36 Half Points: 18 Threshold: 3

Captain Jostero (42)
Deadman's Switch (2)

Ship total: 44 Half Points: 22 Threshold: 3

Bounty Hunter (62)
Perceptive Copilot (8)
Proton Bombs (5)
Deadman's Switch (2)
Ablative Plating (6)

Ship total: 83 Half Points: 42 Threshold: 5

Total: 199

I thought this thread was going to be a gender reveal.

2 hours ago, PhantomFO said:

I thought this thread was going to be a gender reveal.

It's actually a unit quote from the Nod Flamethrower Tank in Command and Conquer...

But I gotcha.

I have not played against the Nantek Swarm. Is it time on target that makes them good? Does anyone in their right mind physically own 6? Their initiative is good at 4, do they laugh at Aces?

52 minutes ago, Archangelspiv said:

Is it time on target that makes them good?

It's part of it. They have a supremely powerful alpha strike on the joust thanks to the bullseyes and Crack Shot, with the time-on-target coming into play afterwards to maintain pressure and finish up.

52 minutes ago, Archangelspiv said:

Does anyone in their right mind physically own 6?

I personally know 3 degenerates who own 16 between them. So yes.

54 minutes ago, Archangelspiv said:

Their initiative is good at 4, do they laugh at Aces?

Laugh probably overstates it -- enemy aces must respect the bullseyes and hope to survive the turret shots long enough to grind them down. Which is a lot easier said than done.

The part which is really unacceptable to me, personally, is that they themselves become 6 different Aces when paired up against a "normal" list. I've seen some people refer to them as a "Swarm of Aces", which is extremely apt. The reason why they're such a big problem is that they are better at both halves of that statement than the "pure" Swarm or Ace lists are.

Cheers for your response @DR4CO , I think 30 is waaay too cheap, but maybe FFG are trying to move Nanteks from the shelves, who knows? I think I need to watch some more YouTube and see how they are played.
Thanks again for your insight. Imagine if they made Sabre Interceptors 30-33 points...

1 hour ago, Archangelspiv said:

Imagine if they made Sabre Interceptors 30-33 points...

[glances longingly at the 6 squints sitting on my shelf]

I'm in.

Someone tel me about this nantex menace? What’s the deal? Why is it so powerful?

I have not seen it in action. But as a thought experiment I've been playing around with some counters/meta fits. There was an SC coming up locally so I was curious what I'd fly if I didn't want to get and spread the Rona.

This one was just focused on having the init, defenses, and bodies to deal with it while still being a threat to other stuff.

Obi-Fives (197/200)
==================
Delta-7: Obi-Wan Kenobi (49 + 4)
+ Calibrated Laser Targeting (4)
Delta-7: Plo Koon (45 + 4)
+ Calibrated Laser Targeting (4)
Naboo Royal N-1: Ric Olié (45)

V-19 Torrent: Gold Squadron Trooper (25)

V-19 Torrent: Gold Squadron Trooper (25)

============[======

Alternatively to that I'd looked at some really weird Black Ace with Autoblaster and a bid concepts. Double Large. Straight Beef. Swarms. But honestly I'm just guessing. I haven't had a game since lockdown lol

9 hours ago, Blail Blerg said:

Someone tel me about this nantex menace? What’s the deal? Why is it so powerful?

6 Petranaki War Aces + 6 Crack Shot is the minimum build.

The strengths of the list are:

• Resistance to blocking due to Pinpoint Tractor Array allowing them to reposition when blocked
• Ability to reposition even when hitting an asteroid or gas cloud due to Pinpoint Tractor Array
• Near 100% time on target due to the turret
• Three die bullseye backed by Crack Shot is strong and hard to avoid when you have 6 of them
• I4 and a decent bid on six ships allows them to be 6 aces versus the majority of the field
• 6 bodies each with multiple arcs make blocking aces trivial
• a great dial
• So cheap that when you destroy one you've only gained around 32-33 points.

9 hours ago, DR4CO said:

[glances longingly at the 6 squints sitting on my shelf]

I'm in.

^^^^^ This. (I think I have 7 in my Imperial box.)

So.... Back to countering the bugs:

Dead Man Switch spam seems to be my best/cheapest/laziest counter to Nantex spam.

Obviously, the archetype poses very unique challenges for the community in list building and in practice.

The best generics that I would consider against them are probably Auzitucks, Dorsal Aggressors, maybe Dorsal Republic Ys with Hull Upgrades, and.... Not much else.

Maybe TIE/ds Delta's and I4 E-wings with Torps and bid.

Here's the real qualifier for any list:

Can you kill 3 Nantex by turn 2?

Two is an edge, but three is the actual tilt as long as your remaining list isn't lower initiative than the three remaining bugs.

9 minutes ago, Bucknife said:

Can you kill 3 Nantex by turn 2?

Two is an edge, but three is the actual tilt as long as your remaining list isn't lower initiative than the three remaining bugs.

This. If you can get two off in round 1 through luck, you have a strong chance. If you can get 3 off by round 2, you have a good chance. Anything less than those, and you are probably losing the damage race.

So I'll admit I was skeptical about how dangerous this list was, in that you'd need to kill 2-3 of them by turn 2, and then I tested it on Fly Casual. Now I am not a particularly good player at the best of times, and my Ace-fu is sadly lacking, but I can see how easy it would be in the hands of a half-skilled player to just ruin people with that! Dare I say it.... bring on the Concussion Bombs!

The worst thing I have seen is that they cannot be blocked. They will always shoot, they can tractor themselves onto obstacles, which is why I will be taking asteroids from now on. Sure you can tractor yourself, still can’t shoot if you’re on a rock.
So many things to think about!

Huh, would you look at that, tractors causing problems... again. Who'da thunk'it? That's so weird. Just so weird. It's almost like they never should've been in the game in the first place. Hmm. How odd. Crazy.

Okay, let me just pack this hate for tractors back in to this little black box in my chest right quick. Need to cram it in, heave ho, *hurk* just gotta *grunt* stuff it *big grunt* really tight *heavy breathing* very heavy hehe *exasperated groan* just a bit more *box clicks* PHEW! You do not want to go in there 😅

37 minutes ago, ForceSensitive said:

Huh, would you look at that, tractors causing problems... again. Who'da thunk'it? That's so weird. Just so weird. It's almost like they never should've been in the game in the first place. Hmm. How odd. Crazy.

Okay, let me just pack this hate for tractors back in to this little black box in my chest right quick. Need to cram it in, heave ho, *hurk* just gotta *grunt* stuff it *big grunt* really tight *heavy breathing* very heavy hehe *exasperated groan* just a bit more *box clicks* PHEW! You do not want to go in there 😅

I don’t have an issue with tractoring, I think it has a place in the game. What I think is utter BS is that they can tractor themselves after bumping, rendering a strategy completely useless. I think that part is very poor design, and with 99% of other ship abilities, it should be after fully executing a move. There is zero penalty for poor flying other than you’re tokenless.

I wonder how effective they would be if that change was made?

@Archangelspiv it would certainly be better if it were errata'd that direction. Then again I think if tractors in general didn't take effect until the end of the turn entirely would be yet better. Every time you see a ship in SW get tractored it's a slow process. Advantage to that change is it's a core rule book change. And it fixed more than just the Nantex. But I've argued that point for years now and clearly it hasn't gotten any... Traction (okay, sun glasses, on. And cue the theme song!YEEEEEAAAAAHHHHH!)

Honestly when it comes to tractors design FFG keeps messing it up the exact same way WotC keeps screwing up their game Magic when they design blue cards. Design folk are notoriously bad at designing control effects, as you have no doubt noticed.

Edit add: also, no -1 agility. That's just too much and not consistent with other ship movement impacting mechanics.

Proton bombs with trajectory simulator would be a bit scary for them no? Would at least allow some heavy board control...

@ForceSensitive it’s a travesty I can only react once to your post, it was both incitful and a funny read.