4 minutes ago, Makikis said:

So do you think its ok to have the ARC be upgradeless?

Yes.

Another resource for you, in case you haven't come across it. https://meta.listfortress.com/pilots?

This collates and reports lists from tournaments, which ships are being flown most often, which upgrades people are typically taking with them.

Just now, eljms said:

Another resource for you, in case you haven't come across it. https://meta.listfortress.com/pilots?

This collates and reports lists from tournaments, which ships are being flown most often, which upgrades people are typically taking with them.

Thanks!

21 minutes ago, Makikis said:

So do you think its ok to have the ARC be upgradeless?

Not just ok, better. It's the state of the game, more points spent on chassis and less on upgrades is better. There's a few examples where tossing a huge pile of upgrade points on a ship can be good, but this is generally on pilots like Boba, who can "points fortress", survive the match and not give points, or only give half.

It's particularly good if saving points on upgrades lets you bring another ship, but even just going for better pilots is good. Swarm is good, but fewer good pilots is also good. Aces are probably still stronger than swarms. They want a few upgrades, but don't go overboard, especially as they want a bid for the ace vs ace matchup.

53 minutes ago, Makikis said:

What is the strategy with Dedicated? It seems like a lot of setup and cost for an effect that may or may not work

There is none. Fly your ships normally, and if it comes up, celebrate even if the reroll doesn't improve the result. That's all you can ask of a 1-point upgrade.

36 minutes ago, Makikis said:

What do think of this? I took everything off of the ARC, gave Anakin Passive sensors and gave the Jedi R4 Astromechs. This way I also have a better chance of choosing who goes first

This looks solid. Minimizes additional decisions so you can focus on your flying. As you practice you'll eventually see which upgrades you do or don't use.

29 minutes ago, Makikis said:

So do you think its ok to have the ARC be upgradeless?

More than okay, this is the way for ARCs.

18 minutes ago, Makikis said:

So do you think its ok to have the ARC be upgradeless?

Yes. They don't need a lot. It goes against the conventional wisdom but I like Tail Gunner on them. I like the Sync Consoles and an R3 Astro. But don't sink a lot of points into them.

21 minutes ago, Makikis said:

I could switch it for Plasma Torps. or Ion Torps... I don't know if that would really be much of an improvement

I haven't used the N-1s much but they need to be a bit punchier so they need some torpedo in my opinion.

4 minutes ago, Frimmel said:

I haven't used the N-1s much but they need to be a bit punchier so they need some torpedo in my opinion.

With the obvious exception of Ric, who can get a 3rd red dice conditionally(and a 4th at range 1).

I don't know... I feel like it might be better to have 199 points instead for a better chance to choose who goes first

I would field this Republic fleet

Ahsoka Tano (44)
Calibrated Laser Targeting (2)
Ship total: 46 Half Points: 23

Barriss Offee (38)
Calibrated Laser Targeting (2)
Ship total: 40 Half Points: 20

Squad Seven Veteran (44)
R3 Astromech (3)
Synchronized Console (1)
Ship total: 48 Half Points: 24

Blue Squadron Protector (26)
Cluster Missiles (4)
Synchronized Console (1)
Ship total: 31 Half Points: 16

Blue Squadron Protector (26)
Cluster Missiles (4)
Synchronized Console (1)
Ship total: 31 Half Points: 16

Point total: 196

How are your matches going?

You arent exactly stating how you are losing. Are your aces getting blocked cuz you are too aggressive? Are you force starved? Are you only wounding ships and not killing them (spreading damage around is mostly a big "No-No")

Patience

With aces, you need to be patient and if in doubt, "flight" instead of "fight". You dont need to be in a scrum with your deltas and sloop and kturn at every possible time to get shots. Aces are more of a hit-and-run tactic. Be patient, line up a solid shot, then spend a round or two setting up another shot (grab a lock), maintain good distance for defense i.e. range 3 so you get extra green dice while you are turning around, and in the meantime your fodder (v19s,arcs) are the ones doing the dirty work in the scrum. Your Jedi should almost never do a red maneuver unless you know for certain its safe (i.e. opponents ship is stressed and cant turn to fire on you, or you are safely out of range).

Here is a nice list to do it all and not too complicated:

Plo Koon (45)
Calibrated Laser Targeting (4)

Ahsoka Tano (44)
Delta-7B (15)

Gold Squadron Trooper (25)

Gold Squadron Trooper (25)

104th Battalion Pilot (42)
Total: 200

List above strategy

Your V19s and Arc can straight up joust with their beef. Flank each side with Plo and Ahsoka. Ahsoka is mean mean mean against lower init ships cuz she is like a super ace and gets full modded shots with repositioning.

Dont force range 1 shots with your Jedi. Let plo just work on lining up that bullseye. Ahsoka can full mod shots from all range and do damage.

Know your win condition

If you are doing 75 minute matches, it can be tough to kill everything in that time limit, especially if you are fighting swarms. Know the ships you need to kill. Assume you will always lose a v19, the Arc, and another 25-30pts which equals another v19 or half of Ahsoka/Plo. This equates to roughly 97pts lost. So you need to kill 100pts before time expires. Note what enemy ships you need to kill and half to get there. 5 Vulture droids for instance can be a tough goal. If facing 7-8 ship swarm, you need less things on your side to die. So you only want to trade less than 80pts for 4 vultures. Once you lose 81pts, now you need another vulture (or half of one), so know when to run or play defensively with your weakened ships when time is coming to the end. But something like a Sith Infiltrator for 70-ish pts and two droids is more than doable to get 110pts, so you can afford to be more aggressive if you feel like you can get that infiltrator fast enough. So scour the enemys ships and make goals for your win condition.

2 hours ago, wurms said:

Your V19s and Arc can straight up joust with their beef

2 hours ago, wurms said:

You aren't exactly stating how you are losing

See, that's a problem I'm having. My ships seem to die really quickly, and when I do try to joust, my opponent has the advantage of a lot of firepower and he kills my guys really quick.

But overall, thanks for the advice!

5 hours ago, Makikis said:

See, that's a problem I'm having. My ships seem to die really quickly, and when I do try to joust, my opponent has the advantage of a lot of firepower and he kills my guys really quick.

But overall, thanks for the advice!

That is what the fodder is for. You joust with the v19s and arcs and make a mess aka get the enemy jousting ships out of formation and arcs split up, while the more valuable ships flank. Goal for fodder ships is to take as many ships with them as possible. The acey ships get exponentially more powerful the less enemy ships are on the board. So be cautious with the Jedi early and learn when to pick your attack opportunities until stuff starts to die.

Aces are great and picking off those 1 and 2 health low initiative ships that are left and initiative killing them the following round before they can shoot.

6 hours ago, Makikis said:

See, that's a problem I'm having. My ships seem to die really quickly, and when I do try to joust, my opponent has the advantage of a lot of firepower and he kills my guys really quick.

But overall, thanks for the advice!

Here is Obi, Ric, two arcs vs a swarm.

Notice how Ric comes up the side of swarm and gets behind them. Arcs go middle and joust, doing what they do. Obi hangs back and cleans up, initiative killing things. Both Arcs die, but by then, aces have great positioning and enemy ships firing arcs are scattered. Mission accomplished by fodder.

Here is another with Vader and Soontir as aces and two bombers as fodder.

Notice how soontir flanks wide and gets behind swarm while bombers take middle. Opponent knows where bombers are gonna be and goes for the easy fodder, letting Soontir flank.

Notice how Nathan hits and runs with Vader, setting up locks for the big punches the following round. Ahsoka can do this exact same thing. She can setup locks then next turn kturn sloop and boost with her ability. She is a auper ace vs low initiatives.

Nathan Eide has like a dozen videos with this Vader Soontir bomber list. I recommend watching as many as possible if you enjoy ace + fodder lists as he is one the best players in the world.

Obviously these are some of the best players in the game, so your decisions arent gonna be as sharp, but learn the basics from these vids like how to setup the approach and engage, how to setup attack runs, why they spend (or not spend) tokens at certain times. How they use obstacles to protect their aces.

Just a little update (if you all even care 😁 )

I've been using this list, and it actually works pretty well!

V-19 Torrent Starfighter - Blue Squadron Protector - 26
Blue Squadron Protector - (26)

V-19 Torrent Starfighter - Blue Squadron Protector - 26
Blue Squadron Protector - (26)

ARC-170 Starfighter - Squad Seven Veteran - 44
Squad Seven Veteran - (44)

Naboo Royal N-1 Starfighter - •Ric Olié - 47
•Ric Olié - Bravo Leader (45)
R4 Astromech (2)

Delta-7 Aethersprite - •Ahsoka Tano - 55
•Ahsoka Tano - “Snips" (43)
Delta-7B (12)

Total: 198

View in the X-Wing Squad Builder

I'm still experimenting with what to put on Ric, but it hasn't seemed to matter all that much (I'm not sure if that's a good sign or a bad one...)

But overall it's been great! The ARC and Torrents are able to joust well while Ahsoka and Ric get behind and clean up after them. I'm able to set up nice situations where my opponent get punished by my aces if they go for the clones, but get punished by the clones if they go for the aces. Of course I haven't played with this list super much, but from what I've seen it works really well.

Thank you all for the suggestions!

On 11/18/2020 at 2:46 PM, Makikis said:

So do you think its ok to have the ARC be upgradeless?

Yes. They’re perfectly fine with very little in the way of upgrades. I sometimes like Veteran Tail Gunner, but really, don’t overdo it.