Hi all

Pretty new to the meta of x-wing and am looking for some enlightenment.

First off, can someone tell me what an alpha strike is? Does it have to do with high PS or anything?

Second, is there a competitive Imperial build, other than field all Fighters/Bombers/Slaves you can fit in 100pts?

Greets

Tarm

Hitting hard and fast while doing as much damage as possible in the first round of shooting

well thats what I think it means lol

Ok, quickest answer to your first question:

Alpha Strike is a term used for a single massive, all out attack that leave you vulnerable. In this game, usually a reference to each ship in your list carrying one missile or torpedo with the idea of launching them all early and doing massive initial damage, then hoping your remaining forces can finish the attack.

An example, for instance is 4 Rookie Pilots each with a Proton Torpedo.

I usually see Alpha Strike used in the context of multiple weapons, meaning hitting with as many as possible. In MWO that's all the guns shooting at once on a mech, in X-wing I would expect it to be all the ships possible shooting at a single target.

Yes lots of imp lists, many possibilities.

Second, is there a competitive Imperial build, other than field all Fighters/Bombers/Slaves you can fit in 100pts?

Pretty much every list is about fitting as many ships in 100 points as you can. Some do better with upgrades, however.

For example 4 Tie Interceptor Saber Squad with Push the Limit is a better list then 5 Alpha Squad interceptors. Or 4 Y-Wings with Ion's tends to do better then 5 Y-Wings. Or 4 Bombers with secondary weapons, one of the bombers being Jonus.

But the Empire was built with the idea that Quantity is a form of Quality to match the movie and other lore. So your typically best off putting as many fighters on the table as you can.

I tend to swarm shuttles. ... ...

...

Don't judge me.

I'd say Rookie + Proton (x4) is a bad "Alpha Strike" example but it does deliver a bit more punch early before settling down. A better example could be 4x Prototype A-Wings + Assault Missiles which come in wanting to deliver a 4 dice attack that will splash damage others and then need to fall back to 2 dice primary attacks.

Alpha strikes are about hitting your opponent really hard with your first punch and hopefully taking them down a notch or two because if you miss you are probably going to be toast after that. In the game that normally involves ordnance and ordnance usually does best on high PS ships.

I'm not sure what to say about the second question as I'm not sure I understand it. Are you asking if there are any "mixed builds" for the Imperials that work well? The short answer is "yes" but they are harder to find and may not always works as well. I know a lot of the Rebel ships are almost interchangeable in a squad because points are often similar but the Empire really doesn't work that way. For the Imperials you basically have cheap (TIE Fighters), Tough and hard hitting (Firespray), and glass cannons (Interceptors) and these don't always play nicely together.

So, any examples of a "mixed" team for the Imperials then?

So, any examples of a "mixed" team for the Imperials then?

1 Part Firespray

1 Part Interceptor

3 parts TIE Fighters

Stir Ints, and TIE's together until smooth. Pour blended TIE's onto play area, then add Firespray to finish the concoction.

Please enjoy responsibly...

Just so you know where the term comes from (from my US Navy experience anyways), an alpha strike is normally a large, 1-time strike mission against a priority target(s), utilizing more aircraft that a general strike mission. Think it's a leftover term from the Vietnam war but we still use it. Lots of planes...lots of bombs.

But yeah, same idea here, hit them hard and fast with a lot of firepower. FIRE ZEE MISSILES!!!

An Alpha-Strike based fleet seeks to cripple the enemy fleet with a single turn of high-damage fire (read: Missiles), so that your undamaged ships have a large advantage against them in the following turns.

An example: 4 A-Wings, each with an Assault Missile, will EAT a Tie Swarm fleet, even though there are 1/2 as many A-Wings as there are Tie Fighters.

That fleet will similarly punish a HSF fleet by concentrating fire on the Falcon, hoping to kill it on the first turn, or get it in range of death on the second, at which point you'll have 3-4 wounded A-Wings vs 2 X-Wings.

Loading up for an Alpha-Strike fleet is kind of like spending the points to hire an assassin. They kill one person, and deal some damage on the way out the door, and leave you to clean up the survivors.

It's a simple matter of front-loading your damage, as opposed to sustained DPS (to borrow an MMO term). Or, as per Steppenwolf: "Fire all of your guns at once and explode into space."

Personally, I prefer triple UAC5s on my Ilya Muromets to, say, triple SRM6s and an AC20 on my Atlas DDC, but that's just me. Oops... wrong game.

It's a simple matter of front-loading your damage, as opposed to sustained DPS (to borrow an MMO term). Or, as per Steppenwolf: "Fire all of your guns at once and explode into space."

Personally, I prefer triple UAC5s on my Ilya Muromets to, say, triple SRM6s and an AC20 on my Atlas DDC, but that's just me. Oops... wrong game.

"There is no 'Overkill'. There is only 'Open Fire' and 'Reload'."

Hi all

Pretty new to the meta of x-wing and am looking for some enlightenment.

First off, can someone tell me what an alpha strike is? Does it have to do with high PS or anything?

Second, is there a competitive Imperial build, other than field all Fighters/Bombers/Slaves you can fit in 100pts?

Greets

Tarm

I am sure you got the answer what it means in this game and prob what it means in other games. In the USN a Alpha strike is a strike consisting of all the squadrons in a carrier group agianst something that is of major need of being splashed & sunk or buried. That is alot of aircraft rarely ever would a Alpha Strike be composed of every craft in the carrier group mainly because of time, maintanice, & protection of the fleet itself..

For me it refers to a list built with a lot of missiles (or torpedoes) that are designed to be fire in the first round of shooting. In X-wing you don't get the extra agility dice at range 3 against secondary weapons. So if you have a range 3 one shot secondary weapon, most people like to use them in the first round of shooting. This is one way to maximize the value of your missiles/torpedoes. If your opponent is shooting back with primary weapons, then all your ships essentially get a +1 to their agility while your opponent won't. Another advantage of alpha striking Missiles/Torpedoes is it makes it most likely that you will get to shoot the weapons before your ship is destroyed.

It should be noted that for Proton Torpedoes at least there are lots of people who don't like to use them for Alpha Strike since Torpedoes are likely to give you a crit and players often like to wait until shields are down before firing them.

My favorite Alpha striking list is

Capain Jonus

Scimitar Squadron (TIE Bomber) + Proton Torpedoes + Cluster Missiles x 3

The low PS Scimitar Squadron can make it difficult to get your target locks off and still fire at range 3, but I still love the squad. The Cluster missiles are for the second round, I call it my Beta Strike.

Hmmm... Smiles to himself...

So, any examples of a "mixed" team for the Imperials then?

The "mixed" squads are usually Firespray, Interceptor/Vader, and as many TIEs as you can still fit in. It is basically a mix of everything with the Firespray being the primary weapon, the TIEs as an "escort" and the Interceptor/Vader as a decoy, flanker, general annoyance.

Some people have used Bombers in place of TIE fighters the the role of those often depends on how they are loaded and what they have for support. Although it may cost a bit a Bomber with some type of Bomb is sometimes used in place of a cheap TIE. Some have also been working on using the Shuttle as a key piece of a squad and it is often supported/supported by other ships.

The Assault Missile loaded A-Wings vs. a TIE Swarm is actually a great example of a potential "alpha strike." If the As get those missiles off before the TIEs shoot, and they manage to HIT, those four missiles could potentially wipe out an entire swarm. Depending on your luck those missiles could all miss (or not get fired off) which represents a FAILED alpha strike attempt and which will leave the A-Wings in a VERY bad situation when they are being engaged while outnumbered 2:1.

Personally, I prefer triple UAC5s on my Ilya Muromets to, say, triple SRM6s and an AC20 on my Atlas DDC, but that's just me. Oops... wrong game.

Victor, 2xPPC 1x AC20...

One thing some posters are leaving out:

Intent is to cripple opponent in one round. USUALLY by taking out 1 or more ships and denying them #'s and firepower.

younglings

One thing some posters are leaving out:

Intent is to cripple opponent in one round. USUALLY by taking out 1 or more ships and denying them #'s and firepower.

Or legging them and hoping for an ammo explosion.