I relaly want to find a way to best utlize Ib's ability in a FOUR ship build. its proving to be darn near impossible. i want to stack Ib with either elusiveness or PTL. it would be nive to throw the HLC on there but it shigh cost prohibits a good four ship build. Any ideas out there?

Simple: go with 150 points instead of the usual 100. You could include an HWK as a support ship this way, too.

Here's my first attempt:

Ibtisam (28)
Push the Limit (3)
Advanced Sensors (3)
Engine Upgrade (4)

Green Squadron Pilot (19)
Veteran Instincts (1)

Rookie Pilot (21)

Rookie Pilot (21)

Total: 100

So, you have a high PS A-Wing. Should be a good late game threat as long as he doesn't get targetted.

Two solid X-Wings form your core.

Then hyper-mobile Ibti. Advanced Sensors allow her to boost or barrel roll before moving. PTL allows her to boost AND barrel roll before moving. Or after moving. Up to you.

I did very well against my wife with Ibtisam + PTL + Advanced Sensors + Engine Upgrade, a stock Blue Squadron, and 2 Green Squadron A-Wings with Veteran Instincts.

I'm not a big fan of AdvS on Ibby, especially mixed with PTL, unless you ignore her pilot ability, and it's useless with elusiveness,. The problem with the AdvS is that your action procedure has you either missing her ability or missing AdvS next turn.

1) Ibby starts unstressed

2) Ibby uses AdvS

3) PTL, get stress

4a) Do a green maneuver, clear stress

5a) Attack phase, cannot reroll

6a) Next turn starts without stress

4b) Do a white maneuver, keep stress

5b) Attack phase, can reroll

6b) Next turn starts with stress, cannot use AdvS

So then the next turn, if you PTL again to stress her, she once again can't use AdvS. If you don't, she doesn't get her second action, and she doesn't get to reroll. I've been wanting to try a full out defensive Ibby.

Ibby w/ Sensor Jammer, Elusiveness, Stealth*

Blue

Blue

Proto

Total 98 points

So, I know what you're thinking - stealth device on a 1 agi ship? I will admit I haven't given it a try yet, but my gut instinct says that it should be decent. The main purpose of the Prototype is to action deny your opponent. If you can choose between getting in the way, or having a shot, getting in the way should always take precedence. As such, you'll want to play this through the asteroid field. But presumably the opponent now doesn't have focuses since you action denied them. So when attacking Ibby, they have to change one die to a focus, the first attacker has to reroll another die. So, if my math is right (which I'm doing it on the fly), a 2 dice attack has a 25% chance to hit with 2 before mods, 50% chance to hit with 1, and 25% chance to miss completely. Now, one of those gets downgraded to an eye, meaning they now have a 25% chance to hit with 1. Elusivness allows for that to be rerolled to put it down to a 12.5% chance to roll 1 hit.

Meanwhile, you now have 2 agility to roll, giving you a 14% chance of 2 evades, 47% for 1 evade, and 40% for 0, assuming you don't have a focus because you spent it on attack. And then you can reroll one of those blanks/eyes, increasing it to 32% for 2 evades, 46% for 1 evade, and 25% for 0 evades. All of this comes out to an average damage of .03 damage. Once elusiveness is used, that average damage goes up to .06 damage. Ibby is basically untouchable by 2 attack ships, assuming you're successful at action denial (thus the 98pts and PS1 and PS2 pilots to complement her).

Now, as for 3 attack ships, she's a bit more vulnerable. 12.5% for 3 hits, 37.5% for 2 hits, 37.5% for 1 hit, 12.5% for 0 hits, assuming no action. Her system jammer makes that 12.5% for 2 hits, 37.5% for 1 hit, 50% for 0 hits. And elusiveness decreases it further to 6.25% for 2 hits, 25% for 1 hit, 68.75% for 0 hits. Meanwhile, her defensive stats are the same. Yielding the following probabilities: 2 damage = 1.56%, 1 damage = 9.13%, 0 damage = 89.3%, for an average damage of .1225. Once again, she's basically untouchable.

So, now, lets look at 4 dice, representing ordnance or R1 attacks. 4 hits = 6.25%, 3 hits = 25%, 2 hits = 37.5%, 1 hit = 25%, 0 hits = 6.25%. System jammer puts it down to 3 hits = 6.25%, 2 hits = 25%, 1 hit = 37.5%, 0 hits = 31.25%. Elusiveness puts it down to 3 hits = 3.125%, 2 hits = 15.625%, 1 hit = 31.25%, 0 hits = 50%. For results of: 3 damage = .78%, 2 dmg = 5.34%, 1 dmg = 16%, 0 dmg = 77.88%, for an average damage of .29 damage.

So, as you can see, the only real way to even damage her (and therefore strip her stealth) would be to get an action, preferably a focus. With that in mind, I'd be tempted to downgrade another Blue to a Prototype, and then you could add stealth devices to both prototypes, bringing you to 99 points, and 3 extremely hard to hit ships. Though the Blue would be the obvious choice to attack first, and he might get dead real quick.

Edit: Wow, wall of text. Sorry, didn't realize my analysis was going to take that much space.

If you have to have four ships, here's the build I'd go with.
http://xwing-builder.co.uk/view/43108/stress-and-support-b-wing

Honestly though, you don't NEED four ships. Three built around your goal would work out better for you. Like this build:
http://xwing-builder.co.uk/view/44686/ptl-bwing

With this build, you have Jan supporting Ibtisam and Biggs keeping the fire off of Jan. Along with giving Ibtisam an extra attack die, Jan is also using her Ion cannon to help turn those Ties into easy targets for both Ibtisam and Biggs.

If you feel you NEED an advance sensor for Ibtisam, then replace Biggs' shield upgrade with a stealth device to free up the extra point you'll need. Honestly, I think you'll find you won't need it and the free target lock (for dice re-rolls) will be more effective in the end.

I did alright with following squad (came in 3rd of 14 at a local tourney)

B-X Squad (100 pts)

Ibtisam (B-wing) w/ PTL & Adv Sensors (34 pts)

Blue Sqdn Pilot (B-wing) (22 pts)

Rookie Pilot (X-wing) w/ R2 Astromech (22 pts)

Rookie Pilot (X-wing) w/ R5 Astromech (22 pts)

Heavy hitting power of the B-Wing, plus the maneuverability of the X-Wing. Ibitsam gets an ACTION before the turn dial or an ACTION before movement then PTL to gain stress and REALLY put the hurt on, (especially at close range)!

Chris

I prefer running Ibtisam with Fire Control System. It helps with action economy — just about each turn, you essentially get three actions (most likely Boost, Barrel Roll and Target Lock) as well as a reroll with your attack and each time you defend because of her ability.

Ibtisam (37)

Fire Control System

Push the Limit

Engine Upgrade

Rookie Pilot x 3 (63)

Ibtisam is the cheapest you can go with the hypermobile B-Wing. It may mean she doesn't use her ability much if ever but the thing here is you can get two actions before or after moving. Even the PtL Interceptors or Vader w/ Engine Upgrade don't get the maneuvering options.

If you want a stressed out Ibtisam then you probably want to go with the FCS so you can keep your TL's coming. You could still add PtL and EU which is still very maneuverable but you miss out on the crazy that can be dancing before you move.

Also, yes, you don't want Advanced Sensors on Ibtisam because the reason you use AdvSen on anything is to get two actions without taking stress (because you immediately clear the stress after taking your two actions by using a green maneuver). That doesn't help Ibtisam, it hurts her.

The correct order of operations on Ibtisam is:

> Move

> Barrel Roll (or Boost)

> Push the Limit to Boost (or Barrel Roll, whatever you didn't just do)

> Get stressed

> Enjoy dice rerolls while being attacked

> Attack something, get an automatic Target Lock on it thanks to FCS

> Keep enjoying dice rerolls while being attacked

==next turn==

> Move a green maneuver to clear stress

> Barrel Roll (or Boost)

> Push the Limit to Boost (or Barrel Roll, whatever you didn't just do)

> Get stressed

> Enjoy dice rerolls while being attacked

> Attack what you attacked last turn, spend the Target Lock you still have on it

> Re-establish Target Lock for free with FCS if your target hasn't died yet

> Keep enjoying dice rerolls while being attacked

==next turn==

Rinse and repeat. FCS is especially useful against something with a lot of hit points, like a Falcon or Shuttle, I might add.

I don't understand why people are talking about FCS with Ibi, since it trivializes her ability. I also agree that Advanced Sensors feels wrong as well, since as Khyros pointed out, you have to make a choice on which way to go, and frequently I would find myself giving up her ability rather than staying stressed.

Honestly, I find it difficult to use her ability and feel good about it at the moment. I always feel like I wasted the 4 points I spent upgrading from the Dagger. Push the Limit is good on paper with her, but unless one of the two actions was barrel roll I have found it to be a bit underwhelming.

I expect that when Opportunist comes out I will change my tune though, I think that upgrade was made specifically for her.

Ibitsam + Opportunist + (Optionally) Sensor Jammer could be quite good, if a bit expensive. since either way they get kinda hosed if they spend their focus token.

Simple: go with 150 points instead of the usual 100. You could include an HWK as a support ship this way, too.

I play in big 160 point team games with friends. Found it to be the perfect number for 3 man teams.

You couldn't be more right about the HWK! I hardly ever see Jan get her fair mention when it comes to what she brings to the table. Personally, I hope it stays that way. lol I will continue to share my builds that include the HWK though to help the unenlightened. B)

Edit: Wow, wall of text. Sorry, didn't realize my analysis was going to take that much space.

Saved me the time of writing an even longer wall, so thanks, mate!

A Hypermobile Ibtisam (Engine Upgrade + Adv. Sensors + PTL) is a beautiful thing to behold: she has up to 92 flightpaths available for any given maneuver if she starts unstressed and ends stressed.

HOWEVER: As potent as Ibtisam's ability is, the green maneuvers of the B-Wing are few and far between. I find that I use her ability as a bonus for being stressed, rather than being something I want to invoke on every turn. As such, I've taken to losing the PTL from her, in favor of either Daredevil (Still incredibly mobile) or a non-stressful upgrade.

Another thing to consider about PTL or Daredevil alongside Advanced Sensors is the "Bail Button".

In the rules, if you reveal a red maneuver when you're already stressed, you hand your dial to your opponent, and have them select a new maneuver for you.

However, this doesn't happen until you actually reveal your maneuver, so if you have the ability to stress yourself before you reveal your maneuver, you can use it to your advantage.

For instance, if you pick your 2 Koiogran, and a barrel roll or boost beforehand would still leave you in a terrible situation, activating Daredevil with Advanced Sensors puts you at a 90* angle from where you were initially facing, and all of your opponent's choices of where you can move are better than the move you had selected for yourself.

These instances are rare, but they allow you to recover from a terrible move selection.

I too have found myself ignoring Ibby's ability and just considering her a PS6 B wing with an EPT. I've also be doing that with Arvel on occasion, and Garven, though I love his ability. Sometimes I wish I could turn off Bigg's ability to have a PS5 generic X wing. It hurts a bit since you're paying for those abilities (2 points in Ibby's case, 1 in the rest) but sometimes just having the higher PS makes it useful. And in Ibby's case, it's the only way to really get an EPT on a B wing. Ten is just too **** expensive for me to ever consider in a non-lawl list. You pay 3 points for his non-crit cancel ability. But then you really need to put marksmanship on him. If you do that, you have a 75% chance of rolling a crit (or eye converted to crit) each R2-3 attack. At R1, you have a 85% chance. Without marksmanship, you only have a 33% and 41% chance to roll at least one crit.

And if we figure he only gets to shoot three times, that means that without marksmanship, there's a 30% chance that his ability never triggers. That drops to 20% if all of his attacks are at R1. So at 31 points, Marksmanship is almost a requirement in my opinion, unless you're putting something else in the EPT. So then you're looking at 34 points, which with 3 Rookies leaves you 3 points for other upgrades. But if we drop down to a 3 ship list, there's more we can do with Ten... but I just can't ever justify spending so many points on him. Not to mention that all except two ships have shields, so a crit isn't going to get through. Then there're all the 1agi ships that the crit was going to get through anyways. Likely the same on the 2 agi ships. So his ability is really only good on 3 agi non-shielded targets. Aka, your 12 point academies, and your interceptors. Not worth it.

I too have found myself ignoring Ibby's ability and just considering her a PS6 B wing with an EPT. I've also be doing that with Arvel on occasion, and Garven, though I love his ability. Sometimes I wish I could turn off Bigg's ability to have a PS5 generic X wing. It hurts a bit since you're paying for those abilities (2 points in Ibby's case, 1 in the rest) but sometimes just having the higher PS makes it useful. And in Ibby's case, it's the only way to really get an EPT on a B wing. Ten is just too **** expensive for me to ever consider in a non-lawl list. You pay 3 points for his non-crit cancel ability. But then you really need to put marksmanship on him. If you do that, you have a 75% chance of rolling a crit (or eye converted to crit) each R2-3 attack. At R1, you have a 85% chance. Without marksmanship, you only have a 33% and 41% chance to roll at least one crit.

And if we figure he only gets to shoot three times, that means that without marksmanship, there's a 30% chance that his ability never triggers. That drops to 20% if all of his attacks are at R1. So at 31 points, Marksmanship is almost a requirement in my opinion, unless you're putting something else in the EPT. So then you're looking at 34 points, which with 3 Rookies leaves you 3 points for other upgrades. But if we drop down to a 3 ship list, there's more we can do with Ten... but I just can't ever justify spending so many points on him. Not to mention that all except two ships have shields, so a crit isn't going to get through. Then there're all the 1agi ships that the crit was going to get through anyways. Likely the same on the 2 agi ships. So his ability is really only good on 3 agi non-shielded targets. Aka, your 12 point academies, and your interceptors. Not worth it.

I understand your mathematical reasoning, but I don't agree with you. Consider this build:

http://xwing-builder.co.uk/view/45702/jan-and-the-bwing

Jan hands out extra attack die, while Biggs keeps the fire off of her. R2-D2 keeps Biggs in the game longer so you have two 3 standard attack ships being given easy targets thanks to Jan's Ion cannon.

Honestly though, I love being able to re-roll die, so I tend to go with this build instead:

http://xwing-builder.co.uk/view/44686/ptl-bwing

Got the idea from here but loved playing the rebel 6666 build

Ibtisam

Garven Dreis

Dutch Vander

Arvel Cryniyd

No upgrades, exactly 100points.

Interesting synthesis with Dutch and Garven. Its not perfect and you might be better with upgrades and colours squad pilots, but I love the idea of 4 named pilots, good PS, all move at once. Give it a go, you might like it.

So I think (as others have touched on) with Ibby the choice you have to make is: Do I want her for her ability? Or do I want her for the fact that she can be more mobile and still get a focus/TL every turn?

If you want the first, then PTL with a possible FCS (although I think that steps on the toes of her Pilot ability a bit) or canon might be your best bet. If you want the second, then adv sensors, PTL and possibly EU are the way to go. But this doesn't mean that she can't be mobile with the first option or she can never use her ability with the second option, that just isn't what you built her for and it won't be as effective as it would have been if you built her the other way. I think either build is a solid one for her. Just don't be too disappointed that your extra mobile b-wing isn't getting to reroll dice every turn or that your Ibby isn't as mobile as you would like her to be. Play the ship the way you designed it to be played and you'll be happy with it IMO.

Because Ibby with either of these builds is a little on the pricey side, you are limited for the rest of your squad if you really need the 4 ship build. I would suggest a XXBB might be your best bet. I came up with this:

100 points

Ibtisam (34)
B-Wing (28), Advanced Sensors (3), Push the Limit (3)

Rookie Pilot (21)

Rookie Pilot (21)

Blue Squadron Pilot (24)
B-Wing (22), Fire-Control System (2)

I don't understand why people are talking about FCS with Ibi, since it trivializes her ability. I also agree that Advanced Sensors feels wrong as well, since as Khyros pointed out, you have to make a choice on which way to go, and frequently I would find myself giving up her ability rather than staying stressed.

You may still want the FCS on Ibi because her ability only allows re-rolling one die while FCS could let her re-roll all of them if needed. A small but sometimes invaluable bonus especially when you get into range 1 or are otherwise rolling 4 attack dice. Even if TL and her ability are a bit redundant on attacking (Jonus/Howlrunner and TL are similar there) she still gets to reroll her defense die.

If you go with the Advanced Sensors on Ibitsam you're saying you are playing her for mobility. If she ends up stressed then the ability is just an added bonus but you aren't counting on using it. If we are really honest, having a ship constantly stressed is a recipe for disaster should you ever run into an Ion Cannon. Even if she gets to reroll the defense die a stressed and ionized Ibi has pretty is pretty much lost.

Although Ten is very expensive he has the added bonus of a higher PS when it comes to using hypermobility. Not many ships move in the PS 9+ slot so he can often get out of the way.

Ibti moves for general positioning and performs an action (TL, focus, boost, etc). Next, Lando moves in the general direction of Ibti using a green maneuver, thus passing an action to the b-wing pilot, who then uses PTL to take a third action and get stressed. At distance, Ibti's HLC tears into the enemy, and FCS gets her set up to move in next round and drop the APT against a heavy target. Lando's boost helps keep him in position near wherever a potentially very-mobile Ibti ends up. His 360° firing arc also means his positioning vs the opponent isn't as important as it would be with another ship. Nien Nunb's there to add to the number of green arrows on the Falcon, thus increasing the number of maneuvers that trigger Lando's ability.

Warning, I've yet to play this build. Use at your own risk.

Mu0n did very well in the last Vassal tournament running:

Ibtisam w/ adv sensors and ion

Roark w/ ion

2x Rookies

Fly ibtisam as a dogfighter, roark as a pain an the rookies as a joust.

I don't understand why people are talking about FCS with Ibi, since it trivializes her ability. I also agree that Advanced Sensors feels wrong as well, since as Khyros pointed out, you have to make a choice on which way to go, and frequently I would find myself giving up her ability rather than staying stressed.

You may still want the FCS on Ibi because her ability only allows re-rolling one die while FCS could let her re-roll all of them if needed. A small but sometimes invaluable bonus especially when you get into range 1 or are otherwise rolling 4 attack dice. Even if TL and her ability are a bit redundant on attacking (Jonus/Howlrunner and TL are similar there) she still gets to reroll her defense die.

If you go with the Advanced Sensors on Ibitsam you're saying you are playing her for mobility. If she ends up stressed then the ability is just an added bonus but you aren't counting on using it. If we are really honest, having a ship constantly stressed is a recipe for disaster should you ever run into an Ion Cannon. Even if she gets to reroll the defense die a stressed and ionized Ibi has pretty is pretty much lost.

Although Ten is very expensive he has the added bonus of a higher PS when it comes to using hypermobility. Not many ships move in the PS 9+ slot so he can often get out of the way.

This, exactly this. FCS's Target Locks may step on the toes of Ibtisam's ability somewhat during her one attack per turn, but that doesn't mean they're totally redundant. If it's your first attack against a target, you probably don't have a Target Lock yet, making Ibtisam's ability useful. And every time Ibtisam has to defend, she gets a reroll thanks to her ability, not thanks to FCS, so her ability isn't useless then. And sometimes you need to reroll more than one die — then you'll be glad you have that free Target Lock.

Sure, you could save 2 points and not put FCS on her. But why not spend that 2 points and give her an FCS, which could really save you when you need to reroll more than one die? Why not take advantage of the system upgrade slot that her ship has?

Yeah, you could use it on AdvSen instead, but that works against Ibtisam's ability. You want her to be stressed — AdvSen allows you to avoid being stressed while using two actions. AdvSen is better on Ten Numb or the shuttle.

I don't understand why people are talking about FCS with Ibi, since it trivializes her ability. I also agree that Advanced Sensors feels wrong as well, since as Khyros pointed out, you have to make a choice on which way to go, and frequently I would find myself giving up her ability rather than staying stressed.

You may still want the FCS on Ibi because her ability only allows re-rolling one die while FCS could let her re-roll all of them if needed. A small but sometimes invaluable bonus especially when you get into range 1 or are otherwise rolling 4 attack dice. Even if TL and her ability are a bit redundant on attacking (Jonus/Howlrunner and TL are similar there) she still gets to reroll her defense die.

If you go with the Advanced Sensors on Ibitsam you're saying you are playing her for mobility. If she ends up stressed then the ability is just an added bonus but you aren't counting on using it. If we are really honest, having a ship constantly stressed is a recipe for disaster should you ever run into an Ion Cannon. Even if she gets to reroll the defense die a stressed and ionized Ibi has pretty is pretty much lost.

Although Ten is very expensive he has the added bonus of a higher PS when it comes to using hypermobility. Not many ships move in the PS 9+ slot so he can often get out of the way.

This, exactly this. FCS's Target Locks may step on the toes of Ibtisam's ability somewhat during her one attack per turn, but that doesn't mean they're totally redundant. If it's your first attack against a target, you probably don't have a Target Lock yet, making Ibtisam's ability useful. And every time Ibtisam has to defend, she gets a reroll thanks to her ability, not thanks to FCS, so her ability isn't useless then. And sometimes you need to reroll more than one die — then you'll be glad you have that free Target Lock.

Sure, you could save 2 points and not put FCS on her. But why not spend that 2 points and give her an FCS, which could really save you when you need to reroll more than one die? Why not take advantage of the system upgrade slot that her ship has?

Yeah, you could use it on AdvSen instead, but that works against Ibtisam's ability. You want her to be stressed — AdvSen allows you to avoid being stressed while using two actions. AdvSen is better on Ten Numb or the shuttle.

My point is that you are spending 4 points for +2 skill and her ability/EPT, then spending 2 MORE points for something she already has built in to some degree. My argument is that the points spent never feels worth it to me. I've run her in at least 4-5 different lists and usually about 2 turns into the game I think "why did I bother?".

FCS + PTL + her ability is just too much. If you use PtL and don't barrel roll, then her ability is unutilized since you already have TL/Focus. The turns you already have a TL from FCS, you trivialize PtL AND her ability because again unless you barrel roll you already have the lock and only need 1 action.

My point is that no matter how you upgrade her at the moment, each turn you will feel as if one upgrade/ability is being wasted, and sometimes more than one. Sure, you could spend even MORE points and get engine upgrade, which would help a bit I would imagine, but now we are talking north of 33 points for one ship.

When Opportunist comes out you can actually get an upgrade which triggers her ability without feeling forced/wasted every turn for a pretty reasonable price.

Or, you do as I suggested and put a sensor jammer on her. Which not only does it not conflict with her ability, it harmonizes with elusiveness, which harmonizes with her ability. Given it does have the potential downside of not having the reroll for offense.

Ibtisam is a beast with PTL and FCS. She doesn't need the engine upgrade because of her pilot skill. She is capable of focusing, target locking and barrel rolling as actions. It will be very easy to pick two of these in a turn. Yes, there are times you will not wish to stress her so you can choose to take a different maneuver your next turn. (When she's behind everyone and already has a target lock for instance.) Yes this is a 33 point build, but honestly I find three well built rebel ships outperform 4 standard low SP rebel ships.

The other way to go with her is FCS and Elusiveness. This is more of a defensive build, but slightly cheaper at 32 points.

I think Elusiveness is one of the most under-rated upgrades in the game. He is placed on Soontir Fel every time I use him. If I have the points to spare, a stealth device makes it almost impossible to hit him.

Why In The World Are We Putting Fcs On ibtisam? I'd Rather See Her With Ptl And No Sensor Upgrade At All!

Ibti With Ptl And Adv Sensors Is A Beast, though