Just so I can call it "Stuttering Biggs" B-B-B-Biggs

Was thinking:

3x Blue + FCS

Biggs + R2-F2

Effectiveness would, of course, depend on how well I position Biggs

I've played that, or variations of it very effectively before. It can work quite well if you play Biggs smart. You basically use him as a delivery system to get B-Wings into knife-fighting range undamaged, and after that anything he survives to accomplish is kind of gravy.

I'm a fan of R2-F2 on Biggs. I know it takes your action and as such you can't focus, but the focus is only good for 1 attack, the extra agility is good for every attack. They break even if you get attacked twice, and from then on, R2-F2 becomes much better. Seeing as Biggs is going to be attacked until he's dead, I find that it's a good use of his action. I'd be tempted to drop two of the FCS and put a stealth on Biggs to further that pain. FYI, a 2F attack will do an average of .30 damage against a R2-F2 Stealthed R3 Biggs, while a 3F attack will do .95. Eh, stealth might not be worth it, though if you can get him R3 behind an obstacle, he's taking .21 from a 2F and .54 from a 3F. And if you can get them to spend their focus, those drop to .11 and .26 respectively. Just imagine how annoyed your opponent would be when they can't even strip the stealth on Biggs, while your Bs are at R1 pounding your opponent.

Bigg's job in this list is to die gloriously whilst getting the B-Wings in close. I would leave the list as is.

Fly them all close until you are range 3 from the enemy, then next turn 1 forward Biggs and push up the B's.

Then it's a slug fest of can the opponent drop 27 HP's before you shoot him up. The B's will suffer heavy hits every turn and will almost certainly be outmaneuvered, but they can take some real punishment.

You are going to have to be prepared to use red turns and K's a lot, but that should be somewhat mitigated by the FCS. Your low PS is going to punish you as well.

It is not an easy list to be successful with, but it can be done.

Just so I can call it "Stuttering Biggs" B-B-B-Biggs

Was thinking:

3x Blue + FCS

Biggs + R2-F2

Effectiveness would, of course, depend on how well I position Biggs

It's a nice idea - sadly R2-F2 is almost completely worthless even compared to simply taking focus. I ran the numbers on it, I'll make a longer post on it later, probably some time this weekend. Drop R2-F2 to upgrade FCS to Advanced Sensors, or get Stealth Device or Hull Upgrade instead, and it's much more competitive.

I'm a fan of R2-F2 on Biggs. I know it takes your action and as such you can't focus, but the focus is only good for 1 attack, the extra agility is good for every attack. They break even if you get attacked twice, and from then on, R2-F2 becomes much better. Seeing as Biggs is going to be attacked until he's dead, I find that it's a good use of his action. I'd be tempted to drop two of the FCS and put a stealth on Biggs to further that pain. FYI, a 2F attack will do an average of .30 damage against a R2-F2 Stealthed R3 Biggs, while a 3F attack will do .95. Eh, stealth might not be worth it, though if you can get him R3 behind an obstacle, he's taking .21 from a 2F and .54 from a 3F. And if you can get them to spend their focus, those drop to .11 and .26 respectively. Just imagine how annoyed your opponent would be when they can't even strip the stealth on Biggs, while your Bs are at R1 pounding your opponent.

It's not exactly that simple. I ran the average damage numbers on it, and by the time R2-F2 outperforms taking a focus action (let alone spending those 3 points on stealth device or hull upgrade), Biggs is on the verge of being dead anyway. As I mentioned in a previous post, I'll make a thread on it in the next few days. I just need to make a photo account somewhere and upload about 20 figures.

I've had a lot of fun with that list. My first inspiration for it was killing my first B wing + fcs at range 3 with a 7 tie swarm. Really disheartening for my opponent trying to get that range 3 lock.

I've also had fun with this variation:

Biggs

Dagger + Adv Sensors

Blue + FCS

Blue + FCS

Biggs is less survivableable, but you get the Dagger! Making that close range dogfighting even more deadly. I also found 3 FCS target locks to be unnecessary when focus firing. 1 always got wasted, so it felt like I could put the 2 pts elsewhere.

I'm a fan of R2-F2 on Biggs. I know it takes your action and as such you can't focus, but the focus is only good for 1 attack, the extra agility is good for every attack. They break even if you get attacked twice, and from then on, R2-F2 becomes much better. Seeing as Biggs is going to be attacked until he's dead, I find that it's a good use of his action. I'd be tempted to drop two of the FCS and put a stealth on Biggs to further that pain. FYI, a 2F attack will do an average of .30 damage against a R2-F2 Stealthed R3 Biggs, while a 3F attack will do .95. Eh, stealth might not be worth it, though if you can get him R3 behind an obstacle, he's taking .21 from a 2F and .54 from a 3F. And if you can get them to spend their focus, those drop to .11 and .26 respectively. Just imagine how annoyed your opponent would be when they can't even strip the stealth on Biggs, while your Bs are at R1 pounding your opponent.

It's not exactly that simple. I ran the average damage numbers on it, and by the time R2-F2 outperforms taking a focus action (let alone spending those 3 points on stealth device or hull upgrade), Biggs is on the verge of being dead anyway. As I mentioned in a previous post, I'll make a thread on it in the next few days. I just need to make a photo account somewhere and upload about 20 figures.

Well, 3F attack vs 2F defense = .91 damage. 3F vs 2 = 1.53. 2 attack total = 2.44 damage.

R2-F2... 3F vs 3 = 1.22 x2 = 2.44 damage.

So, against a focused 3 attack opponent, it breaks even at 2 attacks. If we drop it to a 2 attack opponent, 2F vs 2F = .47, 2F vs 2 = .85. Total = 1.32.

R2-F2... 2F vs 3 = .61 x2 = 1.22 damage. You've now taken less damage.

So at least comparing F vs. R2-F2, if you're planning on getting attacked 2+ times, R2-F2 is the better action. More in depth analysis is required to say that he's better than stealth (imo he is). For the same points as R2-F2, stealth is essentially giving you 1 free focus, as it should drop in the first round of engagement. From then on, you're now 2F instead of 3 via R2-F2. Actually, I'm not going to bother doing the mathematical analysis of R2-F2 vs. Stealth because it seems so intuitive to me that it's not worth the effort.

Well, 3F attack vs 2F defense = .91 damage. 3F vs 2 = 1.53. 2 attack total = 2.44 damage.

R2-F2... 3F vs 3 = 1.22 x2 = 2.44 damage.

So, against a focused 3 attack opponent, it breaks even at 2 attacks.

Hm, I have a different result for 3F attack vs 2F defense, I have 1.0745.

3F vs 2F over 2 rounds is less damage than you calculated, because you didn't consider the weighted probability of still having the focus for the second attack. The correct number (assuming my math is correct for 3F vs 2F = 1.0745) after 2 rounds of attacks is 2.3337 vs 2.4335 for R2-F2. R2-F2 is better after 3 attacks, but only by 0.05. It's not significant enough to be meaningful. Even at 4 attacks it's only a difference of 0.27 damage, 4.8669 vs 5.1379.

You of all people should know that math > intuition! Your intuition is discounting the probability of keeping focus and/or stealth after the first attack, and is also underestimating the damage mitigation that stealth provides after one round, compared to the relatively small difference in slopes between R2-F2 damage vs focus. After 5 attacks, Stealth + Focus is still winning at just under 6 damage, and R2-F2 is just over 6 damage. And Biggs is probably dead anyway.

Summary - indeed, further analysis shows R2-F2 doesn't seem to be worth the points by himself. Though not demonstrated below, there are plenty of ways to get a focus from other sources, this would then make R2-F2 worth his points. Stealth on Biggs is also not really worth the points as it only prevents ~.5 damage overall, but 5 3 dice attacks will still kill him at R3. While Garven could be a potential way to get a focus and then use R2-F2, it would likely be better to focus anyways and have 2. SL / Lando would be the acceptable methods of using R2-F2.

Indeed I am not calculating the chances of keeping the focus the second turn. Which rolling two dice would be 50%. (And I found an omission in my math, the 1.07 is right, this is why it's always better to have two independent checks).

So, let's look at R3 shots, since that's going to be the initial placement of Biggs. And lets take a look at 3F as the attacker, since that's going to indicate the fewest # of attacks against him (4X @ 3 vs. 7TIE @ 2... the 4X will help the focus out over the 7 /ln). So, if the focus is better in any regard, it'll be better here.

3F vs 3F results in .64 damage. There's a 50% chance he doesn't spend the focus. 3F vs 3N = 1.22 dmg. Therefore, Bigg's average damage taken (ignoring crits) will be as follows:

1 attack = .64

2 attacks = .64 + (1.22 * .5 + .64 * .5) = 1.57

3 attacks = 1.57 + (1.22 * .75 + .64 * .25) = 2.645

4 attacks = 2.64 + (1.22 * .875 + .64 * .125) = 3.7925

5 attacks = 3.79 + (1.22 * .9375 + .64 * .0625) = 4.97625

Biggs is dead. Note - after 3-4 attacks, the turn may end and Biggs could get another focus, but he would likely no longer be at R3.

So now lets look at R2-F2. 3F vs 4N = .95.

1 attack = .95

2 attack = 1.9

3 attack = 2.85

4 attack = 3.8

5 attack = 4.75

So factoring the chance that he didn't spend the focus does indeed change how fast the return of R2-F2 happens. In the best case scenario for focus, it doesn't really ever happen. Yes, they break even at 4 attacks, but as you said, he's likely to get dead on the next attack anyways, so what difference does it make?

But now lets look at the best evade scenario - 7 TIEs shoot at R3.

2F (I'm still giving them focus because they should have it) vs. 3F = .23. 2F vs. 3N = .61, and 2F vs. 4N = .43

With a focus

1 attack = .23

2 attacks = .23 + (.61 * .5 + .23 * .5) = .65

3 attacks = .65 + (.61 * .75 + .23 * .25) = 1.165

4 attacks = 1.165 + (.61 * .875 + .23 * .125) = 1.7275

5 attacks = 1.73 + (.61 * .9375 + .23 * .0625) = 2.31375

6 attacks = 2.31 + (.61 * .96875 + .23 * .03125) = 2.911875

7 attacks = 2.91 + (.61 * .974375 + .23 * .015625) = 3.5098375

8 attacks = 3.51 + (.61 * .9921875 + .23 * .0078125) = 4.11686875

And that's the most attacks in one round.

With R2-F2

1 attack = .43

2 attacks = .86

3 attacks = 1.29

4 attacks = 1.72

5 attacks = 2.15

6 attacks = 2.58

7 attacks = 3.01

8 attacks = 3.44

So once again, they break even after 4 attacks. The difference is that at the end of the swarm (of 7) you're going to have half a life more. So, I guess I need to rethink my like of R2-F2.

But lets take a look at stealth device. This is going to hurt my head a bit.

3F vs 4F = .35, 3F vs. 4N = .95, 3F vs 3F = .64, 3F vs 3N = 1.22

1 attack = .35

chance of losing stealth = 1 - (3 hit * 3+4 evade + 2 hit * 2+3+4 evade + 1 hit * 1+2+3+4 evade + 0 hit) = 1 - (.42 * (.37+.15) + .42 * (.33+.37+.15) + .14* (.13+.33+.37+.15) + .02) = 26.74%

2 attacks = .35 + .2674 * (.5 * 1.22 + .5 * .64) + .7326 * (.5 * 1.22 + .5 * .64) = 1.28

chance of losing stealth if you have focus = 26.74... if you don't have focus = 1 - (3 hit * 3+4 evade + 2 hit * 2+3+4 evade + 1 hit * 1+2+3+4 evade + 0 hit) = 1 - ( .42 * (.13+.02) + .42 * (.33+.13+.02) + .14 * (.37+.33+.13+.02) + .02) = 59.64%

3 attacks = 1.28 + .2674 (.75 * 1.22 + .25 * .64) + .7326 * (.5 * (.5964 * 1.22 + .4036 * .95) + .5 * (.5964 * (1.22 * .5 + .64 * .5) + .4036 * (.35 * .5 + .95 * .5)) = 2.27

I think my math on the 3 attacks is right, but it got darn confusing. Note that the difference between attack 2 and attack 3 is .99 with the stealth. Without the stealth, it is 1.07. After two attacks, there's a 29.5% chance of still having the stealth device. Its reasonable to assume that the additional health benefit of the stealth is marginal. As such, I'm going to estimate attacks 4 and 5 by adding the incremental damage from the focus attack with out stealth

4 attacks = 2.27 + (3.79 - 2.64) = 3.42

5 attacks = 3.42 + (4.97 - 3.79) = 4.6

So, the stealth device saves .4 damage over 5 attacks. For 3 points, the stealth device adds about .3-5 health capacity to Biggs, this is picked up in the first two attacks. Though against a swarm, it should fair better, I just don't have the patience to do this right now.