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So, I just played my first game with two new ships. Whisper, VI, ACD, gunner, and Sensor Jammers, and two Scimitars+Adv Torps and Proton Bombs

I ran against Leebo with Dash, Outrider, HLC plus Horn with Advanced Sensors, PTL, R2D2, and likely something else.

Game ended when Whisper went off the board... not the most dramatic ending ever, but it was my first time flying a Phantom. Decloaking 2 forward then a 4 ahead is a lot of distance.

Didn't fire an advanced torpedo all game. Clearly, I need to get a lot better at flying or I need to ditch them.

I got one hit with a proton bomb. It did make my opponent a lot more defensive in flying his E-Wing.

Gunner came into play one. It was nice when it did, but I think an Intel agent would have made my bombers a lot more useful. Sensor Jammer was worthwhile. Didn't take a single hit on Whisper the whole game. The HLC melted my Bombers, though.

Give the phantom time. I had a little bit of issue controlling it at first, but once i learned what it could do and got the hang of it, it's my favorite ship in the entire game right now. Played smartly its very defensive and very killy at the same time, and can do some silly ass movement shenanigans.

Though that ACD is a must. Failing to achieve cloak is all but a death sentence for the ship.

Full disclosure: i don't own the whole line, but still.

FCS is amazing with gunner, giving that 2nd attack a target lock makes Whisper's free focus almost guaranteed. And yeah, phantoms are quite tricky to get the hang of. A navigator is a nice set of training wheels while you learn.

Ordnance is hard to use on low PS ships because it's tricky to get the right lock on. APTs even moreso due to the low range. Same deal with proton bombs. Proximity mines are fantastic on scimitars because they move first and can drop them directly on other ships. Slippery characters like Soontir Fel have no defense against it.

Dropping the ordnance for prox mines frees up enough for a while other ship, like Dark Curse or even another bomber.

There is a bit of learning curve to flying the phantom, with Whisper being far more easier than Echo. Here is a fun combo you can use on whisper if you have the cards.

Whisper: Veteran Instincts, Fire Control System, Advanced Cloaking Device, Gunner. You get that nice target lock, maybe you miss, then, get to shoot again with gunner when you do miss.

With Echo: Veteran Instincts, Advaced Cloaking Device, ADvanced Sensors, and any crew you feel like.

Big thing with phantom is you need them to shoot before anything else. Also, if you wont get to shoot first, and your phantom will be a target, just don't decloak.

As far as the Bomber, I have no idea really. I picked one up to have one.

IMO gunner isn't very good on phantoms. With four red dice (five at range 1!) you're consistently hitting, especially if you have FCS giving you focus + target lock stacks. So that's 5 points and a crew slot doing little more than giving a bit of protection against horrible luck. A recon specialist, on the other hand, gives you more tokens to spend on defense for a ship that depends very heavily on its green dice.

APTs on generics suck, I would rarely even consider using them. You'll have trouble staying alive long enough to shoot, you don't have an EPT slot to get the required focus + TL stack in a single turn when you have a good opportunity, and higher-PS ships with maneuvering actions can dodge your shot. An APT shot can be nasty (though incredibly expensive) on an elite pilot that can make good use of it, but even then it's a lot of points for something that isn't guaranteed to do anything. If you want an APT bomber take Rhymer with PTL, extending the range to 1-2 makes a huge difference and almost guarantees that you'll get to use it (as long as you don't die before PS 7).

Proton bombs are questionable. They're obviously powerful when they work, but they cost a lot of points and are hard to use on a low-PS ship. Most of the time I'd take either seismic charges for cheap area denial (even if you never drop them the threat can control your opponent's maneuver choices) or proximity mines for damage (move at low PS and immediately drop them on a target before they can move away).

With the Bomber, I've generally had the best results running some mix of Flechette Torps and Ion Pulse missiles (with munitions failsafe), and using it as a control ship. It's fairly cheap (generally under 25pt), and can really mess up my opponent.

Phantom is arguably the hardest ship to play (only rivaled by the interceptor). As mentioned earlier, Advanced Cloaking Device is a must, and Vet instincts is almost as important (if ones meta lacks high PS ships for some reason, outmaneuver may be taken).

Gunner is nice on Phantoms for 2 main reasons. First, it's incredibly reliable damage output combined with FCS with no actions required. You can use your actions for defense or positioning instead, giving you more options. Plus, with Whisper, getting that hit improves your own durability by providing you a focus token. Second, Gunner presents all kinds of psychological problems for opponents. People will take damage they wouldn't normally take just to avoid giving Whisper another shot with a TL. 2 hits to 1 evade and 1 eye? I'll take 1 damage instead of risk it. That's damage you wouldn't normally do, even if it is minimal.

Now, Gunner is expensive and there are plenty of good crew options, so it's really a matter of preference and fitting into your squadron. But it's a very tempting option.

The phantom screams using the Rebel Captive. Not only is it hard to hit, but then you add on a stress token for anyone shooting at it. Running dual Phantoms, Tactician might be a nice pairing for Echo. Handing out stress tokens with the manueaverability that they both have is huge.

Azeroth wrote:
The phantom screams using the Rebel Captive. Not only is it hard to hit, but then you add on a stress token for anyone shooting at it. Running dual Phantoms, Tactician might be a nice pairing for Echo. Handing out stress tokens with the manueaverability that they both have is huge.

This is true, but it starts getting a little Eggs in one baskety. 30 for Echo. 4 for ACD, what's captive or tacticisan run (i forget), 2 or 3 ?

That's starting to get pricey for a ship that if you fail to cloak has 2 agility and 2 shield / 2 hull.


I dunno. I sorta fall into that camp of "just because it has an upgrade slot doesn't mean i need to use it". If i'm putting ACD on whisper or echo, to put something else on that same ship, it's got to return stupid good results.

One of the nastier counters:
Roark, ion turret, Neera (flechette torps), Swarm Tactics, Couple of Blue Squadron.

Roark passes PS12 to Neera who ST's it on to someone (normally Roark to apply an ion) else, before stressing and/or hurting the phantom. Roark ion's it, preventing it from shedding the stress and recloaking. Following turn, B's hurt it bad.

Oh yeah, phantoms can be hurt bad by higher PS, stress, or even just focused fire. That's what the rest of your squad is for, plus the Phantom has great positioning ability to get it in the right place. Just takes practice.

Yeah, stuff like the Nera trick are why the shuttle (with captain Yorr) is actually a good companion for the Phantom.

I haven't actually tried the double phantom yet, but it could work against lower PS opponents. What I'd really like to pair is a Phantom with a Decimator

Oicunn + Opportunist + Dauntless + Tactician + Gunner +Rebel Captive

Whisper + Vet Instinct+ ACD + FCS + Recon Specialist

Your opponent will probably concentrate on Oicunn as he is much easier to hit and Whisper can manuever itself away from most attack arcs (and it is very hard to hit). With Recon Specialist, Whisper can always have a focus for attack and defense. Rebel Captive and Tactician will hand out a lot of stress tokens. Opportunist gives Oicunn the ability to have 4 attack dice most of the time as he'll probably shoot after a lot of opponents ships and with the 360 degree arc, he'll be able to pick his target.

I absolutely love my phantoms, and have tried running two rather bare bones (advanced cloaking device, of course) with two stripped down bombers. Bombers make a juicy, but tough to kill target, while the phantoms do the killing. But it's tough to face high pilot skill opponents!

I'm considering going down to 3 ships, to get higher pilot skills on my own ships, but can't decide what to pair the phantom with. I saw a player do well (win a small tourney) with super high pilot skill phantom, defender, and interceptor. Wish I knew the loadouts, though.

I particularly struggle against "Fat Han" with my phantoms, and he's all too common. What is an effective pairing with a phantom to face something like that? I.e. facing a high pilot skill turret, so shooting me before I can hit it, which also has a lot of damage soaking potential?

 RiTides wrote:
I absolutely love my phantoms, and have tried running two rather bare bones (advanced cloaking device, of course) with two stripped down bombers. Bombers make a juicy, but tough to kill target, while the phantoms do the killing. But it's tough to face high pilot skill opponents!

I'm considering going down to 3 ships, to get higher pilot skills on my own ships, but can't decide what to pair the phantom with. I saw a player do well (win a small tourney) with super high pilot skill phantom, defender, and interceptor. Wish I knew the loadouts, though.

I particularly struggle against "Fat Han" with my phantoms, and he's all too common. What is an effective pairing with a phantom to face something like that? I.e. facing a high pilot skill turret, so shooting me before I can hit it, which also has a lot of damage soaking potential?

There isn't one really. If you run one Phantom, maybe the rest of your list as a swarm to take Fat Han and keep your Phantom at a long distance away. Maybe if you ran a decimator with the Phantom. The Decimator certainly can dish out and take the punishment from Fat Han (also Fat Han's gunner becomes almost worthless as a single damage will hit and not trigger the gunner effect).

Yeah the decimator nobbles fat Han pretty well. Kenkirk with ysanne, gunner and a recon specialist makes for fun times, but weighs in around 60 points. :-( not sure what phantom you could get in that.

 Chumbalaya wrote:
FCS is amazing with gunner, giving that 2nd attack a target lock makes Whisper's free focus almost guaranteed. And yeah, phantoms are quite tricky to get the hang of. A navigator is a nice set of training wheels while you learn.

Ordnance is hard to use on low PS ships because it's tricky to get the right lock on. APTs even moreso due to the low range. Same deal with proton bombs. Proximity mines are fantastic on scimitars because they move first and can drop them directly on other ships. Slippery characters like Soontir Fel have no defense against it.

Dropping the ordnance for prox mines frees up enough for a while other ship, like Dark Curse or even another bomber.

I concur. Prox Mines are especially useful now they go off straight away if they overlap when dropped, inflicting damage out of phase can really throw a spanner in your opponents plan, most of the other missles and torps are shaky at best on low PS pilots (although failsafe and flechettes can sometimes be a thing)

Best support for a Phantom is still a mini-swarm. Howlrunner and 3 Academies can tear Han apart surprisingly quickly. It takes some practice to get your maneuvers down, but it is scary how well that works.

Failing that, prox mine bombers are incredibly entertaining with unavoidable damage, Decimators can last quite long, and Rexler Brath demolishes big ships.