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Omicron Group Pilot (Lambda Shuttle, 29 points)
Emperor Palpatine

Major Rhymer (TIE Bomber, 35 points)
Veteran Instincts
Stealth Device
Proton Rockets
Extra Munitions

Soontir Fel (TIE Interceptor, 35 points)
Royal Guard TIE
Push the Limit
Autothrusters
Stealth Device

99 points

The idea is to have Major Rhymer (PS9) alpha-strike with his prockets, and then have Palp turn his dice into 5 crits. His ability ups the procket range to 2, and I gave him Stealth Device to add a bit more power, and maybe keep him alive for a second volley. Then (hopefully) Soontir Fel mops up. Thoughts?

Shooting missles without Guidance Chips? You'll lose your stealth device after one round of shooting on Rhymer. If you're looking for an ace bomber, I'd suggest Tomax Bren especially with a Palp shuttle.

Azeroth wrote:
Shooting missles without Guidance Chips?

Yeah, there is no point using Guidance Chips to change one dice to a hit, when Palpetine is going to change all five to crits (EDIT: sorry, I'm an idiot). Tomax could work, but he would need to get into range 1 to use prockets, while Rhymer can fire them at range 1-2.

Palpatine only allows you to change 1 die, not "all five"

Apostasus wrote:
Palpatine only allows you to change 1 die, not "all five"

Oh okay, my mistake, I misunderstood how he works, I thought it was one "whole result". I figured that was why he was so expensive, and why Palp Aces was so popular... Thank you for putting me straight anyway! That's one less reason for me to buy a Raider! I can see how he is still good, but I don't think I'd want to invest 29 points in a Lambda just for one dice.

Originally, I was trying to think of a way to get max crits using Omega Ace, but I thought Palpatine made the idea obsolete, but I guess he doesn't. This is what I was thinking originally...

Omega Ace (TIE/fo Fighter, 29 points)
Comm Relay
Push the Limit
Stealth Device

Youngster (TIE Fighter, 19 points)
Expose

Scimitar Squadron Pilot (TIE Bomber, 23 pointsTIE)
Shuttle
Twin Ion Engine Mk. II
Rebel Captive
Fleet Officer

Turr Phennir (TIE Interceptor, 28 Points)
Veteran Instincts
Autothrusters

99 Points

The basic idea is that the shuttle passes focus to Omega Ace, and then he can use his target lock to change all of his results to crits. He can also use Youngsters Expose to get an extra dice, so he'd be rolling 4 crits at R1. I gave him PTL so he doesn't get too strapped for actions, but Opportunist and Juke might also be workable.

Turr Phennir is there because he's a lot cheaper than PTL Soontir Fel, but probably just as good with someone feeding him Focus tokens, so he's quite a nice fit, and makes the shuttle more "worth it".

Well, it's something that in theory works. Using expose on anything with 3 agility is not what I'd call smart though. There's a reason expose is only put on decimators with 0 agility.

 Smacks wrote:
Oh okay, my mistake, I misunderstood how he works, I thought it was one "whole result". I figured that was why he was so expensive, and why Palp Aces was so popular... Thank you for putting me straight anyway! That's one less reason for me to buy a Raider! I can see how he is still good, but I don't think I'd want to invest 29 points in a Lambda just for one dice.

That 29 points for a Palp Shuttle is probably the best 29 points you could spend in the game. The ability to change one die on any of your rolls is crazy powerful, which is why it's so popular. Plus, the shuttle rolls three attack dice and that alone is nothing to sneeze at.

At the same time, Palpatine is at his best when he's got many already modified dice to work with;

Changing one blank on a bomber's evade dice to an evade....stops a point of damage, reducing three to two or two to one. It'll take one more shot to kill the bomber than it should.

Changing one blank on soontir fel's evade dice to an evade.... almost invariably makes the attack miss because that's usually the only blank by the time you've finished. Soontir Fel with Palpatine watching over him is all but untouchable without serious tricks of your own (blocking, negative dice modifiers, automatic damage).

Omega Ace's ability is nice, and worth giving him Push The Limit to take advantage of if it ever comes up, but I wouldn't built a squad around it. Criticals are nice, but between evade dice and shields, they're not that much better than regular damage unless you have an ability that triggers off them, and focus/target lock together generally means 'everything hits' anyway.

Youngster is best used with multiple TIE fighters, and best not used with Expose.

The Expose wasn't really for Youngster to use himself, the idea was to allow Omega Ace to (opportunistically) get an extra dice, for example when he is out of arc. Anyway, I tried some games with the list over the weekend, and it was fairly terrible. The weak link is the Bomber Shuttle, it's just too vulnerable, and useless in the combat phase (aside from support). Omega Ace was actually pretty great just on his own. With PTL, Engine Upgrade, and Comm Relay he was doing consistently good damage, and was hard to kill. Against hull, his the face up damage was devastating, and it was noticeably painful against stuff with low agility.

I tried dropping Youngster and upgrading Turr Phennir with Auto Thrusters and Stealth Device, and also upgraded the shuttle to Tomax with Crack Shot, EU, Systems Officer and Ysanne Isard. That was a bit better, it felt like he was actually contributing to the combat, and the evade token was useful. Unfortunately, there were TLTs in that game, so he took quite a lot of damage before Ysanne kicked in. It's a shame you can't take Ysanne Isard with Fleet Officer. I also tried Colonel Jendon with Weapons Engineer, Fire Control System, Fleet Officer and ST-321. He was great while he lasted, but a bit too easy to bump.

Omega Ace and Turr Phennir are similar in a lot of ways. They are both close to being "top tier" aces, but don't quite have the action economy to get them there. Turr Phennir is probably better value than any other Interceptor, since he gets many of the benefits of having PTL without having to pay for it. In some ways his ability is superior, since he doesn't receive stress, and he can take his shot before dodging out of arc/range, which is often more useful. With Veteran Instincts he is PS9, and 4 points cheaper than Soontir Fel with PTL. If it weren't for the fact that Soontir Fel is almost always able to focus fire, I think Turr Phennir would be (arguably) the better ship (or at least the same ship for fewer points). However, as things are, he often has to choose between focus firing, or boosting in for a closer shot. He can't really do both without help.

Omega Ace is in kind of the same boat: he needs a Focus and Target Lock action to trigger his ability, which is easy with PTL, but it then precludes him from boosting, which he also really needs to ensure he gets the full three dice at R1. Unlike Turr Phennir, he frequently can boost into R1, Focus, and still trigger his ability, because he can maintain a Target Lock from previous turns. However, he's only PS7, which is another strike against him.

Both pilots worked really well while the support ship was alive, and are exceptionally good value. After the support ship died, they were "okay", Turr Phennir can certainly get the job done, but they're not as nice to have as Soontir Fel or Vader.

Nevermind, I read the FAQ

Omega Ace is in kind of the same boat: he needs a Focus and Target Lock action to trigger his ability, which is easy with PTL, but it then precludes him from boosting, which he also really needs to ensure he gets the full three dice at R1.

Omega Ace flies a TIE/fo and doesn't have Boost.

But I see what you're saying. Turr Phenir, I agree, is a damn good pilot. Veteran Instincts, making him PS9, is a nice trick - letting him get his shot in early enough to get the free action before he gets shot back at.

And no, Phenir isn't as good as Fel or Vader - but as you noted, he's a lot, lot cheaper - which allows you to be a bit more liberal with your third ship, or if taking Palpatine, allows you to equip the shuttle with a smattering of wargear - an Engine Upgrade or Sensor Jammer, for example, can both work wonders on keeping Palpatine's shuttle alive (especially if one of the fighters escorting him is Carnor Jax), which in turn keeps his ability in play for longer.

locarno24 wrote:
Omega Ace flies a TIE/fo and doesn't have Boost.

Haha, yeah I know that one ... After the first game I switched his modification from Stealth Device to Engine Upgrade (I did actually mention EU in my previous post). Initially, I ruled out Engine Upgrade because it's yet another action on top of an already action heavy build, but after my first game I decided that he needs to have EU to work. I think it's just not worth investing in Omega Ace+PTL if he's only doing two damage per turn, he needs to be able to get into R1 and deliver three crits with some regularity to be worth it.

In that case, I can see the Fleet officer being worth it to 'fill in' the focus.

I guess you can set up locks the turn before, instead.
I'd have to give it a try - happy to believe you; you've got the experience with the fighter, and the argument makes sense. It is a hella expensive mod for a 20 point TIE fighter, though.