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Hey all,

I'm playing around with some Whisper ideas for pretty casual play (Relaxed format tournaments at most) and was looking for advice... (and if that advice includes "phantoms are dead in the kylo meta" I'd like to hear about how often you see kylo in regular play ... on the streams of Naboo & Hoth I don't recall seeing Darth Emo).

99 points

“Whisper” (41)
TIE Phantom (32), Agent Kallus (2), Fire-Control System (2), Veteran Instincts (1), Advanced Cloaking Device (4)

“Epsilon Ace” (20)
TIE/fo Fighter (17), Comm Relay (3)

Major Stridan (38)
Upsilon-class Shuttle (32), Fire-Control System (2), Operations Specialist (3), Hyperwave Comm Scanner (1).

The plan would be to have Stridan coordinate to give Whisper evades and let Epsilon shoot at things for extra focus tokens... I kinda want to give Stridan Sensor cluster so he can maybe get some extra dodges (from bonus focus tokens), but to get that I'd have to swap Kallus or FCS on the shuttle for the points.

Hyperwave is basically there to let Stridan deploy later and give Epsilon Ace his evade from the start... I was kind of thinking about tac jammer instead to let Epsilon Ace hide behind it, but wasn't sure if it would be useful.

Rules question: Whisper with initiative gets to cloak/focus before Dengar gets to shoot back, right?

So, what are the glaring weaknesses I'm not seeing?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
List 2: Whisper/Fat Kylo
98 points

“Whisper” (41)
TIE Phantom (32), Agent Kallus (2), Fire-Control System (2), Veteran Instincts (1), Advanced Cloaking Device (4)

Kylo Ren (57)
Upsilon-class Shuttle (34), Push the Limit (3), Sensor Jammer (4), Emperor Palpatine (8), Pattern Analyzer (2), Sensor Cluster (2), Engine Upgrade (4)

The idea here is that kylo can use PTL w/pattern analyzer to take extra actions on green maneuvers and not carry stress with Palpatine to keep Whisper from blanking ... sensor cluster to keep that beast of a points sink alive a bit longer and Kylo as pilot to deter shots/hurt those who do attack him.

not that many and honestly i ran a very similar build just on friday evening.

Echo
ACD
VI
Collision Detector
Recon Specialist

OLeader
Juke
Comm relay

Striden
Fleet Officer
Intel agent.

100pts


i found the coordinate action from striden got Echo and her phantom out of trouble a few times either by an evade action or barrel rolling to reposition even further.

I quite enjoy a Stridan/Ace core, although I mostly have used Soontir as my Ace. I would suggest the following:

Whisper- no changes

Stridan-
FCS
Inspiring Recruit
Hux
Pattern Analyzer

Black Squadron Pilot
Crack shot

Total is 98pt. I Replaced Epsilon Ace with a Black Squadron Pilot, who is probably going to do as much (via key use of Crack Shot), and frees up 5pt for your important ships. Hux is great, handing out focus like Candy. Your shuttle is probably not going to dodge anyways, meaning it is a good choice for Fanatical Devotion. Pattern analyzer allows you to emerge unscathed from a Hux turn, or Hux it up after a red maneuver. Inspiring recruit helps counter stress control, as well as allowing you to Hux after a red maneuver and clear all stress on your next turn.

Carnifex - you're probably right about Hux instead of OpSpec on Stridan... I'm probably getting overly enthusiastic about OpSpec. I ran it once (on RAC with Rexler Brath) and it was just fun seeing all those tokens going around.

I'm actually rather tempted by a double gunner list like this to play with OpSpec:
98 points

Rear Admiral Chiraneau (54)
VT-49 Decimator (46), Adaptability (0), Gunner (5), Operations Specialist (3)

“Whisper” (44)
TIE Phantom (32), Gunner (5), Fire-Control System (2), Veteran Instincts (1), Advanced Cloaking Device (4)

But maybe a different Decimator pilot is the way to go... after all, Whisper has gunner for her own bonus focus (hit or miss), so having another ship shooting first isn't such a big deal...

The problem with both lists in the OP is that you're all-in on Whisper. If Whisper goes down you lose the game because that shuttle is going to struggle to ever get arc against most ships (and have zero chance against maneuverable aces). And, while RAC/Kylo might be less common now than it has been at other times, the list is still out there and pretty much instantly kills Whisper. Same thing with k-wings, which will drop a couple bombs on Whisper and then SLAM out of arc of the shuttle for the rest of the game. And, while it isn't an auto-loss like bombs or RAC, you've got a massive uphill battle against anything with high damage potential (Kanan/Biggs TLT, u-boats + Fenn Rau, etc) because it puts a ton of pressure on Whisper's green dice and one bad turn can end the game.

The RAC/Whisper is a much better option, since RAC is a legitimate threat if Whisper goes down, but you're better off adjusting the points somehow (probably cheaper crew on Whisper, rebel captive and Kallus are both good) to get engine upgrade on RAC. Boosting at PS 10 with a 360* turret and a pilot ability that mitigates the loss of focus is incredibly powerful.

Yeah the first list definitely lacks firepower. I don't think Phantoms are dead in the current meta but you can't expect them to carry the game by themselves like they used to do.

I agree with Crazy_Carnifex that Hux and a BlackCrack is probably better. Overall, I prefer the RAC/Whisper list for the reasons Peregrine stated. I think dropping Gunner on Whisper for an Engine Upgrade on RAC is the way to go, possibly also adding in VI instead of Adaptability to get to PS10.

I'd probably also swap Operations Specialist for Kylo Ren. The combo with Gunner may look good but I think you're probably better off threatening to put crits on ships rather than preparing for the possibility of missing.