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Well, just got my 2.0 conversion kit a few days ago, along with the new starter... And ohhhh boy there is a lot to take it. Most of my 1st edition squads are a thing of the past now.

So, let's talk Imperials tactics. What ships are working for you, what builds, and how are the general 2.0 Imperials lists working?

Current Idea for my first few games of 2.0:
-5x TIE Strikers. Do I go all Black Squadron Scout? Are the named pilots worth it all all, because Dutchess looks as "meh" as ever.

Well one tournament in and my Imperial experience is I hate Admiral Sloane

Seriously though at least in my area the meta seems to be skewed towards high durability. I was up against way more Tie bombers/gunboats/shuttles than I was Tie swarms. Even the Rebels are going for fat Han or 5 Y-wings.

As for the specific question - I always felt the striker fell in a bad gap where it cost too much for it's low durability. Now with much less action economy and repositioning it could be more viable. I would skip the named pilots, go either all Black Scouts for the higher PS or all basic sentinels and use the leftover points for bombs or something.

I had great fun with 2 bombers and Oicunn last week.

Someone in out group is trying to revive Palp Aces (Soontir and Vader) and it is working like a charm. Soontir is much more of a sneaky buzzsaw now.

 Mathieu Raymond wrote:
I had great fun with 2 bombers and Oicunn last week.

Someone in out group is trying to revive Palp Aces (Soontir and Vader) and it is working like a charm. Soontir is much more of a sneaky buzzsaw now.

I am interested in what people are doing with their Soontir Fel's. 2.0 seems to be much more upgrade light than 1.0, so it is hard to resist taking tons of crap onto Fel and trying to make him emulate his 1.0 nonsense.

One thing I have noticed with 2.0 and Imperial list building, is that I am taking a larger Initiative range with my ships. I am finally considering Academy Pilot TIEs instead of just spamming Black Squad Veterans with Crack Shot, because the standard TIE has quite a few pilots with good support abilities and ways of getting extra attack dice.

I heard one of our (new to town) X-Wing players talk about facing a pretty savage 5 TIE Bomber list, I have been dorking around with lists but can't really find anything I am liking with the 5 TIE Bombers I have.

The new TIE Advanced pilot is pretty good if you can keep him for the late game. I forget his name, but if he has a target lock, he can burn the lock to expose (turns to a critical) a damage card. When the enemy has reached the point where they have a damage card or two on them, he can make their lives downright miserable.

Had him flying circles around scum Han, turning the "Direct Hit" back face up on a regular basis (with the added bonus the targeting computer would turn at least one shot hit to a crit as well). Got down to the wire with Han on the last hull and - well, can't evade forever. Got blown up, but it sure was a nasty run.

The TIE bomber list using barrages and Jonus(?) is a pain in the ass to deal with as is the prox mine variant.

Had a tourney on the weekend and there was a lot of Imperial variance which was a joy to see. Two lists that done okay were all the IN4 /ln pilots as well as the IN4 reaper and two Sigmas, Sabbac and the same reaper. Second place in the tourney was using IN2 aggressor (Ion turret) and reaper, Soontir (predator) and Steele in /x1 which was a scary list to deal with and Steele milled pretty much my entire damage deck before our game was over.

Having a look through the lists and all of the ones that placed well used as many ships as possible over taking more upgrades, the only exception appeared to be using SR on Vader which everyone did.

has anyone had success with TIE Interceptors (excluding Fel)?

Im trying to get more interceptor pilot cards, bases, and dials to see how many I can run in a list as I have 5 (Fel's, Red one, and 3 plain ones)

 KingmanHighborn wrote:
Im trying to get more interceptor pilot cards, bases, and dials to see how many I can run in a list as I have 5 (Fel's, Red one, and 3 plain ones)

That seems like a neat idea. I only have three, but have wondered at how well Interceptor spam in 2.0 would be.

Also, what are pure TIE/ln swarms looking like nowadays? With the conversion kit and new starter, I have the 6 dials for the 6 TIE Fighters of my old Crack Shot spam list. However, with the changes to Crack Shot, it doesn't seem terribly efficient to spam it.

So would a slightly more elite TIE swarm be effective? Something like this:

I've been having great fun and moderate success with Inferno Squadron (bare bones except for Marksmanship on Marana) and a Reaper carrying Admiral Sloane. I used the Ini4 pilot, Vermeil, to have a lot of flexibility, and getting your mini-swarm to fire before it does almost guarantees a lack of token. But I am super open to using a basic Scarif Base Pilot to cram in more upgrade points. Imagine, Vader, Sloane as crew on the Reaper, and the aforementionned Inferno Squadron.

Also legal for those tourneys that only allow released kits.

Just been mucking about with a list idea and wondering what you folks think:

Inquisitor TIE v1 (64)
FCS & Heightened Perception

Vessery TIE Defender (92)
Juke

Scarif Base pilot Reaper (43)
Tactical Officer

I was originally thinking about just Vessery & 'quiz with more upgrades (advanced sensors and maybe cluster missiles for Vessery and prockets for the 'quiz... possibly also with supernatural reflexes) but I kinda realized that I could get a lot of what I wanted with a coordinate action along with another hull and not giving up 20 points for a bid.

Aside: would supernatural reflexes for a boost/roll on the v1 allow for the linked (red) focus, then a blue maneuver to clear stress and another action in the regular action phase?

¸We don't know yet. We've had this discussion at our FLGS a couple of times. For the moment, we have fallen on the side of "the card specifically states boost or barrel rolls, not their linked actions, so only the manoeuvre can be performed." This limits the power of the Force just a bit to be more in line with the rest of the game's pieces, we feel.

I'll gladly be proven wrong, however, and take advantage of finally having a focus and target lock without stress...


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, do not discount the utility of a Collision Detector on a ship that can literally go anywhere. Because it becomes a ship that can literally go anywhere.

I would downgrade Vessery to Rexler Brath (eh?) and use the Seventh Sister (her pilot ability is blank, just use her for the 2 Force Points)

 Mathieu Raymond wrote:

Also, do not discount the utility of a Collision Detector on a ship that can literally go anywhere. Because it becomes a ship that can literally go anywhere.

I would downgrade Vessery to Rexler Brath (eh?) and use the Seventh Sister (her pilot ability is blank, just use her for the 2 Force Points)

Yeah, I was kinda contemplating collision detector. Based on my reading, that'd allow full throttle (x7

The grand inquisitor might be able to pull it off, but weirdly I would rather have Sup Reflexes, to be able to juice both reposition manoeuvres. I've had a lot of people cursing the bullseye limitation on PRockets, however. I think Cluster Missiles are a bit more versatile, even if you do have to spend an action to get that TL. If you're willing to spend that many points on something that'll take a good while getting used to lining up and might not get used in quite a few games, by all means.

I played about a dozen games with triple inquisitors, and even if you do get that one PRocket punch off, they are sorely lacking in punch for the rest of the game. I'm not sure it's very viable. It's a scalpel, but a very short bladed-one.

I'm having a blast with defenders and juke. That's got to be my hotness right now. Played this tonight and it cleaned house:

Colonel Vessery — TIE Defender 88
Juke 4
Fire-Control System 3
Ship Total: 95

Major Vermeil — TIE Reaper 49
Predator 2
Director Krennic 5
Tactical Officer 2
Ship Total: 58

Academy Pilot — TIE Fighter 23
Ship Total: 23

Academy Pilot — TIE Fighter 23
Ship Total: 23

Now if only I could get a juke defender and 2 more ships with juke...could call it jukebox heroes...

 KingmanHighborn wrote:

Now if only I could get a juke defender and 2 more ships with juke...could call it jukebox heroes...

My 1st edition list was called Jukers Wild


Automatically Appended Next Post:
How are folks thinking about using the TIE Reaper?

It seems to me that for lists that benefit from TL shenanigans (looking at you Vessery) that the Lambda is the better choice, but that the Reaper might be handy to play with token stripping (juke lists, Vader crew, etc)...

Related, I was thinking initially that the taco (tactical officer) was going to be a mandatory choice for the reaper, but it struck me that having a red option to "turn off" ailerons could be useful too.

I find the insanely good knife fighting maneuverability of the Reaper makes it my preferred shuttle over the Lamb.

I used Vermeil with Sloane on board with Inferno Squadron as an all Ini4 squad, which gives a lot of movement options, but I have to admit that saving on points and fitting Vader and Sloane on a Reaper is just... fragile but good.

If your opponent rightly assumes that the Reaper is a priority target and you let him have it, then sure, you,re toast. But if you deny, bait and switch, and are not afraid of using that delicious 1 SLoop to keep Vader doing his thing... mvp in my list. Consistent damage plus a three dice attack? Fun! Worse comes worse, it is a very competent blocker, which also helps it survive by taking fewer hits.

Apostasus wrote:

Automatically Appended Next Post:
How are folks thinking about using the TIE Reaper?

It seems to me that for lists that benefit from TL shenanigans (looking at you Vessery) that the Lambda is the better choice, but that the Reaper might be handy to play with token stripping (juke lists, Vader crew, etc)...

Related, I was thinking initially that the taco (tactical officer) was going to be a mandatory choice for the reaper, but it struck me that having a red option to "turn off" ailerons could be useful too.

Reaper is the devil to face, great dial and very versatile with a good spread of Int, for lists that benefit from TL shenanigans the Lambda is only slightly better with a white coordinate but as neither has native Lock actions you are spending just under 50pts minimum to get them doesn't seem to be the fit. An aggressor does a reasonable job at filling that roll and starts at only 30pts (and can take a turret and barrage rockets).

I never did get an aggressor, so that option never really springs to mind...

What do y'all think about this:

Rear Admiral Chiraneau (88)
Minister Tua (7)
Hotshot Gunner (7)

Rexler Brath (84)
Juke (4)
Collision Detector (5)

Total: 195

View in Yet Another Squad Builder 2.0
(Edited)

Automatically Appended Next Post:

for lists that benefit from TL shenanigans the Lambda is only slightly better with a white coordinate but as neither has native Lock actions you are spending just under 50pts minimum to get them doesn't seem to be the fit.

But Sai with the title (yes, above 50) gives you pretty excellent action efficiency & some free information. Coordinate to ship a, give it a focus, get a focus, measure from ship a to enemy ships & get a TL for the shuttle. It's a pretty decent boost if you have Vessery in the list.

I'm also contemplating Jendon, Vessey & a bomber or publisher to take advantage of the "long range scanner" equivalent



Automatically Appended Next Post:
Something like this:

Lieutenant Sai (47)
ST-321 (6)

Colonel Vessery (88)

“Redline” (44)
Trajectory Simulator (3)
Proton Torpedoes (9)
Seismic Charges (3)

Total: 200

View in Yet Another Squad Builder 2.0

So what is the verdict on our Force users? After getting shredded by Luke today, and having all the shots from my TIEs bounce off of him... I am thinking of rolling in a Force user to my normal rotation to combat things like Luke.

 NH Gunsmith wrote:
So what is the verdict on our Force users? After getting shredded by Luke today, and having all the shots from my TIEs bounce off of him... I am thinking of rolling in a Force user to my normal rotation to combat things like Luke.

SR Vader is good though expensive, the Grand Inq is a handy long range sniper, generic Inqs and force crew the jury is still out for me. I really want to love the idea of a generic Inq list but don't feel that the TAp chassis is really all that great.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Apostasus wrote:
But Sai with the title (yes, above 50) gives you pretty excellent action efficiency & some free information. Coordinate to ship a, give it a focus, get a focus, measure from ship a to enemy ships & get a TL for the shuttle. It's a pretty decent boost if you have Vessery in the list.

I'm also contemplating Jendon, Vessey & a bomber or publisher to take advantage of the "long range scanner" equivalent

Automatically Appended Next Post:
Something like this:

Lieutenant Sai (47)
ST-321 (6)

Colonel Vessery (88)

“Redline” (44)
Trajectory Simulator (3)
Proton Torpedoes (9)
Seismic Charges (3)

Total: 200

View in Yet Another Squad Builder 2.0

Played against a list with Sai at a recent tournament (Sai, Soontir, Int 2 Aggressor and Steele in x1) and it was pretty hard to fight when he was able to play his way but if your oppo has a way of messing with Sais ability (or quickly focus it down) then it crumbles like a card house which is not helped when you have a list that either wants to move fast or get in your opponents face. Which is where your list comes in! It seems a better fit but with Redline in there could those 53pts be better spent on something else, like Steele with FCS?

Any of you guys having luck with pure generic lists? The idea of running 5 bare PS 4 TIE Interceptors actually seems like it could be fun. Even goofy lists of 5 generic TIE Bombers with Homing Missiles and Proton Bombs, or something like 4 TIE Phantom generics with Juke. Somewhat trying to challenge myself this edition and see what can be done without the use of a lot of named pilots.

I am hopefully picking up a second conversion pack this week to run my 5 TIE Striker list of all PS 3 generics with Predator.