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I finally got my hands on a Raider!
...
But now I don't know what to do with it.

Looking around a bit online it looks like there are two ways people tend to play them:
- Ordinance Boat ("Rocket Raider")
- Speedy Bulldozer ("Ramming Raider")

But I'm not entirely sure what is supposed to go on what.
Does anyone have any reliable builds?
How does one use each type, and what goes best as accompanying ships?
Or, alternatively, is there another effective Raider play style that I don't know about?

(Luckily the group I play with are fine with proxies/printouts, so I don't have to worry about trying to track down every card, just need the actual physical models... so no carrier suggestions, please, the Raider is the only epic ship I've got access to)

my go to Raider build is what i've dubbed "the brawler"

Raider

Fore;
Quad Laser cannons
sensor team
cluster bombs

Aft:
Optimised generators
Construction Droid
Shield Tech
Quad Laser Cannons
Quad Laser Cannons
Gunnery Team
Engineering Team
Tibanna Gas
Instigator title.

151pts

it likes to go smashing into ships etc.

though the one down side i've found with this list is you have to have some decent fighter support for when ships get outside those Range 1-2 Quad Laser Cannons.

How's it go for energy/shield management?

Not too badly.
the quads only need one energy to fire and the second is used for an extra shot if you miss. if you start off the game with full energy it is manageable.
the engineering team and optimized generators give you bonus energy with movement and assigning energy to upgrades respectively as well.

So what's the benefit of multiple Quads vs Ordinance?
You wouldn't want something that can potentially take out multiple things at once rather than just one at a time?
Or is the borderline guaranteed damage (with Jonus in R1) better than something that only potentially has a chance to do a lot of damage at once?

I've always found quads just easier then trying to get target locks all the time to fire ordnance.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Unless you have say a sensor team with a weapons engineer on board which do take up slots.

Indeed, ordnance is good - horrific if used right - but it becomes a game of target lock management instead of energy management.

my advice for an ordnance tube raider:

Impetuous title
Homing missiles in the front (because you can potentially shootthem after losing the ability to target lock )
Weapons engineer & sensor team
Jonus with swarm tactics, systems officer

Alright, cool,
So what's a good build for the "Ram-Raider?"

For a "Ram Raider", you'd probably want to start with Rear Admiral Chiraneau (allows one to execute a 1-forward as an action - extra squish!), WED-15 Repair Droid/Construction Droid, and Automated Protocols. After that, you could look into maybe adding Cluster Bombs or an Ionization Reactor for some extra crowd control. Not sure it would be worthwhile to bother adding hardpoints since you probably won't have any energy to power them as the droid will be busy fixing the all the dents in the hull from ramming things. Ordnance might be an option, but you'll only have 1 lock to work with and both crew eat up actions...

Personally, I rather like running an energy-based Raider. Regardless of hardpoints, the core loadout always begins with Ozzel, Shield Technician, Optimized Generators, and the Instigator title. It does force the use of the recover action, but the end result is very energy efficient. As an example, say we begin with no energy and execute a maneuver that provides 2 energy. Ozzel then pulls two shields to bring our total up to 4. We then assign 2 energy each to a pair of hardpoint weapons and gain 1 energy back from the Optimized Generators which is then used to completely recover the shields Ozzel pulled thanks to the Instigator title. End result is 6 energy worth of work from a mere 2 energy.

Niiiiiccccce...

So it looks like-

Rocket Raider
Fore:
- Impetuous
- Ordinance Tubes
- Homing Missiles
Aft:
- Weapons Engineer
- Sensor Team
- Homing Missiles
- Homing Missiles
- ????
Support:
- Jonus (Shuttle title, Systems Officer, Swarm Tactics)

Ram Raider
Fore:
- ????
Aft:
- Chiraneau
- WED-15 Repair Droid
- Automated Protocols
- Cluster Bombs
Support:
- Howl Runner (Swarm Tactics)

Recycle Raider
Fore:
- Instigator
- ????
Aft:
- Ozzel
- Shield Technician
- Optimized Generators
- ????
Support:
- ????

Rough Raider
Fore:
- Quad Laser cannons
- Sensor team
- Cluster bombs
- Instigator
Aft:
- Construction Droid
- Shield Tech
- Optimised generators
- Quad Laser Cannons
- Quad Laser Cannons
- Gunnery Team
- Engineering Team
- Tibanna Gas
Support:
- ????

How can these be best optimized?

my idea for a ramming raider

Fore
Ion Cannon
Engineering Team
cluster bombs

Aft
Optiomized Generators
Instigator
Con Droid
Shield Tech
Quad
Quad
Gunnery Team
Cluster Bombs (though could be swapped out for some gas)

147pts

the ion cannon should force your enemy ship to go straight forward and will be more predictable on end position and could be rammed. the clusters are a nice little touch for when you're in the midst of enemy fighters etc.
the con droid and shield tech are your main guys in this build keep the aft section alive and have them continually regening the shields. And the quads are for offensive whilst also in the midst of the enemy.

So by way of wondering, is it always best to load up a Raider as much as you can?
Like, you typically don't want to run them light and focus on getting more other ships in your list?

skoffs wrote:
(...)
Recycle Raider
Fore:
- Instigator
- ????
Aft:
- Ozzel
- Shield Technician
- Optimized Generators
- ????
Support:
- ????
(...)

How can these be best optimized?

Not sure if these are optimal, but I've run two of the following hardpoint configurations before.

Sniper Raider:
Fore:
- Single Turbolaser
Aft:
- Ozzel
- Shield Technician
- Optimized Generators
- Single Turbolaser
- Single Turbolaser
- Instigator

This one did fairly well. It mostly hung back and bombarded ships from afar while its escorts intercepted anything trying to get close (it never really got attacked since it was hovering out at range 4-5). Main problem is it is next to useless against ships with more than 2 agility so it is strictly for hunting big targets. I ran it with a tie swarm but anything that can pick apart small ships would be ideal.


Ion Control Raider
Fore:
- Ion Cannon Battery
- Ionization Reactor (optional)
Aft:
- Ozzel
- Shield Technician
- Optimized Generators
- Ion Cannon Battery
- Ion Cannon Battery
- Instigator


This version was originally made for hunting other capital ships, since the crits in their decks are nasty and ion tokens prevent the victim from recharging their shields or weapons. It did ok, though it got shot down before it could finish off the opposing corvette. Main problem I ran into was regular large ships, the Ion Cannons weren't able to inflict damage fast enough and since they need two tokens to ionize they weren't controlling them very well either. Still a fun build though and fairly cheap. I'll probably run it again with the new Tie/D Defenders with Ion Cannons of their own to help with the large ship issue.

Raider II (named after the Armada version)
Fore:
- Ion Cannon Battery
Aft:
- Ozzel
- Shield Technician
- Optimized Generators
- Single Turbolaser
- Single Turbolaser
- Instigator

Modification to the prior ship with added turbo lasers to help chew up larger ships. Haven't run this one yet but in theory it should be able to combine the strengths of the prior to specialists to some degree. As the Ion Cannon doesn't have to fire every turn since it ideally wants to wait for shields to be down, this should also be fairly easy to manage energy with.

skoffs wrote:So by way of wondering, is it always best to load up a Raider as much as you can?
Like, you typically don't want to run them light and focus on getting more other ships in your list?

I tend to keep mine around 135-ish points or so. I've found that anything much higher than that range leads to more upgrades than I can remember to use in the midst of combat and the Raider itself loses focus on whatever is role is for the fleet.

Also:

Tactical Raider:
Fore:
- Quad Lasers
- Engine Booster

Aft:
- Tactician
- Quad Lasers
- Quad Lasers


I've played with builds using this as a core and it can be quite hilarious if you can get it close enough. Almost every shot made by this thing will put a stress token on the target, allowing you to utterly suppress a large swath of the enemy fleet. Also has the advantage of being cheap so it can have a fairly large escort or else have plenty of points left over for customization. Slicer tools, Ionization Reactor, Repair Crew, etc. are all interesting options for it.

 skoffs wrote:
So by way of wondering, is it always best to load up a Raider as much as you can?
Like, you typically don't want to run them light and focus on getting more other ships in your list?

i get what you mean and it is a bit of balancing act. me personally the raider should sit at the 145-150 mark. it gives it plenty of offensive capacity


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also obviously it would come down to the size of the game. at 250pts i wouldn't use the Raider. i would be looking at the cheaper Gazi and bulk out your fleet with fighters. much more maneuverable and harder to pick off.