hothie said:

hothie said:

That could work out. I would give that a run like that, then possibly another run using Vader + Concussion + Marksmanship, Backstabber, APx4.

I would open up with the target lock on the biggest threat, then the other action on marksmanship. This would give the biggest bang for that attack. Plus marksmanship could benefit Vader a bit more then other pilots as he has two actions to spend. Let me give you the math to back that up.

On the Attack Die:

You have a 4 of the sides are hits (3 normal, 1 critical), then 2 sides are blank, and 2 are focus. 

That means there is a 50% chance to hit at any given time. 37.5% of the time it will be normal, 12.5% it will be a cit. Both the blank and focus are each 25% chance.

With the Concussion Missiles and Marksmanship one of the four dice is a 100% gaurantee to hit. The other three dice are then also at a 75% chance to hit with a 25% chance per die to turn one foucs into either a crit or a normal hit. 

Compared to the Defense Die:

3 of the sides are eveade (37.5%), 2 sides are Focus (25%), and 3 sides are blank (37.5%). So if the target has a focus there is a 62.5% chance per die to evade. 

So statistacally it looks favorable to try using marksmanship along with the concussion missle on Vader. 

Hope that helps you out some.

sorry double post.

Duraham said:

I'm not running Howlrunner and vader again. Been there, done that. End of story. If I show up to any venues with that squad, i will be viewed as only being there to win. Honestly I play to see what and how others are playing, and to have fun. I'm branching out and trying different squads to see how i can do with them. I'm also using different tactics to see what does and doesn't work. I'm changing it up because it's fun to try new and different things. You'll notice 2 of my squads are Rebel squads as well. I haven't play tested either of them. I'm just going to try them out and see how i do. If I lose, who cares? It's a game, have fun.

ah ok. you might want to mess around with 2 TIE adv then, those are some pretty interesting imperial builds that are popping up rather recently

or with regards to your current list: 

Darth Vader + marksmanship + cluster

backstabber

academy TIE x4

EDIT: unsure if you are interested, but:

Garven / rookie Xwing / Dutch + ion C + R5K6 / Gold Ywing

yeah, i've been promoting this list rather blatantly over at AFM, you might want to give it a spin. 6 actions per turn for the entire squad, 7 if you are lucky with the droid

DeadInkPen said:

OK, assume I'm facing a Rebel squad, where each fighter has shields. I plan on using the Missiles first combat round. Vader fires first on my side, so I'm shooting against fully-shielded ships. Crits won't matter much at all. I also plan on Vader being a target, so I'm hesitant to put another 3 points on him when I don't expect him to last long enough to make it worth it. Maybe you're right and he will last long enough to make marksmanship worth having. I dunno. I'll consider it, though.

hothie said:

maybe swarm tactics on Vader, then have somebody else shoot at the target first to try and strip off some shields? no additional crits, but any naturally rolled crits would have a higher chance of getting in, rather then being absorbed by a shield

Hey it was a fun match, and I really appreciated the opportunity. I don't know whether it was dumb luck or a little bit of skill that helped me hold on for so long. Unfortunately, as chronicled above, now you know where the weaknesses are, and can adjust! I made a real blunder with Dutch's ability that I later realized hurt me a lot. How many turns did I fly around with that target lock on a ship that I couldn't shoot at? Silly me, thinking I had to SPEND it, when at any time I could just acquire on a different target and use the ability to pass another target lock on.  That might have helped after the dice started to go cold…

And I have to pay closer attention to my maneuver dials…

Looking forward to next weekend!

hothie said:

I super respect your insight into the game and your contributions to my posts.

I played the Rebel four build list tonight (as listed above) - really laid a beat down on the imperials - lost Wedge early, and a few shields on my other ships thats it, killed five before opponent called it quits. 

Here is my thought though.  What about taking Luke (swarm and R2F2), Rookie x2, and Gold Pilot with Ion, and R5K6.   Or taking R2D2 on the Y-wing.

Thoughts.

Luke is definitely more defensive, so he would last a lot longer, possibly not even be killed with R2F2 onboard. I'll play around with it. I give up Wedge's firepower and skill level, but it might be worth it to not lose a ship in 75 mins.

I was thinking the same thing.  Wedge will be a target so killed within a 2 turn spread (likely turns 2-3) - so it the grand scheme of things you will be firing far less dice with wedge then Luke.  Yes, you give up your nine skill - so your going after a few ships of the imperials, most likely, but being harder to kill they might spread their shots around rather then focus on a single model, such as Wedge.  I think Luke has the ability to keep the swarm tactics in play longer (when I lost Wedge early I was shooting after the big boys anyways).  My strategy, collaspe the swarm tactics chain of command, then its easy pickings.

Earlier I was trying to play the 100 pt vs 99 pt vs 98 pt game for initiative. My game against Ziggy2000 kind of drove home the fact that games last 75 minutes this weekend. And whoever has the most amount of points still alive at the end is the winner. And due to the "same skill level gets to attack before they die" rule, I'm thinking initiative only matters when maneuvering. Now, some of you may claim that to be a big deal due to the collisions and actions and such, and I can hear that argument. But ya know, I think I'm going with 100 pt squads anyway. So, how about this for a 4-ship rebel build?

Luke with R2F2, Gold w Ion, 2X Rookie Pilot, one with Proton torps.

Luke is much harder to kill in 75 minutes, you got Ion cannon, torps, and 0 synergy, so there's no restrictions on how I fly them.

My 3 ship fun build:

Wedge with R2F2 and Torps, Horton with Ion, Proton Torps, and R2 Astromech, and Dutch with Ion and R2 Astromech

Yeah, I like that better with the Astromechs on there.

My Imperial build:

Vader with Concussion Missiles and Marksmanship, Backstabber, APX4

Still flying in 2 waves, I think. Still get to see how my opponent sets up before I set up Backstabber and Vader. Those 2 make a nice 1-2 punch.

That Imperial build would certainly make me pay more attention to Vader than I did in our match last night.

The Rebel build looks pretty solid too, I'm sorry we didn't have time to get to it after our slugfest. I'm probably going to tweak the Biggs/Dutch build in much the same direction.

Your "fun build" is very similar to one I was thinking about - I'm glad you've "green lighted" the R2 unit on the Y-wings!

What about adding in my build the R5K6 droid.

Luke - swarm, R2F2

Rookie

Rookie

Gold Sq. - Ion, R5K6

or

Luke - R2F2, Protons

Rookie

Rookie

Gold Sq. - Ion

or

Luke - swarm, R2F2

Rookie - R5

Rookie - R5

Gold Sq. - Ion

Here's the Rebel list I'm considering taking:

Wedge w/R2F2

Garven

2x Rookies

R2F2 gives Wedge some extra durability to last longer.

Garven can give a focus to whomever needs some extra defense (including Wedge) or firepower (except Wedge since he shoots first).

Also, Garven acts as an additional target besides Wedge.

Theterrainstudio said:

I like R5-K6, especially with Dutch, as the droid also triggers his ability. On a generic Y-Wing, consider the R2 Astromech. Look what it does to the maneuver dial. Plus it would give you one more point to put R2-D2 on Luke, if you wish. Or give you a 99 point squadron to try for initiative.

The generic R5 is too situational for me.

Good luck!