Bad news for the Striker Swarm...

[Rinzler in a Tie 1,891]

I really don't think Countdown is very good.  Yeah the first hit that comes in gets reduced down to 1 damage, but then you're stressed and the second shot just wipes you out.

 

Getting play time with him will tell, but after throwing Hull Upgrade on him:

a) if Countdown is acting like Biggs then he's doing his job;

b) there are ways to remove stress, but you're right - focus fire will ruin him. If you're all-in on it, then have Palp in the Shuttle with Yorr behind the controls; and 

c) Countdown is not just a Biggs in a Striker. He's also a feeder for Swarm Leader or Vessery because he doesn't need his action unless he's arc-dodging. I'm sure he can feed more things, like General Hux or some of the new stuff I haven't memorized yet..

 

If he had an EPT he'd be broken but I would sure love to throw VI on him because then he'd take even less shots. I don't think he'll be in tier-1 lists but he's easily tier-2.  

[phild0 1,735]

You were probably going to want to run Lightweight Frame anyways. For 2 pts you get +1 agility in the majority of situations.

[clanofwolves 3,842]

The Mouse is one sneaky little devil. I'm sure that they intended this ship to definitely not carry a five attack Crack Swarm onto the mats; but I don't really see that being a real thing beyond simple fun. Maybe the flight mechanics of the Title make it --in the hands of an expert-- really hard to fight outside of using lame, stupid ******* TLTs. (sorry for the non-thread rant).

 

Rinzler is also correct in the fact they missed a selling opportunity; could have made some better jack for the Mouse's World.

 

Oh well, power creep will stay in the game; just not on the TIE swarm side of things....

Edited December 14, 2016 by clanofwolves

[Stay On The Leader 5,426]

 

I really don't think Countdown is very good.  Yeah the first hit that comes in gets reduced down to 1 damage, but then you're stressed and the second shot just wipes you out.

 

Getting play time with him will tell, but after throwing Hull Upgrade on him:

a) if Countdown is acting like Biggs then he's doing his job;

b) there are ways to remove stress, but you're right - focus fire will ruin him. If you're all-in on it, then have Palp in the Shuttle with Yorr behind the controls; and 

c) Countdown is not just a Biggs in a Striker. He's also a feeder for Swarm Leader or Vessery because he doesn't need his action unless he's arc-dodging. I'm sure he can feed more things, like General Hux or some of the new stuff I haven't memorized yet..

 

If he had an EPT he'd be broken but I would sure love to throw VI on him because then he'd take even less shots. I don't think he'll be in tier-1 lists but he's easily tier-2.  

 

I don't really know why you're comparing him to Biggs, he's not somebody you need to hit early.

Pure Sabacc is closer to a Biggs-style effect because his extra firepower will draw attention.

[emperorscanaries 126]

Just take 5 with trick shot

[thespaceinvader 17,254]

 

 

I really don't think Countdown is very good.  Yeah the first hit that comes in gets reduced down to 1 damage, but then you're stressed and the second shot just wipes you out.

 

Getting play time with him will tell, but after throwing Hull Upgrade on him:

a) if Countdown is acting like Biggs then he's doing his job;

b) there are ways to remove stress, but you're right - focus fire will ruin him. If you're all-in on it, then have Palp in the Shuttle with Yorr behind the controls; and 

c) Countdown is not just a Biggs in a Striker. He's also a feeder for Swarm Leader or Vessery because he doesn't need his action unless he's arc-dodging. I'm sure he can feed more things, like General Hux or some of the new stuff I haven't memorized yet..

 

If he had an EPT he'd be broken but I would sure love to throw VI on him because then he'd take even less shots. I don't think he'll be in tier-1 lists but he's easily tier-2.  

 

I don't really know why you're comparing him to Biggs, he's not somebody you need to hit early.

Pure Sabacc is closer to a Biggs-style effect because his extra firepower will draw attention.

 

He is though.  It either takes focus fire on him to kill him, or you have to take at least 4 rounds.  So you need to kill him al at once or it's going to take you a while.

 

Indeed, I think BOTH pilots have a biggs-like effect.  I'm kind of wondering about both of them with OL and someone.  That's a whole lotta confused targetting priorities...

[Stay On The Leader 5,426]

 

 

He is though.  It either takes focus fire on him to kill him, or you have to take at least 4 rounds.  So you need to kill him al at once or it's going to take you a while.

 

Indeed, I think BOTH pilots have a biggs-like effect.  I'm kind of wondering about both of them with OL and someone.  That's a whole lotta confused targetting priorities...

 

I don't think that's true, though, really... like if you don't focus him down early on he still just dies lategame just a bit more slowly.  The greens on this thing are **** so once he's stressed he's easy meat - yeah it might take 4 turns to kill him but it's 4 turns of a turkey shoot you can't possibly lose.

[thespaceinvader 17,254]

Yeah, that's probably apt.  It's unpredictable as hell but as long as you can open some range it should be easy enough to keep it in arc with a higher PS ship.

[Rinzler in a Tie 1,891]

Sure, don't hit him early and then try to kill him in the late-game when you can only do a maximum of one damage per turn without focus fire (because if it's late game it's probably one v. one).

 

Just like Biggs, his usefulness morphs as the game state progresses.

 

It's an impersonation at best but it's pretty **** close to Biggs with R4-D6 but with less stress. 

 

No question the greens are ****. 

[Magnus Grendel 9,228]

 

I don't really know why you're comparing him to Biggs, he's not somebody you need to hit early.

Pure Sabacc is closer to a Biggs-style effect because his extra firepower will draw attention.

 

 

Indeed. Pure Sabbac/Swarm Leader is going to draw a hell of a lot of fire to try and get two damage cards on him before he fires. Countdown is nice in that he can afford to evade and then give up said evade to fuel the earth-shattering kaboom.

Edited December 14, 2016 by Magnus Grendel

[Stay On The Leader 5,426]

Yeah, that's probably apt.  It's unpredictable as hell but as long as you can open some range it should be easy enough to keep it in arc with a higher PS ship.

 

Don't forget when it's stressed it doesnt get Ailerons.  A stressed TIE Striker is in a world of trouble, and Countdown is the TIE Striker that volunteers for that shitstorm.

Edited December 14, 2016 by Stay On The Leader

[Jetfire 743]

 

I'm certain it's appropriately priced.

 

I agree. These quick little guys would probably wreck the meta if we could run five of them with Crack Shot. 

 

That being said, FFG missed an opportunity to sell out of these on day one. 

 

 

In exchange for the ability to continue selling the product in general.  Imagine running 5 crackshot x-wings with vectored thrusters because this would not be super far from it.

[Rinzler in a Tie 1,891]

 

Yeah, that's probably apt.  It's unpredictable as hell but as long as you can open some range it should be easy enough to keep it in arc with a higher PS ship.

 

Don't forget when it's stressed it doesnt get Ailerons.  A stressed TIE Striker is in a world of trouble, and Countdown is the TIE Striker that volunteers for that shitstorm.

 

 

This is really important. 

 

I tried to mimic the Ailerons using the echolocation application. The Tie/SF has the closest dial I could find in four seconds (just removed the 3-hard turns) and gave it boost with Advanced Sensors.

 

This is a close representation of the Striker maneuverability with Ailerons: http://randolphw.github.io/echolocation/?tiesffighter&&&7,7,7,7,15&18&&&1

[Magnus Grendel 9,228]

But stack it up against the Sabre squadron, for example:

PTL, AT, Sabre: 26pts

Predator, LWF, Scout: 25pts

I don't really see much advantage in the scout.

 

26 points to 25 points is a critical threshold, though; the point at which you get a 4th ship.

Imperials are developing quite a nice line-up of 20-25 point ships recently, and this is another one to throw into the pot - this time it's got a more flexible "dial" and (unusually for the TAP/TIEfo/TIE Bomber crowd), three native red dice.

This is really important.

I tried to mimic the Ailerons using the echolocation application. The Tie/SF has the closest dial I could find in four seconds (just removed the 3-hard turns) and gave it boost with Advanced Sensors.

This is a close representation of the Striker maneuverability with Ailerons: http://randolphw.github.io/echolocation/?tiesffighter&&&7,7,7,7,15&18&&&1

Indeed. I was looking at Duchess with Stay On Target, because that's one hell of a lot of options at speed 2, especially with optional ailerons move thrown in first.

Edited December 14, 2016 by Magnus Grendel

[Stay On The Leader 5,426]

But then Stay on Target stresses you, and your next turn is hideously predictable because you've no ailerons and very limited greens.

Strikers are... they're really poor.

[Magnus Grendel 9,228]

But then Stay on Target stresses you, and your next turn is hideously predictable because you've no ailerons and very limited greens.

 

Agreed. It makes you hellishly unpredictable, but only for one turn. Veteran Instincts is probably better.

[Rinzler in a Tie 1,891]

But then Stay on Target stresses you, and your next turn is hideously predictable because you've no ailerons and very limited greens.

Strikers are... they're really poor.

 

LA LA LA NOT LISTENING... 

Edited December 14, 2016 by Rinzler in a Tie

[enigmahfc 389]

Man, I was really hoping to run 10 of these with Crackshot, Push The Limit, and Tactician on all of them! **** you FFG for anticipating how people might want to spam these, and for pricing them accordingly! I already had a fake list and meta created in my head!

 

Disappointing. Sad. Not happy. Annoyed. 

[thespaceinvader 17,254]

Man, I was really hoping to run 10 of these with Crackshot, Push The Limit, and Tactician on all of them! **** you FFG for anticipating how people might want to spam these, and for pricing them accordingly! I already had a fake list and meta created in my head!

 

Disappointing. Sad. Not happy. Annoyed. 

Yeah, people wanting another swarm archetype to work are jerks.  Screw those guys.

[ficklegreendice 33,817]

guess they wanted people to use the PS 1?

[Marinealver 8,029]

So how would they compare against 4 X-wings or even 4 B-wings?

 

5 Klingons might be a tall order.

[thespaceinvader 17,254]

Or the PS3?  5 of those with Frame is 100 points, but three reds and 3 greens with one action's worth of mods just doesn't cut it in the current meta.  Otherwise 5 Alphas with Autothrusters would be a thing, and it just isn't.

[ficklegreendice 33,817]

don't think you'd ever run five strikers due to lack of dice mods involved

 

four cracks with howlie would've been a sight to see, though

[Vineheart01 6,400]

5 strikers probably would have been a bad idea anyway as thats basically raw dice. Striker needs to dodge people, so barrelroll/evade is going to be their main action. Without Howlie or some support ship, they wont hit very reliably unless you risk blowing up.

[thespaceinvader 17,254]

don't think you'd ever run five strikers due to lack of dice mods involved

 

four cracks with howlie would've been a sight to see, though

 

See, this is why I'm sad about the pricing choice.

 

I don't think it would have been OP at 19, I think it would have been another good option for a list archetype that's interesting but little-used.  And at this price point it's more or less completely shut that down, because 4 3-die one-mod ships with Crack Shot is already possible, and already not touched with a barge-pole, even with better ships with better mods than these (e.g. Fangs).