Exploring Wave 9: TIE/SF
12/1/16
The Special Forces TIE is something of a pariah among the wave 9 ships, and while I was initially impressed by the named pilots after playing against them early on in my return to the game, after playing with it in a few games (4 or 5) I sadly think that it’s current status may be deserved. I think joust-wise it’s a very solid ship relative to other efficient jousters in the game, but I think it’s suffering from something that is holding back a lot of other older ships that used to be competitive: it’s too generalized in a meta full of hyper specialized ships. It suffers from being average all around, its offense can’t really break through the hyper defensive ships, its defense can’t hold up against the hyper aggressive ships, and it’s not super cheap that it can easily fill a gap in a list as a blocker. The rear arc loses a lot of utility because 2-dice attacks just aren’t effective at all in this meta, and multiplying that by two with the title (sometimes) doesn’t really help since you can’t focus fire with both attacks.
Some tips for building the SF
Keep it cheap - the SF has slightly less durability than a T-65 X-Wing with IA equipped. Try not to pump too many points into it. 33 points or less seems to be the sweet spot for me.
Bring scarier endgame ships - A good way to keep your SF alive longer is to bring meaner and scarier ships with it that your opponent doesn't want to get stuck in the end game with like X7 Defenders, Carnor Jax, Omega Leader and Whisper.
Stick to the named pilots - I think if you're going to fly the SF, the unique pilots are the way to go.
Quickdraw
The ability to make multiple attacks in a single turn is quite powerful, and Quickdraw is fairly unique in being able to to attack during the activation phase, by using electronic baffle, possibly even before some ships have activated. While you can just wait for someone to attack you and trigger her ability, I've found that it's important to be able to control when the ability triggers, otherwise your opponent will only shoot at her on turns when she doesn't have any good attacks. Rage + Electronic Baffle is a great combo for Quickdraw, as Rage allows you to modify your dice over multiple attacks, and Baffle let’s you trigger Quickdraw’s ability when you want to and allows her to clear stress on the next turn, which is helped by MKII engines. All for a an affordable 32 points.
The dream position for Quickdraw, only possible against large ships. I actually had this happen in a real life game once, like seeing a double-rainbow on a sunny day.
The trick to using this build effectively is to be very conservative with when you choose to pop Rage and sacrifice a shield token. Usually I’ll only do it when I’m at range 1 of a target or can make 4 attacks, where I can get maximum value out of the re-rolls from Rage, or when Quickdraw is out of arc or my other ships are being targeted. Quickdraw is a strong early game ship, but ultimately her biggest drawback is that she’s really only ever going to use her ability once or twice, sometimes even never if your opponent’s got a really good blocking game. Again Quickdraw benefits from bringing ships that are really nasty in the mid to late game that will draw heat off of Quickdraw in the early game.
Even with conservative play, Quickdraw usually ends up like this pretty quickly.
Backdraft
I was initially enamored with Quickdraw’s ability to attack during the activation phase, but I began to get frustrated with the expiration on Quickdraw’s ability that caused her to turn into a pumpkin after her shields were gone. Backdraft’s ability on the other hand have no time limit, and his greater consistency and longevity had a lot of potential to be even better than Quickdraw. It effectively turns that rear arc back into a real threat, even when he’s not at range 1. However, I couldn’t seem to find the right build that I liked. Other players were basically just slapping VI and FCS on him and calling it a build, but there wasn’t really enough synergy to elevate him above his base chassis. But with the release of HotR, I think we have the missing piece to make Backdraft into a really interesting ship.
With Pattern Analyzer and Collision Detector, Backdraft gains the ability to effectively ignore debris clouds for 2 points, aside from taking a stress at the end of his activation*. He can fly and barrel roll through them no problem, and doesn’t take damage from them. It also opens up his dial a lot more by giving him access to his red maneuvers without losing an action, specifically the 3-hard which is so useful on ships with a rear arc.
Approaching at an angle, Backdraft ignores a nearby debris field to put himself into a spot where it’s very difficult for Poe to follow him without using a red maneuver.
A good tip that I’ve found when flying Backdraft is to approach your opponents ships at an angle, off center from them. This will make it easier on the following turn to use a hard turn and perhaps a barrel roll to bring your rear arc to bear while also making it harder for the opponent predict where you’re going to be. Place debris fields closer to the midline between both deployment zones so you can use them to cover your escape routes and make it harder for opponents to follow you.
“Backdraft” 32
Predator 3
Collision Detector 0
Pattern Analyzer 2
Special Ops Training 0
“Whisper” 40
Veteran Instincts 1
Advanced Cloaking Device 4
Fire-Control System 2
Intelligence Agent 1
Omega Leader 26
Juke 2
Comm Relay 3
An example list featuring Backdraft. Note the presence of high priority targets that can punish opponents if they are ignored, thus taking the some heat off of Backdraft.
Final Thoughts
I think the TIE/SF would have done much better had it been given the crew slot that was cruelly denied to it by FFG. I think it's what is allowing the ARC-170 to succeed by being able to combo astromechs and crew while the SF is stuck with the much more limited options in system and tech. So many interesting combinations would have been possible, Tail Gunner with Backdraft, Tactician, Recon Specialist or Agent Kallus on Quickdraw, Advanced Sensors with Intelligence Agent, etc. A better dial wouldn't have hurt either (red 3 hards and no 5 straight makes no sense for a ship whose speed impressed Poe). And maybe make the generics 1 point cheaper. No doubt FFG found the endless combinations afforded by a crew slot with systems and tech, especially with new releases, a bit daunting and felt they had to remove it, possibly to keep Imperial lists from gaining access to Rebel-like control elements. But there's little to be gained from lamenting hypothetical what-ifs.
The TIE SF is an otherwise solid ship that is currently being limited by its lack of combination options, lackluster durability, and overpriced 2-dice rear arc. It has strong abilities in its named pilots, but they are held back by the SF's lack of durability. The key to doing well with the ship I think lies in the abilities of the named pilots and the wingmates that they are paired with that can offer a higher target priority and thus reduce the SF’s lack of durability as a liability.
