Whisper fights a TIE Swarm

Hey everyone,

I am back, and I am here to talk about the Cloak action itself, and not on Echo. To do this, I had to fly quite a few Whisper games to remember how it works. For those of you that don't know, the normal cloak action is using a 2 straight template to barrel roll or boost your ship when it decloaks.

To make sure you can cloak before your enemy fires, Whisper takes advanced cloaking device and veteran instincts. This lets her fire at ps 9 and cloaks right after. The problem this brings is that your movement doesn't function the way other ships do. In order to move, you need to decloak, let lower than ps 9 ships move, then move. So, you must really know where a ship is going in order to not get caught out.

I played a few games, and noticed a common joust that would happen against multiple lower PS skill ships. Here are my tips on surviving such an engagement.

This position doesn't look great for Whisper! But, have no fear. Although I have given up positioning to the TIE fighters, I do so to be able to gain positioning over the next three turns with little they can do to stop me. This is of course assuming the Tie swarm player is at the same skill level as me. 

We can see that Whisper has found herself straight ahead against 4 TIE fighters. Although Whisper is not in the best spot, she has at least stayed out of range 2. Assuming all crack shots aren't up, she should be okay surviving this with 0-1 shields remaining. When it comes to crack and aces, I really try to get my opponent to spend their crack on different ships. That does mean baiting multiple ships to an opponent, and sometimes ends terribly. 

Question time: which ship should Whisper attack? 

Because of FCS on Whisper, it is important to attack a ship that she will be able to attack next turn. Her attacking the same ship twice makes FCS insanely powerful. And, Whisper is rewarded for hitting an enemy with a focus token. Whisper also gets to cloak, so attacking this next turn is paramount. Because of the TIE swarms position, I would assume it will be a 3k or 4k next turn. So, I choose the lower right TIE to attack. My now singular goal is to make sure I attack him again next turn. 

I assume I can blink off one hull and then get a cloak, target lock, and focus to survive the rest of the round.

Now, I have played this set up and decloaked forward, and there is some merit to that. I would say that if I took too much damage, then I would maybe try that to run away. If you go that route, you need to decloak forward and do a 3 hard turn or a 4 straight and cloak.

I decloak up and back because I am assuming I decloaked down recently. With the decloak action, I feel you have to do something different as many times as possible, so that your opponent cannot guess and risk a block. 

If you always decloak toward the edge and 1 hard back in, your opponent will remember and block you forever.

The TIE fighters could have done a 3k instead of 4, but I don't think they would because of the risk of my getting all the way behind them. They also could break formation, but without multiple shots onto whisper, 2 dice primary will never get through by itself. Because they are stressed from the K turn, they cannot barrel roll to block me. They also only get 1 shot on me, 2 if they did something fancy. 

No matter where the Tie Fighter went that I target locked last turn, I should be able to shoot it this turn and most likely blow it up. 

Now, because the TIE fighters are stressed, I know they have to clear it or at least move forward. So, this is a great time for Whisper to become aggressive. I want to decloak right behind where a TIE fighter is. Because TIE fighters cannot stay still, I know that this spot will be open in just a second or two. If the opponent tries to do something like bump himself, you will still be behind him, and his formation will be broken the following turn. 

The opponent goes to clear stress and re-engage with all of its guns. I make my turn in and focus for a shot. 

I choose the bottom TIE fighter because I will have the easiest time chasing it down. Because I have been decloaking up with a 1 hard in, I need to change up my approach. I decloak down first. 

The TIE fighters do a 3k this time to try and finish off a most likely half health Whisper. Assuming that my opponent is setting up for me to turn in, I do a 2 straight and barrel roll away. I now am out of arc for one TIE and still maintain my shot for all the glorious actions that come with. 

When it comes to decloaking in combat with a high PS ship, always remember to:

• Think about where your opponent will be
• Decide where you want to go
• Plan your decloak with all ships still in place
• Plan your movement with your assumption most ships have already moved. 

How to: Echo and Dengaroo 1st engage

Countess Echo fights Dengaroo

Continuing on with this series on how to fly Echo, I want to focus on a simple first engagement with a list that counters Echo. To make it simple, I removed asteroids, and had the enemy's ship move last. For this post, I am going to focus on Dengaroo as he engages the castle. This match up is very hard to win against, but I wanted to show my thought process on taking a calculated risk to try and push the match in my favor. I have beaten Dengaroo a few times with it, but the possibility of him one shotting Echo is always there.

Rules for fighting Dengar:

1. Generally, don't attack Dengar if he has arc on you
2. Split up Echo and Ryad so that he cannot have arc on both in the same turn
3. Take an Evade whenever possible (Dengar has Zuckass, but not 4-Lom

Turn 1: The Dengaroo approaches

I am not going to move Manaroo, but lets just assume she stays out of the fight lol. I think that is fair because that is literally all she ever does. I had Dengar do a combination of 3 banks and barrel rolls to come in at this position. It is pretty close to the three Dengar lists (2 Dengaroos, 1 other) that I have played against with my squad. 

This would be around turn 3, and if you followed my last post about castling, this is where you should end up. The bait is set for Dengar to try and get some damage on a cloaked Echo or a focus/evade Ryad. The hope is that he gets invested enough to attempt to move forward one more time before trying to turn around. 

Turn 2: Dengar takes the bait

Dengar probably was able to take off a shield on Echo or Ryad. But, now he is going to have a hard decision. Echo is going to decloak and move before he moves, and now he has stress from Zuckass. So, turning into Echo has a very low chance of getting an in arc shot on her. He also knows that Ryad is going to do a 4/5 k turn. But, there isn't a lot he could do to chase it without showing his back to Echo and Palp. The best choice would then be to try and take out Palp. 

Echo decloaks to the right and back

1. Palp stops for a stress
2. Ryad does a 4k for evade/focus
3. Echo does a 3 straight for a cloak
1. Echo decided to go straight just in case Dengar turned in or 2 slooped early. Echo then cloaked to set up for next turn. 
2. I think, in hindsight, that it should really be a 4 straight
4. Dengar did a 2 straight to just go for more Palp damage.

Dengar will probably put in some meaningful damage to Palp. Ryad will hopefully blink off a shield or two.

Turn 3: The kill box turns on

Now, Echo has been slowly getting into a much better position. She has potentially lost all her shields right now, though. The goal right now is to turn Palp to block Dengar from turning toward Echo, and using Ryad to block Dengar from totally escaping the box. 

1. Echo decloaks right and in

1. Palp does a 1 slight to clear stress
2. Ryad does a 3 for a evade focus
3. Echo does a 1 hard for an evade
4. Dengar attempts a 1 hard, but bumps

Turn 4: A box that can move!

Dengar bumping Palp means that he had to switch his firing to most likely Ryad. Meanwhile Echo gets to start using her 4 dice primary to some success. 

Now Dengar has probably started to take damage; and, if I have been successful, his damage has been spread out enough to still have all of my ships. 

1. Echo decloaks to the right and back

1. Palp goes 1 straight to clear stress and get a focus
2. Ryad does a 3k for a evade and focus
3. Echo does a 1 hard and a barrel roll
4. Dengar does a 1 hard

Turn 5: Do or die time

We are now on our 5th round of firing. At the end of this turn, I would imagine that Dengar will be critically hurt, and/or one of my ships will be destroyed

Now it is time to commit to killing Dengar

1. Echo decloaks left and back

1. Palp does a 2 hard for the stress
2. Ryad does a 3 straight for a bump and evade
3. Echo does a 1 hard
4. Dengar does a 1 hard
1. I'm not actually sure what Dengar would do here, so I would try to spread out my arcs enough to catch him in at least two

Final Thoughts

Dengar has had 5 shots if he got no ability shots, and I have had 7 with no ability. He has not been able to shoot the same ship every turn, and I have. His shots are still a lot more lethal than mine, so who knows what the outcome would actually be. 

Hopefully, and with some luck, Dengar would be caught in two arcs and die/run away. U boats/Zuckass of any kind are a hard match up for the phantom, but I'm hoping this post has shown how to use your two aces to make an enemy be forced into tough decisions. As for the exact decloak/movement combos, use the 2 bank back if you are flanking/chasing and use the 2 bank in if you are k turning. Every decloak is slightly different because of the obstacles present. 

In my next post I am going to talk about decloaking and moving when an enemy moves before you. It adds a new layer to movement that is very tricky, but very fun. 

Echo opening moves

Hello everyone! 

Today's post will be a step by step guide to castling with Echo, when to do it, and some general decloak tips. Here is a link to the list I have been running.  Recently, I went to a tournament and got 3rd place running this list. I lost one game, and that one was both of us down to just our Ryads, and he was much better than I. I think this list and this strategy has a lot of strength.

Opening tactics are talked about a lot in a general sense of have a plan, know if you want to joust or flank, etc. But, the only real opening tactic I see people talk about is the rule of 11, and I think it would be beneficial to start looking at specific openings for specific list types/pilots.

For those that don't know, the rule of 11 is how many spaces you and your opponent must travel before you can fire at each other. It is supremely helpful in every game you play.

In this scenario, I want all of my guns to be ready for a joust at round 3, and I want to not sacrifice the Cow's (Palp shuttle) position.

This means that the Cow cannot move too far so it can still chase later, and it means that both of my aces need to be close by.

I have used this exact opening around 20 times, and having such a specific plan has really helped me in improvising when an opponent is unpredictable in their first 3-4 turns. The general rule while improvising is that the palp shuttle stops for the stress, bumps to clear, and repeat until your frenemy dies.

Turn 0: 

Now, there are some crucial steps to making the castle work. 

1. The first is to place an asteroid at 3 and 3 with a range ruler. This ensures enough space to own a corner of the board.
2. Place the space cow at a 45 degree angle turning toward the asteroid. 
3. Place your flanker (I like Ryad and Inq) up against the shuttle 
4. Place Echo at range 3 away from the other side of the board, and facing the shuttle.

Turn 1:

Ryad's dial is going to depend largely on what your opponent is doing. For this attempt, I want to engage with all of my guns on turn 3. So,

1. Cow dials in a 1 straight, forcing a bump
2. Ryad dials in a 2 straight, ensuring she will not be harmed this round
3. Echo dials in a 2 straight and cloaks

Turn 2:

Decloak:

Echo decloaks forward and to the left. 

Movement:

1. Palp dials in a 0 stop for a stress
2. Ryad dials in a 3 straight and uses her ability to flip 
3. Echo does a 1 hard left and cloaks

Turn 3:

Decloak:

Echos next decloak is left and back. This puts him up against the palp shuttle

Movement:

1. The shuttle does a 1 straight for a bump
2. Ryad uses her ability to turn around on a 3 straight again
3. Echo does a 1 hard to the right. He then decides to take a focus or barrel roll for the best position. 

I now enter combat of turn 3 with all of my guns facing the same direction from the corner of the map. I can now engage with a lot more flexibility than if I went chasing and had a lot of debris to worry about.

Let's say that Echo was able to get a shot, what does a normal decloak pattern look like while chasing down an opponent? 

The great thing about Echo is that she can stay on a target in one of the most unique flight patterns, so she becomes hard to predict. The strength of this list is the solid kill box that it can create and maintain. In a meta that is shifting toward firing arcs, it is more important than ever to have specific plans to maintain firing arcs on your opponent while minimizing their firing arcs on you. 

What do you think of this type of blog post? Should I work on more of these tactic breakdowns?