X-Wing Squad - Recalculating... Recalculating...

 X-Wing Squad - Recalculating... Recalculating...

To be honest, I've never needed a *good* idea to build a squad. It's one of the reasons I love having app builders: I can spend several minutes working on an idea and then trash it or save it. I can do it without having to sift through everything I own for the game. Not having to get everything out each time I build really makes a difference between X-Wing and all the time I spent playing games like Magic: The Gathering and Warhammer 40k: Conquest.

And since I don't need a *good* reason, I built this and it's predicated on DFS-311 and its ability.

Recalculating... Recalculating...

(3) DFS-311 [Vulture-class Droid Fighter]

(0) Grappling Struts

(4) XX-23 S-Thread Tracers

(6) Shield Upgrade

Points: 3

(6) 0-66 [Sith Infiltrator]

(3) Seismic Charges

(2) Electronic Baffle

(2) Expert Handling

(4) Ion Torpedoes

Points: 6

(5) Captain Sear [Belbullab-22 Starfighter]

(0) Impervium Plating

(4) Hull Upgrade

(10) Kraken

Points: 5

(2) Trade Federation Drone [Vulture-class Droid Fighter]

(0) Grappling Struts

Points: 2

(4) DIS-T81 [Droid Tri-Fighter]

(0) Intercept Booster

(9) Collision Detector

(1) Marg Sabl Closure

Points: 4

Total points: 20

You're my boy, Blue!

Weird flex, but literally the only reason I started building this squad is because I used pod prize tickets at Adepticon to get all the Separatist alt art that I could. All the alt art featured Vultures, which I know aren't really being used with the new load out rules, but I got them anyway. One of the cards I got was DFS-311. Now that I have it, I *have* to use it!

So I started with DFS and thought about how I could leverage its ability to give away a Calculate token. From the start, it seemed to me that the best use of that is to hand a Calculate token to something bigger than itself so that bigger ship can either do something else or make use of multiple Calculate tokens. I was later informed that a lot of people have used DFS with the notion of leveraging that token for a surprise Discord Missile launch. I hadn't considered that, but it sounds really cool and I can appreciate why people have built in that direction! Since it's already being done, Imma try running with my thought first before maybe trying it with the surprise Discord Missiles.

So I start looking at bigger ships. I already know I like the HMPs, but I'm flying those in my Charge! squad, so not the HMPs, as much as I enjoy them. I've flown the Firespray and really like it. But looking at some possibilities, I'm not seeing anything that really speaks to me as a specific and planned use for an extra Calculate token. I already have plans for my new Gauntlet Fighter, so not that. Honestly, I bought a Sith Infiltrator because it was on sale and because I bought into the faction, so I wanted everything in the faction. But I'd never considered it too closely because my limited understanding is that it's fairly unwieldy and really just a big target for my opponents.

I start rifling through my pilot options and come across 0-66, Sinister Automaton. Kinda sounds like its in my wheelhouse, yeah? Then I read its ability to spend Calculate tokens to perform an action after defending. I'm a big target, so I'll be defending frequently. I've got Calculate tokens that DFS-311 would very much like to give away to someone who will do more with it. Pretty sure this bad idea just took a turn for the worse, y'all. I'm excited about it!

Basically, my thought is that DFS-311 plants itself on a rock as needed and hands Calculate tokens over to 0-66, who uses it to barrel roll or lock after defending. I have never flown an Infiltrator before, so I don't have any notion in my head of what I *should* put on there. So I start looking through upgrades starting with missiles, but don't see anything I love. I know I want an upgrade in that slot, but I think I need to figure out the rest of my configuration before coming back to this. I land on Expert Handling to turn my red barrel roll into a white one instead. Additionally, I've got low initiative, so I'm happy to reposition after everyone else has moved. So now that it's no longer a difficult action, I can do it multiple times as long as I've got multiple Calculate tokens and are attacked several times. Honestly, I've no idea if this'll work the way I'm hoping it will, but either way, my inexperience with the game means I'll have to fly it a bunch before I'm convinced one way or the other. Looking at all of the other upgrade slots, I don't find much I fall in love with, so end up settling on Ion Torpedoes and Seismic Charges. I love shooting up Ionized ships or forcing them to cruise into a place they don't want to be such as an obstacle. If I can get them to land on an obstacle and then take damage after I've dropped a Seismic Charge? All to the better. At this point, I've got 2 points and I'm not sure what to do with them. For now, I settle on Electronic Baffle. Obviously not a thing I can use regularly, but I'm sure there will be instances in which I'd rather have the damage than a red token, so that eats up the last of my 11 upgrade points.

I go back to DFS-311 to see if I have a better idea of what I want to equip now that I have a plan for the Calculate tokens it'll be distributing. And honestly, I don't. The more I'm looking at DFS in this squad, the less thoughtful I am about what role DFS will play beyond distributing Calculate tokens. So instead, I start looking at the other ships that Imma add to my squad. Much like how I originally wanted to fly HMP Gunships so I could better grasp them, I want to fly Tri-Fighters because I don't know anything about flying them. I originally went with a Fearsome Predator, but after filling out the rest of my squad, I chose DIS-T81 because it's cheaper. And his ability gives me some flexibility with the Calculate tokens. Even if I toss one over to 0-66 and they don't use it, DIS-T81 might rob 0-66 (since it should be fairly easy for my opponents to have the Infiltrator in a firing arc anyway) of its Calculate in order to use its ability. I figure I'm going to be really aggressive with this guy, so I equip him with Collision Detector (mainly for the novelty of having a Sensor upgrade slot, honestly...) and Marg Sabl Closure. As I'm still pretty inexperienced, I've no idea how often this will come up and be useful instead of me just trying to salvage bad positioning.

But honestly, I learn best by losing and I can't be afraid of trying stuff and looking stupid. If that's the route I want to take, I can just search online until I find a successful Separatist squad and fly that until I'm good at it. But that doesn't sound like as much fun to me, so I won't be doing that any time soon.

As long as I'm looking at how best to utilize Calculate tokens, I decide to bring in Captain Sear. His ability is pretty damn cool, I know he used to be pretty popular for a minute there, and I've already got Grievous in my other squad. I know he's basically a staple because he's so cheap for what he can do, but I don't want to get locked into him being the only Belbullab I fly. My decision is also informed by the fact that Wat Tambor (who I really like in theory) doesn't have enough loadout points to equip Kraken, and I'd really like Kraken to be present given my building around DFS-311's ability to hand out Calculate tokens like candy. Impervium Plating is free and amazing, so I take it, and then I've got 5 loadout points left. Not enough for a Shield Upgrade, so I tack on a Hull Upgrade instead to beef him up just a smidge. I've now got 2 squad points left and I still need to assign DFS' loadout. So I pick up a Trade Federation Drone because it's an extra body, an extra attacker, and an extra Calculate token. I know people are annoyed by the fact that they don't get a loadout, and yeah, it'd be nice to get something on there. But honestly, I like the way the rest of my squad is looking, so I don't really feel all that limited.

So DFS...it's got 12 loadout points, so I've got options. But I just haven't thought much about what I want it doing beyond farming out tokens to 0-66. So for now, I keep it simple with Thread Tracers (I've never used them before, so what the hell? And then I put Shield Upgrade on there. It won't help much, given my 3 hull. But hopefully, most attacks against me are obstructed because I'm sitting on an obstacle, and shots going into DFS for 3 squad points are shots not being pushed on 0-66, Captain Sear, or DIS-T81.

I like the idea of the linchpin I've designed here, so I'm looking forward to trying it out! And it's sufficiently different from the squad I normally use that I feel like I'm doing more than just tinkering with one idea at a time, too.