Rogue Review- Droid Tri-Fighter

Welcome to Rogue Squadron, pilot! In this series, we will be looking at the ships you can fly in Fantasy Flight Games X-Wing miniatures game. We’ll take a look at a chassis and what makes it unique along with some upgrades and squadron combos. Strap in and get ready to fly.

Lock S-Foils in Attack Position

With the Droid Tri-fighter we’ve reached the end of movie screen Separatist ships.

Red Five Standing By

The V-Wing comes out of the box with four unique pilots and two generics across two ships. How do these pilots compare?

**Phloc-Arphocc Prototype (I5) –During the System Phase, you may spend your lock on a ship to look at that ship’s dial.
- Another I5 for the Separatists! They don’t have much I4 and above. What’s better is that they aren’t limited to a single ship, so you get two I5 pilots.
- Looking at dials can be very powerful. This one doesn’t have range restrictions, beyond having to get the lock in the first place.
- Fire-Control System is a good upgrade for these guys so they can get a Lock, get a reroll and spend the Lock next round to look at a dial.
- One downside is that System phase actions occur in ascending order. At I5, they are going to use their look at dial ability after the vast majority of your other pilots. So no looking at a dial and then deciding to launch bombs from some Hyena’s with Trajectory Simulator.
DIS-T81 (I4) – While you defend or perform an attack, you may spend 1 calculate token from a friendly ship in the enemy ship’s firing arc to change 1 Focus result to an Evade or Hit result.
- This pilot is double dipping on Network Calculation. His ability allows him to use that friendly token from ship much further away, as it just needs to be in an arc, not at 0-1 of him.
- He could use Independent Calculations and still effectively be able to use Network Calculation.
***Fearsome Predator (I4) – Setup: After placing forces, assign the Fearful Prey condition to 1 enemy ship.
- Fearsome Prey: After you defend against an enemy Fearsome Predator, if you did not spend at least 1 green token during the attack, gain 1 strain token.
- With three of these guys, you can apply the condition to three different targets.
- Juke pairs well with them for more shenanigans with pushing dice modification.
DIS-347 (I3) – At the start of the Engagement Phase, you may acquire a lock on an object at range 1-3 that has a friendly lock.
- Free locks are always useful.
- Very nice that it triggers at the start of the engagement phase as no one will have spent any locks yet.
- Acquire allows him to be stressed and still benefit from his ability.
Separatist Interceptor (I3) – None
- Generic pilot without an ability but a talent slot.
- Only a point cheaper than any of the named pilots but with the same initiative. This makes them feel more affordable.
Colicoid Interceptor (I1) – None
- Your cheapest generic pilot.
- Feels expensive at 35 points.

All Wings Report In

How many Tri-Fighters do you need? You can field a squadron of up to five of them, but they aren’t the best swarm ship. They’ll most likely be used as a pair thrown in to support another squad.

Just One Lowly Tri-Fighter All By Itself

Phlac-Arphocc Prototype (Tri-Fighter)
- Intercept Booster
- Fire Control System
- Independent Calculations
Zam Wesell (Firespray)
- Deadeye Shot
- Cloaking Device
Darth Maul (Sith Infiltrator)
- Scimitar
- Hate

Separatists lack for many high initiative pilots. The Phlac-Arphocc offers you a low cost option. But it does more than that, especially with bids going away. Using its ability, you can spend locks to learn other ship’s maneuvers. Combine this with decloaks from Zam and Maul and you have the opportunity to end up in the most inopportune places. This list moves to engage quickly. With Intercept Booster, the Tri-Fighters gets across the board to lock fast and then jets out of range. Maul and Sam follow up and decloak to get unopposed shots against a target. Then Maul double taps.

Fearsome Juke

3x Fearsome Predator (Tri-Fighter)
- Juke
Trade Federation Drone (Vulture Droid)
- Grappling Struts
Wat Tambor (Belbullab-22)
- Kraken
- Deadeye Shot

Fearsome Predator and Juke work together to help get excellent damage through. You use Kraken to charge up the Tri-Fighters with a calculate token pre-engagement. You shoot first with Wat, getting him rerolls, trying to strip a token from the target. Your Fearsome Predators then engage, turning an evade with Juke, and then giving them a strain token with Fearful Prey. That lets the next ship fire against a very weak defense. The Vulture can finish off a stubborn target or serve as a blocker. You can switch it to a Separatist Drone if you prefer I3 for all ships.

Advanced Oppression

- DIS-347 (Droid Tri-Fighter)
  - Daredevil
  - Advanced Sensors
  - Independent Calculation
  - Intercept Booster
- 2x Onderon Oppressor (HMP Gunship)
  - Repulsorlift Stabilizer
  - Ion Missile
  - Seasoned Navigator
- DGS-286 (HMP Gunship)
  - Repulsorlift Stabilizer
  - Seasoned Navigator
  - Kraken

Gunships make a perfect companion to DIS-347. He gets a free lock if friendly ships have locks. They don’t spend their locks but get rerolls based on the number of friendly locks. Everyone wins. Advanced Sensors also pairs nicely with Independent Calculation. DIS-347 can get double calculate before maneuvering and then clear the stress with a blue maneuver. Or he can Daredevil pre-maneuver and get to some funky places. Meanwhile, the HMP’s are sideslipping around, changing the maneuver at will with the navigator, giving themselves free calculates and generally being a nuisance.

There are a lot of points to play around with on this one. Navigators and Kraken are fun but are unnecessary. They could be exchanged for different missile load outs. Likewise, Daredevil is also just for fun and could be turned into an Ion MIssile on DGS-286.

Sacrifices

DIS-T81 (Tri-Fighter)
- Treacherous
General Grievous (Belbullab-2)
- Treacherous
- Impervious Plating
- Soulless One
- TA-175
2x Trade Federation Drone (Vulture Droid)
- Grappling Struts
- Discord Missile
2x Haor Chall Prototype (Vulture Droid)
- Grappling Struts

Grievous and DIS-T81 are your point of attack. The Vulture droids provide them cover. Treacherous gives them both reasonable damage mitigation, thanks to the swarm that can die and recharge it. DIS-T81 can fly with or without Independent Calculations. With it, he can double calculate and use his ability like Network Calculations. Without it, he has double network.

There are some variations you can do. If you drop Grievous and the Discord Missiles, you can take two more Tri-Fighters with Treacherous. More guns are always welcome. But you do lose TA-175.

Swarms

4x Colicoid Interceptor (Tri-Fighter)
- 1x Intercept Booster
3x Trade Federation Drone (Vulture Droid)
- Grappling Struts

The most Tri-Fighters you can take is five. But if you only take four, you also get three Vultures. That nets your seven ships, all with Network Calculations, and four of them have three die attacks. Is this better than a 7 or 8 ships Vulture swarm? Extra attack and defense die are nice. But you only have three struts, reducing some of your maneuverability.

You’ll notice one of them has Intercept Booster. This is on there merely in preparation for the removal of the bid. You can flip it during the system phase of turn one if you don’t want to use it. But it does give you the option for a lone flanker trying to slip behind enemy lines.

QuinTri

2x Phlac-Arphocc Prototype (Tri-Fighter)
- Intercept Booster
- Fire Control System
- Independent Calculations
3x Fearsome Predator (Tri-Fighter)
- Intercept Booster
- Fire Control System
- Independent Calculations

If you want to go all in on Tri-Fighters, this list nets you two I5’s and three I3’s. They all can operate independently, and with Intercept Boosters, you can spread them out allowing you to swarm around your targets. They are flimsy ships with only three health, but they do have three defense and three attack.