Double EPTs

By Khyros, in X-Wing

So, now that we know that at least the GSP Jake and Tycho can take two EPTs, I want to start thinking of possible combinations that would be good. For this exercise, I'm going to ignore Tycho since his lack of care for stress changes what he can take.

First, lets list all of the EPTs currently known:

Adrenaline Rush

Deadeye

Determination

Draw Their Fire

Veteran Instincts

Elusiveness*

Expert Handling*

Squad Leader

Swarm Tactics

Daredevil*

Marksmanship

Push the Limit*

Expose

Opportunist*

I've also identified the EPTs that give stress with a *. Presumably these will not stack well since the A wing would end up with 2 stress, and then unable to do either of them for two turns.

Adrenaline Rush wouldn't be too bad since it would allow them to do a K turn they would otherwise be unable to do. Nothing game breaking since it doesn't really stack with anything.

Deadeye is going to be useless since missiles are now useless on an A wing.

Determination is kinda useless with their 2 hull. Presuming that they take 2 crits to their hull, there's only a 45% chance that one of them would be a pilot crit anyways. Nothing game breaking here, and frankly, there are better talents for 1 point.

DTF... not something I want to put on my A wing, I'd rather someone that's easy to hit with lots of health take the crit instead of my elusive low health A Wing.

VI... probably the best 1 point EPT for the GSP (Either this or AR imo). It basically makes it the equivilent of the Royal Guard Tie Interceptor, but PS5 instead of PS6. Still, it's a midlevel generic with an EPT...

Elusiveness... Doesn't really stack with anything and there's better uses of a stress token...

Expert handling could go well on an A wing, but it does not stack well with PTL since you can't take them both. As such, you'd be looking at other talents as your second EPT. And seeing how EH doesn't get much use as it is on an A wing, I doubt it'll get much use afterwards. Also, it's pointless on Jake.

Squad leader is also unlikely to be a good second EPT, GSP are a low PS, and Jake wants his action to focus, though I could see it combining decently with VI on the GSP... but then you're still left with the same issue of "a wings are flankers" and don't fly well with others.

ST will continue to be a good use of the GSP (in a chain) or from Jake.

Daredevil doesn't stack with PTL, so the two are mutually exclusive, and everyone seems to favor PTL.

Marksmanship doesn't strike me as overly useful on a 2 attack ship, nevertheless one that relies on tokens for defense.

PTL is the go to against which everything else is compared. It will more than likely be the 1st EPT you take.

Expose may actually start to see some use now. For the same reason some folks like to run it on Vader, you could get away with running it on an A wing. Coupled with PTL, you can take your F or TL, and then Expose as your second action. This effectively turns you into an PS3 X wing for 24 points... but you have a much better dial and boost, as well as more options for actions. And the math actually supports the use of it as your second action off of a base attack value of 2. (F+TL = 1.88 hits, F+Ex = 2.25 hits... at R1, F+TL = 2.81 hits, F+Ex = 3.00 hits).

Opportunist since this gives a stress, it shouldn't be used in conjunction with PTL. As such, I doubt we'll see it much out of an A wing as a second EPT. But I could potentially see it as the first in leui of PTL (it comes in at 21 points, same as an X wing, but better dial, and more flexible action economy). I don't know what would stack well with it though as a second EPT besides AR.

So, I suspect we'll primarily see PTL + AR, PTL + VI, with a bit of Opp + AR and PTL + Expose sprinkled in. I'm actually rather excited to try PTL+Expose, though I think the 25 point cost will end up being its undoing. But it'll be nice to give it a try, boosting/evading while in arc, Expose + Focus while on the flank.

Personally, I love the idea of placing PtL and Opportunist on a Green. Expensive, but the -2 upgrade card will help with this. At 24 points, this would be a maneuverable little 4 die R1 shooter! Chances are he would have either Focus and/or TL to go along with it thanks to PtL!

Edited by Stone37

Imagine Jake (dont call me will ) farrell with PTL and expert handling partnered with garvin and kyle katarn. essentially he could barrel roll or boost three times (or combinations there of) in one round!

Imagine Jake (dont call me will ) farrell with PTL and expert handling partnered with garvin and kyle katarn. essentially he could barrel roll or boost three times (or combinations there of) in one round!

You may only perform an action type once per round. Even if given the opportunity to perform it again, you may not.

There might be something to be said, I think, for PtL, Marksmanship, and a Cluster Missile if you have Jan in your squad. A 4 Die missile shot, followed by a 3 Die missile shot, all with Marksmanship backing it up could have potential.

Having the option to place TWO EPTs will probably lead to the smaller 1 and 2 point EPTs being used on top of a 3 or 4 pointer. As much as I love Determination, I only use it when I don't have enough points for something else. Marksmanship is also fantastic, but most people would not give up PtL of it. Soon, no one will!

arvel with EH. If only he could take advanced scopes.

Opportunist and expose could work well together if the pilot skill was low enough, relative to other ships in your list. Ideally, you'd want 1 or 2 other ships shooting at your target first to consume any tokens that it has, then you are free to get some extra dice rolling action.

Plus it would play a ton of mind games on your opponent. You would essentially be forcing them to take a focus and just hold it, with the possibility that they never even spend it.

I still love the idea of Daredevil and Push the Limit on Tycho. It shall be called, the U-turn.

DD and PtL essentially gives Tycho a boost and barrel roll maneuver like Vader with and Engine Upgrade. Is it worth the cost though? Currently, players don't seem to be willing to spend that many points on 2 attack die ships.

I still love the idea of Daredevil and Push the Limit on Tycho. It shall be called, the U-turn.

Yeahh, That's definitely something I want to play with, I also want to try AR on Tycho so he can actually K turn. But I also want to try Opportunist on him... I just think that DD and Opp on top of PTL and his (albeit reduced) base cost is going to be too much. 26-2 + 3 + 3/4 = 30/31 points. Now we're starting to get to Fel level's of "oh @*$.. 1/3 of my fleet just got 1 shot because I rolled poorly" But I'm sure it'll be fun as all heck to give it a go!

I don't like Opportunist on Tycho, because you shouldn't be worried about how much stress you have. Tycho with Daredevil and Push the Limit is going to be one slippery up close fighter. Almost literally flying circles around other ships.

Determination is kinda useless with their 2 hull. Presuming that they take 2 crits to their hull, there's only a 45% chance that one of them would be a pilot crit anyways. Nothing game breaking here, and frankly, there are better talents for 1 point.

DTF... not something I want to put on my A wing, I'd rather someone that's easy to hit with lots of health take the crit instead of my elusive low health A Wing.

Oh, I dunno....I could see a GSP with Chardaan Refit, Prototype Veteran, Hull Upgrade, DTF, and Determination. It's only 23 points for a relatively tanky eater (and possibly discarder) of crits.

Probably still inferior to Luke with DTF and R2-D2, but still. There's synergy to be had between DTF and Determination, and they're cheap EPTs.

Edited by Tawnos

Also, PtL + Squad Leader could be really nice on Tycho as a wingman for a heavy hitter, like a Blue or Dagger. It's like having PtL on the heavy hitter, but Tycho can eat the stress for them.

Or you could chain Tycho's PtL into PtL on someone else and still have an action on Tycho. Ibtisam comes to mind; three actions per turn for her could be nice. Means she can always use her own action for Barrel Roll positioning, then still get TL + Focus from Tycho.

I think Khyros is on the money when it comes to EPT's. Once you get past the sticker shock of two EPTs the stress becomes a huge limiting fact, not including all the new stress inducing cards coming down the pipeline.

Ptl and deadeye allows for some cool beans missile shots on green squad a wings...

The only thinks I can think to add here is Tycho with Elusiveness and PtL.

Possibly the hardest shop to kill in the game.

Oh wait, Elusiveness won't let you stack stress. Lame.

I'll certainly be running Tycho with PTL and Daredevil. At 30 points he'll be amazingly fun. Probably Stealth him for an even 33... See how he stacks up to his old Buddy Soontir.

(also Arvel plus Daredevil will be amazingly fun.)

Squad leader and Swarm tactics(On Tycho) could be good.

All of this has been said. I really think this will lead to some amazing play on A-wings, even if they are more fun than good... At least with my dice rolls...

I would probably use PTL + Expose. If you add in the Cardaan Refit a GSP comes to 24 pts. A RSP with R2 also comes to 24pts.

Essentially it's trading 1 HP for Boost, Dial, and Action flexibility. also purchasing a Hull Upgrade is still a possibility if there are points to be spared.

I'll certainly be running Tycho with PTL and Daredevil. At 30 points he'll be amazingly fun. Probably Stealth him for an even 33... See how he stacks up to his old Buddy Soontir.

(also Arvel plus Daredevil will be amazingly fun.)

Understand that you can't use Daredevil and get the free action from PtL. Not saying that having both is bad; it certainly gives him a lot of options. They just don't work together is all.

I'll certainly be running Tycho with PTL and Daredevil. At 30 points he'll be amazingly fun. Probably Stealth him for an even 33... See how he stacks up to his old Buddy Soontir.

(also Arvel plus Daredevil will be amazingly fun.)

Understand that you can't use Daredevil and get the free action from PtL. Not saying that having both is bad; it certainly gives him a lot of options. They just don't work together is all.

Why couldn't you? The only issue I see is that you have to use daredevil first (since it's not on your action bar).

Is there some issue with the errata that I'm missing?

Push the Limit drops its stress as the last part of it's activation, which is AFTER you perform your second action.
Daredevil/Expert Handling are still extremely viable (at least on Tycho).

Nevermind, I was still thinking GSP for some reason. Carry on.

Edited by Tawnos

Tycho

PTL+Daredevil or PTL+EH. PS8 moves late so the ability to remove a TL might be very good.

PTL+Elusiveness does not work: Elusiveness requires you to have zero stress tokens.

PTL+Opportunist: Someone else needs to strip tokens first.

Arvel

Can Daredevil into overlap. This counters his high PS.

Jake

No special synergy with anything. So he'll probably get the same EPTs as a GSP.

Green

PTL is the most useful upgrade. Add anything you like.

PTL+Deadeye: Boost into position for the cluster attack. Expensive but it might just be viable.

Edit:

PTL+Marksmanship+Cluster might be worth a 2nd look.

Edited by dvor

I suppose I don't understand a couple of things....

Prototype Veteran: Why is it only A-Wing and why do you only need to have a PS greater than 1. There are plenty of PS3 with no EPT. Look at TIE Advanced which most people never use. Tempest and Storm both could seriously benefit from this.

Enhanced Scopes: Why isn't this specifically directed at Arvel Crynys who's single biggest problem is that for movement is PS isn't 0. That would very easily and dramatically change him.