Blount is pilot skill 6

Fel, Jax, and Turr = Blount DOA

(DROPS MIKE.......WALKS OFF......)

Mr. Darklighter would like to have a word with you....

You've just spent 30odd points to cut 6 points of upgrades. Woohoo. Blount ia good, but against high hull low agility rebel lists he's meh at best. Biggs is still amazing of course, but he dies fast too.

Math fail. I don't think it's even possible to get him to "30odd" points.

Blount is 17 points. VI makes him 18, and his guaranteed Assault Missile splash comes to 23. 25 if you prefer PtL to the VI upgrade, to maximize the hit from the missile.

Or, as I prefer, give him an Ion Pulse Missile and VI. 21 points, bye-bye Stealth and a drifting Interceptor next turn. Handy for pretty much any ship in the game no matter how hard it is to hit. Broadly useful, and kills Stealth Devices dead as a nifty bonus.

Blount is pilot skill 6

Fel, Jax, and Turr = Blount DOA

(DROPS MIKE.......WALKS OFF......)

I couldn't cross this off just yet either. Blount has a slot for EPT and Biggs still exists as a pilot. The fact is that this guy erases Stealth Devices just by pointing at them. Personally, I don't think any ability to render something that you pay for worthless, it stinks of bad design. I'm not saying that I think it's too strong, I just don't like how they handled his ability.

I feel even more justified in my "i'll take shield upgrade over stealth device on Soontir Fel" approach now. But maybe that's the point, to shake up the meta. Too many people with the same idea on how to field something, now they want to force us to adapt and build new strategies. I look forward to killing the new Rebel Scum in ways that can only be described as "gleefully delicious".

The only thing it's going to do is make me reconsider taking certain named Interceptor pilots. I didn't regularly run Saber Squadron Interceptors with a Stealth Device before and I probably wouldn't in the future. I'm still going to make judicious use of Alpha Squadron Pilots because I feel they can, if played correctly, make their points back. I would certainly consider myself a 'Squint Player', and Blount stripping stealth devices still won't affect my standard TIE/IN.

I think the discussion should more focus around "guaranteed effects; what should you have to sacrifice" and it looks to me like you really don't have to give up anything for what is essentially 'Named TIE Insurance'. If you make Blount even harder to kill with mods or with Biggs and give him Vet Instincts he'll be a real pain in the ass.

Blount is the easiest to deal with of the new counters.

I don't feel that interceptors are "dead" but I do feel that they are no better off than they have ever been.

Blount... ok I can deal.

Kturning xwing... I still got this.

Xwings that strip tokens... sure, I can handle one.

Droids that cause stress... only one ship right?

Crazy bwing pilot... only one right?

Torpedoes that auto stress... crap... a lot of ships... pile getting large...

Cheap ion missiles... sure... I guess...all of this at once huh?

Crew that autostress en masse... um what?

Crew that turn stress into damage en mass... um excuse me?

Oh... and turrets are still a thing!

It's kind of a pile against the interceptor that really didn't need extra things to pile up against it. Aces is a minimal and absolutely underwhelming bump vs. what's coming. When viewed against what is coming, I'm not sure it's even keeping even. Those who had success with the interceptor before will continue to make it work and have success but they are going to be a hard sell to new players soon (thank goodness they are so awesome looking!)

But we're the best of the best. We will prevail. We have no choice... For the Glory of the Empire!

(but our life isn't getting any easier).

[betting on interceptor getting the cloaking action in the future]

I want to meet the player who can take one 2 Hull 2 Shield 2 Agility PS 6 ship equip it with a five point Assault Missile and end the usefulness of the Interceptor. They will have to be a Jedi Master and control my weak mind to pull this off. I hope that Z-95 dial is really awesome!

What FFG has done so well so far is to ensure that the old ships are still useful.

*cough* TIE Advanced *cough*

LOL

Dude, im gong to bed giggling now, thanks.

If not for vader i would never use this ship

Blount is pilot skill 6

Fel, Jax, and Turr = Blount DOA

(DROPS MIKE.......WALKS OFF......)

I couldn't cross this off just yet either. Blount has a slot for EPT and Biggs still exists as a pilot. The fact is that this guy erases Stealth Devices just by pointing at them. Personally, I don't think any ability to render something that you pay for worthless, it stinks of bad design. I'm not saying that I think it's too strong, I just don't like how they handled his ability.

And then we have Dark Curse and Carnor Jax who makes the Blaster Turret useless, without even shouting at it, and it cost 4. There is now the little risk of running into Blount when you decide to take Stealth upgrade, just like running into DC or Jax with a blaster turret. And quite frankly, it's not because you lose the Stealth Upgrade that you're automatically dead, I flew a lot of time without it and my ships didn't explode on sight.

Anyone else think the interceptor should have 4 agility base?

As a unique modification maybe, but it should not be stackable with Stealth Upgrade. So an Advanced Stealth Upgrade that you don't lose when hit.

Torpedoes that auto stress... crap... a lot of ships... pile getting large...

Cheap ion missiles... sure... I guess...all of this at once huh?

Everyone has to deal with these, not just Interceptors.

Crew that autostress en masse... um what?

Crew that turn stress into damage en mass... um excuse me?

These are restricted to epic play.

[betting on interceptor getting the cloaking action in the future]

Is there a cloaked Interceptor anywhere in canon? (That's a genuine question.)

Interceptors aren't dead. Their coolness factor alone is enough to keep me building the into my squads. I'm not good enough yet to take out a YT Y Y X squad yet, but I'm getting better all the time. Some day. Some day soon.

I can't believe no one pointed out that an Interceptor can have 4 hull and 1 shield now. That is as many hits as a X-wing, but with 3 agility, a barrel roll, and an evade action. That is going to be a hard ship to kill.

It's too expensive for my tastes. I would rather just not get hit at all, or if I'm going to be shot at, shot at on my terms (range 3, Stealth Device, 3v5).

No doubt. Sometimes I feel like my meta is stuck in the twilight zone. If your running PTL on fel, turr or jax you don't need another hull or shield ! Learn to fly your ship and use your boost/ barrel roll to either get you out of their firing arc or get you a shot!

There is good flying, and then there is fantasy. Your interceptors will get shot at. Three hull and no shields could mean one unlucky round costs you. Add a shield and a hull, now one bad round is just that. Chances are, wherever shot the Interceptor, got shot by the Interceptor. If it is alive, it won't be next round.

Case in point, the other day I took a 'What the hell, got nothing else to do' shot. X-wing at an Interceptor at Range 3 through an asteroid. 3 attack dice, 3 hits. 5 defense dice, 5 blanks. Bye-bye, Interceptor.

Never underestimate the value of more hit points.

Blount is the easiest to deal with of the new counters.

I don't feel that interceptors are "dead" but I do feel that they are no better off than they have ever been.

Blount... ok I can deal.

Kturning xwing... I still got this.

Xwings that strip tokens... sure, I can handle one.

Droids that cause stress... only one ship right?

Crazy bwing pilot... only one right?

Torpedoes that auto stress... crap... a lot of ships... pile getting large...

Cheap ion missiles... sure... I guess...all of this at once huh?

Crew that autostress en masse... um what?

Crew that turn stress into damage en mass... um excuse me?

Oh... and turrets are still a thing!

It's kind of a pile against the interceptor that really didn't need extra things to pile up against it. Aces is a minimal and absolutely underwhelming bump vs. what's coming. When viewed against what is coming, I'm not sure it's even keeping even. Those who had success with the interceptor before will continue to make it work and have success but they are going to be a hard sell to new players soon (thank goodness they are so awesome looking!)

But we're the best of the best. We will prevail. We have no choice... For the Glory of the Empire!

(but our life isn't getting any easier).

[betting on interceptor getting the cloaking action in the future]

It was stuff like this that inspired me making this thread.

No, the Interceptor is not dead and it is still a good ship but you start to wonder why so many newly announced things seem to directly counter it. When you consider that a B-wing with Ibtisam + PTL and Advanced Sensors is 34 points and can avoid flying stressed and still get two actions then it looks a little bit like Interceptor hatred. That combination is expensive but so are high PS Interceptors + PTL that in the coming releases face a heavy tax for flying stressed. The new wingman upgrade fixes a bit but that really just makes PTL even more expensive for the Interceptor compared to the B-wing.

Let's not forget how Farlander burns you with his own stress... Farlander and Ibtisam with PTL and sensors + a Dagger with sensors are 96 points. They can handle 5 actions per turn, avoid stress, take loads of damage and still fly like a charm. Give one an Engine Upgrade and you further advance them.

Is there a cloaked Interceptor anywhere in canon? (That's a genuine question.)

Not to my knowledge. "No ship that small has a cloaking device..."

The Phantom getting it caused no end of conniptions, and that's a two-man scout ship rather than a fighter.

I'm fine with Blount's ability. Yes, auto-taking off stealth is annoying, but I just played in my store's championship with Stealthed-up Black Squadron TIE fighters and the number of expletive/blasphemy/indelicacy B-wings with Ten Numbnuts - who amount to almost the same thing - that I came across verges on the ridiculous. If stealth device lasts more than one attack I tend to file it as a win anyway....and, as noted, he's not exactly hard to kill.

Personally, I'll be running the Royal Guard with hull and shield upgrades, more simply because canonically that's what they had. Shielded interceptors were a Royal Guard 'thing' before thrawn started issuing them to anyone who could handle them. Besides, you're going to get shot at sooner or later, no matter how good you are.

Blount is pilot skill 6

Fel, Jax, and Turr = Blount DOA

(DROPS MIKE.......WALKS OFF......)

I couldn't cross this off just yet either. Blount has a slot for EPT and Biggs still exists as a pilot. The fact is that this guy erases Stealth Devices just by pointing at them. Personally, I don't think any ability to render something that you pay for worthless, it stinks of bad design. I'm not saying that I think it's too strong, I just don't like how they handled his ability.

Lt. Welfare does stink of bad design but at the end of the day I don't think I would ever play him. So you would include him in the list to plink stealth devices and splash damage?

Is there a cloaked Interceptor anywhere in canon? (That's a genuine question.)

Not to my knowledge. "No ship that small has a cloaking device..."

The Phantom getting it caused no end of conniptions, and that's a two-man scout ship rather than a fighter.

I'm fine with Blount's ability. Yes, auto-taking off stealth is annoying, but I just played in my store's championship with Stealthed-up Black Squadron TIE fighters and the number of expletive/blasphemy/indelicacy B-wings with Ten Numbnuts - who amount to almost the same thing - that I came across verges on the ridiculous. If stealth device lasts more than one attack I tend to file it as a win anyway....and, as noted, he's not exactly hard to kill.

Personally, I'll be running the Royal Guard with hull and shield upgrades, more simply because canonically that's what they had. Shielded interceptors were a Royal Guard 'thing' before thrawn started issuing them to anyone who could handle them. Besides, you're going to get shot at sooner or later, no matter how good you are.

I use the force with my Int dice I don't know about you.

Interceptors aren't dead. Their coolness factor alone is enough to keep me building the into my squads. I'm not good enough yet to take out a YT Y Y X squad yet, but I'm getting better all the time. Some day. Some day soon.

I can't believe no one pointed out that an Interceptor can have 4 hull and 1 shield now. That is as many hits as a X-wing, but with 3 agility, a barrel roll, and an evade action. That is going to be a hard ship to kill.

It's too expensive for my tastes. I would rather just not get hit at all, or if I'm going to be shot at, shot at on my terms (range 3, Stealth Device, 3v5).

No doubt. Sometimes I feel like my meta is stuck in the twilight zone. If your running PTL on fel, turr or jax you don't need another hull or shield ! Learn to fly your ship and use your boost/ barrel roll to either get you out of their firing arc or get you a shot!

There is good flying, and then there is fantasy. Your interceptors will get shot at. Three hull and no shields could mean one unlucky round costs you. Add a shield and a hull, now one bad round is just that. Chances are, wherever shot the Interceptor, got shot by the Interceptor. If it is alive, it won't be next round.

But then that interceptor costs roughly 85 points. Triple interceptor lists either have high PS Guys who rely on their abilities to keep themselves alive while lower PS interceptors can have some cool upgrades to make them able to survive a bad round but your squad still only has 3 ships. Triple ship imperial lists I think are more of a novelty.

Anyone else think the interceptor should have 4 agility base?

Three high PS Interceptors makes for a great fleet. I find it funny that players are constantly limiting themselves to 4+ fleets. I love it when my opponent has 4 to 7 PS 2s and my 8s and 9s dance all around them picking them off one by one. Just last week alone I flew 2 different 3 (Imperial) ship fleets that not only won but didn't loose a single ship!

I'm naming my next 3 ship list novelty

I concur that 3 High PS Ints is a great flight. With the current releases for me, that means Fel, Jax and Phennir. This will change as wave 4 and Rebel Aces come online, but for now, these are my go to guys.

Another variant is to pick 2 of the three and add in a Bounty Hunter. This adds some robustness to the list.

Interceptors aren't dead. Their coolness factor alone is enough to keep me building the into my squads. I'm not good enough yet to take out a YT Y Y X squad yet, but I'm getting better all the time. Some day. Some day soon.

I can't believe no one pointed out that an Interceptor can have 4 hull and 1 shield now. That is as many hits as a X-wing, but with 3 agility, a barrel roll, and an evade action. That is going to be a hard ship to kill.

It's too expensive for my tastes. I would rather just not get hit at all, or if I'm going to be shot at, shot at on my terms (range 3, Stealth Device, 3v5).

No doubt. Sometimes I feel like my meta is stuck in the twilight zone. If your running PTL on fel, turr or jax you don't need another hull or shield ! Learn to fly your ship and use your boost/ barrel roll to either get you out of their firing arc or get you a shot!

There is good flying, and then there is fantasy. Your interceptors will get shot at. Three hull and no shields could mean one unlucky round costs you. Add a shield and a hull, now one bad round is just that. Chances are, wherever shot the Interceptor, got shot by the Interceptor. If it is alive, it won't be next round.

But then that interceptor costs roughly 85 points. Triple interceptor lists either have high PS Guys who rely on their abilities to keep themselves alive while lower PS interceptors can have some cool upgrades to make them able to survive a bad round but your squad still only has 3 ships. Triple ship imperial lists I think are more of a novelty.

Anyone else think the interceptor should have 4 agility base?

Three high PS Interceptors makes for a great fleet. I find it funny that players are constantly limiting themselves to 4+ fleets. I love it when my opponent has 4 to 7 PS 2s and my 8s and 9s dance all around them picking them off one by one. Just last week alone I flew 2 different 3 (Imperial) ship fleets that not only won but didn't loose a single ship!

I'm naming my next 3 ship list novelty

You can dance but they can block and still have ships that can shoot out you (talking about the swarm). You get blocked and you're SOL. I like playing my Triple X wing list too but just find that it's too unforgiving in the current meta where I see a lot of swarms. Being an inexperienced pilot also hurts me but I'm not jousting with them each game and no matter what I do they still will get a few shots on you. I want to believe in the 3 ship imperial list too but...turrets...and lots of them whenever I run my triple int lists too. Doesn't matter if you can dance when they can shoot you anyways. YMMV

Protect your stealth mod ships for late game and make sure Blount dies first.

Keep those ships hanging back for a nice south paw.

Torpedoes that auto stress... crap... a lot of ships... pile getting large...Cheap ion missiles... sure... I guess...all of this at once huh?

Everyone has to deal with these, not just Interceptors.

Crew that autostress en masse... um what?Crew that turn stress into damage en mass... um excuse me?

These are restricted to epic play.

[betting on interceptor getting the cloaking action in the future]

Is there a cloaked Interceptor anywhere in canon? (That's a genuine question.)

Everyone is going to have to deal with them but interceptors have to deal with them and all the other mentioned parts differently because of the way you have to fly them and thier design. And again, its not about 1 new thing showing up, its that whole pile; you could say "they'll have to deal with it like everyone else" but, again, they are designed different and to fly them successfully they have to be flown in a way that these new adds to the meta inhibit greatly.

Crew are not restricted to epic/cinematic game play. Crew are crew. I do see Slicer Tools is cargo, but there I no reason to expect that we won't see a YT with a cargo slot, and at 30pts, we could see a transport in 100pt with the new z95s.

It is very hard to identify the straw that breaks the camels back. I'm not even saying it is broken, I'd just like to see a back brace and some new saddle bags to support the poor thing... No Aces wasn't enough and it's downright sad when compared to the pile.

Interceptors aren't dead. Their coolness factor alone is enough to keep me building the into my squads. I'm not good enough yet to take out a YT Y Y X squad yet, but I'm getting better all the time. Some day. Some day soon.

I can't believe no one pointed out that an Interceptor can have 4 hull and 1 shield now. That is as many hits as a X-wing, but with 3 agility, a barrel roll, and an evade action. That is going to be a hard ship to kill.

It's too expensive for my tastes. I would rather just not get hit at all, or if I'm going to be shot at, shot at on my terms (range 3, Stealth Device, 3v5).

No doubt. Sometimes I feel like my meta is stuck in the twilight zone. If your running PTL on fel, turr or jax you don't need another hull or shield ! Learn to fly your ship and use your boost/ barrel roll to either get you out of their firing arc or get you a shot!

There is good flying, and then there is fantasy. Your interceptors will get shot at. Three hull and no shields could mean one unlucky round costs you. Add a shield and a hull, now one bad round is just that. Chances are, wherever shot the Interceptor, got shot by the Interceptor. If it is alive, it won't be next round.

Case in point, the other day I took a 'What the hell, got nothing else to do' shot. X-wing at an Interceptor at Range 3 through an asteroid. 3 attack dice, 3 hits. 5 defense dice, 5 blanks. Bye-bye, Interceptor.

Never underestimate the value of more hit points.

You rebel scum

I concur that 3 High PS Ints is a great flight. With the current releases for me, that means Fel, Jax and Phennir. This will change as wave 4 and Rebel Aces come online, but for now, these are my go to guys.

Another variant is to pick 2 of the three and add in a Bounty Hunter. This adds some robustness to the list.

I like where your heads at! I have fielded several INT / BH list to great effect. All including Fel of course. I find it necessary to had scar scar of Boba though and put recon and ptl, it double their defenses. An evade plus to focus to buff the agility really puts pressure on the opponent to focus more than one ship on the firespray or ignore it all together. I think my list was Fel, Scarlett & dark curse. Choices choices lol all pretty much a guaranteed wife to shoot at .

Torpedoes that auto stress... crap... a lot of ships... pile getting large...Cheap ion missiles... sure... I guess...all of this at once huh?

Everyone has to deal with these, not just Interceptors.

Crew that autostress en masse... um what?Crew that turn stress into damage en mass... um excuse me?

These are restricted to epic play.

[betting on interceptor getting the cloaking action in the future]

Is there a cloaked Interceptor anywhere in canon? (That's a genuine question.)

Everyone is going to have to deal with them but interceptors have to deal with them and all the other mentioned parts differently because of the way you have to fly them and thier design. And again, its not about 1 new thing showing up, its that whole pile; you could say "they'll have to deal with it like everyone else" but, again, they are designed different and to fly them successfully they have to be flown in a way that these new adds to the meta inhibit greatly.

Crew are not restricted to epic/cinematic game play. Crew are crew. I do see Slicer Tools is cargo, but there I no reason to expect that we won't see a YT with a cargo slot, and at 30pts, we could see a transport in 100pt with the new z95s.

It is very hard to identify the straw that breaks the camels back. I'm not even saying it is broken, I'd just like to see a back brace and some new saddle bags to support the poor thing... No Aces wasn't enough and it's downright sad when compared to the pile.

What you seem to be saying here is this:

(1) Interceptor design is fundamentally dissimilar from the design of other ships.

(2) As a consequence, some upgrades, pilot abilities, and other game elements that are appropriate for the rest of the game are particularly damaging for Interceptors.

(3) Therefore, those game elements should not be published.

I don't particularly agree with (1) and (2), but it's quite a leap to go from (2) to (3). That is, even if I grant that Interceptor design and play is different from everything else in the game, why does that mean that Interceptors should hold the rest of the metagame hostage, and be allowed to force every new thing in the game to be designed around them?

And you mentioned crew that autostress en masse and crew that convert stress to damage; I didn't want to harp on the point, but the latter is indeed cargo, and I assumed that the former referred to the Transport's jam action . If that's wrong, then I'm not sure which crew you're talking about--it isn't Threepio or R2-D2, and I don't think any other crew from Wave 4 or Aces have been spoiled.

If it's the Transport you're worried about, though, FFG has been pretty clear that it won't be appearing in regular matches.

You can dance but they can block and still have ships that can shoot out you (talking about the swarm). You get blocked and you're SOL. I like playing my Triple X wing list too but just find that it's too unforgiving in the current meta where I see a lot of swarms. Being an inexperienced pilot also hurts me but I'm not jousting with them each game and no matter what I do they still will get a few shots on you. I want to believe in the 3 ship imperial list too but...turrets...and lots of them whenever I run my triple int lists too. Doesn't matter if you can dance when they can shoot you anyways. YMMV

Why are your high PS ships getting blocked? You need to think about where all your opponent ships COULD go and then deduce where is the most advantageous for them. There are times that your Interceptor might just need to take a straight 5 to get the heck out of Dodge and reset. You can go a round without shooting anything, and that's OK. The Interceptor is going to get back into position MUCH faster than the other ships you're up against.

They are only dead if they get shoot. So don't get shoot =]

(1) Interceptor design is fundamentally dissimilar from the design of other ships.

(2) As a consequence, some upgrades, pilot abilities, and other game elements that are appropriate for the rest of the game are particularly damaging for Interceptors.

(3) Therefore, those game elements should not be published.

I'm not sure I want to get into 3, but looking at 1 and 2, what other ship would you compare to the Interceptor? It has the worst cost:HP ratio in the game. It lives and dies based on its defense dice in a way that no other ship does. The only comparable ship defensively, the TIE Fighter, usually puts twice as many ships into a squadron than you can fit Interceptors. Heck, I'd have to check the list but I think there are even more crits to hose the Interceptor than most other ships.

I do think the Interceptor is actually in a unique position compared to most ships because of a combination of high cost and randomized fragility. I don't think that necessarily means that counters to that should NEVER be published, but they do have a unique capability to push the Interceptor down a list it's already barely handing onto.

Even if you normalize for its cost, the Store Champ usage list has more TIE Fighters than every other Imperial ship combined. With the caveat of an undoubtedly distorted sample, shouldn't this be worrying?

Edit: Looking more closely at the Store Championship list, it's showing 20 Interceptors. 75% of those use either PtL, Stealth Device, or both. Maybe the entire community is wrong, but the strong consensus seems to be that those two elements are a major part of flying Interceptors. Again, caveat the sample there, but it's not exactly out of line with what a lot of people think.

(1) Interceptor design is fundamentally dissimilar from the design of other ships.

(2) As a consequence, some upgrades, pilot abilities, and other game elements that are appropriate for the rest of the game are particularly damaging for Interceptors.

(3) Therefore, those game elements should not be published.

I'm not sure I want to get into 3, but looking at 1 and 2, what other ship would you compare to the Interceptor? It has the worst cost:HP ratio in the game. It lives and dies based on its defense dice in a way that no other ship does. The only comparable ship defensively, the TIE Fighter, usually puts twice as many ships into a squadron than you can fit Interceptors. Heck, I'd have to check the list but I think there are even more crits to hose the Interceptor than most other ships.

I do think the Interceptor is actually in a unique position compared to most ships because of a combination of high cost and randomized fragility. I don't think that necessarily means that counters to that should NEVER be published, but they do have a unique capability to push the Interceptor down a list it's already barely handing onto.

Even if you normalize for its cost, the Store Champ usage list has more TIE Fighters than every other Imperial ship combined. With the caveat of an undoubtedly distorted sample, shouldn't this be worrying?

Edit: Looking more closely at the Store Championship list, it's showing 20 Interceptors. 75% of those use either PtL, Stealth Device, or both. Maybe the entire community is wrong, but the strong consensus seems to be that those two elements are a major part of flying Interceptors. Again, caveat the sample there, but it's not exactly out of line with what a lot of people think.

Good post, nothing to add here.

The results speak for themselves.