The tournament crowd would not be happy with a defense first fix for the Advanced. It also doesn't fit the mythos. The Empire's defense is in speed and numbers. I still see the Advanced as a squad leader's ship. Something like the HWK. Other ships are better because they are around it.

Or they could boost it it by releasing the Tie /ad or Tie Avenger? Then the tie adv with 1 or 2 tie avengers could be insanely cool... and they had a projector slot so Tractor beams could be awesome, added to the fact the avenger was like a speedy y wing for the empire.

Red Castle, the problem with your proposal is time length. The game would drag on longer and the empire doesn't really need a boost to TIE overall effectiveness, imo. Just the advanced. And the advanced doesn't really suck, there's just no reason to take it given the lack of a unique role and its relatively high point cost.

I agree with Stone37. The best fix would be to make it a command ship so it had a unique ability to buff allies in some way (perhaps defense). The particulars would need playtesting to find the best form for this ability, but such an ability would make the advanced unique and interesting to fly.

Yeah, we all have our own meta about how the games go and what is needed. I personally never played with a time limit, since I don't participate in tournaments, so this issue never came to mind.

Making the Advanced a command ship is a wonderful idea that I would like to see happen with future pilots. but it doesn't really help the Advanced in general, just make some of his pilots useful, like Vader. So it,s back to square A. Unless you make it into a title instead of some pilot's abilities.

I'd love to see the Advanced become the Empire's version of the Moldy Crow, but with evade tokens!

You can't really change the fundamental game dynamics at this point, especially to fix one ship. The collateral damage would be very bad.

So, if the Advanced is comparable to the A-wing, then it is the dial that is the real issue! The Advanced dial is no where near as good as the A-wings, and the Advanced is not given anything to make up for this disadvantage. So I think you hit the nail on the head here. If the A-wing just got a point reduction, then the Advanced needs not only a point reduction, but something else (for free) to make up for its dial.

Quite possibly, but I think the game designers--even if they see an imbalance, and even if they they think it should be corrected--will be very cautious to change the game mechanics much. It's more fun to give cards wide applicability, and easier play with very few exceptions to the rule. The Chardaan Retrofit surprised me, but I understand why it was created.

Maybe it's best to accept the TIE Advanced will have a very limited role. Wookiepedia states of the Advanced, "While it never made it into production, many of its best design features were later incorporated into the TIE/sa bomber and TIE/IN interceptor."

Bunk. The Advanced had 3 models that went into production, 2 of which are already in this game. If you read my posts, you'd see that I pointed out that the x3 went on to be the TIE Interceptor, the x7 went on to be the TIE Defender. The one we haven't seen yet is the TIE Avenger, which was a rename production version of the x1, meant to separate it from Vader's craft. Some of the design elements went directly into the Bomber as well (notice the sloped wings).

The Advanced was designed to fit the role as the very versatile TIE. All of the other TIE fighters served a specific role while the Advanced was a test platform to incorporate advances in Imperial technology to combat the massive losses suffered during the rebellion. In the end, they developed 3 of the most powerful starfighters in the universe by taking that technology and building less versatile platforms from them (eg the Interceptor is NOT a tank, but a fast and pure dogfighter).

In the end, FFG will hopefully do something that gives the Advanced a little bit more fire power as everyone has eventually found attack dice are worth more than agility dice. Much like the Refit, Munitions Fail Safe, and other options, they will continue to find ways to make other/older ideas more viable.

Unfortunately, the TIE-Advanced feels a little over-costed. I play Vader and Maarek, often, and it's a painful realisation.

I hope that any future 'fix' will not use the missile slot because that would take away one of the ship's best uses.

Vader and Maarek are two very good missile delivery pilots who can pack an offensive punch. The problem is that after they launch their missiles, they're very soft, offensively, for the rest of the game, despite being difficult to kill at Range 3.

I would like to see an offensive fix something like this:

Missile Guidance Radar

Modification - TIE Advanced only

When attacking with a missile, roll 2 additional attack dice.

Points 1 or 2?

This would help the one-time offensive strike.

OR

I would like to see a defensive fix something like this:

Power Relay Coupling

Modification - TIE Advanced only

At the End phase, if you did not attack this round you may recover 1 shield (up to your shield value).

Points 1 or 2?

This would help the late-game evasion, when the TIE-Advanced stays at Range 3, circling for a better shot, sacrificing shooting to recharge the shields.

No, I haven't play-tested them, they could be broken solutions!

Just my 2 cents on a much maligned ship that I play a fair bit.

People keep asking "what is the TIE Advanced for?" then drifting off into rants about "it's bad" or "I can make it work". My thoughts:

What it's not is a missile gunship. Making it a good ordnance platform takes away the function of the TIE Bomber, as well as the gunship if they actually produce it.

If anything, it's a 'command fighter'. Vader is not just a good pilot (I agree he'd be a tempting option whatever he flew) but matches perfectly with Squad Leader or Swarm Tactics (both the talents which came with the fighter, probably not co-incidentally!); he's a pilot that boosts nearby friendlies, in a fighter that is manouvrable and hard to kill.

Equally, if you were able to put a pilot in another fighter, would you not pick the Advanced as somewhere to lodge Captain Jonus or Howlrunner? It keeps them alive, whilst they use their abilities to make the other fighters around them better. The lack of offensive power is fine, because it's not their shooting that matters.

Now, the question is, how do you actually make the advanced like that? Vader - as noted - doesn't need any help doing it, but Stele does. Equally, A Tempest pilot slotted into a Fighter or Bomber wing can't - not least because of the lack of elite pilot talents.

The problem is that most "aid ally" cards and abilities reside in Crew cards, and there is no justification for the Advanced having a crew slot.

You could do it with a title, I guess - though I'm not sure exactly doing what.

If anything, it's a 'command fighter'. Vader is not just a good pilot (I agree he'd be a tempting option whatever he flew) but matches perfectly with Squad Leader or Swarm Tactics (both the talents which came with the fighter, probably not co-incidentally!); he's a pilot that boosts nearby friendlies, in a fighter that is manouvrable and hard to kill.

Equally, if you were able to put a pilot in another fighter, would you not pick the Advanced as somewhere to lodge Captain Jonus or Howlrunner? It keeps them alive, whilst they use their abilities to make the other fighters around them better. The lack of offensive power is fine, because it's not their shooting that matters.

I agree, I too would like the Advanced to be transformed into what I always thought it was in the Star Wars universe, a command fighter. Other ships should be better because the Advanced is around. The Empire lacks a true support ship. The Shuttle is the closest thing that it has. The Advanced really should be the Empire's HWK. I still stand by my idea of a title that allows the Advanced to hand out Evade tokens (and produce two per round) much like the HWK hands out focus tokens. I also like the idea of the Advanced giving up its attack to add 1 hit to a near by ally's attack.

People keep asking "what is the TIE Advanced for?" then drifting off into rants about "it's bad" or "I can make it work".

My opinion is that, mechanically speaking, the Advanced ought to be a middle-of-the-road fighter with balanced offense and defense--as in canon, a compromise between the typical Imperial doctrine of "lots of cheap, disposable fighters" and the proven success of shielded, powerful Rebel fighters.

That role would nicely match its cost, as well: a ship that sits midway between an Academy Pilot and a Delta Squadron Pilot ought to cost (12 + 30)/2 = 21 points, and that fighter would have a stat line of 2.5/3/3/1.5. All FFG has to do to fix it is figure out how to mechanically represent 2.5 Attack, and we'll be golden!

People keep asking "what is the TIE Advanced for?" then drifting off into rants about "it's bad" or "I can make it work".

My opinion is that, mechanically speaking, the Advanced ought to be a middle-of-the-road fighter with balanced offense and defense--as in canon, a compromise between the typical Imperial doctrine of "lots of cheap, disposable fighters" and the proven success of shielded, powerful Rebel fighters.

That role would nicely match its cost, as well: a ship that sits midway between an Academy Pilot and a Delta Squadron Pilot ought to cost (12 + 30)/2 = 21 points, and that fighter would have a stat line of 2.5/3/3/1.5. All FFG has to do to fix it is figure out how to mechanically represent 2.5 Attack, and we'll be golden!

People keep asking "what is the TIE Advanced for?" then drifting off into rants about "it's bad" or "I can make it work".

My opinion is that, mechanically speaking, the Advanced ought to be a middle-of-the-road fighter with balanced offense and defense--as in canon, a compromise between the typical Imperial doctrine of "lots of cheap, disposable fighters" and the proven success of shielded, powerful Rebel fighters.

That role would nicely match its cost, as well: a ship that sits midway between an Academy Pilot and a Delta Squadron Pilot ought to cost (12 + 30)/2 = 21 points, and that fighter would have a stat line of 2.5/3/3/1.5. All FFG has to do to fix it is figure out how to mechanically represent 2.5 Attack, and we'll be golden!

You didn't get the half-dice expansion pack?

I think next time I play, I'm going to run two Storm Advanced Ties and give them FCS (without cost). I'll be sure to share my findings after playing a few rounds. Maybe a squad of:

Soontir Fel+PtL

Saber+PtL

Storm x2

I think next time I play, I'm going to run two Storm Advanced Ties and give them FCS (without cost). I'll be sure to share my findings after playing a few rounds. Maybe a squad of:

Soontir Fel+PtL

Saber+PtL

Storm x2

I would be very curious to find out how well that list ends up working.

I think next time I play, I'm going to run two Storm Advanced Ties and give them FCS (without cost). I'll be sure to share my findings after playing a few rounds. Maybe a squad of:

Soontir Fel+PtL

Saber+PtL

Storm x2

I would be very curious to find out how well that list ends up working.

If, as you stated, an attack rating of 2.5 fixes the issue; we should see a noticeable improvement. It still doesn't satisfy the issue I have with the roll that it plays in the Empire, as I would like to see abilities that make the Advanced a command fighter. Maybe the we'll see some new Advanced pilots in the future with more team buffing abilities.

People keep asking "what is the TIE Advanced for?" then drifting off into rants about "it's bad" or "I can make it work".

My opinion is that, mechanically speaking, the Advanced ought to be a middle-of-the-road fighter with balanced offense and defense--as in canon, a compromise between the typical Imperial doctrine of "lots of cheap, disposable fighters" and the proven success of shielded, powerful Rebel fighters.

That role would nicely match its cost, as well: a ship that sits midway between an Academy Pilot and a Delta Squadron Pilot ought to cost (12 + 30)/2 = 21 points, and that fighter would have a stat line of 2.5/3/3/1.5. All FFG has to do to fix it is figure out how to mechanically represent 2.5 Attack, and we'll be golden!

People keep asking "what is the TIE Advanced for?" then drifting off into rants about "it's bad" or "I can make it work".

My opinion is that, mechanically speaking, the Advanced ought to be a middle-of-the-road fighter with balanced offense and defense--as in canon, a compromise between the typical Imperial doctrine of "lots of cheap, disposable fighters" and the proven success of shielded, powerful Rebel fighters.

That role would nicely match its cost, as well: a ship that sits midway between an Academy Pilot and a Delta Squadron Pilot ought to cost (12 + 30)/2 = 21 points, and that fighter would have a stat line of 2.5/3/3/1.5. All FFG has to do to fix it is figure out how to mechanically represent 2.5 Attack, and we'll be golden!

You didn't get the half-dice expansion pack?

Remember the "purple" dice or "elite" dice idea that was all the rage last year? Yep... that's why the advanced sucks... couldn't get those other colored dice out (purple and blue I think?).

Oh, and they can take care of 2 birds with 1 stone:

Battle of Yavin pack: includes Y-Wing and the TIE Advanced with new pilots and upgrades.

They could include Tiree, Jon Vander, and Davish Krail for the Y-Wing. They could include Avenger Squadron, EC Nerwal, and Avenger One for the Advanced (the TIE Avenger was the renamed Advanced x2, the Interceptor is the Advanced x3 and the Defender is the x7).

This is an excellent idea.

The Y-Wing and the Advanced can both do with some love and a mixed pack is a great way to do it.

I think next time I play, I'm going to run two Storm Advanced Ties and give them FCS (without cost). I'll be sure to share my findings after playing a few rounds. Maybe a squad of:

Soontir Fel+PtL

Saber+PtL

Storm x2

I'm all about a free FCS for all of the Advanced, and a -1 point reduction for all Advanced ships EXCEPT for Vader.

I think next time I play, I'm going to run two Storm Advanced Ties and give them FCS (without cost). I'll be sure to share my findings after playing a few rounds. Maybe a squad of:

Soontir Fel+PtL

Saber+PtL

Storm x2

I'm all about a free FCS for all of the Advanced, and a -1 point reduction for all Advanced ships EXCEPT for Vader.

I like the idea of having a mod or a 'secondary weapon' that adds a system upgrade slot and grant a -2 point reduction on System Upgrades.

So the FCS is for free, the AS is 1 point and the SJ is 2 points.

Furthermore, a title for 0 points that grant an additional EPT, just like the A-Wings got.

And a 'laser battery' as mod or 'secondary weapon' (Advanced only) that increases your attack power to 3 if you don't attack this round and will drop back to 2 if you have attacked.

The other thing to note is that we do have a stock of named Advanced pilots ready to go: Storm Squadron is out of the Star Wars Galaxies MMORPG, and had a load of named pilots (I remember Commander Oberhaur and Akal Colzet, but I know there were about three or four more explicitely named).

The interesting thing is that they were your trainers, and were specifically qualified flight instructors. Which offers another route to take the Advanced down - since the advanced is the turtle-ey esque fighter in the game, logically something that proportionally improves defense must benefit them most of all.

I know people love to go on about "attack dice wins games, defence dice are useless", but surely there must come a point where defense is suitably dominant?

The other thing to note is that we do have a stock of named Advanced pilots ready to go: Storm Squadron is out of the Star Wars Galaxies MMORPG, and had a load of named pilots (I remember Commander Oberhaur and Akal Colzet, but I know there were about three or four more explicitely named).

The interesting thing is that they were your trainers, and were specifically qualified flight instructors. Which offers another route to take the Advanced down - since the advanced is the turtle-ey esque fighter in the game, logically something that proportionally improves defense must benefit them most of all.

I know people love to go on about "attack dice wins games, defence dice are useless", but surely there must come a point where defense is suitably dominant?

This plays into my idea of an Advanced pilot with the skill to hand out evade tokens like Kyle can with Focus.

I think next time I play, I'm going to run two Storm Advanced Ties and give them FCS (without cost). I'll be sure to share my findings after playing a few rounds. Maybe a squad of:

Soontir Fel+PtL

Saber+PtL

Storm x2

I'm all about a free FCS for all of the Advanced, and a -1 point reduction for all Advanced ships EXCEPT for Vader.

So a friend and I just ran a quick game:

Storm x2 (with free FCS)

vs.

Red x2

They played as equals after the first exchange. The X-wings got in the first solid hit, but after that, the Advanced almost always had a target lock. In the end, the Advanced won without losing a ship.

This isn't a full 100 point game, but it seemed like a fair fight and now seems worth attempting at a larger level.

Perhaps new munitions and the fail safe will breathe some life into the advanced.

The problem with improving ordnance is that it improves the bomber more. I'm not against that, but the Advanced won't (and shouldn't) replace the TIE advanced as the empire's warhead truck of choice.