So, that gives us some insanity, I think we're all aware.

I'll break down the known Crew and Sensors' interactions with this potent ability.

C REW

So, first off: 4 attack dice and a potent action that prevents us from attacking means I won't be Gunner ing at any point in the near future.

With potentially 4 evade dice (naked), a Flight Instructor will typically be able to gain you a re-roll. Considering the cost of the ship, the Phantom will usually be outnumbered, so the actionless defense-boost would be a nice anti-swarm option. I'd like to find out the math on this one.

Weapons Engineer actually works fairly well here. It keeps your opponent on their toes, as you've got 2 targets behind whom you can de-cloak. With 4 attack dice and the mobility options gained from the Decloak forced-action, this is potent. Pity you can only Target Lock if you grab a Targeting Computer or a Fire-Control System

Recon Specialist is much better than Flight Instructor in most situations , particularly while you're cloaked. If you plan on spending a lot of time cloaked, this is a great pick-up.

Rebel Captive ensures that your Phantom is going to be the last ship attacked. Why pick up a stress when you're not bloody likely to deal any damage anyway?

Navigator will be an interesting consideration when combined with the Decloak maneuverability. It will certainly be useful, but further assessment shall wait until the Dial is revealed.

Darth Vader is worthless here. You've only got 4 HP to chew through, and it's more expensive than a shuttle anyway!

Saboteur is BRILLIANT on the Phantom. Get around that inability to attack while maintaining your incredible dodging skills ! When paired with Advanced Sensors, you can Saboteur before revealing your Maneuver, which means you may do so before deciding to potentially Decloak!

Mercenary Co-pilot highlights the long-range sniping capability of the Phantom. Hit them like an HLC from Range 3, except you get to keep your crits (and adding one to the lot in this case), go invisible when the foe gets closer, Decloak then Koiogran to shoot them in the back at Range 3 again.

Intelligence Agent is also brilliant on the phantom. Considering the ship's expense, you're likelier to fly the low PS versions. Knowing where your target will land when deciding whether to Decloak will keep you from getting shot. Moreover, it is also still useful to your overall squad while you are cloaked, and combos well with Advanced Sensors and Enhanced Scopes.

S ensors

Sensor Jammer suffers for similar reasons to the Flight Instructor , while having even less of an impact on game-play. It does stack with Elusiveness, interestingly, though both SJ and E are incredibly weak against a Focused opponent. Still, this might become useful alongside Carnor Jax

Advanced Sensors is always a good upgrade, and is no exception on the Phantom. This opens you to the same world as the Hypermobile B-Wing, yet with the added option of the Cloaking action. Additionally, as stated with the Saboteur, you may perform your desired action before decloaking, which is very helpful. And yes, the Decloak's Barrel-Roll does NOT count as a free-action, so you can theoretically BR and DcBR as well!

Fire-Control Systems are one of two ways to get Target Locks for the Weapons Engineer . However, you're going to spend several turns without attacking, unless you grab the Advanced Cloaking Device upgrade. Even if you do, that teleporting effect will make this upgrade very awkward to use.

Enhanced Scopes , though not as reliable as Advanced Sensors , will increase your ability to get your action. However, unless you intend to use your highly-costed ship as a blocker, this won't be that usable. It does, however, combo nicely with Saboteur .

So, first off: 4 attack dice and a potent action that prevents us from attacking means I won't be Gunnering at any point in the near future.

Agree 100%; it's a waste of points.

With potentially 4 evade dice (naked), a Flight Instructor will typically be able to gain you a re-roll. Considering the cost of the ship, the Phantom will usually be outnumbered, so the actionless defense-boost would be a nice anti-swarm option. I'd like to find out the math on this one.

The chance of rolling at least one [focus] result is 68%, meaning it adds about 0.26 evades per attack against ships with PS 3+. Against ships with PS 1-2, the chance of rolling at least one [focus] or blank is 98% (!), meaning it adds an average of 0.37 evades per attack (and amounts to basically rolling an extra die).

Weapons Engineer actually works fairly well here. It keeps your opponent on their toes, as you've got 2 targets behind whom you can de-cloak. With 4 attack dice and the mobility options gained from the Decloak forced-action, this is potent. Pity you can only Target Lock if you grab a Targeting Computer or a Fire-Control System

I don't really see that as a negative, though. Weapons Engineer + Fire Control System could be a nice combo for the Phantom.

Recon Specialist is much better than Flight Instructor in most situations, particularly while you're cloaked. If you plan on spending a lot of time cloaked, this is a great pick-up.

Recon Specialist is a nice way to help make sure you have a token to support those defense dice, so it's a good combo with the Advanced Cloaking Device (assuming guesses are right about that).

However, the text for "Whisper" has also been spoiled, and I think Recon Specialist is overkill for him/her--you already get a free focus when you hit with an attack, so you might as well use...

Rebel Captive ensures that your Phantom is going to be the last ship attacked. Why pick up a stress when you're not bloody likely to deal any damage anyway?

One really nice thing about the Rebel Captive is that it heavily impacts an opponent's Push the Limit, and a Focus+TL stack will be one of the few ways to (sort of) reliably hit the Phantom. I'd say this is a really good choice.

Saboteur is BRILLIANT on the Phantom. Get around that inability to attack while maintaining your incredible dodging skills! When paired with Advanced Sensors, you can Saboteur before revealing your Maneuver, which means you may do so before deciding to potentially Decloak!

I would agree with you, if the Saboteur action were more reliable, or if it didn't require you to be at Range 1. As it is, I think it'll be really tough to use effectively.

Mercenary Co-pilot highlights the long-range sniping capability of the Phantom. Hit them like an HLC from Range 3, except you get to keep your crits (and adding one to the lot in this case), go invisible when the foe gets closer, Decloak then Koiogran to shoot them in the back at Range 3 again.

I'm not a fan of the Co-pilot, and while I think the Phantom has an easier time than most ships maintaining long-range shots, I'd still usually rather close than drift back. I think Fire Control System will be a bigger benefit in the long run for the same points.

Intelligence Agent is also brilliant on the phantom. Considering the ship's expense, you're likelier to fly the low PS versions. Knowing where your target will land when deciding whether to Decloak will keep you from getting shot. Moreover, it is also still useful to your overall squad while you are cloaked, and combos well with Advanced Sensors and Enhanced Scopes.

Completely agree.

Sensor Jammer suffers for similar reasons to the Flight Instructor, while having even less of an impact on game-play. It does stack with Elusiveness, interestingly, though both SJ and E are incredibly weak against a Focused opponent. Still, this might become useful alongside Carnor Jax

Sensor Jammer does have a little fillip, though: a Phantom with Advanced Cloaking is really only afraid of pilots firing at a higher PS. A high-PS pilot who comes at Sensor Jammers, though, is going to have to be really confident that it won't need that focus token when the Phantom returns fire--and a pilot that has to have focus typically can't use barrel roll or boost to follow the Phantom. I'm interested in giving this one some table time.

You could also get a Target Lock passed you from Jendon.

I am really liking Rebel Captive overall as I am not likely to have a Phantom and Firespray in the same list. I am really loving that crew on a tricked out Whisper.

Saboteur is BRILLIANT on the Phantom. Get around that inability to attack while maintaining your incredible dodging skills! When paired with Advanced Sensors, you can Saboteur before revealing your Maneuver, which means you may do so before deciding to potentially Decloak!

I would agree with you, if the Saboteur action were more reliable, or if it didn't require you to be at Range 1. As it is, I think it'll be really tough to use effectively.

If any ship's going to get a use out of it, it's a Cloaked Phantom.

The Saboteur is an end-game card only, and giving you a Range 1 action to retroactively turn a previous hit to a crit is nice. Pity it's only a 50% chance of doing something, but in a joust situation, a Range 1 Turret with a 50% chance of retroactively crittening is better odds than shooting at a Cloaked Phantom.

Are there any interesting EPT combos unforseen?

Just for the TL shake off, expert handling might be a good choice...still looking at the cards to see what is really going to be useful.

I still don't understand why the phantom had to have a crew slot as default. Reeks of power creep, the b-wing is getting it tacked on, and the y-wing is still waiting. Both more deserving in my opinion.

Lore be damned, the phantom already fills a unique shtick (with cloaking and 4 attack dice), why go overboard with arguably the two most powerful upgrade slots as well.

It's probably my favourite looking imperial ship though, so that's good.

I still don't understand why the phantom had to have a crew slot as default. Reeks of power creep, the b-wing is getting it tacked on, and the y-wing is still waiting. Both more deserving in my opinion.

Lore be damned, the phantom already fills a unique shtick (with cloaking and 4 attack dice), why go overboard with arguably the two most powerful upgrade slots as well.

It's probably my favourite looking imperial ship though, so that's good.

Because the canon description of the Phantom includes a pilot and a co-pilot, would be my guess. The Y-wing is also a two-seater (or can be, anyway), but that's covered by the turret slot.

And with respect to power creep, I think the ability to tack lots of fun, expensive upgrades on a ship that's fundamentally pretty fragile is a double-edged sword, and that helps keep it balanced to some degree. I'd also guess it's paying something for the privilege of combining those two upgrade slots.

And this isn't even addressing all the possible crew coming out with things like the Rebel Transport or Tantive IV.

And this isn't even addressing all the possible crew coming out with things like the Rebel Transport or Tantive IV.

Assuming the Empire can use them....

Very good analysis.

One last observation - we don't know what a Tactician does yet. Since they deemed fit to supply one with the ship, that implies (although doesn't garuantee) that they think they might work well together.

True, but a lot of those are "teams", which are like crew but capital ship only. I don't know how many actual crew cards we'll get.

We should see some, though; the Tantive has a fore and aft crew slot (compared to three 'team' slots):

We also don't yet know the EPT'S 'decoy', 'outmaneuver' and 'predator'. At least the last two seem like they might bring something for the named Phantom pilots.

I still don't understand why the phantom had to have a crew slot as default. Reeks of power creep, the b-wing is getting it tacked on, and the y-wing is still waiting. Both more deserving in my opinion.

Lore be damned, the phantom already fills a unique shtick (with cloaking and 4 attack dice), why go overboard with arguably the two most powerful upgrade slots as well.

It's probably my favourite looking imperial ship though, so that's good.

It has a crew slot because the Phantom is a two man craft and is flown by two people in its one appearance.

the Y-wing is also a two-seater (or can be, anyway)

The released Y-wing is the BTL-A4 which is one-seater. Y-wing deserves a crew slot far more than the already beloved B-wing though.

This is what I see on the Tactician card:

After you perform…(an attack?)…against a ship…(within your?)…firing arc at Range…ship receives 1…

Sounds like it could be very interesting.