Also, you guys are saying that outmaneuver will hurt turrets. No sure I see why. Turrets have a 360 degree firing arc...

Wrong. Firing arc always and only means front arc. Even applies to falcons. Turrets allow you to fire outside your firing arc.

Most ships have just a primary firing arc at the front of the ship, and you're completely right that equipping a turret (or flying the Falcon) doesn't change that. But the Firespray's (so far unique) auxiliary arc definitely still counts for, e.g., Backstabber and Outmaneuver.

Not that I think it would be the most effective squad, but:

5x Green squad + refit + predator

would fire like a howl swarm.

Or 70% of a Howl swarm, at least.

I was doing both. Outmanuever works well against turret ships.

But the odds of not having a dice to reroll are pretty low. Even comboed with focus. Evade dice kind of suck, /so cutting one away is nowhere near as useful as rerolling dice. There are situations, and Outmanuever might apply more often, but unless you've put it on all your ships the opposing player can play to avoid it without too much difficulty. Predator isn't really avoidable, short of killing the ship.(which will be a target.

Has anyone figured out why there is an evade token in the pack? Did I miss something?

I think i just Sherlocked this one. We see a bunch of cards in the preview. We see all the cards we know of, but there are two rules cards. One of them is for modifications. We haven't seen any modifications included in this pack yet. Betcha one of them is Avoidance system or the like. For 4 Points you get the evade action.(I say 4 because frankly it has to cost more than Stealth Device...)

And then I see the munitions failsafe... Darn.

I may be way off here, but don't the preview photos usually show everything that will be in the final box?

Has anyone figured out why there is an evade token in the pack? Did I miss something?

I think i just Sherlocked this one. We see a bunch of cards in the preview. We see all the cards we know of, but there are two rules cards. One of them is for modifications. We haven't seen any modifications included in this pack yet. Betcha one of them is Avoidance system or the like. For 4 Points you get the evade action.(I say 4 because frankly it has to cost more than Stealth Device...)

And then I see the munitions failsafe... Darn.

I may be way off here, but don't the preview photos usually show everything that will be in the final box?

My thoughts:

TIE Defender looks like it will be interesting to fly. I will still be holding off on value judgements until I get some table time with it. It's definitely different ...

Predator and Outmaneuver both make me raise an eyebrow, stroke my beard, and put cluster missiles on my A-wings and Vader/Maarek.

Loving the EPT cards, definitely nice to have options, and looks to be on par with PTL.

However, the elite pilots are.....underwhelming.

Rexler: in order to use his ability, you have to focus, not spend it on attack (so you're main attack has to roll well), also not save it for defense, the target can't have shields left, and you take a ~50/50 chance of it pulling an ineffectual crit. Sounds extremely close to saboteur to me (and we know how often that gets used). Granted, if two hits go onto hull (or you hit Chewy), then it could be worth it. I just don't see his ability being used more than once a game.

Vessery: thankfully not as bad as Rexler. However, you have to have another ship TL the same target Vessery is going to attack, and ideally one with a PS of 6 or less since usually you want to use your TL on the attack. Although that doesn't sound as hard, you still have to have other ships that can TL. Which is either a firespray (pretty much a 3 ship list), a bomber (which has its own problems with getting TL reliably against high PS), or the shuttle (probably the best bet with say weapons engineer, but can't joust which is what the Defender is doing). Thankfully, the wording allows you to spend the TL to immediately re-roll your current attack.

I was doing both. Outmanuever works well against turret ships.

But the odds of not having a dice to reroll are pretty low. Even comboed with focus. Evade dice kind of suck, /so cutting one away is nowhere near as useful as rerolling dice. There are situations, and Outmanuever might apply more often, but unless you've put it on all your ships the opposing player can play to avoid it without too much difficulty. Predator isn't really avoidable, short of killing the ship.(which will be a target.

A Defender with a Focus token at Range 2, shooting from a tailing position against a target with just 2 Agility and a Focus token, boosts its damage by more than half a point (pushing the median and mode from 1 damage to 2 damage). And it turns out those results are fairly generalizable; when Outmaneuver is triggered, it typically means your opponent is about to take between 0.35 and 0.65 additional damage.

The thing about Rexler is that can work around not saving your Focus. Push the Limit for a Target Lock as well. Or Outmaneuver to make it easier to hit. Or Predator for a reroll. Heck, combine him with Jonus or Howlrunner. More crits are always fun.

Yeah, ld forgotten that Failsafe was a mod. Not sure why the evade token.

Could be that the un revealed pilot cards has an ability that might grant one?

The unrevealed card isn't a named pilot so no pilot ability there.

Rexler: in order to use his ability, you have to focus, not spend it on attack (so you're main attack has to roll well), also not save it for defense, the target can't have shields left, and you take a ~50/50 chance of it pulling an ineffectual crit. Sounds extremely close to saboteur to me (and we know how often that gets used). Granted, if two hits go onto hull (or you hit Chewy), then it could be worth it. I just don't see his ability being used more than once a game.

Unlike Saboteur, it's not costing you 2 points and taking up a valuable crew slot; unlike Saboteur, it doesn't have a 50/50 chance of working; unlike Saboteur, it can apply to multiple damage cards; unlike Saboteur, the action you take is flexible (you can spend your focus token to modify your roll, spend it to change hits to crits, or keep it for defense).

Obviously his usefulness is bounded by the general usefulness of crit-fishing, but it's the best crit-fishing ability in the game by a long shot.

Vessery: thankfully not as bad as Rexler. However, you have to have another ship TL the same target Vessery is going to attack, and ideally one with a PS of 6 or less since usually you want to use your TL on the attack. Although that doesn't sound as hard, you still have to have other ships that can TL. Which is either a firespray (pretty much a 3 ship list), a bomber (which has its own problems with getting TL reliably against high PS), or the shuttle (probably the best bet with say weapons engineer, but can't joust which is what the Defender is doing). Thankfully, the wording allows you to spend the TL to immediately re-roll your current attack.

So the requirement to get a full extra action out of Vessery, every round, with no stress, is that you include a ship on PS1-6 with the target lock ability. That means a Firespray, Defender, Bomber, Lambda (potentially with the ST-321 title, which completely eliminates PS/TL issues), TIE Advanced (yeah, I know), TIE Fighter + Targeting Computer, or TIE Interceptor + Targeting Computer.

I don't see that as a huge limitation.

Yeah, ld forgotten that Failsafe was a mod. Not sure why the evade token.

Could be that the un revealed pilot cards has an ability that might grant one?

The unrevealed card isn't a named pilot so no pilot ability there.

Not 100% true there.. it may have an EPT slot..

Rexler is death to TIE-Bombers. HLC from RB3= 4 attack dice vs 2 agil. Add in Predator. Maybe Jonus for some rerolls. Thats potentially 4 crits on the first pass. Before it gets to fire. Add a Vader Bus and you are in crit central.

Its very interesting. Outmaneuver and Predator really make high PS pulots better. Especially if they have boost or barrel roll.

So the evade token was there to FOOL US ALL

Yeah, ld forgotten that Failsafe was a mod. Not sure why the evade token.

Could be that the un revealed pilot cards has an ability that might grant one?

The unrevealed card isn't a named pilot so no pilot ability there.

Not 100% true there.. it may have an EPT slot..

True, but that wouldn't explain the evade, would it?

Loving the EPT cards, definitely nice to have options, and looks to be on par with PTL.

However, the elite pilots are.....underwhelming.

Rexler: in order to use his ability, you have to focus, not spend it on attack (so you're main attack has to roll well), also not save it for defense, the target can't have shields left, and you take a ~50/50 chance of it pulling an ineffectual crit. Sounds extremely close to saboteur to me (and we know how often that gets used). Granted, if two hits go onto hull (or you hit Chewy), then it could be worth it. I just don't see his ability being used more than once a game.

Vessery: thankfully not as bad as Rexler. However, you have to have another ship TL the same target Vessery is going to attack, and ideally one with a PS of 6 or less since usually you want to use your TL on the attack. Although that doesn't sound as hard, you still have to have other ships that can TL. Which is either a firespray (pretty much a 3 ship list), a bomber (which has its own problems with getting TL reliably against high PS), or the shuttle (probably the best bet with say weapons engineer, but can't joust which is what the Defender is doing). Thankfully, the wording allows you to spend the TL to immediately re-roll your current attack.

Or either of the generic TIE Advanceds. =P

No, evade dice certainly are the problem. Statistically they are awful, at high and low numbers. Yes, if they have focus Outmanuever might be better. Maybe. But them having focus isn't reliable in the least. Predator comes up on something like 75% of attacks at 3 dice. Half of them at two dice, and is made better by focus... It's even more useful against a Tie-Swarm and other low PS lists. Meanwhile Outmanuever is useful in a small number of attacks, can be played against, making it vulnerable to player skill versus just straight dice modification.

I don't think Outmanuever sucks. But Predator is better in most situations. Especially on interceptors and other ships without access to TL. Outmanuever strikes me as best on A-wings and other flankers with TL.

Also, you guys are saying that outmaneuver will hurt turrets. No sure I see why. Turrets have a 360 degree firing arc...

Wrong. Firing arc always and only means front arc. Even applies to falcons. Turrets allow you to fire outside your firing arc.

Most ships have just a primary firing arc at the front of the ship, and you're completely right that equipping a turret (or flying the Falcon) doesn't change that. But the Firespray's (so far unique) auxiliary arc definitely still counts for, e.g., Backstabber and Outmaneuver.

Not that I think it would be the most effective squad, but:

5x Green squad + refit + predator

would fire like a howl swarm.

Or 70% of a Howl swarm, at least.

So how does the firespray arc count, but the 360 for the Falcon not? Just curious how they are different?

Lots of anti-swarm and perhaps anti-"slow ship" in here. Trying to encourage people to use more than Rookie Pilots, Academies, Blues, and Falcons, perhaps?

The rear arc of the Firespray counts as an arc for Backstabber and Outmaneuver.

Also, you guys are saying that outmaneuver will hurt turrets. No sure I see why. Turrets have a 360 degree firing arc...

Wrong. Firing arc always and only means front arc. Even applies to falcons. Turrets allow you to fire outside your firing arc.

Most ships have just a primary firing arc at the front of the ship, and you're completely right that equipping a turret (or flying the Falcon) doesn't change that. But the Firespray's (so far unique) auxiliary arc definitely still counts for, e.g., Backstabber and Outmaneuver.

Not that I think it would be the most effective squad, but:

5x Green squad + refit + predator

would fire like a howl swarm.

Or 70% of a Howl swarm, at least.

So how does the firespray arc count, but the 360 for the Falcon not? Just curious how they are different?

Because YT rulebook says the turret allows it to fire outside of it's firing arc, while the Firespray's rear arc is considered as part of it's firing arc.

Rexler: in order to use his ability, you have to focus, not spend it on attack (so you're main attack has to roll well), also not save it for defense, the target can't have shields left, and you take a ~50/50 chance of it pulling an ineffectual crit. Sounds extremely close to saboteur to me (and we know how often that gets used). Granted, if two hits go onto hull (or you hit Chewy), then it could be worth it. I just don't see his ability being used more than once a game.

Too bad the imperials don't have a focus factory ... but unlike Maarek's ability, this can be useful in the end - due to the 3 base attack. But yes ... it is more a gamble to use Rexler

Lots of anti-swarm and perhaps anti-"slow ship" in here. Trying to encourage people to use more than Rookie Pilots, Academies, Blues, and Falcons, perhaps?

I can only hope. I'm getting tired of playing against – and every once and a while losing to – stagnant Rebel builds.

Yeah, ld forgotten that Failsafe was a mod. Not sure why the evade token.

Could be that the un revealed pilot cards has an ability that might grant one?

The unrevealed card isn't a named pilot so no pilot ability there.

Not 100% true there.. it may have an EPT slot..

True, but that wouldn't explain the evade, would it?

No it wouldn't, but I was responding to the idea that just because it is an unnamed pilot, it doesn't mean it won't have an EPT. That's all

Nope, no focus factory. Just many good ways to reroll attack dice. Which doesn't the math show is preferred over just focus? He is going to be awesome with Predator.

Hmmm, can't wait to try Vader+Engine Upgrade+Outmaneuver.

Also, once the Defender and Rebel Aces comes out, I will fly a LOT of A-Wing when using the rebels, those upgrades just beg to be used on flanking ship. Combine it together on the A-Wing and it could be nice: the opponent have one less dice to evade your 2-3 attack with 1 free reroll, and all this without gaining any stress token, so you're free to move where you want next turn, including a K turn.

Concerning the Defender, I can honestly say that I'm not that impress, some good possibilty, but overall, I don't know if I'll use them a lot. It will depends on if the PS3 pilot come with an EPT or not.