I just finished a game on Vassal against one of my gaming buddies and we discussed how the high pilot skill of my list (Luke w/ Swarm, Lando, and Garv) really debilitated him. I was shooting first, with TL+Focus, wiping out both his Reds in the first two rounds of combat.

He spent six points on his Reds and Dagger to up their PS. Now, PS 4 is good against the majority of ships, but it still leaves you vulnerable to elite squadrons.

I thought to myself, "How high can you have your PS, as a Reb squad, while still having four ships with three-attack."

This is the result:

Luke w/ Swarm Tactics

Porkins w/ Swarm Tactics

2x Rookies

Four X-Wings, two shooting at PS 8, and two shooting at PS 7. Not bad. Then again, no improved action economy, and no enhanced durability.

So, which is more reliable? Four ships with middling PS, but room for upgrades. Four ships running bare-bones for high PS. Or three ships with high PS and good synergy/action economy?

I just finished a game on Vassal against one of my gaming buddies and we discussed how the high pilot skill of my list (Luke w/ Swarm, Lando, and Garv) really debilitated him. I was shooting first, with TL+Focus, wiping out both his Reds in the first two rounds of combat.

He spent six points on his Reds and Dagger to up their PS. Now, PS 4 is good against the majority of ships, but it still leaves you vulnerable to elite squadrons.

I thought to myself, "How high can you have your PS, as a Reb squad, while still having four ships with three-attack."

This is the result:

Luke w/ Swarm Tactics

Porkins w/ Swarm Tactics

2x Rookies

Four X-Wings, two shooting at PS 8, and two shooting at PS 7. Not bad. Then again, no improved action economy, and no enhanced durability.

So, which is more reliable? Four ships with middling PS, but room for upgrades. Four ships running bare-bones for high PS. Or three ships with high PS and good synergy/action economy?

Quick semi-relevant question.

Why doesn't flight instructor see any play?

It seems really good to me. But I never see anyone on here using it. Ever.

And it punishes people for choosing those lowest PS ships.

The PS war predicted months ago by some is in full swing right now.

I think there are Roark Shenanigans to be pulled but none are fantastic.

Flight instructor is probably a point too much and other crew tend to be a sure thing or enhance offense, which is just a better investment most of the time.

A list I thought up awhile ago, and had the pleasure of playing against recently really kicked my butt...

Wedge w/ ST

Roark w/ ICT

Blue

Blue

Total: 99pts

So he got init to move his blues first and block... And then shot at 12 9 9 4. After I killed one of the blues (he lined up good shots on the blue and bad shots on Wedge) it was then 12 9 9... Meanwhile, I was toying around with a HSF list to confirm that I still don't like large base (I still don't btw) ships... And sadly, Han was shooting after all of his people

The PS war predicted months ago by some is in full swing right now.

I think there are Roark Shenanigans to be pulled but none are fantastic.

Flight instructor is probably a point too much and other crew tend to be a sure thing or enhance offense, which is just a better investment most of the time.

Meh... Against low PS, it gives you a 3/8 chance to roll an evade if you did not to begin with, increasing your overall odds from 37.5% to 60.9% ... It would take 4.26 shots at you to make it even out to 1 damage saved, which would be the same as a hull (assuming you don't cancel a crit). So since it's 4 points, to make it equal to hull, you'd have to shot at 5.68 times. Note, this is all based on the shuttle, against PS1/2 attackers.

If it's against PS3+ attackers, those numbers go up to 10.67 shots to negate 1 damage, and 14.2 shots to point equalize to hull upgrade. Without Howlrunner, it should take a TIE swarm 8-9 shots to kill a shuttle. With howl, it'll only take 7-8 shots. So, against a swarm, you're likely to be better with flight instructor. But even against a Rookie x4 list, they'd kill you in 5-4 shots, so you're breaking even with them. And then against anything else, you're not even going to be half as effective as a hull/shield upgrade.

Predator stands to mix this up quite a bit, stopping Rookies, Blues, Golds, and Academy by granting super-howlrunner to your elites for just 3 points

With the new R2 EPT astromech couldn't you chain swarm tactics with PS9 across the rookies?

Not really...

You can only have one R2-D6. But let's see how it comes out

Luke w/ ST

Rookie w/ R2D6 + ST

Rookie

Total: 85 points

So you only have 15 points to add another X wing (with EPT) + ST... which obviously doesn't work.

Quick semi-relevant question.

Why doesn't flight instructor see any play?

It seems really good to me. But I never see anyone on here using it. Ever.

And it punishes people for choosing those lowest PS ships.

I think because currently very few ships can take crew that would have very many defence dice to reroll.

Quick semi-relevant question.

Why doesn't flight instructor see any play?

It seems really good to me. But I never see anyone on here using it. Ever.

And it punishes people for choosing those lowest PS ships.

I run it on shuttles paired with Sensor Jammer.

It is extremely good, but difficult to shoehorn into most lists at 4 points.

It would be great on the Firespray, but most people run Recon Specialist - which is cheaper and more flexible.

The great question with PS, "how much do you invest before it becomes wasted?" Just going low PS and figuring you'll move first/shoot last can work to an extent but when you want to to shoot first you either bid for initiative or gamble with higher PS. Of course the problem with spending more for PS is when elites come along with an even higher PS which makes the points you spend to win the war on the low end wasted.

There are several ways to "bid" your PS so it is just what are you willing to do?

1. Forget PS and just pack in what you can.

2. Drop a few upgrades to put in a little more PS so you shoot before those minimal PS squads shoot.

3. Go with Elite Pilots who usually shoot before any generics but which often come in a ship or two down to start with.

Why doesn't flight instructor see any play?

It seems really good to me. But I never see anyone on here using it. Ever.

And it punishes people for choosing those lowest PS ships.

Khyros is right with respect to the math, and there's also the issue Introverdant raises with respect to its heavy competition from other upgrades. If you're after durability/defense, there's Recon Specialist, Chewbacca, and soon C-3PO on the Rebel side, with Recon Specialist and Rebel Captive on the Imperial side. Chewbacca is probably the least efficient of those, but even he reliably saves two damage per game, and you can't say that about the Flight Instructor.

The Flight Instructor needed to be priced at 3 points in order to remain competitive with other upgrades with similar effects, and IMO it needs a slightly stronger effect to justify even that cost. (Rerolling blanks by default, and blanks or focus against PS1-2, might have done it.)

Why doesn't flight instructor see any play?

It seems really good to me. But I never see anyone on here using it. Ever.

And it punishes people for choosing those lowest PS ships.

Khyros is right with respect to the math, and there's also the issue Introverdant raises with respect to its heavy competition from other upgrades. If you're after durability/defense, there's Recon Specialist, Chewbacca, and soon C-3PO on the Rebel side, with Recon Specialist and Rebel Captive on the Imperial side. Chewbacca is probably the least efficient of those, but even he reliably saves two damage per game, and you can't say that about the Flight Instructor.

The Flight Instructor needed to be priced at 3 points in order to remain competitive with other upgrades with similar effects, and IMO it needs a slightly stronger effect to justify even that cost. (Rerolling blanks by default, and blanks or focus against PS1-2, might have done it.)

What's your rationale about Chewy being the worst of the bunch? For 4 points, Chewy saves you a crit (or a hit at least if you never took a bad crit) and gives you a shield back... Essentially doing the job of a two SU for 4 points... With the added benefit of choosing what crit you want to take against a shield. He reliably saves you 3 damage, and at least saves 2.

Recon spec (on a 1agi ship if we're going to keep it similar to the Falcon (which is the primary target for Chewy) gives you a focus for defense since you'd be silly to not spend it on offense. Furthermore, even if you didn't spend it on offense, without recon spec, you would have had 1 for defense anyways. You have a 25% chance for a focus to come up each round you're attacked. If we arbitrarily consider 3 attacks/round, then there is a 57.8% chance that at least 1 focus came up. (3 attacks was chosen based on a 4X squad damaged) So this would mean that against rebels, each attack would be worth about .19 avoidance from Recon Spec. So to get to Chewy levels (lets say 2.5 dmg avoided... he ignores a direct hit half the time) of performance, he would have to be shot at 13 times... which we already said he'd be dead before then... but then it's only 3 points, so to bring it back into point comparison, it would only have to be 9.86 shots... Which again, he should be dead by then. For defense on the Falcon, Chewy >>> Recon Spec.

Rebel captive is hard to do an analysis on because it F's up the enemy. And depending on who the #1 guy is, it could save being focus fired in general (Fel w/ PTL won't want to shoot at a Rebel captive since he already has a stress).

Why doesn't flight instructor see any play?

It seems really good to me. But I never see anyone on here using it. Ever.

And it punishes people for choosing those lowest PS ships.

Khyros is right with respect to the math, and there's also the issue Introverdant raises with respect to its heavy competition from other upgrades. If you're after durability/defense, there's Recon Specialist, Chewbacca, and soon C-3PO on the Rebel side, with Recon Specialist and Rebel Captive on the Imperial side. Chewbacca is probably the least efficient of those, but even he reliably saves two damage per game, and you can't say that about the Flight Instructor.

The Flight Instructor needed to be priced at 3 points in order to remain competitive with other upgrades with similar effects, and IMO it needs a slightly stronger effect to justify even that cost. (Rerolling blanks by default, and blanks or focus against PS1-2, might have done it.)

Oh, no.

Flight Instructor is appropriately costed.

On a shuttle, I've had it save as many as four or five hits over the course of the game. Maybe more. It is a power card.

It would be absolutely disgusting at 3 points.

Why doesn't flight instructor see any play?

It seems really good to me. But I never see anyone on here using it. Ever.

And it punishes people for choosing those lowest PS ships.

Khyros is right with respect to the math, and there's also the issue Introverdant raises with respect to its heavy competition from other upgrades. If you're after durability/defense, there's Recon Specialist, Chewbacca, and soon C-3PO on the Rebel side, with Recon Specialist and Rebel Captive on the Imperial side. Chewbacca is probably the least efficient of those, but even he reliably saves two damage per game, and you can't say that about the Flight Instructor.

The Flight Instructor needed to be priced at 3 points in order to remain competitive with other upgrades with similar effects, and IMO it needs a slightly stronger effect to justify even that cost. (Rerolling blanks by default, and blanks or focus against PS1-2, might have done it.)

Oh, no.

Flight Instructor is appropriately costed.

On a shuttle, I've had it save as many as four or five hits over the course of the game. Maybe more. It is a power card.

It would be absolutely disgusting at 3 points.

The nigh-invincible shuttle I spoke of was during a 150pt game against a rebel swarm - several Blue Squadron Pilots and Rookies trying to take down Captain Kagi & friends. Can't tell you how many attacks Kagi absorbed without taking a scratch.

The trick to Flight Instructor is just to remember that extra defensive die you get at range 3/through an asteroid.

1 green die with Flight Instructor is meh. 2 is nuts.

Like I said. I run Flight Instructor paired with Sensor Jammer. The two are complimentary.

The nigh-invincible shuttle I spoke of was during a 150pt game against a rebel swarm - several Blue Squadron Pilots and Rookies trying to take down Captain Kagi & friends. Can't tell you how many attacks Kagi absorbed without taking a scratch.

The trick to Flight Instructor is just to remember that extra defensive die you get at range 3/through an asteroid.

1 green die with Flight Instructor is meh. 2 is nuts.

With the new R2 EPT astromech couldn't you chain swarm tactics with PS9 across the rookies?

Not really...

You can only have one R2-D6. But let's see how it comes out

Luke w/ ST

Rookie w/ R2D6 + ST

Rookie

Total: 85 points

So you only have 15 points to add another X wing (with EPT) + ST... which obviously doesn't work.

Total is 75. That leaves 25 pts, not 15. More than enough for another rookie, plus R2D2 on luke.

With the new R2 EPT astromech couldn't you chain swarm tactics with PS9 across the rookies?

Not really...

You can only have one R2-D6. But let's see how it comes out

Luke w/ ST

Rookie w/ R2D6 + ST

Rookie

Total: 85 points

So you only have 15 points to add another X wing (with EPT) + ST... which obviously doesn't work.

doh ninja'd

Like I said. I run Flight Instructor paired with Sensor Jammer. The two are complimentary.

The nigh-invincible shuttle I spoke of was during a 150pt game against a rebel swarm - several Blue Squadron Pilots and Rookies trying to take down Captain Kagi & friends. Can't tell you how many attacks Kagi absorbed without taking a scratch.

The trick to Flight Instructor is just to remember that extra defensive die you get at range 3/through an asteroid.

1 green die with Flight Instructor is meh. 2 is nuts.

I fail to see how this paints a reliable picture of either Sensor Jammer(a bad card against intelligent opponents, opponents with marksmanship, or focus tokens) and Flight Instructor. Yes, together they make the odds your defense can hold up better, but not reliably so.And you've spent 8 points on it. That's a lot of points for defenses that do very little against mid-to high PS ships with focuses.

On the contrary, it is extremely reliable.

Would I bring it to a tournament? Ehhh... no. Being nearly unkillable doesn't do much in your favor when you are on a time limit and a modified win is worth less.

But what Flight Instructor does is quite strong, and well worth the points in a metagame full of TIE swarms, rookies, and blue squadies. As usual, the main problem is the existing tournament format - it severely limits the available strategies.

Like I said. I run Flight Instructor paired with Sensor Jammer. The two are complimentary.

The nigh-invincible shuttle I spoke of was during a 150pt game against a rebel swarm - several Blue Squadron Pilots and Rookies trying to take down Captain Kagi & friends. Can't tell you how many attacks Kagi absorbed without taking a scratch.

The trick to Flight Instructor is just to remember that extra defensive die you get at range 3/through an asteroid.

1 green die with Flight Instructor is meh. 2 is nuts.

I fail to see how this paints a reliable picture of either Sensor Jammer(a bad card against intelligent opponents, opponents with marksmanship, or focus tokens) and Flight Instructor. Yes, together they make the odds your defense can hold up better, but not reliably so.And you've spent 8 points on it. That's a lot of points for defenses that do very little against mid-to high PS ships with focuses.

On the contrary, it is extremely reliable.

Would I bring it to a tournament? Ehhh... no. Being nearly unkillable doesn't do much in your favor when you are on a time limit.