so everyone knows at this point that the TIE advanced is less than popular, but Vader has always been the one ray of hope. Wave 4 is bringing a handful of new EPTs and other upgrades that the TIE Advanced can make use of, has anyone come up with any new ideas for Vader in a wave 4 environment

Well, I mean there are two. Predator and Outmaneuver.

The latter allows you to strip an evade die when out of arc. It's basically giving Wedge's ability to Vader, since Vader excels at being a flanker as it is. Target Lock + Focus + -1 Evade Dice should do some damage, right?

Predator. Ironically, this seems to be a defensive upgrade for Vader. Now you get to reroll dice, so you don't need to take TL anymore. So you can get the TL effects from Predator, Focus, then Evade or Barrel Roll. Those last two actions are best at escaping firing arcs or turtleing up.

I was thinking about this, which would I rather have let's say all ships are at 29/30 for this comparison,

Vader (29) Tie Advance 2,3,3,2

During your "Perform Action" step, you may perform 2 actions.

Echo (30) Tie Phantom 4,2,2,2

When you decloak, you must use the Left Bank 2 or Right Bank 2 template instead of the Straight 2 template.

Delta (30) Tie Defender 3,3,3,3

No special

Vader has the highest PS at 9 vs Echo 6 and Delta 1

Some would argue that movement is better some actions are better then, effectively Echo and Vader tie for ability.

Damage goes to the Phantom, then Defender, last Vader.

The Dial favors the Defender, then the phantom last Vader.

Last upgrades the Defender lacking a EPT has the Advanced Sensor and HLC options, the Phantom has cloak, Vader missiles. So I would rate Vader last in that cat.

So overall Vader to me is just not worth it compared to the Defender or the Phantom. I hate to say I don't think he has much of a place in wave 4 without a retrofit.

Vader with Opportunist has worked well for me recently.

Tricky as there are so few greens on his dial, so you have to be careful you don't get yourself into a tricky spot with him.

Although looking forwards to wave 4, i'll be looking to try out Outmaneuver. Potentially even an Ion missile to complement it.

I'm going to make a prediction that at Gen Con this year will be an imperial ship release. With how much it is popping up in threads, I'll pick the Gozanti as the ship, and it will come with a tie advanced escort.

It would suffer from too many good things in one box not to pick up.

I'm going to make a prediction that at Gen Con this year will be an imperial ship release. With how much it is popping up in threads, I'll pick the Gozanti as the ship, and it will come with a tie advanced escort.

It would suffer from too many good things in one box not to pick up.

I wish they would break their "only one ship per pilot" rule and give us a Maarek Stele of the same caliber as Kayan Farlander. It seriously sucks that the TIE Fighter guy got wasted in such a crap ship with such a crap ability, and Farlander… well, we all know where that went.

Predator and Outmanouvre are both very nice for Vader - not least because neither requires an action.

I'm not sure which is best - the reason opportunist is so nice on him - whilst not great on most opponents - is that even with good rolls it's easy to fail to punch through one or more evade results. Hence; outmanouvre.

More to the point, as noted, freeing up his actions for a permenant evade/focus or barrel roll makes vader as tough as hell. Add in engine upgrade for extra fun - after all, if outmanouvre requires you to be out of arc, boost can't be a bad option.

Predator and Outmanouvre are both very nice for Vader - not least because neither requires an action.

I'm not sure which is best - the reason opportunist is so nice on him - whilst not great on most opponents - is that even with good rolls it's easy to fail to punch through one or more evade results. Hence; outmanouvre.

More to the point, as noted, freeing up his actions for a permenant evade/focus or barrel roll makes vader as tough as hell. Add in engine upgrade for extra fun - after all, if outmanouvre requires you to be out of arc, boost can't be a bad option.

Oh man, Concussion Missiles and focus with Outmaneuver… i like that concept. Some of the highest priority targets have 2 or fewer evades (B-wings, X-Wings and Y-Wings). WIth max evade of 0-1, and high probability of 3-4 hits… that could be very deadly.

Predator and Outmanouvre are both very nice for Vader - not least because neither requires an action.

I'm not sure which is best - the reason opportunist is so nice on him - whilst not great on most opponents - is that even with good rolls it's easy to fail to punch through one or more evade results. Hence; outmanouvre.

More to the point, as noted, freeing up his actions for a permenant evade/focus or barrel roll makes vader as tough as hell. Add in engine upgrade for extra fun - after all, if outmanouvre requires you to be out of arc, boost can't be a bad option.

Oh man, Concussion Missiles and focus with Outmaneuver… i like that concept. Some of the highest priority targets have 2 or fewer evades (B-wings, X-Wings and Y-Wings). WIth max evade of 0-1, and high probability of 3-4 hits… that could be very deadly.

Cluster Missiles with outmaneuver vs a 1 defense ship with the help of Jonus to reroll.... 2 attack with 3 dice vs 0 defense... it can't be good.

From the moment I saw outmaneuver, I thought about giving it Vader. I never knew what EPT to give him except for Squad Leader sometimes. Now I can't wait to say ''I have you now!'' while shooting at the back of the enemy ship.

You know, with what comes next, I'd be careful with that line. The last thing you need is to take a range 3 shot of three crits from a YT.

I'm still curious about Decoy as an EPT.

From the moment I saw outmaneuver, I thought about giving it Vader. I never knew what EPT to give him except for Squad Leader sometimes. Now I can't wait to say ''I have you now!'' while shooting at the back of the enemy ship.

Vader done right.

I'm going to make a prediction that at Gen Con this year will be an imperial ship release. With how much it is popping up in threads, I'll pick the Gozanti as the ship, and it will come with a tie advanced escort.

It would suffer from too many good things in one box not to pick up.

I can't see them "fixing" the advanced through the Huge ship release. People were annoyed enough about buying the transport to get a repaint and a couple of pilots for a fully functional fighter. Now if you need to buy a huge ship to make a specific fighter functional through a refit the mynock would really hit the ion engine.

I'm going to make a prediction that at Gen Con this year will be an imperial ship release. With how much it is popping up in threads, I'll pick the Gozanti as the ship, and it will come with a tie advanced escort.

It would suffer from too many good things in one box not to pick up.

I can't see them "fixing" the advanced through the Huge ship release. People were annoyed enough about buying the transport to get a repaint and a couple of pilots for a fully functional fighter. Now if you need to buy a huge ship to make a specific fighter functional through a refit the mynock would really hit the ion engine.

The huge ship release should mirror the rebel huge ship. So one "small" huge ship and one "large" huge ship. The gozanti fits the "small" criteria well and why wouldn't FFG want to package it up like the CR75 and give it an escort. It would allow them to put in new pilots and upgrades not only for the epic ship but the escort as well. The advanced sees little play outside of Vader and needs a boost through upgrade options.

Agreed some don't like the x-wing with upgrades in with the CR75 but extra cards can be sold off if people are getting two or more epic ships. Its already happening.

It would solve more problems than it creates. Upgrade for advanced (long overdue), Epic ship for Imperials (long overdue)

vs

Dogfight upgrades in with Epic scale ship.

Sergovan: There is a major difference, the CR75 didn't come with the refit card for the Awing. If it had done that then we would be comparing apples to apples. As it is the comparison is a couple pilots for a fully functional fighter vs a fix card for a less then functional fighter. That would make the huge ship far more important to the dogfighting imperials then the CR75 is for the rebels.

I'm going to make a prediction that at Gen Con this year will be an imperial ship release. With how much it is popping up in threads, I'll pick the Gozanti as the ship, and it will come with a tie advanced escort.

It would suffer from too many good things in one box not to pick up.

Wouldn't it have to be a TIE Fighter escort for the Gozanti, though? I mean, the TIE carrier image is pretty well-known at this point.

Vader is going to be in most of my Epic Imperial lists. I'll just throw SL and a missile on him. He can pass an action to however needs it and with a missile he can help in the alpha strike. He won't be a high priority target most likely and he can have some good staying power. He'll be about 35 points, so you got another 265 to work with.

I'm going to make a prediction that at Gen Con this year will be an imperial ship release. With how much it is popping up in threads, I'll pick the Gozanti as the ship, and it will come with a tie advanced escort.

It would suffer from too many good things in one box not to pick up.

Wouldn't it have to be a TIE Fighter escort for the Gozanti, though? I mean, the TIE carrier image is pretty well-known at this point.

It would be the logical choice, thematically speaking. But there are so many tie fighter pilots already. The tie advanced is the ship lacking the lustre at this point in the meta.

The CR75 did not come with upgrades for the A-wing, but it did pilot up and droid up X-wings nicely. The tie advanced

as the escort could have titles, new missiles, modifications and new pilots. It is either it is added here or in some Aces pack for tie advanced which would be a really long way away from now.

From the moment I saw outmaneuver, I thought about giving it Vader. I never knew what EPT to give him except for Squad Leader sometimes. Now I can't wait to say ''I have you now!'' while shooting at the back of the enemy ship.

Vader done right.

I think every player quotes this line in honor of this hero of the empire. Rightly so.

I'm going to make a prediction that at Gen Con this year will be an imperial ship release. With how much it is popping up in threads, I'll pick the Gozanti as the ship, and it will come with a tie advanced escort.

It would suffer from too many good things in one box not to pick up.

Wouldn't it have to be a TIE Fighter escort for the Gozanti, though? I mean, the TIE carrier image is pretty well-known at this point.

I would agree with Vorpal. I think the Tie would get more pilots before the advanced.

I predict an Action Transport with a tie fighter escort for a big imperial ship.