The defender might also be the best candidate for the heavy laser cannon they have ever made, I have a hard time justifying it on a firespray due to the dual firing arcs but this ship could really make the most out of the four attack dice due to the white k-turn.

The answer...

Shuttles!

But, great writeup!a

Frankly speaking, I don't have much faith on the Defenders.

With the new stress-heavy meta, I'm afraid they won't perform specially well, though things may change if the Empire gets more anti-stress support options, other than Yorr or Wingman. Honestly, if you have to field another ship just to cover the Defender's drawbacks, you must ask yourself if including the defender is worth in first place, because its real cost then is the very own ship, plus its upgrades, plus its wingman. As Far as I Know a Firespray -which IMO is the closest thing comparable to the defender-, can operate alone perfectly, without needing to devote a wingman just to make it fully operational.

Perhaps when the Empire finally gets a huge ship, gaining access to coordinate actions and upgrades like comms-booster, the Defender may finally flourish in epic tournaments.

And unpredictable?... Without anti-stress support, just draw a straight line in front of the Defender. That's where it is going to be the next round.

It's only a stress-heavy meta if the meta uses stress-inducing tactics.

Early returns from Regionals show that isn't the case.

The main problem with HLC on the Defender, is that it lacks the 1-straight to slow-roll like B-wings can. Otherwise the Defender would be the ideal ship for it, since it has so much durability that it should survive long enough to get a lot of shots out of the cannon.

Frankly speaking, I don't have much faith on the Defenders.

With the new stress-heavy meta, I'm afraid they won't perform specially well, though things may change if the Empire gets more anti-stress support options, other than Yorr or Wingman. Honestly, if you have to field another ship just to cover the Defender's drawbacks, you must ask yourself if including the defender is worth in first place, because its real cost then is the very own ship, plus its upgrades, plus its wingman. As Far as I Know a Firespray -which IMO is the closest thing comparable to the defender-, can operate alone perfectly, without needing to devote a wingman just to make it fully operational.

Perhaps when the Empire finally gets a huge ship, gaining access to coordinate actions and upgrades like comms-booster, the Defender may finally flourish in epic tournaments.

And unpredictable?... Without anti-stress support, just draw a straight line in front of the Defender. That's where it is going to be the next round.

You don't have to do green manuevers while stressed... It usually benificial, but if I needed to get the heck out of an arc I can also 3 turn or K-turn to face them!

The best way to surprise your opponent is doing something they don't expect.

The main problem with HLC on the Defender, is that it lacks the 1-straight to slow-roll like B-wings can. Otherwise the Defender would be the ideal ship for it, since it has so much durability that it should survive long enough to get a lot of shots out of the cannon.

It could still be viable especially in my local meta. Granted that is a good point about the lack of a 1-straight.

I've only placeholder-proxy tested the TIE Defender and Phantom once so far, and I seemed to get more use out of the phantom actually. Both craft I feel are really needed for the empire to get away from the assurances of TIE Swarms and Firesprays. It's nice to see more attractive imperial equipment for Imperial navy fans like myself

I am a little disappointed that Hothie didn't provide at least one list that didn't rely on a mini-swarm. Swarms are powerful but hopefully the new fighters allow more successful few-ship strategies for the empire.

I've only placeholder-proxy tested the TIE Defender and Phantom once so far, and I seemed to get more use out of the phantom actually. Both craft I feel are really needed for the empire to get away from the assurances of TIE Swarms and Firesprays. It's nice to see more attractive imperial equipment for Imperial navy fans like myself

I am a little disappointed that Hothie didn't provide at least one list that didn't rely on a mini-swarm. Swarms are powerful but hopefully the new fighters allow more successful few-ship strategies for the empire.

Nope. Goes to show that any squad with Howlrunner is better than any squad without her. At this point, Howl is looking kinda broken in an otherwise well-balanced game.

And OK, Doug's TIE Defender squad doesn't use Howlrunner. But the first one does, and just about any squad with a miniswarm manages to fit Howl. (I would honestly take his squad, upgrade Black Sq. Pilot to Howlrunner, and remove Outmaneuver from Colonel Vessery. That instantly makes it a better squad — because of Howl.)

I feel like Vessery's ability is not really worth it unless the rest of the squad would already be target locking anyway. I would ditch all the targeting computers and maybe downgrade the defender and go with a heavy laser cannon and maybe predator to just pump damage without TL gimmicks

Nope. Goes to show that any squad with Howlrunner is better than any squad without her. At this point, Howl is looking kinda broken in an otherwise well-balanced game.

And OK, Doug's TIE Defender squad doesn't use Howlrunner. But the first one does, and just about any squad with a miniswarm manages to fit Howl. (I would honestly take his squad, upgrade Black Sq. Pilot to Howlrunner, and remove Outmaneuver from Colonel Vessery. That instantly makes it a better squad — because of Howl.)

To be fair, at least as many points get spent on Chewbacca as Howlrunner in the competitive play, so I don't see that she is "broken" much more than Chewie. On the other end, I don't know that the game is that well-balanced, given that the competitive meta is clearly dominated by only 5 out of the 12 ships.

Howlrunner's effectiveness is exponentially proportional (in the literal mathematical, not rhetorical sense) to the number of ships that she is supporting. Fielding 4 TIEs and spending 6 points to upgrade one to Howlrunner is still going to be a good use of points, but not nearly as meaningful as a dedicated swarm. Howlrunner won't be auto-include with these kinds of lists, as you can substitute other things for mini-swarms; Bounty Hunters and Buzzsaw Shuttles come to mind.

The real issue is that the competitive meta punishes you for taking anything other than TIE Fighters or Firesprays as Imperials. I could be pessimistic, but I don't see that changing much after wave 4. I think you'll see the Defender used fairly sparingly, and the TIE Phantom a little bit more. I absolutely love the idea of the Phantom, by the way, it is going to displace the Interceptor as the ultimate glass cannon high-skill ship.

Edit: Doug's article was very well written and has some good points and suggestions, he obviously knows his stuff!

Umm, 2 Regional winners would disagree with that. Interceptors are fine.

in short, TIE swarm is still strong and recommended

Until you have Blount and 2 Z-95s with Assault Missiles come ruin your day...

Or Etahn and literally anybody.

The other big advantage is you can still K-Turn whilst stressed and that may get you out of a lot of trouble. The ability to flip whilst stressed and then straight move next turn to remove stress may prove very advantageous.

I think that is far and away the BEST thing about the white K turn. Flipping and doing actions is cool, but also obvious from a mile out. I've routinely gotten shots on the defender assuming that it will K turn because, well, why wouldn't it?

But keeping the same maneuverability options option while stressed is unprecedented and harder to plan around.

The other big advantage is you can still K-Turn whilst stressed and that may get you out of a lot of trouble. The ability to flip whilst stressed and then straight move next turn to remove stress may prove very advantageous.

I think that is far and away the BEST thing about the white K turn. Flipping and doing actions is cool, but also obvious from a mile out. I've routinely gotten shots on the defender assuming that it will K turn because, well, why wouldn't it?

But keeping the same maneuverability options option while stressed is unprecedented and harder to plan around.

Is it any more obvious than a B-Wing with Advanced Sensors?

The other big advantage is you can still K-Turn whilst stressed and that may get you out of a lot of trouble. The ability to flip whilst stressed and then straight move next turn to remove stress may prove very advantageous.

I think that is far and away the BEST thing about the white K turn. Flipping and doing actions is cool, but also obvious from a mile out. I've routinely gotten shots on the defender assuming that it will K turn because, well, why wouldn't it?

But keeping the same maneuverability options option while stressed is unprecedented and harder to plan around.

Is it any more obvious than a B-Wing with Advanced Sensors?

Yes.

I mean, I don't mean to toot my own horn or anything, but I can read telegraphs pretty well. But then I haven't played against TIE Defenders yet, so we'll see.

Well the B-Wing has a good number of stress inducing maneuvers and sometimes, depending on the placement of the enemy, several of them are viable. With AS, all of them are viable and the downside is mitigated (not avoided because it still must be dealt with next turn).

The defender has one, and only one, maneuver that is unique to it. It is either viable depending on the placement of the enemy, or it is not. If it is viable, you can bet your antique telegraph machine, that is what they will be doing.

I try to keep my antique telegraph machine wedged firmly between my ears, so betting is probably off the table.

Another thing that may begin to show up, is flying with stress more often. Both outmaneuver and predator are giving us attack modification without the need for an action. It's not hard to imagine staying stressed for an extra turn or two

Umm, 2 Regional winners would disagree with that. Interceptors are fine.

+1 they're fine, just don't run too many.

Umm, 2 Regional winners would disagree with that. Interceptors are fine.

+1 they're fine, just don't run too many.

We saw virtually no Alphas in the Store Championships, and now we have seen two winners in the Regionals with the same mixed squint squad, which is a complete reversal. But two weeks into the Regionals is too early to make any sort of definitive statement on the meta game suddenly changing.

On the theory side, Alphas still don't make as good jousters as Academy Pilots, they simply cost too much. Interceptors have always been on the edge of being highly competitive, but they are not quite there. However, if you can squeeze three squints into a 6-ship list then you are spending almost all your points on ships rather than upgrades, which is optimal. (96 points on ships for 6 mixed TIEs vs 90 points on ships in a 7 TIE swarm). The added firepower helps offset the loss of having an extra ship plus the extra 6 available points. It also depends on the meta: this particular squad is a pure PS1 squad (minus Howlrunner) so it doesn't waste any points on the PS bid. If your opponent goes all PS6+ then this works heavily in your favor.

As I mentioned in the Regionals thread, I actually played several mock-games with this exact squad when wave 2 came out. It's good but has more weaknesses than the standard 7 TIE swarm.

Which just points out that the meta is a lot more open than previously thought. I was surprised to see it win one, let alone two now. Especially with the introduction of the "X-wings of Doom" that many were claiming the Transport stuff was.

The Regionals meta is slightly different than the Store Championships. And there will be a slight shift once the Corvette is out, depending on if there are more good crew for the standard game.

Which just points out that the meta is a lot more open than previously thought. I was surprised to see it win one, let alone two now. Especially with the introduction of the "X-wings of Doom" that many were claiming the Transport stuff was.

The Regionals meta is slightly different than the Store Championships. And there will be a slight shift once the Corvette is out, depending on if there are more good crew for the standard game.

Again, the statistical uncertainty in judging the meta from just 9 reported Regionals is very high compared to the 154 Store Championships that we had previously reported. It doesn't point to anything conclusive yet, because the standard deviation in the measurement is very high. This is part of the reason why I am still holding off on compiling all the data. The results are also very different if you look at a weighted average of the #1 squads, vs. Final Cut or Top Third.

The stress mechanics in the Transport pack primarily affect named PtL squints, not Alphas.

Agreed that Corvette (and certainly Wave 4!) will continue to change the meta, I am curious if the Tournament Rules will get updated to temporarily ban any of them.

shrug

2 Regionals that were won by Alphas supported by Howlrunner certainly proves that the belief that Imperials have a lack of options is certainly overblown. Is it going to be running the top tables, with ton of people running it, no.

I doubt they will ban the Corvette stuff. A handful of crew is not going to drastically alter the meta. And even then, it is likely to only impact the Falcon. And while Artoo and Threepio are okay, they are not drastically boosting the Falcon. I doubt Leia or whoever is able to be used on the Falcon (I don't see too many generics in the Corvette) is going to boost it beyond what it already has available.