So i gave him a few tries… but Maarek Stele is without a doubt the worst, absolute worst, pilot in this entire game. Trying to game good shots with such a terrible ship and punch critical hits through with only two attack dice is the most laughable garbage i've ever seen. And to make matters worse, if my attempts weren't already hampered by being such a crap ship, any time i used Marksmanship to try to help myself, some other higher PS pilot would come around and get remarkable attack dice against him and he'd completely and utterly fail to stop any of it. If i didn't need my Advance to also use Vader I'd have melted it down. And he costs as much as Soontir Fel? Complete and utter rubbish.

There, sorry, just had to get that rant out of my system, get rid of some anger. *accidentally sees Keyan Farlander's card again*

And here it comes again...

I think Fel's Wrath still has that spot.

That said, Maarek Stele's ability is much more useful against the huge ships. A lot of Hull with small damage decks, he is a key ship in Epic play.

All the games I tried him in were against transports. Any time he almost got a shot, the stupid thing got back all its shields the round before. I was so happy to roll 2 crits, until my friend said they just hit 2 shields. He apparently hadn't actually announced what he'd done the turn before. And really, those games were just basically a job interview. I tried and tried and tried to get his ability to matter once and it never, ever did. That was with me even making tactically less sound decisions just for his sake. I'll be damned if i am ever doing that again.

In one spectacular round of combat, i thought i could focus Biggs down since he was always right next to the transport. Over 6 ships firing a total of 19 attack dice, 1 single hit result got through, which was then summarily R2-D2'd away. What can I say, I'm on the worst cold streak of my life.

Decoy will also be usfeul on a Saber Squadron Pilot with him. The Saber uses 3 Firepower with Focus to strip shields and hopefully tokens, while Steele attacks late in the phase to get crits through.

EDIT: Your friend had better announce his actions with huge ships, especially Recover.

Decoy will also be usfeul on a Saber Squadron Pilot with him. The Saber uses 3 Firepower with Focus to strip shields and hopefully tokens, Steele attacks late in the phase to get crits through.

I see what you are saying, but… no. Sorry. Never again. I hate sabers as much as I hate Stele. Also, if I did that, then it's 100% certain someone would simply kill him before he fired anything at all. Which is usually why I hate sabers (4 games, never got a single kill with one, 3/4 games killed before ever firing a shot, 2/4 games took Damaged Sensor Array crit).

I also have some frustration with regards to Maarek vs Keyan. I really hope we see Maarek in another ship at some point, as I adored TIE Fighter, and would love to have him in most/all of my games.

I also have some frustration with regards to Maarek vs Keyan. I really hope we see Maarek in another ship at some point, as I adored TIE Fighter, and would love to have him in most/all of my games.

Dude, that game was one of the top 5 best games of my childhood. To see it… utterly WASTED like this physically hurts me. But apparently I have to build an entire squad around "make a completely and utterly garbage ship ever so slightly less utter garbage"… I dunno. Between the Transport, the Tantive and the E-Wing, FFG was really starting to piss me off. Now this little delayed landmine… really having trouble liking them at the moment. and again, Farlander is… he's just salt in the wound.

I'm trying him with swarm tactics and a TL equipped Interceptor wingman, the problem is that Vader is almost always better.

I'm trying him with swarm tactics and a TL equipped Interceptor wingman, the problem is that Vader is almost always better.

And will be even moreso, once Outmaneuver comes out.

I don't suppose your friend would be willing to allow you to fudge Maarek as a Defender pilot? Seems like FFG could have used this as a perfect opportunity to use him in the ship, but chose not to for reasons I'll never quite understand. In any case, I'd say he'd be worth about 36 points, right in between Brath and Vessery~ Same PS, same ability and EPT slot.

I'm also quite pissed with the mistreatment Maarek got compared to Keyan.

I know that as games evolve, and developers create new rules and powers, new stuff is destined to be shinier and cooler than old stuff, but come on... The current situation is almost a mockery between pilots who should be the equivalent of each other, on different sides of the war.

I have the feeling that proton rockets will somehow be useful for Maarek, but even if that turns to be true, it will be a oneshot-trick usable once per game.... vs the borderline overpowered awesomeness of Keyan.

I know that as games evolve, and developers create new rules and powers, new stuff is destined to be shinier and cooler than old stuff, but come on... The current situation is almost a mockery between pilots who should be the equivalent of each other, on different sides of the war.

It's not a power creep thing, it's the fact that Maarek Stele was designed back when nobody besides FFG's playtesters had ever played the game and nobody knew if the game was going to sell well enough to have any future releases. FFG probably wanted to get a fan favorite pilot released in case the game never had any expansions, and the TIE advanced was the only real option. By the time everyone realized how bad the TIE advanced was it was way too late.

If FFG had known everything they do now then I doubt Stele would have been wasted as a filler pilot on a ship which only exists to put Vader in the game, and we'd probably have him flying a TIE defender with an awesome ability on Farlander's level. Even his current ability would be fine if FFG had just saved him for an interceptor or defender.

I think Fel's Wrath still has that spot.

That said, Maarek Stele's ability is much more useful against the huge ships. A lot of Hull with small damage decks, he is a key ship in Epic play.

As a rule, we pay 1 point per PS. Maarek is PS 7, and costs 6 points more than a PS 1 Tie Advanced should be. So in effect, you're getting a bonus for taking Maarek- his skill is basically a mini Cardaan refit.

Fel's Wrath is... ok, that one is weird. No EPT, and it merely breaks even for the PS. But again: you're not really taking it for the skill. You're taking it to have a PS 5 Squint. Actually getting to use it's ability is kinda bonus.

I have the feeling that proton rockets will somehow be useful for Maarek, but even if that turns to be true, it will be a oneshot-trick usable once per game.... vs the borderline overpowered awesomeness of Keyan.

Given the precedent of proton bombs, I wouldn't be surprised if the rockets included text along the lines of "If this attack hits, deal 1 faceup damage card to the target."

I have won a game with Maarek!!!

just one though. I swapped him into my squad at the last moment when I realized that I had Vader pilot, and Vader crew.

As a rule, we pay 1 point per PS. Maarek is PS 7, and costs 6 points more than a PS 1 Tie Advanced should be. So in effect, you're getting a bonus for taking Maarek- his skill is basically a mini Cardaan refit.

The original set of pilots were entirely based on PS. You paid nothing for their abilities. The fact that Biggs, easily one of the top 3 pilots in the game still, costs a point less than Garven is a travestyof such epic proportions it makes me thing the original X-wing designers were more lucky than good.

So you're not getting a cost break for Maarek because of his ability. You're getting an ability tacked onto a ship that you're overpaying for. Is Maareks ability worth half a TIE Fighter? You can't separate the iffy ability from the overpaying you do for PS.

FFG has realized this. PS is now costing a bit less (note the 1 cost for +2 PS on the Royal Guard vs. Saber), and we're seeing abilities getting costs, even if I'm not sure FFG has that down yet (they obviously thing Rhymer's ability makes him a freaking god). So things are going the right direction, if slowly.

But Maarek's problem is not his ability. It's that 2 attack on a ship that costs 23 at its least skilled point just doesn't get it done. It's as simple as that. That's the overall problem wih he Advanced, and Maarek suffers for it like every other pilot.

I've had TIE Advanced win games. Okay they were scenario games and it was pre bombers so it was the only choice for ordnance at the time.

Another 3 player scenario calls for the Imperial player to use a jump capable fighter. Given the time period meant you force was nothing but TIE Advanced. I definitely did not win that game.

I don't suppose your friend would be willing to allow you to fudge Maarek as a Defender pilot? Seems like FFG could have used this as a perfect opportunity to use him in the ship, but chose not to for reasons I'll never quite understand. In any case, I'd say he'd be worth about 36 points, right in between Brath and Vessery~ Same PS, same ability and EPT slot.

Yeah, weeks ago I made a thread basically positing that Brath was "The Maarek Stele we should have gotten", and that in my mind since I don't know who Brath is, he'll just essentially be Stele to me.

The current situation is almost a mockery between pilots who should be the equivalent of each other, on different sides of the war.

Hence my frustration.

I know that as games evolve, and developers create new rules and powers, new stuff is destined to be shinier and cooler than old stuff, but come on... The current situation is almost a mockery between pilots who should be the equivalent of each other, on different sides of the war.

It's not a power creep thing, it's the fact that Maarek Stele was designed back when nobody besides FFG's playtesters had ever played the game and nobody knew if the game was going to sell well enough to have any future releases. FFG probably wanted to get a fan favorite pilot released in case the game never had any expansions, and the TIE advanced was the only real option. By the time everyone realized how bad the TIE advanced was it was way too late.

If FFG had known everything they do now then I doubt Stele would have been wasted as a filler pilot on a ship which only exists to put Vader in the game, and we'd probably have him flying a TIE defender with an awesome ability on Farlander's level. Even his current ability would be fine if FFG had just saved him for an interceptor or defender.

And this is the single reason for which I have never wanted them to retract their stance on not repeating pilots more.

I actually think Imperials got the love in wave 4, the Phantom is...amazingly unique and interesting with both abilities and maneuvering not previously possible, and the Defender is like a large ship made small, with a very very different dial. The Z95 lets the rebels have a cheap ship, an issue Imperials have never had, and the EWing is neat, but is really just a rejiggering of existing mechanics, nothing especially new.

I think the huge ships thing smacks of production issues. My guess is originally the plan was to do a rebel and imperial one side by side. I have a totally unverified suspicion that this probably got messed up somewhere in licensing and so they delayed the imperial ships and released the rebel ships side by side instead. Perhaps the ships tie in to Rebels, perhaps they got tangled in the euvamp, who knows. At least this time, Imperials will benefit from coming out later. Perhaps our Epic ships will be our Keyan to their Maarek.

(and I still hope they make a new Maarek pilot in a decent ship. Like the Defedner. Ya know, the ship his game made famous. )

So you're not getting a cost break for Maarek because of his ability. You're getting an ability tacked onto a ship that you're overpaying for. Is Maareks ability worth half a TIE Fighter? You can't separate the iffy ability from the overpaying you do for PS.

FFG has realized this. PS is now costing a bit less (note the 1 cost for +2 PS on the Royal Guard vs. Saber), and we're seeing abilities getting costs, even if I'm not sure FFG has that down yet (they obviously thing Rhymer's ability makes him a freaking god). So things are going the right direction, if slowly.

Thank you for saving me the trouble of pointing out the 4 point difference between Jonus and Rhymer.

With epic games coming out, I just assumed having Steele in the as a filler ship to flank may come in handy.

Obviously there would be other ships your opponent must worry about that would pose a greater threat, and leave Steele to come from behind and get in at range one

Having him focus fire on a Y wing or something with low Shield, like the hwk would be best.

Or if you did focus fire on the transport. 2 shuttles with heavy laser canon followed by Marek could have some devastating effects. Those crits could really slow down the transport

I had some fun with Maarek, but that was under my campaign rules where I could retrain him into a Firespray...

(and I still hope they make a new Maarek pilot in a decent ship. Like the Defedner. Ya know, the ship his game made famous. )

If their lead designers don't want Midnight Bedroom Visits from me and 11 other fellas in Imperial Pilot masks wielding rusty knives they will...

As for Rebels not getting love, i disagree. A pilot that can fire twice in a round is amazing, and one that can hand out as many crits as you have pilots is also. And as for Horn, don't anyone go pointing out you give up your attack next round because I know that already.

With epic games coming out, I just assumed having Steele in the as a filler ship to flank may come in handy.

Obviously there would be other ships your opponent must worry about that would pose a greater threat, and leave Steele to come from behind and get in at range one

Having him focus fire on a Y wing or something with low Shield, like the hwk would be best.

Or if you did focus fire on the transport. 2 shuttles with heavy laser canon followed by Marek could have some devastating effects. Those crits could really slow down the transport

I thought the same thing. Thats why it hurt extra that in a single game, i got three range 1 shots in on the same frikkin' Y-wing and rolled all blanks all three times. When in three rounds of combat, 1 pilot can't take out a single y-wing with two hull left, i kiss their loser's arse goodbye forever.

When in three rounds of combat, 1 pilot can't take out a single y-wing with two hull left, i kiss their loser's arse goodbye forever.

That's just stupid. Rolling badly has nothing to do with which pilot you're using, any ship is going to fail to do anything if you roll nothing but blanks. Swapping one pilot for another in that situation does absolutely nothing to change the result.