I took Maarek out for a spin with Marksmanship, just for fun. I had to work at it a little, but the good news is that I got his ability to trigger twice in the whole game. The bad news is that both times I delivered (and got to chose) the crit that took the last hull off of a dying A-wing. It's almost more frustrating to use his ability when it's meaningless.

I think FFG was just being conservative in Wave 1. They didn't want to break the game out of the gate, which I respect. Knowing what we know now though, what ability would you give him? How about "each uncancelled crit bypasses shields" or "for each crit you roll, roll 1 additional die". Those would both make crits exciting.

Arvel is still worse. You have to contrive scenarios to make him work. Maybe if he could perform an action while colliding along with attacking he would be cool.

Maarek requires a two round setup to TL and then Marks a missile.

Once Rebel Aces comes out, and you can add Daredevil to Arvel, I can see him working.

The "issue" with Mareek is that two dice makes it hard to reliably get an uncanceled crit, and three dice would make it too easy.

He still eats Large ships, Y-wings, Hwks, and Bombers like candy.

TIE Advanced: Flies like a fried egg, attacks like a kitten.

Then don't fly him. Simple.

I believe that's the exact point of this thread

How does "I do not think Maarek is worth the points so I'm not going to fly him" get three pages of stuff?

Then don't fly him. Simple.

I believe that's the exact point of this thread

How does "I do not think Maarek is worth the points so I'm not going to fly him" get three pages of stuff?

I'm not really sure… maybe it's because there are sooooo many Imperial-leaning players who are utterly disappointed with the TIE Advanced? That would be my guess anyway. I honestly didn't expect this either. But hey, maybe that means someday we'll get an Imperial Aces II that actually makes it worth it, they've already done that for the Interceptors and A-Wing (B-wing was fine just the way it was though).

I'm not really sure… maybe it's because there are sooooo many Imperial-leaning players who are utterly disappointed with the TIE Advanced? That would be my guess anyway. I honestly didn't expect this either. But hey, maybe that means someday we'll get an Imperial Aces II that actually makes it worth it, they've already done that for the Interceptors and A-Wing (B-wing was fine just the way it was though).

The TIE Advanced and the Y-Wing to a lesser extent (both Wave 1) need some lovin' Chardaan Refit style.

The TIE Advanced really needs a reboot though; maybe something that boosts its Dice output, or increases Crit chance or something.

When Maarek gets through, his ability is pretty awesome. If he gets through...

What, the Y-wing is fine. I mean, look at all the new Astromechs they are getting. And really, the Chardaan Refit is the worst way they could help the Advanced. Even at -2 points, it will have difficulty matching any of the Imperial's cheap options.

What, the Y-wing is fine. I mean, look at all the new Astromechs they are getting. And really, the Chardaan Refit is the worst way they could help the Advanced. Even at -2 points, it will have difficulty matching any of the Imperial's cheap options.

I meant it would be nice to get some more pilots for the Y.

Tiree (Gold 2) and "Pops" Davish (Gold 5) are Y-Wing pilots that had speaking lines in the ANH and would be great additions.

Also, Not a Chardaan Refit for the Advanced, but a Chardaan Refit style fix for the Advanced. Something that is labeled "TIE Advanced only" and allows us to fix some of the common comlaints about it.

What, the Y-wing is fine. I mean, look at all the new Astromechs they are getting. And really, the Chardaan Refit is the worst way they could help the Advanced. Even at -2 points, it will have difficulty matching any of the Imperial's cheap options.

I meant it would be nice to get some more pilots for the Y.

Tiree (Gold 2) and "Pops" Davish (Gold 5) are Y-Wing pilots that had speaking lines in the ANH and would be great additions.

Also, Not a Chardaan Refit for the Advanced, but a Chardaan Refit style fix for the Advanced. Something that is labeled "TIE Advanced only" and allows us to fix some of the common comlaints about it.

The biggest complaint about the Y-wing pilots from my understanding is the lack of EPS especially on Horton ( a PS8 unique pilot doesn't get a EPS but a generic PS3 guy does?) granted there is some shenanigans that probably could happen with EPS and Astromechs, but the E-Wing and X-wing Pilots can use those so why not the Y-wing? More pilots would be nice for the "workhorse of the Rebellion" (I think that's from the Rogue Squadron 3 rebel strike craft description)

A band-aid refit for the Advanced could be a Avenger refit, swap your missile slot for increasing your primary weapon value by 1 and make it like 4-5 pts, it would put it right between the Interceptors and Defenders in terms of points (Saber Squadron is 21pts, Storm Squadron would be 27-28 pts, and the Onyx Squadron pilot would be 32ish though probably at PS3) and armament and being a "heavier" ship has the worst dial of the 3.

Fluff-wise they could justify it with something along he lines of "removing the missile bay allowed imperial engineers to add an experimental power generator to the Basic TIE/ad design" This design would certainly make Maarek more attractive, and for Vader the choice would be a missile or the extra attack die (okay it probably would be the static attack die most of the time)

the E-Wing and X-wing Pilots can use those so why not the Y-wing?

Expert Handling. Lambda doesn't get EPTs either. I guess FFG didn't want either ship to barrel roll at the time. That being said, that R3 astromech's a backtrack on that for the Y-wing.

Expert Handling. Lambda doesn't get EPTs either. I guess FFG didn't want either ship to barrel roll at the time. That being said, that R3 astromech's a backtrack on that for the Y-wing.

I think you mean R2-D6, but yeah, definitly it was mostly for the Y-Wing.

I really want to like the Advanced, but it is a tough sale as is. Some said similar about the A-Wing, and FFG responded with the Rebel Aces pack. I think the TIE Advanced, for Maarek deserves it, could use a "Aces" treament.

A band-aid refit for the Advanced could be a Avenger refit, swap your missile slot for increasing your primary weapon value by 1 and make it like 4-5 pts, it would put it right between the Interceptors and Defenders in terms of points (Saber Squadron is 21pts, Storm Squadron would be 27-28 pts, and the Onyx Squadron pilot would be 32ish though probably at PS3) and armament and being a "heavier" ship has the worst dial of the 3.

Fluff-wise they could justify it with something along he lines of "removing the missile bay allowed imperial engineers to add an experimental power generator to the Basic TIE/ad design" This design would certainly make Maarek more attractive, and for Vader the choice would be a missile or the extra attack die (okay it probably would be the static attack die most of the time)

Having the TIE Avenger be a title card or a Chaardin style upgrade card would be a disservice to one of the most iconic fighters from the flight sims. The TIE Avenger is really too different from the X1 to justify such an approach to bring it into the game.

Plus removing the missiles takes away one of the signature weapons of the TIE Avenger, the advanced concussion missiles. Compared to the X1 the Avenger had more lasers, more shields, less armor, and was more maneuverability than the X1. It seems a bit much to cover in a title card. Really it should be 3-3-2-3 or 3-4-2-3 with an Interceptor dial. If they released the Avenger with an updated Maarek Stele, the advanced concussion missile and tractor beam as either a stand alone blister or in an aces pack it would be a worthy release.

I do agree that something needs to be done for the X1, but I think it should remain it's own thing rather than be turned into something else.

That being said a title card for the Advanced that gave it +1 attack would be no bad thing.

Well, wookiepedia lists the TIE Avenger as the Tie/ad or TIE Advanced and Vader's Tie as the TIE Advanced x1 so it officially is already in the game (the whole vader is x1 and marek and the generics are normal advanced), and there isn't a whole lot of room mechanically to separate the Advanced x1, Avenger, Defender and interceptor so it would probably be the Avenger's best hope

I might agree if the Defender had been implemented differently, but since it has been portrayed more as a heavy fighter in this game I still believe there is room for a shielded space superiority fighter for the Empire. There are a lot of players in my region that load out Interceptors with shields and hull upgrades in an attempt to make them into survivable dog fighters. The Avenger fills that role of a straightforward well armed, maneuverable, and survivable fighter very well.

As the TIE Advanced stands in the game, it is viewed as neither well armed or particularly maneuverable. Both of these issues prevent Maarek's ability from being very useful for the points spent on him . So than how can Maarek, and by extention the TIE Advanced, be made more cost effective? A lot of people have suggested a Chaardin Refit copy for the TIE Advanced. However would removing build options be a good idea? Marksmen and a cluster missile is one way to get the most out of Maarek's ability, so taking the missile slot could actually hurt him.

The other option is a title for TIE Advanced. Either make it cheaper (which FFG could have done for the A-Wing, but they did not so may not be likely), or give it a title that makes more cost effective.That would mean giving it improved stats and/or a new ability. However it would need to be free or near free to increase the cost efficiency. And if the stats and abilities of the TIE Advanced are tweaked to that extend, it becomes something other than itself.

At that point, if FFG goes that route than why not release a TIE Avenger model and new cards to incorporate them? Either way they implement it we would be buying new ships to get the title or modification cards. So I don't see why they wouldn't go the TIE Avenger route. It is one of the most reasonable EU ships and is an icon from Tie Fighter. And at the end of the day FFG is looking to sell more ships.

If you look at how FFG's done every other ship, an Avenger as a shielded interceptor is unlikey. There's absolutely no inuniverse justification for the Defender's turning difficulties, they were put in to make it play differently. We'll only see an Avenger if FFG can make it play differently to every other Imperial ship: if it's just Interceptor++ then I doubt we'll see it.