why isn't it a popular choice? Sometimes I think its because when it came out there was lots of availability issues. It was a hard model to find. Does the swarm just make it obsolete?

Maarek Stele - Marksmanship - concussion missiles (34)

Tempest Squadron Pilot - concussion missiles (25)

Howlrunner - swarm tactics - stealth device (23)

Black Squadron Pilot - Opportunist (18)

total: 100

A very courageous soul indeed.

Most people think the Adv overcosted and missiles are not a good idea.

It just fits in a really weird place for the Imperials. It's role as a tank isn't that great in the faction.

The only adv I like is Darth Vader, but even him i haven't used since interceptors came out. I might again sometime, but probably not in a 100 point game.

Because phantoms

The Advanced is one of the most survivable ships in the game and it is possible to win with it, but it takes a while, and in most settings you don't have the time it takes to dance around with it and wear your opponent down. Especially in a tournament setting, you just can't afford the time to plink away at your enemy.

Why not a TIE Advanced? Because the standard TIE Fighter and TIE Interceptor seem more solid choices.

You mentioned: "Maarek Stele - Marksmanship - concussion missiles (34)"

Well, for that price I could almost have three TIEs or two Interceptors which, either way, dish out more firepower in the long term and have more suvivability.

You also mentioned: "Tempest Squadron Pilot - concussion missiles (25)"

Once again, I could get two TIE Fighters and still have a point left over.

Having said that, I have used Darth Vader very successfully in larger games (two different 150 point games) and have been very happy with his contributions.

As a standard fighter that I would take en masse, however, the TIE Fighter and TIE Interceptor both seem to give a bigger bang for your buck in the long run. If the TIE Advanced were a bit cheaper, I'd be more tempted.

Reasons not to take a TIE/Adv? Whatever the role, there is another ship that can do it better.

TIE fighters provide better durability, TIE interceptors provide better attack, and TIE bombers provide better missile platforms.

It generally deals the same damage as the TIE Fighter for twice the cost. Sure, it takes more hits to kill in than a TIE Fighter but not twice as many.

The place the TIE advanced fits into is about 18 points. Unfortunately, its shape is 21 points. Trying to fit a 21 point ship into an 18 point slot makes it, well, bad. Not impossible to use bad, but definitely bad. And the more you use, and the more you load onto one of them, the more awful they become. Missiles are also over cost by 1 or 2 points each. So if you put a missile on a TIE advanced, you are overpaying by nearly half the price of an Academy TIE.

Not a good ship, at all, and in need of some loving if it is ever going to see the table.

I played an Epic (300 pt) match the other day as Imps and included in my fleet were:

3x Tempest TIE Advanced with Cluster Missiles

2x Scimitar TIE Bombers with 2x Cluster Missiles each

Captain Jonus

Colonel Jendon with Weapons Engineer and ST-321

Total: 177 points. I also had Krassis Trelix, Kath Scarlet, and Soontir Fel, but they were trying to outflank.

The three TIE Advanced led the pack with Jonus in back flanked by the two Bombers. Colonel Jendon stayed close and grabbed two target locks each action, giving one away every combat phase. Every-other turn I could red maneuver him to stay with the pack, since he had the other target lock to give away. The entire group started in a corner and acquired their locks from Jendon during the slow approach towards the rebels.

Captain Jonus allowed each cluster missile (two attacks each missile) to re-roll up to two dice each. I was getting 5-6 hits per missile card (before agility dice). Devastating! The shields on the Advanced gave them the survivability to get in close enough to unleash the clusters. Most ships had enough hull points left to still do some damage. Next time, though, I might give the Bombers one cluster missile and one proton torpedo, to give them a range 3 secondary.

I played an Epic (300 pt) match the other day as Imps and included in my fleet were:

3x Tempest TIE Advanced with Cluster Missiles

2x Scimitar TIE Bombers with 2x Cluster Missiles each

Captain Jonus

Colonel Jendon with Weapons Engineer and ST-321

Total: 177 points. I also had Krassis Trelix, Kath Scarlet, and Soontir Fel, but they were trying to outflank.

The three TIE Advanced led the pack with Jonus in back flanked by the two Bombers. Colonel Jendon stayed close and grabbed two target locks each action, giving one away every combat phase. Every-other turn I could red maneuver him to stay with the pack, since he had the other target lock to give away. The entire group started in a corner and acquired their locks from Jendon during the slow approach towards the rebels.

Captain Jonus allowed each cluster missile (two attacks each missile) to re-roll up to two dice each. I was getting 5-6 hits per missile card (before agility dice). Devastating! The shields on the Advanced gave them the survivability to get in close enough to unleash the clusters. Most ships had enough hull points left to still do some damage. Next time, though, I might give the Bombers one cluster missile and one proton torpedo, to give them a range 3 secondary.

This is just the point, though: there's very little accomplished by those Tempests that wouldn't have been done just as effectively, and much less expensively, by a Bomber. 5x Scimitar + Proton Torpedoes + Cluster Missiles is actually cheaper than your 2x Scimitar and 3x Tempest, even with three additional pieces of ordnance in the mix.

I don't have 6 bombers, though.

I don't have 6 bombers, though.

But many would say you're crazy for having THREE Advanced.

The advanceds are more maneuverable than the bombers, have an extra agil die stretching those 5 HPs farther than the Bomber's 6 will go, and of course the shields could stop crits which could further increase the longevity of the Advanced over a Bomber,(just some reasons to use an advanced over a bomber)

My personal opinion is that the every ship is useable and if you can't think of a way to use a ship, you just aren't trying hard enough, that said some ships are easier to use/more forgiving than others

For 21 points you get a bare-bones Temptest Squadron TIE Advanced.

For the same 21 points you get a 16-point Scimitar Squadron TIE Bomber WITH 5 points of ordinace.

Yeah, my money is on the TIE Bomber.

The biggest problem on them is their overall low offense for the price point. With only two attack dice, it's not hard to evade them even if they hit with both dice. They don't have the abundance of attacks of the swarm, and generally lack the offense and maneuverability of the Interceptor. Their only true edge is in their difficulty to kill, with five health backed by three green dice.

16 points for 2 agl 6 hull, vs. 21 points for 3 agl 5 health. Generally speaking, it takes the same number of attacks to kill either. The more attack dice in each attack there is, the more the bomber pulls ahead in toughness. On a points basis, the TIE Advanced isn't even in the same room in terms of survivability for points.

As far as maneuverability, I strongly disagree. The TIE Bomber can do a 1 forward, which is huge, and it's green. The TIE Bomber also has green 2 banks, which the TIE/Ad lacks. Both ships can do a 2 turn, but the Bomber loses here because it has a red. The TIE/Ad has the harder to use 4 k-turn, and a 5 straight. The TIE Bomber can only 4 straight but has the amazingly useful 5k. The TIE bomber trades the rarely used 5 straight for the very common and useful 1 straight (green), gains green banks at speed 2, has the same turns, and has the significantly more useful 5k for the price of a red 2 turn. In my opinion, the TIE Bomber is MORE maneuverable, not less, and by a fairly significant margin.

In the end, the TIE/Ad and the TIE Bomber are close to equal in terms of survivability and maneuverability, both can carry missiles but the bomber is way, way ahead as a ordnance carrier. For roughly equivalent abilities, the TIE Advanced pays 5 points. Five! That is insane, the TIE Bomber can have +2 Pilot skill AND ordnance for the same cost as a single TIE Advanced. For that matter, 22 points buys Captain Jonus, who makes everyone shoot better, has PS 6 and an EPT.

Every ship can be played, and you CAN win with any ship. But some are more equal than others, and any list that features TIE Advanced is at a disadvantage vs. lists that do not. If you want to play them because they are cool (I love playing Maarek Stele for some insane reason) go for it, but if you are getting frustrated at your lack of success understand that you are definitely at a disadvantage.

The TIE Advanced costs too many points for mediocre damage and a bad dial. It has phenomenal survivability, but the Tournament scene has a time-limit, so you won't be able to drag it into a long-game where the Advanced has a chance. Added to this is the worst upgrade bar in the game.

Also, Missiles and Torpedoes are generally overcosted. By around 3 points. Flechettes and Ion Pulses are an exception, because they apply a huge status shift, as are Assaults for a similar reason.

The TIE advanced matches the lore. It was never produced in masse by the empire due to prohibitive cost and only Vader really is known for flying one

I don't play competitively, though I do enjoy following the meta. My group and just enjoy fun matches and I like trying new lists. we always play Rebel vs Imperial, I've felt that sometimes the missiles that can be put on an Advanced can help knocking down low-agility evade-incapable ships like Y-wings and B-wings.

Yknow, we should just play the "Can you fix the Advanced?" game.

A 21 or 22 pt PS6 generic would be awesome for ordnance. Preferably with an EPT. But that's mostly just a better bomber generic we wish we had.

Some sort of good ability over time that makes use of the hard to kill nature of the Adv. Or a Biggs' esque protection ability.

--

Blooper 1:

(late at night)

WAIT! If we had a mod that flipped its attack and defense dice it would be totally worth the 21 pts!

...

wait. I just exactly made the X-wing. ...

...

--

Blooper 1:

(late at night)

WAIT! If we had a mod that flipped its attack and defense dice it would be totally worth the 21 pts!

...

wait. I just exactly made the X-wing. ...

Not quite but pretty close. I'd say flip its attack and hull and then you'd actually have a ship people would use.

...

--

Blooper 1:

(late at night)

WAIT! If we had a mod that flipped its attack and defense dice it would be totally worth the 21 pts!

...

wait. I just exactly made the X-wing. ...

Not quite but pretty close. I'd say flip its attack and hull and then you'd actually have a ship people would use.

It might be a little squishy that way. Its basically an interceptor with 1 more hull. (kinda, the shields are better but still).

It might be better to focus on what the role of the ship should be?

Seems like it would be nice to have a good middling type of ship. Kind of like a B-wing or an X-wing. Cuz the Imperials basically have 3 types of competitive ships: Big hulking ones, cheap TIES, and squishy Interceptors. Bombers aren't used much but could be more for ordnance.

There exists a middle cost spot for an all-round ship at that point value.

One of the good things is that it doesn't really have any modifications it needs. So, perhaps an Adv only mod like: (2) Increase attack to 3. or (2) Engine Booster.

I don't think either of these would be particularly overpowered on any current pilots.

Also a PS 7 generic would be awesome.

...

--

Blooper 1:

(late at night)

WAIT! If we had a mod that flipped its attack and defense dice it would be totally worth the 21 pts!

...

wait. I just exactly made the X-wing. ...

Not quite but pretty close. I'd say flip its attack and hull and then you'd actually have a ship people would use.

Free Expose please?...?

Expose ::: Range 1-3. Action [defense dice]: Until the end of the round, increase your primary weapon value by 1. and decrease your agility value by 1.

Anyway... For 4pts I might take Expose over a 4pts Missile. Depends on how long I feel the Advance is deemed a "non-threat" by my opponent.

To bad the Advance cannot trade the Missile Slot for an EPT... or just have a Generic + EPT in general.

Or if Expose was a Missile/Torpedo.