In my exploration of Wave 4 builds I tried a couple games with this build.

Etahn A'baht (32)

Biggs Darklighter (25)

Rookie Pilot (21)

Rookie Pilot (21)

Nothing sexy or fancy here. The build comes in at 99pts with next to no room to add upgrades. Etahn is the star of the squad with his ability to upgrade hits to crits. Biggs hangs around to give a little extra life to Etahn and the Rookies benifit from the upgraded shots.

I've played it Vs the 4 ship rebel builds and it has done well. During these test I never got the feeling I was way in front in the matches but the crits and their effect had a big impact on the outcome of the matches. In the 3 games Etahn survived until the match was over. Next in my testing, I'm going to line this up Vs the expected Imperial squads. It should do well against the Swarm of Ties as when ships hit, it's usually critical hits. The Phantom builds could pose a problem for this build as your moving at 5 and 2. What are your thoughts?

Solid and simple so it will probably win worlds lol. I think Etahn is a star. Him and Cracken will be used a lot in my future list. You could also do the whole green sq with opportunist and refit for more maneuverability. But rookies are always solid.

I'm a big fan of formation flying. The dial of the E-Wing is very similar to the X-Wing. That makes it less of a strain to keep the squad together. However this formation flying will be the death of it Vs the Phantoms. I flew Etahn in the finals at Assault at Imdaar and was very impressed by his ability.

Am I reading the card wrong, I thought the ability only applied to Etahn to change the hits to crits not the whole squad.

Am I reading the card wrong, I thought the ability only applied to Etahn to change the hits to crits not the whole squad.

And that is why he is worth the points!

Am I reading the card wrong, I thought the ability only applied to Etahn to change the hits to crits not the whole squad.

I would think adding Cracken with a 2 point support EPT. Over a rookie. It could create as much damage as you lose.

In my exploration of Wave 4 builds I tried a couple games with this build.

Etahn A'baht (32)

Biggs Darklighter (25)

Rookie Pilot (21)

Rookie Pilot (21)

Nothing sexy or fancy here. The build comes in at 99pts with next to no room to add upgrades. Etahn is the star of the squad with his ability to upgrade hits to crits. Biggs hangs around to give a little extra life to Etahn and the Rookies benifit from the upgraded shots.

I've played it Vs the 4 ship rebel builds and it has done well. During these test I never got the feeling I was way in front in the matches but the crits and their effect had a big impact on the outcome of the matches. In the 3 games Etahn survived until the match was over. Next in my testing, I'm going to line this up Vs the expected Imperial squads. It should do well against the Swarm of Ties as when ships hit, it's usually critical hits. The Phantom builds could pose a problem for this build as your moving at 5 and 2. What are your thoughts?

Am I reading the card wrong, I thought the ability only applied to Etahn to change the hits to crits not the whole squad.

Etahn applies to the squad.

I would think adding Cracken with a 2 point support EPT. Over a rookie. It could create as much damage as you lose.

Etahn + 4 protos = 100pts

Movement, blocking and crits. Could be very annoying. You can kit out Etahn a bit after rebel aces becomes available and a-wings become cheaper.

E'tahn + 4 protos = 100pts

Movement, blocking and crits. Could be very annoying. You can kit out E'tahn a bit after rebel aces becomes available and a-wings become cheaper.

Prototype Pilot (17)

Prototype Pilot (17)

Prototype Pilot (17)

Etahn A'baht (32)

One thing I always look at when building a squad is it's EDO (Expected Damage Output). So by taking 4 A-Wings we are rolling 11 attack dice spread out between 5 shots. With the 4 ship build each have 3 making it 12 spread out over 4 shots. So immediately I take notice we are rolling less dice. Now consider the number of shots Vs a ship. 5 attack Vs a tie will see 11attack dice Vs 15 defense. If all these ships focus and fire at an unfocused tie your EDO is 3.65. Now you have to consider the effect of the Crits. That does sway it to the offense for a little better EDO. How does the 4 ship build do Vs that Tie. They come in at EDO 4.84. A full point of damage better then the A-Wings. The A-Wings survive the return fire better then the X's but the enemy can focus down Etahn taking your advantage away.

The numbers just don't seem to be impressive with the A's over the X's. Although the difference is not night and day, I'll put the squad on the table and see how it performs.

E'tahn + 4 protos = 100pts

Movement, blocking and crits. Could be very annoying. You can kit out E'tahn a bit after rebel aces becomes available and a-wings become cheaper.

Prototype Pilot (17)

Prototype Pilot (17)

Prototype Pilot (17)

Prototype Pilot (17)

Etahn A'baht (32)

One thing I always look at when building a squad is it's EDO (Expected Damage Output). So by taking 4 A-Wings we are rolling 11 attack dice spread out between 5 shots. With the 4 ship build each have 3 making it 12 spread out over 4 shots. So immediately I take notice we are rolling less dice. Now consider the number of shots Vs a ship. 5 attack Vs a tie will see 11attack dice Vs 15 defense. If all these ships focus and fire at an unfocused tie your EDO is 3.65. Now you have to consider the effect of the Crits. That does sway it to the offense for a little better EDO. How does the 4 ship build do Vs that Tie. They come in at EDO 4.84. A full point of damage better then the A-Wings. The A-Wings survive the return fire better then the X's but the enemy can focus down Etahn taking your advantage away.

The numbers just don't seem to be impressive with the A's over the X's. Although the difference is not night and day, I'll put the squad on the table and see how it performs.

1 GSP my mental math was way off.

Tried out the OP's list on Vassal this morning and got eaten for breakfast by:

Chewbacca+Predator+EU+Luke+MF Title

Blue Squadron Pilot

Rookie Pilot

It's funny how you go to test a list and you encounter something that will counter what you intend to to.

Biggs died so fast to Chewie. Etain crashed and burned and did nothing for crits against Chewie. Rookies were last to go.

RIP OP's list in my case.

What about using Z95's instead of X wings? As long as you're flying form, I would go with EXZZZ:

Etahn

PTL R2 (to successfully use all those actions!)

Biggs

Hull Upgrade

Bandit x3

100 points. 3 more hull points than OP, same attack dice, two more evade dice and more Etahn survivability with his ability to PTL, focus evade once Biggs is down.

Thoughts? Once could also do EZZZZZ, Etahn, PTL, R2 Hull, Bandit x4. In Biggs but more attack dice, more defense dice, more evade dice. You just keep Etahn in the back and keep him alive and that could be successful.

Tried out the OP's list on Vassal this morning and got eaten for breakfast by:

Chewbacca+Predator+EU+Luke+MF Title

Blue Squadron Pilot

Rookie Pilot

It's funny how you go to test a list and you encounter something that will counter what you intend to to.

Biggs died so fast to Chewie. Etain crashed and burned and did nothing for crits against Chewie. Rookies were last to go.

RIP OP's list in my case.

Yeah, Chewie laughs at Etahn. That doesn't make this a bad list. But a Chewi weakness is a pretty bad thing, considering he's one of the best, if not the best ship in the game.

Perhaps this variation maybe better against Chewie:-

Etahn + PTL + Adv Sen + R2

Tarn Mison + R7 + Hull

Rookie Pilot

Bandit Sqd Pilot

Still can't escape Chewie's turrets but Etahn and Tarn can tank up against him hence may survive long enough to 'chew' up the wookiee.

Tried out the OP's list on Vassal this morning and got eaten for breakfast by:

Chewbacca+Predator+EU+Luke+MF Title

Blue Squadron Pilot

Rookie Pilot

It's funny how you go to test a list and you encounter something that will counter what you intend to to.

Biggs died so fast to Chewie. Etain crashed and burned and did nothing for crits against Chewie. Rookies were last to go.

RIP OP's list in my case.

Before tossing on the last shovel of dirt to bury the squad give it a few tries. It is unfortunate you ran right into the hard counter of the Pesky Crit'ers list. One game rarely ever tells the whole story of the viability of a squad. There are a few factors to consider, are you flying the list to its full potential, did the dice roll way above a average or below? If you played the match 5 times does it prove unwinable. If that match is unwinable how often does that squad show in the meta game?

Some MathWing and TheoryCrafting points:

1. Don't use A-wings until they have Refit.
2. Z-95's have the best jousting value in the game (slightly better than a naked TIE Fighter). They are only surpassed by Howlrunner supported TIEs and Lambda Shuttles (ignoring their dial).
3. Per cost, Z-95s have almost as much damage output as X-wings, even against 3 agility targets like TIE swarms. But the Z-95s collectively have much more durability than the X-wings.
4. Etahn's buff is multiplicative with the number of ships used.
5. Related to all the points above, the best use of Etahn is with many cost effective jousting ships, which is the Z-95 and the Refit A-wing.

So the optimal squad to take advantage of Etahn's ability is this:

92 points

Etahn (32)

5x Bandit Squadron (60)

This squad will certainly have a better jousting value than any currently possible 5-ship Rebel build. (See below for relative efficiency numbers for various ships.) The weak spot is actually the E-wing, but Etahn's crit ability should make up for it, especially against unshielded TIEs. So, this squad has 8 points left to spend. Options include:

• Upgrading some Z-95s to A-wings (3 points each)
• PS bid (5 points to go from PS2 to PS4)
• Beefing up Etahn. Shield Upgrade + R2-D2 comes to mind as an obvious defensive example, since he will likely be priority target #1 in this squad.

Math summary here:

http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/100360-using-lanchesters-square-law-to-predict-ships-jousting-values-and-fair-point-values-work-in-progress/page-5#entry1111620

Relevant Snippet:

All costs and efficiency are based on their equivalent PS1 cost. min, std. and max columns are to cover various meta environments, which changes the ship's underlying jousting value. TIE Fighters are used as the 100% reference point for all meta. "Degrees of certainty" apply to the "Total Efficiency" Columns. The Jousting Efficiency columns are only based on the stat line and some general assumptions of the underlying metagame and action economy.

Very High Degree of Certainty

Jousting Efficiency Total Efficiency

Ship min std. max min std max

High Degree of Certainty

TIE Bomber: requires ordnance to fill a useful role.

Jousting Efficiency Total Efficiency

Ship min std. max min std max

TIE Bomber 95.8% 97.5% 98.2% 96.2% 97.9% 98.6%

Medium Degree of Certainty

Y-wing: turret on a 2 attack ship.

YT-1300: 360 degree primary weapon

Firespray: rear arc

Jousting Efficiency Total Efficiency

Ship min std. max min std max

Low Degree of Certainty

HWK-290: turret on a 1 attack ship.

Lambda: No K-turns and no white turns

TIE Defender: white K-turn

TIE Phantom: cloak action

Jousting Efficiency Total Efficiency

Ship min std. max min std max

So, at least OP's list has potential trolling value. No squad point cost.

I got a good chuckle out of that........