If you're having a hard time wrapping your mind around decloaking just remember what it represents: when a ship decloaks it is revealing its TRUE position. You may have thought you saw Echo one place doing one thing but in reality he was really doing something completely different.

What a shame to write an article only to have some of the opening posts angrily critiquing the builds I put together and accusing me cynically. For the record, your cynicism is misplaced - FFG had no say over the builds I put in this article and there was no corresponding marketing ploy. I merely tried to suggest creative, alternate builds instead of the most obvious ones. That said, I clearly state what I believe is an optimal Echo load-out - Echo + VI + RecSpec + ACD for 38 points.

Thanks to those who spotted the error in the opening picture. Errors creep in at differing stages in the process of writing to publishing and I won't say where this one came from. I'll merely say thanks to your quick and positive feedback it has been rectified.

Stress means that Echo couldn't use ACD because it prohibits a free action such as the free cloak action. Decloaking is not an action but cloaking is.

By the way, there was a comment earlier suggesting that the two movements I quote showing Echo's range are unlikely to actually be used. I can confirm that I've used both.

Thanks to the majority of people for your positive thoughts and discussion points. As you can probably tell I think Echo is wondrous and worthy of much discussion. I'm happy to bounce ideas, thoughts etc.

Well personally, I hate this article.... for making me doubt my choice of a Defender over the Phantom.

Joking aside, it was well put, and had some great advice. I really look forward to getting the Phantom now, and I was a little lukewarm on it. I still think I'll end up playing Whisper more, but posts like this make me ponder Echo instead more and more. Echo may just be the imperial version of the mega closer that Tarn is for the rebellion.....

Thanks for the article anyway Tuskan! I've been thinking if submitting and keep not because I am worried about exactly this: you weren't given anything new to show so a lot of folks aren't impressed, so there isn't a lot new to something we just discussed in 12 different threads x10pages each. That and feedback has been harsh lately. Timing is everything and this forum MOVES FAST. Probably too fast.

Echo is crazy good as is Whisper. Thanks for the bravery and the graphics. I was actually a little sad, I was excited that the phantom might hav even one more trick with that forward move. In the end I'm also kinda glad it doesn't.

Thanks for the article anyway Tuskan! I've been thinking if submitting and keep not because I am worried about exactly this: you weren't given anything new to show so a lot of folks aren't impressed, so there isn't a lot new to something we just discussed in 12 different threads x10pages each. That and feedback has been harsh lately. Timing is everything and this forum MOVES FAST. Probably too fast.

Echo is crazy good as is Whisper. Thanks for the bravery and the graphics. I was actually a little sad, I was excited that the phantom might hav even one more trick with that forward move. In the end I'm also kinda glad it doesn't.

I can't comment as to when this article was written other than to say that I can't comment as to when this article was written.

Thanks for the article anyway Tuskan! I've been thinking if submitting and keep not because I am worried about exactly this: you weren't given anything new to show so a lot of folks aren't impressed, so there isn't a lot new to something we just discussed in 12 different threads x10pages each. That and feedback has been harsh lately. Timing is everything and this forum MOVES FAST. Probably too fast.

Echo is crazy good as is Whisper. Thanks for the bravery and the graphics. I was actually a little sad, I was excited that the phantom might hav even one more trick with that forward move. In the end I'm also kinda glad it doesn't.

I can't comment as to when this article was written other than to say that I can't comment as to when this article was written.

LOL

To cute... but seriously...

Maybe it might be my "still learning process" but i felt very inspired by your suggestions since, as you said yourself, you wanted to give out options beside the 1 Phantom and mini swarm.. i really appreciate that...

And as Damoel said, **** i hate it, now i have to rethink what i had in mind...

Oh and the stress stuff we already cleared that out of my system... but thanks coming back to that

That was a great article. I preordered a Phantom as soon as I read the first Phantom article, and now I'm even more excited. The Phantom really can be almost anywhere when cloaked - that will be brutal against low maneuverability ships.

I like the suggestion of putting Sensor Jammer on the Phantom. Did your opponent spend an action to barrel roll or boost to finally get a shot on your elusive Phantom? Well, now he doesn't have a Focus token and you just evaded one damage.

What a shame to write an article only to have some of the opening posts angrily critiquing the builds I put together and accusing me cynically. For the record, your cynicism is misplaced - FFG had no say over the builds I put in this article and there was no corresponding marketing ploy. I merely tried to suggest creative, alternate builds instead of the most obvious ones. That said, I clearly state what I believe is an optimal Echo load-out - Echo + VI + RecSpec + ACD for 38 points.

Thanks to those who spotted the error in the opening picture. Errors creep in at differing stages in the process of writing to publishing and I won't say where this one came from. I'll merely say thanks to your quick and positive feedback it has been rectified.

Stress means that Echo couldn't use ACD because it prohibits a free action such as the free cloak action. Decloaking is not an action but cloaking is.

By the way, there was a comment earlier suggesting that the two movements I quote showing Echo's range are unlikely to actually be used. I can confirm that I've used both.

Thanks to the majority of people for your positive thoughts and discussion points. As you can probably tell I think Echo is wondrous and worthy of much discussion. I'm happy to bounce ideas, thoughts etc.

I actually quite liked the article myself and when I went back to look at the mistakes in the images, they were already corrected. Clearly good enough for me at least!

The one disappointment I did have was not highlighting the importance of PS with the phantom in general and with Echo specifically. His incredible (and horrifying to face!) maneuverability is a tremendous asset, but if the enemy has higher PS than him I think it is a severe drawback. If he doesn't yet know where the enemy ships will be, his decloak shift is guesswork. Guessing where the enemy will be when you MUST change your facing by 45 degrees is a difficult task with very little margin of error.

Sure, VI is an obvious choice on Echo, but assuming that everyone reading the article already knows that will inevitably leave some people behind.

At any rate, I appreciate the article and try not to be discouraged by the thanklessness of the internet.

Discouraged? Not a chance. Everyone knows the FFG Forum can be extremely negative... that's why I hardly ever come here. As it is, I'm already working on my next article.

By the way, do you guys know of my other article which I published a month ago on Phantoms - http://teamcovenant.com/tuskenraider/2014/05/05/it-is-far-harder-to-kill-a-phantom-1/ ? I think the two articles work well in tandem.

Thanks for the other article as well...

"key to flying the phantom is the recognition that the cloaked TIE-phantom is not actually where the miniature has been placed on the table. Instead, it is potentially in one of a number of locations, depending on the specific phantom. A normal phantom can be in one of three possible locations as it decloaks. "

Sadly we still cant decloak through astroids which when you actually think about it makes no sense.

You are correct sir.. the Minature is not THERE where it is placed on the table, it is at the end of the decloak actions template.

So an astroid cant block me since i never was there in the first place...

(Reason why im writing this... i wish we could decloack through astroids since astroids on my playfields are magenetic and my ships constantly fly into them for whatever reason.. and the rebellion is always happy that they only need to shoot at 1 HP TIEs )

Not seeing where the confusion is regarding the forward maneuvers in the diagram. Both templates are within the guides on the base, they are just overlapping, because they both start within the guides. They are absolutely legal the way it is shown.

Not seeing where the confusion is regarding the forward maneuvers in the diagram. Both templates are within the guides on the base, they are just overlapping, because they both start within the guides. They are absolutely legal the way it is shown.

When originally posted yesterday, the diagram showed the forward banks as outside the guides. It has since been rectified.

Interesting that all his suggested builds are 3 ship builds.

I feel like FFG pushes them to fill all upgrade slots in the builds for these articles, and non-Metagame aware lists. That pretty much relegates Phantoms to 3 ship builds.

I mean, they don't even mention the basic Vet instincts an Advanced Cloaking minimalistic Echo over the course of the list. Yet I guarantee we'll see that on more phantoms than anything else.

I'm late to the party on this one, but since he hasn't mentioned it, I would like to point out that Neil is a top-ranked tournament player in the UK. X-wing has had a very stable meta for a very long time (as long as I have been playing), but we are all going to have to think outside the box when flying with or against Phantoms generally and Echo particularly. The conventional wisdom is less wise than it was a month ago.

What a shame to write an article only to have some of the opening posts angrily critiquing the builds I put together and accusing me cynically. For the record, your cynicism is misplaced - FFG had no say over the builds I put in this article and there was no corresponding marketing ploy. I merely tried to suggest creative, alternate builds instead of the most obvious ones. That said, I clearly state what I believe is an optimal Echo load-out - Echo + VI + RecSpec + ACD for 38 points.

Thanks to the majority of people for your positive thoughts and discussion points. As you can probably tell I think Echo is wondrous and worthy of much discussion. I'm happy to bounce ideas, thoughts etc.

It was a good article, thanks for your contributions and don't worry about the naysayers!

Discouraged? Not a chance. Everyone knows the FFG Forum can be extremely negative... that's why I hardly ever come here. As it is, I'm already working on my next article.

By the way, do you guys know of my other article which I published a month ago on Phantoms - http://teamcovenant.com/tuskenraider/2014/05/05/it-is-far-harder-to-kill-a-phantom-1/ ? I think the two articles work well in tandem.

I hadn't read that article! Thanks for the link!

Not seeing where the confusion is regarding the forward maneuvers in the diagram. Both templates are within the guides on the base, they are just overlapping, because they both start within the guides. They are absolutely legal the way it is shown.

As mentioned the picture has since been given a Stealth edit. While I appreciate the correction for any who may come upon it later it does make those of us who commented on the incorrect diagram look like complete IDIOTS. I guess now we all should go back and mysteriously erase our post although I don't think this board allows that and if we change them then we may still look like we've done something shady as the article "obviously" hasn't changed.

Not seeing where the confusion is regarding the forward maneuvers in the diagram. Both templates are within the guides on the base, they are just overlapping, because they both start within the guides. They are absolutely legal the way it is shown.

When originally posted yesterday, the diagram showed the forward banks as outside the guides. It has since been rectified.

It's an X-wing tradition to have a mistake in the graphics on the news articles. It happens almost every time.

The one disappointment I did have was not highlighting the importance of PS with the phantom in general and with Echo specifically. His incredible (and horrifying to face!) maneuverability is a tremendous asset, but if the enemy has higher PS than him I think it is a severe drawback. If he doesn't yet know where the enemy ships will be, his decloak shift is guesswork. Guessing where the enemy will be when you MUST change your facing by 45 degrees is a difficult task with very little margin of error.

Sure, VI is an obvious choice on Echo, but assuming that everyone reading the article already knows that will inevitably leave some people behind.

At any rate, I appreciate the article and try not to be discouraged by the thanklessness of the internet.

What frustrates me is that I didn't think about Roark Garnet. If Roark can hand off PS12 to an HLC Blue, for example, then you can potentially one-shot kill Echo. I rather wish I'd have mentioned that in the final section.

The one disappointment I did have was not highlighting the importance of PS with the phantom in general and with Echo specifically. His incredible (and horrifying to face!) maneuverability is a tremendous asset, but if the enemy has higher PS than him I think it is a severe drawback. If he doesn't yet know where the enemy ships will be, his decloak shift is guesswork. Guessing where the enemy will be when you MUST change your facing by 45 degrees is a difficult task with very little margin of error.

...

What frustrates me is that I didn't think about Roark Garnet. If Roark can hand off PS12 to an HLC Blue, for example, then you can potentially one-shot kill Echo. I rather wish I'd have mentioned that in the final section.

As least with Echo you can recognize that possibility and have a very good shot at staying out of that HLC's firing Arc. Put the HLC on a more skilled pilot and look out.

The one disappointment I did have was not highlighting the importance of PS with the phantom in general and with Echo specifically. His incredible (and horrifying to face!) maneuverability is a tremendous asset, but if the enemy has higher PS than him I think it is a severe drawback. If he doesn't yet know where the enemy ships will be, his decloak shift is guesswork. Guessing where the enemy will be when you MUST change your facing by 45 degrees is a difficult task with very little margin of error.

Sure, VI is an obvious choice on Echo, but assuming that everyone reading the article already knows that will inevitably leave some people behind.

At any rate, I appreciate the article and try not to be discouraged by the thanklessness of the internet.

What frustrates me is that I didn't think about Roark Garnet. If Roark can hand off PS12 to an HLC Blue, for example, then you can potentially one-shot kill Echo. I rather wish I'd have mentioned that in the final section.

Roark has been bordering on not so secret tech for a while now. Roark+Bwing/xwing brings pain to a lot of lists, you never have that low PS ship die before it gets off that one last shot, or, in this case, you can x someone else before they get to even shoot. That's a HUGE turnaround--losing a shot to making them lose a ship and a shot--for a pretty dang small investment.