I have been looking over my new wave 4 stuff.

I am excited for all four ships. I can't wait to try them out. But if I am honset the ship I was most excited was the TIE Defender. But as I have been looking over the named pilots for each new ship there a lot of great ones. Both E-wing pilots are awesome. So are both Z-95 pilots (espcially for for their price). I am excited for Echo and Whisper (TIE Phantom). But neither of the TIE Defender named pilots seem all that great. Rexler's ability seems okay, but I will probably want my focus token to hit or save it to dodge.

I guess we will see.

Haven't we, as a group, been over this point like in like forty-seven different threads? Vessery is the equivalent of a free, stressless PTL every turn, and Brath is an unholy terror to Huge ships, Large ships, Y-wings, and anything else with a crunchy center behind those shields. The Defender named pilots are really good.

have you noticed the Defender can K-turn as a white maneuver?

Vessary is pretty awesome. I've used him with a Lambda OGP with ST-321 title. Basically the shuttle gets a target lock on whoever Vessary is going to shoot at, then Vessary focuses and gets a free TL as he rolls. Ideally the shuttle can use its title to get the target lock ahead of time and focus as well and then both of them focus fire the same target.

Mostly I end up using the generic defender pilots as a cheaper cannon platform than the firespray. The defender isn't much of an arc dodger/dancer the way the phantom or the interceptor are so its not as crucial for it to have high PS. It actually plays more like a rebel jouster and does a **** fine job of it.

Vessery seems kinda sub-standard. Many Imperial squads lack target locks, so unless you're going to load a couple with the Targeting computer, it's gonna be underused. As for Brath, I can see it being more useful than one may think. That white K-turn can really help you get outta firing arcs, and you won't have to save your focus for defense

Vessary has good potential, but you need to build a squad around him, and isn't always consistent (no battle plan survives contact with the enemy).

Rexler, you need to time your use of the focus correctly, but one activation per match (assuming you are out of arcs and don't need to use it for defence) can turn that match around completely

Honestly my criticism is that the only the "best of the best" of the Imperial Navy are allowed to fly the Defenders yet they are PS1 and 3, I think they should have at least been 2 and 4 (like the Advanced/Bomber) or even had the 3 and 5 of the Phantom and let the Phantom have the 1 and 3

Vessery seems kinda sub-standard. Many Imperial squads lack target locks, so unless you're going to load a couple with the Targeting computer, it's gonna be underused. As for Brath, I can see it being more useful than one may think. That white K-turn can really help you get outta firing arcs, and you won't have to save your focus for defense

A Lamda with a WE and St-321 regardless of the pilot and Vessery is golden

Honestly my criticism is that the only the "best of the best" of the Imperial Navy are allowed to fly the Defenders yet they are PS1 and 3, I think they should have at least been 2 and 4 (like the Advanced/Bomber) or even had the 3 and 5 of the Phantom and let the Phantom have the 1 and 3

It makes more sense when you think about it this way: the best pilots are allowed to fly them because the ships are harder to control. These pilots owuld easily be higher PS in a different ship, but with it being harder to control, they have to work that much harder to keep the ship under control.

Honestly my criticism is that the only the "best of the best" of the Imperial Navy are allowed to fly the Defenders yet they are PS1 and 3, I think they should have at least been 2 and 4 (like the Advanced/Bomber) or even had the 3 and 5 of the Phantom and let the Phantom have the 1 and 3

The Phantom on the other hand, at 22-23 and PS1 would have been pretty mean, easily the best blocker in the game.

I think they handled things right.

Vessery is fairly decent but the fact that his ability doesn't stand on its own is pretty annoying for squad building

I have played Brath (with predator) about 12 times now and his ability has almost never triggered. The only somewhat good use I have found for it is using an ion cannon against a 1-agility target. Roll at least two hits naturally, get that guaranteed one damage card and flip it up. Generally though it's super situational and I always hesitate to even do it at all since you lose the focus token for defense.

The generic defenders are pretty questionable, at 30 points minimum they really need to earn their cost back and that horribly low pilot skill (and no EPTs) makes it difficult. So far I have only had success with Delta squadron + ion cannon to set up its own shots, or just Vessery with veteran instincts and ships to support him.

I'm determined to make defenders work but list building with them can be very frustrating

I will find a way to make Vessery work at some point. Likely when I have more than one Tie-Bomber to work with. A real possibility now that I have Flechette Torpedos to work with. Until then, Honestly the Defender still sits as pretty meh, with Vessery being the best of the lot.

I've had some solid success with Delta squad and an HLC with a mini-swarm.

Vessery's ability should do well in Epic, where ST-321 can sit in back and feed him Target Locks without exposing itself to the Tantive's turbolasers.

I am still excited for the defender, but the named pilot abilities seem meeh.

Oh wait! I think I miss-read his ability. He can use that TL on that attack, he doesn't have to wait until next turn. Okay I'm sold on him now.

Yeh, that is a fairly important distinction. If he had to wait a round, it'd be.... awful. As is, he just has some list building constraints, which is fine by me.

The Defender is going to reward good players...look at that stat line and the white K!

If you are a Min-Max Winger then no, there are not a lot of new toys for you here in this expansion.

Vessery is amazing.

Echo - VI, FCS, ACD

Vessery - VI, HLC, Engine

Backstabber

The named defenders are great, the generics are poo.

PS 1 & 3 makes me a sad panda.

I don't agree that the generics are bad. Sure, their PS is low, but they are still solid carriers of the HLC, or even a decent filler piece on their own. They aren't super pricey, and they are pretty durable. As long as you have some other good threats so they can't just pour fire into the Defender, it'll get some work done.

The named defenders are great, the generics are poo.

PS 1 & 3 makes me a sad panda.

I don't like the 3, but the 1 is really solid. Since it moves first, the dreaded white K turn has to be blocked the turn before. People are going to get used to blocking the K on higher PS defenders. PS 1 isn't inherently bad, its advantages are just more subtle.

The generic defenders are pretty questionable, at 30 points minimum they really need to earn their cost back and that horribly low pilot skill (and no EPTs) makes it difficult. So far I have only had success with Delta squadron + ion cannon to set up its own shots, or just Vessery with veteran instincts and ships to support him.

I have had a lot of success with Delta Squadron Pilots they are very hard to kill and 3 attack dice are nasty even at PS1. Also, you never realize just how often you would K-turn if it didn't stress you until you fly a defender

yup and all straight turns are green

It can do a 2 left turn and if someone comes up behind it flip it around.

yup and all straight turns are green

It can do a 2 left turn and if someone comes up behind it flip it around.

Straight turns are green?

And while you could do a hard 2 (which is red) followed by a 4K, the loss of two rounds worth of actions isn't worth it in my opinion. Although with a Wingman...

Honestly my criticism is that the only the "best of the best" of the Imperial Navy are allowed to fly the Defenders yet they are PS1 and 3, I think they should have at least been 2 and 4 (like the Advanced/Bomber) or even had the 3 and 5 of the Phantom and let the Phantom have the 1 and 3

A 1 PS Phantom? You do understand the why the phantom plays, yes? It moves last and decloaks behind things. The low PS phantom gets the jump on all ships in the low PS generic band, and the mid PS phantom gets the jump on all ships in the mind PS generic band.

They're not based on in-universe skill, they're based on gameplay. A PS 1 Defender pilot is better than a PS 1 Academy Pilot at flying but his ship is that much harder to fly.