FFG has done an excellent job of making this game rich and varied. Almost every ship is awesome in its own way. But there have been a few upgrades that I would pretty much avoid. Some because they are just bad (for their points) and others.

Marksmanship

Expose

Blaster Turret

AutoBlaster

Marksmanship is good on Han Solo & Corran Horn. Blaster Turret is decent on any Hwk with the Moldy Crow title and a Recon Spec. Avoid the other two upgrades.

Autoblaster isn't terrible on Ten Numb with a focus/target lock - they don't get to cancel any dice at all! So you may not be rolling four dice, but every single hit you roll is doing damage.

Marksmanship is good on Han Solo & Corran Horn. Blaster Turret is decent on any Hwk with the Moldy Crow title and a Recon Spec. Avoid the other two upgrades.

I will admit that I haven't played Horn enough to know if Marksmanship might be worth while, but there are so many other Totally Awesome EPT upgrades that I find it unlikely that one of the others won't over the course of the game do better for you.

Why should solo be evading? Marksmanship has a place when you are taking two or more shots in a turn. Everything else is indeed worthless.

Actually, I found MC+RS+BT to be a great combo last time I played. I basically let Kyle Katarn build up focus tokens like crazy and he was able to do it because he hung around the edge of the map while the rest of the squad headed into the fray. Then I swooped him in and had at it with the turret, because Biggs was miraculously still alive and he was able to draw fire away from Kyle.

I should mention I only took this combo because I ran a squad against it and made the mistake of ignoring it in favor of taking out the Outer Rim Smuggler because of his tankiness, and when it hit me it REALLY hit me. The Focus+Target Lock made the turret hit for three almost every time and it one-shot two of my TIE Fighters.

Autoblaster on Rexler is awesome.... cant cancel HITS.... and turn my hits into crits with just 1 Focus...

Yes when im in range 1 i could use 4 dice still they all can be canceled...

Expose isn't bad if used by Darth vader but for anything else it isn't worth it.

What do you guys think about shooting Autoblasters at Phantoms?

Isn't expose overcosted? Why not throw it on the upcoming Decimator which has no agility anyway?

Marksmanship can be good now and then if you have a TL set up and just want to go offensively. Not bad if you were using your focuses on the attack anyway.

Blaster turret I can agree though... it's always an uphill struggle for this as it's essentially Action: attack with this turret in the combat phase. Only ship that can reliably give out two focus tokens for attacking and spending is the HWK. And even setting up Kyle to feed a blaster turret locks down an entire HWK to make that happen. There's gotta be a better way and hopefully in the future, a better turret.

Isn't expose overcosted? Why not throw it on the upcoming Decimator which has no agility anyway?

Yes, it's overcosted, and still not worth it even on the Decimator. Mostly because getting an extra dice is, believe it or not, generally not as good as getting a Focus or TL.

I don't believe in bad upgrades. I only believe in bad combinations and lacking synergies.

FFG has done an excellent job of making this game rich and varied. Almost every ship is awesome in its own way. But there have been a few upgrades that I would pretty much avoid. Some because they are just bad (for their points) and others.

Marksmanship

Expose

Blaster Turret

AutoBlaster

I like what Cremate said above.

I like to keep an open mind and guard against writing off upgrades with conventional wisdom or 'group think', especially with all the new stuff coming out. I am constantly surprised at different combos and synergies when playing pick up games, real or Vassal.

Have you ever faced Horton Slam carrying a Blaster Turret with Jan Ors in support? Brutal.

Expose is not bad on Han, when you also have C3PO. It allows your list to be tailor to take on all enemies.

So if you really want that 5 dice shot to damage a phantom, or just decide to use 4 dice. It gives you the option and it also deters others from coming within range 1 of you, when they know you have it.

Expose is not bad on Han, when you also have C3PO. It allows your list to be tailor to take on all enemies.

So if you really want that 5 dice shot to damage a phantom, or just decide to use 4 dice. It gives you the option and it also deters others from coming within range 1 of you, when they know you have it.

Correct me if I'm wrong but, since Expose drop you to 0 agility, C3P0 only see some use at range 3 since you need to roll at least one die to activate the ability.

That is correct. It is in fact, a terrible combo.

Yep! But you don't use them at the same time. Since Expose is an action. When you choose to expose you can't use C3PO .

But remember you might be playing 5 games an have no idea what your facing, your looking to build a rounded team not an eggs in one basket team. This gives you choices no matter what you fight....

I have used this several times with Han, and yes it's a lot of points, but its a good deterent even if you never use it. People are afraid to get into range 1 with you, because of 5 dice and you get to reroll them free if you want. If not use C3PO To dodge.

Trust me I have won several games late because of expose and that 4 to 5 dice after ships have already been hit. Plus it can really help take off stealth device at range 3. It's like a mini Heavy Laser cannon, but you keep the crits and you get to re-roll if you like because of Han's ability

The problem remains that Focus is mathematically better on average than Expose offensively and doesn't cost you your agility (and thus your ability to use C-3PO) or your EPT slot.

Han Marksmanship and Gunner are a natural combo. Han HAS to deal damamge every single turn to be anywhere near with his points. Evade is for Chewbacca. You give Han, who has an aggressive ability, aggressive upgrades, to increase his aggressiveness. You pair defensive upgrades with defensive pilots, to increase their durability.

Autoblaster is NEVER worth it for the points, because it costs 9 points. Yes, 9. Minimum of 9 points. Because you MUST have an Engine Upgrade for it to ever be any sort of reliable. It MAY have a place on the YT-2400, as it has the large-base barrel roll for free, but not likely.

Blaster Turret is another Upgrade that requires additional upgrades to make it effective. In this game, any card that requires more upgrades are characteristically weak. IE the HWK-290, Y-wing, (and one of my favorite ships) the TIE Bomber.

Expose is mathematically disastrous. I have only ever seen it used effectively in one match on Darth Vader. I have seen that combo at least 3 other times and those players wished they had taken another upgrade. It is too expensive and costs an action, making it less reliable than 3 dice with focus. For instance:

3 dice without focus yields a 12.5% chance to yield all hits

3 dice with focus yields a 42.2% chance to yield all hits

4 dice without focus yields 6.25% chance to yield all hits, and the same 12.5% chance to yield at least 3.

IF you can get four dice with focus (Wait, most ships CAN at Range 1), it has a 31.6% chance to yield 4 hits.

You will get more hits more consistently by taking focus as your action instead of Expose, in any situation. With Focus, you have 25% higher chance on each die to yield a hit, and when you multiply the probability, you are over three times as likely to get three hits on three dice with focus than you are on four unmodified dice.

Yes! That is true, but Focus is just hits. With Expose you get criticals. Which can be vital at certain points in the game.

Criticals are the bane to any ship without shields or after they have been weakened. I'll take my chances at getting a critical hit by rolling extra dice then just a standard hit, that people laugh about.

People don't take Expose because of the math. They take it because they like the extra damage potential, not the most likely results. It doesn't mean it's a bad card, just that it doesn't fit your playstyle. I don't use, but I can understand why some would. Despite all the math, the dice are still a part of the game. Some people just like to gamble on the dice being hot.

FFG has done an excellent job of making this game rich and varied. Almost every ship is awesome in its own way. But there have been a few upgrades that I would pretty much avoid. Some because they are just bad (for their points) and others.

Marksmanship

Expose

Blaster Turret

AutoBlaster

Really?

I may not use these very much but I have seen them used, or used them myself, very successfully.

- Just had Luke blown away by a TIE Interceptor using MARKSMANSHIP.

- Watched my Y-wing and B-wing get stripped out by a pair of TIE Interceptors, one with PTL and the vother with Expose.

- My most successful tourney build uses Ibtisam with AUTOBLASTER.

- Had better than average success with Kyle Katarn (or Roark Garnett)+ Recon Specialist + Blaster Turret + Moldy Crow.

Yeah, you can get lucky with a gamble on Expose, but it's still a bad card, because there are several other options for the same or lower cost that have better effects and are not a gamble at all.

Yeah, you can get lucky with a gamble on Expose, but it's still a bad card, because there are several other options for the same or lower cost that have better effects and are not a gamble at all.

I wouldn't run Expose if it were free. It's that bad, and it's easy to demonstrate that it's that bad, and I don't understand why so many players want to love it so much.

The other upgrades in the OP are at least situationally good. Marksmanship has a role on any pilot who can reliably expect to make multiple attacks per round, Blaster Turrets need action stacking but are the only way to go right now for a damage-focused Y-wing or HWK build, and Autoblaster needs positioning control and a high-Agility target, but it's a silver bullet if you're in that particular situation.

Marksmanship + Ten Numb.

Marksmanship + Ten Numb.

IMO an example of the sunk costs fallacy in action, but it's useful if you want/need to damage a ship that you're unlikely to hit with a generic 3 Attack.

The problem with Ten, if I can drift a bit far afield, is that his ability only works if you generate at least one critical hit and would otherwise miss (that is, if all hits and crits would otherwise be canceled). And that creates a pricing problem, too: I think his cost is reasonable or even a bargain in a metagame that includes lots of high-Agility ships but 2 points overpriced in the general case.

Basically his ability is powerful but narrow, and as a result his value fluctuates while his cost remains fixed. Adding Marksmanship puts half of that equation under your control (because he's very likely to generate a crit), but you still can't control or even reliably predict what you'll face in a competitive format, which means Ten still feels frustratingly unreliable to me even after Marksmanship--and now he costs 34+ points.