Can anyone make the case for Elusiveness?

Can anyone make the case for Elusiveness?

The type of upgrade you are very likely to forget you have.

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.

Ten Numb with Marksmanship has always proven to be of great use in our group. Even just having a crit thrown in on most rolls makes it a nice boost, but them being unable to avoid it makes it even better.

Now, I'm extremely fond of the combo because Carnor Jax is in every. Single. Game. In our meta. With this, Ten still gets a pseudo-offensive-focus, but better. With the possibility of direct hits or the one that takes away Jax's pilot ability, marksmanship becomes gold.

Can anyone make the case for Elusiveness?

It can be decent on a lot of X-Wings, especially with Hobbie and Porkins in the mix now. I've always liked it with R2-D2, since you're going to be performing green maneuvers anyway. Right now I'm considering an E-Wing with Elusiveness, R2-D2, and Sensor Jammer.

Can anyone make the case for Elusiveness?

It's most useful against crit-fishing pilots--Maarek, Kath, Ten Numb. Marksmanship beats it, though.

Elusiveness is fantastic on Ibtisam

Can anyone make the case for Elusiveness?

Ibtisam + Elusiveness + Sensor Jammer

The opponent attack, you change one of his hit to a focus result and can reroll another of his dice. Once you do, you gain a stress which in turn allows you to reroll your defense die if you want. That makes for a B-Wing harder to destroy, but it does cost 34pts.

, which means Ten still feels frustratingly unreliable to me even after Marksmanship--and now he costs 34+ points.

Ten was given some support to shore up his usability in the form of Etahn and, in Epic, Jan Dodonna. There's a build with him and Etahn, but it eludes me for now. Or it doesn't exist and I'm chasing a mirage.

I don't understand why so many players want to love it so much.

Because it feels so thematically good. Because exchanging evasive power for a more powerful attack just feels right. Potentially getting a mortal wound in order to strike a deadly blow on the enemy.

But the action tax is just too heavy.

That being said, I still think it's a great casual card to have fun with. Competitive? No, not by a long shot.

I would argue that there are truly no bad cards in this game. That said, the cards mentioned by the OP are harder to use properly than many others. The blaster turret in particular is very hard to justify on anything other than a HWK with Moldy Crow and Recon Specialist. Personally I would like to add some missiles and torpedoes to the list. For instance, normal proton torps are just a bit too expensive for what you get.

Sorry remembered wrong. Thought protons cost 5 pts. Nevermind. Move along, nothing to see here.

Marksmanship: You are paying 3 points and an EPT slot for adding a single Hit-Crit conversion to the free Focus action, except you can't use it defensively.
Exceptions: Marksmanship can be used across multiple attacks in a single round, and can be used against Dark Curse, Carnor Jax, and Wes Janson.

Expose: You are paying 4 points and an EPT slot and an Action and an Agility Die for a single additional attack die on your primary weapon. The problem is that it adds less expected damage than either a Focus or a Target Lock, even on a 2 die base attack.
When you already have two actions on your ship, Expose + Focus edges out Target Lock + Focus for expected damage, but it's by such a narrow margin that it's still overcosted.

Blaster Turret: You are paying 4 points and a (focus) action for a 3 Die Attack at range 1-2 with a 360* range of fire. That is actually pretty good, if you can get the second action in there. Recon Specialist is enough, but that makes it a 7 point HWK-only upgrade, at which point you should probably have just not flown a HWK.

Autoblaster: You are paying 5 points and a Cannon slot for the cannon with the worst range restriction in the game, with the weakest attack in the game, to simply negate your opponents Agility rolls.
Ships with a High Agility, against which this attack would be useful, are also more mobile than the ships that can equip this item, meaning you're highly unlikely to get into Range 1 anyway.
Against ships with 2 or 1 agility, your primary weapon with the Range 1 bonus is going to outperform it regardless.

I'd also like to throw in
Advanced Proton Torpedoes (Range restriction, double action requirement, and grossly overcosted)
Deadeye (lets you fire ordnance when you couldn't target lock your victim, but being an EPT, you will have a high enough EPT to target lock your victim anyway),

Deadeye (lets you fire ordnance when you couldn't target lock your victim, but being an EPT, you will have a high enough EPT to target lock your victim anyway),

Unless of course you play a list that passes either Focus or/and TL between ships, which makes you able to to use one of your focus tokens to fire the missile and keep your TL for rerolls.

Deadeye (lets you fire ordnance when you couldn't target lock your victim, but being an EPT, you will have a high enough EPT to target lock your victim anyway),

Unless of course you play a list that passes either Focus or/and TL between ships, which makes you able to to use one of your focus tokens to fire the missile and keep your TL for rerolls.

Except that Target Lock and Focus provide the same improvement of red-dice.

You ARE getting close to the Deadeye + Recon Specialist idea, which would be viable as a single-use Stressless Push the Limit.

Also remember that Deadeye is absolutely worthless after you've launched your missile/torpedo.

Deadeye also helps if you suddenly decide you want to shoot a different target. With target lock, you're limited to the guy you lock. With deadeye, you can use it against whoever you want

Also remember that Deadeye is absolutely worthless after you've launched your missile/torpedo.

Which might be Missiles/Torpedos and the Deadeye only costs 1 point - also your comment only refers to what you can have on the individual ship and not the potential synergies you might gain from having other named pilot/ships in your list that transfers Focus tokens or TL could allow you to have multiple Focus and a TL at the same time.

The point was actually not that I have personally made the über Deadeye list, but to point out that there are so many possible iterations and combinations and an equally endless imagination of the sum of X-Wing players, that it is difficult to claim that any specific upgrade is utterly useless.

Also remember that Deadeye is absolutely worthless after you've launched your missile/torpedo.

Your comment only refers to what you can have on the individual ship and not the potential synergies you might gain from having other named pilot/ships in your list that transfers Focus tokens or TL could allow you to have multiple Focus and a TL at the same time.

The point was actually not that I have personally made the über Deadeye list, but to point out that there are so many possible iterations and combinations and an equally endless imagination of the sum of X-Wing players, that it is difficult to claim that any specific upgrade is utterly useless.

I did intend to mention that, in the Synergy-fleets, it doesn't actually matter which action is passed to the ship with Deadeye.

If they give you a Focus, and you take a Target Lock, then great! Either way, you're shooting your ordnance!

If they give you a Target Lock, and you take a Focus, then great! Same thing as before.

Only if they give you a Focus, and you take a Boost/Barrel-Roll/Evade does Deadeye matter.

Of the Synergy ships, that's Garven or Kyle, vs the possibility of Lando, Airen, "Dutch", or a random guy with "Squad Leader".

Which might be Missiles/Torpedos and the Deadeye only costs 1 point

Actually, this is a valid point.

Before Wave 4, Bombers were the only ones that could take multiple missiles, while B-Wings and Y-Wings could also do multiple Torpedoes.

Now, Munitions Failsafe is a thing that exists.

Almost all of these upgrades are good and have some awesome uses.

Blaster Turret- I'll start here because I use to be a staunch believer in ion> blaster all day everyday. They were useless on y-wings, taking a rebel op was a wasted ship and who the hell uses kyle and roark. Jan was where it was at and all she needs is that sweet sweet ioney goodness. But then I remembered when I was kid playing dark forces 2 I wasn't playing as Jan Ors who my 8 or 9 year old self thought was the most beautiful woman ever, No I was Kyle muthafyukin Katarn, jedi knight. Kyle was a bamf and being a bamf means killing things and blowing stuff up, not disabling it with some ole ion cannon you found off the blasted remains of a y-wing. Kyle and Blaster Turret were made for each other, it's like his trusty ol 6 six shooter. Kyle and the blaster have teeth, shark teeth. Now once you add recon or crow or dear god both well now you have shark teeth surrounded by t-rex teeth with giant sabertooth tiger fangs. Once you have all that just creep up 2-4 rounds and you'll have so many focus tokens stacked up you're gonna be asking the TO if they count as an asteroid. Then who cares where you fly or what you do because you dont need actions anymore.

Deadeye-Great for low ps ordinance carriers who when they perform there action they are out of range of the tl. Is it the best? Of course not but it's 1 point and just like hookers you get what you paid for.

Auto Blaster like Auto Put On Ten Numb. That doesn't roll of the tongue very well though...

Marksmanship-Great for han, corran, things with gunner, and even Luke you nancy pants Luke needs draw there fire believers! Luke didn't blow up the deathstar by drawing there fire. That was Biggs' job and you dishonor sacrifice by making luke do it!

Expose- Now I said almost every upgrade because expose is terrible, the worst in fact! Treat expose like the plague! When you go through your upgrade cards wash your hands with boiling hot water because some of those cards you picked touched expose at some point. If you saw expose while rummaging through the upgrades immediately drop the cards and wash your eyes with a potent mixture of lemon juice and hot sauce. God have mercy on you if you ever catch yourself considering putting expose on a ship. Even if it's a 1000 point game or of you have a ship with 15 evade dice. Because once you use expose on that 15 evade dice ship you're gonna roll 14 blanks and get 1 shotted. At this point there is no turning back, you have caught yourself seriously considering the merits of expose! Unfortunately at this stage there is no cure and you are a threat to your species. You have no option but to completely immolate yourself in flames and let the burning fires purge and cleanse you of this world.

Even if it's a 1000 point game or of you have a ship with 15 evade dice. Because once you use expose on that 15 evade dice ship you're gonna roll 14 blanks and get 1 shotted.

The real irony would be to roll 14 focus....

But serously, I don't think it's the drop in agility that makes Expose bad, cause there is situations where you can shoot at someone without them firing back; it's the fact that it is activated by an action.

I'll add "Targeting Computer" but that is mostly because the only ships that can't take the TL action will generally be better served with other actions or Modifications. It may have applications on the Interceptor but doubt you'd touch it for anything else.

I want to put R5-K6 out there. It's 2 points which happens to be the same as the FCS but it works less than half the time. I'd venture that half the time it does work you either don't need the TL for next turn or you'll have a better target to shoot at anyway. I know people try to use it with Dutch and maybe a few other pilots but I generally see it as wasted points.

In many ways I agree with the original post BUT there are exceptions to almost everything. In general I'd stay away from Expose, Autoblasters and the Blaster Turret but there are a few basic exceptions.

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.

You probably are hitting. If the ship happens to have an Evade token it will get to cancel out one [crit] or a [hit]. If you roll multiple [crit] results the crit results could be cancelled by dice and the chance of an Evade token still looms.

If they give you a Focus, and you take a Target Lock, then great! Either way, you're shooting your ordnance!

If they give you a Target Lock, and you take a Focus, then great! Same thing as before.

You are missing a third important option in which you are about to shoot in the Combat Phase with up to 3 focus tokens and a Target Lock on hand.

Having Deadeye in this situation allows you use your first focus token to be allowed to fire the ordonance (in place of the TL), leaving you your actual target lock for a reroll and your second focus token to flip focus results to hits. That makes for one helluva intimidating attack. Moreso as it is potentially possible to get to fire several torpedos or missiles with this rerolls + focus for flipping in one match if your go full in with this combo.

This option does exist. It is not one I would play with, as only Rebel Scum can do this and I'm ever loyal to the Emperor. That, and I personally don't like all your eggs in one basket-list, but some players are frighteningly good at flying these sorts of all or nothing lists.

Nevertheless, even if I might not want to fly this list I could easily see someone with more imagination investing time and experiencing in making it and flying it coming up with useful synergies with Deadeye. And believe the same goes for the other nominations for useless upgrades.

Also, Unfairbanana also has an overlooked and excellent point, that being independent of target locks gives you a versatility in picking targets you won't have when having to rely on TLs without Deadeye.