I ask, and state, due to their stupidly awesome stats and so on. They're not as agile as a TIE but they've got a friggin' white K turn, 3s across the board, and you can equip some uber nasty stuff.

I'd venture to say that this thing would be a good entry ship for Rebels wanting to play Empire? What say you?

We don't want em! We'll never get the smell of pachouli and sage out of that cockpit!

If you're used to rebel{scum} the empire is just so different. Hard to compare ships. Closest is probably awing and interceptor/ Xwing and advanced. Starts getting pretty mushy after that.

X-wing and firespray have some similarities as well, but are still very different. Still, I could see the Defender being a good transitional ship.

My prediction for the Tie Defender............What ever shelve you have stored your Advances on,make room.

We already have that in a Firespray.

My prediction for the Tie Defender............What ever shelve you have stored your Advances on,make room.

But your card folder will be full of copies of Predator!

I don't want to fly bounty hunter scum. The TIE Defender is a sexy piece of Imperial equipment with a smaller base and a white K-Turn. I can change directions in the space of nearly a dime, fire secondary weapons "out the back", and can squeak by asteroids without a care. Stealth devices also actually matter on this ship. My High skill pilot has an incredible ability and I have only the essential upgrades that I need. Only thing missing is a Systems slot, but you can't have everything. Hard 1 and Hard 2 are red, but you won't miss them as much with your White K-turn or Barrel rolling out of a turn-3.

It's expensive, but if you treat it right and the dice don't betray you it won't let you down.

I don't get the tie/a hate sure they are a bit undergunned but Vader hasn't let me down once, and I think it's way too soon to declare the defender dead people have only just started to learn to fly them.

I agree. I find it odd when people seem to be keen to dismiss things just because they arent the most effective / easiest to win with. I love the different ships in this game and the last thing I want to do is rule some out. Then again playing this game to win all the time and be as good as possible also strikes me as a peculiar way to approach this kind of hobby

I love the Tie Defender!
Have flown 3 matches with one.

And have 3-0 with it.

In my second game I had Rexler with HLC and 2 other PS 8 pilots.

And still my opponent flew a 3 X-wing squad with 8PS and had initiative.

That was when I reliazed that I could have picked the PS1 Defender and have 7 points over

to other stuff. After that I played with the Delta Pilot with ps 1 and was sucessfull with that aswell.

I don't get the tie/a hate sure they are a bit undergunned but Vader hasn't let me down once, and I think it's way too soon to declare the defender dead people have only just started to learn to fly them.

I like the Tie Advanced, its a fine ship but it is over costed.

Makes a good bomber escort a d will be mean once we get proton missiles.

As for the defender, I can't wait to get a game in with it, I only have the one atm but got another two incoming :-)

Just can't wait to have all three on the table Mmmmmm so sexy

I don't get the tie/a hate sure they are a bit undergunned but Vader hasn't let me down once, and I think it's way too soon to declare the defender dead people have only just started to learn to fly them.

Actually did okay with three of them at my local game store (ran a game night kit even last night - the one with the B-wing alternate art cards)

They did okay - I played the eventual event winner and even he was getting quite irked with how hard the **** things are to kill.

I think proton rockets will do them a lot of good but they're better than people generally give them the credit for.

Still wish they have a hard speed '1' turn, though...

They do have a hard 1, it's just red, not unlike the B-wing, only we have better everything else on the Defender.

They do have a hard 1, it's just red, not unlike the B-wing, only we have better everything else on the Defender.

He's talking about the Advanced.

Love this ship, I've used it in about 4 or 5 games now and it's a total game changer, shrugs off so many attacks and dishes out a lot of hurt, no way is it relegated to the advance shelf

I don't get the tie/a hate sure they are a bit undergunned but Vader hasn't let me down once, and I think it's way too soon to declare the defender dead people have only just started to learn to fly them.

I think the thing with Vader isn't that he is bad, just that what he does well others do better for cheaper, AND he lacks a punch on top of that.

While its true he typically makes it to the end game, that isn't necessarily indicative that he is good. Just that he is either durable or not worth targeting. Or even if he is good, its possible that another ship could have done everything he did but better.

And while Vader is fine, that's only because HE has an amazing ability to make up for his lackluster ship. The other advanced pilots have no such benefit. They're just...bad. Which is sad, because the pilot from Tie Fighter is one of my favorite SW characters ever.

AND HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN THE DEFENDER, GOSH DANG IT! (ok, really he is known for flying the Avenger, but MY memories in here were always in the defender)

The defender is a great ship. What I'm still not sure about is if it's worth the cost.

A common build proposed for the defender is a Delta Squad (PS1) + HLC. That's 37 points.

What can we get for that?

Soontir Fel + PTL + Hull Upgrade + Targeting Computer is 35 points

Echo + ACD + VI + Tactician is 37 points

Two Academy Ties + One Obsidian Tie is 37 points.

Does the defender match up well against these possibilities?

Take Soontir, for example. Soontir with hull upgrade may survive longer due to his ability to move last against most lists, and PTL let's him take a focus + evade. The defender does not have an evade action, which means it is 100% at the mercy of its green dice rolls, unlike every other ship I've listed. Barrel roll and boost with an incredible green dial makes his movement less predictable and more flexible than the base defender. The ability to focus and target lock means that his damage may be more consistent than the defender's.

Ultimately, I think we need to consider the opportunity cost to truly weigh the defender's value. Of course the defender will do well in combat with 3s across the board and a white k-turn, so I'm not surprised to see people happy with it's combat capacity. But is it really cost-effective?