I have been giving this some thought and I can't quite make up my mind on it. Consider this situation: you are facing a PS9 Whisper build, and you also have at least one PS9 pilot. Either by build points or initiative roll, you win the choice of initiative. Do you:

A) take initiative for yourself so that your PS9 pilot can fire before Whisper, thus having the opportunity to attack before they can activate the advanced cloaking device

B) give up initiative so that Whisper is forced to move before your PS9 pilot and cannot as easily predict where they need to go. It would also allow a pilot like Soontir Fel to move last and take control of the repositioning game instead, but by firing second he will have to potentially shoot against 4 agility instead of 2.

Depends who my PS9 is, and the rest of my squad for that matter. If its Han Solo then I will shoot first, obviously , as my turret will hopefully give me shots. If is someone like Soontir then I want to move last so I can hopefully position to where I can take a shot at all.

The information advantage is powerful, but your heavy investment in Whisper really relies on that Advanced Cloaking Device to pay off. So I'd probably shoot first.

I would submit that the decision on whether or not take the Initiative must take into consideration both complete squads as well as the competency of both players. However, in most cases I would take the Initiative.

I choose shoot first because my PS9 is usually Wedge w/ R3-A2. Shooting at one agility and crippling the ACD is too good to pass up. Wedge doesn't have much in the way of reactive options anyway, so moving first isn't bad.

I choose shoot first because my PS9 is usually Wedge w/ R3-A2. Shooting at one agility and crippling the ACD is too good to pass up. Wedge doesn't have much in the way of reactive options anyway, so moving first isn't bad.

Wedge may not have movement actions, but the decloak action means that Whisper can react to Wedge. This reaction makes it less likely Wedge will get that shot. With his ability I'd almost rather wedge move last to minimize arc dodging since it reduces the benefits of being cloaked.

As said above, a lot depends on the whole squad I think.

Normally I'd say forfeit initiative, but the Phantom has near total control of where it ends up. Chances are even if they don't know where you're going they can pretty near well guess. I'd take initiative.

If the Whisper player is competent, you're really only faced with two options: do I want to move first and not shoot at all, or move last and shoot at a Phantom with four agility?

Think about this from the other side of the table. As a Phantom player, do you want to give initiative or keep it? On the one hand you know that you'll be able to dodge arcs at a whim, even if that means forfeiting an attack for the turn, and on the other you subject yourself to a roll of the dice.

imo prepare for both scenarios as none will get you an easy win.

Against a PS9 turret I'll take initiative because I'm going to get shot at if I can shoot at him, and I'd rather have 4 green dice.

Against another PS9 Phantom, Interceptor, Xwing, etc I will usually force them to have initiative. Whisper will almost always be able to position outside arcs safely.

I played a PS9 Whisper against another PS9 Whisper. I took initiative and it was a mistake. His Whisper was able to avoid my shots and took shots of his own on mine. I lost. Later, I play another list that included Fel, Jax, and Echo. I forced him to take initiative, and it made for a much easier game. I knew where Fel would be, and I could react accordingly. I never had to worry about moving and then having Fel position himself to shoot at me.

Ideally, I'd want to move last and shoot first, but that isn't an option

Against a PS9 turret I'll take initiative because I'm going to get shot at if I can shoot at him, and I'd rather have 4 green dice.

Against another PS9 Phantom, Interceptor, Xwing, etc I will usually force them to have initiative. Whisper will almost always be able to position outside arcs safely.

I played a PS9 Whisper against another PS9 Whisper. I took initiative and it was a mistake. His Whisper was able to avoid my shots and took shots of his own on mine. I lost. Later, I play another list that included Fel, Jax, and Echo. I forced him to take initiative, and it made for a much easier game. I knew where Fel would be, and I could react accordingly. I never had to worry about moving and then having Fel position himself to shoot at me.

Ideally, I'd want to move last and shoot first, but that isn't an option

This exact thinking is how I was able to kill VI Echo with Corran one game. I won the roll and made him take initiative. Since the E wasn't in formation with the Xs I used the Xs to setup the shot. Echo moved and rolled to avoid arcs like the boss he is, but then Corran broke off from the bounty hunter my opponent thought I was trying to finish. Instead, I had range 2 shots on that poor phantom. Corran's double shot killed echo. Had I taken initiate because I was afraid of the 2 dodge dice that trap wouldn't have worked.

Depends. With Soontir Fel or Vader Move second. With Wedge or Han Shoot first.

I love flying Rebel and my heart says shoot first.

But my head says move last. I fly Wedge a lot. If the Phantom moves first, then he is less likely to be able to adjust his movements based on where Wedge is. Then even if the Phantom shoots first and recloaks, Wedge's ability reduces the Phantom's evade dice to an even 3 on 3, and I played against a Phantom today and psychologically proved to myself that even cloaked I can hit the phantom's 4 evade dice with 3 attack dice (E-wing on Phantom), so Wedge's odds are good.

If I was flying Soontir Fel I'd still want to move last because the name of the game in TIE Fighter is using your maneuverability to be outside their fire arcs.

With Han and his lovable flying Hippo I'd shoot first because there is no way I'm getting out of that arc anyway, and there isn't any way the Phantom is getting out of my arc (unless he runs so far he can't shoot me either).

Just work in a PS10 through a VI and you have the question answered! I like running 8, 9, 10 in three ship squadrons!

Try Wes Janson (29) + Veteran Instincts (2) + Engine Upgrade (4) + R3 A2 (2) (=36 Points). You will always move after Whisper, have the ability to react to wherever Whisper ends up, and make it harder for the Phantom to defend- or make it easier for your own teammates to defend. Also: if Wes isn't stressed, Wes can take a stress and give one to Whisper. Even with Advanced Cloaking Device, a stressed Phantom can't cloak.

Don't depend of luck, go with the option of reduce your ponts and get the iniciative, greettings.

Ya this is more about the descsion the phantom player makes, since they are probably playing 97-98 pts with whisper. You want to have initiative for acd and run an information broker or w/e its called to spy on the ps9 movement dial. Against Han it will only do so much (han gunner is of course the phantom counter) but may allow you to stay at range 3. Against wedge you'll laugh at him. Another whisper knowing their dial is still actually pretty good since alot of the time their manuever they chose may only give them a shot from one decloak. Kinda depends. Against fel you have to calculate the boost/roll after and he may still be a pain.