Looking at the results of the recent tournaments going on around the world, would you say that Interceptors are a dying breed apart from Fel?

Before Wave 4, Interceptors were king and we saw a lot of high PS interceptors winning tournaments.

Now that has largely faded.

Curious if you think it's because people are just caught up in trying out the new ships?

Why aren't pure high PS interceptor lists taking top 8-16?

If by "king" you mean highly vulnerable and outclassed by almost every other piece on the chess board, then I agree. Otherwise, I'm not sure they were as dominant as you're making them out to be.

I think I've seen interceptors get killed with a hit and a crit(Direct Hit) one too many times...

They are cool though. 3 attack dice, very maneuverable, good dial, and they LOOK awesome too! Lots of very cool pilot abilities as well. I don't think they are dead... I just think that if the meta shifts little you will see more of them show up. I'm actually going to make it point to fly more interceptors.

I think I've seen interceptors get killed with a hit and a crit(Direct Hit) one too many times...

They are cool though. 3 attack dice, very maneuverable, good dial, and they LOOK awesome too! Lots of very cool pilot abilities as well. I don't think they are dead... I just think that if the meta shifts little you will see more of them show up. I'm actually going to make it point to fly more interceptors.

Same here, it is definitely my ship of choice.

Waaaag doesn't make this very clear, but Interceptors have never been top dog. If they'd been in wave 1 they might have been, but the Falcon has always left them psuedo crippled.

As for Fel being the only viable option, Turr Phennir outclasses him. Royal Guards are good too. Lorrir is fantastic.

But your local meta is pretty off kilter if squints were topping it.

Why aren't pure high PS interceptor lists taking top 8-16?

The current plague of Falcons. The Interceptors will come crawling back once people start breaking out the swarms to weedkill the Hans and Chewies.

In my local meta they were. A lot of players on Vassal were using them very heavily until Wave 4.

I hear Vassal is drenched in near religious adherence to "metagame wisdom." Consequently there are plenty of Falcons and thus not many TIE interceptors. Plus lovers of hypermaneuverables are probably playing Phantoms at the moment.

High level meta craves consistency and TIE interceptors live and breathe green dice. Hence, unpopular. Plus Elite interceptors die to Falcons. Interceptors have their place, but I think like the TIE defender it's not as the sole component of a squad.

I've been experimenting with alternative ship lists recently and I'm actually currently having something of an interceptor renaissance so I have to say the interceptor will be back-in my opinion in epic particularly where you can afford the relative expense over standard Ties...

But your local meta is pretty off kilter if squints were topping it.

Care to explain a bit more?

Your players are not using or misusing other ships. Squints are very easy to counter, if nobody was counterbuilding them they would look much better than they are.(Counterbuilds include Gunner, Falcons, Firesprays, other ships that utilize mobility for cheaper costs, Buzzsaws, Doom Shuttles, Ions, etc.) The only metagame Squints are top in is a metagame that doesn't have any mobility or accuracy boosting.

But your local meta is pretty off kilter if squints were topping it.

Care to explain a bit more?

I've never played in an environment where Interceptors held any major space in the meta. Soontir and Turr are always the most played, but as Aminar said, they entered the game at the same time as their biggest weakness: the Falcon. It's also strange you discount Turr, as his ability is just as huge a boon as Soontir's. Fel can sit at Range 3, make a focused attack, and stack defensive tokens for the return volley from that Turret. Turr can enter Range 3 at a shallow angle, make his attack, and then push the limit to roll/boost out.

Whenever I'm making an imperial squad and I have 25 points left I will go with Royal Guard Pilot + PTL every time over a couple academy pilots but that’s just my preference for ships with 3 attack dice

So you say Squints are easy to counter yet if I create a thread showing that I got shot at with Fel people claim I'm a terrible player?

Love it.

This is a new thread. You have (or had) a chance to redeem yourself, and didn't even respond aggressively to my first post, which was perfectly respectable. If you're really not trying to troll, I recommend you leave your baggage in those other threads.

They definitely got a lot more play when imp aces came out. I think wave 4 did kill them off to some extent for two reasons though.

1) Falcons were always tough against them, and now there are even more falcon lists out there, and with c3po they are even harder to kill

2) Phantoms are a better version of interceptors for the most part. More attack dice, more hit points, shields, even better at out maneuvering - and don't need stress to do it, and with ACD it's like permanent stealth.

Your players are not using or misusing other ships. Squints are very easy to counter, if nobody was counterbuilding them they would look much better than they are.(Counterbuilds include Gunner, Falcons, Firesprays, other ships that utilize mobility for cheaper costs, Buzzsaws, Doom Shuttles, Ions, etc.) The only metagame Squints are top in is a metagame that doesn't have any mobility or accuracy boosting.

So you say Squints are easy to counter yet if I create a thread showing that I got shot at with Fel people claim I'm a terrible player?Love it.

The player always makes the decisions that lead to the loss. Complaining about it gets you nowhere.

Data from MajorJuggler's Regionals thread:

Here's how many times each pilot appeared (approx):

(Because I had to count US separately as it was on another page, you get US numbers too)

INTERNATIONAL
Soontir Fel: 57 times. (15 in USA)

Alpha Squadron Pilot: 40 times (15 in USA)

Royal Guard Pilot: 32 times (7 in USA)
Carnor Jax: 28 times (8 in USA)
Turr Phennir: 18 times (2 in USA)
Tetran Cowall: 5 times (1 in USA)
Kir Kanos: 4 times (0 in USA)
Avenger Squadron Pilot: 2 times. (0 in USA)
Lieutenant Lorrir: 2 times. (1 in USA)
Saber Sqaudron Pilot: 1 time. (0 in USA)

Fel and Alpha are the most popular, Fel likely for the PS9 factor and Alpha as a super TIE fighter. Carnor Jax and Royal Guard Pilot are the next tier of popularity. That's most of your tournament level PTL interceptors.

Then we get a fair few Turrs and a smattering of the other pilots. Avenger and Lorrir prove unpopular, although Tetran and Kanos show up repeatedly. Fel's Wrath is naturally nowhere to be seen.

It's funny timing for this post. I just updated the wave 4 statistics in the Regional thread here:

http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/105107-2014-regionals-results/?p=1066846

I use Weighted Average of attendance / squad placement.

So the better a squad does the more heavily it is weighted, and likewise at venues with greater attendance.

Looking at only wave 4 statistics, Soontir Fel is the #6 named pilot at 2.89%. There are several ships that represent less than that, let alone individual pilots. So Fel is very good. The next squint on the list is Jax at a meager 0.24%. There are a TON of turrets out there right now, now is not a good time to be a squint.

So were you trying to provoke me?

No, I was making an observation in my usually frank manner.

I use Weighted Average of attendance / squad placement.

So the better a squad does the more heavily it is weighted, and likewise at venues with greater attendance.

Can you explain that one in a little more detail?

Because his name is Francis.

I use Weighted Average of attendance / squad placement.

So the better a squad does the more heavily it is weighted, and likewise at venues with greater attendance.

Can you explain that one in a little more detail?

Does this help?

Stats Method: weighted averaging for all Final Cut + Top Third

Unless otherwise noted, the statistics below use the following weighting method:

• All reported squads are counted that made the Final Cut, OR made it into the Top Third numerically.
• Everything is based on the number of points spent.
• The relative weighting for each squad list, and the ships/pilots/upgrades/etc in it have a weighting of:
  • weighting = (points spent) * (event attendance) / (squad placement)

sigh

I don't see much point in posting this, since this thread is destined to go down in flames once again...

I don't see why Turr, Carnor, the Royal Guards, or even the Alphas are any worse than before.

One other factor in their numbers dropped could be attributed to replacement by the phantom as well.

One other factor in their numbers dropped could be attributed to replacement by the phantom as well.

This to me seems more plausible than any other reason at this point.

I use Weighted Average of attendance / squad placement.

So the better a squad does the more heavily it is weighted, and likewise at venues with greater attendance.

Can you explain that one in a little more detail?

Does this help?

Stats Method: weighted averaging for all Final Cut + Top Third

Unless otherwise noted, the statistics below use the following weighting method:

• All reported squads are counted that made the Final Cut, OR made it into the Top Third numerically.
• Everything is based on the number of points spent.
• The relative weighting for each squad list, and the ships/pilots/upgrades/etc in it have a weighting of:
  • weighting = (points spent) * (event attendance) / (squad placement)

So, for a Soontir example, it would be weighting = (mean cost of Soontir) * (number of Fels there were) / (mean position in win rankings the Fel squads came in)?

Plus, if Alpha is ran the same amount as Soontir and its squads win the same number of times, it gets a lower ranking because it comprises less of the squad, correct?

I've been beating this drum since before imperial aces! They made a very brief resurgence because of the popularity of the bwing! Now, anything that also kills a phantom destroys them. Sadly, especially high PS interceptors, they are good phantom counters because of thier positioning prowess. Especially Turr, who with PTL, I think is the best pilot in the game.

I like Jake for the same reason.

They are one of the most exciting and best reactive ship in the game. Sadly, any better and they might be broken, but in the current environment they are really not much better than an advanced.

Never discount Fel, Turr, or RGPs... Jax and Cowall are also very efficient.

Kir and Lorrir would be tier 1 pilots if they were given EPT's... New design team prefers turret prevalence to highly maneuverable ships though. Zero anti-turret support...outmaneuver doesn't do it. Outmaneuver is nice but only heightens a weakeness instead of countering a strength.

Jax is surprisingly good against Super Falcons, Swarms, among other lists. He is my Interceptor of choice.