Hey all, I'm sure you know me as a big fan of the A-Wing, particularly Green Squadron pilots for their low cost and high flexibility while also having the option for EPTs, and now they can have two! This got me thinking to the last few waves, which have released lots of interceptor type ships with interesting premises... but no generic pilots which can take advantage of the new EPT's that we keep seeing with wave after wave. I'll be honest, I wasn't expecting them for the Phantom, but I sure as heck was for the Defender and I was -very- surprised when there wasn't an E-Wing or a Z-95 option. Now we're seeing more of the Scum ships, and both the Z-95 and Y-Wings don't have this capability, though I do give credit for having EPT's on three of the uniques and having Illicit upgrade slots on the Z's, which is superb.

I know we haven't even seen the majority of what Wave 6 will bring us, but this makes me somewhat concerned for the future of the game because of the lack of diversity in pure single ship lists or messing around with the prospects of EPT's on otherwise average pilots, but I'm starting to really think it's not going to be a thing we're ever going to see again.

It sort of makes sense to keep EPT generics limited to basic Tie Fighters and Interceptors as those pilots would have the most experience and training dedicated solely to dog-fights. The bomber pilot has to have training in delivering the ordinance on the right target while the X-wing pilot is trained in a variety of scenarios as it is a multi-role fighter. The A-wing fluff wise only attacks fighters, (with the exception of the kamikaze in the bridge of the executor) And most veteran aces still prefer TIE/ln over Interceptors as that is the fighter they are familiar with and gotten the most kills with. OF course everyone knows that the royal guard will only accept the best.

So keeping EPTs off of basic generics make sense. Not every Unique has to have one, also it is okay to allow a few generics (but only a few) to get an EPT. After all a rookie won't have the experience needed to gain a trick in a dog fight coming straight out fresh from the academy.

At 30:49 they say the M3-A Interceptor will have an elite generic. That's probably the PS5 version.

I think we'll eventually see some elite generics for Defenders, E-wing, etc. There's a lot they can do with Aces and Most Wanted style expansion packs. For FFG it has to be much easier to add a few new pilots and upgrades to an existing ship than to develop a new one from scratch. It also keeps older ships relevant along side newer expansions which, according to this interview, is something they feel is important.

What's an EPT?

elite pilot talent

It's the upgrade cards with the picture of a medal on them

Elite pilot talent

I love them, especially for the Empire. To me the Empire is supposed to be faceless (and probably cheaper). But that doesn't mean that some of the pilots aren't good. It just means that they are going to get killed anyway.

I would really like to see an EPT on Defender. Partially because I don't like the unique pilot abilities for either of the named pilots. But also because (even more than the TIE Advanced, and TIE Interceptor) the TIE Defender is the ship the Empire gives to their best pilots. No one graduates from the Academy and gets put into a TIE Defender. Actually the real reason I want the EPT is so that I can spend 3 points on Predator rather than 7 points on HLC, on my cheap(ish) Defenders.

I love them, especially for the Empire. To me the Empire is supposed to be faceless (and probably cheaper). But that doesn't mean that some of the pilots aren't good. It just means that they are going to get killed anyway.

I would really like to see an EPT on Defender. Partially because I don't like the unique pilot abilities for either of the named pilots. But also because (even more than the TIE Advanced, and TIE Interceptor) the TIE Defender is the ship the Empire gives to their best pilots. No one graduates from the Academy and gets put into a TIE Defender. Actually the real reason I want the EPT is so that I can spend 3 points on Predator rather than 7 points on HLC, on my cheap(ish) Defenders.

Definitely a ship that would be great as a generic with EPT

Thanks. Ah Acronyms.

Now that I know what they are, I would like to see more generics without EPT.

Using wwii stats, something like 95% of kills in a squad/gruppe/chutai ect would be gotten by the "aces" which accounts for maybe 3% of the pilots.

In a galaxy, the percentages would be even greater... 1 in a million.

I like the way it's broken down as is. The A-wing, from what I understand, was super hard to fly. So if you made it through a few missions you were practically an ace, even though you were just a greenie. That means the named pilots for the a-wing were essentially gods only limited by their ships, which now shows with the addition of jake and Gemmer. Excellent pilots.

And the royal gaurd is obvious. they're essentially special forces, working security detail.

Was also surprised not to see an EPT on the Onyx Defender (and, quite frankly, PS values of 2 & 4 on the generics).

The Defender pilots are supposed to be elites before they're even allowed into the ship.

Was also surprised not to see an EPT on the Onyx Defender (and, quite frankly, PS values of 2 & 4 on the generics).

The Defender pilots are supposed to be elites before they're even allowed into the ship.

I tend to see the generic pilot skill values as though it's their first time in that ship.

The first time you hop into a defender, you're gonna be a little less skilled than the defender pilots with a few missions under their belt.

An ace in an interceptor will have be a little less skilled in the defender his first time in the cockpit.

The Z95 didn't get a genric becuase ept with missiles is pretty strong and it would make the missile slot useless on Awings. Not that its super useful now, but Awings are unique as cheap, genric, ept missile chuckers, and before rebel aces, that's all they were good for.

E-Wings have droid and system slots - thats a lot of customization power - even for the PS1 pilots.

Tie Defenders are more limited.

I want to see an EPT for Onyx and for Gamma pilots.

EPT generics do add a unique flavor, and I love to use them in support roles with epts like wingman. That said I think the only addition to the ranks I'd like to see is a "Rogue squadron" x wing to replace the red squadron. X wings are a little overcosted as is and I think being able to take an ept would bump them back up.

There's plenty of elite pilots within Green and Rogue squadron in the books, so EPTs make sense for them. Just because FFG only made a few of the named pilots from each squadron doesn't mean thats all there was.

There really should be a ps 5 Rogue Squadron Pilot generic with an EPT, so I can pretend Nrin Vakil and Ibtisam are out on a date killing Imperials.

EPT generics do add a unique flavor, and I love to use them in support roles with epts like wingman. That said I think the only addition to the ranks I'd like to see is a "Rogue squadron" x wing to replace the red squadron. X wings are a little overcosted as is and I think being able to take an ept would bump them back up.

I wish the Transport had come with a Rogue Squadron Pilot, PS6, EPT, around 25 pts.

...actually, I wish it would have come with two of them.

EPT generics do add a unique flavor, and I love to use them in support roles with epts like wingman. That said I think the only addition to the ranks I'd like to see is a "Rogue squadron" x wing to replace the red squadron. X wings are a little overcosted as is and I think being able to take an ept would bump them back up.

I wish the Transport had come with a Rogue Squadron Pilot, PS6, EPT, around 25 pts.

...actually, I wish it would have come with two of them.

Seriously! I was surprised that it didn't, it seemed like such an obvious thing to do.

God, could you imagine the fan outrage if the Transport came with a new generic X-wing?

No, sorry, I'm glad it didn't. Let's wait for a new Rebel Aces or Rebel Most Wanted type pack.

Having to buy multiple transports to get enough generic rouhe squad pilots would suck. Imperial Aces has a similar issue with Royal Guard pilots. In order to be able to run any 4 generic interceptors, you need to buy no less than 8 interceptors. That's really annoying.

God, could you imagine the fan outrage if the Transport came with a new generic X-wing?

No, sorry, I'm glad it didn't. Let's wait for a new Rebel Aces or Rebel Most Wanted type pack.

Agreed, The torches and pitchforks are already too many and too bloodthirty

Though I wish they could add a unique card that allowed you an ept but super expensive so they could only be one and you'd have to pay out the exhaust port for it.

I also feel the lack of generic EPTs is atleast in part due to the concentrated push for quality not quantity lists.

Pedant's Corner: There is no such thing as an "elite pilot talent" in this game.

They are called "elite talents".

EPT is obviously the common acronym used, but it was invented by players.

Carry on.

Now on topic: Seeing as pilots with mid-range Pilot Skills are generally not that useful, I think it's a great idea to give them elite talent slots and hope we see a lot of them in future releases.