If you are willing to sacrifice the VI, you could probably try out something like, say Predator on the EPT slot AND put sensor jammer, so you can have your cloak + evade + focus + sensor jammer

I love this idea! Unorthodox, but it sounds effective. Would you give "Echo" Stygium Particle Accelerator instead, or do you think Advanced Cloaking Device is worth more?

When it comes to Echo, ACD allows you to trigger Echo's ability every single turn, which is what you want, because that's the point of using Echo in the first place.

list building with Echo is more interesting, because you want to capitalize on your opponent feverishly concentrating on Echo to let you slip in something else that is equally devastating, like maybe a Ruthless Turr or a TIE Defender or 2 sigmas or massed alphas, etcetc, that he wouldnt notice is dangerous until he has already taken the hit from them

If you are willing to sacrifice the VI, you could probably try out something like, say Predator on the EPT slot AND put sensor jammer, so you can have your cloak + evade + focus + sensor jammer

There are 2 situations where I find certain ships must have certain upgrades. Other than that, I'm pretty flexible on upgrades

1. Named Phantoms must always have Veteran Instincts

2. A-wings and Interceptors must always have Push the Limit

So I know I created this post asking about what to change up in the Sensor Slot, but with the Decimator coming next week(being optimistic here), I feel obligated to ask about taking Mara Jade on a Phantom. Would you and if so, why or why not? I personally am quite happy with Gunner, though the thought of Navigator does cross my mind every now and then

So I know I created this post asking about what to change up in the Sensor Slot, but with the Decimator coming next week(being optimistic here), I feel obligated to ask about taking Mara Jade on a Phantom. Would you and if so, why or why not? I personally am quite happy with Gunner, though the thought of Navigator does cross my mind every now and then

It is extremely dangerous to get your phantom within range 1 of anybody, even TIEs and Z95s become extremely dangerous when their primary attack value jumps from 2 to 3.

Tactician or Rebel Captive would probably be a much better option if you wish for your Phantom to have some added utility

If you are willing to sacrifice the VI, you could probably try out something like, say Predator on the EPT slot AND put sensor jammer, so you can have your cloak + evade + focus + sensor jammer

There are 2 situations where I find certain ships must have certain upgrades. Other than that, I'm pretty flexible on upgrades

1. Named Phantoms must always have Veteran Instincts

2. A-wings and Interceptors must always have Push the Limit

honestly I have a huge list of this. eg. Whisper MUST have VI / FCS / ACD, Echo MUST have ACD / Recon Spec (VI not as important since PS8 will be defeated by a lot of stuff out there, so I feel it is better to use the EPT slot for other stuff like Lone Wolf or Outmaneuver or Ruthlessness, etcetc)

but since we are trying out new stuff over here, well no point sticking to these lists

So I know I created this post asking about what to change up in the Sensor Slot, but with the Decimator coming next week(being optimistic here), I feel obligated to ask about taking Mara Jade on a Phantom. Would you and if so, why or why not? I personally am quite happy with Gunner, though the thought of Navigator does cross my mind every now and then

For phantoms, gunner, recon specialist, navigator, Tactician, rebel captive are better options

If you are willing to sacrifice the VI, you could probably try out something like, say Predator on the EPT slot AND put sensor jammer, so you can have your cloak + evade + focus + sensor jammer

There are 2 situations where I find certain ships must have certain upgrades. Other than that, I'm pretty flexible on upgrades

1. Named Phantoms must always have Veteran Instincts

2. A-wings and Interceptors must always have Push the Limit

The problem with this line of thinking for any ship is you end up painting yourself into a design corner. If you ONLY run certain ships a certain way, your build and the way you play them becomes predictable. Not only that but you lose out of a lot of potential synergy. Instead of thinking, this ship needs this upgrade to function, try in what situations would upgrade x work on ship y.

I LOVE running Royal Guard Pilots with Opportunist. It's one point more than a Sigma, with 3 more PS, better action bar, more reliable on defense and a MUCH better dial. It's tradeoff is that it's a bit more fragile.

VI on a named Phantom is also situational in my opinion. Take Echo for example. VI on Echo is pretty useless against PS 1-5 and PS 9-12. It's only really useful against PS 6-7 and kind of useful against PS 8. But, how often do you see PS 6-8? How often do you see PS 6-8 on a repositional ship? Not to mention that the higher you go in PS on a Phantom, the higher the chance of your opponent being able to dictate where you decloak. Freeing up that EPT gives you more opportunities to take better ones. Outmaneuver on Echo is pretty nice. You could even put Decoy on Echo to swap PS with another ship on your team that has PS 9+.

The problem with conventional wisdom is that it's conventional. Pretty much everyone thought that R2D2 crew was terrible. Then everyone found out that it isn't. It's good to try out crazy things. Sure a lot of the time you come up with nothing, but sometimes you come across something amazing. That's one reason I REALLY like Sable's posts. He's always trying out new, crazy and amazing things that no one tried because they're all stuck on the "one true way" of list design.

Determination has 0 benifit for a ship with 2 hull, and elusiveness on echo is just a bad idea.

Get a stress, no decloak with advanced cloak

In echos case firing on a 8, is much more useful than a 6, and way more beneficial over determination, and elusiveness which only hinders her more

Actually, no! I've run Elusiveness on Echo a couple times, and it has been very effective.

I've actually been messing around with Advanced Sensors on Phantoms for two reasons.

1. Guaranteed actions: I've been using Stygium Particle Accelerator instead of ACD lately and if they block you when you're not cloaked.... The Phantom's toast without Advanced Sensors but with it you can just Cloak (and evade with SPA) and bump them and then murder them on the next turn. Also it allows you to bump into lower PS turret ships (Chewie, HWKs & Y-Wings) to deny them a shot when you want to shoot something else anyways.

2. Also I've been experimenting with PTL on Echo, which is awesome as long as you do it before your move so that you clear the stress immediately (Cloak + Focus or Barrel Roll + Focus) and adds more options to your tactics. Honestly I find that the ability to Cloak, evade, and Focus (I also use Recon Specialist) and have a Phantom sitting on 4 Agility with two focus (yay RecSpec) and evade (yay SPA) with no stress (yay PTL + AdvSen) is a good way to setup for slipping around a flank and murdering something.

I'm also incorporating other ships carrying Intelligence Agents because the only major problem I've run into is high PS arc dodgers (i.e. Soontir, VI Whisper, etc...).

The full list I'm testing is here.

Determination has 0 benifit for a ship with 2 hull, and elusiveness on echo is just a bad idea.

Get a stress, no decloak with advanced cloak

In echos case firing on a 8, is much more useful than a 6, and way more beneficial over determination, and elusiveness which only hinders her more

Actually, no! I've run Elusiveness on Echo a couple times, and it has been very effective.

Can't use Advanced cloak if you have that equipped

A decent player will shred echo with elusiveness on her.

Also makes her moves much more predictable.

For what you get from elusiveness, not worth it.

A few have already touched on a few of system slot differences, but here is my take on them.

Fire Control System is a great way to boost your average damage throughout the game. It pairs well with gunner due to the potential of rolling two attacks each turn. It also helps you get actions in situations where you are stressed or blocked. The most offensive system upgrade.

Advanced Sensors is a great all around system upgrade that helps you not get blocked as easily...especially with Echo. I've seen some top tier players choose this on their Whisper to great effect. They don't always need it, but it's amazing to have in various situations. Great all around upgrade (offensive/defensive applications).

Sensor Jammer is by far the most defensive upgrade, but like others have said, you have to have the squad to make it work (ie. blocking w/ TIEs).

If you are looking for the most defensive phantom (because it's already an offensive powerhouse) I'd stick with Sensor Jammer or try out Adv. Sensors. Adv. Sensors' utility can be the key to completely arc dodging ships or getting out of those tough to de-cloak situations. The key though to making your phantom more defensive is to look at the crew upgrade. If you are using Adv. Sensors or Sensor Jammer, I'd look at using Rebel Captive (for deterrence) or Recon Specialist.

That good Phantom player I was talking about favors Whisper + VI + ACD + Recon Specialist + Adv. Sensors.

If you don't need a focus on offense you are sitting with 3 focus tokens and 4 agility after a successful hit...just a beast to chew through that with normal damage. Even if you spend your focus on offense, you have two left for defense. Highly defensive set up with the utility to help prevent blocking.

If you want to go ALL OUT Defense, I suggest Recon Specialist with Sensor Jammer. On a whisper you could sit with 3 focus/4 Agi on the D and forcing them to use up focus to get that added damage through. And like previous posters said, if you have something like this and they are trying to burn through your Sensor Jammer, the rest of your list needs to light them up when their tokens are gone.

If Recon Specialist isn't your thing, Rebel Captive is a solid choice. It doesn't prevent damage though, just deters it until later. If you analyze the 2014 World's Final Match and listen to Paul's choice of who to attack first, he goes after Morgan's mini swarm first because of the Rebel Captive on Whisper. Lesson here is that if you are using Rebel Captive, capitalize on the situation by making your other ships just as beastly to take down or put your opponent in situations where they are forced to make a tough decision through your flying tactics or other list choices.

Determination has 0 benifit for a ship with 2 hull, and elusiveness on echo is just a bad idea.

Get a stress, no decloak with advanced cloak

In echos case firing on a 8, is much more useful than a 6, and way more beneficial over determination, and elusiveness which only hinders her more

Actually, no! I've run Elusiveness on Echo a couple times, and it has been very effective.

Giving a stress to echo is a bad idea.

Can't use Advanced cloak if you have that equipped

A decent player will shred echo with elusiveness on her.

Also makes her moves much more predictable.

For what you get from elusiveness, not worth it.

Eh, YMMV. As I've said, I've had good use of it, and the guy I've run it against is certainly no slouch. I'll agree it isn't something you want to pop constantly, but good for, say, staving off a death blow.

I just don't think elusiveness is all that great

Not something I ever see on the Table, and not something I hear people talk about.

Your giving yourself a stress to make your opponent to reroll a dice

Which has about 50% chance to roll a hit, so you get a stress and possibly still get hit.

On a ship that is probably the last ship in the game that you want to stress.

She really is deasly

She's a cross between a weasley and a dursley?

Typo on my phone.does it every time

Stupid SmartPhone!

I miss the Adv Sens + Stygian interaction. It made a much more fun to fly (and not as defensively powerful) phantom and made the lower PS phantoms viable. I understand why the rules kept if from working but wish one of the cards would get an errata to somehow make the combo viable. It made the phantom into a much more reactive flyer rather than predictive and was just as fragile against turrets as regular interceptors. It. Was. Fun.

What about experimental interface advanced sensors and marksman on echo. Clear the stress so you aren't as vulnerable next turn and packs a punch. A bonus to entering engagement while cloaked getting multiple actions and maneuverability so taking out lower PS ships becomes very easy.

Would suffer to named PS interceptors and to Han but could wipe out support by itself

Experimental interface would take the place of Advance Cloaking Device, leaving you uncloaked for the entire turn. Not worth the risk. Dash will light you up with 4 red dice(5 with Jan), and your get to roll 2-3 greens

Plus you get stress