So MJ, when I was listening to the cast you said that you don't think the ability to boost or barrel roll on low ps ships is of that much value because you won't be able to arc dodge. I agree with that statement, but I think you missed the other value that boost and barrel roll brings. The PS 1 ship is a extremely effective blocker. I think you may want to consider adjusting your math to reduce there effectiveness of the boost and Barrel roll on PS 3 to 6. Ships in that PS range aren't very good blockers, and they aren't very good at arc dodging either.

It's a difficult problem to model and you can argue it either way. The fundamental problem with the PS bid is that it is completely meaningless in a particular matchup if you are +10PS or +1PS over the other guy. higher is higher. So from a high-level meta standpoint, I'm going to stick with my formula for cost*(1 + (PS+EPT)/24), because that seems to be working really really well to match with reality. The Delta Squadron Pilot at PS1 is arguably worth MORE in absolute terms than the PS3, but that is probably the only case where they are outright reversed.

I am currently valuing the boost action something around double at PS9 than at PS1 (it's documented in my Mathwing thread), but in the case of the Alpha Squadron Pilot I don't think it matters either way in regards to blocking. If you use Boost to block with a PS1 squint, it's now probably at range 1 of some other ship, and you have no tokens. The perils of being a glass cannon: say goodbye to 18 points. With blockers, they need to be disposable cost effective units, and the more the merrier to cover more ground.

Your completely correct with the difficulty of modeling PS. It's very match up dependent. My main point is that when you look at PS in a very general way the extreme ends of the PS polls is where the most potential is for that action. PS 1 is great as blocking/action denial, and PS 9 is best for arc dodging. It's why the mid range ships can struggle more. They have more bad match ups.

I love fleet officer with the Alpha's. When they can turtle up they become a lot less of a glass cannon.

I think A-wings are reasonably cost effective as blockers. They are not glass cannons like squints, and equally important they give slightly more brute force jousting efficiency. As a blocker that's important because you'll be up in people's faces all the time, not arc dodging, so the jousting metric becomes very important.

I do think that Prototypes at 15 points are best used as blockers not flankers. That's how I was using them in the 58 Dash + Bandit + 2 Protos list.

And that is a nasty Dash build...let me tell you!