wedge is awesome, take initiative and scare the pants off phantoms.

Wedge doesn't scare a PS9 phantom. Especially if you take initiative. You let them see where you go and then they get to move. Any player who leaves Wedge with a shot on the Phantom is playing it wrong.

The fix for Wedge is simple. His Pilot ability becomes. When attacking reduce the defender's agility by 1. The defender does not roll additional defence dice at range 3.

Phantoms cannot shoot and avoid fire that good. IF they don't shoot that is good for me, if I get shots before they cloak that is also good for me. If you read the other thread about taking initiative apparently people also want to give away initiative to move last...so it is pretty easy. My current list is Wedge and Keyan (VI) at ps9 and Hobbie (R3A2) at ps5 to stress things (and other upgrades to about 97 points).

edit: i really want initiative to avoid giving Whisper an extra focus and to potentially keep one of my ships alive.

So you have completely missed the point.

If you are playing someone who, when you have initiative, allows his Whisper+VI Phantom to be uncloaked at range 1 of your Wedge he is playing the game wrong. He moves after you. Thus if he is cloaked, he can decide either to decloak and move, and thus be out of your firing arc - he may then either recloak (should he be unable to get completely out of arc) or perform any other action if he is, otherwise he could just not decloak and stay out of arc. Either decision he makes, he is doing it after you have moved. So you don't get to react and move Wedge/Keyan.

Even if you are playing a lower PS Phantom, Wedge still lacks manoeuvrability in the Activation phase. He can't react to the decloaking Phantom to guarantee a shot. This is the root of the issue with him. He is expensive, and can't reposition in the activation phase without being MORE expensive.

This hypothetical Phantom is strange, I can cover my arcs. I will be trying Wedge with out EU, to see if that matters soon.

Wedge - marksmanship

Etahn A'baht - R2D2

Jan Ors- Ion Cannon Turret

2 more points to spend.

Not very exciting, but can clear targets in a hurry.

Wedge still kicks ass if played well.

How to play Wegde well?

Ask Biggs.

All this talk about Wedge getting out maneuvered is assuming the player isn't smart enough to cover his liabilities. If I need to cover Wedges blind spot, I have Corran, Dash, Keyan, or whatever for that. Even with the cloak action, a Phantom can still be predicted, just not as easily as a normal ship. It's up to the opposing player to make the good guesses that give him the highest probability.

All this talk about Wedge getting out maneuvered is assuming the player isn't smart enough to cover his liabilities. If I need to cover Wedges blind spot, I have Corran, Dash, Keyan, or whatever for that. Even with the cloak action, a Phantom can still be predicted, just not as easily as a normal ship. It's up to the opposing player to make the good guesses that give him the highest probability.

This.

While Wedge while less maneuverable than some of your other assets what he brings to the table is Area Denial.

Outside of a ship with Rebel Captive why would you knowingly place a ship within his Firing Arc?

Toss in Outmaneuver and your opponent will do everything the can to stay outside of it or face him.

Use Decoy. Have him shoot later; Nera + Flechette or Ion Torpedo at PS9? Wes + Outmaneuver? Blount + Assault?

His Mobility may be lacking without Expert Handling or R7-T1. But those 2 options are still available to him. Toss in Experimental Interface and he's the same price as Rexlar Brath (37).

So you're double Stressing him. Give him a Wingman, Biggs R2-D6 + Wingman (28).

35 points left. Corran Horn?

So what's scarier Hypermobile Wedge or a Double-Tapping Horn? A Darklighter as a wingmate for both feels pretty thematic.

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getting side tracked, Field Presence is what you're Returns are for fielding him. Same thing when somebody takes a Phantom, just having it on the field makes it a threat that either needs to avoided or dealt with instantly.

Better said than I could have.

I think the Decimator-heavy meta might also contribute. Here you have a very common ship at the moment and Wedge´s special ability simply goes to waste.

Not so much, of course against a 2 decimator build (or even a single decimator) Wedgs expensive ability along with his pilot skill really looses out. Wedge is good at shutting down C-3PO and can keep Kenkirk a sitting duck, but against Super Dash outrider and lone wolf Dash still gets an evade dice that he can reroll. 2 If at range 3 which means greater reroll advantage.

So I don't think it is so much that Wedge is poor against decimators. 3 firepower at pilot skill 9 is nothing to sneeze at when you are at agility 0. But the problem is that there are so many other large turreted ships that can shrug off wedges agility reducing ability without much of a sweat.

Wedge is devastating. I have a friend that exclusively plays rebels and wedge is in 95% of all lists he brings to the table. I think him not seeing table play is due to people having issues flying X-wings against phantoms and people now thinking X-wings suck. Once you have flown against or with phantoms enough they aren't unpredictable except for maybe echo, and even echo can be nailed down to one of just a few places. Also a phantom that doesn't decloak is a phantom that isn't shooting.