So as everyone knows Autothrusters are likely to bring Interceptors back into the tournament scene by letting them endure Falcons and Outriders. Most Interceptors will be balanced out by having to choose between the focus and evade actions, and if they focus they have to decide if they need it for attacking or defending (but I imagine they'll always defend with it).

Soontir Fel is not most Interceptors.

With his ability, Soontir can effectively guarantee two negated hits every turn, one for the Autothrusters and one from evade. He will have a focus token available, possibly two if he didn't need to reposition after moving. And like most Interceptors, he can dance much better than the Falcon and stay out of it's arc very easily. All Interceptors are getting a buff but Soontir is the only one that can maintain a good offence with his second focus token.

So for someone that wanted to play a YT, how would you counter the Baron?

Personally I think the best way would be to have the Falcon ignore him entirely and start shooting up his escorts, while the rest of your list relentlessly chases Soontir. Corran presents a solid threat, and with barrel roll he should be manoeuvrable enough to at least keep Soontir busy. The Outrider can handle him better than the Falcon, because Dash can boost and roll into a better spot and four dice are better than three, especially against a guy that can stop two dice per turn not matter how much the dice hate him.

The upside to all that is that it maintains a lot of the manoeuvring mindgames that people like while still letting Rebels have their turrets. You can't mindlessly drift in circles and expect to win, because you need to position your ships to keep Soontir either in front of you or as far away as possible. Likewise the Interceptor still only has three hull so mistakes will be as fatal as they always were.

For the record I think Autothrusters are aggressively costed but not broken. I played a lot of games with the Falcon and even my most casual lists were murder on Interceptors. They don't do much if you aren't playing against turrets but I don't think they're an "I win" button against turreted ships either. They change the decisions you have to make, but if you haven't been using turrets it should actually be pretty easy to adjust.

Luke. He is expensive crew, but I feel we will see him a lot more when AT comes out.

I think once the Mango cannon is out, Dash won't be so hesitant to jump into range 1. HIs barrel roll should help, to an extent, thus negating AT. Then, it's just normal Fel.

Han w/VI + EU and whatever else you normally put on him. Arc dodge Soontir and point your arc at him. Have your escorts try to block his green moves. If Soontir bumps and loses his actions he's a hurtin' unit.

You'll have to actually point your Falcon/Outrider at the interceptor. Can you imagine actually doing a k-turn? Maneuvering with a turreted ship. I like it.

Have a Y-wing with the new title and a forward firing ion cannon covering the Falcon's back (trailing it). If Soontir is hit just once by an ion cannon after he pushed the limit the he will be in major trouble (predictable position next round + no tokens). You can give the Y-Wing a bomb too for extra anxiety on the part of the Interceptor pilot.

Blount could do it with ion pulse missiles.

A B-Wing with tactician + ion cannon could give Soontir a double stress, which can be very problematic (on top of the ion).

An extra note on Y-Wing bombs: proximity mines could work wonders against Soontir.

But yeah, overall ion or stress can give Soontir a serious headache. So if a player has a YT-whatever number then he should use the rest of his fleet to cover for possible turret weaknesses.

well, you're actually going to have to try and use that forward facing arc that almost every other ship has to worry about to do anything. *gasp*

i know this will be a foreign concept to many, but i guess it's finally time for you to have to adapt and evolve...

stress and ion mechanics with the rest of the list could also help.

Ps11 han with Luke crew can get him in arc and drop him pretty easy still. Autothrusters doesn't work in arc

Since everyone else has already pointed out the obvious ones, like "Put Soontir into your firing arc so he can't use AT", I'll go with the less obvious "Just keep shooting at him until he rolls more than one blank."

I mean, seriously. It's the green dice. The odds of getting two or more blank results, or a mix of blanks and eyeballs after he's already spent his focus tokens, are not too bad.

Ps11 han with Luke crew can get him in arc and drop him pretty easy still. Autothrusters doesn't work in arc

At range 3 they do.

Also, even if you can't get him in your forward arc, with a VI/EU Han you should be able to boost in close to him, with four dice attacks with han refills, you will slip a hit or two in each round, that may not sound like much, but he is only a 3 HP ship still.

that almost every other large based ship has to worry about to do anything. *gasp*

There are currently 5 large ships out. Of those 5, 3 have turrets and 1 has a secondary arc...

1 out of 5 that have to use their front arc to do anything is hardly what I'd consider "almost every other large ship"

Ten Numb, Veteran Insticts, Mangler Canon

Unless you roll all 3 blank red dices, Uncle Soontir will received a critical hit, no matter he is at range three, behind an asteroid, with Auto-Thrusters and Stealth Device, and even Ten is drunk in his cockpit

As someone who has playtested soontir with AT, even at range 1 he's pretty safe from Han, assuming he's only using his rerolls and has no gunner or offensive action to use (probably taking evade).

As someone else mentioned, with a focus and two evades, you're guaranteed 2 evades an a minimum. That means for Han to hit you, he pretty much needs to get 4 out of 4 hits AND you'd have to get at least 2 blanks.

that almost every other large based ship has to worry about to do anything. *gasp*

There are currently 5 large ships out. Of those 5, 3 have turrets and 1 has a secondary arc...

1 out of 5 that have to use their front arc to do anything is hardly what I'd consider "almost every other large ship"

lol. fair enough. that was intended to be just almost every other ship in the game. mental mindcramp.

hence, fixed. lol

that almost every other large based ship has to worry about to do anything. *gasp*

There are currently 5 large ships out. Of those 5, 3 have turrets and 1 has a secondary arc...

1 out of 5 that have to use their front arc to do anything is hardly what I'd consider "almost every other large ship"

Actually, that ship with a secondary arc does just fine with Autothrusters. The card specifies that it does not work when within range 2 and within the attacker's firing arc. It does not specify which firing arc it has to be in.

See also: the case of Fett, Boba v. Stabber, Back

Crazy thought: what about Decoy on a Green Squadron Pilot with Chardaan Refit (19 pts)? You can let Han shoot much later, and try to force Soontir to spend his tokens on attacks from your other ships, leaving him more exposed to Han's attack(s).

If Soontir has gone full turtle with his token stack then he isn't boosting and rolling to keep Han in arc. Han will be throwing red dice much more frequently than Soontir does. If Soontir is using his positioning abilities he's going to be spending his focus on Defense and will be throwing unmodified dice at Han. With Han's ability and Gunner, not having a focus or target lock isn't as big a deal.

Soontir stands a better chance in the matchup than he did before but it's still a matchup that is in Han's favor (as it should, based on the cost difference between the two ships).

Lots of red dice bring me down.

I present to you:

Some things about Soontir that you won't miss from the phantom!

1.) He can be meaningfully blocked by ships and obstructions

The phantom can de-cloak around such petty obstacles and, even after bumping or flying through rocks, can get a free re-cloak (and whisper gets a focus) by attacking.

2.) He cannot carry crew members

The Phantom can carry some incredibly annoying upgrades

3.) He does not have 4 attack base nor a system slot to abuse it with

As fun as it is facing a primary weapon HLC, Soontir's got your standard 3 dice fare.

4.) He's still basically a Tie Fighter and not a 4 agility Z-95 that moves like a Tie Fighter on speed

Soontir's locked to tie fighter stats. With auto-thrusters eating up a slot, he can grab either a stealth device (4 agi until the first attack hits), a shield upgrade (he costs as much as ADC whisper now), or a hull upgrade (does nothing against crits). If he gets any of these, he can't target-lock!

In short, if you can deal with Phantoms I'm not convinced that Soontir's newfangled ability to turn a single blank into an evade (when outside your firing arc) will be the end of the world.

I present to you:

Some things about Soontir that you won't miss from the phantom!

1.) He can be meaningfully blocked by ships and obstructions

The phantom can de-cloak around such petty obstacles and, even after bumping or flying through rocks, can get a free re-cloak (and whisper gets a focus) by attacking.

2.) He cannot carry crew members

The Phantom can carry some incredibly annoying upgrades

3.) He does not have 4 attack base nor a system slot to abuse it with

As fun as it is facing a primary weapon HLC, Soontir's got your standard 3 dice fare.

4.) He's still basically a Tie Fighter and not a 4 agility Z-95 that moves like a Tie Fighter on speed

Soontir's locked to tie fighter stats. With auto-thrusters eating up a slot, he can grab either a stealth device (4 agi until the first attack hits), a shield upgrade (he costs as much as ADC whisper now), or a hull upgrade (does nothing against crits). If he gets any of these, he can't target-lock!

In short, if you can deal with Phantoms I'm not convinced that Soontir's newfangled ability to turn a single blank into an evade (when outside your firing arc) will be the end of the world.

If I had 36 points left in a list, Fel would always beat out a none VI whisper. Soontir offers a much better package at that price point, Though for me he would run 35 cause hull/stealth and initiative bid. Dont discount him just because the phantom is awesome.

If I had 36 points left in a list, Fel would always beat out a none VI whisper. Soontir offers a much better package at that price point, Though for me he would run 35 cause hull/stealth and initiative bid. Dont discount him just because the phantom is awesome.

I would never discount the baron

I just wouldn't hold him up to be the same meta defining terror phantoms turned out to be just because of AT

But it will, people won't run a turret as carefree because now they have to deal with ships that get bonuses against them. It will shake up the meta enough that YT/Deci builds wont have as easy of a time.

I'm just looking forward to Autothrusters making the arc-dodgy playstyle of the Interceptor fun again. Having Soontir execute a barrel roll out of Han's firing arc will no longer be a waste of an action, but will actually grant him a defensive bonus. It gives Turr Phennir a new reason to take Veteran Instincts over PTL.

And for the Rebels: Autothrusters on Gemmer, Tycho or especially Jake will be so gloriously annoying. Heck, AT on Prototype Pilots will probably be worth the points.

And then Darth Vader crew will crush them with the Force.

I'm just looking forward to Autothrusters making the arc-dodgy playstyle of the Interceptor fun again. Having Soontir execute a barrel roll out of Han's firing arc will no longer be a waste of an action, but will actually grant him a defensive bonus. It gives Turr Phennir a new reason to take Veteran Instincts over PTL.

And for the Rebels: Autothrusters on Gemmer, Tycho or especially Jake will be so gloriously annoying. Heck, AT on Prototype Pilots will probably be worth the points.

At on any A-wing is worth it.