So recently I've been playing with Vader and gotten hooked to his "ha ha ha, can't catch me!" flying, but I'm torn on which EPT to slap on him. Outmaneuver boosts his damage but Lone Wolf makes him a late game monster. Vader has PRockets and Engine Ups.

I'm pairing him with Either Rear Admiral with Expose/Isard/Captive/Intel Agent/Ex Interface or Kenkirk/Determination/Isard/Flight Instructor/Captive/Seismic. Not sure whether admiral kills-a-lot is better than commander never dies.

Squad I will be flying once we get the advanced goodies:

It's for a tournament next Sunday, I'm champing at the bit for the raider, but it doesn't help me now. Also PRockets + ATC is a little redundant, ATC does nothing for the PRockets and +1 dice isn't really worth giving up +1 guaranteed crit.

Prockets and ATC aren't terribly redundant. Reason being, you spend a target-lock and a focus on a procket and you can mostly be sure you're walking out of it with more damage than just a range 1 ATC (remember, can't spend that TL). Spending TL while you have ATC might be counter-intuitive, but the target dies then you don't need the Target-lock anymore anyway

Prockets, for when something absolutely needs to die

Personally, I wouldn't, but I understand the mentality of those who would.

anyway, what are you running into most at your meta? If phantoms, you're going for V.I Chiraneau (yeah expose is interesting, but boy is it rigid) or some whacky Oicuun. If fatties, you're running kenkirk with mitigation up the butt (though I'd recommend Lone Wolf way before Determination in terms of damage canceled, and Flight Instructor almost never).

My meta is 40% Hammer+Anvil builds but a lot of variety, people like the HWKs here too, not a tourney without it.

Flight instructor is for the mini-swarms, it's worth its weight in gold on kenkirk against swarms. I've found expose Chippy overwhelms phantoms with TL+4 dice, the greens just don't stack up when matched up 1 for 1 with reds, I've soloed swarms with it.

oh, if you actually see mini-swarms, instructor away

they're basically extinct where I play

As for chippy chirpy Chiraneau, 4 dice can certainly overwhelm another four (evade and focused though they might be) but V.I is cheaper and gives you about similar returns against that particular enemy (-1 red against -2 green).

If you're facing off against a mixed bag of foes, though, that extra red dice is the life or death difference against other fatties. I just usually don't see expose here because the 2nd ship of the 2 ship list is always a phantom, and they need the points for their junk. Vader most likely does not.

Prockets, for when something absolutely needs to die

Excactly and with Barrelroll, boost, PS9 and 2 actions (and usually targetlock on the target from earlier rounds) getting to R1 and using it to maximum effect is very easy. Can 1 shot lots of ships and hurt other real bad

Prockets, for when something absolutely needs to die

Excactly and with Barrelroll, boost, PS9 and 2 actions (and usually targetlock on the target from earlier rounds) getting to R1 and using it to maximum effect is very easy. Can 1 shot lots of ships and hurt other real bad

they're great fun on high cost pilots with limp innate offenses (Vader, also Jakes)

Prockets, they're Advanced Proton Torpedoes that don't suck