Well, as Imperial Fleet Admiral it is up to us to determine how best to outfit our fleets with an effective fighter screen. So lets begin with an examination of these two fighters stat line.

Tie/Ln - The Line fighter of the Imperial Fleet, swarming the enemies of the empire into oblivion.

8 Points

3 Hull

3 Attack

4 Speed

Swarm

TIE/In - Sienar system took the advances made with the TIE/x1 were integrated into the superiority interceptor.

11 Points

3 Hull

4 Attack

5 Speed

Swarm

Counter 2

Now, lets just look at each stat one-by-one.

TIE/Ln vs TIE/In

Points : 8 v 11 - 37.5% More

Hull: 3 v 3 - 0% Improvement

Attack: 3 v 4 - 33% More

Speed: 4 v 5 - 25% More

Both have Swarm, and it is hard to put a numerical value on Counter.

Attack Damage with Swarm: 1.9375 v 2.46875 - 27.5% More (Swarm has a larger effect with a smaller dice pool) - Calculation I used 50% * # Dice + 0.5 * Probability of at least 1 Miss (1 reroll results in .5 extra damage on average)

This means based off those stats alone the TIE Fighter beats the Interceptor point-for-point. But Counter may tip the balance, the ability to retaliate against any attack, even one that kills it, with two dice make Interceptors quite useful.

Now, how do they stack up against each other in combat? Assume every round they are all in range of each other, a strange and unlikely idea, but it simplifies the math, and makes it doable.

12 TIE/Ln (96 pts) vs 9 TIE/In (99 pts)

36 Hull vs 27 Hull

12 Fighters with 3 dice each + Swarm results in 23.25 Damage.

9 Interceptors with Swarm results in 22.21875 Damage.

12 Counter Attacks (1 for each Fighter attacking them) at 2 Dice each, plus Swarm, results in 16.5 Hits (1.375 Hits each)

We have the Interceptors suffering 23.25 Damage, while the Fighters are taking 38.71875 Damage.

1 TIE/In Survived this epic battle, while 0 TIE/Ln did.

This shows if Imps were going up against Imps and they both decided to max their fighter support and go purely with superiority fighters the Interceptors would win (on average).

Since that scenario isn't real likely lets set a limit of 60 points (because if you are running big ships you won't want to use too much on Squads, and if you are running Bombers you want to leave room for them), and we'll look at how it works against various Rebel line ups. Assuming both squads attack at the same time, not terribly accurate, but calculating for Initiative is iffy at best.

Imperial Set Ups

7 TIE Fighters - 56 pts, 21 Hull, Constant 13.5 Damage per Turn

5 TIE Interceptors - 55 pts, 15 Hull, 12.34 Damage per Turn + Retaliation

Scenario 1 - 65-66 Points of Rebel Superiority Fighters

5 X-wings

25 Hull, 10 Damage per Turn (TIE/In deals 6.875 Counter Damage)

TIE Fighters have 11 Hull left, X-Wings have 12(rounded) (4 Tie left, 3 X-Wings)

Next Turn - TIE Fighters have 6 Hull, X-Wings have 4 Hull left (2 TIEs left, 1 X-Wing)

Next Turn - TIE Fighters have 4 Hull, X-Wing has 0 Hull left. TWO FIGHTERS REMAIN

TIE Interceptors have 5 Hull left, X-Wings have 6 Hull. (2 Tie, 2 X-Wings)

Next Turn - TIE Ints have 2 Hull Left, X-Wings have 0 Hull. ONE INT REMAINS

It is hard to say whether Fighters or Ints have the upper hand here, the Fighters leave in better shape, but do it a turn later.

6 A-Wings

24 Hull, 9 Damage per Turn + Retaliation (Damage = # Attacking ships, more or less)

TIE Fighters have 5 Hull left, A-Wings have 10 Hull (2 TIE remain, 3 A-Wings)

Next Turn - TIE Fighters have 0 Hull, A-Wings have 6 Hull. TWO A-Wings REMAIN

TIE Ints have 1 Hull Left, A-Wings have 3 Hull (1 of each)

Next Turn - If the A-Wing attacks first the TIE dies, if the TIE goes first it will DIE on the return fire, but destroy the A-Wing with Counter. THE TWO TIE

Clearly the TIE Ints win this round, as they have a chance of winning, while the TIE Fighters are likely to fail.

So what does this mean? TIE Interceptors are better at destroying things quickly, and clearly better at combating enemy superiority fighters. TIE Fighters have better endurance and do better against enemy bombers (Including X-Wings), coming out able to fight again.

So which do you take? I suggest a mix and match. Throws the Ints at the enemy superiority fighters and leave the Fighters to handle anything else.

Obviously Heroes can mix up this, Howlrunner helps cheaper ships more, Fel is awesome for all, Mauler Mithel is also generally awesome.

Attack Damage with Swarm: 1.9375 v 2.46875 - 27.5% More (Swarm has a larger effect with a smaller dice pool) - Calculation I used 50% * # Dice + 0.5 * Probability of at least 1 Miss (1 reroll results in .5 extra damage on average).

Thank you for figuring out the math on this--that is very helpful in making comparisons.

As I was thinking about it further, maybe Swarm isn't as awesome as it seems at first. On the one hand, when Swarm works, it almost adds as much damage as one blue die (1.9375 damage from 3 blues with Swarm vs. 2.0 damage from 4 blues without Swarm). On the other hand, there are many situations in which Swarm does not work. First of all, it is less effective when used offensively. For example, imagine that a Victory activates a squadron command and sends three TIE Fighters to attack some X-Wings. The first TIE moves in and attacks, but it does not get to use Swarm, since its buddies haven't moved yet. Only the second and third TIE Fighters get to use Swarm. If you want to use Swarm with all of your attacks, you need to wait for the enemy to attack you, which is a dangerous proposition for ships that are prone to being one-shotted. Secondly, Swarm becomes less effective in the second (and subsequent) rounds of engagement, once some of your dinky 3-HP TIEs are blown up. So, the actual damage output of a TIE Fighter squad is probably about half-way in between the 1.5 hits per round without Swarm and the 1.9375 hits per round with Swarm (the exact amount can only be determined by extensive play-testing). Swarm is a nice boost, but it does not make TIE Fighters and TIE Interceptors utterly dominant.

Also in the equation, you have to consider activation ordering. Its 2 at a time, so the fighters can focus down on non activated interceptors and vice versa. I don't particularly think that this is something that can be matched out by just straight equation comparisons. Try working it out with 2 at a time in multiple steps, assuming all can attack and the players only shoot at non activated ships to reduce firepower.

At that point you'd also have to run the scenario at least twice with alternating initiative.

At that point you'd also have to run the scenario at least twice with alternating initiative.

Now one caveat is that in either situation, your going to have a useless fighter squadron afterwards, and I doubt it will be conducive to a good admiral to invest in a pitched battle with the fighters without some form of assistance from upgrades, elite ships, or squadron commands.

Which is good, as it means each side is actually getting about 100 pts of damage and it will require point investment or actions to generate an advantage, which is a really big positive for balance

EDIT: So I wrote out how it would go in real gameplay terms, using just a flat damage rate as you can't deal half damages in game. I've only done it with fighters having iniative, and both sides killed each other, the last fighter dying too counter. Now this didn't allow for 3 hit rolls, something both ships are quite capable of, especially with interceptors. Also its not clear to me if swarm effects counter rolls, but my instinct says yes. I do think however that if you allowed for say howlrunner or soontir fel there would be an dramatic difference, but that's a huge bear to analyze as now accuracy results matter, and turn order an awful lot more.

So in short, I think pitched battles are going to result in equal annihilation or Pyrrhic victories, and also the it will be smart to invest in at least one hero unit as a damage sponge, mauler being my personal favorite just looking at, as he forces the enemy to come to him, or will work very well with squadron commands.

At that point you'd also have to run the scenario at least twice with alternating initiative.

Yes but it would give you more realistic and tangible results than a broad strokes equation, as your going to see an overall reduction in firepower, as well as a potential advantage in having more ships to activate.

Now one caveat is that in either situation, your going to have a useless fighter squadron afterwards, and I doubt it will be conducive to a good admiral to invest in a pitched battle with the fighters without some form of assistance from upgrades, elite ships, or squadron commands.

Which is good, as it means each side is actually getting about 100 pts of damage and it will require point investment or actions to generate an advantage, which is a really big positive for balance

EDIT: So I wrote out how it would go in real gameplay terms, using just a flat damage rate as you can't deal half damages in game. I've only done it with fighters having iniative, and both sides killed each other, the last fighter dying too counter. Now this didn't allow for 3 hit rolls, something both ships are quite capable of, especially with interceptors. Also its not clear to me if swarm effects counter rolls, but my instinct says yes. I do think however that if you allowed for say howlrunner or soontir fel there would be an dramatic difference, but that's a huge bear to analyze as now accuracy results matter, and turn order an awful lot more.

So in short, I think pitched battles are going to result in equal annihilation or Pyrrhic victories, and also the it will be smart to invest in at least one hero unit as a damage sponge, mauler being my personal favorite just looking at, as he forces the enemy to come to him, or will work very well with squadron commands.

I thought of doing that but I already had a wall of text and I was tired, lol. I'll definitely do a step-by-step run through some time (maybe tonight), seeing how and if that effects the outcome.

I did want to avoid using heroes as they muddle up things quite a bit (when to use tokens? Use up a Red or hope you live 'til next turn?). Heroes like Mauler are also hard to determine. How likely is it to have 3 enemy squads in range for his ability? 2? 4? Ditto for the Baron of the Empire. Howlrunner can also be difficult for the same reason.

Also it is important to note that I did include swarm in all the data, when in reality the first TIE to attack would likely not have swarm (unless he is the defender).

So this isn't meant as a comprehensive guide as to which is best in reality, simply which is best on paper, under ideal conditions, where attacks happen simultaneously (not possible I know). We'll get more math in before its out

One other aspect we can't forget is tht this fur all isn't happening in a vacuum. If Ty put 100 points of fighters in range of my ships AA guns, I am **** well going to take a shot even at 1 blue die. (This is like making one 9-12 blue die attack. I focus on max it damage)

At most I expect to see fights of 3ish fighters at a time on each side. Otherwise it is too tempting of an offer to gain a decisive advantage.

That was actually my plan, more or less. Split em up into groups.

Vic II - 3 TIE/In's

Vic II - Corrupter, 4 TIE/sa, 2 TIE/Ln

The first Vic acts as a forward agent, throwing the Ins against the enemies superiority fighters, while Corrupter comes in next and uses its Bombers as an extra attack. It also has some TIE fighters to defend itself and escort the bombers if need be.

That is what I would hope for from an imperial player. With your formation your weakest point is the rear of the rear ship. With fighters up front I would want to skirt around them until I had drawn them away from the main group or they wen to the rear where I would use 2 a-wings,4 x-wings, and 1 b-wing squad supported by a Nebulon B frigate with the Yavaris upgrade card.

Would it work? Maybe, maybe not. But I am betting against your lack of anti-fighter squads to give me fighter superiority.