The advantage of PS during Combat is more obvious, but what's the advantage of PS during Activation, when Maneuver Dials are hidden anyway? It's not like you can change your primary Manuever in response to your opponent moving first.
Is it simply to avoid 'bumping' into an opposing ship that you're chasing? And, in specific cases when you'd use Boost / Barrel, Navigator, Intelligence Agent, Stay on Target or Imp. Boba?
Thanks for the insight, I'm still new to this.
Largely because the 'action' you decide to take with your maneuver can often be AS important, if not sometimes more important, than the maneuver itself.
So by having the higher-skilled pilots moving/actioning later, they can basically take a look at the lay of the board to decide which action to take. Being able to KNOW an enemy cannot shoot you (because none have you in their arc, and no more enemies move after you) can really help you build confidence that taking 'focus' makes sense over 'evade'. Or for fighters that rely on avoiding being shot at all (TIE Interceptors, notably), the 'boost' and 'barrel roll' actions they can take are a LOT more useful once you know where all the enemy fire arcs have ended up - being able to look at your end position, and then use one (or both, sometimes) of those actions to scoot right out of an enemy fire arc...is pretty handy. I mean, an evade token is great as it blocks one dice from one enemy shot...but being outside of the enemy fire arc entirely blocks ALL the dices from their shot! 
As Xanderf says, a Higher PS gives you an advantage when making any decisions, be they
However they do this at a trade: a lesser chance of being able to rely on the use of this knowledge: a greater vulnerability to being blocked.
On the other hand, having a low PS allows you to park your ship in the expected movement path of an enemy ship, thus denying it a complete move and, more importantly, an action.
A ship like Whisper or Soontir has enough non-dial decisions to end up in dozens of different locations with the same maneuver dialed up. If the other ships have moved then you just put yourself outside their arc.
The advantage of PS during Combat is more obvious, but what's the advantage of PS during Activation, when Maneuver Dials are hidden anyway? It's not like you can change your primary Manuever in response to your opponent moving first.
It's FAR more useful in activation than combat.
You can choose your action in response to where your opponent ended up. Not much point focusing if you're in nobody's arc andhave nobody in arc, for example, so you're better off Target Locking or barrel rolling for a shot.
If you want to Target Lock, they may now be in range.
Ships with the barrel roll, boost or decloak actions (every ship but the Falcon, Firespray, X-wing, Y-wing and Z-95) can move in response to where other ships went. This is the main one: the TIE interceptor for example can, with Push the Limit, both boost and barrel roll, allowing it to adjust its position significantly to slip behind an enemy ship.
Stay on Target (EPT), Boba Fett (Imperial pilot version), Tetran Cowall (pilot) and Navigator (crew) can actually change their maneuver.
And, in specific cases when you'd use Boost / Barrel, Navigator, Intelligence Agent, Stay on Target or Imp. Boba?
Thing is, these cases are so common that they're not corner cases at all. Every single TIE ship in the game has Barrel Roll, and any ship in the game can be given Engine Upgrade to get Boost.
Edited by TIE PilotAnother effect is being able to TL, if you move first there's always the chance you won't be able to TL anything, or at least the ship you want to shoot at, because it's too far away. But after it moves it may now be in TL range.
That's one of the reasons why torps/missiles work so badly on low PS pilots, because you never know if you'll be in TL range when you're done moving.
And, in specific cases when you'd use Boost / Barrel, Navigator, Intelligence Agent, Stay on Target or Imp. Boba?
Those specific cases are so ubiquitous that I'd call them basically a default, by now. Anyone who can adjust their movement independent of, or in addition to, setting their dial does adjust their movement that way...and anyone who does so appreciates having a higher PS, so they can move in response to the movements of others.
It makes sense from a roleplaying standpoint too.
The example I usually tell new players is that high PS pilots like Luke are so skilled that they get to react to their opponent's actions while striking first.
Kinda like Bruce Lee. But in space and with lasers.
Edited by zerotcWhat everyone else has said.
Also it bears mentioning that if you're playing with a phantom you almost always always always want a higher ps. Phantoms, with their decloak ability and a barrel roll action on top of that, love being able to move after everyone else so that you can look at the board and (ideally) decloak in such a way that your maneuver lands you in a spot where you can shoot at your target(s) but nobody can shoot back at you.
That exact scenario is a large part of the reason for the race for a high PS in the current meta, as well as why you see so many fat turrets.
When I first started playing, I mistakenly thought that there was a movement phase followed by an action phase i.e. everyone moves in PS order, then everyone gets their actions in PS order. Playing that way really made the high-PS pilots less useful. I like the game better the way it was designed.
Post (or pre) movement adjusting actions.
If your a ps 9 interceptor for example you can move and then know where the arcs are to move out of shot
It's mostly about being able to optimize your action use, having more accurate and complete information about the current turn.
Low PS ships just move and often focus (or boost/barrel roll if an obvious move is there). Higher PS ships often bring boost/barrel roll and zip around, dodging arcs and avoiding incoming shots entirely. With so many passive accuracy bonuses in the game now, they can do this without sacrificing their aim too much.
Having mid range PS give you an edge against filler ships, but with the number of two-ship lists at PS8+ it's risky to take characters that aren't aces themselves.
One reason for my OT was because folks were saying Tala is good but all it has is +2PS over Bandit and it has no a Boost, Barrel, etc.
I guess it could help deciding between Focus and TL.
Thanks for all the examples though - makes sense.
One reason for my OT was because folks were saying Tala is good but all it has is +2PS over Bandit and it has no a Boost, Barrel, etc.
I guess it could help deciding between Focus and TL.
Thanks for all the examples though - makes sense.
In this case, it's more about shooting before other generics than about the activation phase. At PS2, most generics are going to shoot before or at the same time as the Bandit. For 1 additional point, the Tala either shoots before or at the same time as most generics (Mandalorian Merc and Royal Guard being the two exceptions).
One reason for my OT was because folks were saying Tala is good but all it has is +2PS over Bandit and it has no a Boost, Barrel, etc.
I guess it could help deciding between Focus and TL.
Thanks for all the examples though - makes sense.
In this case, it's more about shooting before other generics than about the activation phase. At PS2, most generics are going to shoot before or at the same time as the Bandit. For 1 additional point, the Tala either shoots before or at the same time as most generics (Mandalorian Merc and Royal Guard being the two exceptions).
For that one point you also get your Tala out of Predator range, a popular upgrade card that allows a ship a single reroll when attacking, but two rerolls if the ship's Pilot Skill is 2 or less.
I also wanted to point out that lower PS ships do have one other advantage, and that is not only moving to position to block, but guaranteeing you your action. It is more difficult to get blocked on a lower PS ship, unless you don't have the init and your opponent has the same PS ships.
In addition to this when you focus on a lower PS ship you are usually going to fire last, and you can use that focus for defense and if you don't need it you can use it for offense. A simple tactic that many people do, but not a lot talk about.
I would much rather shoot at a ship who used his focus earlier in the round than a ship who has his focus because he hasn't fired yet.
Low PS is also useful when dropping proximity mines.
"Hi Whisper. I don't really care where you're going because I can see where you are right now and that's where I'm dropping this mine. Those 4 defense dice you have aren't going to help you either."
I think having PS 4 ships these days is primarily useful for those opponents who have Predator. It's quite popular.
It is also good to shoot before other generics, which are starting to make a bit of a comeback.