Well, a tie black squadron, a Sabre interceptor or a Green A can equip pilot upgrade card. But not supposed elite crews as E generic, or Tie Defender. And a PS 3 a wing pilot can equip one, but not a PS 4 x wing pilot.

I cant see a reason. And I am curious about the why? Tie interceptors are superb ships. Y wings not. And a generic PS 4 tie can equip those, and a PS 4 Y not. Why?

I have wondered the same kind of thing. Maybe it is for game balance, but I am not certain why a Saber Tie Interceptor Pilot (PS4) and a Royal Guard Pilot (PS6) both have Elite pilot upgrades, but Lieutenat Lorrir (PS5) and Kir Kanos (PS6) both do not.

I guess its because .....

.....

...

I have no idea either.

The 'better generics' without elite slot seem to be quite useless.

The only exceptions seems to be Talas and Obsidians...

At least Onyx pilots should get access to an EPT ... and Gammas ... and Reds, ......

As I do not play Tournaments, my game group employs this House Rule :

You can equip a pilot upgrade card on a named pilot without the icon, or the highest PS generic pilot BUT you pay +1 point. It works

It's supposed to be game balance (an E-wing/Defender is supposed to get a LOT more out of an ept than a fighter or a-wing)

but let it never be said that anything made by human hands ever comes out perfect

Yeah, but... Generic PS 4 x wing pilot can't. An Y Wing is LESS expensive than a Interceptor. And PS 4 Y can't. X and Y can't. Scum veterans M3 can. I am a quite dumb person but... I do not understand

One of the great mysteries of the universe. I've wondered it a few times. I assume it's for balance reasons but as has been said nothing is perfect.

The way I imagine it is those pilots simply have WAY more experience in that craft. IE the ps 1 and 3 defender pilots, while more skilled than Black Wing, are not more skilled in the defender. Red squadron while amazing doesn't have the training the royal guard does. That kinda thing. It may be flawed but it keeps me sane

And moisture farmer Luke crawls into a X-Wing cockpit for the first time and gets an EPT. This must be the force then

And no Rebel Y wing pilot can equip a EPT card, unless you purchase a Huge Ship and equip the astromech card that allows it. Oh....yeah !!! Y pilots are new guys in the job...

Black Squadron and Sabre Squadron have them to make the third generic pilot more attractive (And then Royal Guard Pilot was added in aces because they wanted Royal Guard Generics that would make use of the title, I presume). The Green Squadron is a relic of early design oddities, while the Tanseri Point Veteran and Mandalorian Mercenary have them because FFG is starting to realize the PS 4 trap should be avoided where possible (Why the Black Sun Vigo and Hired Gun aren't PS 4-5 with an EPT is beyond me, though).

Individual pilots lack them presumably due to a combination of playtesting and a desire to make certain pilots more special than others, I presume.

Ps 4 trap??? I fly a lot of PS4 generics? What is the problem?

It's technically a design issue, not a play one. The issue is that 2 points for two pilot skill is too much, but 1 point is too little if the EPT slot isn't being consumed, so you either end up with the PS X variant being played and the other generic being ignored (Blue Squadron, Delta Squadron, etc), or the PS X+2 is so much better than the PS X ship that nobody takes the PS X generic (The Sabre Squadron vs. Royal Guard Pilot is the only example here, but it's not something that couldn't happen to other ships).

PS 4 generics can work... If there's a specific reason to take them (Because you need them to shoot before another ship, or you need the initiative bid for a specific matchup like in Biggs walks the Dogs*). But most of the time the PS boost isn't worth the extra points since you'll still shoot after any unique pilot apart from Tarn.

*At least, I assume that's why Paul Heaver used Dagger squadron pilots instead of Blues in that list.

Always remember that, no matter how well intentioned or competent, people make mistakes

That's why we needed the A-wing fix, the Tie Advance fix, the possible X-wing fix (?)

And, of course, fat turrets because admit it, everyone's **** the bed at some point in their lives

And moisture farmer Luke crawls into a X-Wing cockpit for the first time and gets an EPT. This must be the force then

Lest we forget, Luke worked hard to earn that ept

He used to bulls-eye womp-rats in his T-16 back home

remember, they're only 2 meters

Only 2 meters but very bad tempered. Got your hunter licence?