Title: 1 point, Defender Only
"Whenever you spend a focus token, assign a focus token to your ship."

I could justify this a number of ways, but to me this looks like it solves all of the problems of the Defender pretty neatly, as well as allowing three Deltas with title, tractor beam and TIE, and could make Rexlar Brath top tier, and a viable (tank) alternative to Fel, Vader and a named Phantom as part of an elite build.

Any thoughts? Is this completely mental?

For a fix, I would prefere something radical. a new dial with some of the new moves comming out soon... that I know nothing about . Make it the agile hunter its supposed to be, not a dragracer with a gun strapped to it. A new aces box with a few extra dials and a title that allows the Defender to take the new dial. "Unjammed rudder" or something.

Give it white Sloops and Trolls and then realize you've created a monster.

I remember the good old days when everyone was going nuts about a white k-turn. With its 3/3/3/3 stats, I'm not sure what needs fixing.

The stats are great, just to expensive for what it brings currently.

The problem is that with the dial it has now, more movement options really won't help. It's costed like a turret, so even if you give it every single possible move, and make them all green, it's *still* going to be worse than a turret.

The main issue is that it suffers in action economy - the Defender should be able to out-bully any other small based ship one on one (or "Rebel small based ship", if you prefer), and it can... if it can ensure it's in a one on one scenario, which it absolutely can't. It's price and limited set of upgrade options and actions prevent this.

I was of the mind that the Defender needs revising entirely, but this seems like an elegant solution to create a new kind of elite ship. If you give it movement options it becomes another Phantom or Soontir Fel, and if you give it extra damage output (like the BTL title) then it becomes another ATC Vader. This would make it an elite tank, and genuinely scary. (Bear in mind, naked Rexlar is currently the same price as a statted-out Vader or two points more than the full Fel loadout)... and they're not remotely comparable.

I've been trying to make Defenders (double and triple especially) work for a long time now, and it got to the point where it felt that all they were lacking was an inbuilt recon specialist - if they were given two focus tokens every time they focused, they might be on par with the other ships. This title would be significantly more powerful than that, but it would make the Defender a viable and different option I think - it's supposed to be the Empire's Tiger Tank in many ways, there are problems with it, but they are all strategic, not tactical.

Twin Ion Engine MkII is something of a fix - but I'd like to see something that fits thematically with the Defender's role as an Ion platform with fire-linked cannons.

How about something like this:

Title - 0 points

After you perform an attack that hits, roll 1 attack die, on a hit, crit or focus you may assign 1 additional Ion token to the defender

You may reduce the cost of upgrades with the Cannon header by 1 squad point.

That gives you the potential for a Delta with TIE MkII and an ion cannon for 33 points

So you've got a maneuverable yet resiliant hunter that has the capability to ion large based ships with a single shot bang on the 33 point sweet spot

Given the new x-wing's stats and price it's now very obviously a matter of cost, a cannon slot and one more agility clearly Arnt worth 6 points.

Give it a title that reduces squad point cost or similar to the advanced a discount on cannons.

allow it to use the advanced targeting computer!!!!!

allow it to use the advanced targeting computer!!!!!

would make the cannon slot worthless

something similar but works on secondary weapons instead of primary attacks on the other hand.....

The problem is that with the dial it has now, more movement options really won't help. It's costed like a turret, so even if you give it every single possible move, and make them all green, it's *still* going to be worse than a turret.

The main issue is that it suffers in action economy - the Defender should be able to out-bully any other small based ship one on one (or "Rebel small based ship", if you prefer), and it can... if it can ensure it's in a one on one scenario, which it absolutely can't. It's price and limited set of upgrade options and actions prevent this.

I was of the mind that the Defender needs revising entirely, but this seems like an elegant solution to create a new kind of elite ship. If you give it movement options it becomes another Phantom or Soontir Fel, and if you give it extra damage output (like the BTL title) then it becomes another ATC Vader. This would make it an elite tank, and genuinely scary. (Bear in mind, naked Rexlar is currently the same price as a statted-out Vader or two points more than the full Fel loadout)... and they're not remotely comparable.

I've been trying to make Defenders (double and triple especially) work for a long time now, and it got to the point where it felt that all they were lacking was an inbuilt recon specialist - if they were given two focus tokens every time they focused, they might be on par with the other ships. This title would be significantly more powerful than that, but it would make the Defender a viable and different option I think - it's supposed to be the Empire's Tiger Tank in many ways, there are problems with it, but they are all strategic, not tactical.

I agree with you almost entirely. I don't mind it being worse than a turret, I like the challenge. I would like to think that the Defender could be the Empire's version of the aggressor somewhat. A heavy interceptor, with only a front arc, but sweet manuvers to get everywhere. I still won't have the aggressor and interceptors survivability via Auto Thrusters, but it can take a punch for a round or two. That said, the idea with focus is not bad at all.

Good idea, we haven't had one of these threads in a couple days at least. At least the gunboat thread has been kept alive for 45 pages, these and the X-wing fix threads just die after a couple days.

Anyway, what's wrong with the defender? Can't justify spending a third of the squad on a low PS ship? Think of them as more agile and slightly less beefy Firesprays on a small base. They practically have a rear arc with that white K turn, they just don't have crew. I guess too many people miss all the turns not being red.

I'm thinking: give it a title granting it a Tech slot and a 2 point discount on anything that goes in that slot. And maybe a Defender-only Tech card that lets it add an ion token to an opponent whenever the Defender hits with any weapon.

A pair of white sloops for 0 and it's fixed.

Can't be a mod. TIE mk. II is too valuable.

How about:

Tie ADV x7:

Title, Tie Defender only

Your upgrade bar gains one <tech> slot. In addition, when revealing a <turn> maneuver, you may instead receive one stress, and perform a Talon Roll of the same speed.

3 points.

Linked Fire System:

Tech, Tie Defender only

When attacking, you may change all <Kaboom> results to <boom> results. For each <Kaboom> modified in this way, assign the defender 1 ion token.

1 point

Tech Upgrade

Here is the Defender Fix.

Get a T-70 (also fixes the E-wing and Rookie Pilot as well)

Goddamnit, not another one...

Is it really that hard for people to just post their Defender fix ideas in one of the several other Defender fix threads?

And, as always, the correct solution is still:

+

Double Boost? This ship should be the fastest ship alive

And, as always, the correct solution is still:

+

Goddamnit, not another one...

Is it really that hard for people to just post their Defender fix ideas in one of the several other Defender fix threads?

And, as always, the correct solution is still:

+

I love the linked cannon idea. We (the forum) have been talking about that very idea for awhile now. Because the Defender is already over-priced by quite a bit, I believe the title should be no more than 2 points. This way one could still run three Defenders with the Linked Cannon and the Mk.II title.

Get over it.

Never.

Goddamnit, not another one...

Is it really that hard for people to just post their Defender fix ideas in one of the several other Defender fix threads?

And, as always, the correct solution is still:

+

I can't see the title card working - the main problem with the Defender is that you can't build a viable ship in or around that 33 point sweet spot. - even if the Defender is undercosted by 2-3 points, the Title would still have to be around 6-7 points.

Crowding the action bar on a ship that struggles to shed stress (OK TIE MkII helps in that regard but that's more points on top) isn't much of a help - particularly as the one thing that will improve action economy on generics (EI) is taking the slot you need to fill in order to shed stress - and you can't access the additional actions anyway because they are on your bar not the card.

The additional cannon slot is next to useless for the same reasons: yet more points on an already expensive ship

Not to mention FFG is very consistent about not overloading cards with text - the cannon card is UTTERLY nonviable.

I don't care if you can fit 3 in a 100 point list or not. That's not the point. The point is to accurately represent it's glorious Star Wars: TIE Fighter incarnation.

Now you're just making up excuses.

I don't care if you can fit 3 in a 100 point list or not. That's not the point. The point is to accurately represent it's glorious Star Wars: TIE Fighter incarnation.

In that case, great card!