It is no secret that Expose is a underused Elite upgrade. 4 points to add a red and remove a green, and costs an action. There are very few ships that it would even work on. I intend to provide a few ideas where this talent could be used. These are not optimal by any means, but are meant to be for fun and to show how it could work.

First up, we have the VT-49 Decimator. Chiraneau seems the best fit here. Expose makes him an even 50 points, and the loss of agility is ignored because in x-wing, you can't lose what you don't have. For an action you get a 4 red turret firing and if close enough you will convert an focus result to a crit. The downside, 50 freaking points with nothing else.

Next up: Omega Ace. Here is someone that could put expose to use, albeit situationally. If, and lots of *if* coming off this plan, you get close, have an a target lock, a spare focus token and an action you could get up to 4 crit results with expose at range one. The hard part is setting this up. You need to use a lot of points to get this going. Experimental interface or a wingman with Squad leader. Personally, I'm going to try it with Omega Leader as a wingman with Squad Leader when released. It could be fun. Darth Vader makes a good squad leader here as well. In either case, you have to be good at maneuvering to get a good chance to use, as the loss of agility on a fragile fighter could be detrimental.

Finally here, an unreleased Candidate: The Inquisitor in his TIE Advance prototype. He has an ability to treat all attacks as if they are range one. This makes him a very good candidate for Expose. Sniping at range 3 with expose on him means you are rolling 4 red, and the enemy doesn't get the agility bonus. When you are attacked at the same range, however, you get that extra green die, which offsets the penalty from Expose.

Now, I doubt expose will ever be a must have, or even considered optimal, but if treated like a type of ordnance on certain ships, it could help out. By that I mean you think of it as a one use trick, or at the very least, incredibly situational.

The main problem is that you'd be better off taking Predator and using the Focus action than Expose.

The main problem is that you'd be better off taking Predator and using the Focus action than Expose.

A good natural arc dodger like jake could make good use of it, though EI and expose would lessen his dodgy-ness and cost around 30points

Would still get to use his focus token with it though

Expose's upside is complicated.

You see, spending an action to get a bonus die, vs spending an action to get a Focus Token:

• is better with a single action when you have fewer than 2 attack dice.
• is better with two actions when you have fewer than 4 attack dice.

At 2 and 4 respectively, the average damage is even between the two, but the bonus-die has a higher chance of whiffing entirely.

Notably, the bonus-die method is immune to the diminishing returns that normally plague stacked modifications.

SO: If it were free, and didn't lower your agility, and didn't fill your Elite Talent slot, it's situationally useful.

On the Decimator, you have:

• A high base cost, so the point-cost is greatly mitigated
• No agility to lower
• Stacks with Chiraneu's semi-focus ability, and so dodges the stacked modification.

On Omega Ace, you have:

• The ability to stack Focus and Target Locks from allies
• Still, probably best (even in that situation) to keep yourself alive better, rather than dealing +1 Crit.

On The Inquisitor, you have:

• Bonus Dice already.

I don't use expose very often, but I've been incredibly successful with it on corran horn. Using it along side his ability can be lethal. throw a stealth device on him to up the green dice back to 3 and your good. The draw back being here though is that this is a pricey build.

I wonder if glitterstim could give Expose a little bit more usefulness. The only issue (aside from, you know, the costliness of the build, the one-shot nature of glitterstim, and all the normal problems of expose) is that Scumm doesn't really have anyone arc-dodgy enough that they can maneuver into the right position so that the loss of the green die doesn't hurt them.

My A Wing Squad.

4x Green Squadron with Test Pilot, Expose, Stealth Device, Chardaan Refit, + 1 point EPT like Crackshot, VI, or Calculation.

Would be able to hit hard for a few rounds till the stealth devices go down. Can't fit a 4 A wing squad with both Expose and PTL though having an ace as part of a mixed squad is very possible. Expose would not be triggered in every attack. Only those that have minimal returning fire expected, and it's not that great against turret lists for this reason.

I wonder if glitterstim could give Expose a little bit more usefulness. The only issue (aside from, you know, the costliness of the build, the one-shot nature of glitterstim, and all the normal problems of expose) is that Scumm doesn't really have anyone arc-dodgy enough that they can maneuver into the right position so that the loss of the green die doesn't hurt them.

Glitterstim'd double-tapping Dengar might be able to make good use of it, for pairs of 4-die attacks in a round.

Well, maybe. But it's not impossible, y'know?

Keyan Farlander: he doesn't need focus tokens, he can use his stress. Expose gives him an extra die.

Nera Dantels: when firing proton torpedoes, you're less in need of a focus token. Nera can move out of arc and still fire her torpedo.

Other sources of focus tokens: Kyle Katarn or Garven Dreis can help.

In epic play, you could use the coordinate action to grant a ship the focus/expose combo, and use a shield projector to offset the agility penalty.

But ultimately, whatever you consider the biggest downside of Expose, you always have to invest more points to compensate for the flaws. And it is already expensive.

Expose is bad the only way it works is on a decimator with EI no disadvantage and for seven points you get a four attack PWT.

But that's still not your best option.

Keyan Farlander: he doesn't need focus tokens, he can use his stress. Expose gives him an extra die.

Expose is really not a good card - even ignoring costs. My general rule is ignore it - but somehow I find myself building around it alot - trying to find corner cases, and there generally aren't any. Expose without any other action just doesn't work. There are places where it's fun to play.

Keyan + Expose + EI is the same cost as Keyan + HLC - but you get Target lock + Focus + Expose. The loss of an Agility is minimal, if you're only getting shot at once, or you can get out of the way - however, for an extra two points, you can get HLC + stay on target, which will give you 4 dice with target lock and focus - Expose wins out at range one with 5 dice + focus + TL. Keyan's a good corner case for where it can go, but you have to be judicious about triggering it - but I'd rather just take Predator Keyan and use the red moves to generate focus for 4 points less. (He's less of a priority target #1 in that case)

BB8 + Expose + EI is another interesting corner case for expose, As you can gain barrel roll + expose + target lock or focus. This gives you a higher max damage output than PTL + BB8 (focus + TL on 1 less die) - but BB8's roll lets you potentially dodge arcs, allowing mitigation of the -1 agi penalty - and getting past the stress of EI) Wedge can leverage that best at P.S. 9 while adding his -1 defense bonus to sweeten the pot) Also - Flying this with Biggs can negate the Agi Penalty in the early rounds where you're most likely to get hit with a lot of fire. Corran Horn can actually leverage this in a unique way - because Corran can get double attacks with the expose bonus.

Keyan + Expose + EI is the same cost as Keyan + HLC - but you get Target lock + Focus + Expose. The loss of an Agility is minimal, if you're only getting shot at once, or you can get out of the way - however, for an extra two points, you can get HLC + stay on target, which will give you 4 dice with target lock and focus - Expose wins out at range one with 5 dice + focus + TL. Keyan's a good corner case for where it can go, but you have to be judicious about triggering it - but I'd rather just take Predator Keyan and use the red moves to generate focus for 4 points less. (He's less of a priority target #1 in that case)

BB8 + Expose + EI is another interesting corner case for expose, As you can gain barrel roll + expose + target lock or focus. This gives you a higher max damage output than PTL + BB8 (focus + TL on 1 less die) - but BB8's roll lets you potentially dodge arcs, allowing mitigation of the -1 agi penalty. Wedge can leverage that best at P.S. 9 while adding his -1 defense bonus to sweeten the pot) Also - Flying this with Biggs can negate the Agi Penalty in the early rounds where you're most likely to get hit with a lot of fire. Corran Horn can actually leverage this in a unique way - because Corran can get double attacks with the expose bonus.

I like both of these ideas, and along with Chinereau they seem like the best possible places for Expose to go (with Dengar as the future candidate).

A potential six dice flying out of Kath Scarlett's shapely rear end does sounds like fun as well though (or out of Glitterstimmed Talonbane Cobra, for that matter). Why? Because rolling dice, dammit. To hell with statistics!

This makes him a very good candidate for Expose.

There are no good candidates for Expose who have agility dice.

This makes him a very good candidate for Expose.

There are no good candidates for Expose who have agility dice.

And most ships that would really want it would probably do even better with Opportunist.

Really, that's the problem. If it were actionless? It'd be great on the right ship. If it were cheap? It'd be intriguing. Expensive and costing an action, and hurting your defense? Yeah, no.

This makes him a very good candidate for Expose.

There are no good candidates for Expose who have agility dice.

This makes him a very good candidate for Expose.

There are no good candidates for Expose who have agility dice if you're more concerned about efficiency than you are about fun.

FTFY. Because, let's face it, rolling dice is fun. And what's better than rolling dice? Rolling more dice.

And most ships that would really want it would probably do even better with Opportunist.

Really, that's the problem. If it were actionless? It'd be great on the right ship. If it were cheap? It'd be intriguing. Expensive and costing an action, and hurting your defense? Yeah, no.

Not strictly true, because Opportunist works best on ships lower down the PS order - you usually need someone stripping focus/evade tokens for the Opportunist before it can kick in. Sometimes (endgame, for example) you might not be able to use it at all. Expose, on the other hand, adds that dice regardless.

If it were free, and didn't lower your agility, and didn't fill your Elite Talent slot, it's situationally useful.

Yup.

But ultimately, whatever you consider the biggest downside of Expose, you always have to invest more points to compensate for the flaws. And it is already expensive.

This is just the problem: you have Expose on your ship, and then you have to continue to build around it. There are game elements where that's not a problem (Vessery, for instance), but with Expose you have to do it without access to your EPT slot and having already spent four points.

How about Expose + Outmaneuver on an A-wing? You'll only use Expose when you've successfully outmanevered your opponent, limiting the drawback of decreased agility. You get a boost to offense and debuff your target's defense. I could see this on an EI Jake.

Kath Scarlet - Expose, K4 Security Droid

What you gon' do with all that junk, all that junk inside your trunk?

How about Expose + Outmaneuver on an A-wing? You'll only use Expose when you've successfully outmanevered your opponent, limiting the drawback of decreased agility. You get a boost to offense and debuff your target's defense. I could see this on an EI Jake.

I guess, but you have 10 points of upgrades (on a relatively fragile ship at PS7) that are now thoroughly situational.

Kath Scarlet - Expose, K4 Security Droid

What you gon' do with all that junk, all that junk inside your trunk?

Sure, that takes care of her offense (and then some). But my experience has been that Firesprays don't often end up outside their attackers' firing arcs, and if you're using Expose you can't evade. So that Agility penalty is really going to hurt.

That's what the 3-turns are for; Kath loves facing away, so play it defensive on the approach, then either swoop straight past with a 3 or 4 straight or a big sweeping turn. Once your opponent is behind you, then go for the slow greens and add Expose for the killing blow.

And now for the full-frontal version:

Talonbane Cobra - Expose, Experimental Interface

You do not want to get in front of this guy. (unless you're blocking him, of course).

Efficiency can go party with Jimmy Hoffa.

Kavil + Expose + Turret + Title has worked well for me in the past, and has the added benefit of messing with your opponent's head. Throw on Unhinged and EI for yucks.

Well, that combo is certainly messing with my head - Expose only works on the primary weapon and Kavil's ability only works on shots outside your firing arc... so, er... not sure I get it?