I'm looking to explore new Interceptor pilots, so after Soontir and Turr, we have Tetran Cowell.

So my first build idea:

Tetran Cowell

-Lone Wolf

-Royal Guard

-Autothrusters

-Stealth Device

Using him as a flank ship basically, and trying to get good use of his K-Turn ability.

Does anyone have experience using Cowell? What do people think of him in general?

From your name and the title I thought you were trying to sell us spice.

I figured that 'stay on target' would be a much more interesting EPT than lone wolf. That way he can swap maneuvers all over the place if he wants.

I've never once flown him. 1 or 3 pts more for Turr and Fel respectively is well worth it. 2pts for Carnor Jax gives you a pilot a million times more annoying that Tetran. If you want to move on from Fel and Turr, Carnor should be your next stop. He really is a super annoying git for an opponent to deal with.

If not going for one of them I'd rather save 2 pts and take a Royal Guard. 6 or 7 PS isn't too different I find and I can't think of a time Tetrans ability would have been particularly useful.

I just can't see any way in which 32 pts is well spent on this guy. 30 pt PTL Royal Guard is a better ship IMO.

Never had a chance to try him myself, but I know "Stay on Target" is a popular EPT choice for him, as it lets him choose a silly amount of his dial on some turns. Of course, SoT causes stress which you'll then have to clear. Still, you could initially plan on doing a Hard 3, and end up adjusting to a 1K after lower PS pilots move.

He's still an INT, so PTL wouldn't be terrible even though the turns where you PTL mean the next turn there's no chance to try and take advantage of his ability.

Outmaneuver could be nasty if situational.

And yeah, as you already have, maybe Lone Wolf.

Sorry, he's one of the few INTs I've never really had any experience with (along with "Fel's Wrath").

The problem with SoT, while interesting and a good combo, is that he is then an action less Interceptor, and they die. I figure LW give him some dice modification at least when he pulls his K-Turns, which as I said, I intend to abuse to the best of my ability.

TC doesn't like stressy talents, which is why people go for turr/jax first. Many people are addicted to ptl interceptors, for good reason, the action economy is great, and in a turret world, nearly necessary to survive.

Modification wise, auto thrusters helps alleviate the turret issue, and stealth/hull/shield are further defense buffs. Targeting computer calls for ptl for the same reason, it's an offense buff that wants the better action economy. Like lorrir, tie engine mk2 can help let you make the most of your ability.

Talentwise, lone wolf is good as it boosts offense and defense.

VI can help you know when to leverage the k turn ability.

Any constant offense /defense buff is alright, predator, outmaneuver, determination.

TC can make pretty neat use out of stay on target... Reveal 5 kturn, and pull a 1 hard instead. Here, the k turn would've stressed you anyway.

He also likes some of the discard talents, crack shot, adrenaline rush. Ruthlessness also works well with his three die attack. Finally he is a fun place for swarm tactics, when running with an alpha squadron pilot.

That could work. I had a lot of success with Turr and Lonewolf, so I could see it work here with Tetran. But!

-Lonewolf needs your ship to have few teamates so that you can abuse it, and repositionning is key (be it from the ship with Lonewolf or the wingmates). If you think you'll have trouble keeping at more than range 2, you should take Predator instead.

-For only one more point, you can take Turr with the exact same loadout and, thanks to his repositioning ability, he is much more survivable and able to exploit Lonewolf by barrel rolling or boosting out of range 2 of wingmates after shooting, or just out of sight of the enemis. So, Tetran could work, but you'll get more mileage with Turr.

-While Tetran ability can be useful, it is in fact very situational. Being PS7 doesn't help against elite ship if you are in fact better with the 1, 3 or 5 k-turn. If you're good at the game, you should already know if you are better to do a 3 or 5 in most situation. So really, Tetran ability is just being able to pull a 1 k-turn. How much mileage you can take out of that is up to you.

With that said, I flew Tetran a couple of time when he came out and he was not that bad. Predator helped when it came out in wave 4. But, like any Interceptor without PtL, it's always the defensive that hurt. The only reason to take Tetran over the others is if you really can't pay one more point for Turr or if you have some crazy idea to exploit his ability.

So, may I suggest Wired as an EPT and exploit the hell out of his k-turn.

Tetran+Wired+Autothrusters+Stealth Device = 30 pts

This way, while stressed, you'll be able to reroll all your Focus result. K-Turn, get stressed and activate Wired, then next turn, it's not that critical to do a green and clear stress. Really not sure of the odds behind it all, but I think it could actually work.

I should explain more about the list I'm thinking about:

Squints are good Wedge, real good - 98pts

Soontir Fel 35pts

PtL

Autothrusters

Stealth

Turr Phennir 32pts

VI

Autothrusters

Shield

Tetran Cowell 31pts

LW

Autothrusters

Stealth

I want a list of Saber Squadron pilots, and Tetran is the next guy down the line (and the last named Saber who could be worth using) after Soontir and Turr. Either of the 3 ships can be very dangerous if left alone, and both Soontir and Turr can own the endgame.

... 6 or 7 PS isn't too different ...

PS 7 beats Aggressors and ties Dash (if they don't have VI), both of which are still very popular in my neck of the woods.

I have used Tetran and found the ability limited. I do not Kturn very much with Interceptors, so only used it once in the game I played.

I think I really like Wired on Tetran Cowell. Thanks for the idea, Red Castle. I'm not sure I like Stealth Device with it, though. I kind of like no mods to keep him cheap. You can do TC and Wired for 25 points. That's not bad at all. It's not good at everything, but it's quite good at a few things. Maybe Hull Upgrade, because without PTL active, you're taking more hits, and you won't have the tokens to support the Stealth Device. Maybe just Autothrusters.

I think I really like Wired on Tetran Cowell. Thanks for the idea, Red Castle. I'm not sure I like Stealth Device with it, though. I kind of like no mods to keep him cheap. You can do TC and Wired for 25 points. That's not bad at all. It's not good at everything, but it's quite good at a few things. Maybe Hull Upgrade, because without PTL active, you're taking more hits, and you won't have the tokens to support the Stealth Device. Maybe just Autothrusters.

Going cheap is also a valid way to go with Tetran; hurts a little less when he bites the dust.

But if you want to put some mods on it, and with Lonewolf or Wired as the EPT, I think you should take Autothrusters and Stealth Device.

Autothrusters because there is more and more turrets flying around and with an Interceptor, you should always aim for range 3, unless you're out of arc, in that case, range 1 of course. Combined with Wired and out of token (because you're stress), it should be very interesting: Change 1 blank into an evade and reroll your Focus.

As for Stealth Device, I'm usually like you and prefer either Hull, Shield or Targetting Computer over Stealth. But in that case, since you'll probably find yourself often without tokens, I think you should aim to roll as many dice as possible and again, always aim for range 3. You might not have the tokens, but you still have the reroll. It was wonderful on Turr with Lonewolf.

So, at range 3, Wired+Autothrusters+Stealth allow you to roll 5 dice, change 1 blank into an evade, keep your evade of course, and reroll all your focus results. Again, I don't know the actual probability here, but I have a feeling that it should average 2-3 evade per roll.

The more I think about it, the more I think I'll give it a try next time I'm going Imperial.

... 6 or 7 PS isn't too different ...

PS 7 beats Aggressors and ties Dash (if they don't have VI), both of which are still very popular in my neck of the woods.

Fair point, Brobots tend to be 50-50 PS 6 and 8 here and perhaps I don't face any good super dash players as I tend to be able to handle him ok. They weren't too high on my list of worries when I made the post. Against better played Dash and Aggressors though I can surely see it would have more impact.

Iif it's supposed to thematic though and he is a shoe in, I still don't see his ability as worth building around. Unless you throw in a wingman or similar, you can only use it 50% of the time at most. With game position influencing things you will probably use it much less than that. I'd be tempted to simply keep him cheap in general but in a Fel Turr list you have the points there to spend. I'd probably build him as a more standard interceptor. Dropping Shield to Hull or stealth on the above Turr list allows Tetran to PTL AT hull/stealth while keeping a 2pt bid.

The neat thing about Wired is that against multiple attacks, it's better than an action defensively. Throw in the fact that you can also use it on offense, and I don't think you'd feel bad at all about not clearing that stress right away. Against multiple TLTs, it would be stronger than a Focus or Evade.

I figured that 'stay on target' would be a much more interesting EPT than lone wolf. That way he can swap maneuvers all over the place if he wants.

I agree. SoT is the only way to fly Tetran. It's still not really competitive, but it's pretty fun to watch your opponent's face when you dial in a 3 turn, use SoT to make it a 3K, and use his ability to make it a 1K. The problem is that, if you're using his ability, you're left with an actionless interceptor at PS 7. The only way around that is to fly him alongside Yorr, and then you're tying him to a lumbering shuttle . . . .

I see the merits of Lone Wolf Tetran, but I just don't think his ability is good enough. No matter what you do, you're either paying for a pilot ability that you don't use, or you're stressing yourself and losing out on the actions that are oh-so-important to squints.

There are not many Wired Imperials ... but Tetran likes it this way.

EPT harmonizing with his ability and which I would recomment:

Wired

AR

Stay on Target

Neutral EPT:

Outmaneuver

Predator

VI

Anti-synergyzing EPT:

Any stressmaker or not usable while stressed

I had no good experiences with LW so far with any ship, so I cannot recomment to use it.

I just tried Tetran tonight with Wired and it was okay. Not great... but okay. I think I would have get more mileage from a standard PtL Interceptor or with Predator or Lonewolf instead. But I might use it again, it's always fun to fly Interceptor with something else than PtL, especially at PS7 with other ships that have yet to move.

Funny thing though, I did what I would never do with an Interceptor and I was okay with it: I k-turned across a debris field! Two stress in one maneuver. Needless to say, my opponent didn't saw it coming.

So, with Tetran, Wired might actually be my EPT of choice from now on. If I feel like PtL, I'll go with Soontir, Carnor or a Royal Guard; Lonewolf on Turr.

Honestly, Tetran is just another PS7 PTL/AT/SD Int that fits with Soontir and Turr.

181st if you take all 3

Well first, that's the 181st Saber Squadron, not 101st. Secondly, Tetran was a Soontir impostor leading a false 181st, so lore wise, you should not run him along Soontir and Turr.

Third, unless I really really really want a PS7 PtL interceptor, I'll just save 2 points and take a Royal Guard instead of Tetran. If I take Tetran, I'll take him for his special ability. So, for me at least, PtL is out of question on Tetran, I'll pick another EPT. Wired was okay. I would not take it into a big tournament, but for casual play, it was actually quite fun.

My first thought was to fly him next to epsilon leader.

31 points on Cowell? For 30 you get Juno with Stay On Target and Accuracy Corrector. I'm suggesting this as a foil to your original idea, OP, but I'm also a strong believer that the only Interceptor pilots worth their points are the top three most expensive ones. Autothrusters almost made Kir Kanos a good choice, but [he] desperately needed an EPT to squeeze into that rarefied air.

Back to Juno, she's got all the mobility and range of motion with SoT. Along with two shields and AC she can survive a joust or two while doing consistent damage. She also has the edge on Tetran in the endgame because of her PS and ability to bleed stress with 7 green manuevers. Give her Ion Engines and she has 9 greens! To add to this, she also gets the 5 and 3 K-Turns and can switch to either of them too with her ability! Combined with SoT and she can turn a 4 Straight into a 3-4-5 K-Turn!

If you're looking for a ship that is an extremely unpredictable threat to track down, you're looking at the wrong guy. But there's a female pilot that's up for that job and comes a point cheaper than your original loadout for Tetran.

[edit]

Cowell always struck me as one of those "almost, but not quite" pilots. He seems like a Beta test for Juno Eclipse, whose ability is far superior despite being in an Advanced rather than an Interceptor.

Juno in an Interceptor would be hilarious.

I don't know Endman - I suspect from the string of middling pilots lacking EPTs - that harken to the core generic ships with a special ability - that the designers have alternate ideas of how to play the game from many players - things that during testing may be perfectly viable when it comes to game balance. Cowel is a great pilot from a casual perspective - the only real trouble comes when you start comparing his point cost / efficiency / playstyle with other ships at the high end of the tournament spectrum. As a Filler Ace in a semi-meta list these ships can provide a surprise to players not familiar with them, in a capacity that doesn't really damage the overall squad.

It also comes down to what the meta-game was like at the time of design / testing, Consider Imperial Aces was pre-phantom , when pilot skill bid was all over the place, and generics ruled fairly surpreme. Both Tetran Cowell and Lt. Lorrir are very good at fighting generic b-wings. Cowell can also pull some surprises on the p.s. 5-6 aces. These middling P.S. ships are also good at blocking higher pilot skill ships - Tetran's adjustable K-turn can be pretty good against blocking a higher p.s. ship.

Sometimes I think these p.s. 5-7 Aces are really the games highest skill point - because they lack the efficiency of the cheaper generics, and lack some of the customizibility, often not following standard ship practice (like PTL interceptors) while requiring you to be able to guess how the higher pilot skill ships will move and react.

Yup. Tetran is okay, but if you start comparing, you can do better with other pilots: Royal Guard is 2 points cheaper, Turr 1 more point, Carnor 2 more. Competitively speaky, from my point of view, you can do better with those pilots.

As I said, the only reason to take Tetran is for his ability, and quite frankly, from all the time since he came out, I think I really got to use his ability once or twice, and I never took him with PtL because I wanted to use his ability. Can't remember that it was game changing. Nothing like when you dodge a line of sight with Turr or prevent the use of a Focus with Carnor.

Verdict from me: Tetran (without PtL) is a pilot for casual game. You can technically take him in a tournament, but it will not be optimal (like when I took Carnor with Predator at Regional instead of PtL to try it out)