I think there are some excellent mid PS abilities. Dutch? Garven? several of the hawks? I like that mid PS band myself. lets you own lower ps lists without having to scrafice a ship to try to get to ps 8 and 9. (I can build a 4 ship mid PS list but its hard to build a 4 ship PS 8-9 list.)

PS Bands

PS1-2: Blockers, people who want to save tokens for defence before comitting them to offence, cheap generic swarms.

PS3-4: PS bid on cheap generic swarms, cheap EPT generics.

PS 5-6: Interesting pilot abilities

PS7-8: VI fodder unless the ability is VERY interesting.

PS9: Highest PS with a non-VI EPT

PS10-11: Extra mile to mess with PS9 pilots.

PS12: Roark Garnet's best friend. Say hello to my Swarm TacticTLT.

Dutch and garven? Missing EPTs and not often seen but do help action economy.

Mux mentioned before...palob both helps action economy and has an ability to mess with aces AND and EPT.

Kyle: action economy, still doesn't see a ton of play. Roark helps vs. aces, no EPT, not a lot of play.

TLT might help the HWKs but not enough so far.

Well, well, well... not the high PS ACES everyone was talking about but they did indeed take it home:

2x PS 10 Poe

PS 8 Corran

3 more 8s and another 9 in the top 4.

3 more 8s and yet another 9 in the rest of the top 8.

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Fun flip side

3 PS 2s at the top table and 1 PS1

1 more PS 2 extended to top 4

7 more PS 2 extended to top 8, and the outlier outrider at PS 7

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Perhaps we're seeing more of a PS Dichotomy and less of a war... well unless that war is the war against PS4-7 pilots.

So, besides ensuring those pilots get EPTs, what would aid Mid range pilots?

MOAR EPTS!

Especially really worthwhile and economical ones such as crackshot. That gives you a unique pilot that can bear a cheap but powerful tool that your ace de jour could not because it wouldn't be able to suckle PTL's teet (test pilots excepted ofc)

Continued use of low PS TLTs also keeps them very relevant

Yah, crackshot and wired are great, it's just too bad most of the ships you would want them on don't have EPTs (mid and generics) or are ACES who want the premium epts... think about Lorrir with Wired (or any EPT really); loads of PS3-7 would love crackshot and other 1pters or the upcoming 0pt epts.

sad that FFG can't retroact them because they already did it for A-wings

but they're learning, ala Blacksun Ace and Red Squadron Vet

plus the generic Jumpmaster

and Omega Squadron, ofc, but that's just a fresh coat of paint on top the Black Squadron Pilot (a product of foresight, that one)

I regularly make the PS bid at 3-4 PS, simply because it's cheap on TIE Fighters, and PS2 is so common. Until more people start making that decision, 5-6 is only there for useful abilities, as everyone has said.

So what kind of abilities would we pay for in the 5-7 range so that "beating PS 4 bid" isn't the only reason?

We see Dash, Deathrain, Iggy, Biggs... Some of the stronger abilities on the game. What other abilities bend the rules enough to make you pay for it but not just jump up to 8's and 9's?

Guri's worth it

Kath also hits quite convincingly

Palob is absolutely disgusting; just waiting on cloaking device to fix that god-awful dial

Epislon Leader has his schtik; very nice

Zeta Ace is very modestly priced, and a huge pain in the ass to pilot skills both above and below his

Biggs, because Biggs

Jake's would be, if he didn't just get 2 epts to be an effective PS 9

ditto Xizor, only he can replicate Predator through Fire Control System and can just go straight PS 9 with V.I

Of those 11 we just listed only Deathrain, epiLeader, and Biggs don't have EPTs. That is worth noting (and I'm not confident EpiLeader exactly belongs here...yet).

So what kind of abilities would we pay for in the 5-7 range so that "beating PS 4 bid" isn't the only reason?

We see Dash, Deathrain, Iggy, Biggs... Some of the stronger abilities on the game. What other abilities bend the rules enough to make you pay for it but not just jump up to 8's and 9's?

Red Ace is going to be even tougher to kill than poe, with R2D2 and Comm Relay.

I'll throw in Vessery as well. Most of these pilots have very good, useful against everyone abilities, or they're on a cheap ship.

For example Vessery and Guri are a lot like the generics of their ships, but with abilities that make them even more so (and EPTs). No high PS ace wants to joust them, because they're both tough and punchy, but they have a maneuver ge against lower PS pilots. Graz the Hunter could have been a modest version of this if he had an EPT. Solid ship, generally useful ability, but no EPT makes it hard to pay for PS6.

I also think you can't count IGs, because if people could pay points to get a higher native PS on those ships, they definitely would.

Can't believe I forgot ol Vess

Chewie!

Backstabber, Turr, Dutch & Dreiss, Kenkirk. Classic pilots in their ships.

Much of the problem is that the highest PS pilots often also have the best PS abilities. So there is often no incentive to go mid PS. The are exceptions, but look at Soontir and Corran and RAC and Dash.

The exceptions i can think of are almost all scum

Guri has a completely different ability than Xizor

Freaking Palob and MUX (best abilities ever)

Lazz

Kath's fat ass

And then there's IggIggy, who's all 6s

PS Bands

PS1-2: Blockers, people who want to save tokens for defence before comitting them to offence, cheap generic swarms.

PS3-4: PS bid on cheap generic swarms, cheap EPT generics.

PS 5-6: Interesting pilot abilities

PS7-8: VI fodder unless the ability is VERY interesting.

PS9: Highest PS with a non-VI EPT

PS10-11: Extra mile to mess with PS9 pilots.

PS12: Roark Garnet's best friend. Say hello to my Swarm TacticTLT.

What about Graz and Laetin? ... anybody? ... No? Okay.

Both Graz and Laetin would probably see play with an EPT.

Laetin would probably suit Juke reasonably well, but alas, no EPT.

To be honest, if the Scyk could take Tech upgrades, it'd be reasonably good.

Laetin would probably suit Juke reasonably well, but alas, no EPT.

To be honest, if the Scyk could take Tech upgrades, it'd be reasonably good.

Or illicits. Or anything. In the lore it is supposed to be super customizable and in the game it is almost impossible to upgrade it without a 2pt tax and then only a single costly upgrade.

Maybe we'll get a "light", "medium", and "military" scyk titles someday.

Much of the problem is that the highest PS pilots often also have the best PS abilities. So there is often no incentive to go mid PS. The are exceptions, but look at Soontir and Corran and RAC and Dash.

heck, if Vessery and Rexler swapped pilot skills, BOTH of them would probably see more play.