Obligatory card text

Friendly TIE fighters at Range 1-3 may perform the action on your equipped Upgrade card.

So: she's a PS 6 (standard) TIE pilot that's 1 point cheaper than the other two PS 6 (standard) TIE pilots. For that reduced cost, she also has an upgrade slot- which also usually costs an extra point. Also also! She has a pilot ability, those often cost a point.

So overall, it's plausible to say that Youngling costs ~3 points less than she "should". Given that her ability is purely support, and that to use that ability would require a minimum of 2 extra points be spent, giving this pilot a squad cost break is a really good idea.

(As an aside: how much more play would named Rebel HWKs see if they were each 2-3 points less expensive?)

The cards that can be equipped to Youngster to make her pilot ability work are well covered elsewhere, but I thought it would be useful to mention a couple other cards in conjunction with her: Push the Limit and Experimental Interface.

Any TIE Fighter within range 1-3 of Youngster, which has either of those cards equipped can take a stress token to perform both the action equipped to Youngster and another action listed on their action bar. It should be noted that the order is important: with PTL the second action _must_ be one listed on the action bar. With EI, the second action _must_ be one on an equipped upgrade card with the "ACTION" header. So, like, be careful how you barrel roll!

Note: technically speaking, Targeting Computer and Engine Upgrade put actions on your action bar, they do not count as actions from cards with "the equipped 'action' header". Most times this difference doesn't matter. But this time it really will.

So, with all of that in mind, it should be possible to put (say) Expose on Youngster, and PTL on a Black Squadron Pilot, have the BSP use Expose as their action, and use that to trigger PTL to take an evade token. The BSP's defense would be nearly as strong, while the offense would go up a bit (even more with Howlrunner around).

I'm not going to claim that's the best possible combination, but it's a possibility I've not seen others mention, so I thought I should.

(As an aside: how much more play would named Rebel HWKs see if they were each 2-3 points less expensive?)

None because it would still be a walking bull's eye and generally the first ship your opponent wants to 66.

Heere Youngster ist sohn oder daughter??

Given how he meets a useless and humiliating end, the Youngster is quite definitely a son. It's a kind of pottery, much like your German but in a different way.

Maybe add the new tie f.o that takes away stress to the squad too...

It's not a bad plan. Push the limit pairs well with offering extra actions.

I think expose is probably the best option (never though I'd say that!) if you're getting extra actions and/or a reroll.

Expose plus crack shot will hurt, too.

Younger's cheaper because he/she she essentially has no pilot ability unless you fill that slot.

What action upgrades are there?

I can only see:

-expose - good with push the limit or howlrunner for ridiculous firepower from a Tie swarm.

-squad leader - because you can only pass actions downhill, you won't get too much mileage but it's a nice to have.

-expert handling -TIEfighters already have barrel roll, so this is just a way to shed target locks. It'll annoy TIE advanced aces but not a lot else

- daredevil - do you really want an action that has a decent chance of blowing you up when you trigger it?

(As an aside: how much more play would named Rebel HWKs see if they were each 2-3 points less expensive?)

None because it would still be a walking bull's eye and generally the first ship your opponent wants to 66.

TLTs were the missing piece that rebel HWKs needed. They're very useable now, you gotta expand your horizon. Not taking a ship because it's the one your opponent wants to kill most is pretty poor reasoning. With that logic, we should all be taking only swarms of identical ships.

Howlrunner? Nope. She has a target on her and your opponent will try to kill her first. Corran Horn? Absolutely not. Very expensive target. Palpmobile? Miranda? Biggs? Nay, nay, and super nay! You get the idea...

Howlerunner, Youngster and 5 academies with expose will be A Thing, I reckon. EI would drop you to 6 ships, but could be pretty mean - great idea.

With expose and PTL blacks you probably want the stress FO and still benenit from flying tight with him and Howlrunner. Swap PTL for predator and you can fly it loose without the range 1 specialty pilots.

Flank Marksmanship with crackshot blacks and your opponent will be sweating their shields off.

(As an aside: how much more play would named Rebel HWKs see if they were each 2-3 points less expensive?)

None because it would still be a walking bull's eye and generally the first ship your opponent wants to 66.

TLTs were the missing piece that rebel HWKs needed. They're very useable now, you gotta expand your horizon. Not taking a ship because it's the one your opponent wants to kill most is pretty poor reasoning. With that logic, we should all be taking only swarms of identical ships.

Howlrunner? Nope. She has a target on her and your opponent will try to kill her first. Corran Horn? Absolutely not. Very expensive target. Palpmobile? Miranda? Biggs? Nay, nay, and super nay! You get the idea...

Exactly that. 25 point Roark is pretty fantastic and he was already good without TLT. Also 24 points of range 2 double stress. Haven't teted them, yet, but at least in my head those stress-operatives look pretty good.

I am underwhelmed by Youngster, but that can change really fast the moment they give us an action header talent that is actually useable.

@OP: great idea! I'm sure there are some possible uses combining Youngster with PtL- we will definitely have to experiment.

Also, before things get out of hand (as they undoubtedly will), I'd like to remind everyone that Experimental Interface is unique. So no Youngster + a bunch of TIEs with EI. Unfortunately.

I seem to recall a partially revealed card from the Dengar expansion...

Red Text is filled in by a parser, but it fits the centering.

Black Squad Matters!

In the fiction, Youngster is absolutely a male pilot flying in Black Eight Squadron (as was Chaser).

(As an aside: how much more play would named Rebel HWKs see if they were each 2-3 points less expensive?)

None because it would still be a walking bull's eye and generally the first ship your opponent wants to 66.

TLTs were the missing piece that rebel HWKs needed. They're very useable now, you gotta expand your horizon. Not taking a ship because it's the one your opponent wants to kill most is pretty poor reasoning. With that logic, we should all be taking only swarms of identical ships.

Howlrunner? Nope. She has a target on her and your opponent will try to kill her first. Corran Horn? Absolutely not. Very expensive target. Palpmobile? Miranda? Biggs? Nay, nay, and super nay! You get the idea...

Exactly that. 25 point Roark is pretty fantastic and he was already good without TLT. Also 24 points of range 2 double stress. Haven't teted them, yet, but at least in my head those stress-operatives look pretty good.

I am underwhelmed by Youngster, but that can change really fast the moment they give us an action header talent that is actually useable.

Thanks for the info, I'll make sure to dust off the hwk and try it next match.

I think Youngster is cheap enough to ignore his ability and just use him like a PS 6 BSP. With VI you've got a PS8 TIE for 16 points which isn't too shabby if you needed to make that high of a PS bid for some reason.

Expose is still bad unless your giving them all a focus at the same time.

Why not youngling with PTL, epsilon leader with com relay, and five academy pilots.

Seven ships focus and evade with no need to do a green the following move.

I think the HWK may also be better in epic. Those games last way longer and there's more ships on the tables, and in my experience the low agility ships go down way too fast. Inevitably, the ships that last to the mid and endgame are those with high agility. The HWK doesn't have high agility, but it's at least better than the other turreted ships, and the crew slot gives options for defense (e.g. lando).

I just wish the HWK had a better dial

(As an aside: how much more play would named Rebel HWKs see if they were each 2-3 points less expensive?)

None because it would still be a walking bull's eye and generally the first ship your opponent wants to 66.

TLTs were the missing piece that rebel HWKs needed. They're very useable now, you gotta expand your horizon. Not taking a ship because it's the one your opponent wants to kill most is pretty poor reasoning. With that logic, we should all be taking only swarms of identical ships.

Howlrunner? Nope. She has a target on her and your opponent will try to kill her first. Corran Horn? Absolutely not. Very expensive target. Palpmobile? Miranda? Biggs? Nay, nay, and super nay! You get the idea...

Exactly that. 25 point Roark is pretty fantastic and he was already good without TLT. Also 24 points of range 2 double stress. Haven't teted them, yet, but at least in my head those stress-operatives look pretty good.

I am underwhelmed by Youngster, but that can change really fast the moment they give us an action header talent that is actually useable.

The problem with Youngster PTL swarm is that once you get all the necessary pieces for the combo in (howlrunner+PTL, Youngster+expose, epsilon leader) you're left with only 2 black squadrons with PTL and 7 points. We all know how 5 TIEs do, and cutting 5 points to get an extra TIE in there you might as well drop the PTL shenanigans.

Too bad Cloaking Device is Scum only. Would have been absolutely hilarious.