Empire SUCKS at synergy.

Not counting new ties;

Col. vessery + any source of target locks

Rexlar brath + any extra actions

Cap. Jonus + secondary weapons

Vader + squad leader

Cap. Kagi

Col Jendon

Lt. Yorr

Howl runner

Epsilon leader

Carnor Jax

Zertik Strom

Fleet officer

Palpatine

There's lots of synergy to be found.

Shhh. Don't tell them. It's a secret.

Let's be honest here... these are POOR attempts at synergy that just don't pan out. Some of these (the newer ones) are better, but are limited and expensive. Howlrunner is the only real success story when it come to Imperial synergy.

The Defender pilots' abilities are horrible because of this lack of synergy. If they were Rebel pilots they would gain TLs and Focus tokens from all over the place! Very few ships even have the native ability to TL in the Imperial Navy!!! Some might bring up Jendon. The Shuttle is the victim of coming from an early wave. The Range 1 limit kills that ability. Meanwhile there are countless titles and pilot abilities on the Rebels side that hands out focus, TLs, and actions up to Range 3!!

Vader and Squad Leader is interesting... but not synergy. Vader needs his actions to stay alive. I love Jonus, but to get the most out of him you'd want him to hang around ships with cannons. The list is short for cannon toting ships in the Empire. Worse yet, the Defender is the best option but already cost 30 points at base!!

Jax sees use, but he is not an example of synergy either. He debuffs. The Empire is very good at that! We can deny that the Empire has no synergy until the cows come home and Han naturally thaws from carbonite. It doesn't make the truth any less true.

I love Jonus, but to get the most out of him you'd want him to hang around ships with cannons. The list is short for cannon toting ships in the Empire. Worse yet, the Defender is the best option but already cost 30 points at base!!

Jonus brothers is the truth at jousting though... Nothing like two hlcs rocking out with super predator. You just need to finds someone content to joust you mindlessly, which is not easy.

I love Jonus, but to get the most out of him you'd want him to hang around ships with cannons. The list is short for cannon toting ships in the Empire. Worse yet, the Defender is the best option but already cost 30 points at base!!

Jonus brothers is the truth at jousting though... Nothing like two hlcs rocking out with super predator. You just need to finds someone content to joust you mindlessly, which is not easy.

I've won a few little store game nights with Jonus Brothers. That might be the second best jousting list in the game. Hard to beat Biggs walks the Dogs. (Damm Rebels!)

When Carnor Jax helps your other ships deal damage by preventing the terrorists from using tokens... you get better results with your other ships than if Carnor Jax wasn't there, or if they spent their time shooting at ships that Jax wasn't next to.

They get better results working together than if they added together the results of their separate efforts.

That is the textbook definition of Synergy.

Also, Colzet and Jendon can turn regular damage cards into crits from the opposite side of the play area. Combine that with Wampa's ability to hand out a facedown damage card and it gets a little ridiculous.

(Maybe I'll try this list with Palpatine!)

And Jonus next to the Imperial Raider will make your opponent flip the table.

How about:

OPG Palpatine

Soontir RGT, Targeting Computer, AT, PTL

Wampa

Lt. Colzet

?

Tell that to Miranda Doni who is still wiping bits off Soontir Fel, Emprah Palpatine etc. from her K-Wing. A 6 attack dice Homing Missile is just glorious to behold. The only thing more glorious is doing it twice.

4 dice from the Homing Missile + 1 from Miranda's ability + 1 from Jan Ors in a HWK?

How about:

OPG Palpatine

Soontir RGT, Targeting Computer, AT, PTL

Wampa

Lt. Colzet

?

Soontir is amazing, but he's amazing on his own, he only wants team mates so someone else gets shot at!

Nah, It's much better with Colonel Jendon with the title to target lock anyone in the play area and then hand the lock off to Colzet at the start of the combat phase if he's within 1. This lets Colzet have a target lock both for his ATC, and for his ability during the end phase, without having to use his action on it. You can even spend the first couple turns handing out free target locks from range 4 and 5. The list I made for fun is:

The Definition Of Synergy (I think...)

Fire-Control System Emperor Palpatine ST-321 Engine Upgrade

• Lieutenant Colzet TIE Advanced

TIE/x1 Advanced Targeting Computer

24 points

Swarm Tactics

19 points

• “Wampa” TIE Fighter

14 points

Palpatine guarantees a damage card gets placed on a ship and if Scourge is next to Wampa he can use swarm tactics to let Wampa shoot first so he can get his extra attack die. Jendon can give a target lock to Wampa either early on or later if Colzet already has one, so Wampa can reroll his dice without Palpatine's help in case you want to use Palpatine for defense or someone else's attack. Then Colzet with a target lock on the enemy gets to attack with his ATC, but even if he doesn't, at the end of the turn he can flip that damage card face up by spending the target lock, even if he is at range 5 on the other side of the map. Colonel Jendon with the title can give a nearby ship a target lock on any enemy ship on the play area, so what Wampa and scourge do on one side, Colzet will be able to contribute even if he's stuck for a turn looking the wrong way.

Jendon helps a lot with the action economy, when he attacks he will get a target lock so he can spend his actions on Boost. The only thing I miss from him is the Weapon's Engineer, which is what I usually put on Jendon with Gunner since I like to run him as a buzzsaw that can hand out either of his two target locks based on which of my ships are pointing at a particular enemy.

Tell that to Miranda Doni who is still wiping bits off Soontir Fel, Emprah Palpatine etc. from her K-Wing. A 6 attack dice Homing Missile is just glorious to behold. The only thing more glorious is doing it twice.

4 dice from the Homing Missile + 1 from Miranda's ability + 1 from Jan Ors in a HWK?

APT has an attack value of 5, but only a range of 1.

Tell that to Miranda Doni who is still wiping bits off Soontir Fel, Emprah Palpatine etc. from her K-Wing. A 6 attack dice Homing Missile is just glorious to behold. The only thing more glorious is doing it twice.

4 dice from the Homing Missile + 1 from Miranda's ability + 1 from Jan Ors in a HWK?

I've ran that combo. It can be absolutely brutal. It is a tad tricky to fly and pull it off however.

The best idea for Wampa I've seen is filler for a build that features Palpatine.

Omicron+Palp

Soontir+PTL+AT

Royal Guard+PTL

Wampa

Could be fun. Wouldn't even mind if Wampa was the first to die or be shot at...

Empire SUCKS at synergy.

Not counting new ties;

Col. vessery + any source of target locks

Rexlar brath + any extra actions

Cap. Jonus + secondary weapons

Vader + squad leader

Cap. Kagi

Col Jendon

Lt. Yorr

Howl runner

Epsilon leader

Carnor Jax

Zertik Strom

Fleet officer

Palpatine

There's lots of synergy to be found.

Shhh. Don't tell them. It's a secret.

Let's be honest here... these are POOR attempts at synergy that just don't pan out. Some of these (the newer ones) are better, but are limited and expensive. Howlrunner is the only real success story when it come to Imperial synergy.

The Defender pilots' abilities are horrible because of this lack of synergy. If they were Rebel pilots they would gain TLs and Focus tokens from all over the place! Very few ships even have the native ability to TL in the Imperial Navy!!! Some might bring up Jendon. The Shuttle is the victim of coming from an early wave. The Range 1 limit kills that ability. Meanwhile there are countless titles and pilot abilities on the Rebels side that hands out focus, TLs, and actions up to Range 3!!

Vader and Squad Leader is interesting... but not synergy. Vader needs his actions to stay alive. I love Jonus, but to get the most out of him you'd want him to hang around ships with cannons. The list is short for cannon toting ships in the Empire. Worse yet, the Defender is the best option but already cost 30 points at base!!

Jax sees use, but he is not an example of synergy either. He debuffs. The Empire is very good at that! We can deny that the Empire has no synergy until the cows come home and Han naturally thaws from carbonite. It doesn't make the truth any less true.

Ironically imperial pilot abilities are often centered around dealing critical hits (Maarek, Rexlar, Vader crew, winged gundark) while all rebel ships are shielded.

The Definition Of Synergy (I think...)

• Colonel Jendon Lambda-Class Shuttle

Fire-Control System Emperor Palpatine ST-321 Engine Upgrade

43 points

• Lieutenant Colzet TIE Advanced

TIE/x1 Advanced Targeting Computer

24 points

• “Scourge” TIE Fighter

Swarm Tactics

19 points

• “Wampa” TIE Fighter

14 points

I think the big problem you've got with that squad is that you've got a 43 point Shuttle and a number of ships that are built around a gimmick. Can your other 3 ships push through damage fast enough to take some enemy ships off the table before that shuttle goes down in flames?

You've got a squad of mid to low PS ships that don't have a lot of action economy. Palpatine works well with ships like Vader and Soontir because they have the PS and action economy to be able to arc dodge or turtle up as needed and let Palpatine help overcome probability.

Well the point was synergy, If you want more action economy than Jendon hands out, you field 3 Interceptors with Push the limit and autothrusters.

Jendon hands out the target locks, so your other ships can use their action on something else, and FCS lets Jendon keep getting his target locks back without needing to take the action.

But if you can drop Palpatine for a Weapons Engineer it works much better since FCS will allow you to get a target lock on your target + 1 other ship anywhere according to the FAQ. Or just drop Palpatine and the title to upgrade Scourge to Darth Vader with ATC. And rely a little more on chance. You could drop Colzet's ATC to an Accuracy Corrector if you wanted the initiative or TIE MK2 on Vader or something.

Here is a potentially fun interaction to ponder.

Wampa attacking Dengar.

Now, If only the rules stated somewhere along the lines of, if you roll zero hits/crits then the defender does not have to roll for defense..