True. But whilst it's relatively easy to kill an Expose-ed Academy Pilot, they're pretty easy to kill anyway.

Hmm.....

Actually, no. It does make a difference. If you work on 3-dice attacks with focus (a fairly 'industry standard' value):

• 3 dice, 6/8 chance to hit - 2.25 damage
• 2 dice, 3/8 chance to evade (no focus, remember) - 0.75 dodged

That means about one-and-a-half hits per attack, so four attackers can drop 2 academy pilots. That's a big bite taken out of your firepower before you fire.

By comparison, an agility 3, focused academy pilot would take (on average) all four attacks to put down.

I think expose can work, but it needs to be paired with a way to get extra actions, or with higher pilot skill (to drop an attacker before he shoots) or held in reserve for those shooting-from-out-of-arc moments.

That's why I think it pairs up better with Black Squadron Pilots, Mauler Mithel and Scourge, packing either Predator or Push The Limit. They're nice little ships anyway - Youngster just helps them - and can do so from Range 3, not just range1, so you can fly him as a flanker rather than in the heart of the box formation.

I still think that Expose will be good with the Grand Inquisitor

Well....for starters, you can choose NOT to Expose if it's a bad situation. Figuring out when it is bad vs. when it's good is the trick.

Still, I think if you had Howlrunner, Youngster w/ Expose, and 5 cheap Academy Pilots....it could be a good list. Who does your opponent shoot at? If it's one of the Exposing Tie Fighters, then Howlrunner and Youngster live longer. That means all your other shots are being that much more effective. I can see it being very effective, especially against high agility lists like Bro Bots or Soontir Fel.

You get some of your swarm in R1 of your opponent, well...don't Expose them. Expose those in the back. Make your opponent choose.

I think you will find some people will still go for Howlrunner. Some will go for Youngster. Others will go for Exposed ships. I think there isn't really a good option.

Once again....it depends on whom you are facing. You can choose NOT to Expose when it's not in your favor. Having the option is pretty potent, though.

I want this to be a good idea. I really do. I'll fly it to test it out, but I fear those 4 points (and the action) could have been better spent.

Expert Handling would add a defensive buff to your swarm. There are many lists that much prefer the TL action over focus. Throw Jax into your mix and you've really taken away your opponent's ability to modify dice.

I also would love for Youngster to be good. Unfortunately with the current EPTs, I just don't see him being worth it competitively. If you are taking a Tie swarm from 7 or 6 ships down to 5, you need to be getting extremely good efficiencies out of it. If you do go down to 5 ships, you might as well work in 3 or 4 squints, since they have expose built into their stats without the green dice debuff, boost (for blocking), a better dial, not stressing (to keep the K-turn available), and don't fall flat on their face if they get blocked like a PTL black squad. The other thing you need to keep in mind, is if you are going to a 5 ship mini Tie swarm, is it clearly better overall than other 5 ship builds like 4BZ or ACDC?

I also would love for Youngster to be good. Unfortunately with the current EPTs, I just don't see him being worth it competitively. If you are taking a Tie swarm from 7 or 6 ships down to 5, you need to be getting extremely good efficiencies out of it. If you do go down to 5 ships, you might as well work in 3 or 4 squints, since they have expose built into their stats without the green dice debuff, boost (for blocking), a better dial, not stressing (to keep the K-turn available), and don't fall flat on their face if they get blocked like a PTL black squad. The other thing you need to keep in mind, is if you are going to a 5 ship mini Tie swarm, is it clearly better overall than other 5 ship builds like 4BZ or ACDC?

Yes, but you don't have to go down to 5 ships. Howlrunner w/ PTL, Youngster w/ Expose, and 5 Academy works just fine. That's 7 ships.

I also would love for Youngster to be good. Unfortunately with the current EPTs, I just don't see him being worth it competitively.

It's a shame his ability is not that other's within range can use his EPT as if it was their own. This would open up possibilities. Mind you, new EPTs that require an action could be coming our way soon.

Here is my take on swarms.

They are alive and well at this moment. What I see coming out of the new pilots and upgrades is that there is greater diversity within Swarms. Plus flying tactics changes.

The traditional swarm is Howl + Backstabber/DC + 5 generics. This flys as a single formation and uses a lot of blocking.

We also saw a little of the the 6 TIE Elite Swarm, which was fun but not nearly as competitive.

Earlier this years we started to see some 4 Academy and 4 Obsidian. These tend to fly in multiple groups. and uses blocking a lot as well.

Now we have been seeing Crackswarms. Which are less about blocking and more about firepower, but tends to fly best in formation.

Youngster is great because you can ditch Howl, for basically the same price and fly an Exposed swarm off the leash. You can selectively have TIEs use Expose for a similar effect as Howlrunner, but they don't need to be as close. (+1 Die is about equal to a reroll). I am still highly skeptical as to whether this will work or not, but I am not dismissing it out of hand. This will allow you to break into multiple formations as well.

What I am expecting to see is greater variety in Swarms rather than the one true way swarms we have seen in the past.

Oh yeah, if its less than 6 ships, its not a swarm anymore (in my opinion). Here is hoping we can see a lot of variants to the 6 TIE Elite swarms.

Youngster works out to range 3. Break your swarm up after the initial joust, then expose with those likely not to be shot by multiple targets. It's fun.

Mmmmm, until FFG puts up an errata stating otherwise, the Fan Boy in me will have Youngster's card text applying to any ship with Twin Ion Engines. Thankee very much. (But I'm only ever a casual, for-fun X-Wing player anyway. )

EDIT: but I rather like Youngster with Predator for a Howlie light that works out to rng 3 and works better vs. low ps ships.

Well, you apparently don't mind breaking the rules (which I'm totally fine with), so I'm not sure I should bother here, but...

Predator doesn't do anything extra on youngster and wastes his ability. The only cards that function with youngster's ability are the 5 EPTs with the "action:" header.

I remain baffled and mildly disappointed that the Gozanti didn't actually include any new Action: EPTs. There's no shortage of options in that design space, surely.

Here is my take on swarms.

They are alive and well at this moment. What I see coming out of the new pilots and upgrades is that there is greater diversity within Swarms. Plus flying tactics changes.

The traditional swarm is Howl + Backstabber/DC + 5 generics. This flys as a single formation and uses a lot of blocking.

We also saw a little of the the 6 TIE Elite Swarm, which was fun but not nearly as competitive.

Earlier this years we started to see some 4 Academy and 4 Obsidian. These tend to fly in multiple groups. and uses blocking a lot as well.

Now we have been seeing Crackswarms. Which are less about blocking and more about firepower, but tends to fly best in formation.

Youngster is great because you can ditch Howl, for basically the same price and fly an Exposed swarm off the leash. You can selectively have TIEs use Expose for a similar effect as Howlrunner, but they don't need to be as close. (+1 Die is about equal to a reroll). I am still highly skeptical as to whether this will work or not, but I am not dismissing it out of hand. This will allow you to break into multiple formations as well.

What I am expecting to see is greater variety in Swarms rather than the one true way swarms we have seen in the past.

Oh yeah, if its less than 6 ships, its not a swarm anymore (in my opinion). Here is hoping we can see a lot of variants to the 6 TIE Elite swarms.

Expose only makes sense as an action with howlrunner. It has absolutely no logic without her. It is worse than focus with more than two dice, and with two dice it's dead even. At least focus could save your life, too.

Not sure why people are still trying to get Expose to work, or Marksmenship for that matter. Its done, finished, GG, leave it alone and let it rot. It was a good IDEA for a single pilot at a time of limited offensive abilities and modifications. Now however, it is like the school ex that you occasionally bump into and reminds you at every opportunity that you once dated, for 15 minutes, as a dare, during the experimental part of your life.

Youngster has been put into play ready for cards that are due to be released in wave 8 & 9 which will provide the true, hard-core, unyielding despite the meta changes swarm players a sigh of relief and praise the Emperor.

This also is predicting the return of ordinance and assault missiles, hence the wider range band.

Bossk has a home for Marksmanship. Sometimes Corran can be seen with it but most people can't make the move away from putting PTL on everything.

But Expose? Nope.

What about Decimator? Nope.

What about the Ghost? Nope, no EPT so far!

Expose, R2-F2 and EI on Wedge or Luke....nah that's just crazy!

Expose only makes sense as an action with howlrunner. It has absolutely no logic without her. It is worse than focus with more than two dice, and with two dice it's dead even. At least focus could save your life, too.

1) Yes, it is good with Howlrunner. It is great for that.

2) Worse than Focus on AVERAGES, but sometimes you take a gamble. The POTENTIAL is there to do more damage with Expose. If you are facing an enemy ship with a high agility, your 2 dice w/ Focus will have a hard time getting through. It could be that you have a better chance with numerous 3 dice w/ no modification getting through. I don't know about you, but my dice don't always roll averages. They have been hot and cold. Having 5 Academies firing 3 dice does give a greater chance of doing more damage to get through against those with high agility.

Not sure why people are still trying to get Expose to work, or Marksmenship for that matter. Its done, finished, GG, leave it alone and let it rot. It was a good IDEA for a single pilot at a time of limited offensive abilities and modifications. Now however, it is like the school ex that you occasionally bump into and reminds you at every opportunity that you once dated, for 15 minutes, as a dare, during the experimental part of your life.

Youngster has been put into play ready for cards that are due to be released in wave 8 & 9 which will provide the true, hard-core, unyielding despite the meta changes swarm players a sigh of relief and praise the Emperor.

I disagree that Youngster is put into play only for new EPTs. I'm thinking there will be some new ones, but I see Youngster as a tool to revive older ones that are collecting dust. They hate that that happens and are always trying to "fix" old cards that don't get used. I think Youngster is a means to use the old ones. I do agree that new ones will come out, too.

I also disagree that Marksman is bad. I've seen it used by a friend on Nera with Torpedoes combined with Dutch and Horton with TLT's. My win lose record is something like 1-5 for that list. Get close to the Y-wings and get Torps. Stay away and get TLT's.

SIDE NOTE: Has there been an official answer as to what constitutes a TIE for Youngster?

Every time people mention Expose they always talk about how it decreases your defense. While I agree with this statement, you wouldn't necessarily want to use it all the time. And you especially wouldn't want to use it when staring at multiple ships that will all get to fire at you in one round.

The best argument I've heard against using Expose spelled out the math behind unmodified three dice attack vs. a modified two dice attack. Comparing those two attacks (don't ask me for the math because I don't remember), the modified two dice attack always wins.

Following that, the only time I can see using Expose would be when I have a TIE that is either not getting fired at or getting fired at by a weak ship and my TIE can take two actions. This would insure I get a modified attack with the increased dice attack. And now I've only succeeded in creating an expensive, situational synergy given I need to spend 22 points for Youngster with Expose and either 17 points for Black Squadrons with PTL or 20 points for Omegas with PTL. I don't think I would try to make that work. The other option to get that second action is Experimental Interface but that doesn't seem feasible given that card is unique.

I wonder if in the future FFG will open up TIE ships in general to use Youngster's ability. I think spending 22 points on Youngster with Expose with a couple arc dodgers like Vader and Soontir could be interesting. But again, that doesn't sound more appealing than pairing those two arc dodgers with a Palpmobile or even another ace like Carnor.

Disclaimer: I'm very new to this game.

I started listening to the Mynock Squadron podcast and they said this pilot sounds like a setup for future cards that will help out the TIE swarm.

i just wish the big "G" would hurry up and get here!! i mean it shipped months before the FO and T-70 yet THEY are now shipping? I mean what the frack??? They must have used some kind of cigarette boat to ship those puppies that fast!!

the T-70 and FO were already ready

they literally just need new packaging, 5 new pilots and 5 new upgrades

NOTE: Going for 2 red dice with Focus to 3 red dice without is about even for averages. What it does do, though, is increase the chance of doing more. My dice don't always roll average and you have a chance of rolling 2-3 hits. You can't roll 3 hits with Focus. That does matter sometimes.

I will say that on the first approach of your 5 Academies + Youngster + Howlrunner.....you probably do want to Expose. Who will your opponent shoot at first?

Academy Pilots = They have lower agility and are easier to kill. You might be able to kill more of them in the first volley. This will allow Howlrunner and Youngster to stay alive, though, and continue their benefits.

Howlrunner = is always good to kill off as she gives her bonus to everyone. Still....even if they kill her in the first round before your Academy fires....you have 5 of them shooting with 3 dice. The averages are the same as using a Focus, but your potential damage is much higher.

Youngster = This is probably what you want to happen. I'd take the Focus on Youngster to help keep the whipper snapper alive.

It really matters what you are facing, though. You going against two Bro Bots with Gunner and HLC? Go ahead and Expose as you are probably going to be hit anyways. There are only 2 of them. You need the higher red dice to get more potential hits vs that Agility 3.

4 x TLT Y-wings? Expose! It will take 2 Y-wings to kill 1 Tie Fighter and you can throw out another die vs. low agility Y-wings. The potential to dish out a lot of damage early is great. 15 red dice is good.

4 B-wings? I'm not sure here. You might want the Focus to force those B-wings to concentrate their fire. To be honest, I am not sure I'd want to joust these guys at all. Use Howlrunner as bait and flank with as many Tie Fighters as you can. Youngster works up to R3. Getting a Tie Fighter that isn't going to get shot a chance to use Expose? Heck yeah!

3 Aces? Oh, you will need the Expose to try to get through that high agility.

Palpmobile? Use Expose to take out the Shuttle ASAP.

Corran Horn? I say Expose as you want to kill that guy fast and not let him get a chance to rebuild his shields or even use his double tap. I'd risk the greater chance of damage vs. 3 green dice.

Fat Turret? Expose to rip through that hull and shield.

When is it not good? Probably when you are facing off vs. a lot of 3 red dice attacks.

I can imagine a deadly combination of Expose-TIEs next to a TIE-bomber with some XX-23 S-Thread Tracers

Youngster + Expose

5x TIE fighter

TIE bomber + XX-23 S-Thread Tracers (2x)

Residual points can be invested in stealth device or hull upgrade for youngster or extra munition for the bomber (or higher PS for bomber)

https://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Galactic%20Empire&d=v3!s!152:20:-1:1:;10::-1:-1:;10::-1:-1:;10::-1:-1:;10::-1:-1:;10::-1:-1:;49:-1,-1,143,143,-1:-1:-1:

Youngster starts, then bomber giving target locks to a poor victim -> overall 17 attack dice with modifier

I think it's worth exploring options other than Youngster, Howl, & Academy Pilots though.

For example:

Howlrunner [Hull Upgrade]

Youngster [Expose]

Black Squadron Pilot [Crack Shot]

Black Squadron Pilot [Crack Shot]

Black Squadron Pilot [Crack Shot]

Black Squadron Pilot [Crack Shot]

or

Howlrunner

Youngster [Expose]

Academy Pilot

Academy Pilot

Academy Pilot

OGP [Advanced Sensors, Fleet Officer]

The thing that many of you seem to be forgetting is that you don't just get to decide to expose at the end of combat. It's your action. If you expose to try to get through that aces tokens and agility, you are 100% toast when they arc dodge your squad and wreck face. Same with similar situations. You would have to be reallllllllllllllllly sure of yourself as a blocker to expose Academy Ties against basically any list.

If you can control yourself and not use it until your not being shot at by anyone (Ie after you K behind them and follow for a turn, it can be good. But it's not something you would do all the time or you would lose a tie each turn or more.

If Youngsters ability had been to perform the action and everyone else within range got the benefits for free, he would almost, almost have made Expose worthwhile as a risk/benefit tradeoff for when you need firepower and are happy to leave your TIEs the squishiest ships in the game to do it - trading a TIE or two for a potent alpha strike, for example.

Youngster would have also completely broken Marksmanship in the process, outstripping Howlrunner's boost to firepower by a healthy margin; combined, the two would have broken the jousting efficiency in half.

While Expose would have been an 'interesting tradeoff'.

This is how mediocre Expose is.