The correct response seems to be somewhere along the lines of "I don't know where you get your delusions, laser-brain."

Also, you seriously think someone's puppeting me? That's cute, but see above.

Anyway, let's analyse the post:

The Countess should be skill level 8 or 9, she was Baron Fels rival till he killed her. Her being the skill level she is in this set doesnt look good enough to be Fels rival.

Also they should have a "Red Star 1" upgrade for her defender since it appears she did have the most advanced defender out of all the d3fenders.

Firstly, PS is not a perfect relative measure of a pilot's skill in-fluff. It is a gameplay mechanic, and subject to balance. I guarantee you FFG put more work into that decision than you did into the post.

Secondly, "Fel's rival". Wookieepedia does use this exact term, but it's talking about politics, not piloting. This invalidates the second sentence from a fluff standpoint.

"they should". This is a fluff argument, and has effectively nothing to do with gameplay.

If anything, the Rival of a PS9 Intercepter pilot being a lower PS Defender should be considered a justification that the defender is a harder ship to fly- anyone not named Marrak Steele drops several ranks when put behind that yoke.

Can you just PM each other so this thread doesn't get spam locked?

^eh, I've made my point, there's really no reason to waste time PMing him.

Yeah, cool it. There's lots of other good discussion happening.

Just a question, is it confirmed that Maarek will have the same ability in the Defender as in the Advanced? I have not managed to decipher that yet. But you wtite, as if that would be the case.

It would make sense if we look at Hera who will have the same in Ghost and Phantom. But then Boba Scum is different from Boba Imperial.

But it would also disappoint me a bit because of pilots that have lackluster abilities but were known to fly other ships. So if they keep the Pilot ability, for instance a Remake of Tycho in an X-Wing would not be that interesting with the same skill.

Or if Grampy Luke should appear in the new trilogy somewhere (unless he is dead or on the dark side) he wouldbe bound to be a worse Dameron Poe in a T-70 with its old skill...

I think the text that is visible strongly suggests the ability is the same.

Are these defender pilots coming from a video game or book. If its a book please let me know which one so I can start reading it soon. Thanks in advance.

I think the text that is visible strongly suggests the ability is the same.

Okay, it's certainly posible that it is. Thanks!

I think it's also a very good ability, especially now on a 3 attack ship. The advanced is not bad, but i think the defender is a bit better now.

I still would have wished for a different ability on him, just to give imperial pilots a bit more variety.

Before the new titles i would have jumped on the mangler cannon, and it still seems like no bad choice on Maarek despite the titles.

But i would probably just go with x7 Title on him, as well as Veteran Instincts and Tie MkII. Marksmanship is well and fine, just that tehre is no cannon able to get a crit through on him, so i feel having PS9 and just going after natural crits might be the best way!

No idea if it's viable, but can we put two fleet officers on a tie shuttle and supercharge Rexlar?

I think this would make a pretty nasty Palpmobile list, if Maarek really is 36 points base (which i really think he is)

We invest in palpy so we don't have to pay for crit abilities on Maarek, and once he does get that Hull hit, we flip the dice to a crit. All while Maarek sits at PS9, able to Koio Roll and shoot first...

Not sure if its better with Vader instead of Fel because we dont need Palpy defensively as much on Vader.

Maarek Stele (36)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)
TIE/x7 (-2)

Omicron Group Pilot (21)
Emperor Palpatine (8)

Soontir Fel (27)
Push the Limit (3)
Autothrusters (2)
Stealth Device (3)
Royal Guard TIE (0)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

What do people think of Maarek Stele taking a Mangler Cannon instead of a title?

What do people think of Maarek Stele taking a Mangler Cannon instead of a title?

That is unlikely to be a good idea, since x7 with Marksmanship will be cheaper without the downside of losing the defensive focus being downplayed by the free evade token. I think you either don't quite care about his ability and just take it as a free bonus where it applies or give him Calculation at most. Maybe the Marksmanship double tap will also be a thing, but I believe that will be too expensive.

Maybe Mareek will be costed in a way that allows him to use Mangler reasonably, but even in that case x7 is going to be the more reasonable choice.

If you went with the Mangler, you could always go with VI to push him up there. Getting up to PS 9+ is a thing that could be worth it.

Mangler also frees your action to do something other than Marksman all the time.

I think there's better and more interesting ways to land a crit than Mangler cannon and paying 4 points to only fire 3 dice and Range 1 is silly.

What do people think of Maarek Stele taking a Mangler Cannon instead of a title?

I like it. That is the great thing about these titles. They are not required to use. I will still use HLC Rexlar. HLC on Vessery isn't quite as appealing anymore, but I still love that big hit to turn all into crits with Rexlar. Maarek may end up being another Defender that is fine without using a title. Mangler is much better for triggering his ability than Marksmanship or Calculation.

I think there's better and more interesting ways to land a crit than Mangler cannon and paying 4 points to only fire 3 dice and Range 1 is silly.

At Range 1, ALWAYS use your primary.

The main problem with taking a Manger Cannon on Maarek (assuming his ability is the same) is that it precludes you from benefiting from either of the Defender titles. I think there are a number of better options for crit-fishing on Maarek.

- Calculation + either title

- Marksmanship + either title

- Palpatine

- Just plain having a 3-dice primary. You're going to roll some crits eventually.

No idea if it's viable, but can we put two fleet officers on a tie shuttle and supercharge Rexlar?

Fleet Officer is an action, so you can't use two, but one could certainly help. I'm not a huge fan of trying to hard to activate the Defender pilot abilities, though. The ship is so big and powerful on its own that you should be trying to emphasize those advantages over maximizing a random ability that might not even come up. To me, Rexlar is valuable because he is a PS 8 Defender with an EPT. His ability is nice, and I've used it, but it's most useful when you just let it happen. That way you aren't planning around something that's not very reliable or necessarily useful.

I think the text that is visible strongly suggests the ability is the same.

Okay, it's certainly posible that it is. Thanks!

I think it's also a very good ability, especially now on a 3 attack ship. The advanced is not bad, but i think the defender is a bit better now.

I still would have wished for a different ability on him, just to give imperial pilots a bit more variety.

Before the new titles i would have jumped on the mangler cannon, and it still seems like no bad choice on Maarek despite the titles.

But i would probably just go with x7 Title on him, as well as Veteran Instincts and Tie MkII. Marksmanship is well and fine, just that tehre is no cannon able to get a crit through on him, so i feel having PS9 and just going after natural crits might be the best way!

I think all the things I said about Rexlar above are also my opinion on Maarek. He's throwing 3 dice, 4 at short range, and with the /D title, he's going to be potentially stripping shields and tokens with a cannon before his primary shot as well. The crits will come. I was thinking Marksmanship initially to try and maximize his ability and help both of his shots out, but upon reflection sort of decided that I liked VI or Predator better. Predator also boosts both shots, but doesn't take an action, and PS9 is PS9. I could see Calculation on an /x7 Defender, because it's nice and cheap and you wouldn't feel too bad if you didn't need it.

The main problem with taking a Manger Cannon on Maarek (assuming his ability is the same) is that it precludes you from benefiting from either of the Defender titles. I think there are a number of better options for crit-fishing on Maarek.

- Calculation + Tractor Beam/Ion Cannon + TIE/D

- Marksmanship + TIE/x7

- Palpatine

- Just plain having a 3-dice primary. You're going to roll some crits eventually.

Maarek Stele - TIE/D, Tractor Beam/Flechette Cannon/Ion Cannon, Marksmanship

This build needs to be renamed Maareksmanship.

But it would also disappoint me a bit because of pilots that have lackluster abilities but were known to fly other ships. So if they keep the Pilot ability, for instance a Remake of Tycho in an X-Wing would not be that interesting with the same skill.

Or if Grampy Luke should appear in the new trilogy somewhere (unless he is dead or on the dark side) he wouldbe bound to be a worse Dameron Poe in a T-70 with its old skill...

I disagree, Luke (with the same pilot ability) would be better in a T-70 than Poe is. Luke's ability doesn't work on attack rolls but it is action independent. Luke is able to use the red maneuvers and boost of the T-70 without giving up his defensive bonus. If he gets blocked, clips an asteroid, or ends up with a pile of stress his ability still works.

Maarak Steele (36) (tenative point cost)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Ion Cannon (3)
TIE/D (0)

Rexler Brath (37)
Predator (3)
Ion Cannon (3)
TIE/D (0)

Scimitar Squadron Pilot (16)
Long-Range Scanners (0)

Total: 99

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Maarak shoots beofre Rexler, stripping tokens to set up Rexler's ability, and moves after PS7 and 8 aces like Dash and Corran

Maarak Steele (36) (tenative point cost)

Veteran Instincts (1)

Ion Cannon (3)

TIE/D (0)

Rexler Brath (37)

Predator (3)

Ion Cannon (3)

TIE/D (0)

Scimitar Squadron Pilot (16)

Long-Range Scanners (0)

Total: 99

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Maarak shoots beofre Rexler, stripping tokens to set up Rexler's ability, and moves after PS7 and 8 aces like Dash and Corran

What does the Scimitar do? Why not a TIE/fo or Backstabber?

Vessery is a better token stripper than Stele. I don't think I would use Stele and Brath in the same list, seeing as the both kind of want to shoot after the other. I think Stele (whether in a Defender or an Advanced) would be more comfortable finishing of a target pummeled by Fel or Redline, to be honest. His ability doesn't really synergise with VI.

In general, I'd want non-crit pilots to fire first. For the Empire, the high PS ones that spring to mind are Fel, Jax, Phennir, Redline, Bren, Mithel, Howlrunner, Echo and Whisper (and to a lesser extent Fett and Rhymer, who don't really see play). Brath, Scourge and pretty much every Advanced pilot wants to shot after shields are down and tokens are gone.

In the list suggested you could downgrade an ion cannon (likely Stele's) to a Tractor Beam and replace the Scimitar with VI Mithel. Then you'd have another PS9 to bother Horn, Poe and Whisper, who could shoot before your crit-happy Defenders.