As long as there is a Focus token and you keep it, which is something you want anyway most of the time in order to regen a shield with R5-P9 (unless you run R2-D2), you can modify 2 dice per turn instead of one on Luke. Unlike Luke you can do it on offense. With the same upgrades he will always have an Edge actually. And situations where you want to spend your focus are pretty rare actually, uless you would die otherwise or gain 2 hits. But these situations also apply to Luke.

Everything you are saying is predicated on those ships taking R5-P9 and keeping the token to fuel the shield regen. Poe's ability does work better in that case but now you have a ship that is extremely dependent on having to take a focus action. If he gets a stack of stress he loses both his ability and his shield regen. If he needs to boost he gives up both his ability and his shield regen. If he has to use a red maneuver he gives up both his ability and his shield regen. If he gets blocked he gives up both his ability and his shield regen.

Having more synergy with one particular upgrade (that isn't even an auto-include on Poe) is a far cry from your original claim that "he [Luke] would be bound to be a worse Dameron Poe in a T-70 with its old skill" .

If Poe has a focus token when attacking he can change an eyeball to a hit or spend it to change multiple eyeballs.

If Luke has a focus token when attacking he can spend it to change any number of eyeballs.

If neither of them have a token, no one modifies anything.

Glaive, x7, Crackshot x2 = 66

Vessery, x7, Crackshot = 34

I've never been a big one for squad names, but I'm calling this one "Meteor Shower".

Stick Long Range Scanners on the Glaives and you can have them each paint a different target early on. Leave them on and use Focus after that. This way Vessery can have his TL's for a sure thing.

Well I think we will see Vessery more with the /D title because on him we might easily get double modification if we run anyone passing out TLs alongside him.

While Col. V with the /D title is a good thing, I don't think it's a bad thing to take the /X7 title with him, especially if you want to use the Juke EPT. Getting the free TL (depending on rest of list) and Juke are not a bad thing. I like using Col V now and that's before the /x7 title hits.

Here's something a little different...

Commander Kenkirk (44)
Lone Wolf (2)
Agent Kallus (2)
Ysanne Isard (4)
Gunner (5)
Countermeasures (3)

Rexler Brath (37)
Juke (2)
Stealth Device (3)
TIE/x7 (-2)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Countermeasures to break up the tie bomber alpha strike that will be coming, Kenkirk/Kallus/Lonewolf is almost as good defensively (against a single target- say, Soontier) as Kenkirk/Palp, and Isard and Gunner are generally useful choices.

PS8 x7 with Juke. Gottagofastamahright. Stealth Device because yes.

Glaive, x7, Crackshot x2 = 66

Vessery, x7, Crackshot = 34

I've never been a big one for squad names, but I'm calling this one "Meteor Shower".

Stick Long Range Scanners on the Glaives and you can have them each paint a different target early on. Leave them on and use Focus after that. This way Vessery can have his TL's for a sure thing.

The TIE Defender with the X7 has neither a missile or a torpedo slot. LRS requires that a ship have both to take it.

Glaive, x7, Crackshot x2 = 66

Vessery, x7, Crackshot = 34

I've never been a big one for squad names, but I'm calling this one "Meteor Shower".

Stick Long Range Scanners on the Glaives and you can have them each paint a different target early on. Leave them on and use Focus after that. This way Vessery can have his TL's for a sure thing.

The TIE Defender with the X7 has neither a missile or a torpedo slot. LRS requires that a ship have both to take it.

....duh. I've been thinking about both so much I'm not thinking straight.

Colonel Vessery (35)

Ruthlessness (3)

Tractor Beam (1)

Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)

TIE/D (0)

Captain Jonus (22)

Swarm Tactics (2)

Long-Range Scanners (0)

Academy Pilot (12)

Academy Pilot (12)

Academy Pilot (12)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

This feels like it could become a big mini-swarm to me. Jonus TLs ahead of time, and never drops it, provides a re-roll for Vessery as well as a TL for the attack with Primary.

Colonel Vessery (35)

Ruthlessness (3)

Tractor Beam (1)

Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)

TIE/D (0)

Captain Jonus (22)

Swarm Tactics (2)

Long-Range Scanners (0)

Academy Pilot (12)

Academy Pilot (12)

Academy Pilot (12)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

This feels like it could become a big mini-swarm to me. Jonus TLs ahead of time, and never drops it, provides a re-roll for Vessery as well as a TL for the attack with Primary.

Jonus seems redundant for Vessery's ability? You can only reroll dice once unless I'm missing something.

Colonel Vessery (35)

Ruthlessness (3)

Tractor Beam (1)

Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)

TIE/D (0)

Captain Jonus (22)

Swarm Tactics (2)

Long-Range Scanners (0)

Academy Pilot (12)

Academy Pilot (12)

Academy Pilot (12)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

This feels like it could become a big mini-swarm to me. Jonus TLs ahead of time, and never drops it, provides a re-roll for Vessery as well as a TL for the attack with Primary.

Jonus seems redundant for Vessery's ability? You can only reroll dice once unless I'm missing something.

The ability for the Tractor beam, and the TL for the primary.

He also provides some targetting choices the opponant has to make that an FO wouldn't normally cause.

Colonel Vessery (35)

Ruthlessness (3)

Tractor Beam (1)

Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)

TIE/D (0)

Captain Jonus (22)

Swarm Tactics (2)

Long-Range Scanners (0)

Academy Pilot (12)

Academy Pilot (12)

Academy Pilot (12)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

This feels like it could become a big mini-swarm to me. Jonus TLs ahead of time, and never drops it, provides a re-roll for Vessery as well as a TL for the attack with Primary.

Jonus seems redundant for Vessery's ability? You can only reroll dice once unless I'm missing something.

The ability for the Tractor beam, and the TL for the primary.

Vessery gets a free TL every time he attacks.

The TL works for both attacks. Vessery's ability generates a TL each attack.

Colonel Vessery (35)

Ruthlessness (3)

Tractor Beam (1)

Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)

TIE/D (0)

Gamma Squadron Veteran (19)

Ion Torpedoes (5)

Long-Range Scanners (0)

Academy Pilot (12)

Academy Pilot (12)

Academy Pilot (12)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Degrade Jonus to a veteran with Ion Torps.

After a little time to absorb the latest revelations I see that vess is getting a lot of hype, as it should be. However I gotta wonder if predator maarek /D isn't going to be the standout (unknown pilots excepted).

He is going to be simply fantastic with an ion cannon. This guy scares the living **** out of every single relevant ship out there due to ion + k-turn + damage ability.

Then theres vessery. Ya he needs support but with it he just gets stupid. I'm thinking Vess- /D, ion, outmaneuver. Pretty much same as maarek only instead he uses ion to activate outmaneuver acting as a pseudo tractor beam. Thing is now that the TIE shuttle exists I think vess might get upstaged by something like this:

Jonus- TIE shuttle, fleet officer, rebel captive, mkII + EPT.

Colonel Vessery (35)

Ruthlessness (3)

Tractor Beam (1)

Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)

TIE/D (0)

Gamma Squadron Veteran (19)

Ion Torpedoes (5)

Long-Range Scanners (0)

Academy Pilot (12)

Academy Pilot (12)

Academy Pilot (12)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Degrade Jonus to a veteran with Ion Torps.

I'd worry about having a single ship that is able to give TLs for Vessery. I'd also be afraid of Ruthlessness on Vessery when running a swarm. I might be tempted to tweak it a little bit more in this direction:

Any of the named pilots with Predator/Ion are going to be monsters, I think. That combination damage, control, and flexibility will just be nuts.

Any of the named pilots with Predator/Ion are going to be monsters, I think. That combination damage, control, and flexibility will just be nuts.

and expensive

the Defender has graduated from mini-gressor to imp-gressor

Any of the named pilots with Predator/Ion are going to be monsters, I think. That combination damage, control, and flexibility will just be nuts.

and expensive

the Defender has graduated from mini-gressor to imp-gressor

And now you actually get what you pay for. And they don't give away half their points when the shields go down.

I've always wanted to run Vessery with 2 other Defenders (hey, I had three). Now, I have some very fun options.

Any of the named pilots with Predator/Ion are going to be monsters, I think. That combination damage, control, and flexibility will just be nuts.

and expensive

the Defender has graduated from mini-gressor to imp-gressor

And now you actually get what you pay for. And they don't give away half their points when the shields go down.

or get caught on obstacles

one thing I noticed about Defenders (pre-fix obv) is that they had a curiously powerful match-up against aggressors

similar stat-line was one thing, but that small base 4k + flechette cannon and up to speed 5 dial gave them a sort of natural counter to the Aggressor's speed and dependence on red maneuvers to stay in the fight

now that they're promising to just be straight-up awesome, I'm very excited to get them on the table again

one thing I noticed about Defenders (pre-fix obv) is that they had a curiously powerful match-up against aggressors

similar stat-line was one thing, but that small base 4k + flechette cannon and up to speed 5 dial gave them a sort of natural counter to the Aggressor's speed and dependence on red maneuvers to stay in the fight

now that they're promising to just be straight-up awesome, I'm very excited to get them on the table again

I had exactly the opposite experience (but it might be due to me flying Deltas instead of Vessery and Brath). Aggressors with Predator would steal my lunch money.

I had exactly the opposite experience (but it might be due to me flying Deltas instead of Vessery and Brath). Aggressors with Predator would steal my lunch money.

I only had 1 game against aggressors with my Double Delta + Triple Academies list. The deltas were sporting flechette cannons and the aggressors had manglers (because back then people didn't realize how great HLCs were, I guess). Anyway, the Deltas were golden. Only in the opening exchange was the IG88s able to focus fire on the same ship. After that, split fire only, because blocks and stress were problematic for them...

Nowadays though, IG88s have access to glitterstim, crack shot and tend to carry at least one HLC (if not 2) and academies go down quick against that. Be interesting to see how TIE/D helps even the odds...

I'm split on with Defenders vs Aggressors. Aggressors can be much better in the early game, but if you can get in the right position with good flying and asteroids, you can just beat the crap out of them because they'll have to keep turning around. Against the top 16 HLC/glitterstim/crack shot variety, I think the Defenders are going to be okay for the most part. If they weather the opening salvo (might be a big if), the Aggressors have a lot fewer tools at their disposal for dealing and avoiding damage. You can catch them with the Ion Cannon in a K-turn or S-loop and call it good. The PS8/Dampeners variety can be tougher if you don't out-PS them, because they have so many tools to avoid shots and blocks and control range.

I'm split on with Defenders vs Aggressors. Aggressors can be much better in the early game, but if you can get in the right position with good flying and asteroids, you can just beat the crap out of them because they'll have to keep turning around. Against the top 16 HLC/glitterstim/crack shot variety, I think the Defenders are going to be okay for the most part. If they weather the opening salvo (might be a big if), the Aggressors have a lot fewer tools at their disposal for dealing and avoiding damage. You can catch them with the Ion Cannon in a K-turn or S-loop and call it good. The PS8/Dampeners variety can be tougher if you don't out-PS them, because they have so many tools to avoid shots and blocks and control range.

Yesterday I played a practice game with a buddy using that same list. He was helping me practice for a tourney this weekend (he can't make it, unfortunately). I'm taking Vess, Vader & Zeta, (because I think it will be my last chance to win a tournament with a pre-fix Defender---not to mention I might never use HLC on one again...). So that's what I flew against them robots on crack. Vess was down to 2 hull after the first round of shooting (he had hull upgrade too) and only managed to knock one shield off of 'C'. Next turn I knew my opponent would only be able to hit Vess with B (C had no way of getting in arc because of rocks), so I had the Zeta block B (so Vess would get a shot, he has VI so moves after the IG88s). He knocks off B's shields, but dies to return fire. It was enough though, Vader was able to clean up both IG88s. Despite dying fast, Vess knocking the shields off was a big help so Vader could score some crits...

Anyway, its a tough list because it has a huge alpha strike, and there's not much you can do about it, but I think IG88s with FCS are a bit squishier than other systems, so that's something anyway

Ya so I just got a practice game in for funsies with the following, hastily rolled together:

Maarek stele- TIE/D, predator, ion cannon

Deathrain- EM, conner nets, flechettes, LRS

TIE shuttle- fleet officer, rebel captive, mkII

vs

Poe- VI, r5p9, AT

Ello asty- VI, r2d2, AT

stresshog

Not the best baseline but we got to test out some new toys and holy frejoles.. stele and the shuttle were both excellent. Deathrain was solid too although thats not the way I usually roll him. Stele's opening volley pulled off blinded pilot on the hog! I'm pretty sure he went the entire game with double focus which was just insane. Y wing went down in the second volley. His ships ended up not focusing fire due to ionizing poe and ello. DR got a flechette through and followed up with a net which pretty much sealed him up. Ello was pretty meh.. idk if it was the build or what since I'm not overly familiar with him yet. I absolutely loved the shuttle combo although I don't think I want it costing any more than what it did since its contribution was pretty much limited to support. Anyway Stele was a complete animal doing the vast majority of the damage with multiple direct hits. God I love that build.

Agreed. And even priced at 34 points you could still get

Glaive Squadron Pilot - TIE/x7, Crackshot x 3

Nope:

Glaive, x7, Crackshot x2 = 66

Vessery, x7, Crackshot = 34

I've never been a big one for squad names, but I'm calling this one "Meteor Shower".

I NEED to play this ASAP!!! Out of all the suggested lists I have seen this week this one really has my interest!

"Meteor Shower" reminds me of the remains of the Alderaan System.