My guess would be this is going to be FAQ'd, but it looks totally legit right now.

OMG why? The last thing we need is an FAQ about a totally underused EPT like Ruthlessness...

Or do you really think that it would be OP to do 1 damage on top of your Tractor beam with a 3 point talent? Even if in Tie/D's case it would potentially be 2 damage per turn.

From a rules perspective: As long as you HIT with the tractor beam you fulfill the condition of Ruthlessness and do a damage on the neighbour. Nothing speaks against it.

Ruthlessness has a place on the defender now regardless of whether or not this interaction with Tractor beam is FAQ’d. I think that as it stands now, it makes no sense in-universe that this interaction works, and there is a possibility that the interaction is too strong. The Tractor beam is aggressively priced at 1 point, because it doesn’t do any direct damage; it’s dependent on later attacks to have an effect. Stacking another damage on it is a serious upgrade, especially when you duplicate the same bonus with your next attack.

This interaction? Too strong? XD

It.s potentially 2 bonus damage per turn. UNLESS your opponent doesn't fly formation and Ruthlessness is totally wasted! Which makes Ruthlessness a very risky pick. And what if you screw up and get one of your ships as only Range 1 (and that can happen even if you dont mess up too by smart enemy maneuvering). What then? Forfeit 2 shots?

WIth Ion cannon/Flechette this could stack up real quick actually with 2 attacks from Tie/D and both being able to deal damage. And you control your adversary even more... So i don't think this is a problem of Tractor Beam especially if it's going to be a problem at all.

Which i don't think as we are still not back to a swarm meta. Most lists are still 2-4 ships and don't need any formation flying. And they also won't do it if they see that phoned in combo.

There are better EPTs on Vessery!

Ruthlessness on a Tie/D is going to be one of those things that looks great on paper and in the right match-up is awesome but is far too situational to run for anything but ***** and grins, especially as part of a list that has a decently high ship count and is filled with high agility, low hit point ships.

Ruthless is the best and most characterful ept there is...on paper.

In reality it's just a pain. All the potential of free damage (so to speak) comes at the cost of being potentially useless against a two ship build, and the constant risk of fragging your own ships. Certainly we can all agree that the empire rely on movement and ruthless directly hinders your own freedoms.

Not to mention it's directly competing with any number of directly superior epts...ptl springs to mind. Is ruthless really going to outperform ptl on pretty much any ship you can put an ept on?

As fun as ruthless sounds, and I will certainly try it, and as much as the new defenders are probably the best platform for it...how is ptl not better in all cases?

There is nothing to debate, question, or FAQ.

I disagree that it doesn't need a FAQ.

FAQs are not just clarifying grey areas of the rules, they are also used to highlight obscure rules that may be totally clear how they work but either don't come up often (so people forget about the interaction) or are weird corner cases that make perfect sense mechanically but result in counter intuitive results flavor-wise. this is an example of that last instance. A basic understanding of the rules leaves no question whatsoever how it works, but leaves you going "huh, that doesn't make a lot of sense". such a situation warrants a FAQ just so nobody wonders if they are missing something because the answer they get is so countrary to what they would have expected from the flavor.

Meh. I think you guys are making too much out of this.

Ruthlessness doesn't make much sense anyway. How could you accidentally hit a ship a whole 2 and a half ship lengths away from the intended target, unless it's in the line of fire?

And even then, where does this "extra" damage come from? If the shooter is being so careless, or ruthless, as to miss his target and hit something else, shouldn't that damage therefore NOT hit the intended target? So it should be -1 hit result to your intended target, +1 to a target in range 1.

And further, why should the shooter get to choose what other target his reckless, careless shooting hits? That's like the opposite of the concept of uncontrolled recklessness.

So, i have no problem with it happening off of a tractor beam shot. This hardly invalidates the concept any further than it was already

Does an Assault Missile fired by Lt. Blount make much sense when it deals damage to every ship within R1 of the target but NOT the actual target itself? It can happen and because of the way the rules work it is very much intended to work that way.

The meta in my area is two ships builds. But given the ballish shape of the defender, I wish very much to fly it around with recklessness upgrade and call it a wrecking ball. Maybe even paint a Miley Cyrus on the wing lol

Might not make sense... but I'm totally going to run it until they FAQ it.

Although... I suspect I'll just cause my own ships to get hurt more often than not.

Oh well, worth it.

they won't

FFG uses teh "attack hits" and not "attack deals damage"

and that's normal.

Ruthless is a poor underused ability with stellar cost and limited use.

Might not make sense... but I'm totally going to run it until they FAQ it.

Although... I suspect I'll just cause my own ships to get hurt more often than not.

Oh well, worth it.

they won't

FFG uses teh "attack hits" and not "attack deals damage"

and that's normal.

Ruthless is a poor underused ability with stellar cost and limited use.

This....

And then there is the potential danger of hitting your own ships since you MUST choose a target... which can be your friendly ships.

(not your own ship at the time)

Ruthlessness was made for the deck as part of a series of antiswarm options back when Ties were still dominant (see also ion torps...lol)

It's made for the repugnant 2-ship builds which present the minimum number of friendlies to peg with your own upgrade

Personally don't think I'll use it outside the hilarity of epic

Still, it could be money versus crackswarms

The cheapest Defender with an EPT is probably going to be too much for this, isn't it? How hysterical would it be to have 3 Tie Defenders w/ Tractor Beams and Outmaneuver? You could take on a Tie Swarm, even.

Ruthless black swarms were always hilarious though.

The cheapest Defender with an EPT is probably going to be too much for this, isn't it? How hysterical would it be to have 3 Tie Defenders w/ Tractor Beams and Outmaneuver? You could take on a Tie Swarm, even.

Hand your opponent a Snickers, because he's not going anywhere.

I spend the first half of reading this thread trying to figure out why Ruthless Lt. Blount was never a thing even for funsies. Completely forgot Ruthlessness is Imperial only. Poor card needs some time in the sun.

The cheapest Defender with an EPT is probably going to be too much for this, isn't it? How hysterical would it be to have 3 Tie Defenders w/ Tractor Beams and Outmaneuver? You could take on a Tie Swarm, even.

3x Tie Defenders with outmaneuver and tractors could (theoretically) neutralize a Range 3 cloaked phantom (or Talonbane) with Stealth Device (for arguments sake) but not asteroids as that gives a dice, not an agility.

Edit: Stupid question, you cant attack ( in the scenario above) with all three tie Defender's tractors then each of the respective primaries right? because it doesnt say immediately after but im sure thats its intended use... because if you look at Gunner it says IMMEDIATELY perform a primary attack.

Ruthlessness was made for the deck as part of a series of antiswarm options back when Ties were still dominant (see also ion torps...lol)

It's made for the repugnant 2-ship builds which present the minimum number of friendlies to peg with your own upgrade

Personally don't think I'll use it outside the hilarity of epic

Still, it could be money versus crackswarms

IF ONLY they let S&V take it.

Kavil would have approved >=D

The cheapest Defender with an EPT is probably going to be too much for this, isn't it? How hysterical would it be to have 3 Tie Defenders w/ Tractor Beams and Outmaneuver? You could take on a Tie Swarm, even.

3x Tie Defenders with outmaneuver and tractors could (theoretically) neutralize a Range 3 cloaked phantom (or Talonbane) with Stealth Device (for arguments sake) but not asteroids as that gives a dice, not an agility.

Edit: Stupid question, you cant attack ( in the scenario above) with all three tie Defender's tractors then each of the respective primaries right? because it doesnt say immediately after but im sure thats its intended use... because if you look at Gunner it says IMMEDIATELY perform a primary attack.

No, you first handle one ship, before activating the next.

The meta in my area is two ships builds. But given the ballish shape of the defender, I wish very much to fly it around with recklessness upgrade and call it a wrecking ball. Maybe even paint a Miley Cyrus on the wing lol

Ships with Miley Cyrus pictures get -1 to all stats, didn't you know? check the last FAQ

The meta in my area is two ships builds. But given the ballish shape of the defender, I wish very much to fly it around with recklessness upgrade and call it a wrecking ball. Maybe even paint a Miley Cyrus on the wing lol

Ships with Miley Cyrus pictures get -1 to all stats, didn't you know? check the last FAQ

also, they are the only ships that friendlies can shoot.

or are encouraged to, actually.

The cheapest Defender with an EPT is probably going to be too much for this, isn't it? How hysterical would it be to have 3 Tie Defenders w/ Tractor Beams and Outmaneuver? You could take on a Tie Swarm, even.

3x Tie Defenders with outmaneuver and tractors could (theoretically) neutralize a Range 3 cloaked phantom (or Talonbane) with Stealth Device (for arguments sake) but not asteroids as that gives a dice, not an agility.

Edit: Stupid question, you cant attack ( in the scenario above) with all three tie Defender's tractors then each of the respective primaries right? because it doesnt say immediately after but im sure thats its intended use... because if you look at Gunner it says IMMEDIATELY perform a primary attack.

On 100 points you also can't fit in these ruthless Defenders! If Glaives are 33 points only (Thats a big IF tbh) then you pay 37 per ship for this combo.

It just dawned on me that they'll never give Imperials secondary weapon turrets. Why? Ruthlessness + TLT.

It just dawned on me that they'll never give Imperials secondary weapon turrets. Why? Ruthlessness + TLT.

could just give us no EPT slots.

It just dawned on me that they'll never give Imperials secondary weapon turrets. Why? Ruthlessness + TLT.

As opposed to Tactician TLTs or the Stresshog? And really, I'm not seeing a huge balance issue.

It just dawned on me that they'll never give Imperials secondary weapon turrets. Why? Ruthlessness + TLT.

As opposed to Tactician TLTs or the Stresshog? And really, I'm not seeing a huge balance issue.

Tactician TLT and Stresshog both have an arc limitation and in the end it's just stress. Sure, somethings are more or less susceptible to being stressed to death but in the end Stress itself won't kill you.

Free splash damage on the other hand dramatically increases your DPS (DPRound, DPRoll?).

The TLT isn't a sure hit as you may think. The opponent can also prevent it from happening.

Also, spacing out ships past range 1 or worse making sure you are the only person with a ship in range 1 makes ruthless less than perfect, and more for complete nutters like myself.

Remember: Assault missiles didn't break the sky.

Also, spacing out ships past range 1 or worse making sure you are the only person with a ship in range 1 makes ruthless less than perfect, and more for complete nutters like myself.

Remember: Assault missiles didn't break the sky.

But that's because it's ordinance.

And Ruthlessness hasn't broken anything yet either.

And I don't mind if Ruthlessness is a bit stronger. Biggs needs more hate.