Gonna play a few games tomorrow and I think the list I'm gonna try with the defender fix is...

TIE Defender: · Colonel Vessery (35)

Crack Shot (1)

Tractor Beam (1)

Hull Upgrade (3)

TIE/D (0)

TIE/fo Fighter: Epsilon Squadron Pilot (15)

TIE/fo Fighter: Epsilon Squadron Pilot (15)

TIE/fo Fighter: Epsilon Squadron Pilot (15)

TIE/fo Fighter: Epsilon Squadron Pilot (15)

Thoughts?

I like the tractor beam -1 agility then a primary attack TIE defender combo. Also with the TIE/fo mini swarm guaranteeing that an enemy ship will have a red target token on it. The swarm was also smart because then you got to get the most out of the tractor beam use. Also the crack shot is very useful to take out some of those pesky evade oriented ship "cough" Soontir Fel "cough". I feel like this is a pretty good list that synergizes well. I hope to hear about how it well it performs and I wish you good luck with your games tomorrow.

The hull upgrade is a good idea. Vessery is the lynchpin, and if he dies, the potency of the list goes down considerably. I've tried using tractor beam a bit (proxied) and Vessery is the ideal carrier for sure.

It was that or stealth device... but I kinda figure the focus from Vess will be used to make sure an attack hits. But maybe going SD and playing a bit more defensively is better?

I ran almost the same list except MKII engine and ruthlessness instead of crackshot and hull. It was really good I lost 2 ties and one of them I put the last 2 damage on with ruthlessness.

I had thought ruthlessness, but the thought of coming up against a 2 ship list with my 5 kinda killed it. No way it would do more to them than to me.

It was that or stealth device... but I kinda figure the focus from Vess will be used to make sure an attack hits. But maybe going SD and playing a bit more defensively is better?

Once the furball commences, its not easy to kill Vessery because your opponent's ability to focus fire will be diminished, and generally it takes at least 2 ships firing on him per turn to really put him in trouble. With tractor beam, you have a good chance of getting the first kill, making it even harder for your opponent to take Vess out.

I have a similar list I plan on running, but its triple defenders:

Vess w/ TIE/D, crack shot, tractor beam & Hull = 40

2 Onyx w/ X-7 = 30 x 2

100

This version has less firepower than 4 epsilons (assuming tractor beam hits and all your ships can focus fire), but its much harder to kill and PS3 instead of PS1. Also, with the x-7 title, its not too hard to grab TL by flying in aggressively and still have enough defenses to not outright die (the same is not true for a naked epsilon)