Before dismissing Expose out-of-hand, let's not forget that Youngster is included alongside an epic ship which can, with upgrades like Targeting Coordinator, Comms Booster, Fleet Officer, and Tarkin, hand out target locks and focus tokens like candy on Halloween.

It's likely that Youngster was designed with epic play in mind.

Or TIE Shuttles.

Fleet Officer seems like a great card now that you can put one on something cheaper than a Lambda or Phantom or Decimator.

I'm in the camp that all 3 major weakness of Expose are reduced when using Youngster/Howlie/Swarm.

1) Cost: Pay once, get it for the whole swarm. It brings Expose down to a reasonable cost per beneficiary.

2) Inefficiency: Whilst the extra die when unmodified is almost always worse than a basic mod you could get with your action, it becomes a lot more worthwhile if you can get it modified. Howlrunner in the list, whilst not as good as a full-on target lock, helps to offset this issue.

3) Agility loss: Agility loss is only a problem if someone shoots at you. If you have an entire swarm Exposed however, the enemy is unlikely to be able to shoot at all of them. This effectively means that you've had your entire swarm worth of extra red dice with the agility cost only effecting a couple of TIEs.

Whilst I'm still not convinced that this is tourny level of competitive, it does look to be a whole lot more playable than it used to be, and it's definitely one I'm looking forward to trying out in the league over the next few weeks.

What if instead of Expose, you just flew Crackshot ships that effectively have 3 attack dice? That can be modified.

I'm telling you guys, Expose is a huge waste of time.

I rolled two hits. Your range 3 cloaked Phantom rolled two evades. Crackshot. Second attack, get semi lucky and roll hit focus, which I convert to hit hit. You roll 2 evades again. Crackshot.

Now compare to the same situation, except with Expose.

I rolled hit focus blank. You rolled 2 evades. I fire off a second attack, rolling hit hit blank. You roll 2 evades again. I don't have Howlrunner because she died turn ******* 2.

Unmodified dice are horrible, don't rely on them. You want to know how you're not good at the game? You think Expose is good on TIE Fighters that have no other way to modify. Except you Dracon P.

Putting Crackshot on Youngster is a worse waste of time

Putting Crackshot on Youngster is a worse waste of time

Yes, this is why you fly 3x Black Squadron, 3x Omega Squadron, 6x Crackshot. I will mention this list at every possible opportunity to get it into everyone's head.

Why do people keep trying to use expose can't we just accept it's a terrible card.

Rolling more dice with no way to modify them is worse than rolling less with a focus or TL.

So, you find a way to modifiy the dice, don't you? Like Howlrunner.

Dare devil seems like a nice mind bender for your opponent to have to think about each turn.

Why do people keep trying to use expose can't we just accept it's a terrible card.

Rolling more dice with no way to modify them is worse than rolling less with a focus or TL.

So, you find a way to modifiy the dice, don't you? Like Howlrunner.

yes

you howlrunner, and then you focus; saving four points + what you spent on youngster

Putting Crackshot on Youngster is a worse waste of time

Yes, this is why you fly 3x Black Squadron, 3x Omega Squadron, 6x Crackshot. I will mention this list at every possible opportunity to get it into everyone's head.

You could do both, though not with as many ships. Crackshots also max out at two damage.

I remember hating Markmanship when it came out. It's only slightly better than a focus and only useful on attack. But I have seen it used to pretty good effect. The point is it is better than a focus on an attack, even if only a little bit. I think Howelrunner + youngster w/ marksmanship backing up 4 or 5 more TIEs.

If you think two dice can't get it done, you haven't seen a swarm work before. High defense dice ships hate going up against TIE Swarms. You will get bad rolls, if forced to roll enough, against TIEs with their forward arcs, and speed and manuverability to get close autothrusters don't help much.

I would say, in a TIE Swarm, getting the Focus is so much better than the Marksmanship.

See, your PS 1 pilots have to make their call before seeing where the enemy's coming. So all of them could be the ones shot.

The TIE that's shot at wants a Focus over Marksmanship, by a lot.

The TIEs that aren't shot prefer Marksmanship, by a little.

Since each TIE could be defending, the preference of the defender outweighs the preference of the undefended.

Forgive me, I'm more a collector than a player (only played 3 times ) but wouldn't the defence issue be negated if your Tie Fighters are all focussed up?

Then you can use Marksmanship instead of focus for attack, then use the focus itself on just defence?

Apologies if I'm way out on that, inexperienced as I mentioned!

QS =D

I remember hating Markmanship when it came out. It's only slightly better than a focus and only useful on attack. But I have seen it used to pretty good effect. The point is it is better than a focus on an attack, even if only a little bit. I think Howelrunner + youngster w/ marksmanship backing up 4 or 5 more TIEs.

If you think two dice can't get it done, you haven't seen a swarm work before. High defense dice ships hate going up against TIE Swarms. You will get bad rolls, if forced to roll enough, against TIEs with their forward arcs, and speed and manuverability to get close autothrusters don't help much.

I would say, in a TIE Swarm, getting the Focus is so much better than the Marksmanship.

See, your PS 1 pilots have to make their call before seeing where the enemy's coming. So all of them could be the ones shot.

The TIE that's shot at wants a Focus over Marksmanship, by a lot.

The TIEs that aren't shot prefer Marksmanship, by a little.

Since each TIE could be defending, the preference of the defender outweighs the preference of the undefended.

Forgive me, I'm more a collector than a player (only played 3 times ) but wouldn't the defence issue be negated if your Tie Fighters are all focussed up?

Then you can use Marksmanship instead of focus for attack, then use the focus itself on just defence?

Apologies if I'm way out on that, inexperienced as I mentioned!

QS =D

You can't Focus and Marksmanship on the same ship, unless that ship can take multiple actions per turn.

You must choose, at PS 1, with only guesswork as to where enemies will be placed, and where firing priority will lay.

Remember, actions are taken after the ship activates, rather than as-needed in the combat phase.

I remember hating Markmanship when it came out. It's only slightly better than a focus and only useful on attack. But I have seen it used to pretty good effect. The point is it is better than a focus on an attack, even if only a little bit. I think Howelrunner + youngster w/ marksmanship backing up 4 or 5 more TIEs.

If you think two dice can't get it done, you haven't seen a swarm work before. High defense dice ships hate going up against TIE Swarms. You will get bad rolls, if forced to roll enough, against TIEs with their forward arcs, and speed and manuverability to get close autothrusters don't help much.

I would say, in a TIE Swarm, getting the Focus is so much better than the Marksmanship.

See, your PS 1 pilots have to make their call before seeing where the enemy's coming. So all of them could be the ones shot.

The TIE that's shot at wants a Focus over Marksmanship, by a lot.

The TIEs that aren't shot prefer Marksmanship, by a little.

Since each TIE could be defending, the preference of the defender outweighs the preference of the undefended.

Forgive me, I'm more a collector than a player (only played 3 times ) but wouldn't the defence issue be negated if your Tie Fighters are all focussed up?

Then you can use Marksmanship instead of focus for attack, then use the focus itself on just defence?

Apologies if I'm way out on that, inexperienced as I mentioned!

QS =D

You can't Focus and Marksmanship on the same ship, unless that ship can take multiple actions per turn.

You must choose, at PS 1, with only guesswork as to where enemies will be placed, and where firing priority will lay.

Remember, actions are taken after the ship activates, rather than as-needed in the combat phase.

Thanks! Appreciate you taking the time to clear that up for me!

QS =D

I suppose Expose might actually be useful if an entire swarm makes use of it. Unless your opponent is able to match your numbers in the squad joust, if every TIE takes the expose action (except for Youngster) it becomes a scenario where there are no good targets. Either they take out a lower agility TIE that is one of many, or they fire at Youngster in order to make the other ships lose that ability later on, but Youngster becomes the target they're less likely to actually hit. I don't know though, honestly Youngster looks good on paper but pretty much every single EPT that is an action is garbage on a standard TIE Fighter, with the sole exception being Expert Handling on any TIE high enough level to arc dodge worth a ****. (So pretty much only Mauler and Howlrunner)

I would go with Daredevil as others have said. More mobility is always a good thing. I'll happily take a possible damage and stress if it can get me out of arc. You might also be able to pull off a shot you never would have had without it.

All of the options we have are currently weak. I think the correct answer is to wait until something better is printed or just use Youngster for fun. There are other named TIEs to spend those points on that will be far more efficient. I suppose Marksmanship does work with Wampa but I'm not spending points on one fragile TIE to buff another fragile TIE.

I would go with Daredevil as others have said. More mobility is always a good thing. I'll happily take a possible damage and stress if it can get me out of arc. You might also be able to pull off a shot you never would have had without it.

All of the options we have are currently weak. I think the correct answer is to wait until something better is printed or just use Youngster for fun. There are other named TIEs to spend those points on that will be far more efficient. I suppose Marksmanship does work with Wampa but I'm not spending points on one fragile TIE to buff another fragile TIE.

Well, Marksmanship might be sorta alright too if you fly Youngster with Night Beast and/or Dark Curse, both being TIEs that have better than average odds to hit (NB) or evade (DC) thanks to their respective abilities. Also Black Squadron TIEs with any EPTs that help their offense or defense (such as Elusiveness, Predator) or in some cases, Outmaneuver (because adding one unmodified die may not help your statistical average much, but adding one while also reducing one evade might go further in helping your odds). It also may help in conjunction with the non TIE ships in the list, like anything sporting a tractor beam, for the same reason.

I would go with Daredevil as others have said. More mobility is always a good thing. I'll happily take a possible damage and stress if it can get me out of arc. You might also be able to pull off a shot you never would have had without it.

All of the options we have are currently weak. I think the correct answer is to wait until something better is printed or just use Youngster for fun. There are other named TIEs to spend those points on that will be far more efficient. I suppose Marksmanship does work with Wampa but I'm not spending points on one fragile TIE to buff another fragile TIE.

Well, Marksmanship might be sorta alright too if you fly Youngster with Night Beast and/or Dark Curse, both being TIEs that have better than average odds to hit (NB) or evade (DC) thanks to their respective abilities. Also Black Squadron TIEs with any EPTs that help their offense or defense (such as Elusiveness, Predator) or in some cases, Outmaneuver (because adding one unmodified die may not help your statistical average much, but adding one while also reducing one evade might go further in helping your odds). It also may help in conjunction with the non TIE ships in the list, like anything sporting a tractor beam, for the same reason.

Youngster works Stupidly well with Wampa assuming you roll an eyeball.

Omega leader Juke Comms

Wampa

youngster Marksmanship

Black + crack x 2

Academy pilot.

if you want you can drop OL (i wouldn't) for Black +Crack and Obsidian.

OK, here is my fun attempt to make this sorta work:

PS 4 Black Squadron + Predator + Stealth Device

PS 5 Night Beast + Stealth Device

PS 5 Winged Gundark + Stealth Device

PS 6 Youngster + Expose + Hull Upgrade

PS 7 Mauler Mithel + Stealth Device

Squad Total = 99 points

You can basically mix and match stealth, hull, shield upgrades as your modifications of choice, plus their's two point wiggle room for changing some of them out, or replacing Mauler with Howlrunner. The squad does a decent job of spreading PS around so you won't be shooting after everyone all the time. Additionally, the mix of unique abilities makes it so there's no one clear target to go after. The stealth devices help mitigate the loss of agility for Marksmanship, and there are a few range 1 abilities that make a few of these guys a bit more dangerous (especially Mauler, who increases his attack dice from 2 to 5 at range 1 when using Marksmanship). One advantage to the squad this has is that the "priority" will shift from round to round, making no clearly defined "kill that one first" target. Obviously, the only one not using Marksmanship should be Youngster, to increase their longevity.

EDIT: Ok I feel like adding a 'ship-by-ship' justification.

BSP: fairly cheap base, can use Predator for rerolls.

Night Beast: His free Focus should help modify his extra attack die.

Winged Gundark: Though you don't get any odds mitigation exactly, he can capitalize on one more hit result by making the hits he does roll even more dangerous.

Mauler Mithel: 5 attack dice.

7 ship swarm. 97 points (for the initiative bid).

Howlrunner, Swarm Tactics

Youngster, Swarm Tactics.

5x Academy pilot.

PS8 Howl passes PS8 to Youngster.

Youngster passes his new PS8 to an AP.

The now PS8 AP uses Youngster to pass PS8 to the next AP.

Repeat.

You now have 7 Tie Fighters shooting at PS8. Burn down those TLT ships before they get to shoot.

7 ship swarm. 97 points (for the initiative bid).

Howlrunner, Swarm Tactics

Youngster, Swarm Tactics.

5x Academy pilot.

PS8 Howl passes PS8 to Youngster.

Youngster passes his new PS8 to an AP.

The now PS8 AP uses Youngster to pass PS8 to the next AP.

Repeat.

You now have 7 Tie Fighters shooting at PS8. Burn down those TLT ships before they get to shoot.

needs to have "ACTION:" in the card.

DOH!!!!

Well, I suppose another good thing about Youngster, ignoring his ability to share EPT actions, is just to give him Veteran Instincts and have a PS 8 TIE for two points cheaper than Howlrunner. Add Mauler in there with VI and you've got a PS 9 at 18 points, a PS 8 at 18 points (plus any EPT), and a PS 8 at 16 points. That's three PS 8+ TIE fighters at 52 points. Still room for lots of other stuff.

Marksmanship will trigger Wampa's ability more regularly if you pair him with Youngster.

Wampa is actually the only reason to take Marksmanship on him. You ccan use this pretty well to get rid of Stealth Devices and to threaten expensive low hull strength ships like Corran Horn.

I am also not at all convinced about Expose, unless you also find a way of modifying your dice and getting out of arcs simultaneously. 3 unmodified dice are not much better than 2 modified ones after all.

OK, here is my fun attempt to make this sorta work:

PS 4 Black Squadron + Predator + Stealth Device

PS 5 Night Beast + Stealth Device

PS 5 Winged Gundark + Stealth Device

PS 6 Youngster + Expose + Hull Upgrade

PS 7 Mauler Mithel + Stealth Device

Squad Total = 99 points

Okay, and now a Tie Squadron that actually works because it really can crack even hard targets! It's a nice try on Youngster, but until they give him a decent Action EPT... Nope!

Black Squadron Pilot (14)

Crack Shot (1)

Black Squadron Pilot (14)

Crack Shot (1)

Black Squadron Pilot (14)

Crack Shot (1)

Omega Squadron Pilot (17)

Crack Shot (1)

Omega Squadron Pilot (17)

Crack Shot (1)

Omega Squadron Pilot (17)

Crack Shot (1)

Total: 99

And one that Includes Youngster... i am afraid he is only in to hold Wampa's Hand however, and occasionally Backstabber's. But it's still bad compared to the above squadron...

"Howlrunner" (18)

Determination (1)

"Scourge" (17)

Juke (2)

"Youngster" (15)

Marksmanship (3)

"Backstabber" (16)

"Wampa" (14)

"Chaser" (14)

Total: 100

Wampa is actually the only reason to take Marksmanship on him. You ccan use this pretty well to get rid of Stealth Devices

Wampa's ability doesn't get rid of stealth devices.