Is anyone else considering PTL Valen as an ace hunter?

Whilst he doesn't have the highest PS around, he'll be able to trigger PTL after being shot, allowing him to perform a barrel roll and boost knowing the target's final position. The only way to stop this is for the opponent to avoid shooting him with any Aces, which is a benefit in itself. If you then go up against an opponent with no Aces (or are in a position where the ace isn't targeting you), then you're free to use PTL normally instead.

2 dice without something very special, ala conner nets or feedback array or anti-pursuit block tech or Omega Leader or Inquisitor or a crapton of crackshot, does not an ace hunter make. Without anything very special, you're just bouncing off of green dice and/or defensive tech

you basically need a missile, and by then you might as well be flying the superior Inquisitor for the same price (or cheaper)

It's why I like Juke on him. He's no "ace hunter", I'll agree with that, but he's not going to be worthless. His middling PS will mean he's stripping tokens for your lower PS ships, removing a successful roll from ships that have already lost their tokens, or even making lower PS pilots have an even harder time laying a hand on him. Shoot at him to try and stop the Juke, and you risk him boosting/BRing into R1 for a good ol' R1 shot, possibly still with Juke if the rolls aren't with you.

It's also why I'm not huge on PTL: costs more, and a lot of players will just ignore him if you don't PTL during movement. PTL regularly and you remove his ability from play, which seems silly.

Yup, that's about how I ran him and got to 2nd place in Swiss rounds at a recent store championship. (The only round I lost was purely due to dice - turn 1 enemy had Soontir and Vader without tokens as he didn't think I could get in range...my Vader did a forward-5, then boosted and TL'd Soontir. As he had initiative, he fired first...his Vader at range 3 through a rock at mine. Two unmodified attack dice...hit, hit. I rolled 5 evade dice...all blanks. Lone Wolf reroll: blank. Awesome, shields toast. He fired his Soontir at range 3 with no tokens...hit, crit, crit. I rolled 4 evade dice...all blanks. Lone Wolf reroll: ONE EVADE. Don't even recall what the first crit was, second was blinded pilot. ^$^%*$^&^&^!!! ANYWAY...back to the list...)

TAP, TAP, SITH

99 points

Valen Rudor (30)

TIE Advanced Prototype (22), Juke (2), Proton Rockets (3), TIE/v1 (1), Autothrusters (2)

The Inquisitor (30)

TIE Advanced Prototype (25), Juke (2), TIE/v1 (1), Autothrusters (2)

Darth Vader (39)

TIE Advanced (29), TIE/x1 (0), Proton Rockets (3), Lone Wolf (2), Engine Upgrade (4), Advanced Targeting Computer (5)

Basically, Vader starts in one corner doing his Vader thing. Inquisitor and Rudor in the other - Rudor leading the Inquisitor by at least 1 range band. They nearly always do the TL+Evade action, as that feeds their Juke which makes their regular attacks actually sting. If someone DOES shoot at Rudor, anyway...he focuses to arm the prockets. 5 dice with TL and focus and mostly-cancelling one enemy evade dice is no joke - that hits HARD . I one-shotted so many ships that way...

And, of course, if they DON'T shoot him because they don't want to risk him arming the prockets...he gets to keep his evade token so that his primary attack hits harder. And he still has that TL, so...basically win-win.

I will have to try him with, PTL, Rage, Marksmanship and expose. All with wonderfull different effects!

So, isn't the rule of thumb that you can't do the same action twice in a turn? If you barrel roll as your action are still then unable to do it as a free action after defending?

Sorry if this is a dumb question.

So, isn't the rule of thumb that you can't do the same action twice in a turn? If you barrel roll as your action are still then unable to do it as a free action after defending?

Sorry if this is a dumb question.

Not a dumb question, and yes, that is correct. Each action can only be performed once per turn. However, if you are assigned a focus or evade token by an upgrade card or pilot skill, that's different from performing a focus or evade action, so you can potentially get multiple of the same token.

So, isn't the rule of thumb that you can't do the same action twice in a turn? If you barrel roll as your action are still then unable to do it as a free action after defending?

Sorry if this is a dumb question.

Not a dumb question, and yes, that is correct. Each action can only be performed once per turn. However, if you are assigned a focus or evade token by an upgrade card or pilot skill, that's different from performing a focus or evade action, so you can potentially get multiple of the same token.

Thanks.

So, in this context, if Valen Rudor barrel rolls as his chosen action during the movement phase, then is shot at (and survives), when he wants to do a free action he cannot do another barrel roll. Is that right?

He's awesome. In my two games (small sample I know) people will either ignore him because of his ability, or try and shoot him then realize what he can do, then ignore him.

Had this scenario Wednesday night:

After some unfortunate dice rolls, I lost Mareek to Jake Farrel and all I had left was Rudor. Rudor had PTL + ATs+ Procket (still had it) and title. Jake had only hull left, but he really should have been dead much earlier. My red dice were just awful. Rudor hadn't been touched all game. So after some dancing around with Jake, he finally catches me out of arc and with a range 1 shot. He takes it. He's got TL + Focus and course its 3 hits. I roll... wiff all blanks. Unfortunately I did not TL so I didn't have the evade, I already had TL from another turn and I had boosted into this position. I thought well crap, I'm down to 1 hull. However.... There was a chance I could barrel roll and catch in arc... YES. My barrel roll to the left just barely fit in front of Jake and caught a corner of his base with my arc. All I need is to Push for the Focus. Now I'm sitting there with a Procket armed and ready with TL + Focus. Needless to say after 5 hits even a perfect roll, Jake was dead.

Any other mere mortal PS 6 pilot would have no chance against Jake 1 on 1. But not Valen Rudor.

That has to be the worst Jake pilot ever

My first thought is to put Juke on him. The usual problem with Juke is that an enemy can nullify it by stripping the evade from you before you fire, but against Valen you're activating his ability and risking that he might not need to use his evade. Basically, you win if they shoot you, and win if they don't

That said, I am liking the sound of Expose with Experimental Interface. If they shoot you, you get +1 att and a focus to go with your target lock. All together, that's a serious boost in firepower. As has been pointed out already, your opponent will probably not want to shoot Valen, but this in turn allows you to play more aggressively with him.

Ha, I'm wondering why more people don't run Expose + Experimental Interface and Targeting Computer on Soontir.

Every Turn you could shoot 4-5 attack dice with Target Lock and Focus. Instead of a glass cannon, he's a candy cannon.

My first thought is to put Juke on him. The usual problem with Juke is that an enemy can nullify it by stripping the evade from you before you fire, but against Valen you're activating his ability and risking that he might not need to use his evade. Basically, you win if they shoot you, and win if they don't

That said, I am liking the sound of Expose with Experimental Interface. If they shoot you, you get +1 att and a focus to go with your target lock. All together, that's a serious boost in firepower. As has been pointed out already, your opponent will probably not want to shoot Valen, but this in turn allows you to play more aggressively with him.

Ha, I'm wondering why more people don't run Expose + Experimental Interface and Targeting Computer on Soontir.

Every Turn you could shoot 4-5 attack dice with Target Lock and Focus. Instead of a glass cannon, he's a candy cannon.

As has been pointed out many times, by the numbers, focus or TL are both better than simply adding a die, for the given action. And you're making a glass cannon even glassier -- he attacks early so the whole board can have their way at lower Agility.

So unless you manage to take *all* of those actions, you should just TL / focus for the average hits when attacking. And that leaves no actions for boost/barrel rolling, which can both keep you alive and add an extra die from consistent range 1 modifier.

EI admittedly helps, but in general its better to just avoid and use other actions.

If you're really keen on getting a +1 net attack, there are probably better ways to do so using Outmaneuver or Opportunist, with no action cost (among others)

My first thought is to put Juke on him. The usual problem with Juke is that an enemy can nullify it by stripping the evade from you before you fire, but against Valen you're activating his ability and risking that he might not need to use his evade. Basically, you win if they shoot you, and win if they don't

That said, I am liking the sound of Expose with Experimental Interface. If they shoot you, you get +1 att and a focus to go with your target lock. All together, that's a serious boost in firepower. As has been pointed out already, your opponent will probably not want to shoot Valen, but this in turn allows you to play more aggressively with him.

Ha, I'm wondering why more people don't run Expose + Experimental Interface and Targeting Computer on Soontir.

Every Turn you could shoot 4-5 attack dice with Target Lock and Focus. Instead of a glass cannon, he's a candy cannon.

Cause Soontir with no autothrusters and only two green dice is a very dead Soontir.

He's tricky as hell, and if you keep shooting him hell keep dancing around ensconced in tokens.

On the other side of the coin, if you DONT shoot him, he's essentially an expensive tie fo.

He can be a lot of fun, but just doesn't pull enough weight with two reds to ve a threat

He's tricky as hell, and if you keep shooting him hell keep dancing around ensconced in tokens.

On the other side of the coin, if you DONT shoot him, he's essentially an expensive tie fo.

He can be a lot of fun, but just doesn't pull enough weight with two reds to ve a threat

Title + juke, man. Not kidding. Two reds with rerolls (3 at range 1), often a focus token, and the ability to cancel one of your enemy's defense dice...

That's very, very solid. You'll be surprised how much damage he actually manages to land!

I am using him with Squad Leader taking advantage of his X-Wing Aikido rule. Often the best defence if he can give a dangerous order to another fighter (e.g. a barrell roll).

Squad Leader is an interesting idea. Been turning him around in my head trying to think of a way to use him, but it always comes back to that if I want a cheap ace, Commander Alozen, Turr Phennir and Omega Leader (or even a PTL AT Royal Guard) just seem like better choices.

How does he work with self-stressing EPTs? Rage and Push are generally strong, but I kind of get the impression that either he uses it in the activation phase, meaning he can't use his ability, or he saves that trick for the combat phase, and the opponent simply shoots someone else.

Finished reading this thread today. A thought on the dial being a bit better than the production models dial: The added mass for the extra hull will make maneuvering a bit more slugish comparatively. Just my take on the differences in the dial.

I don't have this ship yet, but I am leaning towards Opportunist, chimps, and prokets for a 6 dice range 1 attack, after boosting in on their turn.

So, isn't the rule of thumb that you can't do the same action twice in a turn? If you barrel roll as your action are still then unable to do it as a free action after defending?

Sorry if this is a dumb question.

Not a dumb question, and yes, that is correct. Each action can only be performed once per turn. However, if you are assigned a focus or evade token by an upgrade card or pilot skill, that's different from performing a focus or evade action, so you can potentially get multiple of the same token.

Thanks.

So, in this context, if Valen Rudor barrel rolls as his chosen action during the movement phase, then is shot at (and survives), when he wants to do a free action he cannot do another barrel roll. Is that right?

Absolutely correct

With Rudor, I recommend grabbing an Evade as your first action against higher PS pilots, just so you can arc-dodge one after the other attacks.

And oh, hey, my thread has been resurrected.

Again.

Here's to Valen Rudor! May he keep making it to tables, and may his thread continue to resurface once every month until the end of time!

This guy is looking cooler and cooler to me.

1) Valen does a focus action after his manuever.

2) He gets shot at and survives, then does a target lock for his free action.

3) Because he has TIE/v1 upgrade he then gets a free evade token.

I want to try this:

Soontir Fel [Royal Guard TIE, Push the Limit, Autothrusters, Stealth Device] (35)

“Whisper” [intelligence Agent, Fire-Control System, Veteran Instincts, Advanced Cloaking Device] (40)

Valen Rudor [TIE/v1, Autothrusters] (25)

I'm looking at Rudor as a star in a future 30pt 1v1 aces(must be named pilot, no turrets or large bases).

Rudor

procket

Gchips

Outmanoeuvre

Title

I suspect a majority of high Ps pilots shooting first anyway, he feels like a fun looking risk to take!

Been thinking about Squad Leader and Rudor. Wouldn't having this imply that Rudor could get other ships to perform actions during the combat phase?

Depending on timing, you could potentially give Whisper's ability to Echo in the form of a free Focus action before or after her attack.

Whisper could potentially get 2 Focus if he didn't take that action before his attack.

Cloak up any Phantom that whiffed on keeping a target in arc after decloaking with ACD.

MINES DURING COMBAT (would this cause new Conner Net headaches?)

Trigger Rage on Fel giving triple focus and free equivalent to TL in addition to whatever other tokens he's taken that round.

A TL'd ship with EH could potentially double BR with one BR being in Combat phase.

Boost a ship that was at range 3 before its attack into range 1.

Give a Bomber the chance to TL a ship for launching off some hurt.

Deathrain could lay a mine on a ship in front of him, barrel roll, and either be out of arc or set up a missile shot.

Get another ship to pop expose with higher amounts of hurtiness and knowing the chances of counter fire thus mitigating the negative effect.

All this relies on Rudor being attacked, but there's certainly a lot of potential for him to give other ships free actions during combat.

Edit: You'd need a PS 10 ship with Decoy or ST to make some of these happen.

Soooo... under intense pressure testing, PS9 to 11 palp aces, 3Uboat, heavy meta testing... hows Valen doing for you all?

The local guy says he's just... not good. Not good enough to warrant past Inquisitor.

Soooo... under intense pressure testing, PS9 to 11 palp aces, 3Uboat, heavy meta testing... hows Valen doing for you all?

The local guy says he's just... not good. Not good enough to warrant past Inquisitor.

Given how little teeth he has...I was underwhelmed fighting him. I was running Kanan/Biggs, too, so that might have had something to do with it. He rarely attacked with his full 2 dice and I left him as last. Then an ABT double tap with some lucky rolls (ran FCS, not ACs) made quick work of him.

Local guy is right I'm afraid.

Sad sad day.

Been liking the Baron with Proton Rockets, comes cheap enough that he fits in where Inquisitor doesn't, packs a one hit punch then tries to block or harass.

Been thinking about Squad Leader and Rudor. Wouldn't having this imply that Rudor could get other ships to perform actions during the combat phase?

That's a really cool idea! I'll have to remember that. Oh, maybe not tournament blah blah....but for fun games, it's solid.