assuming a single 26 point ship takes on the entire list, no there's not much a single Tie will do

but that's what happens when a 26 point ship takes on an entire list

v just Vader, though, the dark lord doesn't have **** on el Presidente

Well palp ace lists should usually endeavor to focus fire a ship at a time as much as possible to maximize the 2 ships that regularly are shooting, but other than that yes 1v1 it's a slap fight. 2 dice vs. 2 dice, one with juke one without. Not going to be pretty or fast unless dice roll hot but el presidente does likely win in that vacuum.

Well, really any list should do that, it just is the most efficient thing to do! It does become more punishing if you don't with low ship count, though.

Vader is great, but you really rely on that offensive ATC to get damage, making him "different" than Fel or Whisper. Yoi get better average damage than Fel and can use your extra beef to straight up trade blows when it is needed. However, the round you take the TL, things like PWT that cant be arc dodged get a round of fire against 1 defensive action. If they have Gunner, there's a chance you end up shieldless just for trying to gain "Fel" equivalent red dice. You also cant boost + roll out of arc of ships AND have a reliable shot at damage without setting up ATC the round before, which is a pain when in dire situations. Fel gets 3-4 reds + focus much easier. Whisper gets 4-5 reds that can easily spike for massive damage even without actions.

VI Vader gets to out play other aces though, which is an undeniably amazing perk. Does it make him the best? Idk. I usually think of my PS9 Imp Aces like so:

Soontir - Turret Counter

Whisper - Joust Counter

Vader - Ace Hunter

Each of the Aces seems pretty well suited for solo-ing many lists and winning dire games, but compare to eachother, each Ace seems to be better than each other Ace in some aspect. This makes it tough for me to assign one as better than the other without saying "one is better here, but worse here".

problem with the vacuum is assuming palp aces can focus down a single ship without the opponent player doing anything

such as, say, blocking

or just shooting the exposed aces to death

Vader especially suffers from surprisingly-easy-to-kill-itus, as opposed to mr soontir with his double focus + thrusters turtle protocol

assuming a single 26 point ship takes on the entire list, no there's not much a single Tie will do

but that's what happens when a 26 point ship takes on an entire list

v just Vader, though, the dark lord doesn't have **** on el Presidente

Well palp ace lists should usually endeavor to focus fire a ship at a time as much as possible to maximize the 2 ships that regularly are shooting, but other than that yes 1v1 it's a slap fight. 2 dice vs. 2 dice, one with juke one without. Not going to be pretty or fast unless dice roll hot but el presidente does likely win in that vacuum.

Vader was never emperor. Oh wait JJ won't do the Soontir Dynasty, ****.

Technically, he was. For like, two minutes. Then he died right after his master. But still, two minutes.

Is that from some EU source, or are you making an assumption that Vader automatically became Emperor when Palpatine died? I'd be surprised, since he wasn't even the highest ranking of Palpatine's subordinates, plus there were probably far more complex rules left over from the Republic.

As far as I'm aware, there was never actually a true line of succession for the throne after the Emperor died. Palpatine did it deliberately to discourage assassinations. Because if he died, the entire empire would go into anarchy due to the fact that every Moff and Grand Admiral would contend for the rank. Vader was the only true successor, being Palpatine's personal apprentice. Also, Vader wasn't exactly "outranked" by anyone, because Vader didn't really have a true rank that fit in with the rest of the system. He was the supreme commander of the military, but that's all we know about his "rank." But we do know that Moffs and other politicians did as Vader commanded, unless Palpatine said otherwise. Occassionally Palpatine would have Vader follow someone else's orders, though. For example, when Grand Moff Tarkin was giving orders to Vader. This doesn't necessarily mean that Tarkin outranked Vader, just that Vader had been assigned by Palpatine to follow Tarkin's orders while aboard the Death Star.

As far as rules left over from the Republic, I seriously doubt it. After all, Palpatine had surpreme power, got to rewrite any and all laws he felt like, and the Senate was no longer even a thing. I doubt there were any laws of succession left by the Emperor.

So, the way I see it, Vader was the only logical successor to take over after the Emperor died, thus in my eyes, Vader was emperor. For like, two minutes. But that still totally counts, if you ask me.

With a squad of generics I'd MUCH rather face a Vader than the standard 35 point Soontir. Unkillable bastard.

Vader is 3 agility behind focus evade sometimes. Fel is 4-5 agility with autothrusters, a focus (or two), an evade, and probably a boost/BR in there.

When I can shove a 5/5 hit Nera APT shot down Soontir's throat only for him to get /slightly/ lucky and only take 1 ******* damage, I'd rather face Vader.