Its regarding Youngsters and him granting Expose to his TIE swarm. Obvoiusly 3 attack allows 3 hits but is it really better than 2A+focus? Considered also the use of focus for defense and Expose lessening TIE defenses by 1 defense die...

Cheers

Kepler

3 attack without modifier and 2 attack with a Focus have exactly the same expected damaged per shot: 1.5.

But, you really don't want only 2 dice to defend your 3 hull ship, and this focus can also come handy exactly to save your skin in the first place so.... don't Expose with a Tie Fighter, they still deserve better than that.

Naked dice are never better than dice that are modified.

Three dice naked are 1.5 hits I think two attacks with focus is about the same but my Google fu is failing me.

Just going off memory.

Ninja'd!

So Expose on TIE via Youngster is only viable if at range 1 for 4A with no focus. Yes? Or is the trick Youngster + markmanship?

4 attack is only 2 hits it's not a great improvement.

the trick is expose+youngster+howlrunner. but that is dubious as well. we might have to wait for a new card to come out that really makes the youngster shine.

also squad leader would be fun, and in the right squad might be effective.

4 attack is only 2 hits it's not a great improvement.

Still its 0,5 better than 2A + focus or 3A, so I guess Expose on Youngster is for range 1 only. And there is the possibility for a few lucky HLC-ish shots . Not bad for Youngster+Expose I guess

Youngster is so overrated it isn't even funny anymore...

Youngster is so overrated it isn't even funny anymore...

Youngster isn't the problem - it's the mostly underwhelming Elite upgrades with the Action header that's the problem

Right, the old Focus vs Expose question.

​Well, here we go.

Both results you postulated in the title have the same expected outcome... vs a theoretical ship at R2 with infinite shields and 0 agility.

The stat we really want to examine is our opponent's damage mitigation: How likely they are to no-sell tiers of damage.

Focus results in a much lower likelihood of rolling 0 damage, so in a swarmish situation you're more reliable. Same average, mind, but less variance; you'll consistently put out 1 or 2 damage.

Expose results in the possibility of rolling 3 damage, and so is superior vs ships with high damage mitigation (e.g. Soontir Fel).

At Range 1, Focus is better in almost all cases (excluding when 4 damage is necessary to damage). At Range 3, shockingly, its Expose that is best (same average damage, but the enemy has better mitigation, remember?)

So, yeah. Pedophile Swarms (feat. Exposed Youngsters) actually make sense, despite the common wisdom of "Expose suxxorz".

Notably, in interactions with Howlrunner, Expose doesn't benefit from the singular re-roll as much as Focus does.

But also in a match with Howlrunner and Youngster, the dip in agility really doesn't matter to the academy pilots: They're almost never going to be the target of the attack, at least not until these other two are unavailable to be attacked. Youngster will never expose himself.

Meanwhile, in a Swarm, the most important HP is the final one, and Expose's agility-dip can be used to tempt your opponent away from actually killing off wounded TIEs. A swarm that's taken 14 damage, spread evenly across all 7 ships, still deals as much damage as ever, while if that 14 damage had been concentrated, it's down to 4 pilots remaining.

A Healthy TIE exposing himself may be as good for a wounded ally as an evade token, after all. Particularly if you expose yourself at R3....

In conclusion, Expose is situationally good. You're not going to Expose every round, and there will be matches where you NEVER expose.

An exposed Youngster is there as anti-Ace tech, primarily, as high-mitigation ships have classically been a counter-match for swarms.

Against a Fat Han or similar, Youngster might as well be an Academy Pilot, but then, in that match up you'd still win if he were just an Academy Pilot. And since he's worth more points, he can act as a point-sink Biggs (players tend to chase higher costed pilots for the bonus to MoV, and you can use this to your advantage).

But, suddenly, Whisper has to be concerned as to whether you're pulling your 1/8 native chance of rolling an exposed 3 damage, as opposed to their holding onto tokens to guard against their own dice variance.

Who would have thought TIE swarms would be under this much scrutiny after 8 waves. Crackshot alone has garnered quite a lot of attention, and now Youngster and his Gozanti kin. Strange times...

So how about expose when chaser and night beast around to expose for 3 dice with focus

Right, the old Focus vs Expose question.

​Well, here we go.

Both results you postulated in the title have the same expected outcome... vs a theoretical ship at R2 with infinite shields and 0 agility.

The stat we really want to examine is our opponent's damage mitigation: How likely they are to no-sell tiers of damage.

Focus results in a much lower likelihood of rolling 0 damage, so in a swarmish situation you're more reliable. Same average, mind, but less variance; you'll consistently put out 1 or 2 damage.

Expose results in the possibility of rolling 3 damage, and so is superior vs ships with high damage mitigation (e.g. Soontir Fel).

At Range 1, Focus is better in almost all cases (excluding when 4 damage is necessary to damage). At Range 3, shockingly, its Expose that is best (same average damage, but the enemy has better mitigation, remember?)

So, yeah. Pedophile Swarms (feat. Exposed Youngsters) actually make sense, despite the common wisdom of "Expose suxxorz".

Right, the old Focus vs Expose question.

​Well, here we go.

Both results you postulated in the title have the same expected outcome... vs a theoretical ship at R2 with infinite shields and 0 agility.

The stat we really want to examine is our opponent's damage mitigation: How likely they are to no-sell tiers of damage.

Focus results in a much lower likelihood of rolling 0 damage, so in a swarmish situation you're more reliable. Same average, mind, but less variance; you'll consistently put out 1 or 2 damage.

Expose results in the possibility of rolling 3 damage, and so is superior vs ships with high damage mitigation (e.g. Soontir Fel).

At Range 1, Focus is better in almost all cases (excluding when 4 damage is necessary to damage). At Range 3, shockingly, its Expose that is best (same average damage, but the enemy has better mitigation, remember?)

So, yeah. Pedophile Swarms (feat. Exposed Youngsters) actually make sense, despite the common wisdom of "Expose suxxorz".

Right, the old Focus vs Expose answer againhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXWY08LSZls:

Although in this case, you're paying 1/2 point per ship, and no opportunity cost, and its not worse than TL for damage, so this is the best case scenario for an Exposee.

Expose is actually worse the more dice you're rolling already. It's better NOT to use it at R1. There's really not much of an advantage to using youngster+expose.

While avg hits is the most important metric, should max hits also be a consideration? On 3 dice you get get a max of 3 hits (although the odds of this are low), but on two dice with a re-roll your max hits are only 2. Then also consider the chance of your opponent rolling evades on avg. Food for thought.

Dice manipulation is key in the meta, however 2 die attacks are at a pretty significant disadvantage against any ship with 2 or 3 evade dice and evade/focus tokens.

There is a simple mnemonic to help you to remember when to focus and when to use expose.

"Always focus, because expose sucks."

Expose is so bad nobody would use it even if it was free.

While avg hits is the most important metric, should max hits also be a consideration? On 3 dice you get get a max of 3 hits (although the odds of this are low), but on two dice with a re-roll your max hits are only 2. Then also consider the chance of your opponent rolling evades on avg. Food for thought.

Dice manipulation is key in the meta, however 2 die attacks are at a pretty significant disadvantage against any ship with 2 or 3 evade dice and evade/focus tokens.

It does matter a little bit, but there are far better ways of generating quality shots than trying to use youngster/expose.

There is a simple mnemonic to help you to remember when to focus and when to use expose.

"Always focus, because expose sucks."

Expose is so bad nobody would use it even if it was free.

I would rather have Expose in my action bar than Target Lock in most cases.

I dont understand why the discussion is always about expose with youngster rather than marksmanship with youngster. If focus and expose have similar odds, then marksmanship should always be better, is one point cheaper, and doesnt lower your agility.

I would never run expose, BUT... youngsters text says friendly pilots MAY take your action. So, ships in danger could avoid the expose action, while those out of arc or at long range, could take the expose action. You would need to be able to get further dice manipulation (handing out focus, free actions, previous turn target lock, etc) to make expose significantly better than a standard focus action alone.

I dont understand why the discussion is always about expose with youngster rather than marksmanship with youngster. If focus and expose have similar odds, then marksmanship should always be better, is one point cheaper, and doesnt lower your agility.

Marksmanship adds a crit but doesn't work on defense. You don't need youngster to focus.

There is a simple mnemonic to help you to remember when to focus and when to use expose.

"Always focus, because expose sucks."

Expose is so bad nobody would use it even if it was free.

I would rather have Expose in my action bar than Target Lock in most cases.

Ahahaha, okay. The modification you can keep from turn to turn? Nah. To hell with that.