Never really seen the attraction of a PS1 Alpha over all the TIE and TIE/fo aces.

It's an odd idea to me, that the interceptor needs any kind of buff, but that's because I consider - naturally enough - all of its pilots unified under the concept of "Interceptor Pilots". In that set are two of the most potent pilots in the game - one of them perhaps shapes the meta as much as any other ship in the game.

If I instead shift persepective and think of the ships along 'class' lines, then yes, I see a need for some help for some of the squint pilots. But changing the set to work according to elites vs generics (The haves and the havenots, as it were) means I no longer should consider buffs and fixes along ship lines, but instead along PS/ept lines.

Anyway, from neither angle is the interceptor in need of fixing - it is either one of the most powerful ships in the game, or irrelevant to the broader, underlying balance issue in X-Wing. Fixing just the generics for one ship isn't going to solve anything, other than unbalance the game for the rest of them even more, if you see what I mean...

The amount of Epic in the moment is too great to bear.

hell, their whole universe is made of awesome, no lasers, no shields, a ship is a flying coffin, the pilot is really BURIED from outside, instead of pew-pew-shields-down! even frigates go down with horrible screams, fires, explosions smoke and gaping holes in decks...

*re-installs HW1 in a feat of nostalgia*

You do know that you can get a graphically revamped version of HW1 and 2 on Steam??? It's awesome!

Other than that, the Interceptors are totally fine. Unlike many other ships the generics are not unplayable or overcosted. they even have 3 pilots that are competitive enoughto see tournament tables regularly. Other ships have one, or NONE! So really no reason to complain.

In comparison to the TAP the ship has 3 attack dice, which is pretty much enough to justify its existence. It's just a big difference.

Except from Tie Fighters and Y-Wings we don't see a lot of spam lists anyway, and even aces are often played one of each ship type. So if we don't see 3 Interceptors in one list that's really not a sign that the Interceptor is bad!

What I would like to see is something similar to A-Wing Test Pilot that allows access to an EPT unless they already have one. When was the last time someone used Lt Lorrir or Kir Kanos?

I use Kanos all the time. I'm not an EPT junkie and prefer planning to reacting.

I would consider myself an EPT junkie, but I am a modified dice junkie.

The problem that I've got with Kir Kanos's ability is that you end up throwing a lot of naked dice with him. In addition he wants to control range but is unable to use boost or barrel roll to do it. He provides a dilema to higher PS pilots (which is nice) bur will need to forgo using his ability much of the time against low PS ships.

That's where the planning phase comes in. I really like having to not rely on repositioning.

It has nothing to do with planning. Kir Kanos isn't going to have a 1 turn followed by a barrel-roll as an option to keep at range if he wants to be able to trigger his ability that round, That move, a boost after a 1 hard turn, and having K-Turns available if needed are the big reasons I'd want to keep an interceptor stress free.

Lorrir is a bit iffier since his ability causes stress but Lone Wolf or Predator would make you think twice about him now and again.

I'd just smack Wired and Autothrusters on him and call it a day. That would be a wicked fun way to spend 26 points.

Never really seen the attraction of a PS1 Alpha over all the TIE and TIE/fo aces.

5 of them with Autothrusters is pretty good.

It's really Avenger Squadron that's the one you never see. 22 points with autothrusters screws you out of running 5 with AT and 5 naked is worse than 5 Alphas with AT. And PS bids to 3 are useless when every squad has a PS 10 Poe or Soontir in it.

Sabers, Royal Guards, most of the named ones even Fel's Wrath are decent for their points it's just that Acewing pushed everything that isn't PS 8+ out of the meta. Fel's Wrath at 23 points is alright, but it's going to do absolutely nothing against Palp Aces. You have your ship that moves once, maybe gets one action, and maybe attacks once against Soontir at a PS that might as well be ******* zero and you might as well just take a 23 point initiative bid.

Signs you have taken your hatred of [insert tournament-winning stuff here] too far: you are attempting to claim Fel's Wrath would be good if only the [tournmanet-winning stuff] wasn't there.

Like, seriously, Goomba. I don't care if we're in Turretwing, Acewing or all the way back in Swarmwing, there is no world -- none -- in which Fel's Wrath is a playable pilot.

Signs you have taken your hatred of [insert tournament-winning stuff here] too far: you are attempting to claim Fel's Wrath would be good if only the [tournmanet-winning stuff] wasn't there.

Like, seriously, Goomba. I don't care if we're in Turretwing, Acewing or all the way back in Spamwing, there is no world -- none -- in which Fel's Wrath is a playable pilot.

If Fel's Wrath was like a 20-21 point PS 3 pilot he might be worth bringing along. He's got a total Zeb pilot ability. Every once in awhile it will trigger and be cool but you're mostly taking him as a cheap option to get a ship on the board.

As it is you are almost always better off spending that 23 points on a Saber with Autothrusters instead.

Signs you have taken your hatred of [insert tournament-winning stuff here] too far: you are attempting to claim Fel's Wrath would be good if only the [tournmanet-winning stuff] wasn't there.

Like, seriously, Goomba. I don't care if we're in Turretwing, Acewing or all the way back in Spamwing, there is no world -- none -- in which Fel's Wrath is a playable pilot.

Fel's Wrath is just fine. I'm not saying he'd be great but he'd at least be able to do something if he didn't have to compete with some hyper action economy ship that could simply turn on its invincibility at will in every game or a Predator RAC that could kill him instantly when he got within range 3.

If all the broken Turretwing and Acewing stuff wasn't around, I would consider running him with Autothrusters and some AC Advances or whatever. He'd be playable if the modern meta was just spamwing with our current array of ships instead of Acewing.

But a 23 point ship that attacks once and does 1 action a turn? Would be better off with a 23 point initiative bid. All that ship would do is make it take 1 turn longer for a Palp Aces squad to sweep you.

Signs you have taken your hatred of [insert tournament-winning stuff here] too far: you are attempting to claim Fel's Wrath would be good if only the [tournmanet-winning stuff] wasn't there.

Like, seriously, Goomba. I don't care if we're in Turretwing, Acewing or all the way back in Spamwing, there is no world -- none -- in which Fel's Wrath is a playable pilot.

Fel's Wrath is just fine. I'm not saying he'd be great but he'd at least be able to do something if he didn't have to compete with some hyper action economy ship that could simply turn on its invincibility at will in every game or a Predator RAC that could kill him instantly when he got within range 3.

If all the broken Turretwing and Acewing stuff wasn't around, I would consider running him with Autothrusters and some AC Advances or whatever. He'd be playable if the modern meta was just spamwing with our current array of ships instead of Acewing.

He's really not fine at all. Fel's Wrath is arguably the worst pilot in the game, and would never see play in any environment.

His Pilot Skill is stuck in no-man's land, his pilot ability is useless more often than not, and he has no EPT, and all of those things remain true no matter what the meta around him looks like. If you're after a generic Squint to slap Autothrusters on, then you might as well save 2 points and use a Saber. At least then you can also slap on an EPT if you find an extra couple of points later on.

Here's a question: why not Predator on Interceptors to turn them into cheap gunships? You've got a moderately modified attack, and still have an action you can use for movement, offense, or defense. Predator actually allows greater offense than PTL can ever get because there's no inherent Target Lock for the Interceptor. No stress as well. The main problem is lack of defense, as PTL let's you stack Focus and Evade, but a full dial and much less stress susceptibility is worth something. Just a Saber with Predator and Hull Upgrade is 27 points and a great value offensively. Let's say you take three, you've got 19 points left for a TIE Shuttle with Fleet Officer to feed them Focus tokens.

Signs you have taken your hatred of [insert tournament-winning stuff here] too far: you are attempting to claim Fel's Wrath would be good if only the [tournmanet-winning stuff] wasn't there.

Like, seriously, Goomba. I don't care if we're in Turretwing, Acewing or all the way back in Spamwing, there is no world -- none -- in which Fel's Wrath is a playable pilot.

Fel's Wrath is just fine. I'm not saying he'd be great but he'd at least be able to do something if he didn't have to compete with some hyper action economy ship that could simply turn on its invincibility at will in every game or a Predator RAC that could kill him instantly when he got within range 3.

If all the broken Turretwing and Acewing stuff wasn't around, I would consider running him with Autothrusters and some AC Advances or whatever. He'd be playable if the modern meta was just spamwing with our current array of ships instead of Acewing.

But a 23 point ship that attacks once and does 1 action a turn? Would be better off with a 23 point initiative bid. All that ship would do is make it take 1 turn longer for a Palp Aces squad to sweep you.

Compare Fel's Wrath to a Royal Guard pilot and tell me he's fine. He's an embarrassment to the great Baron.

Signs you have taken your hatred of [insert tournament-winning stuff here] too far: you are attempting to claim Fel's Wrath would be good if only the [tournmanet-winning stuff] wasn't there.

Like, seriously, Goomba. I don't care if we're in Turretwing, Acewing or all the way back in Spamwing, there is no world -- none -- in which Fel's Wrath is a playable pilot.

Fel's Wrath is just fine. I'm not saying he'd be great but he'd at least be able to do something if he didn't have to compete with some hyper action economy ship that could simply turn on its invincibility at will in every game or a Predator RAC that could kill him instantly when he got within range 3.

If all the broken Turretwing and Acewing stuff wasn't around, I would consider running him with Autothrusters and some AC Advances or whatever. He'd be playable if the modern meta was just spamwing with our current array of ships instead of Acewing.

But a 23 point ship that attacks once and does 1 action a turn? Would be better off with a 23 point initiative bid. All that ship would do is make it take 1 turn longer for a Palp Aces squad to sweep you.

Compare Fel's Wrath to a Royal Guard pilot and tell me he's fine. He's an embarrassment to the great Baron.

Fun fact: the name "Fel's Wrath" actually refers to him being killed, despite his miraculous survival, by the Baron himself for being such an embarrassment the rest of the time.

Signs you have taken your hatred of [insert tournament-winning stuff here] too far: you are attempting to claim Fel's Wrath would be good if only the [tournmanet-winning stuff] wasn't there.

Like, seriously, Goomba. I don't care if we're in Turretwing, Acewing or all the way back in Spamwing, there is no world -- none -- in which Fel's Wrath is a playable pilot.

Fel's Wrath is just fine. I'm not saying he'd be great but he'd at least be able to do something if he didn't have to compete with some hyper action economy ship that could simply turn on its invincibility at will in every game or a Predator RAC that could kill him instantly when he got within range 3.

If all the broken Turretwing and Acewing stuff wasn't around, I would consider running him with Autothrusters and some AC Advances or whatever. He'd be playable if the modern meta was just spamwing with our current array of ships instead of Acewing.

He's really not fine at all. Fel's Wrath is arguably the worst pilot in the game, and would never see play in any environment.

His Pilot Skill is stuck in no-man's land, his pilot ability is useless more often than not, and he has no EPT, and all of those things remain true no matter what the meta around him looks like. If you're after a generic Squint to slap Autothrusters on, then you might as well save 2 points and use a Saber. At least then you can also slap on an EPT if you find an extra couple of points later on.

I would rather have FW's ability for 2 points more. He's not /that/ bad.

FW with autothrusters compared to a Royal Guard with PTL? Eh, both seem about equal.

Signs you have taken your hatred of [insert tournament-winning stuff here] too far: you are attempting to claim Fel's Wrath would be good if only the [tournmanet-winning stuff] wasn't there.

Like, seriously, Goomba. I don't care if we're in Turretwing, Acewing or all the way back in Spamwing, there is no world -- none -- in which Fel's Wrath is a playable pilot.

Fel's Wrath is just fine. I'm not saying he'd be great but he'd at least be able to do something if he didn't have to compete with some hyper action economy ship that could simply turn on its invincibility at will in every game or a Predator RAC that could kill him instantly when he got within range 3.

If all the broken Turretwing and Acewing stuff wasn't around, I would consider running him with Autothrusters and some AC Advances or whatever. He'd be playable if the modern meta was just spamwing with our current array of ships instead of Acewing.

But a 23 point ship that attacks once and does 1 action a turn? Would be better off with a 23 point initiative bid. All that ship would do is make it take 1 turn longer for a Palp Aces squad to sweep you.

Compare Fel's Wrath to a Royal Guard pilot and tell me he's fine. He's an embarrassment to the great Baron.

Fun fact: the name "Fel's Wrath" actually refers to him being killed, despite his miraculous survival, by the Baron himself for being such an embarrassment the rest of the time.

We have purposely trained him wrong, as a joke.

Signs you have taken your hatred of [insert tournament-winning stuff here] too far: you are attempting to claim Fel's Wrath would be good if only the [tournmanet-winning stuff] wasn't there.

Like, seriously, Goomba. I don't care if we're in Turretwing, Acewing or all the way back in Spamwing, there is no world -- none -- in which Fel's Wrath is a playable pilot.

Fel's Wrath is just fine. I'm not saying he'd be great but he'd at least be able to do something if he didn't have to compete with some hyper action economy ship that could simply turn on its invincibility at will in every game or a Predator RAC that could kill him instantly when he got within range 3.

If all the broken Turretwing and Acewing stuff wasn't around, I would consider running him with Autothrusters and some AC Advances or whatever. He'd be playable if the modern meta was just spamwing with our current array of ships instead of Acewing.

He's really not fine at all. Fel's Wrath is arguably the worst pilot in the game, and would never see play in any environment.

His Pilot Skill is stuck in no-man's land, his pilot ability is useless more often than not, and he has no EPT, and all of those things remain true no matter what the meta around him looks like. If you're after a generic Squint to slap Autothrusters on, then you might as well save 2 points and use a Saber. At least then you can also slap on an EPT if you find an extra couple of points later on.

I would rather have FW's ability for 2 points more. He's not /that/ bad.

FW with autothrusters compared to a Royal Guard with PTL? Eh, both seem about equal.

Except if I have only 25pts to spend, I can take Lt. Lorrir instead of "Fel's Wrath".

And I will, each and every time. Lorrir's ability makes him murderous against lower PS pilots, and makes him an invaluable blocker against higher PS pilots.

Meanwhile, for FW's ability to actually matter, he has to be killed by someone with higher pilot skill than himself. Against some squads, he is completely pointless and you literally could've saved a point to throw in a slightly higher PS RGP with just thrusters and achieved literally the same effect. FW can possibly be a factor going up against higher PS pilots, assuming they get the kill shot and he has one of them lined up.

Meanwhile, Lorrir's ability can be used, sometimes to truly amazing effect, against anyone.

And he has literally the exact same cost and PS as FW.

That's what makes him almost certainly the worst pilot in the game. It doesn't matter what the meta looks like or what new upgrades/ships/whatever get introduced. It's not even that important that he has a bad ability, because there's lots of pilots with relatively dubious abilities that one can find a legitimate use for (in fact, I can't think of anyone else I'd immediately write off). However, when you consider that FW has both a bad ability and there's a pilot in the safe craft for the same PS and same price that offers an actually solid ability?

He's ******. Pure and simple, Lorrir's existence **** any chance "Fel's Wrath" may have ever had at being included in an honest attempt to make a competitive list. I don't think there's anyone else in quite that position, but FW absolutely is. There's still nothing stopping anyone from using him, hell there's nothing stopping someone from using him successfully, but that'll never take away the fact that there's a pilot in the game who is a 100% better choice.

The amount of Epic in the moment is too great to bear.

hell, their whole universe is made of awesome, no lasers, no shields, a ship is a flying coffin, the pilot is really BURIED from outside, instead of pew-pew-shields-down! even frigates go down with horrible screams, fires, explosions smoke and gaping holes in decks...

*re-installs HW1 in a feat of nostalgia*

You do know that you can get a graphically revamped version of HW1 and 2 on Steam??? It's awesome!

Other than that, the Interceptors are totally fine. Unlike many other ships the generics are not unplayable or overcosted. they even have 3 pilots that are competitive enoughto see tournament tables regularly. Other ships have one, or NONE! So really no reason to complain.

In comparison to the TAP the ship has 3 attack dice, which is pretty much enough to justify its existence. It's just a big difference.

Except from Tie Fighters and Y-Wings we don't see a lot of spam lists anyway, and even aces are often played one of each ship type. So if we don't see 3 Interceptors in one list that's really not a sign that the Interceptor is bad!

They couldn't re-make the Cataclysm because the files went missing...

Basic ceptors just can't use most of the AWESOME goodies such as super-green-dial, barrel and boost for knife-fighter-arcdodges

If there could be a possibility to take two PS9 PTLing 'ceptors, we would have seen people take them.

But, good for us, there's onnle ONE soontir on the loose, and Carnor is not PS9

Never really seen the attraction of a PS1 Alpha over all the TIE and TIE/fo aces.

I've flown a few Alphas in Wave 2-3. They are interesting blockers.

It's an odd idea to me, that the interceptor needs any kind of buff, but that's because I consider - naturally enough - all of its pilots unified under the concept of "Interceptor Pilots". In that set are two of the most potent pilots in the game - one of them perhaps shapes the meta as much as any other ship in the game.

If I instead shift persepective and think of the ships along 'class' lines, then yes, I see a need for some help for some of the squint pilots. But changing the set to work according to elites vs generics (The haves and the havenots, as it were) means I no longer should consider buffs and fixes along ship lines, but instead along PS/ept lines.

Anyway, from neither angle is the interceptor in need of fixing - it is either one of the most powerful ships in the game, or irrelevant to the broader, underlying balance issue in X-Wing. Fixing just the generics for one ship isn't going to solve anything, other than unbalance the game for the rest of them even more, if you see what I mean...

Elite pilots are not a problem here and I don't think they need anything to help them, but thinking about a minor fix useful for low skilled Interceptors is not out of place with TIE Adv. Prototype coming so soon.

I doubt it will cause problems with balance in the wider game (especially if the fix comes in a form of a title so NOT a modification), if anything it is to make low skilled, so more numerous fighters of this type more interesting to play and more useful.

TIE/x7 shows how it can be done. Arguably TIE Defender needed a change, it really needed it, but the way it is done is quite brilliant and show us the way how other, older fighters can find its even more specialised way of flying.

What?? Where have I been while this conversation has taken place?! Hi, my name is Parakitor and I fly Alpha Squadron Pilots ALL THE TIME. Here is my pet squad that I came up with when Fleet Officer came out.

4x Alpha Sq. Pilot

Omicron Group Pilot (Advanced Sensors, Fleet Officer, Intelligence Agent)

I tried this out a couple of times during the Phantom Menace of last season, and it was laughable. But things are different now, and this squad is scary. I'm currently around 2:1 win-loss ratio, so it might not win any tournaments, but that's not going to stop me from trying!

Here's how it works usually. The Alphas start off close to the shuttle, perhaps even blocking it in place. Because Fleet Officer only grants 2 focus tokens, I don't need everybody bunched up by the shuttle, so once I get a feel for where my opponent is going, I can send out a flanker or two. Meanwhile, the shuttle allows the two wingmates to Focus + Evade for the initial engagement.

After the first pass is when things really get interesting. The shuttle can activate Intelligence Agent to see where one enemy ship is going, thus informing whether my Alphas need to boost or barrel roll into position, either to get a shot or to block. If they do so, Fleet Officer grants a focus token so they aren't relying on unmodified dice.

The best part of it all is having 5 ships with 3 attack dice. No, this squad is not for the faint of heart. But when you roll green dice like I do, these squints can really sing. I think having the tanky shuttle helps to offset the glass cannon nature of interceptors. Alpha Squadron Pilots do have weaknesses, but I feel that this shuttle build shores them up, and allows their numbers to become a real strength.

P.S. Apologies to those who have heard me talk about this squad at length before. I need to take it to some tournaments to see how it performs in that environment, but it's so much fun I have to share it with everybody!

The amount of Epic in the moment is too great to bear.

hell, their whole universe is made of awesome, no lasers, no shields, a ship is a flying coffin, the pilot is really BURIED from outside, instead of pew-pew-shields-down! even frigates go down with horrible screams, fires, explosions smoke and gaping holes in decks...

*re-installs HW1 in a feat of nostalgia*

You do know that you can get a graphically revamped version of HW1 and 2 on Steam??? It's awesome!

Other than that, the Interceptors are totally fine. Unlike many other ships the generics are not unplayable or overcosted. they even have 3 pilots that are competitive enoughto see tournament tables regularly. Other ships have one, or NONE! So really no reason to complain.

In comparison to the TAP the ship has 3 attack dice, which is pretty much enough to justify its existence. It's just a big difference.

Except from Tie Fighters and Y-Wings we don't see a lot of spam lists anyway, and even aces are often played one of each ship type. So if we don't see 3 Interceptors in one list that's really not a sign that the Interceptor is bad!

They couldn't re-make the Cataclysm because the files went missing...

Basic ceptors just can't use most of the AWESOME goodies such as super-green-dial, barrel and boost for knife-fighter-arcdodges

If there could be a possibility to take two PS9 PTLing 'ceptors, we would have seen people take them.

But, good for us, there's onnle ONE soontir on the loose, and Carnor is not PS9

I do have Homeworld Remastered version on my Computer, and it has HW 1 and 2 Campaigns on it. Idk about Cataclysm, but if you like HW, that's something, no?

Well it's like with any other ship. If at all they have a PS9 pilot, there is no second one, and that's really a good thing isn't it? Nobody wants to see all PS9 lists with the same ship really. That would also not be balanced with other ship types!

I think I will start testing those two:

and this

I really like the first idea, in fact like it a lot because this way high risk flying is rewarded for low PS pilots.

Second, not really my kind of stuff, but modified TIE/INs were pretty common in old Star Wars similators and this seems to do the trick - higher cost, better firepower, but higher energy demand affecting its agility in some situations.

Plus as a modification restricted to Interceptors should allow adding other stuff (Autothrusters, Twin Ion Engines Mk II etc), for fans of Imperial Guard title, but at enormous cost similar to TIE Defender. But if someone likes it that way...

I'll try the first one soon. If anyone is interested I hope for feedback, especially the kind of stuff which could eliminate possible problems with both cards.

Also if you have better images for these cards I'd consider using them, though these are not that bad in my opinion.

The amount of Epic in the moment is too great to bear.

hell, their whole universe is made of awesome, no lasers, no shields, a ship is a flying coffin, the pilot is really BURIED from outside, instead of pew-pew-shields-down! even frigates go down with horrible screams, fires, explosions smoke and gaping holes in decks...

*re-installs HW1 in a feat of nostalgia*

You do know that you can get a graphically revamped version of HW1 and 2 on Steam??? It's awesome!

Other than that, the Interceptors are totally fine. Unlike many other ships the generics are not unplayable or overcosted. they even have 3 pilots that are competitive enoughto see tournament tables regularly. Other ships have one, or NONE! So really no reason to complain.

In comparison to the TAP the ship has 3 attack dice, which is pretty much enough to justify its existence. It's just a big difference.

Except from Tie Fighters and Y-Wings we don't see a lot of spam lists anyway, and even aces are often played one of each ship type. So if we don't see 3 Interceptors in one list that's really not a sign that the Interceptor is bad!

They couldn't re-make the Cataclysm because the files went missing...

Basic ceptors just can't use most of the AWESOME goodies such as super-green-dial, barrel and boost for knife-fighter-arcdodges

If there could be a possibility to take two PS9 PTLing 'ceptors, we would have seen people take them.

But, good for us, there's onnle ONE soontir on the loose, and Carnor is not PS9

I do have Homeworld Remastered version on my Computer, and it has HW 1 and 2 Campaigns on it. Idk about Cataclysm, but if you like HW, that's something, no?

Well it's like with any other ship. If at all they have a PS9 pilot, there is no second one, and that's really a good thing isn't it? Nobody wants to see all PS9 lists with the same ship really. That would also not be balanced with other ship types!

Super-PS is extremely important for arcdodgers, that's why Soontir is almost eternal.

He's one of the few PS9 arcdodgers, and by far the only one who has both reposition actions naturally, 3 attack dice and an epic dial.

Can't say I really want to see PS9 lists anyway, telling the truth. The idea to put the best PS and the best abilities on same pilots isn't a good game design from my point of view. Want an epic ability? Crappy PS. Want a great PS? Sorry, your ability is worthless most of the game.

At the very least, if you want both, you should be paying a premium.

A) Soontir + Palpatine is super powerful

B) The current metagame is warped around countering Soontir (Crackshot, stress, etc.)

C) Everything that counters Soontir also counters generic Interceptors.