I love the T-70 X-Wing. it is by far my favorite ship in this game. The most i've ever flown is 3, but i bought 2 more after that because i have no self control why not!

In fact, since the new core set release in September, T-70s have been in almost every single list i've flown since then! I've learned a lot about them. For a bit i favored a PTL/BB-8 Poe, then woke up and saw the R5-P9 potential, drooled over Predator Poe, and respected VI Poe. I branched out, found the best ways to use all of the pilots as best i could, a journey even now i'm still going through.

This is an article i've been thinking about writing for a long time, and i tested the waters with my R2-D2 vs. R5-P9 thing, so i'm going for it. I could write a book about the T-70, so this is probably gonna be a long, long post. There will be no TL;DR. It's too long to summarily recap in less then 2 paragraphs of space. So if you don't like long stuff, i'd suggest not reading this.

The T-70 shares a lot with it's cheaper cousin, the T-65, but just as much as it shares it does not share. Essentially, for every way the T-70 behaves like a T-65, there is another way it is a world apart. Ok, maybe "A World Apart" is an exaggeration. But it is different than a T-65 in some critical ways. This can be confusing for some people, those who pick it up expecting an X-Wing, and KIND OF getting what they expected, but being unsure of everything else. How do you build them? How do you fly them? What are they best at? What are they the worst at? What's their strengths, and their weaknesses? How are the T-70 and the T-65 different, and how are they similar? What are the pilots like?

Woah, now, i'm getting to all of that! One question at a time.

Let's start with a general overview.

The T-70 is a better T-65. It sports an additional shield, a native boost action, a green 3 straight, a unique Tallon Roll maneuver, and a new Tech upgrade slot. It costs more, with the PS2 Blue Squadron Novice costing 3 points more than the PS2 Rookie Pilot. It fits snug between the T-65 and the E-Wing in terms of price, an analogy that also fits with it's preferred role in a squad.

"Wow, thanks Raz! I'm so glad we have you here to tell us all these important things."

Now, bear with me. I know some of you knew this already, but for some newer players, maybe THEY don't! I'm merely attempting to be as broad as possible starting out so that EVERYONE can follow what i'm saying. I need to point out that this article is going to say some things that have been, or are very obvious to many people, like "T-70s hate TIE Swarms." This article is supposed to help as many people as possible, and if that means saying things that are obvious to more veteran players so that newer players understand the game better, that's a trade i'm willing to make. We cool? Alright, let's get into the thick of it.

Part 1: What can it do and not do?

So, how is the T-70 different from the T-65 in gameplay? In my opinion, it's more versatile, and with the ability to mount Autothrusters OR Integrated Astromech, it's also sliiiiightly more durable. It's boost allows it at least some post-maneuver movement options, and with BB-8 as a potential droid, you can also get an excellent PRE-maneuver movement options. It's faster green allows it to shed stress with more versatility, and it's Tallon Roll allows you to mix up the engagement and gain more favorable arcs. The T-65 really can't do very much of that. T-65s CAN take BB-8, of course, but the lack of boost and less greens makes the T-65 less able to keep up with the fast paced arc dodgers like Interceptors and such. The T-70 isn't going to have an EASY time chasing down an Interceptor, but you have a chance, whereas with a T-65 there is no real chance.

Unfortunately, some of the T-65s problems follow it over to the T-70. It's still a bad jouster, and it's still over-costed. Granted, the jousting efficiency of the T-70 may actually be higher than the E-Wing, but i still wouldn't count on it to make it out of a toe to toe joust that you ARENT essentially dictating the terms of. Making matters worse, it's high cost make it a bigger blow to lose a T-70 than it would be to lose a T-65 in terms of MOV. It's durability is an improvement, no doubt, but it's not amazing either, compared to some other ships.

Luckily for us, X-Wing isn't just a jousting game, so many of these issues can, in some way, be overcome. Overcosting is out of our control, yes, but durability, bad jousting efficiency, and so on are mere annoyances. We can fix that, and i'll discuss how later.

So, we've looked at how the T-70 and T-65 are different, and similar. What about what they're good at, and what they're bad at?

Strengths: Like i said, the T-70 is versatile. The Red Squadron Veteran, in particular, can be fitted in any way you want depending on what it's supposed to do. Reasonably the only thing a T-70 CAN'T do is joust. Some pilots though are better at some things than others, but that's to be expected. There's really no shortage of things a T-70 can do fairly well. It's no A-Wing, it's no B-Wing, it's no E-Wing but it's general usefulness can make it a better choice than any of those ships, given that they both have weak points that a T-70 doesn't. An A-Wing lacks firepower and durability- A T-70 doesn't. A B-Wing doesn't have the speed or maneuverability to chase down ships- A T-70 does. An E-Wing is prohibitively expensive for even the generics- Not with the T-70.

My initial appraisal of the T-70 was "Oh, it's a super-fighter that you can actually afford." In some ways, this does still hold true. However, it's no super-fighter. While an incredibly competent ship, with good HP, firepower, and modability, it doesn't quite have the dial or sheer power something like the E-Wing might have. I would say, that if the T-65 is the F/A-18C Hornet, the T-70 is the Super Hornet. It's a marked improvement in a lot of ways, while maintaining a similar feel.

With Wave 7 meta being so TLT strong, the fact that Autothrusters is a thing a T-70 can equip is a major boon to it's defensive effectiveness. So, if you can get the extra two points for AT on a T-70, you should absolutely add it.(Thanks to Warpman for reminding me of this.)

Weaknesses: The T-70 might be good at a lot of stuff in general, but what it's bad at is very specific. TIE Fighters. TIE Fighters of the Imperial or First Order variety. I don't specifically mean a small amount of TIE Fighters, i mean 5+. The only way to win against a TIE Swarm is to set the asteroids tight in the center and the goal is to force the squad to follow you into the center to get at you. This will split them up, and make it easier for you to kill individual TIEs. Don't try to run right at them. A T-70 cannot, repeat, CANNOT hold against that many dice being thrown at them. Pilots like Poe do a better job than anyone else. Red Ace can't do it because her ability only happens once per round. None of the other uniques have abilities that help. T-70s. Hate. TIE Swarms. But, this is true of normal T-65s too, so i'm not sure if that should be surprising at all. However, in it's own way, it's worse, namely because T-70s cost more, and, as a result, you can't field as many T-70s at once. The same generally goes for most things a T-65 doesn't like.

The simple fact is that 2 defense dice isn't capable of stopping 5-7 TIE Fighters from punching a hole in your T-70. Poe can maybe pull it off, maybe. If he's at range 3, you're probably going to make it out without too much of a scratch, but when it closes to range 1-2, that's when it's not really up to chance anymore.

Anyways, the point here is that a T-65s natural enemies are still a T-70's natural enemies. The main weakness of being bad jousters has only gotten worse with the T-70, given their higher cost.

Part 2: Poe Dameron: Eh shoots bad guys and doesn't afraid of anything.

Poe is the most used T-70 pilot, and it's not hard to see why. While not, on the surface, as hard hitting of an ability as, say, Wedge, Poe's ability and dual offensive/defensive nature makes him extremely consistent. Poe epitomizes as the perfect T-70 pilot; a pilot as flexible as the ship he's using. There's not much you can't run on him that won't turn out to be at least marginally effective, assuming you're not putting Marksmanship on him, or something equally idiotic. Basically, you've got a lot of choices to make with Poe, both on and off the board.

Section 1: Building Poe

So, what do you put on him to make him the most effective? Autothrusters is an easy choice, because at range 3 or out of arc, a focus and a blank become 2 evades. Personally i wouldn't skimp and drop to Integrated Astro, but if you need points that bad, IA will still do ok. Predator can make his offense even more consistent, to nearly guarantee 3 hits every shot, and Crackshot can push damage through when it counts. I've even seen Juke work if Jan Ors is in the list somewhere. At PS8, he's a high enough PS to naturally match some powerful Aces, like Carnor Jax, and to even beat out some popular pilots like Dash Rendar. If you choose to put VI on him, only a PS9 with VI will outrank him.

As for regen, i would suggest that R2-D2 be your first choice, dropping to R5-P9 only if another ship needs R2, or if you dont have enough points, at least at the time of writing. Right now, there's a lot of stress in the meta. In scum, rebel, AND imperial. I've already covered this in the article i wrote a little while back, but basically since R5-P9 is action-reliant, if Poe gets heavy stress he won't be able to regen, and thus will lose a significant portion of his durability. R2-D2 triggers on a green maneuver, which you can make whenever you want. Don't get me wrong, R5-P9 is still great on Poe, but you need to be extra careful with it on him to make sure he stays unstressed.

Other usable astromechs include BB-8, if you want to go for extreme mobility, although BB-8 has a better home on other pilots, like Wedge, or Ello Asty. I wouldn't recommend a competitive build that doesn't have regen on Poe, unless you've discovered some incredibly unheard of combo. Before you say "PTL/BB-8", everyone knows that exists, and it's still not better than regen.

Here's a good list of the things that Poe likes.

EPTs:

Good: Predator, Veteran Instincts, Adaptability, Lone Wolf(if your list has 3 or less ships), Juke(if you have something to give him an evade, like Jan Ors crew)

Ok: Crackshot, Push the Limit

Torpedoes:

Don't use torpedoes. Poe is expensive enough without them.

Astromechs:

Good: R2-D2, R5-P9

Ok: BB-8

Modifications:

Good: Autothrusters

Ok: Integrated Astromech

Tech:

Good: Comm Relay(With Juke ONLY)

Ok: Weapons Guidance(Makes Poe spend his focus, which while WG is useful, can hurt Poe pretty badly)

Section 2: Using Poe

"But Raz, you already discussed how to fly T-70s! The rules can't be THAT different, right? And besides, you need to cut down on the word count anyway!"

Shhhh.

Flying Poe is different than flying most other T-70s in a few important ways. Look, let's be frank here. While Poe isn't exactly Wedge, your opponent probably wants Poe off the board ASAP. You have a choice when flying Poe: Let the enemy do what they want, or make the enemy do what you want. Those that can do the latter tend to win in general. "But Raz, how do you MAKE someone do what you want?" That's easy. You give them a really, really good reason to. This is true for a lot of ships in this game, so if you've ignored everything so far, listen to this. No matter who you are, the core concepts of deception as a stratagem have been around for eons. So pay attention here, at least. Reasonably i could simply not share this, and not have to worry about people coming onto my tricks, but if everyone around me gets better, it follows logic that i'll get better too.

So, there are two ways to utilize Poe in a deception scenario. One is where Poe is the bait, the other where he is the trap.

I want to share with you a game i played the other day. My list was Poe w/ VI, R5-P9, and AT; Red Ace with R2-D2, IA, and Comm Relay, and a stresshog(Gold Squadron Pilot with TLT, R3-A2, and BTL-A4). My opponent was flying 3 Juke FOs and Carnor Jax. He set up his TIEs in a jousting formation with my 3 ships, and then set Carnor off to the side. I knew exactly what he was going to do, he was trying to get into range 1 of all of my ships with Carnor so that when the Juke FOs hit me, i couldnt modify dice. I turned Poe off to the side, slowly, to face towards Carnor as he raced towards my formation, and i rolled both my other ships 1 forward every turn, with the exception of Red Ace, whom I sort of teased with a 2 forward that i was willing to push her faster than i would push the stresshog.

Carnor got in close, realized that he was in range 3 arc of the Y-Wing, and BRd behind an asteroid, allowing Poe, who was moving in, to keep out of Carnor's no-mod bubble and get some shots off, setting up movement for the next turn. I intentionally kept the Y-Wing out of range of the TIE on turn 2, allowing them to shoot at Red Ace but not the Y. This paid off, because the very next turn, the TIEs, who were at range 3, did a 4-K. Red Ace moved 3 forward directly past them. This normally would worry me, but it didn't, at least not as much.

Why not? I just put a T-70 directly in front of 3 TIE FOs. That's not good, and it's not. I'd much rather, in hindsight, just sent her 1 forward again. Well, Carnor ended that turn range 2 in arc of the Y-Wing, after running over an asteroid, losing his action, and taking a damage. Poe has just 4K'd and has arc on everyone. And, most importantly.... The TIE fighters are facing away from the two most important ships in my list, and they have one turn before they get to K-Turn again. And Red Ace has now enticed them enough that they didn't care until it was too late.

The Y-Wing lit Carnor up and killed him, Poe put damage on a TIE, Red Ace survived, and now my two most deadly ships are behind every ship in his list. Red Ace may have died the next round, but so did one of his TIE fighters. I also later blocked with the Y after a K-turn and Poe 1-shotted another TIE at range 1. At that point it was a full-health Poe and a Y with 6 HP against one TIE FO.

What did i do there? I baited him, simple. I showed him that i was willing to move Red Ace faster, and he K-Turned his TIEs knowing that Red Ace was gonna end up in front of him. With Poe off to the side, getting some range 3 shots and taking the time to position himself for coming up behind Carnor and the TIEs, taking no shots. The Y slowly crawling, staying far enough out to use it's TLT. The ideal scenario would be not losing Red Ace, and while yes, i made a mistake by not just moving him 1-forward again, and putting all three of my ships out of arc of his, and won even faster, i still made sure Poe was in a position to capitalize on the situation, while keeping him out of danger and getting him some shots still.

Let me say that again.

"I still made sure Poe was in a position to capitalize on the situation, while keeping him out of danger and getting him some shots still."

This is one of the golden rules of using Poe. He's still an X-Wing, and making sure he doesn't take shots so that he doesnt HAVE to regen, keeping him at range so that he can keep autothrusters on and use his higher-than-average hit chance to still land some damage. And, when the enemy is in a bad spot, or has lost a ship or two, you race him in at full health and blast what's left to bits. At this point, there might not be enough left to actually kill Poe before they lose the rest of their ships, especially with his regen.

In this case, i used Poe as the trap. I moved him off to the side, away from the main fight, making him look like not much of a threat, because i knew that in the grand scheme of things, his list can survive without Carnor. Thats why i pointed Poe at Carnor, because i knew that my opponent wouldn't care THAT much if Carnor was gone, and it gave me an excuse to take Poe off to the side. I used the Y to make sure that i could keep dangerous ships like Carnor away from where i wanted Poe to hang out, and my opponent did exactly that. I used Red Ace as the bait, to try and get the TIEs to attempt something like a K-Turn, and once they did, i sprung Poe and the Y on the TIEs, who came up at them from behind out of nowhere.

Poe can work as the bait too, namely because you know that an aggressive Poe is a dangerous Poe. If you can make it seem like Poe is hard charging to go for an aggressive flank, with the rest of your squad jousting against theirs, and get their whole squad to bank in to face him, only for him to rocket past them with a 4K and throw your squad at their side, who are now facing away from them, and do not get to fire that turn. Then all your ships get to hit them that turn.

This is just an example, if you try hard enough and believe in yourself, there is no end to the mind games you can play with your opponent. This is exactly why i like Lt. Blount with Adv. Homing Missile. Yeah, sure it's 20 points on a Z-95, but if you can force your opponent to do things they'd rather not do so that they don't get hit with a faceup damage card, and that gives you an advantage in positioning, then that 20 points is worth it.

The point of this is that Poe does best when he's not directly diving into a fight. It's an X-Wing, so if you're fighting most Imperial small ships, they WILL out turn you in a furball. You can't afford to put one of the most, if not the most expensive ship in your list into a turning battle that it will lose. Against PWTs it's a little dubious. The only goal there is if you need to dive in for the range 1-2 shots, which, against an Outrider, is even better, try to stay at least to their side so AT will kick in and help weather some of the damage. I wouldn't recommend range 1 against a PWT(except the Outrider) because 4 reds vs. 2 greens is a bad match up. Try to stay at range 3 for the safe shots as best you can.

Alright, i'm approaching 2,000 words for just Poe alone, so i'm gonna move on to the next part.

Part 3: Everyone else

Ok, so what about everyone else? There's more than just Poe, and most of them are good too.

Let's start from low PS all the way up.

1. Blue Squadron Novice, 24 Pts. PS2.

I'm still not sure if i can really find a place for these, unfortunately. Sometimes when i want a PS4 T-70 but don't have the points for an EPT i drop it to a PS2, but really it's not that great. 1/4 of your list just to give it R2 Astro and IA. I suppose it could be used as a blocker-interceptor. It's boost and low PS really can make it a good blocker, but, there are way cheaper options if you're just looking for a blocker. For 5 points more you could have 2 PS1 A-Wings with Chardaan. So i dunno. You can fit 4 in a list. That's basically all it's got going for it.

Recommendations for loadouts:
R2 Astro and IA

2. Red Squadron Veteran, 26 pts. PS4.

Hooooo boy, things just turned around for the T-70 generics. This thing is some bad mamba jamba. At a relatively mere 26 points, you have outbid all low PS meta, and you get an EPT slot. Can someone say crackshot? These are good. You can use them for basically anything. They'll move after and shoot before every ship in a TLT and 4BZ list. You can put Push the Limit on it. And R2 Astro(and IA). At the same time. This is the REAL T-70 Interceptor. It's dial is comparable to a TIE FO at that point, except better because it's got more greens, and it can PTL without worry for focus/TL or focus/boost and have lots of greens to shed that stress. Or maybe Juke, Comm Relay, R2 astro+IA with Jan Ors crew elsewhere for some shenanigans.

No matter how you do it, the Red Squadron Vet is an incredibly solid, flexible choice that can be fitted to fight nearly anything. I love these things.

Recommendations for loadouts:

Crackshot, R2 Astro, and IA

PTL, R2 Astro, and IA

Juke, R2 Astro, IA, and Comm Relay(With Jan Ors crew elsewhere)

3. "Blue Ace", 28 pts. PS5. "When you execute a boost action, you may use the (1 hard turn) templates instead."

Unfortunately, definitely the most useless T-70 pilot. The ability, in a vacuum, is strong, and definitely pretty decent. Unfortunately, there are 2 glaring issues with this set up. The first is that at PS5, your ability to utilize this is extremely limited, given that most of the ships you'd like to use this hard turn on will move after you. Second, with no native EPT slot, the boost will more than likely be your only action, making your attacks weak. You can solve the first issue by equipping R2-D6 and VI, but that's only going to raise his pilot skill to 7, which is still lower than most aces you'd like to actually counter with this ability. Or, you can equip R2-D6 and put on PTL to get dice modification with your boost.

I'd like to quickly point out that a recent rules clarification states that using IA to pop out R2-D6 does NOT make you lose your EPT. Essentially, it's literally a shield upgrade with no downside.

This generally means that no matter what, Blue Ace simply isn't effective, and is invariably less versatile than a Red Squad Vet, while being more expensive. Personally, i simply cannot see Blue Ace being even remotely competitive unless new upgrades come out that suit him.

R7-T1 has some potential on him, namely because it gives him the boost he wants with a target lock to modify. The normal pitfalls of the droid still apply. You gotta be within range 2 and inside someone's arc to trigger it. Unfortunately the normal problems of Blue Ace's low-ish PS still plague him, but it's one of the better options.

Recommendations for loadouts:

R2-D6, IA, VI

R2-D6, IA, PTL

R7-T1, IA/AT(thanks to Hedgehogmech for reminding me of this)

4. "Red Ace". 29 pts. PS6. "The first time you remove a shield token in a round, you may place an evade token on your ship."

Easily the tankiest T-70 pilot. As a mid-PS level pilot, her ability is generally very strong, ESPECIALLY considering that Comm Relay is a thing. Definitely competitively viable, maybe not Regional Champion level of viable, but she has a place in a squad, no doubt. The glaring issue when running Red Ace is cost. Her optimal loadout, R2-D2 and Comm Relay, puts her at 36 points. For a PS6 pilot, this is a pretty steep price point, but in terms of sheer durability, it may just be worth it. Taking a damage, getting a token to guarantee that you will dodge at least one damage until you spend it, and then regen-ing the shield you lost is pretty efficient. Integrated Astromech or Autothrusters makes her even more durable, which is why in my mind Red Ace may just be worth her points.

True, yes, she lacks an EPT. But honestly, this doesn't really bother me. If she DID have a native EPT, i have no doubt in my mind she would be overpowered by a sizable margin. Juke comes to mind immediately. I'd pay the 38 points for Juke, R2-D2, Comm Relay, and IA in a heartbeat. She'd be just as tanky but now she's also offensively strong as well. She'd also be the only T-70 to naturally get an evade for Juke without Jan Ors. Essentially, with the way it is now, you have to at least choose whether you want regen to be tanky, or go for R2-D6 to get Juke. Personally i wouldnt suggest this, namely because underneath her ability, she's still a T-70. She can still focus, she still gets 3 attack dice, and can hit as hard as any other X-Wing. It's just that, on top of that, she has a built-in way to decrease incoming damage.

I'd suggest with Red Ace that during the opening turns, you can run over an asteroid with a green maneuver, since the damage from the asteroid comes before R2-D2s regen, and if you fail to get a hit, you edge her into range 3 for an easy shield damage to pick up that evade token early, then regen the shield and be good as new.(Big shoutout to Pwmf for suggesting the asteroid technique!) You don't want to have evaded fire right until you have 3 TIEs at range 1 of her and no evade token to help you.

As a side note, it's interesting to consider that if FFG had given Blue Ace, Red Ace's ability, and vice versa, i'd actually probably use both of them, because Red Ace's ability has little to do with her PS, but with Blue Ace it's a damning thing. With Blue Ace at a native PS6, i could use R2-D6 and VI to get him to PS8, where his ability comes much, much more in handy. If Red Ace were PS5, that wouldn't bother me at all considering her cool thing is being durable, not mobile. That doesn't change much when you step down a PS.

Recommendations for loadouts:

R2-D2, IA/Autothrusters, Comm Relay

5. Ello Asty. 30 pts. PS7. "If you are not stressed, your Tallon Roll maneuvers are white."

Hello, Nasty. We're back to T-70 pilots with EPTs, folks, and this guy can be a pain in the ass for some lists. His ability offers a kind of mobility and mind-frickery that no other X-Wing can offer and still be somewhat competitive. You can T-Roll and get a focus and not be stressed. Wow. I'll be honest, i wasn't sure i much liked Ello when i first saw his card text, but he's grown on me. You can Tallon Roll, then boost, and be facing exactly towards where you just came from.

Ello has a lot of loadout options, all of which are good. I myself particularly favor VI, BB-8, and IA/Autothrusters. PS9 white T-Rolling OR BB-8 shenanigans? Holy crap, yes. That kind of mobility, for an X-Wing, just blows my mind. What's more, most of his good loadouts will actually end up being cheaper than Red Ace. PTL/BB-8 costs 35 points, VI and BB-8 costs 33 points. Ello is extremely cost-effective, making him relatively easy to fit into a list. Feel like your list needs more mobility, but don't want to stoop to the low attack of an A-Wing? Ello Asty is your man. Oh, and before i forget, Outmaneuver is actually a good option for him given his ability, and if you have BB-8 on him. You're probably going to be spending a lot of time out of people's arc with him, might be a decent idea to capitalize on that.

For a big chump that dies in the movie, Ello is pretty sweet in X-Wing. I guess he died because you can't really T-Roll in a trench, i dunno.

My only suggestion for flying Ello is to try to avoid being stressed. That's basically it. Ello has more to lose when he gets stressed than the average X-Wing, especially if you have BB-8 on him. The simple way to avoid stress is to take R2 Astro instead to open up your destressing options. You especially need to be careful to remember not to select a T-Roll if Ello is stressed, because there is nothing worse than having to hand your dial over because you made a rookie mistake. Basically, just keep the stress off of Ello, and you're in good shape.

Recommendations for loadouts:

PTL, BB-8/R2 Astro, IA/Autothrusters

VI, BB-8, IA/Autothrusters

Outmaneuver, BB-8, IA/Autothrusters

Part 4: The StressX

This is a part of the article i'm writing after i've posted everything else. Twice now, the "StressX" has been mentioned in the comments, and i feel i need to go into this in detail. It's a Blue Squadron Novice with R3-A2, and IA. So, it costs the same as a Stresshog, and at the same PS. The loaded question here, is "is it better than a Stresshog?"

On the whole, no. It's not.

But, there's a reason people are using it, so i need to take a look at it anyways.

So, why are people using the StressX? Well, it's got some obvious benefits. It's dial is markedly better than a stresshog, it has 2 agility instead of 1, and it's got a 3 dice primary. Getting into range 1 can potentially make your attack do individually more damage. It also has boost.

Unfortunately, that's where the advantages end.

So, clearly, players are valuing a T-70s dial, 2 agility, and 3 attack. It can also equip IA, effectively making it a 3 2 3 4 ship. They're also willing to sacrifice a lot of things the Stresshog can do to get these things. My question is why?

For starters, the primary advantage of the stresshog comes from the BTL-A4 title. By giving a Y-Wing the ability to attack with its primary and then its turret, and, as such, declare two targets a round, it allows it to double-stress an opponent, which is where most of the advantage comes from. One stress isn't a small deal, but by double-stressing you are completely gimping a ship at least for the next turn. A StressX can't do this, and this in my mind immediately makes the StressX an inferior choice.

On top of this, a TLT Stresshog gets 3 attacks; a primary weapon attack, and then it's two TLT attacks. So, in general, it's damage projection is incredibly solid, and burns through tokens on the defender like crazy. What's more, with 3 attacks, your chances to hit with at least one attack are generally increased. A StressX gets one attack, and if it whiffs it(which it often will without dice modification), then it's done nothing that turn except give one stress to an opponent. So honestly, i'm not convinced that an extra die over the Y-Wing grants the StressX that much additional advantage in potential damage.

The T-70 does, however, get 2 green dice instead of 1. So, your total dodgable damage is higher, which is nice. Unfortunately this potential will largely be unrealized given that 2 unmodified greens are only very slightly better than 1 green. And, since you're going to be spending most of your time stressed, you won't have tokens for those times. Which is exactly why your attacks will be as weak and nearly as worthless as your defensive rolls. A StressX also has one less HP than a Y-Wing, and one of those HP hinges on getting rid of the StressX's primary function. At that point, it's a heavily damaged normal X-Wing with a pile of stress on it. Putting IA on it doesn't even feel like it matters, given that that X-Wing probably isn't going to live past turn 3 or 4 anyways. A Y-Wing cares about exactly none of these things. It has 1 defense dice, it doesnt even care about defensive modification because most of the time it won't even help it that much, and it doesnt need offensive modification because it gets 3 attacks. Chances are one of those attacks are going to hit.

It's dial. Ok, yeah. T-70 has a better dial than a Y-Wing. Unfortunately, that doesn't matter. You see, all a Stresshog does is roll 1 forward. Every turn. It jousts. Because it literally doesn't need to do anything else. It rolls 1 forward every turn and then picks an unfortunate target, heaps stress and damage on them, and turns if it needs to, because it doesn't even bother worrying about dropping stress with greens, it's 2 hards are white and that's all that matters. By the time the 'Hog has died, it's put so much stress and damage on it's targets that A.) it's life has been valuable, and B.) It's allowed the rest of the list to tail a stressed, damaged target and eliminate it. A StressX cannot do these things on the very fact that it's a T-70. Y'all should know by now the one thing you shouldn't do with a T-70. I shouldnt even need to say it.

In short, a StressX cannot efficiently stress an opponent like a Stresshog, it can't put damage on an enemy like a Stresshog, and it can't joust like a Stresshog. The only way i would describe a StressX is "The Stresshog for people who don't own a Y-Wing". If you don't own a Y-Wing yet, and you're a Rebel player, i would have to heartily suggest that your next purchase be a Y-Wing, and a K-Wing if you don't have that either for the TLT card. Honestly though, if you own R3-A2, you're probably not a brand new player anyways, because you at least own Rebel Transport.

I'm really not sure where the idea of the StressX came from, but the functionality of a stress control ship is directly contrary to what a T-70 does best. A T-70 needs to do it's best to not be stressed, because it's lifespan and general effectiveness comes from having actions and tokens to modify. Statistically speaking the only advantage a StressX holds is that it's capacity for a longer lifespan is there, with those two greens, anyways. But honestly, the StressX does roughly half as much in a turn as a Stresshog does, and i promise you a StressX will not last twice as long as a Stresshog.

If anyone else has anything they'd like me to discuss, feel free to ask. If i can't answer, someone else will be able to. The same goes for anything someone would like to see added to this. I am by no means an expert, high-level player in this game, if you ask me to write the same kind of article about any other ship i'm not sure i could. This is the first time i've written an article of this kind of magnitude, and i'm not quuuuiiiite sure if people will love the depth of this, or hate the length of it.

Anyways, questions, comments, concerns? I'd like to see what you all think.

Main thing that T-65 lacked was repositioning. Ace without repositioning is missing a great chunk of his power.

Something that T-70 has inherited

The next problem is that turrets have grown in power, and now they can gun down jousters. Autothruster is a must.

add to that the addition of Talon rolls, that allow your jousters and aces to turn sharp and move to the side so you don't fear asteroids as much.

but the grunts are a bit less point-effective, and don't benefit as much from the boost.

luckily for T-70, grunts are dead already xD

so it's ace-70, personally I prefer the Lone Wolf Autothruster regen-poe.

he's SO good at surviving TLTs that it's even boring at times.

I got to fly Poe with comm and Juke along side Kyle and Jan Ors crew today. Holy smokes that was a very fun list to fly. I have still yet to try any of the other T-70s, but Ello definitely looks like he could be fun with that set up. I enjoyed the read.

This was great, thank you! I have a few questions/comments.

Have you tried Blue Ace with R2-D6 and Predator? That way your action can be reserved for that boost and you still hit pretty hard. I agree the ship's still in a tough PS place for that ability.

Any thoughts on IA vs. auto thrusters? You're paying (at least) one more point for the thrusters*, so you've got to have them be used one or two times to make it up. If you go thrusters, are you trying to stick at range to use 'em?

Relatedly, any advice on how to handle the ship in a knife-fight? The dial seems like it wants to go fast and loose, not slow and tight. Also, that, uh, maybe needed rephrasing.

I really like Ello with PTL, BB-8, and auto thrusters, at least for messing around. I guess that one isn't a question.

For Blue Ace, there is something to be said for R2-D6/Predator, or R7-T1, for that reason - you pick up rerolls. He's still very, very good at outflying and murdering generic pilots.

Ello I think is probably best with predator or outmanoeuvre - but I'd stick with a generic R2 astromech - if you get stressed you can dump it off quick. That way, you can Tallon roll and follow it up by boosting without compromising your ability to attack - very nice in a not-too-close-in dogfight.

The one other thing that's quite nice - Torpedoes might work well as a second-strike weapon - a generic pilot can't fire torps on the first pass, but a targeting astromech lets you get a shot off out of a K-turn or Tallon roll - and it's highly unlikely your target will be in range 1 if you've both just pulled an end-around move. My favourite weapon here is the Flechette torpedo - it's cheap, and you're probably shooting at a target that's already stressed - one or two extra stress tokens can really mess up action-dependent aces long enough for a squad to dogpile them, hit or miss.

The Blue Novice is okay, but as far as I'm concerned has only one real function - four of them with R2 Astromechs and Integrated Astromech - that's essentially 4 B-wings that can shift themselves around the board as if they were TIE interceptors.

Great basics primer.

AMAZING JOB with your sell on the PS4. WOW!

Btw. I do believe the T-70s do not have evade as a natural action, thus they cannot evade unless Jan Ors crew or something else allows them to take an evade token.

Yes can you talk IA vs Auto.

I'm one to say you should basically take Auto whenever you can. If you believe this is true, help me sell it to newbies.

This was great, thank you! I have a few questions/comments.

Have you tried Blue Ace with R2-D6 and Predator? That way your action can be reserved for that boost and you still hit pretty hard. I agree the ship's still in a tough PS place for that ability.

Any thoughts on IA vs. auto thrusters? You're paying (at least) one more point for the thrusters*, so you've got to have them be used one or two times to make it up. If you go thrusters, are you trying to stick at range to use 'em?

Relatedly, any advice on how to handle the ship in a knife-fight? The dial seems like it wants to go fast and loose, not slow and tight. Also, that, uh, maybe needed rephrasing.

I really like Ello with PTL, BB-8, and auto thrusters, at least for messing around. I guess that one isn't a question.

Excellent questions! These are the kinds of things i was hoping people would ask.

I like the potential of that Blue Ace suggestion, but unfortunately, you still suffer from the lack of PS to able to more effectively utilize such a good boost. For the points you have to invest in that, i personally don't think it's worth it compared to other options. I'm not sure if it'd be better to use PTL or Predator, honestly. That was a great suggestion, though.

I do want to point out i don't think that Blue Ace is terrible. He's fun to use and his role is pretty apparent as a knife-fighter, i just think his disadvantages outweigh the advantages of using him.

IA vs. AT. This is a great question.

These two do a similar thing in two very different ways. That similar thing is prevent damage from hitting you. The different way is that IA makes you sacrifice your droid, which, in general, is useful no matter who is attacking you, whereas AT is markedly more useful against turrets first and foremost.

I would say, that for AT to have made up it's points over IA, it should, during the game, block roughly 2 points of damage, or a crit, that otherwise would have made it through. For that to happen, you need to maximize the effective of AT by either staying at range 3, or staying out of a turret's arc. So, to answer your question, yes, i would suggest(especially with Poe, who can make this work even better) to stay at range 3 as best you can. As i mentioned, Poe has a higher-than-average hit chance to begin with, so his attacks suffer less from range 3 engagements more than the average pilot normally would. And, at range 3, you get 3 greens, which allow his ability and AT to be at their optimal effectiveness. This is concurrent with a T-70's general philosophy of not going for a joust anyways, so most of the time if you're flying the T-70 the way it's best flown, AT will fall into place on it's own. If you have the points DEFINITELY spring for AT. AT will at least work multiple times, and probably block more damage than IA can. In my experience, it's definitely worth it.

As for your last question, generally the most knife-fighty thing a T-70 can do is use your T-Rolls, and 2 hards and boosts. Ello Asty is the best at knife-fighting by a huge margin, with Blue Ace coming in behind him. If you want to knife fight really well with Ello, i'd T-Roll and then bank boost towards where you started. That's the best i can think of right now, it being 3 AM and all.

Thanks for the questions!

Blue Ace + R7-T1 is worth trying. The pilot skill is still low for a maneuver ace, but R7-T1 gets around the boost action vs damage action issue much of the time.

For Blue Ace, there is something to be said for R2-D6/Predator, or R7-T1, for that reason - you pick up rerolls. He's still very, very good at outflying and murdering generic pilots.

Ello I think is probably best with predator or outmanoeuvre - but I'd stick with a generic R2 astromech - if you get stressed you can dump it off quick. That way, you can Tallon roll and follow it up by boosting without compromising your ability to attack - very nice in a not-too-close-in dogfight.

The one other thing that's quite nice - Torpedoes might work well as a second-strike weapon - a generic pilot can't fire torps on the first pass, but a targeting astromech lets you get a shot off out of a K-turn or Tallon roll - and it's highly unlikely your target will be in range 1 if you've both just pulled an end-around move. My favourite weapon here is the Flechette torpedo - it's cheap, and you're probably shooting at a target that's already stressed - one or two extra stress tokens can really mess up action-dependent aces long enough for a squad to dogpile them, hit or miss.

The Blue Novice is okay, but as far as I'm concerned has only one real function - four of them with R2 Astromechs and Integrated Astromech - that's essentially 4 B-wings that can shift themselves around the board as if they were TIE interceptors.

Mm, yeah, i like the idea of Pred on Ello. R2 Astro, is, of course a good idea too. Personally i prefer BB-8 since it sends his repositioning game through the roof, and since Ello is all about positioning, i value making that even better very highly. However, your suggestions are strong and competitively sound as well, i'd suggest those as well.

Me personally, i have a very.... negative view on ordnance, torpedoes especially. Alpha strikes can work, and certain ordnance like APTs can scare an opponent into doing what you want them to, but in general unless you're Lt. Blount with Ion pulse or Adv. homing, you should probably focus on the three pillars of a ship: It's attack, it's defense, or it's repositioning. I do like flechette torps with munitions failsafe because it's a stress mechanic that doesnt hurt you. unfortunately... X-Wings are not a place for flechette torps anymore, not with IA in the picture. There's nearly no mod option for a T-65 better than IA, and none for the T-70 better than AT. So, i dunno. Unless an upgrade or title comes out that lets X-Wings fire two torpedoes at once, then i don't think i'll fly with torps anytime soon.

Thanks for mentioning these, though! I'll add the bits about Ello to the main article.

Btw. I'm so glad you're telling everyone not to joust with the ship. literally. Its obvious to some of us, but its really good to hear you say it over and over.

(Also, what is the jousting efficiency anyway of a T-70? Still low due to its 3dice point cap?.. I guess it should be.. since the t-65 was overcosted for 3dice 5 hp, adding a shield for 3 points is not correct due to non-linear increase for hull.)

Blue Ace + R7-T1 is worth trying. The pilot skill is still low for a maneuver ace, but R7-T1 gets around the boost action vs damage action issue much of the time.

I'll be honest, i did forget R7-T1. let me add that real quick.

Great basics primer.

AMAZING JOB with your sell on the PS4. WOW!

Btw. I do believe the T-70s do not have evade as a natural action, thus they cannot evade unless Jan Ors crew or something else allows them to take an evade token.

Thank you!

I'm a huge fan of the Red Squad Vet. Their tactical flexibility and relatively low build cost makes them an all-comer for any kind of list, with a PS to outbid the current meta. The effectiveness of Crackshot/R2 Astro/IA PS4 T-70s is enormous, and at an extremely reasonable 28 points each you have a lot of points left after 2 of them to make a very, very good list.

Yes, T-70s do not have evade as an action, and Jan Ors would be required for Juke to be used. I would suggest Kyle Katarn with an EPT of your choice, TLT, Jan Ors, and Moldy Crow along with 2 Red Squad Vets with Juke, R2 Astro, IA, and Comm Relay. Just make sure that with Kyle, that you don't flip his focus tokens into evades until you give them to the Red Squad Vets, because then Kyle can't pass them along. I've never seen this list being played, but given the synergy, it's probably really, really good.

Btw RsRabin i didn't even see your post until after i posted this. I'm glad we're on the same wavelength! RsRabin says it's good, so i say go for it, everyone.

Btw. I'm so glad you're telling everyone not to joust with the ship. literally. Its obvious to some of us, but its really good to hear you say it over and over.

(Also, what is the jousting efficiency anyway of a T-70? Still low due to its 3dice point cap?.. I guess it should be.. since the t-65 was overcosted for 3dice 5 hp, adding a shield for 3 points is not correct due to non-linear increase for hull.)

Yeah. You tend to learn pretty quick that jousting against 5 TIEs with Poe is a pretty bad idea, but i want to save people the grief.

MajorJuggs hasn't release the data for that yet, but i would estimate around 82-84%, somewhere around there, given that an E-Wing is 27 points, and only traded a hull for a shield and gained 1 green, and is roughly 78% efficient. I havent run the numbers, so please, PLEASE do not treat this as fact and go around saying it.

Red Ace with comms and R2 D2, don't wait for range 3, use one of the rocks you place to fly over first turn, then pull a green. Its about the only time you want to roll a hit going over a rock.

Red Ace with comms and R2 D2, don't wait for range 3, use one of the rocks you place to fly over first turn, then pull a green. Its about the only time you want to roll a hit going over a rock.

!!!!!

Why didn't i think of that!?

Absolutely brilliant, i love it. And, even if you dont roll a damage, you do still have the option of edging for range 3. That's going in the article, thank you very much for that.

Very good article. Mr Pasty (Ello brings the pastry) has started to worm his way in to my heart. The white TRoll flip flop is evil.

Red Ace with comms and R2 D2, don't wait for range 3, use one of the rocks you place to fly over first turn, then pull a green. Its about the only time you want to roll a hit going over a rock.

What a nice idea Need to remember

From my game experience...

- Lgs play. 4 PS 2 pilots

- Civil War era...the same as Phantoms, Defenders or E wings... Prototipes to field in specific situations

Oh no, the Joe Boss is CONTAGIOUS!

you'll soon get more and more optimistic and feel the urge to start a site for your fleet!

we're dooomed!

p.s. the thread really is good though.

Thorough review.

Played a game last night against 3 T-70's. This was my first experience with T-70's.

My Squadron:

Soontir Fel: Push the Limit, Royal Guard Pilot, Autothrusters, Targeting Computer

Rear Admiral Chiraneau: Push the Limit, Ysanne Isard, Moff Jerjerrod, Gunner, Engine Upgrade

His Squadron:

Poe Dameron: Push the Limit, BB-8, Autothrusters

"Red Ace": R2-D2, Integrated Astromech, Comm Relay

Blue Squadron Novice: R2 Astromech, Integrated Astromech

The match was interesting. In the beginning RAC was rolling natural 4 hits. With little help from Soontir (who, due to subpar flying, exitted the game relatively early) he was able to make short work of Poe and the Novice. My buddy was anything but happy as my turreted monster made short work of his squadron. "Red Ace" had a hit on her, but had regained shields due to R2-D2. At the point where it was unscathed RAC vs "Red Ace" the tides changed. "Red Ace" always had an evade token and the best RAC could do was take off a single shield each round while "Red Ace" slowly beat him into the ground. "Red Ace" ended up finishing RAC off while having 2 hull left.

What I learned from that is:

1) I'm not fond of flying against Rebel Regen

2) "Red Ace" is nearly impossible to kill off without focus fire. If you have a distracting ace like Poe on the board and you're able to do some significant damage before the ace is gone, "Red Ace" is so strong late game it's crazy.

I've been a primarily Imperial player since I started and have just recently started buying the necessary ships to fly rebel. I am definitely going to invest in the T-70 as it seems to be an extremely strong contender for competitive play.

Great basics primer.

AMAZING JOB with your sell on the PS4. WOW!

Btw. I do believe the T-70s do not have evade as a natural action, thus they cannot evade unless Jan Ors crew or something else allows them to take an evade token.

Thank you!

I'm a huge fan of the Red Squad Vet. Their tactical flexibility and relatively low build cost makes them an all-comer for any kind of list, with a PS to outbid the current meta. The effectiveness of Crackshot/R2 Astro/IA PS4 T-70s is enormous, and at an extremely reasonable 28 points each you have a lot of points left after 2 of them to make a very, very good list.

Yes, T-70s do not have evade as an action, and Jan Ors would be required for Juke to be used. I would suggest Kyle Katarn with an EPT of your choice, TLT, Jan Ors, and Moldy Crow along with 2 Red Squad Vets with Juke, R2 Astro, IA, and Comm Relay. Just make sure that with Kyle, that you don't flip his focus tokens into evades until you give them to the Red Squad Vets, because then Kyle can't pass them along. I've never seen this list being played, but given the synergy, it's probably really, really good.

Btw RsRabin i didn't even see your post until after i posted this. I'm glad we're on the same wavelength! RsRabin says it's good, so i say go for it, everyone.

Predator as the EPT on Kyle would be very nice, methinks.

I flew both Ello Asty and "Blue Ace" in my squad for a tournament last weekend, and I ended up playing (but losing) in the finals.

Personally, I think you're heavily undervaluing "Blue Ace": that hard boost is amazing as a positioning tool. I just slapped on R2-D6, Predator, and IA and he went to town. He's capable of getting into spots that no one think is possible, and that alone makes him a solid pilot in my book. With IA and R2-D6 he's pretty durable, and with Predator you're free to liberally use that hard boost all you want and still get some dice modifications going.

One thing I think is great about the T70 is the wide range of positions you can take from turn to turn. At one end you've got the white 1-forward, at the other, you've got a 4-forward +boost. Similarly, K-turn + T-rolls give you a lot of options for turning around. There's really a huge array of maneuvers and directions you can attack from.