So the whole thing works around a couple new toys coming out in the next wave

Electronic baffle - turns a stress into a damage

Rage - get a focus and 3 attack rerolls for 2 stress

And captain Yorr

- can take a stress from buddies as long as he has less than 2 and is within range 2

So ideally you can use this to give people extra mods on the cheap when something like PTL isn't as much of an option.

The big one that comes to mine would be tie /d defenders or maybe an x7 rexlar. I'm sure there are some other ships that can utilize this as well pretty nicely but can't think of any off the top of my head.

Would it be easier and cheaper to just take PTL? Probably. But then you can't go around yelling RAGE!!! All the time so there's that

And after all, yelling "RAGE!" is what this is all about.

You can partner Yorr with Epsilon Leader, that way your Rager gets all the benefits, splits the stress with Yorr and at combat, immediately everyone is stress free.

Fel or Chiraneau could be good choices for damage. Fel can defend with a focus against multiple shots or the Admiral could smash faces, Gunner in case you need to fire again for some reason with the Rage bonus still applying.

Youngster. Rage. Captain Yorr. As many Academies as you can fit in - as it happens, it's 4 with 11 points left over, meaning you can upgrade 3 to Black Squadron + Crackshot and 1 to Wampa.

You rage with the TIEs and give all the stress to Yorr, taking 6 damage and leaving him with 2 Stress so they can Rage again the next turn.

The formation would go Blacks in front of Yorr and Youngster close behind Yorr, with Wampa looking threatening off to the side.

I don't know how well it would work, and I still think that Rage Youngster + 7 Academies is good (going in waves, the earlier ones shedding stress while the later ones do the strike, maybe 2x4 waves with Youngster moving in with the second wave), but it could be interesting for shenanigans.

I'm not convinced that rage is awesome for TIEs, since Howlie does the same thing essentially without the stress (although formation flying required)

Youngster Rage:

Yorr w/ baffle & intel agent = 26

Youngster w/ rage & hull = 19

Epsilon leader = 19

3 academies = 12 x 3

100

Stress is less of an issue thanks to epsilon leader, but only if ships stay close. Yorr isn't burdened with damage as often (saving baffle for when you absolutely need it)

Black Squad Rage:

Yorr w/ baffle = 25

5 black squads w/ rage = 15 x 5

100

Yorr is getting saddled with a lot of stress, and if he dies, rage's benefit becomes very questionable. Looser formations are possible though. Also pilot skill is slightly higher overall.

Doomshuttle + TIEs:

Omicron w/ vader & intel agent = 25

Howlrunner w/ juke & hull = 23

4 obsidians = 13 x 4

100

Stuck to formation flying with howlrunner, but no stress and with a doom shuttle, definitely more firepower than the rage lists. Pilot skill is good against other generics too.

So yeah, not seeing Rage as a better choice, really...

I'm not convinced that rage is awesome for TIEs, since Howlie does the same thing essentially without the stress (although formation flying required)

Youngster Rage:

Yorr w/ baffle & intel agent = 26

Youngster w/ rage & hull = 19

Epsilon leader = 19

3 academies = 12 x 3

100

Stress is less of an issue thanks to epsilon leader, but only if ships stay close. Yorr isn't burdened with damage as often (saving baffle for when you absolutely need it)

Black Squad Rage:

Yorr w/ baffle = 25

5 black squads w/ rage = 15 x 5

100

Yorr is getting saddled with a lot of stress, and if he dies, rage's benefit becomes very questionable. Looser formations are possible though. Also pilot skill is slightly higher overall.

Doomshuttle + TIEs:

Omicron w/ vader & intel agent = 25

Howlrunner w/ juke & hull = 23

4 obsidians = 13 x 4

100

Stuck to formation flying with howlrunner, but no stress and with a doom shuttle, definitely more firepower than the rage lists. Pilot skill is good against other generics too.

So yeah, not seeing Rage as a better choice, really...

Ah, the joys of having a broken computer for a week - you miss a conversational cue.

The advantage of Rage versus Howlrunner is that Howlie requires you to stay very close (and very vulnerable) to the action, and that close formation flying is inherently predictable - and vulnerable to being arc dodged. Youngster doesn't even have to get within range of an enemy ship for his Academy buddies to use Rage, and with the looseness of formation required it's much harder to arc dodge.

It's not disgustingly broken, but it is potentially powerful if flown well, and difficult to avoid. The only reason that it's potentially bad is because TIE/LN dial greens are pretty weak. TIE/FOs are much stronger and include hard greens as well as other maneuvers to make them harder to shoot at as they shed stress.