FCS vs Sensor Jammer

By Archangelspiv, in X-Wing

Hey Everyone,



I am posting this again as there isn't a way to change the topic heading of a previous post. I noobed up and accidentally put in the wrong system name....



Just playing with a dual Phantom list, never played them before, so why not play two right? I was wondering what were Phantom pilots thoughts on FCS vs Sensor Jammer. I am a believer of if you aren't hit you wont die, but conversely there's the theory, what's dead cant shoot back.



Are Sensor Jammers reliable enough to ensure survivability? Or is it better to go with FCS to ensure the Focus/Lock combo to get max damage?


Edited by Archangelspiv

It's primarily a matter of defense vs offense. Usually offense is better because the sooner your target is dead, the sooner it can't shoot at you. If you are flying dual Phantom's, FCS might be better for pure point efficiency.

Really comes down to how much you fear turrets. If you're facing a lot of turrets, Sensor Jammer is awesome since it affects every attack coming your way.

Sensor Jammer hurts ships that would ordinarily rely on target locks, and it hurts ships that make unmodified attacks. Its bottom-line effectiveness depends on how often those circumstances occur.

But there's a subtler advantage, too: if you're using a Sensor Jammer on a ship your opponent wants to attack, he or she has to have a way to modify that focus result in order to "turn it off", and he or she has to use it on each ship that attacks your Jammer-equipped ship. And that can force some difficult choices: if my Whisper + Sensor Jammer attacks your... let's say Brobot, you have to choose between spending that focus token to boost your defense or saving it--with the almost certain knowledge that changing eyes on defense is going to cost you damage later.

I swear by Sensor Jammers, my Phantoms always have one equipped :D

If you see TLT's regularly in your meta, this should be an easy choice. SJ all the way.

SJ on your core pairs really well with Juke + Comms Relay TIE/fos, you might want to look into that.

I swear by FCS on Whisper. With the built-in modifier for your attack dice, you are free to perform barrel rolls and evade actions, or to focus+target lock for a very devastating attack. It has the additional perk making it easier to trigger Whisper's pilot ability, granting you a defensive focus token.


On the lower-PS Phantoms, there's more of an argument to be made for it. Sensor Jammer is particularly valuable on low agility ships, like decloaked phantoms. On Echo in particular, there's a hidden synergy: your opponent needs to take Focus actions if he wants to break through her Sensor Jammer... which precludes him from taking the Barrel Roll or Boost actions that he might need to actually get her in his firing arc.