I was just thinking about how to do a TIE/fo 'swarm' and looking at uses for the various aces (other than the obvious ones).

One idea that popped into my head: people dislike Blue Ace and Zeta Ace because despite having amazing abilities for repositioning, their pilot skill is too low to use them reactively. Which I get.

Zeta Ace, however, has an Elite Pilot Talent. Even with Veteran Instincts, he's only a so-so PS7, but what if we accept he's not going to out-fly an ace, and use him as an 'elite' blocker - he has an elite pilot talent slot, so could carry Intimidation? Even so equipped, he's only 20 points, so doesn't exactly break the bank.

Zeta Leader is absurd, I actually play him more than OL.

I think he's great as a lone flanker, so I like to fly him with Lone Wolf and Comm relay. It makes him **** tanky, as if he's sustaining fire, he can regen the evade every round, and still get dice mod on his attack. A bargain for 25pts!

And... then I realised you were talking about ZA :/

Which one is that? the 2 BR guy? Weird. lol

I'm still not fond of the 3dice Zeta guy. Just never hits anyway with 3 dice. Sigh.

PS7, goes into a fight with a banked evade, can reliably get focus and reroll every attack, and has the best dial in the game?

Blail you old curmugeon, give the boy another chance!

Hum. He's gotta put his glasses on and start actually hitting my targets. =)

I flew Zeta Ace with Push the Limit in a PS5 troll list, and he was better than Lt. Lorrir, Fel's Wrath, and Winged Gundark

The BR is nice, but you really want to approach at an angle. It is also amazing for navigating asteroid fields.

I've used ZA a little, mostly before we knew about the pilots in the FO expansion. I think he's a good upgrade to Omega Squadron Pilot. For one point you get a PS and the Barrel Roll. Your EPT is whatever you like on an OSP. Like any mid-PS ship, you can actually like an Ace against lower PS and a blocker against higher PS. The 2-Barrel Roll option is a pretty excellent ability for both of these applications. It can be hard to select ZA over some of the more fighty FO aces for a few points more, but that 2-roll is something sweet.

I flew Zeta Ace with Push the Limit in a PS5 troll list, and he was better than Lt. Lorrir, Fel's Wrath, and Winged Gundark

The BR is nice, but you really want to approach at an angle. It is also amazing for navigating asteroid fields.

Ultimate Troll

Hum. He's gotta put his glasses on and start actually hitting my targets. =)

That is why you give him Predator and nothing else.

Top-notch mini-ace.

I think he's great as a lone flanker, so I like to fly him with Lone Wolf and Comm relay. It makes him **** tanky, as if he's sustaining fire, he can regen the evade every round, and still get dice mod on his attack. A bargain for 25pts!

That's quite a nice build for him. I've seen him do okay with Wired and Weapons Guidance, too. Predator is slightly better on damage but Wired gives you a slight defensive edge - a matter of taste, I guess.

My preference is Wired - the damage boost from Predator relative to Wired/Weapons Guidance is pretty minimal with a 3-dice attack (barely a percent) but the agility boost from Wired (about 1/4) is actually quite substantial.

I think he's great as a lone flanker, so I like to fly him with Lone Wolf and Comm relay. It makes him **** tanky, as if he's sustaining fire, he can regen the evade every round, and still get dice mod on his attack. A bargain for 25pts!

That's quite a nice build for him. I've seen him do okay with Wired and Weapons Guidance, too. Predator is slightly better on damage but Wired gives you a slight defensive edge - a matter of taste, I guess.

My preference is Wired - the damage boost from Predator relative to Wired/Weapons Guidance is pretty minimal with a 3-dice attack (barely a percent) but the agility boost from Wired (about 1/4) is actually quite substantial.

I've tried Zeta Ace with Push The Limit and Engine Upgrade before. His firepower is laughable, but watching people go "how the bloody hell did he get there!!!?!?!?!" is rather satisfying in and of itself. A hard '1' turn right, speed 2 barrel roll right in boost off right is essentially equivalent to a speed 3 straight that somehow goes off at a 45 degree angle backwards.

I've run Zeta Ace quite a bit. While his maneuverability, particularly with PTL/Engine, is impressive, he is still just putting out a 2-dice attack and it's usually unmodified because of his movement shenanigans. I think the points are better spent elsewhere.

Tie F/Os are some on my favourite ships to play casually. I think I need to test out Zeta Ace more after reading this thread and seeing what I can get him to do. Thanks guys!

is still just putting out a 2-dice attack and it's usually unmodified because of his movement shenanigans.

Agreed. That's why I suddenly wondered if he might work well with Intimidation. Being able to hard turn and barrel roll a fair distance backwards means he can probably get in an ace's way pretty easily (especially a big ship), and intimidation on one well-placed ship can be the equivalent of outmanoeuvre for the rest of the squad...

A TIE swarm will never generate too many red dice - or more accurately, will always throw them in dribs and drabs. That's why I think Crack Shot and Juke are so popular - the main issue is beating your opponent's green dice.

You could do quite a thematic 'zeta squadron' force with three Zeta Squadron Pilots, Zeta Ace with Comms Relay and Intimidation, and Zeta Leader with Wired and Weapons Guidance, and a few extra upgrades.

I think he's great as a lone flanker, so I like to fly him with Lone Wolf and Comm relay. It makes him **** tanky, as if he's sustaining fire, he can regen the evade every round, and still get dice mod on his attack. A bargain for 25pts!

That's quite a nice build for him. I've seen him do okay with Wired and Weapons Guidance, too. Predator is slightly better on damage but Wired gives you a slight defensive edge - a matter of taste, I guess.

My preference is Wired - the damage boost from Predator relative to Wired/Weapons Guidance is pretty minimal with a 3-dice attack (barely a percent) but the agility boost from Wired (about 1/4) is actually quite substantial.

I've tried Zeta Ace with Push The Limit and Engine Upgrade before. His firepower is laughable, but watching people go "how the bloody hell did he get there!!!?!?!?!" is rather satisfying in and of itself. A hard '1' turn right, speed 2 barrel roll right in boost off right is essentially equivalent to a speed 3 straight that somehow goes off at a 45 degree angle backwards.

That's my standard loadout for ZA. Add Comms Relay and you're good to go. Love the shenanigans.

You could do quite a thematic 'zeta squadron' force with three Zeta Squadron Pilots, Zeta Ace with Comms Relay and Intimidation, and Zeta Leader with Wired and Weapons Guidance, and a few extra upgrades.

I was running a themed Zeta list for a bit. I had started messing around with a themed lists. I made one for Epsilon (not so hot) , Zeta and Omega. I haven't got around to running the Omega version. My Zeta version was:

Zeta Leader, Weapons Guidance, Wired, Shield

Zeta Ace, PTL, Engine

Zeta Squadron x3

100 Points.

Some of the upgrades are not optimal, just spending points available and staying with the theme.

He's a fun pilot, but not as fun as regular TIE aces Scourge, Dark Curse and Backstabber, and a Sienar Test Pilot is tougher and more reliable. I think I'd prefer Epsilon Ace over him as well. If I ever were to run something like a five FO-Fighter squadron I might use him, but otherwise there are better choices.

PS race says "nope"

PS 5 is simply a joke. The blocker capability is fun, but I'd rather take two academies and swarm the board with worm bodies, blocking two lanes at the same moment. Or block+shoot someone.

So long as top-PSes get cool abilities, mid-low PSes are a joke, sadly

PS race says "nope"

PS 5 is simply a joke. The blocker capability is fun, but I'd rather take two academies and swarm the board with worm bodies, blocking two lanes at the same moment. Or block+shoot someone.

So long as top-PSes get cool abilities, mid-low PSes are a joke, sadly

They need an EPT that allows you to move first. It would be pretty awesome on him.

Not all mid PS's have crap abilities though. Valen Rudor is one example.

Granted it was a small 16 person tournament, but I got second place with this Zeta Ace list.

PTL Zeta Ace

Night Beast

Tempest with accuracy corrector

Whisper

I definitely recommend flying Zeta Ace with Night Beast for PS5 goodness.

I've done remarkably well against several other players with a Juke FO list that makes use of Zeta Ace. I've had a few varients, but the main one that I use is pretty simple:

Omega Leader - Comm Relay - Juke

Zeta Leader - Comm Relay - Juke

Epsilon Leader - Comm Relay - Stealth Device

Zeta Ace - Comm Relay - Juke

Doing some math with an X-Wing probability Calculator, I've found that Juke on the FO leads to damage comparable to that of a 3 dice ship (Off by a fraction of a percentage, not enough to be noticeable). Couple that with the fact that it almost always forces the opponent to waste their focus tokens on defense, or suffer a ton of damage, along with the fact that an evade token is slightly better than a focus token for defense (And when paired with a Focus token on the FO, it just ridiculously tough to chew through), the Juke FO is remarkably durable. I haven't had too much of an issue with Pilot Skill, using Zeta Ace to block higher pilot skill opponents and using the rest to pepper them into submission. I've only played around ten games or so with this squad, but of those games, I've only lost once. Definitely one that I'd think about taking to a tournament, if there were ever any near me.

"I've tried Zeta Ace with Push The Limit and Engine Upgrade before. His firepower is laughable, but watching people go "how the bloody hell did he get there!!!?!?!?!" is rather satisfying in and of itself. A hard '1' turn right, speed 2 barrel roll right in boost off right is essentially equivalent to a speed 3 straight that somehow goes off at a 45 degree angle" - Magnus Grendel

Ive used him this exact same way in about half a dozen or more games now, and he is excellent at going just about anywhere. He can do a 1or 2 barrel. He can boost and barrel, and I also love to give him the Comm Relay so he can evade in turn one and keep it until he needs it, while using his maneverability to arc dodge perrfectly!

Zeta Ace has his uses, problem is hes not an almighty duelist so nobody wants him.

That 2-range barrelroll is bigger than people think. Ive used it and completely dodged several several firing arcs as a result...he moves so **** far! And considering im used to running a phantom im already used to the 2wide barrelroll.

I actually dont think hed be good in a swarm list though, more like a cheap filler ship to a normal list. Reason being: his pilot skill makes him want to kinda be alone, not within range 1 of Howlrunner or some other center ship. Using his skill would break formation, thus kinda kill the swarm mentality.

I started playing to and love them. Zeta leader is my favorite. But a question for you guys. These guys are not really named as, I.e. Luke or Darth. Can you take multiple zeta aces, or omega leaders? I haven't needed to but was wondering.

I think he's great as a lone flanker, so I like to fly him with Lone Wolf and Comm relay. It makes him **** tanky, as if he's sustaining fire, he can regen the evade every round, and still get dice mod on his attack. A bargain for 25pts!

That's quite a nice build for him. I've seen him do okay with Wired and Weapons Guidance, too. Predator is slightly better on damage but Wired gives you a slight defensive edge - a matter of taste, I guess.

My preference is Wired - the damage boost from Predator relative to Wired/Weapons Guidance is pretty minimal with a 3-dice attack (barely a percent) but the agility boost from Wired (about 1/4) is actually quite substantial.

I've tried Zeta Ace with Push The Limit and Engine Upgrade before. His firepower is laughable, but watching people go "how the bloody hell did he get there!!!?!?!?!" is rather satisfying in and of itself. A hard '1' turn right, speed 2 barrel roll right in boost off right is essentially equivalent to a speed 3 straight that somehow goes off at a 45 degree angle backwards.