Because all the Defenders straights are green. When she reveals a straight she can K turn instead.

Maarek Stele with marksmanship, tractor beam, MK II engine, TIE/D.

With 5 Academy pilots.

Just need to track down a copy of the TIE Fighter soundtrack.

The most exciting part of this is that FFG is breaking away from the "We must fill in the point cost gaps."

Like, I was positive that Maarek would fit in the 36-point gap between Vessery and Rexlar, and the Countess would be 33-points without an EPT. Wrong on both counts, and both pilots are much better for it.

Whelp. I guess I'll be joining the Empire now.

DEFENDERS OP, FIX t65 PLIX

YOU GET A DEFENDER. AND YOU GET A DEFENDER. AND YOU. AND YOU AND YOU.

Guys! You can run the Countess with 2 scimi seismic bombers and Deathfire! Think about it! Just Tractor Beam your opponent into range of a bomb or onto a proxy mine!

With this expansion it looks like spring time for the empire...... and winter for everyone else.

So Ryad can speed 5 K turn, shedding any previous stress if needed, get a free evade token, target lock and focus/barrel roll, for 35 points? Daaaang.

Edit: How come people are suggesting calculation on Maarek? What am I missing?

Its a cheap way to ensure Maarek generates a crit. Its superior to Marksmanship because it doesn't take and action and it costs 2 points less.

Then again, Marksmanship is like a focus on both the cannon and the primary attacks and you can save the crit for the primary shot. Calculation doesn't take an action, but it spends the only focus token you had. If you can afford the extra 2 points, Marksmanship is superior in a /D.

And Predator is superior to Marksmanship. Then I can spend my focus on defense and still get modifications for both attacks. Good chance you'll roll a crit naturally with 3-dice primary and a re-roll.

I'm not going to lie folks; I'm terrified.

I can't like this post more so, here have a quote.

But this may be the thing that finally pulls me to the Dark side.

PLEASE DO A PREVIEW FOR REBEL VETERANS OR WHATEVER FFG.

Having been the meat in a Zuckuss Dengar Crew sandwich, I can see the virtue of a generic pilot.

Still pretty tough choice.

Holy crap everything looks awesome. Also, does this make the Defender the first ship to have all Unique Pilots having EPTs?

I have been waiting so long to confirm that this is a thing I will be doing.

Glaive Squadron Pilot (34)
Juke (2)
Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)
TIE/x7 (-2)

Glaive Squadron Pilot (34)
Juke (2)
Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)
TIE/x7 (-2)

Delta Squadron Pilot (30)
Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)
TIE/x7 (-2)

Total: 99

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Edit- Ignore that because it hasn't updated to include the new Defender pilots yet

Edit edit- okay! HERE WE GO

So Ryad can speed 5 K turn, shedding any previous stress if needed, get a free evade token, target lock and focus/barrel roll, for 35 points? Daaaang.

Edit: How come people are suggesting calculation on Maarek? What am I missing?

Its a cheap way to ensure Maarek generates a crit. Its superior to Marksmanship because it doesn't take and action and it costs 2 points less.

Then again, Marksmanship is like a focus on both the cannon and the primary attacks and you can save the crit for the primary shot. Calculation doesn't take an action, but it spends the only focus token you had. If you can afford the extra 2 points, Marksmanship is superior in a /D.

And Predator is superior to Marksmanship. Then I can spend my focus on defense and still get modifications for both attacks. Good chance you'll roll a crit naturally with 3-dice primary and a re-roll.

Even at the one-point level, I'd probably prefer Crack Shot over Calculation. Calculation gives you the crit, but it could be dodged or forced into hitting shields. Crack Shot can be saved until you know that the crit you just rolled will actually push into hull, where it can do the most damage.

In fact, longtime X-Wing players often refer to the "jousting value" of a given ship, meaning the raw efficiency of its attack, agility, hull, and shield values when compared to the ship's squad point cost and a valuation of the maneuverability of its dial.

Minor correction from the inventor of the term "jousting value" and the method for calculating it:

The "jousting value" doesn't include any measure of the ship's dial, just raw dice mechanics.

In contrast to my original harsh criticism of the Defender's high cost based on the initial preview, FFG has now swung in the other direction. Ironically, given the inflation of the game's power curve due to many other recent additions, the Defender may end up being right about where it needs to be in order to be top-tier competitive without steamrolling the current meta kings.

This will push pre-wave 7 generic jousters even deeper into the grave though.

All true. I appreciated the apparent hat tip to your work, fwiw. You've done some fine work with that JV and I've actually been trying to turn my unit on linear equations into one that utilizes some of your ideas. I have a few students that play the game.

Even at the one-point level, I'd probably prefer Crack Shot over Calculation. Calculation gives you the crit, but it could be dodged or forced into hitting shields. Crack Shot can be saved until you know that the crit you just rolled will actually push into hull, where it can do the most damage.

Crack Shot is great, but works once. For a pilot like Maarek, he's probably the one time I'd say to take Calculation. That Focus is super handy anyway and when you're only modifying one eyeball anyway it's always a solid upgrade to a crit.

Crit fishing with Maarek is one of the best-kept secrets of the game honestly. Being able to choose a Direct Hit to finish off an Ace or even just slap a generic fighter with a Blinded Pilot that round can really throw the game in Stele's favour.

I have been waiting so long to confirm that this is a thing I will be doing.

Glaive Squadron Pilot (34)

Juke (2)

Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)

TIE/x7 (-2)

Glaive Squadron Pilot (34)

Juke (2)

Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)

TIE/x7 (-2)

Delta Squadron Pilot (30)

Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)

TIE/x7 (-2)

Total: 99

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Ignore that because it hasn't updated to include the new Defender pilots yet

While I do dig the Mk II engine, I have to think this one would be a lot more fun...

2x Glaive + x7 + Juke

Ryad + x7 + Adaptability

hehehehe....Triple-6s!

(That said, while it'd be a heck of a lot of fun to fly...I don't see it taking down a U-boat wolfpack any time soon)

Holy crap everything looks awesome. Also, does this make the Defender the first ship to have all Unique Pilots having EPTs?

Hardly - B-wings, E-wings, YT-1300, Rebel Z-95, TAP, Phantom, Decimator, G1A, Starviper Scum Z-95 and Jumpmasters do, and A-wings effectively do.

HOLY MOTHER OF MEGAZON!!!!!!! I thort defenders were gona b gd but ryad n marek are just evil, love it!

Yes!!!! This is exciting! I'm a fun of the Defender and am glad that it finally looks like it's going to be a lot more fun. Time to get working on some lists and see what can happen. Now if only they'd surprise us and say it'll be here very soon.

Hmmmm. Interesting.

Holy crap everything looks awesome. Also, does this make the Defender the first ship to have all Unique Pilots having EPTs?

Hardly - B-wings, E-wings, YT-1300, Rebel Z-95, TAP, Phantom, Decimator, G1A, Starviper Scum Z-95 and Jumpmasters do, and A-wings effectively do.

Well I was discounting ships with only 2 unique pilots, so B-wings, YTs, and Decis all share the trait.

I'm thinking modern jousters need to be Joust+

1.) They have a good dial to be Jousters that maneuver and block well, but even then usually need an EPT (for Crack Shot). TIE Fighters and A-wings fit this pretty well. Neither can reasonably be classified as Arc Dodgers due to their low ps, but en mass they have ferocious firepower and control via blocking.

2.) They do massive, if temporary damage to overwhelm modern regen/green dice manipulation. Ordnance Zs seem to fit here pretty well. Y-wings might start seeing some play as torp boats, too. I feel like B-wings are in a worse spot because of plasma Torp vulnerability.

3.) There might be other options, I'm not thinking of them right now.

Obviously, it's important to note that Wave 7 cards are needed to bring the pre-7 jousters into a good position, (Crack Shot, Guidance Chips), and I suppose we can recognize that FFG probably had something like this in mind when they planned the cards.

Negative. You can be a jouster and do nothing but joust and you can still be just fine. But the caveat is that the cost efficiency needs to be good enough relative to other ships that have superior positional capability.

Strong jousting ships haven't gone anywhere. We are actually seeing a lot of cost efficient ships in the game. In fact, the top tier results are almost completely dominated by them. The most cost efficient jousters in the game, looking at just raw dice mods (NOT positional capability) are:

• Imperial Aces
• Crackshot Swarm
• Triple JumpMaster

Specifically, look at these aces:

Inquisitor.

Omega Leader.

Soontir Fel.

You must unlearn what you have learned. These are all cost efficient filler ships. They just also happen to get high PS repositional capability for free. Generic pre-wave 7 generic jousters, whose only strength is their cost efficiency, have a strictly inferior cost efficiency than all of the above. That's why you're not seeing them.

The Defender is different for two reasons:

• The x7 (and Vessery in particular) have a solid cost efficiency.
• The white-K grants them additional positional capabilities that traditional jousters don't have.

I don't actually think I disagreed with anything you said. I said there aren't any pure jousters, you said, "you're wrong, here's a list of successful jousters". All of the three that you listed that also do stuff well other than jousting. Both Crack Shot and Scouts fall directly into the categories I described. Scouts sort of get both categories with both good area control and massive upfront damage.

I have been waiting so long to confirm that this is a thing I will be doing.Glaive Squadron Pilot (34)Juke (2)Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)TIE/x7 (-2)Glaive Squadron Pilot (34)Juke (2)Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)TIE/x7 (-2)Delta Squadron Pilot (30)Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)TIE/x7 (-2)Total: 99View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Ignore that because it hasn't updated to include the new Defender pilots yet

While I do dig the Mk II engine, I have to think this one would be a lot more fun...

2x Glaive + x7 + Juke

Ryad + x7 + Adaptability

hehehehe....Triple-6s!

(That said, while it'd be a heck of a lot of fun to fly...I don't see it taking down a U-boat wolfpack any time soon)

I thought about that! It was very tempting to toss Ryad in there too BUT one of my absolute favourite things in the entire game is the White 4-K of a Delta Defender. You see it coming. You know it's going to happen. And there isn't a thing you can do to stop it.

Having a PS1 blocker as sturdy as an x7 Delta has been a huge part of my game since the titles were spoiled. It can punch above its weight class and can mess with even the best PS8+ pilots.

I am fawning over Ryad like a school boy but she deserves a list that suits her; locking your list at PS6 is too rigid for someone of her magnificent capacities. In my opinion, anyway. She might actually be the first PtL/EU Defender I've ever run, for example.