Tie/d beam marksmanship is nice,

Pull a target to range 1, reduce agility. Have focus modified to hit, then modified 4 die primary with a crit vs lower defense.

x7 title, Juke, and Palpy back up should be plenty opportunity for his ability to trigger. Bring another Ace who doesn't need too much help from Palpy, though (so Vader or Soontir). Basically the list above is what I'm thinking of running, though I'm swapping Calculation and the Tractor Beam for Juke.


I don't really feel right putting a TB on the shuttle -- it's getting the absolute last shot, so no bonus on by reducing agility, and the re-positional ability is EXTREMELY situational -- I'd much rather take the 3-4 dice standard attack, always. If I was to keep Calculation, I'd still swap the TB for an Electronic Baffle.

Tonight at game night I managed a lucky roll against Carnor Jax that landed two crits, and Maarek Stele saved the day with his pilot ability by pulling that much needed Direct Hit. That was in the TIE advanced...but it was before he was even able to get his Advanced Targeting Computer up. I still like the Advanced Targeting Computer, but I started to wonder how necessary it really is.

I think Maarek's ability fits Mangler Cannon so nicely I have to try it. Here's what I'm thinking:

Maarek with marksmanship makes great use of the TIE/D title. It modifies both attacks and gives you a crit!

Ummm...there is no cannon Maarek can equip with TIE/D that works with Marksmanship?

Ion Cannons, Tractor beam and flechtete cannons need all to hit, marksmanship is a super focus. You get more hits, you are more likely to hit. ;-)

And you get that crit resoult on your primary weapon attack. Works purrfect with the TIE/D, you get basically 2 actions and 2 attacks each turn and Stele's ability each turn, even on k-turns, no stress. Sounds good to me. Sounds good to me indeed.

Stele's ability is totally iconic for him. In the TIE fighter game the player could take out different sections of a ship by targeting guns, missile launchers, ect., so his pick-a-crit is perfect. He can choose to deal extra damage or disable a ship in the most advantageous way for the mission. Very cool and iconic.

and if you take him out of his bubble & put him with a tie shuttle with a systems officer.... then its the Advance

If you ask me, at the same Point cost i will always take Vessery with VI and Tractor Beam before Maarek even at -1 PS.

You just take one other ship with him that likes TLs and has the same PS (Inquisitor, Omega Leader) his damage output is better than maareks ability

Also with the Advanced Targeting Computer he gets Crits more reliably on the Advanced!

I've been saying maarek belongs in a defender for years and I'm happy ffg listened, he never flew an advanced it feels good to put that tragic lore fail behind us.

Stele's ability is totally iconic for him. In the TIE fighter game the player could take out different sections of a ship by targeting guns, missile launchers, ect., so his pick-a-crit is perfect. He can choose to deal extra damage or disable a ship in the most advantageous way for the mission. Very cool and iconic.

Miranda's ability is also totally iconic for those games, but it's actually really good, and always useful, and on a character that has nothing to do with those games.

Indeed. If Manglers had worked with TIE/D I would have called the Defender his dream ship. Sadly, that's not the case.

People are moaning about defenders doing four damage and ioning, six damage with an autocrit would of really made the skyfall.

People are moaning about defenders doing four damage and ioning, six damage with an autocrit would of really made the skyfall.

Skyfall is Maarek's middle name.

People are moaning about defenders doing four damage and ioning, six damage with an autocrit would of really made the skyfall.

I have a feeling that Vessery would've been nightmarish with tie/d + mangler.

Keeping on thread I think Maarek is better suited to the Advanced.

Slightly off on a tangent, imo opinion Maarek still won't get used as the competition in both Advanced or Defenders is better. At the defender cost he's on a par with Vessery, and I'm afraid I prefer Vessery. When looking at the Advanced he's competing with the likes of Vader, again Vader will always win out to me (cost more but worth it!).

He's fine in the Defender. Run him with x7 and Calculation and leave it at that,

Advanced Stele isn't bad, but Vader and Eclipse are better, and Alozen is cheaper. With the Defender, the pilots are better differentiated. Rexler is higher PS, but more expensive and has a pilot ability that's trickier to use. Vessery has a better pilot ability, but lower PS and requires wingmates with target lock (so no TIE Fighters, Fel or non-FCS Phantoms). Ryad also plays very differently. Honestly, it's kind of impressive how they've come up with four pilots at similar costs which are all useful in their own way (even though Vessery is still likely the strongest).

With the X7 title i do also prefer the Countess with PTL anf MkII engines. she has crazy action economy and... Who would have thought we could say this one day about a Defender... Also real ease of shedding stress without getting out of position!

So Vessery with /D and the Countess with /X7 are imho better options than Maarek.

If i want to mess with crit builds i go to scum and take Boba on a U-Boat. One shot and situational, but crazy good...

For Empire i probably won't look to much in this direction especially on the Defender as there are more reliable options.

I don't really feel like there is a bad choice for Maarek. I mean, they each have a preferable situation where they are stronger, but none of them are really bad options.

Maarke Stele in a Tie Adv. is probably best taken with ATC and Predator. This way, he gets to adjust one of his two dice and keep the TL on who he needs to. There is also the option to turtle up a bit with an Evade or BR to get out of someone's arc, but still be effective (once you have TL on someone).

Tie Defender X7 with Calculation isn't bad, either. You grab a Focus as your action and hopefully get a free Evade action. Helps in the defense, but you can always just use the Focus if you need to for defense. If not, then you get to throw in the crit to use his ability.

X/D with Marksman isn't bad. Yeah, the crit won't matter with an Ion Cannon or Tractor Beam, but you still get to turn that eyeball into a hit and modify your dice. It just matters more in the 2nd shot where you use your main weapons.

Tie Defender with Mangler isn't really bad, either. Oh, it's not got the cost effective titles, but you still throw out a crit with every shot you hit. Then, you get to pick it? Not bad, especially with some of these large hull ships out there now. Jumpmaster, Ghost, etc don't like all the crits. Doesn't always have to be Direct Hit.

Stele's ability is totally iconic for him. In the TIE fighter game the player could take out different sections of a ship by targeting guns, missile launchers, ect., so his pick-a-crit is perfect. He can choose to deal extra damage or disable a ship in the most advantageous way for the mission. Very cool and iconic.

Miranda's ability is also totally iconic for those games, but it's actually really good, and always useful, and on a character that has nothing to do with those games.

Also with the Advanced Targeting Computer he gets Crits more reliably on the Advanced!

Indeed. If Manglers had worked with TIE/D I would have called the Defender his dream ship. Sadly, that's not the case.

We can't have the empire getting regen!

Ion /D Maarek with marksmen can strip tokens, ionize a ship, and set up crits for his double tap and be pretty sure those crits will be hitting hull and not shield. And do more damage per turn. Even tractor beam will strip tokens are possibly shunt the enemy into range one or even deny a lower ps ship return fire.

Stele in the defender is technically a point cheaper than he should be - and PS7 cs PS6 can actually be significant.

Yes, Vessery is scary, but he needs the right wingmen to do his stunts, and if I had to pick a ship to run as a finisher, stele does the job much better.

Heck, that's just the kind of occasion you're praying for that one magical crit... Well, stele helps there a whole lot.

Heck, that's just the kind of occasion you're praying for that one magical crit

That's the thing, there aren't really magical crits anymore(unless someone is using the old deck). They're all just okay.

Heck, that's just the kind of occasion you're praying for that one magical crit

That's the thing, there aren't really magical crits anymore(unless someone is using the old deck). They're all just okay.

I don't know about that. Some of the crits are downright crippling. I'm thinking of the one that turns all hits after it into a crit. That's horrible on a large enough ship. I'll admit that the old deck had cards that were either nothing or absolutely horrible. The new ones are more bad with a few terrible ones.

Eh, there's like ONE terrible one in the new deck. It's not like you'll be able to get it reliably even with Maarek's ability.

Maybe our definition of terrible is different? *shrugs*

Maybe our definition of terrible is different? *shrugs*

I only consider Major Hull Breach to be truly crippling.

All the other cards with really bad effects, tend to only have those effects for one turn. So while not insignificant, they probably aren't that big a difference from just dealing the 2 damage.

I'd still rather fly him in the Defender. Mainly because I believe only, ONLY Vader should fly the Advanced.

That and I love the Defender while I only like the Advanced. You can always make the points fit if you want a pilot

Maybe our definition of terrible is different? *shrugs*

I only consider Major Hull Breach to be truly crippling.

All the other cards with really bad effects, tend to only have those effects for one turn. So while not insignificant, they probably aren't that big a difference from just dealing the 2 damage.

Is dealing an extra damage that disappointing of a result? It seems like a pretty good baseline, with the occasional winner thrown in like putting Thrust Control Fire on a PTLing ship.