X-Wing Pilots, we return to our Mynock roots to deliver rules, news, and tips!

After the darkness of the intentional draw furor, FFG Organized Play has given us a new hope! We discuss rules changes and the tantalizing previews from the impending Imperial Veterans pack.

We then throw the spotlight on the YT-1300 Freighter, and return to our regular features of exploring upgrade cards and tips.

[00:00:00] Rules Clarifications
[00:10:00] News! Imperial Veterans!
[00:30:00] Ship Spotlight: YT-1300
[00:47:20] Upgrade Card Discussions
[00:54:40] Rookie Tips
[01:04:05] Advanced Tips
[01:15:00] End Notes

http://mynockpodcast.libsyn.com/episode-14-the-garbage-will-do

South Wookiees Squadron Radio interviews Dee

https://southwookiees.wordpress.com/2016/04/25/special-episode-interview-with-dee-yun/

Really appreciate you helping rookies.

As you might have expected, I disagree with your assessment of Countess Ryad.

She has basically 3 parts to her ability:

1.) She can switch a straight move to a K-turn when after all the PS 1-4 stuff is revealed.

2.) Her K-turns are green.

3.) She has 4 different speeds of K-turn.

The first one is a nice aspect, and is marginally useful with her PS5. The second is a nice bonus as well, which may or may not be useful depending on enemy squad, how many times you need to pull short hard turns, or the obstacles in the field. The third is where the meat of her pilot ability is. It makes the K-turn very hard to block, and it gives you a huge amount of flexibility in setting up moves for later turns. Consequently, I think it indirectly does a lot for your offense and defense.

Brad focuses on her lack of offense. Speaking as someone who has run Rexler Brath a lot (and rarely uses his ability), I don't see her offense as any less than his. Her firepower is predicated on her attack dice and whatever EPT she takes. I really don't understand how Brad can like Glaives as damage dealers for the same cost. Any build you can take for a Glaive, you can take for Ryad, and it will almost always be better because you'll have more movement options. With TIE/D, the short K-turns are really nice, because it makes it easier to bring the Range 1 primary bonus into play.

In regards to "why TIE Defender vs Inquisitor": It's a different ship. The Inquisitor has to dance around at long range, and has to get actions to stay alive and do damage. The Defender (particularly the x7) can be blocked, run over an asteroid, get stress, whatever, and still keep its offense and defense up. If you like a certain kind of ship, you take the Inquisitor, if you like another kind of ship, you take the Defender. TIE/D is much harder to compare, as it's more expensive, but it gets crazy offense and control thrown in.

I am 100% behind Maarek with x7 and Juke, though.

If you can fit a Glaive you need to take Ryad. If you can fit Maarek you need to take Vessery.

If you can fit a Glaive you need to take Ryad. If you can fit Maarek you need to take Vessery.

I agree with the first statement, but Vessery over Maarek is situational.

With the squad Brad talked about...

Fel 35

Maarek, x7, Juke 35

Palpshuttle 29

...Maarek is better. The shuttle is the only ship that can Target Lock, and might often not want to (wanting a Focus for defense). Juking Maarek with a blank turned to a crit by Palp is going to be scary as hell.

The point was made around 24 minutes in , 1 more point for vessery with 1 more p.s. and a better pilot ability?
-> It's more than 1 point - because Vessery's ability doesn't function in a vaccuum, you need another ship to TL - and you have to build for that.

Maarek with Mangler + Predator anybody?

No free evade and no second attack - but you'll get crits even without Pal.

As you might have expected, I disagree with your assessment of Countess Ryad.

She has basically 3 parts to her ability:

1.) She can switch a straight move to a K-turn when after all the PS 1-4 stuff is revealed.

2.) Her K-turns are green.

3.) She has 4 different speeds of K-turn.

The first one is a nice aspect, and is marginally useful with her PS5. The second is a nice bonus as well, which may or may not be useful depending on enemy squad, how many times you need to pull short hard turns, or the obstacles in the field. The third is where the meat of her pilot ability is. It makes the K-turn very hard to block, and it gives you a huge amount of flexibility in setting up moves for later turns. Consequently, I think it indirectly does a lot for your offense and defense.

Brad focuses on her lack of offense. Speaking as someone who has run Rexler Brath a lot (and rarely uses his ability), I don't see her offense as any less than his. Her firepower is predicated on her attack dice and whatever EPT she takes. I really don't understand how Brad can like Glaives as damage dealers for the same cost. Any build you can take for a Glaive, you can take for Ryad, and it will almost always be better because you'll have more movement options. With TIE/D, the short K-turns are really nice, because it makes it easier to bring the Range 1 primary bonus into play.

In regards to "why TIE Defender vs Inquisitor": It's a different ship. The Inquisitor has to dance around at long range, and has to get actions to stay alive and do damage. The Defender (particularly the x7) can be blocked, run over an asteroid, get stress, whatever, and still keep its offense and defense up. If you like a certain kind of ship, you take the Inquisitor, if you like another kind of ship, you take the Defender. TIE/D is much harder to compare, as it's more expensive, but it gets crazy offense and control thrown in.

I am 100% behind Maarek with x7 and Juke, though.

Based on our discussion earlier, I think she and Sabine have a lot in common. Their mid range PS and repositioning means they can be very good blockers against higher PS while giving lower PS ships fits.

At 31 minutes in, the podcast covers the differing stat lines of the YT-1300 ORS compared to the other pilots of the ship. I can't remember where I read it or heard it (not helpful I know) but the developers determined going forward that general stat changes would be addressed through title cards or similar additional upgrades rather than having varying base stat lines among pilots. Case in point, Punishing One title for the JM5k.

I doubt we will see any variance in ship stats going forward and personally I like the approach that keeps even stat lines across the board for any given ship. The pilot abilities and available upgrades should reflect the skill of the pilot to push the craft to its limits in addition to any other mods they have made to the ship.

With regards to the Defenders, I think Biophysical is spot on with his assessment and I am very stoked for Ryad. PS 5, EPT, and an awesome ability on my favorite star wars universe ship provides another great tool in the Imperial arsenal.

I think Ryad is superb in the right meta, but she's just okay in this meta.

If you can fit a Glaive you need to take Ryad. If you can fit Maarek you need to take Vessery.

I agree with the first statement, but Vessery over Maarek is situational.

With the squad Brad talked about...

Fel 35

Maarek, x7, Juke 35

Palpshuttle 29

...Maarek is better. The shuttle is the only ship that can Target Lock, and might often not want to (wanting a Focus for defense). Juking Maarek with a blank turned to a crit by Palp is going to be scary as hell.

True. I'd be very tempted to fit a Vessery w/ x7 and Juke in place of Soontir that list. I just feel that if you have means to paint targets for Vessery than you should probably bring him. However, you do have a valid point. Its best to have more than 1 ship that can provide a TL.

You want an offensive Ryad? How about the Ragin' (b*tch) Countess:

Countess Ryad (34)

Rage (1)

Ion Cannon (3)

Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)

TIE/D (0)

Total: 39

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Vessery levels of suck every other turn. However, you can always bring along Epsilon Leader or a BSP w/ Wingman.

Having played against defenders with PTL I can honestly say Ryad will be pretty awesome. I look at it this way, think of all of the pilots that are kinda built for ptl, they are the great ones. Fell, Tycho, Inquisitor. Ryad if played correctly will be added to that list. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think during this episode she was compared to the next Juno. Juno is in a bad spot only because Vader is one point more. Ryad doesn't have that issue.

I know I am planning on a list with...

Verssery D tile- Ion cannon

Ryad - PTL - MII - X7

Omega Leader - Comms relay - Juke

This all my opinion only. I enjoyed this episode because you guys really focused on the game.

As you might have expected, I disagree with your assessment of Countess Ryad.

She has basically 3 parts to her ability:

1.) She can switch a straight move to a K-turn when after all the PS 1-4 stuff is revealed.

2.) Her K-turns are green.

3.) She has 4 different speeds of K-turn.

The first one is a nice aspect, and is marginally useful with her PS5. The second is a nice bonus as well, which may or may not be useful depending on enemy squad, how many times you need to pull short hard turns, or the obstacles in the field. The third is where the meat of her pilot ability is. It makes the K-turn very hard to block, and it gives you a huge amount of flexibility in setting up moves for later turns. Consequently, I think it indirectly does a lot for your offense and defense.

Brad focuses on her lack of offense. Speaking as someone who has run Rexler Brath a lot (and rarely uses his ability), I don't see her offense as any less than his. Her firepower is predicated on her attack dice and whatever EPT she takes. I really don't understand how Brad can like Glaives as damage dealers for the same cost. Any build you can take for a Glaive, you can take for Ryad, and it will almost always be better because you'll have more movement options. With TIE/D, the short K-turns are really nice, because it makes it easier to bring the Range 1 primary bonus into play.

In regards to "why TIE Defender vs Inquisitor": It's a different ship. The Inquisitor has to dance around at long range, and has to get actions to stay alive and do damage. The Defender (particularly the x7) can be blocked, run over an asteroid, get stress, whatever, and still keep its offense and defense up. If you like a certain kind of ship, you take the Inquisitor, if you like another kind of ship, you take the Defender. TIE/D is much harder to compare, as it's more expensive, but it gets crazy offense and control thrown in.

I am 100% behind Maarek with x7 and Juke, though.

I am more than content to concede on any given point from "The Dark Lord of TIE Defenders, Darth Biophysical".

I concur with Ryad over Glaive. Same points (which I think I mentioned?), a pilot ability, only 1 less pilot skill (and at a point in the PS spectrum that's irrelevant excepting Aggressors). However, unless I run into very specific squad building issues, I much prefer Vessery or Stele.

I do regret the Inquisitor comparison, as they are indeed "unlike numbers". I reactively reached for the most efficient (performance/cost ratio) Imperial ace as a counterpoint. I just (as of this moment) do not believe her added movement options justify her cost, particularly with Vessery or Stele as alternatives. My thinking was that if movement flexibility is desired, why not go for a cheaper, higher PS, (conditionally) more offensive and defensive, repositioner?

Maybe I need to give some thought into how I'd actually build Ryad's loadout.

Maarek with Mangler + Predator anybody?

No free evade and no second attack - but you'll get crits even without Pal.

This is definitely an option, but without either title, it feels either anemic offensively and/or fragile defensively for the cost.

At 31 minutes in, the podcast covers the differing stat lines of the YT-1300 ORS compared to the other pilots of the ship. I can't remember where I read it or heard it (not helpful I know) but the developers determined going forward that general stat changes would be addressed through title cards or similar additional upgrades rather than having varying base stat lines among pilots. Case in point, Punishing One title for the JM5k.

I doubt we will see any variance in ship stats going forward and personally I like the approach that keeps even stat lines across the board for any given ship. The pilot abilities and available upgrades should reflect the skill of the pilot to push the craft to its limits in addition to any other mods they have made to the ship.

With regards to the Defenders, I think Biophysical is spot on with his assessment and I am very stoked for Ryad. PS 5, EPT, and an awesome ability on my favorite star wars universe ship provides another great tool in the Imperial arsenal.

From a game design perspective, I concur. From a thematic standpoint, I always want those titles to do MOAR. It would've been interesting if the Millennium Falcon title had added the Boost action to the bar instead.

I am more than content to concede on any given point from "The Dark Lord of TIE Defenders, Darth Biophysical".

I concur with Ryad over Glaive. Same points (which I think I mentioned?), a pilot ability, only 1 less pilot skill (and at a point in the PS spectrum that's irrelevant excepting Aggressors). However, unless I run into very specific squad building issues, I much prefer Vessery or Stele.

Defender pilot abilities are interesting to me in some ways since they, as a group, they just aren't all that impactful when compared to a lot of other sets of pilots (but that doesn't mean they are ineffective).

I think Ryad's is the only one of the 4 that is both useful individually and will come into play multiple times in a game. I love both Brath's and Marek's abilities but they just don't get used all that often unless you invest more squad points into them or their wingmates. Vessery's ability is far more effective and efficient but he's going to require a much more narrow selection of ships that he flies with, ships that need to want to target lock as their action and they need to have a reason not to spend it before he fires. There certainly are some that fit that condition, but of the four pilots he's the most restrictive in squad building, and I think is the opposite is true of Ryad.

Maarek with Mangler + Predator anybody?

No free evade and no second attack - but you'll get crits even without Pal.

This is definitely an option, but without either title, it feels either anemic offensively and/or fragile defensively for the cost.

I'm not saying it would be easy. Just fly better.

Jokes aside, I have the strong feeling that the Mangler is an intended option for Maarek.

Even if it is not imperial standard weapon technology.

Maarek with Mangler + Predator anybody?

No free evade and no second attack - but you'll get crits even without Pal.

This is definitely an option, but without either title, it feels either anemic offensively and/or fragile defensively for the cost.

I'm not saying it would be easy. Just fly better.

Jokes aside, I have the strong feeling that the Mangler is an intended option for Maarek.

Even if it is not imperial standard weapon technology.

Intended or not, Predator-Ion Cannon-TIE/D Maarek is a straight up stronger build than Predator-Mangler Maarek, and it's a point cheaper. That's the thing with these Defender pilots, I'm pretty sure you're going to get the best result when you build for the strongest overall ship, instead of building for an ability. You don't give Whisper Predator to make sure she hits more often to trigger her ability. You give her VI so she's the best Phantom she can be. TIE/D is ACD in this analogy.

I do regret the Inquisitor comparison, as they are indeed "unlike numbers". I reactively reached for the most efficient (performance/cost ratio) Imperial ace as a counterpoint. I just (as of this moment) do not believe her added movement options justify her cost, particularly with Vessery or Stele as alternatives. My thinking was that if movement flexibility is desired, why not go for a cheaper, higher PS, (conditionally) more offensive and defensive, repositioner?

I would say that Ryad isn't really a respositioner. She has some repositioning options (Barrel Roll, the ability to pick between straights and K-turns), but her real strength is that she can pick from 4 different K-turns. Do you go for the 5 to get out of arc and/or get at long range, or because you know it can't be blocked? Do you go for the 2, because it keeps you closer to the fight, or because an asteroid is blocking the 3? Those are very strong options in and of themselves. You've got to stop thinking like an ace, where you respond to the situation. A Defender defines the situation. Ryad gets 3 new ways to define the situation, on top of being able to respond to lower PS ships by K-turning (or not).

At 31 minutes in, the podcast covers the differing stat lines of the YT-1300 ORS compared to the other pilots of the ship. I can't remember where I read it or heard it (not helpful I know) but the developers determined going forward that general stat changes would be addressed through title cards or similar additional upgrades rather than having varying base stat lines among pilots. Case in point, Punishing One title for the JM5k.

I doubt we will see any variance in ship stats going forward and personally I like the approach that keeps even stat lines across the board for any given ship. The pilot abilities and available upgrades should reflect the skill of the pilot to push the craft to its limits in addition to any other mods they have made to the ship.

With regards to the Defenders, I think Biophysical is spot on with his assessment and I am very stoked for Ryad. PS 5, EPT, and an awesome ability on my favorite star wars universe ship provides another great tool in the Imperial arsenal.

From a game design perspective, I concur. From a thematic standpoint, I always want those titles to do MOAR. It would've been interesting if the Millennium Falcon title had added the Boost action to the bar instead.

I completely agree that adding the Boost action to the Falcon title would have married design and theme beautifully. That would have been awesome.

I do regret the Inquisitor comparison, as they are indeed "unlike numbers". I reactively reached for the most efficient (performance/cost ratio) Imperial ace as a counterpoint. I just (as of this moment) do not believe her added movement options justify her cost, particularly with Vessery or Stele as alternatives. My thinking was that if movement flexibility is desired, why not go for a cheaper, higher PS, (conditionally) more offensive and defensive, repositioner?

I would say that Ryad isn't really a respositioner. She has some repositioning options (Barrel Roll, the ability to pick between straights and K-turns), but her real strength is that she can pick from 4 different K-turns. Do you go for the 5 to get out of arc and/or get at long range, or because you know it can't be blocked? Do you go for the 2, because it keeps you closer to the fight, or because an asteroid is blocking the 3? Those are very strong options in and of themselves. You've got to stop thinking like an ace, where you respond to the situation. A Defender defines the situation. Ryad gets 3 new ways to define the situation, on top of being able to respond to lower PS ships by K-turning (or not).

I do look at her as a repositioning ship in the sense that, when doing a straight, she can react to the board state against a lower PS list, coupled with Engine, she can really end up a lot of places after selecting a straight maneuver. It also means she can end up a lot of places in order to attempt a block.

Maarek with Mangler + Predator anybody?

No free evade and no second attack - but you'll get crits even without Pal.

This is definitely an option, but without either title, it feels either anemic offensively and/or fragile defensively for the cost.

I'm not saying it would be easy. Just fly better.

Jokes aside, I have the strong feeling that the Mangler is an intended option for Maarek.

Even if it is not imperial standard weapon technology.

Intended or not, Predator-Ion Cannon-TIE/D Maarek is a straight up stronger build than Predator-Mangler Maarek, and it's a point cheaper. That's the thing with these Defender pilots, I'm pretty sure you're going to get the best result when you build for the strongest overall ship, instead of building for an ability. You don't give Whisper Predator to make sure she hits more often to trigger her ability. You give her VI so she's the best Phantom she can be. TIE/D is ACD in this analogy.

I'm sorry but there is no doubt that you give Wisper VI, but I got your point.

Mangler is an option for Maarek as well as the HLC still is for Rexler. Maybe not so for 100 point games, but for epic.

Have you ever dealt 4 hits to the aft section of a CR90 and made them all flip over? Its so fantastic.

Of course you need to have balls to bring Maarek+Mangler+Predator to a tournament - just because the titles are so good it would be stupid to not use them.

This would be more of a challenge.

If I would do a tournament list, to me the first obvious thing would be to try Vessery/x7+Juke and Maarek/x7+Juke and Palp.