Pilot skill 8 is still superb compared to most. Poe's amazing performance on screen also translates to his special ability to change focus results. Which is on par with X-wings interpretation of Ezra and Luke's force powers.

Pilot skill 8 + that great ability, he's only getting out flown by very few, and even then he's got a good chance.

PS 9 is legendary, and Poe just isn't a legend yet.

If you want the craziness of the Empire's high risk, high reward ace style, then drop the safety net that is a shield Regen astro, and take BB8 or something else zany.

high risk, high reward ace style

Wait, what?

So now the token stack and Palpy+autothruster and not being shot at is a hight risk? o_O

High risk high reward IS TALONBANE MC'AWESOME COBRA

I am pretty sure Stele and Vader flew TIE Defenders in that mission:

https://youtu.be/OSCV-e0V26U

Hmm, I guess *I* was misremembering.

high risk, high reward ace style

Wait, what?

So now the token stack and Palpy+autothruster and not being shot at is a hight risk? o_O

High risk high reward IS TALONBANE MC'AWESOME COBRA

Blanking on greens will end Soontir's reign, we've all experienced it. And sometimes the dice won't even matter.

Darth Vader on a Decimator is a pretty hard Soontir Counter. Then there is Blount, Wampa, or Deathrain.

8 shots in a single turn is what TLT Y-wings have going for them. Even Soontir can't shed all those shots without rubbing the dice on a leprechaun.

And now we've got 4-lom, both pilot and crew, to deal with.

Just a single hit can halve Soontir's table presence.

Soontir does absolutely terrible against lists that don't have to roll against 5 modified green dice to do damage. And unlike X-wings, he does not have 2-3 shield + Integrated Astromech or Biggs to protect him.

And palpatine shuttles are support ships. The rebels have support ships aplenty that can help aces. The new ghost pilots and crew, k-wings and HWK 290s handing out tokens or pilot skill 12 in the shooting phase. Jan Ors and Miranda can use autoblaster Turret for 4 dice with regular hits that can't be evaded. And we've got an auto crit Mangler B-wing as well.

FFS, you can put Flechette Torpedoes and munitions failsafe on Miranda with Gunner and keep missing on purpose against range 2-3 while putting a stress on them, only to take your real shot at a different enemy at range 1 of your primary. Or Drop your first primary shot to 1 die for the miss and shield regen. It requires a target lock or target lock support.

It costs the same as tlt with tactician, but it is different, and different can be fun.

Well, some very good and valid points & discussion guys & gals! Great job!

So it seems that there might be a valid option without disrupting the delicate balance that FFG has strived to maintain (with the help of the X-wing community no doubt). This option seems to be keeping the same unique Pilots (i.e. Maarek Stele) and simply having them fly a different ship. I would say that this is an excellent option that I hadn't considered, my thanks to you all who thought of this.

So all that remains then, is to figure out which of the Level 9 Pilots has flown other ships. Here is what we know so far:

Rebels

• Han Solo flew a Z-95 Headhunter in The Han Solo Adventures (one of my favourite books), I also know that he flew a TIE Fighter (but that doesn't help us) in The Han Solo Trilogy. Speaking of which he flew a Special Freighter but I don't know which model. Whatever it was, that would be a way to introduce a new ship while keeping the balance with an existing unique Pilot.
• Wedge Antilles also flew a....(don't know, need help here)

Empire

• Darth Vader flew a TIE Defender (thank you for your research efforts Azrapse ) in Star Wars: TIE Fighter, beyond that I'm not sure.
• Soontir Fel also flew a....(don't know, need help here)

Scum & Villainy

• Talonbane Cobra also flew a....(don't know, need help here)
• Dengar also flew a....(don't know, need help here)

So there we have a beginning frame work for some cool alternate ships flown by our existing six Level 9 Pilots that would keep the balance, and yet increase the variety. I would call that two birds with one stone ! Anyways, if you could please help by filling in the blanks above, I would be most grateful! Thanks folks and God bless .

[Edit: Spelling Errors]

Wedge: A-Wing, Y-Wing, B-Wing, TIE Interceptor, TIE Defender

Fel: TIE Fighter, TIE Defender, Chiss Clawcraft

Soontir Fel also flew a....(don't know, need help here)

According to his wiki he flew as a test pilot for the TIE Defender, TIE Aggressor, TIE Hunter and TIE Phantom.

And of course, he was a TIE Fighter pilot before becoming an Interceptor pilot.

Wedge flew like EVERYTHING, and every pilot ever was stuck into Rogue X-wing. Just because posterboys.

Seen T-65 Soontir? Just imagine him with PTL+BB8 D:

Or Targetting astro

Also, the top pilots in the game are on not the best star fighters in the game. Vader still singlehandedly makes the Advanced work. The YT-1300 isn't known for being the best outside of the MF so Han is just doing the best he can. Talonbane has a K fighter. He does what he can with what he's given. Seeing what Hera can do with the Ghost and Phantom, imagine how good she would be in an awing or T-70. Soontir is in an interceptor, a ship that otherwise is a coffin for less skilled pilots. The ship each pilot is in matters. In an advanced Starfighter like the defender or phantom, Vader could be PS 11. He's that good. If Vader was flying a lambda for some reason he's probably cap out at 7-8. The ship can't perform at his capabilities.

See, I would suggest that it's the ship's dial that influences how well a ship performs in the pilot's hands. Pilot skill doesn't change from ship to ship, but the dial surely does. So while Vader in a Lamda should still be PS9, he would be limited by the fact that he can't do any non-red turns or reposition in any way, which would make that pilot skill much less effective.

and vader in anything more agile than TIE Bucket:Advanced will ride the lightning and produce tidal wave of pwnage.

Also, the top pilots in the game are on not the best star fighters in the game. Vader still singlehandedly makes the Advanced work. The YT-1300 isn't known for being the best outside of the MF so Han is just doing the best he can. Talonbane has a K fighter. He does what he can with what he's given. Seeing what Hera can do with the Ghost and Phantom, imagine how good she would be in an awing or T-70. Soontir is in an interceptor, a ship that otherwise is a coffin for less skilled pilots. The ship each pilot is in matters. In an advanced Starfighter like the defender or phantom, Vader could be PS 11. He's that good. If Vader was flying a lambda for some reason he's probably cap out at 7-8. The ship can't perform at his capabilities.

See, I would suggest that it's the ship's dial that influences how well a ship performs in the pilot's hands. Pilot skill doesn't change from ship to ship, but the dial surely does. So while Vader in a Lamda should still be PS9, he would be limited by the fact that he can't do any non-red turns or reposition in any way, which would make that pilot skill much less effective.

The dial doesn't change between pilots but the PS does matter significantly between ships with repositional abilities and certain actions. Dial is also set at the same time regardless of PS. In fact, since high PS ships move last they have even a more restricted dial... That doesn't fluff right.

Also, the top pilots in the game are on not the best star fighters in the game. Vader still singlehandedly makes the Advanced work. The YT-1300 isn't known for being the best outside of the MF so Han is just doing the best he can. Talonbane has a K fighter. He does what he can with what he's given. Seeing what Hera can do with the Ghost and Phantom, imagine how good she would be in an awing or T-70. Soontir is in an interceptor, a ship that otherwise is a coffin for less skilled pilots. The ship each pilot is in matters. In an advanced Starfighter like the defender or phantom, Vader could be PS 11. He's that good. If Vader was flying a lambda for some reason he's probably cap out at 7-8. The ship can't perform at his capabilities.

See, I would suggest that it's the ship's dial that influences how well a ship performs in the pilot's hands. Pilot skill doesn't change from ship to ship, but the dial surely does. So while Vader in a Lamda should still be PS9, he would be limited by the fact that he can't do any non-red turns or reposition in any way, which would make that pilot skill much less effective.

I would say that there's some legitimacy to the idea of a pilot's skill level changing depending on whether he's flying a fighter or a large ship, because there's a degree of difference in the skill sets involved. (Yes, the same is also true depending on the type of fighter being piloted, but not to the same degree.)

a valid option without disrupting the delicate balance that FFG has strived to maintain

I like that two days later, FFG disrupted such delicate balance by suddenly adding a "new" PS9 pilot for one faction.

a valid option without disrupting the delicate balance that FFG has strived to maintain

I like that two days later, FFG disrupted such delicate balance by suddenly adding a "new" PS9 pilot for one faction.

It's rather unfortunate...

Well I'm sure that once the First Order is given a legitimate ace pilot (so far, they don't even have any named pilots that I can recall), there'll be one more PS9 to balance things out.

Well....now that we do have x3 Level 9 Pilot's for Rebels, I guess we should also get them for the other two. Still, if we maybe follow the same convention, maybe we could "bump" up some lower level Pilots while retaining their native ability, and therefore not introduce a new dynamic to the game. I was thinking of Major Rhymer or Whisper for the Imperials and Zuckuss for Scum & Villainy. Anyways, just a thought....