OK fellow X-wing enthusiasts, I have been slowly getting more complex in my builds, but I haven't (till now) delved into crew slots. Historically I ease into things and add complexity in stages. I know I'm a weird guy, but I played months with just ships without any mods till I felt good about how they move and work in their simplest forum. Then, I started adding defensive only mods and tried to learn how they work; then mods that increased pilot ability. I'm mentally slow, I get that haha. Anyway, I'm starting to review ships that I own that can support crew and have been reviewing crew possibilities. Looking over all my crew cards I find some interesting and fun ones, Vader however confounds me. I know it's probably a dumb question, but why would one use Vader?

Vader is typically thrown on as a crew member of a Decimator to hopefully kill off an ace or two before the Deci inevitably crashes and burns.

As TheTechWookie mentioned, it really is used to kill aces. It's unavoidable damage and on top of it, it is a critical damage that is taken so if there are no shields on the targeted ship, it just becomes worse for the opponent.

Yep. No one can do anything to defend against Vader except have shields. Crits are really bad for "aces" who like to dodge arcs. Soontir doesn't have any Shields (without an Upgrade), the Decimator can fire its turret 360 degrees... voila! Sad Soontir.

In case you didn't glean from the other posts, some of the pilots in this game have come to be known as 'aces'. They tend to have low health, high agility, high pilot skill, and usually excel at arc dodging. Consequently, it's REALLY hard to kill them. Vader, especially on a Decimator, ignores all of that, dealing a crit right past their tokens, dice, and even out of arc. He has a lot of value against such pilots.

Vader also find use in the not-too-uncommon situation in which your opponent's ship has survived your attack with 1 hull point left, allowing you to take them off the board instead of hunting then down another round and allowing them to dish out more damage. In this situation and against aces, suffering two damage is often worth it.

Thanks guys; I am now much more informed, and hopefully, intelligent. So, Vader is a specific weapon for fighting Aces, or other ships on their last hull point. At first glance, taking two damage (or loosing two shields) to give out one crit seemed at best a wash with no real value (obviously, to the uneducated). I'm thinking -as I add in my next learning curve crew- to try a round or two with learning-curve friends with Vader on a Lamba then on a Decimator. Sounds like the latter is the best setup as I read you guys. Thanks so much for the 411, it's so very helpful.

I'm thinking -as I add in my next learning curve crew- to try a round or two with learning-curve friends with Vader on a Lamba then on a Decimator. Sounds like the latter is the best setup as I read you guys. Thanks so much for the 411, it's so very helpful.

Ah, you just described the Doomshuttle. While many shuttles these days carry the emperor into battle, they used to carry Vader. Same principles with Deci apply, just without the 360 Turret. I liked the dark lord loaded on Jendon with TL distributing potential, and because of canon, can't forget that

Thanks guys; I am now much more informed, and hopefully, intelligent. So, Vader is a specific weapon for fighting Aces, or other ships on their last hull point. At first glance, taking two damage (or loosing two shields) to give out one crit seemed at best a wash with no real value (obviously, to the uneducated). I'm thinking -as I add in my next learning curve crew- to try a round or two with learning-curve friends with Vader on a Lamba then on a Decimator. Sounds like the latter is the best setup as I read you guys. Thanks so much for the 411, it's so very helpful.

Oicunn + Vader + Gunner is a good way to kill a 3 hull Ace. Crash into them for one damage, they move, shoot, they evade then vader, gunner procs, shoot again they dodge and then vader and that ace is gone.

If Vader is being applied to their hull, two damage for one crit is likely to be a good trade, especially if he's on a Decimator. You have more hull than they do, take advantage of it.

I mean, for the chance to... blind them, knock a die off their shooting, trade the same amount of damage, knock a point off their agility, etc etc etc, for two hull points you were going to lose anyway... that's gold.

The trouble with Decivader or (less so) Doomshuttle is that it tanks your MoV to have a ship that large deployed with the intention of it going kamikaze.

I do have a soft spot for RAMMING SPEED Oicunn though.

Oicunn/Daredevil/Vader/Gunner/Engine Upgrade/Dauntless. Ram > Dauntless > Daredevil > 2 stress to you, 2 damage to them. They move, you shoot, miss, vader, gunner, vader. 4 damage and 2 stress to you, 2 damage and 2 crits to them.

If you can use this to remove the scariest ace(s), your ace buddy has free rein to clean up. Goes best with Soontir or Whisper.

I like to run dual decimators, but I keep Vader on Kenkirk. Run Oicunn up to mash people, keep Kenkirk at the fringes to harass those that Oicunn gets caught with in a scrum. I don't win often, but many lols are had.