I read an article recently that pounded out the math on having a reroll against equal defense dice versus having one more attack than defense dice. He called it an overpower die or something I can't remember, but the long and short of it was that it's ALWAYS better to increase your attack vs defense dice differential versus having a reroll. I think the math was something like at extra die over your defenders number increased your damage average by a little over 100%. And Outmaneuver pretty much guarantees you that extra one, if not two or three dice over the defenders number.

And my favorite part? Outmaneuver totally negates C3PO on 1 agility ships where he gets used most often. No dice to roll means no guessing the number of evades.

I read an article recently that pounded out the math on having a reroll against equal defense dice versus having one more attack than defense dice. He called it an overpower die or something I can't remember, but the long and short of it was that it's ALWAYS better to increase your attack vs defense dice differential versus having a reroll.

he's wrong, here

it's actually better to have both

I just realized that in all the recent Defender threads, I don't think I've seen Outmaneuver paired with Vessery.

The question then becomes, can Imperials field anything 60 points or so that could take advantage of the apocalyptic distraction caused by TIE/D Vessery in a flanking position?

But I agree that Engine Upgrade isn't the best choice. Mid-PS boost is mediocre at best and 4 points is a lot for a meh upgrade. And she's not an arc dodger, she's a hunter. The best strategy I've found with her is to fly straight at an Ace, or any ship for that matter, she can take the damage with 3 defense dice, a free evade and a ton of HP. Take your shots. For your next move, if it's an ace, eyeball your move so you land right in front of them and K-turn. Almost all ships have to move forward, so the worst scenario is that they bump you and can't shoot you AND the Ace loses it's action, so not bad for a worst case scenario. More likely, they are going to move forward and end up in arc waiting for Outmaneuver to kick in. Against a lower PS ship, same strategy except you set your dial to end up exactly where that ship is, since they will move first.

No, engine IS the best choice because this kind of movement that you describe is not always possible WITHOUT engine, but it IS possible WITH engine.

I'm not saying PTL + engine upgrade is the only way to run Ryad. But it does give you far more positional control as compared to ANY other defender.

Having said that, I like outmaneouvre on Ryad, but I'd only run it with TIE/D + ion cannon. Having the ion lets you abuse the benefit to its fullest...

The question then becomes, can Imperials field anything 60 points or so that could take advantage of the apocalyptic distraction caused by TIE/D Vessery in a flanking position?

Well, there's a certain rear admiral that likes to fly Lord Vader and his wookie slave around from time to time.

There's also everyone's favourite: crackshot TIEs...

I just realized that in all the recent Defender threads, I don't think I've seen Outmaneuver paired with Vessery.

The question then becomes, can Imperials field anything 60 points or so that could take advantage of the apocalyptic distraction caused by TIE/D Vessery in a flanking position?

make it an x7 Vessery and it's far easier to build around

but if you have a 39 Tie/D T-beam outmanuever Vess leaving 30 and 31 points left open, I think you're in gamma vet territory for better or worse

it's also lil quizzy (at an unfortunate PS 8)

or you break into down into Omega Leader (not benefiting from the t-beam, but whatever) and a frustrating PTL x7 ryad without tie.mk2

But I agree that Engine Upgrade isn't the best choice. Mid-PS boost is mediocre at best and 4 points is a lot for a meh upgrade. And she's not an arc dodger, she's a hunter. The best strategy I've found with her is to fly straight at an Ace, or any ship for that matter, she can take the damage with 3 defense dice, a free evade and a ton of HP. Take your shots. For your next move, if it's an ace, eyeball your move so you land right in front of them and K-turn. Almost all ships have to move forward, so the worst scenario is that they bump you and can't shoot you AND the Ace loses it's action, so not bad for a worst case scenario. More likely, they are going to move forward and end up in arc waiting for Outmaneuver to kick in. Against a lower PS ship, same strategy except you set your dial to end up exactly where that ship is, since they will move first.

No, engine IS the best choice because this kind of movement that you describe is not always possible WITHOUT engine, but it IS possible WITH engine.

I'm not saying PTL + engine upgrade is the only way to run Ryad. But it does give you far more positional control as compared to ANY other defender.

Having said that, I like outmaneouvre on Ryad, but I'd only run it with TIE/D + ion cannon. Having the ion lets you abuse the benefit to its fullest...

Except I've made those exact moves without the benefit of boost multiple times. She's a super agile ship movement wise, so at PS 5 I don't see a 4 point engine upgrade being worth the cost. I like to keep her with x7 because it seriously increases her survivability and keeps her cost down. And that's important because she's one of the best finishers in the game, so you want to really make sure she's alive at the end to get the most value out of her.

I just realized that in all the recent Defender threads, I don't think I've seen Outmaneuver paired with Vessery.

The question then becomes, can Imperials field anything 60 points or so that could take advantage of the apocalyptic distraction caused by TIE/D Vessery in a flanking position?

make it an x7 Vessery and it's far easier to build around

but if you have a 39 Tie/D T-beam outmanuever Vess leaving 30 and 31 points left open, I think you're in gamma vet territory for better or worse

it's also lil quizzy (at an unfortunate PS 8)

or you break into down into Omega Leader (not benefiting from the t-beam, but whatever) and a frustrating PTL x7 ryad without tie.mk2

For the tractor beam vs ion cannon debate, it's important to note that the tractor beam is only better if 3 shots are going to be laid on the ship after it's hit with the tractor beam. So Vess's primary shot plus two other ships. Otherwise the ion dealing a damage is better.

it's also 2 more points

if you're going for just an extra damage point, I'd take the flechette honestly. The only jousters you're liable to see often are jumpmasters and numerous tie fighters, while opposing aces are just going to bounce the cannon shot regardless of what it is (opening up for your primary, but still). JM5ks, meanwhile, really don't appreciate you denying their white segnors (or anything listing towards their right) when they want to torpedo you

aggressors also hate it on principle, especially when you start showing off that you can K turn with or without stress while they can't even IG-88D

also denies annoying palp shuttle stops and hard-turns

when Poe comes back, then Ion might find more of a home

i wish Fletchette cannon behaved like the torps. If the target's hull is X or lower (max) then it takes a stress.

If that were the case, i'd run that over ion lol. Most ships with higher than 4 hull are large anyway (minus the 3-4 bombers in the game) and stressing a LOT of ships out can really hamper them, sometimes more than a single ion does.

Sadly it only stresses them if they werent stressed. So it means literally nothing against PTL users and only annoys majority of other ships by forcing them to do a green. At that point, the 1fwd would be better since thats concrete where theyre going while the green move or potential white and keep the stress is still up in the air.

I just realized that in all the recent Defender threads, I don't think I've seen Outmaneuver paired with Vessery.

The question then becomes, can Imperials field anything 60 points or so that could take advantage of the apocalyptic distraction caused by TIE/D Vessery in a flanking position?

Palpatine shuttle.

31 point standard Inquisitor.

I just realized that in all the recent Defender threads, I don't think I've seen Outmaneuver paired with Vessery.

The question then becomes, can Imperials field anything 60 points or so that could take advantage of the apocalyptic distraction caused by TIE/D Vessery in a flanking position?

Palpatine shuttle.

31 point standard Inquisitor.

PS mismatch locks without the shuttle chipping in