Let's assume I want to START making a team with aces on it. Now let's assume that I have some flexibility in my points.

- Vader is, in comparison to Soontir, a glass cannon. He suffers when attacked by twin lasers (multiple defence rolls = higher chance of luck running out) and torpedos, and above all he suffers from not having autothrusters.

- To my mind, Vader is far more dangerous on the attack than Soontir, especially when you give him predator, as you have. Soontir is X-wing's strongest deal-closer. Many ships, left 1-1 in the end game against Soontir, will struggle to put any damage on the guy. He can be used tactically to draw opponents into positions because of this, as no-one wants to leave him alive too long, for precisely this reason.

- Vader's two strongest roles are in ace hunting and generic stomping. Ships with a lot of hull and low evade in particular fear his auto-crit. Vader on the tail of a yv-666, for instance, is usually game over for that ship.

- Here's the rub: if you go predator/vader, then he is tied on PS with his natural prey - soontir, whisper, xizor. You then have to include a healthy initiative bid, but soontir players in particular will often bid down to 98-6pts.

= So to summarise, predavader/LW/Juke Vader is best chosen to do high damage to generics, VI Vader is best chosen to hunt and execute aces. Soontir is chosen because he is point for point the toughest ship in the game, is a great deal-closer and harrier. Choose them, and build lists around them, accordingly.

I'd almost always take Soontir over Vader, he's just SO much more survivable. However, why not both?

Another thing to bear in mind is the overall squad composition. Soontir works really well with a Palp shuttle because a lucky roll is pretty much the only way to put damage through on him. Palpatine takes luck out of the equation.

Vader works well with Vessery as he can benefit from the Dark Lord's maintained target lock.

My question, at the risk of sounding like a troll, is: why take Vader over the Inquisitor?

My question, at the risk of sounding like a troll, is: why take Vader over the Inquisitor?

Quite a different playstyle no? A fully decked vader, while a bit fragile is really nasty. An inquisitor is also great, but you will play the two ships extremely differently.

Any EU version of Vader would ruin Inquisitor in a 1-1 fight, LW Vader in particular.

Vader is also much less predictable - The PTL TAP's real weakness is its stiff range of movement. Vader's whole dial is open to him.

Vader is an anti-ace ace when equipped with VI, having the best PS11 action economy in the game without sacrificing attack strength. Other Vader builds are effective, but don't really contribute much to overall damage output: predator Vader is nice, but hasn't got the PS or health to stay around long enough to really make use of it as much as other options might. Therefore, unless you need a dedicated PS11 ace killer there's pretty much no practical purpose for Vader in competitive builds; the Inquisitor, Soontir or Omega Leader all fill the same Ace role at cheaper cost and - usually - higher damage.

Vader has the potential to shine in the early game, taking out some of the enemy before he (almost always dies). Soontir is your late game ship. When everything else is off the board he swoops in and delivers the coup-de-grace.

Soontir is efficient, but not a heavy hitter. It will take him a few rounds to take out most things.

Vader can deliver a big hit but dies often.

I'd almost always take Soontir over Vader, he's just SO much more survivable. However, why not both?

Run Vader and Soontir with Inquisitor or Omega Leader. Fill out different roles. Inq snipes, Vader hunts and Soontir does Soontir Things.

Soontir/Vader/OL is solid, but in the current meta I'd replace Vader with Carnor, the ability to troll Jumpmasters is so valuable, plus Vader just isn't as survivable against turrets.

Soontir/Carnor/OL should be a solid list, but I went something like 3-13 at the UKGE regional and Yavin with it (and Dengar/Bossk as my Hangar Bay alt). That was a VERY painful weekend.

Lots of turrets in your meta = something with autothrusters

Not facing a turret, AT is veeeery situational, and Vader will be better value.