Whisper usually can't afford to lose VI, there are just too many PS8-9 ships that could kill a naked whisper in very few turns.

Put Lightweight Frame! So he is no more that naked

I like it on wedge

Give him that plus advanced proton and pair him with VI Wes and your looking dead soontir real quick

oh right, almost forgot

put expertise on Kylo Ren

the angry bugger with it and FCS is completely taken care of; can even target-lock on approach to get immediate full modifiers

got FCS set-up? Great! Bump city; who gives a crap? You always get fully modified 4 red dice.

Don't bump? Sweet, you can coordinate!

you can also boost if you spring for engines

40 points is VCX territory, and honestly and shuttle isn't durable, but it is chunky enough to be worth it at that range

Expertise > Predator. I'd gladly pay the extra point for it. It will be solid on Kylo, Wedge, and I'd even like it on Darth Vader.

Expertise > Predator. I'd gladly pay the extra point for it. It will be solid on Kylo, Wedge, and I'd even like it on Darth Vader.

not when stressed

also more expensive, and 1 point means a lot

doubt it'll amount to anything on ships that can't really exploit it to the fullest possible extent other than more points for the opponent to get

Expertise is extraordinarily powerful. EXTRAORDINARILY powerful. It won't fit into a "niche" so much as displace huge piles of less capable alternative EPTs.

TIE/D all the way.

Yeah, a lot of people poo poo on expertise, a lot of people aren't that great at this game either. A defender, let's say Ryad, can take expertise. She now can bump doing a three+ speed manuever and still get the equivalent of 2 actions. No bump? Three and no stress. Vessery? Bump and have a TL ship on front of you? 3 actions, no bump, 4. Unlike PtL, this leaves them less vulnerable from BMST and a lot less to worry about flying against things that are meaning to block.

If people truly think this is just a niche upgrade, they are hopeless. The ships that can use this will be just like PtL, not every single one, but a mass majority can.

Mean while this will get a lot more stress givers in the meta due to it effectively shutting down free action econ.

4pts is 2 snapshots these days... or four crackshots! That's tough competition!

But, seriously, if you can mitigate stress it's totally worth it.

Zuckuss, flying his own ship for a change.

Mitigate stress and have a valid option for the other action.

Using this for a non-stress "PTL" since you dont need a focus action on its own is a bad idea. Lot of ships wouldnt be able to consistently do that without getting stressed at some point, or worse yet destress and have a shot.

But for the ones that can, most notably Defenders, its way better than PTL. If you take PTL, more often than not youre taking a focus + either TL or Barrelroll. Which also forced you to take Mk2 engines, even on Ryad, because you cant bank/turn to destress. Ryad can somewhat mitigate that by green kturns but sometimes those dont help either (rocks, bad angle, etc). This lets you not be glued to the mk2 as well, allowing other mods.

Its not a cureall, both because its more expensive and the "focus" is locked as your second "action" so you cant barrelroll + TL on said Defender. It does vastly open up possibilities though.

And Vessery is going to have a field day with this lol

Zuckuss, flying his own ship for a change.

Give him FCS, letting him evade, while still making full use of his ability. Interesting.

Zuckuss, flying his own ship for a change.

Give him FCS, letting him evade, while still making full use of his ability. Interesting.

only issue here is mindlink provides almost the same payoff but for the entire squad and for about the same price overall as a single Expertise

Personally not sold on hotshpt gunner

Either bounces off of an ARCs mighty 1 agi or off of a mindlinked scum's 3 focus (mindlink + action + manny; did it with xizor and it was utter hilarity)

While the defender whiffs its less than full mods attacks constantly

In my experience anyway

Also, in a mindlink squad, you can always shoot the guy that has only the one focus from mindlink.

I'll have to test it further, but looks solid so far. Not sure about Rexler (never got his ability off, either took down just shield, pushed a single crit through or simply killed the target), but it may be useful against low-agi, high-HP targets.

Zuckuss, flying his own ship for a change.

Give him FCS, letting him evade, while still making full use of his ability. Interesting.

only issue here is mindlink provides almost the same payoff but for the entire squad and for about the same price overall as a single Expertise

If you're willing to take the stress.

Zuckuss, flying his own ship for a change.

Give him FCS, letting him evade, while still making full use of his ability. Interesting.

only issue here is mindlink provides almost the same payoff but for the entire squad and for about the same price overall as a single Expertise

If you're willing to take the stress.

unlike expertise, mindlink will get you focus mods through said stress

But this is zuckuss pilot, not crew

Buzzsaw Whisper with Expertise would have unbelievable shooting, and a token stack to boot. I think the trick to making it work is to pair her with Decoy Vader, to giver her PS9 recloaking:

Expertise is extraordinarily powerful. EXTRAORDINARILY powerful. It won't fit into a "niche" so much as displace huge piles of less capable alternative EPTs.

I could be wrong, but I see it as potentially so good that it brings weaponized stress back in a big way.

Expertise is just asking to be countered by Rebel Captive

There are a couple cases I agree with Expertise, but Predator is just way easier!

Wait, people are poo-pooing Expertise??

Four points is a lot.

You're a lot.

Yeah as soon as the card was spoiled I was thinking it's just a less reliable, more expensive predator. At first glance it appears to be better than predator, but that's before you factor in that it can be turned off (rather easily too). It also requires a TL instead of a focus for the double modifier, which telegraphs your target if you can even acquire it.

"Omega Leader" (21)

A Score to Settle (0)

Oh, that's filthy. Hadn't seen that before, but good for a budget Omega Leader.

"Omega Leader" (21)

A Score to Settle (0)

Oh, that's filthy. Hadn't seen that before, but good for a budget Omega Leader.

It is the only use for that card at the moment.

I wish there were a way to get Expertise on a Ghost with docked Phantom. Kanan would love this.

Buzzsaw Whisper with Expertise would have unbelievable shooting, and a token stack to boot. I think the trick to making it work is to pair her with Decoy Vader, to giver her PS9 recloaking:

"Whisper" (32)

Expertise (4)

Fire-Control System (2)

Gunner (5)

Advanced Cloaking Device (4)

Darth Vader (29)

Decoy (2)

Advanced Targeting Computer (1)

TIE/x1 (0)

"Omega Leader" (21)

A Score to Settle (0)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

It will murderize anything that can't take a hit and relies on green dice and token to evade everything. On the other hand, it will suffer against any lists that can simply accept the damage (or don't really have much choice anyway). Having to fly both of your aces more-or-less together will significantly reduce your ability to dodge arcs (not to mention doing so will be harder at PS7 anyway). It's an interesting idea though.

"Omega Leader" (21)

A Score to Settle (0)

Oh, that's filthy. Hadn't seen that before, but good for a budget Omega Leader.

It is the only use for that card at the moment.

Is it though? It's a free focus-to-crit for 1 of your ships and 1 of enemy's. The point is, you get to decide which ship you put it on and which enemy ship you use it on. Therefore you can put it on a ship that the enemy would normally not choose as his first target, potentially messing up his kill priority, and mark the opponent you do want to take out ASAP. I'd take it over adaptability most of the time.