I used SJ to good effect a couple times and I enjoy seeing various mechanics of the game employed (so few defensive capabilities alter attacker rolls).

I anticipate seeing Expertise on the table quite a bit. Do you think that SJ is now a goner?

I don't think Expertise will see a huge amount of play, it can be easily stopped by stress givers, which there now seems to be a plethora of. But of course when you need SJ to work it will be against some guy with Expertise.

How many enemy ships do you anticipate taking Expertise? If it's only one, then the SJ still works against the rest of the list, and it may be possible to get some stress to land on the other guy (even if only by provoking a Red maneuver of some kind, or perhaps by bringing all Debris as a kind of soft counter to it). If it's more than one, that's a lot of points sunk into Elite upgrades that aren't going toward defense, pilot skill, ship quality, or even initiative bids.

Rebel Captive

Imperial only.

Once per round, the first ship that declares you as the target of an attack immediately receives 1 stress token.

Plus

Sensor Jammer

When defending, you may change 1 of the attacker's (boom) results into a (eyeball) result.

The attacker cannot reroll the die with the changed result.

So I don't think so, no.

No. Even if every ept pilot takes it which they won't pilots without epts still exist.

Simply, no. Expertise is situational, not all ships will take it.

I wouldn't be so optimistic. Sensor Jammer is rarely used anyway, because of focus token stacks and this is yet another reason not to use sensor jammer. But i think that if you want, you can make it work anyway, some stress and token-stripping will come in handy.

While i sgree that it is a direct vounter, at 4 points a piece, i do not see them burning up the meta except in specific builds (palp shuttle, for example).

Admittedly it's a hard counter, but frankly, you aren't going to see too much of Expertise. It is too expensive and too situational for general use. You are better off with a raw focus token, and most ships have no problem grabbing one.

Yes expertise is expensive, but I could see lots of action starved ships taking it. It will free up the focus token for defense, or an evade, boost, etc for defense and still have some offensive punch. Perhaps not meta changing, but I think it will see more use than its cost might otherwise predict.

Theyre both incredibly niche

Cant even imagine many viable places for expertise apart from overpriced fat pwts

Only thing i could think of is kylo ren shuttle with fcs

Full offensive mods; action free to coordinate without issue

The following are decent uses of expertise that may see play:

Horton Salm (36) - A complete focus + target lock combo, for free, every turn.

TLT

Expertise

R2-D6

Rey (62) - A super hard hitter with a early full focus+target lock combo for free. Kanan makes the sloops white, so no stress ever.

Finn

Engine Upgrade

Expertise

Kanan Jarrus

Sloop Title

That's all I can thnk of in terms of super-potent uses. Gamma squad vets with cluster+homing missiles would be my next choice, but that's super pricy. As for sensor jammer itself: its mainly for use against no-action ships, like a blocked TIE swarm. Anything that can take an action in a given turn is already bypassing the Sensor Jammer. Here's a decent Sensor jammer build:

Blue Squadron Pathfinder (31) - Expensive, but durable. I believe this is the only AGI 2+ ship with Sysems and Crew slots.

Sensor Jammer

Flight Instructor

As for sensor jammer itself: its mainly for use against no-action ships, like a blocked TIE swarm. Anything that can take an action in a given turn is already bypassing the Sensor Jammer.

I use Sensor Jammer a lot on Guri. Many times Sensor Jammer is still useful even if a ship takes the focus action. You either force a ship to spend a token on offense that they would have had for defense.

Zuckuss with Dengar and Expertise starts at 35 points and could be fun.

Palob with TLT, Dengar, and Expertise starts at 33.

Expertise and either Tailgunner or Dengar could be cool on either Kath or Boba Fett.

The Denger + Expertise combo is probably going to find a home somewhere. It's 7 points but provides actionless full mods on attacks.

Rexlar Brath might actually get to use his focus token for his ability...

Rexlar Brath might actually get to use his focus token for his ability...

Expertise helps counter higher PS hotshot copilots. So I think we'll see more use from expertise if we start seeing HSCP flooding various metas.

Expertise helps counter higher PS hotshot copilots. So I think we'll see more use from expertise if we start seeing HSCP flooding various metas.

Hadn't considered that one. Good point

Zuckuss with Dengar and Expertise starts at 35 points and could be fun.

Palob with TLT, Dengar, and Expertise starts at 33.

Expertise and either Tailgunner or Dengar could be cool on either Kath or Boba Fett.

The Denger + Expertise combo is probably going to find a home somewhere. It's 7 points but provides actionless full mods on attacks.

My current plan is to try that combo on Ketsu. Allows me to use my actions for evade, mobile arc, and boosting since I always put engine upgrade on her.

I don't think Expertise will see a massive amount of use, but I do think it will see about as much use as the most popular non-PTL elites.

Also, while stress does shut it down, you know what else is shut down by stress? The most popular elite by a thousand miles- push the limit. Expertise is PTL for ships that pay a point penalty for not having a dial that can easily clear the stress, which, considering PTL should likely have costed at least 4 points, isn't the worst tax to pay.

Expertise will largely be ignored due to the price and stress cancel. Only a handful of pilots will actually get use from it.

honestly, the stress cancel is a very niche counter

apart from Asajj, you don't actually see that many (if any) stress control mechanics out. Hell, I love the crap out of r3-a2 Braylen/Thane but, given their relative non-existence, you don't have to worry about losing expertise to them unless you play against me

I haven't used it yet to my inability to find the U to purchase, but I'm itching to try it on a never-used-ship:

But Sensor Jammer is a usual on some ships, Lambda is certainly one; and one friend likes it on all of his large ships for some reason. It'll be fine...

Expertise seems like a decent choice for Vader, would let him use reposition actions more often.

Expertise seems like a decent choice for Vader, would let him use reposition actions more often.

That's why I tend to put Predator on him.