Its significantly harder to optimally use, so its rare. Its strong but not amazing since its ~5pts more expensive than an x7 (no -2 and +1-3 depending on cannon) AND easier to kill.

If it had either no point limit or at least high enough to bring a Mangler cannnon, you'd probably see it alot. But that might be a bit too good. Right now its limited to "if hits deal 1 damage" cannons.

4 hours ago, Captain Lackwit said:

Yeah but with Double-Ds who needs more?

The D is all you'll need.

(Stop it, self!)

I ran the Tie/D this weekend as a test on Vessery. I ended up 2-2 with it but I feel like with more practice I could do much better. Here is the list. This was the first time i flew this list so there was a learning curve. (it also did not help that my 2 losses were to lists designed to wreck Defenders. Homing Missile Spam.)

Col. Ves

Tie/d

Swarm Leader

Prockets

GC

Tractor Beam

Delta Squadron Pilot x2

Tie x/7

Tie MK2

the theory here is against an ace i try to tractor them or strip tokens and then roll 5 or 6 dice on the second shot.

When it works it wrecks face especially if you get that tractor beam on an ace and then get to throw 6 dice with a tl and a focus. In the future I may drop Prockets and the mk2 on the deltas to either add homing missles back in on vess or up the deltas to onyx's.

TIE /D should've been -2 to offset the expense of cannons.

X7 should've been 0 points because an awesome benefit and a point reduction is too good to pass up.

They almost got it right, they just switched the point costs.

Given that the /x7 title has just been lovingly caressed with the nerf-bat, we might see a bit more /D now, especially on Vessery who can really make some use of it.

Ruthlessness Tractor Beam is an interesting way to go with it.

Forces opponents out of formation which can mess with a lot of lists, especially the new Manaroo. And if your opponents do break formation Tractor Beam can drag them back.

19 hours ago, Sekac said:

TIE /D should've been -2 to offset the expense of cannons.

X7 should've been 0 points because an awesome benefit and a point reduction is too good to pass up.

They almost got it right, they just switched the point costs.

Yeah pretty much this. The Defender was significantly overcosted. One option removes slots it's not using and gives it a big capability buff, that's 0 points. The other forces it to spend at least one extra point, and gives it a relatively minor capability buff (at most an extra damage and some token stripping, or an agility debuff which is great, in the right situations) for no extra ability to survive. That should have come with a discount.

Two weeks ago I bought Imperial Veterans. Before that I did not own a Defender.

Now...., I am a fan! TIE/D is great! Tractorbeams are marvelous!

I even consider trading half of my Imperial Aces pack content with a friend for TIE Defender pack content. I s**k with squints and he has originally bought 3 TIE Defenders before Veterans came out. A win-win for all! :-)

I must try the TIE/D with the Ion cannon too, but thus far the 1 point Tractor Beam is a hit (pun intended, sorry ;-) )

The /D was already good but x7 was simply the better option except in a few corner cases. Not only was x7 powerful, it was face rolling my easy to use. Now that blocking and stress actually matter against the x7, the /D becomes more attractive.

A mix of the two in the meta would be nice.

With Stress potentially actually having an effect again, even Flechette Cannons might be worth considering.

Eh. In virtually every case I'd rather have tractor or ion. Ion gives WAY better movement control, Tractor offers much higher damage potential.

If Flechette stressed automatically as the missile does, or allowed stacking stress, it might be worth it, but as it is I don't think it's better than either of the other options in any list.

I really like the /D title and I try to use it as much as possible. Have a few lists (mainly with /D Vessery) that I fall back on from time to time. I've actually just gave a go at "NickDraw" (Nick Yun's list tha he took to the recent Yavin Open, here in the UK) which is great fun, but rather unforgiving, as per the norm with Imp Aces. Vessery packs punch in this, w/ TIE/D Tractor Beam, Expertise and Twin Eng MkII, but comes at 41 pts.

Wonder how much the new FAQ will have an impact on the x7 monopoly, but I warrant that in competitive play, it might still be the preferred option...

I think /x7 will probably remain the preferred choice due to the popularity of token stacking. Ironically, /D is now more reliable as it cannot be prevented while /x7 can be prevented by Stress, Ion and blocking.

On 3/4/2017 at 0:25 AM, BadMotivator said:

Vessery: Tie/D, Ion Cannon, Veteran Instincts. 43 points. 41 if you for the tractor beam.

I have good news for you, good sir: for some reason you've added 4 points to these totals. VI/Ion Cannon Vessery is 39 points, with Tractor Beam he's 37.