Does anyone habe experiences with Countdown. For 20 points he is really cheap and EPT seems to je not neccessary.

Another question is whether lightweight frame is worth it for him (2 points can be a lot). Usually I would say TIE striker like to habe the Lightweight frame, but maybe with his ability one could save tze points for e. g. 3pts Stealth Device on Omega Leader.

I know it also depends how many ships you are facing. The less enemy ships the worse the frame I guess

Hull upgrade over Lightweight Frame. And a lot of other targets to distract the enemy.

Countdown is my favorite striker pilot !

During a game he was locked by a enemy, he shot his clusters missiles. Thanks to Lightweight Frame and my focus I was able to dodge the first attack and use his ability to the second one.

22 pts of pure joy ! I use mostly has a trap ship : Ignore him, you will suffer or kill him but the rest of my squadron will avenge him !

Stealthdevice, he is never really "hit"

1 hour ago, Sciencius said:

Stealthdevice, he is never really "hit"

That's an interesting idea and could be great, but wont work against a stress mechanic or a 2nd attack in 1 round because you can only cancel if you're not stressed. Then you're stealth device advantage is deactivated so my guess is light weight frame is a better deal on average.

17 minutes ago, Roman109 said:

That's an interesting idea and could be great, but wont work against a stress mechanic or a 2nd attack in 1 round because you can only cancel if you're not stressed. Then you're stealth device advantage is deactivated so my guess is light weight frame is a better deal on average.

While true, Countdown is pretty awesome when run with Captain Yorr.

Hull all the way!

I've been so pleasantly surprised at how good countdown is, especially with Yorr flying support.

3 hours ago, FTS Gecko said:

Hull upgrade over Lightweight Frame. And a lot of other targets to distract the enemy.

This, yeah.

E: or for a dissenting opinion, Targetting Computer. You need your focus tokens a lot less and Strikers desperately want offensive rerolls.

What is the advatantage of stealth device when you get your additional defense die most of the time (and cheaper) by the lightweight frame?

2 hours ago, Roman109 said:

That's an interesting idea and could be great, but wont work against a stress mechanic or a 2nd attack in 1 round because you can only cancel if you're not stressed. Then you're stealth device advantage is deactivated so my guess is light weight frame is a better deal on average.

That the main reason I take lightweigt frame !

3 hours ago, IG88E said:

What is the advatantage of stealth device when you get your additional defense die most of the time (and cheaper) by the lightweight frame?

Lightweight Frame only kicks in when there are more attack dice than defense dice. So, for example, against 3 attack at range 3 you don't get an extra defense dice whereas you would with stealth device. Of course stealth device is probably not optimal on a 2 agility ship as you're much more likely to be hit and lose the stealth device so LWF is probably better as you don't lose it. The exception could be Countdown as you can suffer one damage to cancel all dice results; so you have not been hit and retain the stealth device for next time... hoping the green dice won't be so fickle next time.

Frame is goign to give you the same advantage in almost every situation for a point cheaper though. 2 die attacks are really uncommon.

17 minutes ago, thespaceinvader said:

Frame is goign to give you the same advantage in almost every situation for a point cheaper though. 2 die attacks are really uncommon.

Most likely to manifest at Range 3. It means range 3 attacks have a pretty high probability of not having to trigger his ability.

I guess, yeah. Except, it doesn't really. 3v4 when the 4 only has a focus token isn't that great.

Just now, thespaceinvader said:

I guess, yeah. Except, it doesn't really. 3v4 when the 4 only has a focus token isn't that great.

It's pretty good actually - 65% if attacker has Focus (vs 36% with LWF).

Thanks for the interesting answers. LWF, Stealth and Hull ugrade seem all to be viable options. I will stick to lightweight frame first.

Any other experiences with Countdown? Can't wait to male my own but unfortunately I have to wait 2 weeks for my next game

I'm interested to know. In theory he's pretty horrible because he stresses himself, then can't aileron, then has crap green moves, so gets shot again, so stresses again, so can't aileron again...

I think at least he is a very good jouster. With lots of 1-greens and straight greens he can slowroll with deactivated ailerons against an enemy ship.

Other point:

He can be resistant against Kylo Ren

He's a great tool against Kylo! When paired with Yorr, he's great to throw into the fray to soak up some damage, and help get your end game ship to the end game.

I have used him solidly since he came out, great ship.

Stick hull upgrade on him if you have spare points, if not just the title and he is a total ****.

He is a perfect flanker, you can't face him one on one and if your opponent wants to kill him he has to turn multiple ships towards him, sets up the rest of your ships to hit home, while he scoots off.

Plus as pointed out when he is stressed he becomes a slow rolling jouster, when ailerons are off and his 3 attack dice can't be ignored.

plus his ability to ignore special effects like Kylo and its gravy baby.

Just stay away from Dengar and stress dealers, makes Countdown a sad TIE fighter.

I fly Countdown with just the title and use him as a swarm leader feeder. In one game he took three range 1 full mod shots from Norra. Only resulted in 3 damage. Not many ships can boast that. Upsilon with 5 attack dice at range1? Well, countdown will fly right up to that ship and roll 4 dice and only take 1 damage in return. Your opponent either has to focus him down, letting someone like Swarm Leader Vessery do his thing, or else Countdown can go willy nilly all over the map and be a pest. Lovely ship for just 20pts.

Lightweight frame seems awesome, but I dig another upgrade, it's sweet:

Epsilon Ace (17): Targeting Sychronizer (3)

Backdraft (27): Adaptibility (0), Lightweight Frame (2), Specisl Ops Training (0), Fire-control System (2)

Countdown (20): Twin Ion Engine MKII (1), Adaptive Ailerons (0)

Omicron Group Pilot (21): General Hux (5), Collision Detector (0)

.....this is so very fun....might need some massaging a bit, but I love Twin Ion Engine MKII on countdown and run it at their big gun!

5 hours ago, clanofwolves said:

Lightweight frame seems awesome, but...

Countdown (20): Twin Ion Engine MKII (1), Adaptive Ailerons (0)

.....this is so very fun....might need some massaging a bit, but I love Twin Ion Engine MKII on countdown and run it at their big gun!

Twin ion engine mk2 seems more beneficial to Countdown. You only get to use his ability if he's not stressed. So give yourself more opportunities to shed stress.

5 hours ago, clanofwolves said:

Lightweight frame seems awesome, but I dig another upgrade, it's sweet:

Epsilon Ace (17): Targeting Sychronizer (3)

Just a helpful suggestion, but in your current build, the Targeting Synchronizer is a wasted 3 points. It only helps other ships use ordnance, it does nothing else. You friendly ships cannot use your target locks as their own for re rolling dice, so probably a Comm Relay will be more helpful to your current build.

They can, I believe, so long as they've got a target lock on the ship already. They can use their TL but choose to discard your Synch TL as the cost.