I was particularly excited about the upcoming Vaksai and Starviper title cards, and I was thinking about what kind of title might work for TIE interceptors. Specifically the issue is that it shouldn't compound with RGP, and to be honest, shouldn't give similar benefits, shouldn't always eclipse it, and if anything, make them more fragile.

Key aims:

• The upgrade should give at best a marginal boost to Carnor Jax, and Soontir Fel, and
• The upgrade should give a heavy boost to all ps 4-7 Interceptor pilots, which does not involve increased maneuverability, hull, shields or any kind of improved evasion.
• The upgrade should make these ships easier to kill outright than an RGP Autothrusters/Stealth device ship, but give improvement in some other category
• You should not be able to fit 4 interceptors in a squad if they take autothrusters.
• Saber Squadron should feel outrageously elite

Rationale:
I thought that perhaps along the line of these pilots being " the very best TIE unit in the Empire" at the time they started using blood stripes, giving them the benefits of extremely high PS, without any way of adding enough hull to make it overpowered could be a great way of creating some exciting options for the interceptor. These ships become pure arc dodgers, but suffer all the problems of being 3 hull ships with no stealth devices.

Suggested card:


How is this balanced?:
The method to the madness of such crazy PS here is a dual penalty. The upgrade costs 0 but you MUST spend 6 to use the title, and your only mod spot will probably end up being autothrusters or you're going to be splatted by PWTs in no time flat. This effectively levies a mandatory 8-9pt cost on top of the pilot cost to use the title, with the second penalty being the loss of using both SD and AT. Yes, your interceptor is wildly skillful, but it's also a whopping 35ish points for 3 hull with no stealth device. You probably get an offensive boost from your second EPT, like predator or expertise or outmaneuver, but the loss of the SD or shield is going to sting very badly.

This means the absolute minimum cost of one of these ships is 27 points, and 29 with autothrusters, which leaves little room for abuse of the generic saber squadron pilot. The strength of the ships becomes their high PS, which natively puts them above every other ship typically seen in the game, barring a VI vader. Most importantly, you can fly a canonical 3-ship saber squadron that packs a punch. The 1ps higher means there is a strong incentive to Soontir to take the title, but he does become more fragile in return for better offense, crucially, this upgrade doesn't make him invincible, but a little more survivable against ps9 aces. He still is probably the best pilot choice of all the interceptors with the extra focus token, on par with carnor. Carnor mind you probably prefers the old title in some squads, as survivability (and AT+SD) is what he needs, not more offense.

Interested in your thoughts if you think this has some merit or is ludicrous. I get that initially it may look horribly OP, but consider the point cost penalties and modification slot penalties. You are still super sensitive to stress and bombs. You've only got 3 hull, Palp just isn't as powerful anymore. One block and you're still toast, if not more so. But there is the strong possibility that all of a sudden, you feel like you're flying a 181st interceptor.

Also fixes Fel's Wrath ;). With apologies to Darren Tan for altering his artwork.

...Should we guys tell him that a lot of very good players took Targetting computer on Soontir over Stealth Device, and that Carnor never used SD in the first place?

P.S. This needs a note that the two EPTs need to be different.

5 minutes ago, Elavion said:

...Should we guys tell him that a lot of very good players took Targetting computer on Soontir over Stealth Device, and that Carnor never used SD in the first place?

P.S. This needs a note that the two EPTs need to be different.

Fel TC was oodles of fun long before AT even hit the scene. This comes from a more prickly meta where it seems that Fel goes up in a puff of smoke when he hasn't got a SD...

Good point on the EPT!

The Interceptor is well balanced and competitive. I play them all the time with very good results

People always underestimate the lowly Alpha Squadron.

Whatever the title, it needs to increase hull by 1.

3 minutes ago, IG88E said:

The Interceptor is well balanced and competitive. I play them all the time with very good results

Agreed. The aim of this title isn't to significantly boost every Interceptor, but to bring intermediate interceptors to a level playing field with Jax and Fel.

2 minutes ago, Rakaydos said:

People always underestimate the lowly Alpha Squadron.

Yep, It hasn't been included as an Alpha with AT has been (in my hands) a pretty potent low cost ship.

I really like this card. It's well-designed, well-worded, and it looks really pretty. As mentioned before, I would make it read "you must equip two different EPT upgrades . . . " in order to keep away from weird stuff like double Predator or PtL or something. I can definitely see running Turr with PtL and Predator or something; he'd be insanely good at PS 10 with double repositioning after he shoots and a reroll. I'd almost call it broken, but really, there's other much more broken stuff out there. It would make it worthwhile to take an Interceptor despite the threat of bombers.

Ignore this post.

31 minutes ago, citruscannon said:

Agreed. The aim of this title isn't to significantly boost every Interceptor, but to bring intermediate interceptors to a level playing field with Jax and Fel.

To the place where they are 100% unfun vs. newbies and still die instantaneously against a hard sneeze and meta lists vs. decent pilots?

The interceptor is dead Long live the interceptor

Just now, Rakky Wistol said:

To the place where they are 100% unfun vs. newbies and still die instantaneously against a hard sneeze and meta lists vs. decent pilots?

The interceptor is dead Long live the interceptor

Haha, er, sort of hoping for high enough PS that they can avoid situations where they get sneezed at in the first place, but do so at the cost of the upgrades that make them unfun vs. newbies?

This card would go with the above title as a potential pair.

You lose the r3 niceties of autothrusters, are better rewarded for arcdodging, and gives your trajectory a nudge ability, similar to BB8 or Sabine. This makes straight 3s or straight 4s on unstressed approaches heavily adjustable and unpredictable with a PTL action off the barrel roll, but doesn't synchronize well with the green 2s, so there are limits. Facing an interceptor with these, the initial approach may end up being very hard to block, but subsequent turns this effect disappears as the Ties start using PTL, especially with stress control. If you choose not to use PTL, keeping this effect active, you get more maneuverable TIEs, but they're easier to hit?

Also pretty wild for emergency evasive maneuvers dodging mines, but as a consequence you probably won't be shooting at much that turn.

34 minutes ago, Ailowynn said:

I really like this card. It's well-designed, well-worded, and it looks really pretty. As mentioned before, I would make it read "you must equip two different EPT upgrades . . . " in order to keep away from weird stuff like double Predator or PtL or something. I can definitely see running Turr with PtL and Predator or something; he'd be insanely good at PS 10 with double repositioning after he shoots and a reroll. I'd almost call it broken, but really, there's other much more broken stuff out there. It would make it worthwhile to take an Interceptor despite the threat of bombers.

Thanks! I made the adjustment you suggested

Why should just any Tie Interceptor out pilot skill Wedge Antilles or Poe Dameron for free?

7 hours ago, citruscannon said:

Saber Squadron should feel outrageously elite

So explain to me why anyone would EVER fly a Saber Squadron pilot once this card exists?

This title makes your PS10 regardless of what your previous PS is. So why would anyone ever fly a Saber Squadron or Avenger Squadron pilot when you can take the Alpha Squadron pilot and end up at with the same PS for less cost?

6 hours ago, Elavion said:

...Should we guys tell him that a lot of very good players took Targetting computer on Soontir over Stealth Device, and that Carnor never used SD in the first place?

Hey, I played a very well flown Soontir, Carnor and Tomax list last weekend. Carnor had Stealth Device and was untouchable (and the sole survivor of the game!)

T'was an incredibly fun game.

2 minutes ago, DarthEnderX said:

So explain to me why anyone would EVER fly a Saber Squadron pilot once this card exists?

This title makes your PS10 regardless of what your previous PS is. So why would anyone ever fly a Saber Squadron or Avenger Squadron pilot when you can take the Alpha Squadron pilot and end up at with the same PS for less cost?

PS limited to 4 or higher.

Definitely dig the general concept-- one tweak I would make would be to only apply PS10 during activation phase so that Fel's Wrath, PS6 generic, etc. maintain a purpose.

I like it because it makes all of the interceptors dangerous BUT opens them up to being blocked so it's high-risk, high-reward with a mandatory point sink in the EPTs.

6 hours ago, IG88E said:

The Interceptor is well balanced and competitive. I play them all the time with very good results

Your personal experiences are no valid data set. You and your games are not enough to make this generalized statement about the Interceptor and its balancing and I wish everyone would stop doing things like this. Because this is just your opinion but phrased as fact.

14 minutes ago, RampancyTW said:

PS limited to 4 or higher.

Ah, I missed that.

Still, the flat PS10 is still weird because it completely invalidates whatever the PS of the previous pilot was.

For example, this completely kills the Royal Guard pilot, because there's no reason to pay more for the RGP for the exact same PS.

12 minutes ago, DarthEnderX said:

Ah, I missed that.

Still, the flat PS10 is still weird because it completely invalidates whatever the PS of the previous pilot was.

For example, this completely kills the Royal Guard pilot, because there's no reason to pay more for the RGP for the exact same PS.

Not to mention your non-unique Interceptor pilots would outskill Darth Vader....

PS10 and the ability to slot 2 EPTs are NOT marginal buffs to Soontir and (especially) Carnor. It's practically the ability to slot 3 talents (considering the title is like VI/Adaptability) and since interceptors live and die by their ability to outmaneuver their opponents. PS10 on pretty much all interceptors would make them downright crazy.

That said, they'd still die horribly to Sabine-boosted bombs - which is the true reason interceptors don't see much use these days, even Soontir and Carnor. As long as you don't run into a bomb list, you're fine. If you do however, you might just as well give up right away and spare yourself the frustration of choosing between turning towards the enemy and getting a single volley of shots before you get obliterated or running away for the whole game, failing to kill anything and in the end probably getting caught and obliterated anyway.

11 minutes ago, Lightrock said:

That said, they'd still die horribly to Sabine-boosted bombs - which is the true reason interceptors don't see much use these days, even Soontir and Carnor. As long as you don't run into a bomb list, you're fine. If you do however, you might just as well give up right away and spare yourself the frustration of choosing before turning towards the enemy and getting a single volley of shots before you get obliterated or running away for the whole game, failing to kill anything and in the end probably getting caught and obliterated anyway.

The winner right here. All those AGI dice? NOPE! 35 point Soontir Fel instantly dies to a SLAM'd Sabine'd cluster-mine. What fun!

That being said, I think this title will be really good on Sabine's Stolen TIE Interceptor (which will have 2 shields for some reason). Then you can fly the best Interceptor in the galaxy........as a rebel!

But who am I kidding, this game's not about Rebels, it's about Scum! If you really want to fly Interceptors, just grab the new Scum Aces pack and go for it! Cause who needs faction balance when you can buff one faction again, and again, and again, and again, and again....

#SCUMWING

I like how you care about the TIE Interceptor @citruscannon . Your ideas are cool, they just need to be refined and polished. Other than that, we'll done.

Could you something like this for X-wings please?

2 hours ago, DarthEnderX said:

Ah, I missed that.

Still, the flat PS10 is still weird because it completely invalidates whatever the PS of the previous pilot was.

For example, this completely kills the Royal Guard pilot, because there's no reason to pay more for the RGP for the exact same PS.

I think maintaining original PS for combat phase fixes that. 1 point gets you 2 higher PS for firing, for example, and the pilot abilities on the mid-level aces become way more viable with reposition info and EPT access, but lack the early firing of a Carnor or a Fel.

10 hours ago, citruscannon said:

I was particularly excited about the upcoming Vaksai and Starviper title cards, and I was thinking about what kind of title might work for TIE interceptors. Specifically the issue is that it shouldn't compound with RGP, and to be honest, shouldn't give similar benefits, shouldn't always eclipse it, and if anything, make them more fragile.

Key aims:

• The upgrade should give at best a marginal boost to Carnor Jax, and Soontir Fel, and
• The upgrade should give a heavy boost to all ps 4-7 Interceptor pilots, which does not involve increased maneuverability, hull, shields or any kind of improved evasion.
• The upgrade should make these ships easier to kill outright than an RGP Autothrusters/Stealth device ship, but give improvement in some other category
• You should not be able to fit 4 interceptors in a squad if they take autothrusters.
• Saber Squadron should feel outrageously elite

Rationale:
I thought that perhaps along the line of these pilots being " the very best TIE unit in the Empire" at the time they started using blood stripes, giving them the benefits of extremely high PS, without any way of adding enough hull to make it overpowered could be a great way of creating some exciting options for the interceptor. These ships become pure arc dodgers, but suffer all the problems of being 3 hull ships with no stealth devices.

Suggested card:


How is this balanced?:
The method to the madness of such crazy PS here is a dual penalty. The upgrade costs 0 but you MUST spend 6 to use the title, and your only mod spot will probably end up being autothrusters or you're going to be splatted by PWTs in no time flat. This effectively levies a mandatory 8-9pt cost on top of the pilot cost to use the title, with the second penalty being the loss of using both SD and AT. Yes, your interceptor is wildly skillful, but it's also a whopping 35ish points for 3 hull with no stealth device. You probably get an offensive boost from your second EPT, like predator or expertise or outmaneuver, but the loss of the SD or shield is going to sting very badly.

This means the absolute minimum cost of one of these ships is 27 points, and 29 with autothrusters, which leaves little room for abuse of the generic saber squadron pilot. The strength of the ships becomes their high PS, which natively puts them above every other ship typically seen in the game, barring a VI vader. Most importantly, you can fly a canonical 3-ship saber squadron that packs a punch. The 1ps higher means there is a strong incentive to Soontir to take the title, but he does become more fragile in return for better offense, crucially, this upgrade doesn't make him invincible, but a little more survivable against ps9 aces. He still is probably the best pilot choice of all the interceptors with the extra focus token, on par with carnor. Carnor mind you probably prefers the old title in some squads, as survivability (and AT+SD) is what he needs, not more offense.

Interested in your thoughts if you think this has some merit or is ludicrous. I get that initially it may look horribly OP, but consider the point cost penalties and modification slot penalties. You are still super sensitive to stress and bombs. You've only got 3 hull, Palp just isn't as powerful anymore. One block and you're still toast, if not more so. But there is the strong possibility that all of a sudden, you feel like you're flying a 181st interceptor.

Also fixes Fel's Wrath ;). With apologies to Darren Tan for altering his artwork.

This is excellent! I do think that the ps 10 bump should only be for activation phase, not combat phase.