So let us do some actual comparison work:

TIE Defender: 6 hull, 5 speed, 2.5 average damage vs squads, 44% chance of 1 accuracy, .75 average damage vs ships

E Wing: 5 hull, 4 speed, 2 average damage vs squads / 1.5 with snipe, 68% chance of accuracy / 58% with snipe, .75 damage vs ships

So on that basis, the TIE Defender is slightly better unless you can leverage snipe, at which point the selective engagement matters for the E-wing.

Thus, question one: does snipe matter to you?

The other fly in the ointment is that while Imperials have one dominant all-around choice (TIE defender), Rebels also have the A-wing (maybe the best all-around squadron for the points in the game) and the YT-2400 (which allows more combat ships). The imperials have no equivalent.

Side note: I think the phantom will see more play with Sloane. She is huge for the anti-ship capability of the Phantom, as accuracy now hurts and re-rolls of crits mean 1/4 of red faces cause a re-roll for the Phantom.

36 minutes ago, Church14 said:

I don't think A/E is the ideal mix. If I face that, I'm going to mix it up at point blank and focus the E-wings down. An E/X combo is more ideal. don't hear complaining that Saber squadron sucks up close because people realize they shouldn't be used like that. I think if Ewings had 3-4 hull, people would play them smarter

I think that's the issue, actually. Snipe is something of a specialized ability- It feels weird on a generalist fighter like the E-wing. No matter what situation the e-wing is in, it feels like something you paid for is going to waste. A cheaper, frailer fighter would probably have been a better platform for snipe. I'm not saying the E-wing is bad, mind you, but paying so much for a squad that doesn't excel at anything means it needs to do a lot to earn it's points back, and without one clear strength, that ends up being an uphill battle for many players.

3 minutes ago, Reinholt said:

Side note: I think the phantom will see more play with Sloane. She is huge for the anti-ship capability of the Phantom, as accuracy now hurts and re-rolls of crits mean 1/4 of red faces cause a re-roll for the Phantom.

Yea, but I still feel that they need swarm to really make it worth the 14 point cost. Why not just spend the 2 more points for the defender that is faster, more health, harder hitting against squadrons.

1 minute ago, Squark said:

I think that's the issue, actually. Snipe is something of a specialized ability- It feels weird on a generalist fighter like the E-wing. No matter what situation the e-wing is in, it feels like something you paid for is going to waste. A cheaper, frailer fighter would probably have been a better platform for snipe. I'm not saying the E-wing is bad, mind you, but paying so much for a squad that doesn't excel at anything means it needs to do a lot to earn it's points back, and without one clear strength, that ends up being an uphill battle for many players.

I won't disagree with this.

What I do disagree with, is the people who then make the assumption/statement that the E-Wing is "Overcosted", because they're not able to get the most of it to work for them.

That's not something to be angry or ashamed about - that's just something to accept... I, for the life of me, can't leverage A-Wings, for Example... I have horrible counter rolls, and I tend to overcommit too quickly to attempt to pin down, and get destroyed in piecemeal.

So instead, I switched over to something that suits me more, rather than less. That's all.

1 minute ago, TallGiraffe said:

Yea, but I still feel that they need swarm to really make it worth the 14 point cost. Why not just spend the 2 more points for the defender that is faster, more health, harder hitting against squadrons.

Because that one time you roll Quad Red Hits against a Ship as a last-ditch clutch shot, its so good it hurts

Snipe is not great,

until you have your intel sniped from out of your bomber ball, or as happened to me, a critical shuttle that was relaying all my squad commands. 1 a-wing in an engagement blind spot and a pair of e-wings sniping past my escort and bu-bye shuttle

There are going to be some very powerful TIE swarms thanks to the new quasar, I don't think defenders will be able to keep up.

2 hours ago, Darthain said:

Strong AA, snipe, speed 4, bombers is the issue, speed 4 is big, and alone worth the 2 points difference from x wings. Y wings are very weak antisquad. You want a perfect all rounder and not to pay for it.

http://kdyards.com/squadrons.view.php?id=1076

how is this for fair

E-wings also can more efficiently destroy Interceptors since they can snipe them from a distance.

E-Wings can also snipe an Intel ship and tie up the bombers at the same time. You may use your snipe ability to snipe as long as there are no escort engaged with you.

Snipe do have some really great versatility but do require some thinking to make them work, no excuse to call them useless.

58 minutes ago, Drasnighta said:

I won't disagree with this.

What I do disagree with, is the people who then make the assumption/statement that the E-Wing is "Overcosted", because they're not able to get the most of it to work for them.

That's not something to be angry or ashamed about - that's just something to accept... I, for the life of me, can't leverage A-Wings, for Example... I have horrible counter rolls, and I tend to overcommit too quickly to attempt to pin down, and get destroyed in piecemeal.

So instead, I switched over to something that suits me more, rather than less. That's all.

Still for the fact that its supposed to be the best alrounder and is bad at bombing because of inconsistency and that bomber command centre was changed. Also snipe is not too broken without being activated by a ship

3 minutes ago, starbat861 said:

http://kdyards.com/squadrons.view.php?id=1076

how is this for fair

That should be more like 20 points IMO. One more keyword, better antiship die, one more hull and only one less speed for 1 point extra compared to a Defender?

2 minutes ago, jorgen_cab said:

E-wings also can more efficiently destroy Interceptors since they can snipe them from a distance.

E-Wings can also snipe an Intel ship and tie up the bombers at the same time. You may use your snipe ability to snipe as long as there are no escort engaged with you.

Snipe do have some really great versatility but do require some thinking to make them work, no excuse to call them useless.

Yes but the empire has speed 5 snipe 4 for 12 points which gives it a threat range of range 7 with 4 blue dice. If the e-wing is going to cost more it should at least be multipurpose

1 minute ago, Norell said:

That should be more like 20 points IMO. One more keyword, better antiship die, one more hull and only one less speed for 1 point extra compared to a Defender?

It's the same hull and in my opinion drop one point and 1 hull

That's one single squadron. Rebels can bring as many E-Wings as they want.

Just now, Norell said:

That's one single squadron. Rebels can bring as many E-Wings as they want.

Ok but how often do you see someone use an e-wing. At the last tournament i was the only one and this small boost would put them on the radar. It's only changing the antiship dice

10 minutes ago, starbat861 said:

http://kdyards.com/squadrons.view.php?id=1076

how is this for fair

18-19 would be more reasonable imo. Snipe appears to be worth a couple points. 17 with 5 hull maybe.

2 hours ago, Hastatior said:

Wait, this dude thinks snipe is worthless?

Sorry, don't have much interest in anything else he says.

It's not worthless but for rebels is overpriced

3 minutes ago, Darthain said:

18-19 would be more reasonable imo. Snipe appears to be worth a couple points. 17 with 5 hull maybe.

Thank you

1 hour ago, Church14 said:

Why are people insistent on running E-wings as blunt instruments? If you want a big, dumb "SMASH THEM ALL!!!!" squadron, take X-wings. E-wings excel with 2-3 of them to target priority enemies with impunity and have the capacity to throw down up close if need be.

I don't think A/E is the ideal mix. If I face that, I'm going to mix it up at point blank and focus the E-wings down. An E/X combo is more ideal. The X-Wings can bring a Biggs and actually escort the expensive E-Wings for a while.

You don't hear complaining that Saber squadron sucks up close because people realize they shouldn't be used like that. I think if Ewings had 3-4 hull, people would play them smarter

Saber squad is also speed 5 and counter 4 and 3 points less

1 minute ago, starbat861 said:

Saber squad is also speed 5 and counter 4 and 3 points less

No.

With 3 Hull.

Snipe 4.

No counter.

And is Unique, which is its own tax.

Just now, Drasnighta said:

No.

With 3 Hull.

Snipe 4.

No counter.

And is Unique, which is its own tax.

Speed makes a big difrence because of the threat range and the e-wing does not have counter either

What the e-wing is missing is some good aces like Biggs that can help escort

9 minutes ago, starbat861 said:

Speed makes a big difrence because of the threat range and the e-wing does not have counter either

No, instead, the E-Wing has a Red Bomber die, whereas Saber has a single Blue.

-1 Speed, +3 Hull, + Red Bomber, -1 Blue die while sniping only.

Saber probably gets a points cut (or at least a rounding down) for being Unique, in their formulae.

But even then, could easily be worth 3 points.

The difference is, Saber is only good at one thing. Sniping. Nothing else. It is cheaper because that is all it can really do.

If you're going to use an E-Wing for Nothing but Sniping, of course it seems expensive. That's the point (of points!)

1 minute ago, Drasnighta said:

No, instead, the E-Wing has a Red Bomber die, whereas Saber has a single Blue.

-1 Speed, +3 Hull, + Red Bomber, -1 Blue die while sniping only.

Saber probably gets a points cut (or at least a rounding down) for being Unique, in their formulae.

But even then, could easily be worth 3 points.

The difference is, Saber is only good at one thing. Sniping. Nothing else. It is cheaper because that is all it can really do.

If you're going to use an E-Wing for Nothing but Sniping, of course it seems expensive. That's the point (of points!)

But you counterdicted your statement by saying that both do the same thing but one is cheaper. Also saber has swarm

Just now, starbat861 said:

But you counterdicted your statement by saying that both do the same thing but one is cheaper. Also saber has swarm

No I didn't.

They don't do the same thing at all. They both have Snipe, but they're vastly different.

The problem that it seems, is, you're not getting enough out of your E-Wings. You want a Snipe Platform that just Snipes. Or you want a Bomber Platform that just Bombs.

If you have the best of all worlds, you're going to have to pay for that flexibility - E-Wings do that. They're not Overcosted. They're costed using the same formulae as the Imperials - the difference is, you end up with models that can do a wide rage of things - it doesn't do many things awesomely, but you pay that point 'tax' in the ability to always HAVE a use for them... Bring your E-Wings and your enemy has minimal fighters? At least they can still Bomb. Bring Saber Squadron and the enemy has minimal fighters? Well, now you're throwing your High Speed 3 Hull Fighter to get a 50/50 on a Single Blue, with no chance of a Critical.

The same cost formulae is used for all of the models. The difference is the Rebels are, generally speaking, able to do more, ergo, they pay for all of those capabilities.

If you stuck a Black Bomber on an E-Wing, and didn't change the points - why would you bother taking any other fighter or Bomber? Of course, you'd still consider Intel and Strategic and those Keywords - but for Fighting, and Bombing, you wouldn't bother with anything else. Ever.