The 2 straight really is interesting. Certainly makes the 1 bank for Rex best in that case. Although I still really don't fancy it if they go all in on the bank, he'd probably not die and be in a good spot next turn. Smart to cover his 5s exit though.

I think I'm still happiest with the AS BR away and 1 bank in, wherever the TIEs go, which was my 1st thought. So that upgrade is staying with me for now

18 hours ago, Parakitor said:

I'm honestly surprised you were the first person to suggest this. Because of their formation, having them all bank the same distance is risky (but it turns out that they just barely fit). This keeps them in formation to be able to K-turn through the gap in the asteroids if necessary. And bonus: it looks like even the 3 turn south + boost won't get Rexler out of all of their arcs.

Now about blocking. You have to be REALLY careful about blocking with a TIE swarm. Lots of suggestions about "go straight to block this" and "turn and barel roll to block that," but if you're not all on target, you are not getting through that defender's defense. And then you are all out of formation (which isn't terrible, honestly), allowing Rexler to possibly pick you off easier. I strongly believe that you should only block if it's going to give you good shots. Sometimes we get excited about blocking for the sake of blocking. Remember, Rexler is fine if he's blocked if that means 1 of your other ships has no shot because it's also in a potential blocking position - that means he's only taking two shots instead of your maximum 4 shots.

Well said, Para. I've been flying T-swarms for a while, and have found that blocking really only benefits you if you have shots on the blocked target. My preference in this situation would be to not block, but have the four TIEs all get range 1-2 shots on Rex. If he ends up out of arc, he'll probably not have a shot on any of the TIEs, and they'll still be in good shape for the next turn.

But that is mathematically wrong. 4 range1 shots with focus on a focus/evade defender deal 2.76 damage. 3 range1 shots on a defender without tokens deal 3.65 damage.

That is a large difference.

Of course a block without shots is almost pointless, but 3 shots+block is better than 4 shots. That‘s simply math.