So I have been on the sidelines since early December. As such I haven’t been able to dig into my First Order Kit or even fly ships. I plan to fly a couple of theme list here and there. One thing just perusing the forums I’m seeing or rather not seeing are a few things and just curious about thoughts.

1: Lt. Dormitz. In 1.0 he was limited in how much support he could bring with him to really make use of his ability. One of the biggest advantages was closing the gap and forcing your opponent to change their plans by speeding them up and also reduced the effectiveness of ordnance.

2. Hyperscanning Tracking Data (HTD). This was an amazingly cheap and useful upgrade back in 1.0. You paired it with Comms or AO and held your token before you even moved opening up dialsand options. With those token saving options gone, this not only seems ambivalent but quite ineffective use of points. Dormitz is the only one who can really leverage this but if your not able to engage right away you immediately lose the benefits they offer. It’s also locked into the Upsilon again reducing the want to use it. Has anyone tried using it? Any thoughts?

3. Lt Rivas. A bit of an interesting new pilot especially with something like Targeting Syncronizer. At I2 can act as a blocker and discourages some red maneuvers as well as extra linked actions for fear of multiple mods. However don’t see much about this one being used.

4. Commander Malarus: Another basic F/O pilot that was talked up and since launch was pretty silent. Has he been any more survivable compared to other TIEs? Any more powerful with pushing a bit of damage through?

5: Avenger/Recoil/Blackout: So just looking at the Silencer, I am struggling to justify the cost to effectiveness of the ship. Now admittedly I needed time to get used to the Defender in a similar way. However, unlike Defender Aces, the Non-Kylo Aces are sort of gimmicks, not really something to leverage. At 62/63/70 for the trio, at I3/4/5 the generic Ace is I4. Are these 3 really able to pull their weight and justify their use over the course of the match?

1 minute ago, SOTL said:

Have you tried reading before you start writing?

Thanks for the constructive response SoTL. Enlightenment from you as always.

What SOTL is referencing, outside of all the podcasts, facebookgroups and message groups in various channels talking about it:

Midwestscrub blog

Accompanying reddit thread

@SOTL I enjoy your blog and your podcast appearances, but can you take 20% off the top there? Not everyone is as plugged in.

2 minutes ago, GreenDragoon said:

What SOTL is referencing, outside of all the podcasts, facebookgroups and message groups in various channels talking about it:

Midwestscrub blog

Accompanying reddit thread

Thank you. Don’t do much outside of the forums here so links appreciated.

Outside of Tripsilons (huuekglebleurgh), I have also not seen much of what is listed.

FO favourites that I've seen about are, in no particular order- Scorch, Muse, Null, Longshot in the TIE, generic SFs and Quickdraw, Tavson in the Ups. People are currently finding the best balance between those, it seems.

The Silencer is obviously there if you're a true pro and don't end up just having half your squad either hiding in a corner or instantly exploding. It is many, many points.

I played against a Kylo/Blackout/Midnight list vs my Tavson/Null/Muse/Scorch.

He won, but I'd like a rematch. Our rules guy had given us bad info on how Tavson's ability worked so I didn't use Tavson to his full potential.

1 hour ago, Ronu said:

Thank you. Don’t do much outside of the forums here so links appreciated. 

@Ronu I'm there with you as well, I normally check here but I'm not the active Xwing blogger.

Just wanted to say thanks for your post, I've been unable to jump in as well. The sarcastic helpful responses are probably expected, but never helpful. Good luck and Happy Hunting.

For Silencers, Blackout is amazing, even just with Trick shot. Load him up with Protons and he can get very nasty.

I am having a very good run with two FOTP's at I4 with Fanatical & Tavson with Shield Upgrade and Collision Detector. It hits hard and really surprises people when they play against it.

Recoil & Avenger are still not where they need to be, Avenger esp.

The I1 are fantastic blockers. They still have 6hp behind 3agi and if you get the block off you are taking unmodified shots so you should survive the initial barrage.

7 hours ago, Ronu said:

3. Lt Rivas. A bit of an interesting new pilot especially with something like Targeting Syncronizer. At I2 can act as a blocker and discourages some red maneuvers as well as extra linked actions for fear of multiple mods. However don’t see much about this one being used.

4. Commander Malarus: Another basic F/O pilot that was talked up and since launch was pretty silent. Has he been any more survivable compared to other TIEs? Any more powerful with pushing a bit of damage through?

5: Avenger/Recoil/Blackout: So just looking at the Silencer, I am struggling to justify the cost to effectiveness of the ship. Now admittedly I needed time to get used to the Defender in a similar way. However, unlike Defender Aces, the Non-Kylo Aces are sort of gimmicks, not really something to leverage. At 62/63/70 for the trio, at I3/4/5 the generic Ace is I4. Are these 3 really able to pull their weight and justify their use over the course of the match?

3) Rivas is filler. Worth it for 2pts over a generic. Most people like to spend one more point on Null to have an I7 (never hurts to have that) or 2pts for Muse, so that may be why Rivas is quiet right now. Not bad, just outshined atm.

4) The math on malarus is crazy if he takes an evade and pops his glitter. He can survive a drea swarm onslaught without so much as a scratch. Dont know if that is worth having him in a squad though. And again, for 3pts you get I6 Midnight. Its one of those ships you just do checklists on. Do you have Midnight? Yep, check. Do you have Scorch? Yep, check. Do you have 41pts to spare for Malarus or save 10pts and go with Null or muse?

5) Blackout is the best silencer for the points. I5 and 12pts cheaper than kylo. That 12pts goes a long way towards valuable wingmates and upgrades. Trickshot + Pattern Analyzer is sweet - talon roll behind a rock and focus, or tallon roll and barrel roll. 4 naked red dice versus 0 or 1 green dice is still **** good. Add in Concussion Missiles for three nasty 4 dice attacks through rocks, negating range bonus and -2 green dice. Tested avenger in a few games and he aint bad. Pair him with someone (or both) like Quickdraw or Midnight (or Kylo) who people WANT to kill first and he can be valuable asset to the squad. Add torpedoes to him and watch your opponents sweat as they have a shot on a 2 hull quickdraw, but if they kill him, they eat a full modded torp. Recoil is meh. His ability is only useful against certain lists that have lower initiative ships, and then you have to give up fanatical for predator or crackshot, or throw a 7pt 1 shot procket on him. Dont forget the fact that being range 1 has a high percentage of being in the bullseye arc anyways. He is a pilot to keep an eye on with new talent upgrades being released. Im not a fan of Recoil