So this was a favorite of mine in 1.0. The point adjustments really didn’t effect them, though Null is back to his role as more of a distraction/flanker rather than straight up support.

Instead of the big 6 you can squeeze Muse and 6 ESC’s for exactly 200 points. With 6 they were highly effective as a unit does the 7th make that much of a difference? Would the 28 points be better used across the other ships? Or even upgrading one to Null like the old days, and PA on Muse and perhaps something on Null?

Paging @Magnus Grendel or @Parakitor thoughts?

6 hours ago, Ronu said:

So this was a favorite of mine in 1.0. The point adjustments really didn’t effect them, though Null is back to his role as more of a distraction/flanker rather than straight up support.

Instead of the big 6 you can squeeze Muse and 6 ESC’s for exactly 200 points. With 6 they were highly effective as a unit does the 7th make that much of a difference? Would the 28 points be better used across the other ships? Or even upgrading one to Null like the old days, and PA on Muse and perhaps something on Null?

I think the 7th TIE/fo is probably worth it - Epsilon Leader's ability was awesome in 1st edition, but "Muse" now only affects a single ship, which is less impressive. That said, she's pretty good support herself.

I see two versions:

• 7-ship Epsilon Squadron
  • Epsilon Squadron Cadet x 6
  • "Null"
    • Given that you can't take any upgrades for "Muse", she doesn't really add anything to the squad. Destressing a single ship is nice but it doesn't allow you to move the whole squad in formation, which is what you want, and a TIE/fo isn't exactly cursed with a poor blue dial. "Null", on the other hand, gives you an Initiative 7 ship, which is valuable in and of itself.
    • The 7th ship is a big deal. You're essentially investing in the TIE/fo chassis, which at 4 hit points and with a great dial, is a lot of ship for the points.
    • If you don't mind breaking theme a little, TN-3465 or Lieutenant Rivas are also available The former is nice because of her "Reverse Ruthless" ability - get her in close and blow her to pieces with the rest of the squad and you can inflict 4 blank-or-focus-to-critical modifiers on a target at range 1 of her, which can easily represent 30+ points of damage on something big (and you don't actually have to kill her, but triggering it more than once is a risk). The latter is great because his ability is so flexible - "whenever a target gains a red or orange token" means that he's getting a free lock if another friendly locks the target, or it does a red move, or flies through debris, or does a red linked action. It also works if they get ionized, or jammed, though that's less likely with just a TIE/fo swarm (though there are criticals which can randomly ionize the victim), and because he's also initiative 1, meaning you can chop and change his activation order as needed with the rest of the squad.
• 6-ship Epsilon Squadron
  • Epsilon Squadron Cadet x 4
  • "Null" - Advanced Optics, Afterburners
  • "Muse" - Squad Leader, Pattern Analyser, Electronic Baffle
    • "Null" may no longer be a candidate for Squad Leader, but "Muse" remains a perfect team leader - since she can bin off a stress at the start of the engagement phase, she can use a red action and then discard her own stress with basically no downside, and at only Initiative 2, she hasn't been stung with as massive a cost increase for Squad Leader as most pilots with a talent slot. Pattern Analyser lets her perform an action even when looping or turning, and - if it's really that crucial - she can even loop then co-ordinate someone else, discard one stress with her ability then the other (and her shield) with electronic baffle. Since Electronic Baffle lets you discard any red token (including ion and target lock tokens) don't underestimate it's value - taking one damage to avoid eating a torpedo next turn, for example, is a perfectly valid choice. Meanwhile, "Null" can do pretty well with advanced optics despite just having 2 red dice, and initiative 7 afterburners means he's quite the zippy little bugger to nail down. Plus, if he gets hurt, he drops to initiative 0 rather than 1, making him a superb blocker.
    • If you want to play tunes with this version, advanced optics vs pattern analyser is a choice (optics is better if you're focused, pattern analyser protects you during the red moves where I normally see TIE fighters go pop, and afterburners vs shield upgrade is also an option (personally I'd vote "don't get shot in the first place" which makes me think afterburners)

Note that with the reduced cost you can also field a canonical 6-ship Zeta squadron - "Scorch", "Longshot" and 4 generic Zetas - and even a 6-ship Omega Squadron - "Midnight" and 5 Omega Squadron Aces (if you don't want "Omega Leader" then 6 Omega Squadron Aces with Fanatical fits nicely too).

For that matter you can even field a 6-ship squad as a "B-Team" version of the TIE/fo All-stars: "Null", "Muse", "Longshot", "Scorch", TN-3465 and Lieutenant Rivas all fit in a squad with 8 points to spare.

A 7th Tie/FO is not a bad thing. But to answer your question, it is highly dependent on your playstyle and local Meta. I'd personally pick the 7th ship, because I really like clogging up the board, blocking, and making killboxes with these guys. More tools the better.

You could easily make a case for 6 upgraded ships, too. you've got 37 points left after your 6 epsilons, 5 pts per ship with a couple left over.

1 minute ago, Hobbyist said:

You could easily make a case for 6 upgraded ships, too. you've got 37 points left after your 6 epsilons, 5 pts per ship with a couple left over.

Looked at that way, 6 with Pattern Analysers would give an effect not a million miles away from 1st edition Epsilon Leader - instead of burning off all the stress to 'unlock' the dial the following turn, you'd be able to pull segnors loops or koiogran turns and still get a focus token (or evade or lock). Given that they're very dice dependent at agility 3, turning them all into mini TIE defenders is no small beer.

2 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

Note that with the reduced cost you can also field a canonical 6-ship Zeta squadron - "Scorch", "Longshot" and 4 generic Zetas - and even a 6-ship Omega Squadron - "Midnight" and 5 Omega Squadron Aces (if you don't want "Omega Leader" then 6 Omega Squadron Aces with Fanatical fits nicely too).

For that matter you can even field a 6-ship squad as a "B-Team" version of the TIE/fo All-stars: "Null", "Muse", "Longshot", "Scorch", TN-3465 and Lieutenant Rivas all fit in a squad with 8 points to spare

Also found I can do Scortch, with Two Zeta S/F’s and Gunners and 2 Zeta F/O’s at 181 ... so there is room for goodies.

So also kinda curious since consensus here says 7 Ships is probably the right way to go with this. How solid is this little swarm against the typical Boogymen being seen right now, or expected now that the points change has happened? I can see them doing well against the Upsilon trio simply due to pure numbers, the upsilons might get 1 F/O perhaps 2 at most. Then it's 5 on 3 with the 5 being pretty consistent at eating away the Upsilons 1 at a time and once behind them are basically going to stay there.

I can also see it working against other Large base ships or even B-wing Aces where Numbers and Maneuverability are just going to outclass as they should. The Extra shield still seems to be what makes the F/O superior to the Imperial TIEs and it's a bigger factor than many think. Obviously with the numbers though still have some predators like a Whisper or Soontir but since they can fly without need of a tight formation they can be a bit more forgiving perhaps? Thoughts?

9 hours ago, Ronu said:

Also found I can do Scortch, with Two Zeta S/F’s and Gunners and 2 Zeta F/O’s at 181 ... so there is room for goodies.

Just some advice - if fielding 'just' Zeta Squadron Survivors, Specfor Gunners are expensive.

You're fielding them for a 3-dice attack....so why not take ion/concussion/cluster missiles for significantly less points - yes, you need to acquire a lock but (a) fire control is cheap, (b) targeting synchroniser is a thing and (c) it works out the back too, thanks to heavy weapons turret.

Try cluster missiles on your SF generics now that FCS & munitions fail safe are practically free.

So I flew Muse and 6 ESC today. Now I was up against a Fat Dash/Jan Ors list.

Few things I noticed:

The 7th ship didn’t change my game too much but did seem to affect my opponent. It also meant a lesser likelihood to want to jump into a panic mode due to losing a ship or two early.

The two dice attacks are relatively okay. Even against two dice with mods the sheer volume eventually over came Dash and Jan.

The natural discount Shield the F/O has is even bigger than it was in 1.0. Certainly prevented a couple of ships from going pop and instead allowed additional shots/obstacles for my opponent to deal with.