28 minutes ago, All Shields Forward said:

Any double attack means Rexler flips two cards a turn. His ability isn't limited to primary attacks. If they release a double tap they'd have to make it work with him or errata his ability.

Not if the second attack required you to spend the evade to perform it...

I’m pretty happy with the Defender. I’d quite like a TIE/D config that says something like “if you are not defending (or if you spend an evade token) after attacking with a cannon you may perform a primary attack.”

A points drop on the generics would be cool. But they’re pretty awesome as is for me. No one is making you lot use the 4K you know 😛

1 hour ago, thespaceinvader said:

Not if the second attack required you to spend the evade to perform it...

The Defender already has issues making its points back. Full throttle is one of its strengths. I don't think giving up the evade is worth it

2 hours ago, All Shields Forward said:

The Defender already has issues making its points back. Full throttle is one of its strengths. I don't think giving up the evade is worth it

Would be more than worth it on the Deltas, as the evade is only needed half the time. If it gets down to I1 and you didn’t need it, you get a bonus attack.

At higher initiative it’s a bonus for successful positioning/arc-dodging, making reposition a serious consideration over simple token stack. Two unmodded shots without return fire is much better than one focused attack with. I thinking it makes an awesome trade off if priced appropriately.

I must say spending the evade for the second attack sounds cool. Apart from that, Vessery and Ryad should both be cheaper than Rexler, who is the only properly priced named Defender IMO.

38 minutes ago, McGarnacle said:

I must say spending the evade for the second attack sounds cool. Apart from that, Vessery and Ryad should both be cheaper than Rexler, who is the only properly priced named Defender IMO.

I would argue the only properly priced defender period. Delta is closest but still too much

Most likely scenario is an Imperial Veterans box (or card pack) that adds some new TIE Defender pilots flying the TIE/D variant with a different ship-ability i.e. double tap (and possibly even a slightly different dial in terms of colors). That way they would be in complete control and not miss some abusive full-throttle + /D + pilot+ other card combo, which would just end up pricing /D to oblivion.

On 5/18/2019 at 9:06 PM, ClassicalMoser said:

The two have separate entries on the databank. The Defender Elite was a unique prototype that further improved on the design of the Defender. In addition to the paint scheme, you can see that the solar panels are longer and pointier on the Elite.

Anyway, why would they give it a new name and separate entry just because of a red paint stripe?! The reasoning here seems disingenuous. We don’t have a lot of specifics but the Defender Elite was presumably... Elite...

Indeed. The regular Defender's warhead launchers (not used on the show) are "at the bottom of the cockpit module" - similar to the TIE Advanced v1. The Elite has three sets of warhead launchers - one in each wing.

From the Haynes TIE Fighter Owner's Workshop Manual -

the TIE Defender is Acceleration 4,280G, Speed 115 Megalight Per Hour, Atmosphere Speed 1680 kph.

The Defender Elite is Acceleration 4,300G, Speed 120 Megalight Per Hour, Atmosphere Speed 1800 kph.

On 5/18/2019 at 10:06 AM, MalusCalibur said:

What is your source for this? As far as I could tell from watching Rebels, the only thing different about the 'Elite' was that it had yellow stripes on it, which I always took to mean a squadron. Is it ever established that there is an actual functional difference between it and any other Defender?

In the second Thrawn book, Darth vader flies an original defender. In the last scene, he tells thrawn that he will support the Defender project if he makes certian improvements.

The book is set between the season with regular defenders and the season with defender elites. Do the math.

I've been focusing on my Rebel teams so I haven't had the chance to fly the current Defender.

Having played around with Squad Builder my biggest issue with the Tie Defender is how expensive it is. The price might be right but I'll need to take it out and fly it a couple of times to be sure.

And I love the white K turn on the Defender. That gives this ship a nice tactical advantage and it really messes with the other player when you don't dial that it.

But I agree that this ship would be nicer with a White 4 Bank maneuver.

The other thing that I think the Tie Defender should have at least 4 Attack Dice (to represent the eight (8)! blasters mounted on it's frame).

The Defender doesn't need a rework. The things around it do perhaps. For instance, Full Throttle granting an extra evasion die instead of an Evasion token still keeps to the idea when moving fast it was more difficult to target without stapling Juke to it.

Changing Juke would potentially solve both the Defender and Phantom problem (as currently they are the only ships making this card problematic). My suggestion would be to rework Juke would be make it more like a reverse 1e Expose. "Juke: At the Start of the Engagement Phase, you may gain one Evade Token for each Red die sacrificed during the next Engagement Phase". This can make a ship pretty tanky at the cost of firepower, which to me makes it not only an interesting trade off but removes it's abusiveness from current platforms and makes it an attractive choice on ships previously who would have never considered it.