She's higher than Ahsoka! What's going on there?! For one thing Ahsoka's a Jedi while Padmé's a politician (and has been since a young age, and she's top level so I'd guess she didn't have a lot of free time to learn fighter piloting) but more importantly, Ahskoka is the one who taught Padmé combat flying in the first place!

Meesa no lika dis. Meesa gonna seek revenge on Padmé by giving her Handmaids to Ahsoka!

Wonder how much they'll cost. Think a calibrated lasers Ahsoka, two handmaids and an ARC170 will be doable?

For all we know this is younger Ahsoka we first see (hence "Snips"), and not as experienced?

Initiative =/= pilot skill.

It's more of a compromise between skill, aggressiveness, adaptability and quickness of pilot's reactions.

"In reality" Activation phase doesn't happen in steps, everything more or less happens at the same time. Better and/or faster pilots are able to respond to enemies' movements.

I1 TIE Defender pilots are probably more skilled than I2 Rebel pilots, but they rely on orders from superiors and often can't take the initiative. I2 Rebel didn't go through the same training as I1 Defender, but he's able to think for himself and make his own ddcisions more often.

So while Ahsoka would be the better pilot here, she still mostly serves under other Jedi, relying on their leadership. On the other hand Padmé is expected to lead her force, so she has to be more proactive than Ahsoka.

This is the best I could come up with, tho I tend to agree that I3 would seem more appropriate...

I think everyone agrees Padme was more expected at I3.

I don't think we ever see leadership/aggression play a part in Initiative value.

Because Padme is married to the actual best starfighter pilot in the galaxy.

EDIT: I realize reading between lines is hard. I'm inferring that Anakin's taught her stuff.

41 minutes ago, Pink_Viking said:

Initiative =/= pilot skill

This.

Plus we already knew she was going to be I4, since they flew her on the FFG Live Wave 4 stream 3 weeks ago!

56 minutes ago, MegaSilver said:

For all we know this is younger Ahsoka we first see (hence "Snips"), and not as experienced?

This is what I am thinking. Similar scenario is that young Ani is In4 while adult Ani, whether hero or villian, is In6.

In the first episodes Ani seems to think Ahsoka's flying isn't that great and she even accuses him that he hates her flying. When the Eta-2 is released we might see her with a new title, In, and/or ability.

Tempest pilots are only init 2, not fluff? As they said, init is not pilot skills. In my mind, I take in consideration the heroism, the determination of the pilot, his/her dedication to succed, the luck. Like in a movie you will see "dispensable " characters that, even if very good, will die out screen. That's why I am ok with Padmé or other named pilots that are better ini than the supposed elite of the empire like tempest pilots or saber squadron aces.

Also aren't Jedi Knights I3 and Ahsoka is also a padawan, not even a full knight. So it's not unreasonable for her to be three. Padme as mentioned by others has learned from Ahsoka and could very well have been schooled by Ani during their relationship, not to mention any of her royal guards, decoys etcetera.

Plus this is a plastic spaceship game about space wizards, it's not outrageously hard to justify Padme at I4 😋

Furthermore, at least she gets to fly, unlike her daughter.

Almost like balancing and gameplay considerations went into this. It's weird, FFG treats this like a game instead of a lore compendium. Wonder why.

27 minutes ago, Stefan said:

Almost like balancing and gameplay considerations went into this. It's weird, FFG treats this like a game instead of a lore compendium. Wonder why.

This statement is true, but also the fluff matter. At least for player like me. If it was a game of pure abstraction I would not put 20€ in a miniature.

The balance between narrative and competitive aspects of the game is important. For now in V2 Devs are doing pretty well IMO

Anakin literally doesn't know any of the ship's controls and he's also I4 🙈

2 hours ago, Captain Lackwit said:

Furthermore, at least she gets to fly, unlike her daughter.

Leia is too busy sitting in hundreds of U-wings all over the galaxy.

2 hours ago, player2422845 said:

This statement is true, but also the fluff matter. At least for player like me. If it was a game of pure abstraction I would not put 20€ in a miniature.

The balance between narrative and competitive aspects of the game is important. For now in V2 Devs are doing pretty well IMO

Gameplay > Fluff

Always.

It is a game of abstraction, it's space battles on a 2D plane. It's why the CIS got a 6 in a Nantek, is a bug pilot as good as Poe and Vader? Probably not, but they needed one for choice and balance.

I think lore is important, but I will choose game balance every time.

Oh come on. Exactly how does it help gameplay that the I4 N1 pilot is Padmé and not some rando? As far as I can see it doesn't, so this is nothing but a fluff consideration.

Anyway relax guys, my tone wasn't serious, I'm firmly in the "it's just toy spaceships" camp.

padme pilot skills are clearly bad.... like a woman that drives a car! But this makes her highly unpredictable!

.....So initiative 4

3 hours ago, BoxerlessBossk said:

Anakin literally doesn't know any of the ship's controls and he's also I4 🙈

He's a naturally gifted kid, capable of winning one of the deadliest pod racing events, a feat we do not see any other human even attempt.

He then happens to fly a starfighter built on the principles of GOING FAST, backed up by a helpful astromech. I'd say that I4 is a fair level for him.

What we really should be complaining about is her awful ability...

4 hours ago, BoxerlessBossk said:

Anakin literally doesn't know any of the ship's controls and he's also I4 🙈

Yeah I assumed he would be I1 at best. I mean seriously:

1 hour ago, mazz0 said:

Anyway relax guys, my tone wasn't serious, I'm firmly in the "it's just toy spaceships" camp.

"you call this skilled piloting?"

"No, I call it aggressive negotiation"

4 hours ago, Pink_Viking said:

Leia is too busy sitting in hundreds of U-wings all over the galaxy.

I mean it’s thematic to an extent. Leia did a lot of the ground work and had her own ship/ fleet to command at times, so it makes sense for her to spend a lot of time getting ferried around in a troop transport between the Tantive and whatever planet she was helping.

Doesn’t mean I still don’t want her as a Falcon pilot, or even fulfill my Eu dreams and make her an X-wing Pilot, but her crew card getting ferried around at least makes thematic sense.

I do think Padme feels more right in my gut at I3 but I've not got much issue with it. I think it might be reasonable that piloting these fighters and other starships is part of queen-training, as well as for the handmaidens. They have to be able to take each other's places in any role for the decoy trick to make sense. We also know for a fact that a later queen- Sosha Soruna) was trained as a fighter pilot and was seen flying alongside Shara Bey and Leia Organa (although Leia and Sosha were primarily not engaging with enemy fighters but dealing with some satellites). I don't remember exactly the scene but Padme also helped in piloting or copiloting to Geonosis.

Seems reasonable to assume that at least some other queens did fighter/spaceship training and that their skill could be reasonably good.