So, my attempts are limited by what I own; in the Empire’s case, that’s 3 TIE Fighters, a TIE Advanced x1, and a TIE Striker. My main concern is that the cannon-fodder TIEs will be too weak and easy to ignore, and the opponent will simply focus-fire Vader and leave me toothless. But I’ve never yet put a fighter on the board, so this is all imagination and idle conjecture. How’s this first try look?

Vader/Striker/3TIEs

(67) Darth Vader [TIE Advanced x1]
(3) Brilliant Evasion
(6) Mag-Pulse Warheads
(3) Passive Sensors
Points: 79

(23) Obsidian Squadron Pilot [TIE/ln Fighter]
(3) Targeting Computer
Points: 26

(22) Academy Pilot [TIE/ln Fighter]
(3) Targeting Computer
Points: 25

(22) Academy Pilot [TIE/ln Fighter]
(3) Targeting Computer
Points: 25

(44) "Pure Sabacc" [TIE/sk Striker]
Points: 44

Total points: 199

I'm presuming this is for Hyperspce format? I've got a note or two for Extended variations.

I'm also presuming that you don't have a tonne of other ships.

• Pure Sabacc is perfectly fine without other upgrades.
  • I'll note that Duchess (and also Countdown) are also both very good pilots. No need to switch, but it's worth keeping them in mind.
• Targeting Computer really isn't worth it on basic TIEs. Most of the time, your TIEs can just Focus and have the same damage output ( see * below ). On top of that, plain TIEs probably want to Focus most of the time anyhow, to help keep themselves alive.
  • If you want your TIEs to have a bit more punch, go for some of the TIEs with extra attack dice abilities.
• Vader:
  • First thing to note is that Passive Sensors is a great pick for a Vader without bid.
    • He's OK with Fire Control System too, but Passive Sensors is more popular these days for a reason.
  • Vader has a few upgrades which are... less important. Not bad, but there might be other ways to spend the points better.
    • Brilliant Evasion doesn't add a tonne. It'll help you spend less force now and again while defending, but it's pretty slim. If there's anything else to spend the points on, I'd do that.
    • Mag-Pulse Warheads aren't terrible, but Vader has a 3-dice attack either way, and he gets to turn a normal hit into a crit with his pilot ability. The defensive potential of MPW with the Jam and Deplete can come in handy (and I think it'd be really good against enemy Vader...), but I'm not sure it's worth 6 points.
    • Maybe we add these back in, maybe we don't. Depends on how we tweak the rest of the list.

//

So, you say you want to make sure your plain TIEs are enough of a threat (or at least are better able to take advantage of an enemy going after Vader or Pure Sabacc?

• Vader (Passive Sensors) 70 - Bare-bones to start for now, maybe we'll add more later.
• Pure Sabacc (-) 44
• TIEs -- 86 points available.
  • This isn't enough for 4 Academy Pilots.
    • You could switch Pure Sabacc to Dutchess (also a great pilot) and run 4 Academy pilots. That'll be a lot more ships to block with, and an extra 2-dice gun, making the TIE group a lot more threatening.
  • If you bring 1 Academy pilot, you can bring two premium TIEs. I'd go with Scourge Skutu and Mauler Mithel personally, but Del Meeko and Gideon Hask have a lot of merit. (Seyn Marana is solid with Marksmanship if this is Extended).
  • If you want to bring 2 Academy Pilots for low-initiative blockers, that means bringing, say, Del Meeko or Mauler Mithel. This would leave 11-12 points left to play with.
    • This could be Mag-Pulse back on Vader. I'm hesitant, but if you're keen to give it a shot, go for it.
    • I'd consider maybe Targeting Computer on Pure Sabacc. While Locks and Focus are statistically the same damage, the advantage of a Lock is that, if you roll well, it can go unspent, and be saved for next turn. Pure Sabacc, if left alone, able to get a Lock in peace, and follow up the next turn with Focus/Lock. It isn't a mandatory upgrade, but it's nice if you're left alone.
    • If you've got a copy of it, Fifth Brother on a Striker can be pretty nice. The force is rather good, since it's passive dice modification you'll get each turn, no matter what action you take (and if you don't take an action).
      • Personally, once I start putting more upgrades on a Striker, I generally want it to be Duchess. I think she flies a bit better, and being Initiative 5 also helps. Pure Sabacc with a lot of upgrades is a massive target. Countdown works best when only getting attacked once per turn, so keeping them lighter and less of a scary threat also makes sense. Just my opinion.
  • If this is Extended:
    • Take Afterburners on Vader. It's usually quite useful to have access to a Boost action, and can really save Vader's bacon, or else allow him to really close a gap on an enemy ship.
      • IMHO, Afterburners is the single most important upgrade on Vader.
    • Put Crack Shot on everything that can take it. Pretty much the best talent: it's cheap, can push a point of damage through an opponent's defense dice, and you'll get all the value one attack, which is really nice on a ship like a TIE which can die easily. I tend to think only the faction specific talents Heroic, Fanatical (sometimes Proud Tradition), and Fearless really rival Crack Shot.

//

So, to keep the same basic list concept, in four flavors:

• One Academy Blocker:
  • Darth Vader (Passive Sensors) 70
  • Pure Sabacc 44
  • Academy Pilot 22
  • Mauler Mithel 31
  • Scourge Skutu 31
• Two Academy Blockers:
  • Darth Vader (Passive Sensors, Mag-Pulse Warhead) 76
  • Pure Sabacc (Targeting Computer) 47
  • 2x Academy Pilot 22
  • Mauler Mithel 31
• Four Academy Blockers:
  • Darth Vader (Passive Sensors) 70
  • Duchess 42
  • 4x Academy Pilot 22
• Extended:
  • Darth Vader (Passive Sensors, Afterburners) 76
    • Pure Sabacc (Crack Shot) 45
    • 3x Black Squadron Pilot (Crack Shot) 26

* Attacks with a Focus and attacks with at Lock are essentially statistically indistinguishable . Without mods, each die is 50% hits/crits, 50% blanks, or 0.5 hits per die. With a focus, you've got 75% hits/crits/eyes, so 0.75 hits per die. With a Lock, you'll reroll the blanks, you add the original 50% hits/crits, plus half of the rerolled blanks, so another 25%, to get a hit 75% of the time, or 0.75 hits per die. A lock is slightly more likely to get crits specifically, but that's not worth chasing.

The advantage of Lock is that you can save it for next turn : focus goes away at the end of the turn.

The advantage of Focus is flexibility . It can help on any roll, attack or defense, against any ship. Lock only works against one ship, chosen in advance, and doesn't help you on defense. It's handy to take Locks when it's safe, but when starting out, it might just be easier to basically just Focus.

46 minutes ago, theBitterFig said:

I'm presuming this is for Hyperspce format? I've got a note or two for Extended variations.

I'm also presuming that you don't have a tonne of other ships.

• Pure Sabacc is perfectly fine without other upgrades.
  • I'll note that Duchess (and also Countdown) are also both very good pilots. No need to switch, but it's worth keeping them in mind.
• Targeting Computer really isn't worth it on basic TIEs. Most of the time, your TIEs can just Focus and have the same damage output ( see * below ). On top of that, plain TIEs probably want to Focus most of the time anyhow, to help keep themselves alive.
  • If you want your TIEs to have a bit more punch, go for some of the TIEs with extra attack dice abilities.
• Vader:
  • First thing to note is that Passive Sensors is a great pick for a Vader without bid.
    • He's OK with Fire Control System too, but Passive Sensors is more popular these days for a reason.
  • Vader has a few upgrades which are... less important. Not bad, but there might be other ways to spend the points better.
    • Brilliant Evasion doesn't add a tonne. It'll help you spend less force now and again while defending, but it's pretty slim. If there's anything else to spend the points on, I'd do that.
    • Mag-Pulse Warheads aren't terrible, but Vader has a 3-dice attack either way, and he gets to turn a normal hit into a crit with his pilot ability. The defensive potential of MPW with the Jam and Deplete can come in handy (and I think it'd be really good against enemy Vader...), but I'm not sure it's worth 6 points.
    • Maybe we add these back in, maybe we don't. Depends on how we tweak the rest of the list.

//

So, you say you want to make sure your plain TIEs are enough of a threat (or at least are better able to take advantage of an enemy going after Vader or Pure Sabacc?

• Vader (Passive Sensors) 70 - Bare-bones to start for now, maybe we'll add more later.
• Pure Sabacc (-) 44
• TIEs -- 86 points available.
  • This isn't enough for 4 Academy Pilots.
    • You could switch Pure Sabacc to Dutchess (also a great pilot) and run 4 Academy pilots. That'll be a lot more ships to block with, and an extra 2-dice gun, making the TIE group a lot more threatening.
  • If you bring 1 Academy pilot, you can bring two premium TIEs. I'd go with Scourge Skutu and Mauler Mithel personally, but Del Meeko and Gideon Hask have a lot of merit. (Seyn Marana is solid with Marksmanship if this is Extended).
  • If you want to bring 2 Academy Pilots for low-initiative blockers, that means bringing, say, Del Meeko or Mauler Mithel. This would leave 11-12 points left to play with.
    • This could be Mag-Pulse back on Vader. I'm hesitant, but if you're keen to give it a shot, go for it.
    • I'd consider maybe Targeting Computer on Pure Sabacc. While Locks and Focus are statistically the same damage, the advantage of a Lock is that, if you roll well, it can go unspent, and be saved for next turn. Pure Sabacc, if left alone, able to get a Lock in peace, and follow up the next turn with Focus/Lock. It isn't a mandatory upgrade, but it's nice if you're left alone.
    • If you've got a copy of it, Fifth Brother on a Striker can be pretty nice. The force is rather good, since it's passive dice modification you'll get each turn, no matter what action you take (and if you don't take an action).
      • Personally, once I start putting more upgrades on a Striker, I generally want it to be Duchess. I think she flies a bit better, and being Initiative 5 also helps. Pure Sabacc with a lot of upgrades is a massive target. Countdown works best when only getting attacked once per turn, so keeping them lighter and less of a scary threat also makes sense. Just my opinion.
  • If this is Extended:
    • Take Afterburners on Vader. It's usually quite useful to have access to a Boost action, and can really save Vader's bacon, or else allow him to really close a gap on an enemy ship.
      • IMHO, Afterburners is the single most important upgrade on Vader.
    • Put Crack Shot on everything that can take it. Pretty much the best talent: it's cheap, can push a point of damage through an opponent's defense dice, and you'll get all the value one attack, which is really nice on a ship like a TIE which can die easily. I tend to think only the faction specific talents Heroic, Fanatical (sometimes Proud Tradition), and Fearless really rival Crack Shot.

//

So, to keep the same basic list concept, in four flavors:

• One Academy Blocker:
  • Darth Vader (Passive Sensors) 70
  • Pure Sabacc 44
  • Academy Pilot 22
  • Mauler Mithel 31
  • Scourge Skutu 31
• Two Academy Blockers:
  • Darth Vader (Passive Sensors, Mag-Pulse Warhead) 76
  • Pure Sabacc (Targeting Computer) 47
  • 2x Academy Pilot 22
  • Mauler Mithel 31
• Four Academy Blockers:
  • Darth Vader (Passive Sensors) 70
  • Duchess 42
  • 4x Academy Pilot 22
• Extended:
  • Darth Vader (Passive Sensors, Afterburners) 76
    • Pure Sabacc (Crack Shot) 45
    • 3x Black Squadron Pilot (Crack Shot) 26

* Attacks with a Focus and attacks with at Lock are essentially statistically indistinguishable . Without mods, each die is 50% hits/crits, 50% blanks, or 0.5 hits per die. With a focus, you've got 75% hits/crits/eyes, so 0.75 hits per die. With a Lock, you'll reroll the blanks, you add the original 50% hits/crits, plus half of the rerolled blanks, so another 25%, to get a hit 75% of the time, or 0.75 hits per die. A lock is slightly more likely to get crits specifically, but that's not worth chasing.

The advantage of Lock is that you can save it for next turn : focus goes away at the end of the turn.

The advantage of Focus is flexibility . It can help on any roll, attack or defense, against any ship. Lock only works against one ship, chosen in advance, and doesn't help you on defense. It's handy to take Locks when it's safe, but when starting out, it might just be easier to basically just Focus.

Good stuff, thanks. No, this is not for Hyperspace; my group is just starting out, and I figured there wasn’t really a huge advantage to further limiting our options before we even learned the game. It’s better, I think, to have every card be usable at first. Tell me if my thinking on this is flawed.

Second, I don’t have four TIE Fighters, I have three, plus one Striker and one Advanced x1. That’s it so far. Advice welcome on what to grab next.

Third, I keep hearing this phrase: “Blockers.” What is that? Is it literally just a fighter whose job it is to confound enemy movement by being where the enemy wants to be?

Finally, I take it that (regarding my original question), the naked TIEs are actually worthwhile? Like, they’re gonna do something meaningful (assuming I fly not-like-an-idiot)?

13 minutes ago, Cpt ObVus said:

Good stuff, thanks. No, this is not for Hyperspace; my group is just starting out, and I figured there wasn’t really a huge advantage to further limiting our options before we even learned the game. It’s better, I think, to have every card be usable at first. Tell me if my thinking on this is flawed.

Cool. In which case, Vader gets Afterburners.

13 minutes ago, Cpt ObVus said:

Second, I don’t have four TIE Fighters, I have three, plus one Striker and one Advanced x1. That’s it so far. Advice welcome on what to grab next.

Hey, that's why it was only one option out of four.

13 minutes ago, Cpt ObVus said:

Third, I keep hearing this phrase: “Blockers.” What is that? Is it literally just a fighter whose job it is to confound enemy movement by being where the enemy wants to be?

Pretty much.

Personally, I tend to think of it less as a dedicated role, but more a tactic to employ. Put some number of your ships where your opponent probably wants to go, and when they bump, they lose their action. Meanwhile, you'll have taken Focus on your other ships, and can hopefully attack them with the rest at Range 1. it can work fairly well. I feel like there can be a danger in trying to over-commit to blocking as an identity for a ship, but it's still useful.

13 minutes ago, Cpt ObVus said:

Finally, I take it that (regarding my original question), the naked TIEs are actually worthwhile? Like, they’re gonna do something meaningful (assuming I fly not-like-an-idiot)?

Basic TIEs are of... at least OK value. Depends on the list. Supported with Howlrunner or Admiral Sloane, squads of TIEs can hit decently well.

A few loose ties block and either absorb fire (rather than more important ships) or take uncontested shots are decent.

While I think generic naked TIE Strikers, or TIE Advanced x1 with only Sensor upgrades (Fire Control System or Passive Sensors) are probably a hair better, TIEs aren't bad.

21 minutes ago, theBitterFig said:

Cool. In which case, Vader gets Afterburners.

Ok, how’s this?

Vader/Striker/3TIEs

(67) Darth Vader [TIE Advanced x1]
(1) Predictive Shot
(6) Afterburners
(3) Passive Sensors
Points: 77

(44) "Pure Sabacc" [TIE/sk Striker]
(1) Crack Shot
Points: 45

(31) "Mauler" Mithel [TIE/ln Fighter]
(1) Crack Shot
Points: 32

(22) Academy Pilot [TIE/ln Fighter]
Points: 22

(22) Academy Pilot [TIE/ln Fighter]
Points: 22

Total points: 198

58 minutes ago, Cpt ObVus said:

Ok, how’s this?

Vader/Striker/3TIEs

(67) Darth Vader [TIE Advanced x1]
(1) Predictive Shot
(6) Afterburners
(3) Passive Sensors
Points: 77

(44) "Pure Sabacc" [TIE/sk Striker]
(1) Crack Shot
Points: 45

(31) "Mauler" Mithel [TIE/ln Fighter]
(1) Crack Shot
Points: 32

(22) Academy Pilot [TIE/ln Fighter]
Points: 22

(22) Academy Pilot [TIE/ln Fighter]
Points: 22

Total points: 198

All good, except Predictive Shot. It's just mathematically pretty bad. You have to spend the force before you attack, and then if you roll 3 hits (or even 2, against most opponents) it won't do *anything*.

I'd just run with a bit more of a bid, probably.

22 minutes ago, theBitterFig said:

All good, except Predictive Shot. It's just mathematically pretty bad. You have to spend the force before you attack, and then if you roll 3 hits (or even 2, against most opponents) it won't do *anything*.

I'd just run with a bit more of a bid, probably.

Hmm. Ok. Are there any Force upgrades that ARE any good? I kinda want to try one just to try one, but none of them seem amazing.

Just now, Cpt ObVus said:

Hmm. Ok. Are there any Force upgrades that ARE any good? I kinda want to try one just to try one, but none of them seem amazing.

There ARE good ones, it’s just not typical for Vader. He normally wants to save his force for actions.

My Suggestion:

(67) Darth Vader [TIE Advanced x1]
(6) Afterburners
(2) Fire-Control System
Points: 75

(44) "Countdown" [TIE/sk Striker]
(5) Hull Upgrade
Points: 49

(29) "Wampa" [TIE/ln Fighter]
Points: 29

(22) Academy Pilot [TIE/ln Fighter]
Points: 22

(22) Academy Pilot [TIE/ln Fighter]
Points: 22

Total points: 197

Nice, thanks guys. I’m eager to give this a shot, hopefully tomorrow. I told my regular Armada buddy I’d build three fleets, and let him pick one while I flew another while we learned the game, so if you have any insight on the other two lists I posted for Scum and Rebels, I’d be grateful.

3 hours ago, Cpt ObVus said:

Hmm. Ok. Are there any Force upgrades that ARE any good? I kinda want to try one just to try one, but none of them seem amazing.

Hate is solid, it's probably the best force-efficiency talent there is. Sure, you don't want to intentionally take damage, but it tends to happen anyway, and getting force back on someone like Vader means he can turn that into more action chains.

Sense can be really potent. Looking at an opponent's dials can inform you which of your Academy Pilot TIEs needs to barrel roll and which direction to secure a block. That said, Sense isn't always easy to use. It's the kind of thing that takes practice.

Instinctive Aim is good, if the missiles or torpedoes you'd shoot with it are superior to your primary weapon attacks (so it's better on Luke or a TIE/v1 than on Vader, but with Passive Sensors, there isn't a tonne of reason for a TIE/v1 to take Instinctive Aim).

Heightened Perception is pretty good, but again, not really on Vader where it's kind of a waste. On on Mace Windu, or Kanan Jarrus in the Ghost, it's a really potent talent allowing a heavy-hitter at lower initiative to leapfrog up. Maybe not a first round of combat thing, but in the second, to ensure a kill on some Init 5 or 6, it can be great.

Brilliant Evasion isn't bad. It's just... kinda needs the right list. Something like Anakin/Plo/Obi with CLT could do decently with Brilliant Evasion (3 agility, plenty of bid, so it's not crowding out something better). Also, it suffers from being... well... probably just worse than Hate at the same job. Not everyone can take Hate, but still.

Supernatural Reflexes and Precognitive Reflexes have a lot of potential. Pre-movement reposition actions often amplify their effect. However, these are really expensive, and kind of need to be used almost perfectly to justify their cost. I wouldn't recommend them when starting out.

Foresight is totally reasonable, and can push a few extra damage in the right circumstances.

Only really Predictive Shot is just very bad.

2 hours ago, theBitterFig said:

Hate is solid, it's probably the best force-efficiency talent there is. Sure, you don't want to intentionally take damage, but it tends to happen anyway, and getting force back on someone like Vader means he can turn that into more action chains.

Sense can be really potent. Looking at an opponent's dials can inform you which of your Academy Pilot TIEs needs to barrel roll and which direction to secure a block. That said, Sense isn't always easy to use. It's the kind of thing that takes practice.

Instinctive Aim is good, if the missiles or torpedoes you'd shoot with it are superior to your primary weapon attacks (so it's better on Luke or a TIE/v1 than on Vader, but with Passive Sensors, there isn't a tonne of reason for a TIE/v1 to take Instinctive Aim).

Heightened Perception is pretty good, but again, not really on Vader where it's kind of a waste. On on Mace Windu, or Kanan Jarrus in the Ghost, it's a really potent talent allowing a heavy-hitter at lower initiative to leapfrog up. Maybe not a first round of combat thing, but in the second, to ensure a kill on some Init 5 or 6, it can be great.

Brilliant Evasion isn't bad. It's just... kinda needs the right list. Something like Anakin/Plo/Obi with CLT could do decently with Brilliant Evasion (3 agility, plenty of bid, so it's not crowding out something better). Also, it suffers from being... well... probably just worse than Hate at the same job. Not everyone can take Hate, but still.

Supernatural Reflexes and Precognitive Reflexes have a lot of potential. Pre-movement reposition actions often amplify their effect. However, these are really expensive, and kind of need to be used almost perfectly to justify their cost. I wouldn't recommend them when starting out.

Foresight is totally reasonable, and can push a few extra damage in the right circumstances.

Only really Predictive Shot is just very bad.

Awesome breakdown. Thank you very much!

Be careful with Vader, he needs his locks. His ship ability requires that he has a lock on the defender if he doesn’t he just rolls 2 attack dice. So you have to make sure you have the defender locked if you want to maximize his offense. Which is why Fire-Control System is popular on him. Have the defender locked? Roll 3 dice, get 1hit, 2 blanks. re-roll a blank into a focus with FCS, change one hit to a crit, then spend a Force to change the focus into a hit. Instead of 1 hit you now have 1 crit 1 hit. And you still have the defender locked because you cannot spend the lock if you use FCS. You can spend the lock if you don’t want to use FCS.

15 minutes ago, pakirby said:

Be careful with Vader, he needs his locks. His ship ability requires that he has a lock on the defender if he doesn’t he just rolls 2 attack dice. So you have to make sure you have the defender locked if you want to maximize his offense. Which is why Fire-Control System is popular on him. Have the defender locked? Roll 3 dice, get 1hit, 2 blanks. re-roll a blank into a focus with FCS, change one hit to a crit, then spend a Force to change the focus into a hit. Instead of 1 hit you now have 1 crit 1 hit. And you still have the defender locked because you cannot spend the lock if you use FCS. You can spend the lock if you don’t want to use FCS.

Right. And Passive Sensors should have me covered on that, right? As I read them, it’s a guaranteed lock each turn...

41 minutes ago, Cpt ObVus said:

Right. And Passive Sensors should have me covered on that, right? As I read them, it’s a guaranteed lock each turn...

You do either Passive Sensors or FCS you can’t have both. Usually people put passives on Vader if they don’t mind whether they move first or not. So you could have Vader in a 200 point list which will most likely mean that Vader will move before the other players’ Initiative 6 ship moves. So Vader moves, takes passive sensors as an action, then he can spend a force to perform an action : roll, lock or focus. So he could focus then when it is time for him to engage he takes a lock on somebody and gets double mods (focus & lock). Passive sensors are fun, but I prefer FCS on him most of the time since I’m taking a steep bid to make sure that I move last.

1 minute ago, pakirby said:

You do either Passive Sensors or FCS you can’t have both. Usually people put passives on Vader if they don’t mind whether they move first or not. So you could have Vader in a 200 point list which will most likely mean that Vader will move before the other players’ Initiative 6 ship moves. So Vader moves, takes passive sensors as an action, then he can spend a force to perform an action : roll, lock or focus. So he could focus then when it is time for him to engage he takes a lock on somebody and gets double mods (focus & lock). Passive sensors are fun, but I prefer FCS on him most of the time since I’m taking a steep bid to make sure that I move last.

Excellent explanation. Thanks!

23 minutes ago, pakirby said:

...lots of helpful stuff...

So let me ask you this, so I make sure I know how this stuff all interacts:

I have Vader equipped with Afterburners and Passive Sensors. I’m SECOND player.

Vader performs his regular movement for the turn, fully executing say, a speed three hard left turn. He can then spend a charge on Afterburners to execute a Boost action (this doesn’t count as his one regular action per turn, right?). Now he gets his regular one action, and uses it to spend a charge from Passive Sensors. Then we move to the Engagement Phase...

Here’s where I’m slightly confused: Passive Sensors says, “Before you engage, if your charge is inactive (check), you may perform a Calculate or Lock action.” So does he do this at the beginning of the Engagement Phase, or at the beginning of his personal engagement? I guess what I mean is, if the opponent’s Wedge Antilles (initiative 6) is present, do I perform a lock action before anything else happens during Engagement? Or does Wedge engage first, and THEN Vader gets to lock? And after that, there’s nothing stopping Vader from spending a Force to Focus, then linking into a Barrel Roll (taking a stress token) or simply spending the Force to Focus, then spending another Force to Barrel Roll and NOT take a stress, right?

So at the cost of a charge from Afterburners, a charge from Passive Sensors, and then either one Force and a stress, or two Force, Vader can literally perform every action he has access to, all in one turn? Have I got that (and the timing of it all) right?

For that matter, can he also spend a Force after he gets his lock from Passive Sensors to ALSO get a Calculate token?

3 hours ago, Cpt ObVus said:

So let me ask you this, so I make sure I know how this stuff all interacts:

I have Vader equipped with Afterburners and Passive Sensors. I’m SECOND player.

Vader performs his regular movement for the turn, fully executing say, a speed three hard left turn. He can then spend a charge on Afterburners to execute a Boost action (this doesn’t count as his one regular action per turn, right?). Now he gets his regular one action, and uses it to spend a charge from Passive Sensors. Then we move to the Engagement Phase...

Here’s where I’m slightly confused: Passive Sensors says, “Before you engage, if your charge is inactive (check), you may perform a Calculate or Lock action.” So does he do this at the beginning of the Engagement Phase, or at the beginning of his personal engagement? I guess what I mean is, if the opponent’s Wedge Antilles (initiative 6) is present, do I perform a lock action before anything else happens during Engagement? Or does Wedge engage first, and THEN Vader gets to lock? And after that, there’s nothing stopping Vader from spending a Force to Focus, then linking into a Barrel Roll (taking a stress token) or simply spending the Force to Focus, then spending another Force to Barrel Roll and NOT take a stress, right?

So at the cost of a charge from Afterburners, a charge from Passive Sensors, and then either one Force and a stress, or two Force, Vader can literally perform every action he has access to, all in one turn? Have I got that (and the timing of it all) right?

For that matter, can he also spend a Force after he gets his lock from Passive Sensors to ALSO get a Calculate token?

The lock/calculate happens Before Vader engages at initiative 6. Since wedge has 1st player, he’ll engage before Vader.

wedge activates and performs actions at INitiative 6.
then vader activates and does passive sensors for his perform action step (Note: Passive Sensors can only be taken during the perform action step).

wedge engages
Then before Vader engages Vader can take a lock or calculate from passive sensors. He can spend force to perform more actions if he wants.

Anytime vader performs an action he can spend force to perform one or more actions. So after he performs a boost action from Afterburners, after he performs the passive sensors action during the perform action step. And after he performs the lock or calculate from passive sensors before he engages. All of this is dependent on whether or not he’s stressed at any time. You cannot perform actions while stressed.

3 hours ago, Cpt ObVus said:

So let me ask you this, so I make sure I know how this stuff all interacts:

I have Vader equipped with Afterburners and Passive Sensors. I’m SECOND player.

Vader performs his regular movement for the turn, fully executing say, a speed three hard left turn. He can then spend a charge on Afterburners to execute a Boost action (this doesn’t count as his one regular action per turn, right?). Now he gets his regular one action, and uses it to spend a charge from Passive Sensors. Then we move to the Engagement Phase...

Here’s where I’m slightly confused: Passive Sensors says, “Before you engage, if your charge is inactive (check), you may perform a Calculate or Lock action.” So does he do this at the beginning of the Engagement Phase, or at the beginning of his personal engagement? I guess what I mean is, if the opponent’s Wedge Antilles (initiative 6) is present, do I perform a lock action before anything else happens during Engagement? Or does Wedge engage first, and THEN Vader gets to lock? And after that, there’s nothing stopping Vader from spending a Force to Focus, then linking into a Barrel Roll (taking a stress token) or simply spending the Force to Focus, then spending another Force to Barrel Roll and NOT take a stress, right?

So at the cost of a charge from Afterburners, a charge from Passive Sensors, and then either one Force and a stress, or two Force, Vader can literally perform every action he has access to, all in one turn? Have I got that (and the timing of it all) right?

For that matter, can he also spend a Force after he gets his lock from Passive Sensors to ALSO get a Calculate token?

So at the cost of a charge from Afterburners, a charge from Passive Sensors, and then either one Force and a stress, or two Force, Vader can literally perform every action he has access to, all in one turn? Have I got that (and the timing of it all) right?

For that matter, can he also spend a Force after he gets his lock from Passive Sensors to ALSO get a Calculate token?

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Vader can perform as many actions as he has force to perform. Just cannot perform the same action twice and only limited to actions on his action bar.

Passive sensors say you can only perform either a lock or calculate action. Since calculate is not on his action bar he cannot perform the lock from passive sensors then spend a force to do a calculate since calculate is not on his action bar.

4 hours ago, pakirby said:

So at the cost of a charge from Afterburners, a charge from Passive Sensors, and then either one Force and a stress, or two Force, Vader can literally perform every action he has access to, all in one turn? Have I got that (and the timing of it all) right?

For that matter, can he also spend a Force after he gets his lock from Passive Sensors to ALSO get a Calculate token?

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Vader can perform as many actions as he has force to perform. Just cannot perform the same action twice and only limited to actions on his action bar.

Passive sensors say you can only perform either a lock or calculate action. Since calculate is not on his action bar he cannot perform the lock from passive sensors then spend a force to do a calculate since calculate is not on his action bar.

Ah, I thought that Passive Sensors gave him the Calculate action. Got it.

53 minutes ago, Cpt ObVus said:

Ah, I thought that Passive Sensors gave him the Calculate action. Got it.

Nope, an upgrade will specify if it counts as an action bar addition with a graphic that matches the action bar type graphics on the card - look at the sfoils closed side from your xwing as an example.

I’m pretty new here as well but looking through stuff on the app, if you’re looking for new Empire stuff, the Tie Defender looks like a great pickup, pretty fantastic ship, decent pilots, and some good to have upgrade cards. That, and all the Empire games I’ve seen in tournaments fly a Tie D and an Inquisitor’s Tie, Seventh sister looks potent if you’re looking for new Empire stuff

5 hours ago, Xp45 said:

I’m pretty new here as well but looking through stuff on the app, if you’re looking for new Empire stuff, the Tie Defender looks like a great pickup, pretty fantastic ship, decent pilots, and some good to have upgrade cards. That, and all the Empire games I’ve seen in tournaments fly a Tie D and an Inquisitor’s Tie, Seventh sister looks potent if you’re looking for new Empire stuff

Defender is OK, but very expensive. People fly a generic defender with a lambda shuttle often.