We.. as in you and I...

I have not played in any competitive competitions, and I do not find that significant.. competitive play so far has been heavily played with swarms.. and in an atmosphere of many ships the finesse of the game disappears in my opinion..

Competitions are frought with people who overanalize the game and who play to beat down the competition, it also takes a few months to have people figure out the winning combos...

When you play games in your local groups the dynamics are different, unless you have a group of tournament players.. most of my friends are playing to have fun.. we play lists that we think will be fun to run and sometimes we win and sometimes we lose.. I an going to try to get into some tourneys soon, but I have things going on mow that may make it harder for me to get there..

No offense, but if you've never played in any competitive competitions, I'm not sure you're the best person to speak to the atmosphere, what kind of lists are favored, and how everyone plays. I've been in several tournaments and played at Worlds this year, and I don't think I've played against a single swarm yet in that setting (there have been some, but they haven't been overwhelmingly favored by a long stretch).

And while some of the people can certainly be intense, I've got a friend who plays casual games much more intensely and aggressively than anybody I've faced in 'competitive' competition thus far. In fact I've met a few truly friendly, good people who were a pleasure to play, win or lose.

It feels like you're judging everyone who competes against an unfair and not particularly accurate stereotype.

Admitedly other unique abilities are easier to use 'right out of the box'

I think I will try to work some ideas out and see what I come up with.. I also admit I haven't used the Advanced TIEs much, as I have had other concepts going that I wanted to try out.. this thread has gotten my interest up and pushed me to see what I can do with these ships..

We.. as in you and I...

I have not played in any competitive competitions, and I do not find that significant.. competitive play so far has been heavily played with swarms.. and in an atmosphere of many ships the finesse of the game disappears in my opinion..

Competitions are frought with people who overanalize the game and who play to beat down the competition, it also takes a few months to have people figure out the winning combos...

When you play games in your local groups the dynamics are different, unless you have a group of tournament players.. most of my friends are playing to have fun.. we play lists that we think will be fun to run and sometimes we win and sometimes we lose.. I an going to try to get into some tourneys soon, but I have things going on mow that may make it harder for me to get there..

No offense, but if you've never played in any competitive competitions, I'm not sure you're the best person to speak to the atmosphere, what kind of lists are favored, and how everyone plays. I've been in several tournaments and played at Worlds this year, and I don't think I've played against a single swarm yet in that setting (there have been some, but they haven't been overwhelmingly favored by a long stretch).

And while some of the people can certainly be intense, I've got a friend who plays casual games much more intensely and aggressively than anybody I've faced in 'competitive' competition thus far. In fact I've met a few truly friendly, good people who were a pleasure to play, win or lose.

It feels like you're judging everyone who competes against an unfair and not particularly accurate stereotype.

I try not to get offended by the internet.. lol..

I can see your point, and possibly agree that my input might have limited productive input...

I live in northern Illinois, maybe we can get together and run a few lists through the grinder and see what happens.. maybe at a store tourney ..

I am trying to hit a few tourneies soon.. but it isn't a sure thing with holiday stuff and some other issues I have right now..

I would love to play against anyone of you in either a tournament or just a casual event, you all are good people in my book..

Don't get me wrong, either - I wasn't trying to knock you for not playing in tournaments. I just started. I just don't want you to judge too harshly, because while there are definitely some of those kinds of players there, there are some good ones as well. Not trying to invalidate your opinion, just asking you to keep an open mind. You seem like good people, too.

Haha.. thanks, I got where you were going.

I can get blinders on sometimes.. and no two of us have the exact same opinions or ideas...

I also consider myself new, even though I bought the game last year at Rock Con here in Rockford IL.. but I have had limited play time as not many of my friends were, or are, into these games.. I just got in with a group, some of whom I've known a long time, and they are miniatures wargamers.. so of late I have had more face time to game. I do play some solo games andn se a set of rules that I think are pretty good.

Would still rather play against real people though.. lol. I am a social animal by nature lol

Haha.. thanks, I got where you were going.

I can get blinders on sometimes.. and no two of us have the exact same opinions or ideas...

I also consider myself new, even though I bought the game last year at Rock Con here in Rockford IL.. but I have had limited play time as not many of my friends were, or are, into these games.. I just got in with a group, some of whom I've known a long time, and they are miniatures wargamers.. so of late I have had more face time to game. I do play some solo games andn se a set of rules that I think are pretty good.

Would still rather play against real people though.. lol. I am a social animal by nature lol

Don't play with yourself in public. Just saying.

Haha.. I try not to.. it gets you arrested.. and I don't need that trouble... again... lol

Remember Stele's ability works with his secondary weapon too. So kick the enemy in da teef with an assault missile from him supported by Jonus!

My feeling is that the advanced works well supporting the bomber squadron and who better to do it than no-other than Stele himself!

I run him with my bomber squad and he is fantastic!

Remember Stele's ability works with his secondary weapon too. So kick the enemy in da teef with an assault missile from him supported by Jonus!

My feeling is that the advanced works well supporting the bomber squadron and who better to do it than no-other than Stele himself!

I run him with my bomber squad and he is fantastic!

That sounds pretty good. I'd hold off on using Steele's secondary weapon until the target's shields are breeched. He has more chances of rolling crits with four dice than two. His special ability doesn't work against shields anyway. I'm going to fly this.

Stele is just too expensive to go with a bomber squad ... unless you want to go with Maarek, Jonus and a bomber - which I hardly would call a squad.

...

but ... we are far from the topic

...

Question is: is this Maarek in the box?

No.

No. Why would they double up on a pilot? It just doesn't make any sense.

Well it does, a lot of pilots in the eu are cross trained. But I doubt they'd do it until they exhaust every other good choice for a given ship.

It doesn't make any sense for the Interceptor, but I see them reusing characters for other ships. They are doing it with upgrades/pilots, so I see no reason to see old pilot characters to be remade into pilots into new ships. How many want Tycho in an X-wing? I'm sure Maarek will appear again with the Defender. I doubt they will reuse abilities, though.

Spoiler: This is the expansion pack we are getting Porkins in.

Porkins: Behind Enemy Lines!

Maarek would make perfect sense. Even if he had a different ability piloting an Interceptor.

Until they run out of unique pilots that are at least somewhat recognizeable, and there is a lot of them, I don't think it is a good idea to reprint unique pilots that are already out in different ships. If they have the same pilot talent then your just paying for the ship and a bad ability is a bad ability no matter what is being flown. If it is a good, or bad, ability why run the risk of balance problems or making a pilot in their original ship entirely obsolete. On the toher hand if you change the talent then why not change the name so you can have other people who want to see other pilots in the game be there. I persoanlly have about 5 or 6 pilots on both sides that I would really like to see in game and a few of them would be perfectly suited for the interceptor. Because of this I say no reprinting unique pilots in different ships but thats my opinion.

There are not much unique pilot names for the 181st left, unless FFG invent some own ... and background says Stele flew almost every Imperial craft and he was a member of the 181st.

Vader, Luke, Chewy are there as pilot and crew. And you can't use them both in a squadron. And they have different abilities and everybody is fine with that. They could have made the vader crew card the same ability as he has as pilot. Same goes for chewy ... and even Luke. But no, they have different abilities. So why this shouldn't work with Maarek as well, with the difference that there is no pilot and crew card, but 2 pilot cards.

It could even be DS-181-4, Turrs wingman. But there is no name nor callsign provided by the background. So maybe the card just reads DS-181-4. Or FFG is creative and come up with a name like Turr's Wrath

No new ideas? ^^

I'm guessing that all of the "four unique pilots" will be Royal Guard

One of the unknown would probably be Ved Kennede with a pilot skill that would fit as the "Master Instructor".

The other maybe Kile Hannad?

we know that's not the case. Lt Lorriel is the 3rd one and he is 181st.. so it makes sense the last one is also 181st

Porkins: Behind Enemy Lines!

Would Porkins even fit in an Interceptor?

Amusing to say the least.. but most rebel pilots probably did come from the Empire.. so a pilot card with some of the Rebels would be interesting..