Why would anyone choose to gain an Evade token rather than a Focus token? If you have the option, it just seems that the Focus is the more useful of the two options seeing as it allows you to use it for attack or defense.

Can anyone clarify for me?

I can think of 2 times for sure it's the better option.

First is if after you move you are in a position where you can't attack anyone, but at least one ship can potentially attack you.

Second is if you are down to 1 hull point, and have low PS, you want to survive long enough to get your attack in that round.

The evade is nice because it guaruntees at a minimum that one hit dice won't do any damage to you. If you take focus you might roll one for the same result, or even get lucky and roll multiple, but you could also roll none and then it was worthless for defense.

I should also point out that Evade tokens can avoid damage from Autoblasters. Rare to run into them, granted, but unfun times when you do.

Why would anyone choose to gain an Evade token rather than a Focus token? If you have the option, it just seems that the Focus is the more useful of the two options seeing as it allows you to use it for attack or defense.

Can anyone clarify for me?

Yes, if you're desperately trying to avoid getting hit, an evade token is a guaranteed cancelled hit. A focus token might be 1, it might be 4, or it might very well be Zero cancelled hits and absolutely no help when you need it most. A focus token is much more versatile but not as reliable.

Think of an evade token as an extra dice with an evade on every side.

I like to think of evade as a shield token every turn...

And for the actual rolls... The force is my ally... Who needs focus tokens?

DefensIvely speaking, When You Have Three Or Fewer Defensive Dice, EvadeHasA Higher Statistical Chance Of Avoiding Damage Than A FocUs Token.

Ugh I Hate Typimg On A Smartphone.

anyway, FOCUSES are Also A Guaranteed Damage Prevention, Whereas Focuses Are A Gamble For Multiple.

Holy Capitalisation Batman!

Holy Capitalisation Batman!

Sorry, that was posted from someone else's smartphone, which autocapitalized everything, seemingly at random.

Thanks all. Still new to the game, a friend and I each got it from our ever lovin' wives for Christmas. We've played 4 games so far, so we're still figuring out all the ins and outs of the game. I guess I understand the point of the evade being a guaranteed damage soak, I just know that so far I haven't used it, as I figure the focus is so much more versatile.

Another clarification if you will - not everyone has the option to gain an evade token do they? It has to be something that is on your action bar am I correct?

Thanks all. Still new to the game, a friend and I each got it from our ever lovin' wives for Christmas. We've played 4 games so far, so we're still figuring out all the ins and outs of the game. I guess I understand the point of the evade being a guaranteed damage soak, I just know that so far I haven't used it, as I figure the focus is so much more versatile.

Another clarification if you will - not everyone has the option to gain an evade token do they? It has to be something that is on your action bar am I correct?

That is correct. It must be on the action bar (or placed there with an upgrade like Millenium Falcon title). Usually, this means Imperials then.

The following craft have it natively:

TIE Advanced

TIE Fighter

TIE Interceptor

Firespray

A-Wing

And the Falcon title can add it to the YT-1300.

It's been eluded to here, but while evade is guaranteed, it is also the only way to avoid more hits than you have agility. So if you have PTL and focus and evade, it's not out of the question to be able to completely avoid a particularly devastating shot at close range.

I've had people completely ignore ships with a single evade token because they know they need multiple damage rolls to get through.

At the same time, focus is more flexible overall.

Remarkably, the most obvious answer hasn't been posted here yet.

You choose evade when you already have a focus token. For example, Darth Vader with 2 actions could focus and evade, in order to dramatically increase his defense.

The second less-obvious answer (and the one that has been provided by others) is that you use Evade if you are rolling fewer than 3 green dice, and/or don't need offense this turn.

But Evade really shines when you can stack it with other defensive actions and modifications.

It does drive people nuts when you wind up with 2 evades on the Falcon (1 die result, 1 Evade action) when the ship only has a single agility. Ever done that to a TIE player who was all proud when he rolled 2 hits? They lose their MINDS.

It can also work to play mind games against your opponent. If there are two equal TIE/ln sitting there, one with a focus and one with an evade, I'd rather attack the one with the focus. That way, even if I don't do any damage, I've stripped his focus for his attack on me. If I don't attack the person with the evade token, then the token clears and he "wasted" an action. Evade is also great end game when it's 1v1. Let's take a B wing vs. a /ln. The B will likely want to use its action to barrel roll for positioning. Its attack vs. the TIE would do .3 damage if the TIE focused, or .21 if the TIE evaded. This is the difference between 3 attacks and 5 attacks required to do 1 damage (blah blah blah, that's not really how it works, but it's easy to visual that way). Meanwhile, the TIE is now attacking without any mods against the B without any mods. He will do .72 damage. So, over 5 rounds of that, he will do 3.6 total damage. Meanwhile, there's a 42% chance that you didn't need that focus on defense, so 42% of the time you can use it on offense. This means that over those 3 turns the B took to do 1 damage, you did 4.7 damage. Herm... doing my math out like that actually just proved the opposite of what I intended to prove. Let see if it holds true when the B wing has a focus for offense.

The B wing will do .64 damage with a F against a F, and .49 w/ a F against an E. The TIE will do .72 w/o a F and 1.15 w/ a F (at a 42% take rate) - averaging out to .9 damage when he takes a F. So, .9 / . 64 = 1.4 and .72 / .49 = 1.47. Okay, so if the B wing takes a focus, you will cause a higher proportion of damage by evading than focusing, but barely. Note I ignored the chance that the B wing uses the F for defense. Actually, any rebel worth his salt would take a TL in this case anyways. If you don't need the TL, then you keep it for the next turn. If you do need the TL, it has the opportunity of rolling a crit. So the B wing shouldn't have a F for defense that often.

And if this trend is to continue, the more deadly the B wing becomes, the better the evade is. So at R1 w/ a TL the B does 1.04 vs. E, and 1.23 vs. F. Meanwhile the TIE does 1.17 naked, and 1.88 w/ F, at a 42% take rate yielding an average result of 1.46. The ratio of the two is 1.46 / 1.23 = 1.19 (if Focused) vs. 1.12 (if Evade). Herm... nope... it seems that Focus is the more favorable option for a TIE vs. a B wing in almost all cases (except when the TIE doesn't have a shot on the B). Huh, who woulda thought?

And that 42% is only the chance of not rolling any eyes. It should technically be higher than that because there will be times that you roll eyes but don't need extra evades.