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Hm, good points peregrine. I could see how the Z-95 would therefore be further worse against 3 defense dice enemies like TIEs. That also explains more of the appeal of heavy laser cannons for me.

In theory unless I'm mistaken, a situation where you are using more target lock/offensive focus would bring the Z-95 and X-wing damage output numbers closer together, while the enemy using evade or defensive focus would make the Z-95 comparatively worse.

All this makes the Z-95 seem more reasonable but at least from a survivability-per-points standpoint the Z-95 seems clearly better. I am still relatively inexperienced with this game but I guess I will have to see how things turn out in actual games with it.

 ph34r wrote:
In theory unless I'm mistaken, a situation where you are using more target lock/offensive focus would bring the Z-95 and X-wing damage output numbers closer together, while the enemy using evade or defensive focus would make the Z-95 comparatively worse.

Nope. Offensive focus/TL improves them both equally, since both of them get to use focus/TL in the same situations (unlike, say X-wing vs TIEs with no TL action). If you multiply both of their average damages by 150% (the effect of focus or TL) you still have the same percentage difference between them. Likewise for defensive focus, if you assume both offensive and defensive focus the two eyes on each die all cancel each other out. And evade tokens overwhelmingly favor the X-wing, since they effectively act as extra defense dice.

Essentially what matters in X-Wing is the difference between offense and defense dice, since opposing dice roughly cancel each other (with a slight advantage to the attacker). A Z-95 is +1 over a B-wing, equal with an X-wing, and -1 under a TIE. An X-wing is +2 over a B-wing, +1 over an X-wing, and equal with a TIE. And of course a HLC B-wing is +3 over a B-wing, +2 over an X-wing, and +1 over a TIE. So you can see the pretty huge jumps there: the X-wing has way more firepower than the Z-95, and the HLC B-wing just dominates both of them (at a high point cost, of course).

All this makes the Z-95 seem more reasonable but at least from a survivability-per-points standpoint the Z-95 seems clearly better.

That's because it is. If you want raw HP then 2x Z-95 is better than a single X-wing. However, HP isn't everything. The X-wing's superior firepower means it will be much faster at killing stuff to cut down on the incoming fire it faces, and that makes a big difference over the length of a full game.

You really have to be careful comparing X-Wing ships based on stats alone too- the maneuver dial makes such a huge difference as to how they function in game, y'know?

I like the Z because I think it'll let folks roll a Rebel Swarm for reals. The A-Wing was a teensy bit too expensive to really do that. That said, I don't think the Z is going to replace the X-Wing any more than a TIE Fighter could replace an Interceptor. That's what I've always really dug about X-Wing Miniatures though- the ships all seem to have roles; you just gotta decide if you want to use them in your particular game.

The E-Wing seems too rich for my blood, but you know me- I'll buy two anyway.

 Cid_MCDP wrote:

The E-Wing seems too rich for my blood, but you know me- I'll buy two anyway.

More-so than any other game on this forum, I swear we act like an X-Wing Anonymous support group. "Hi, I'm Brian and I spend too much on X-Wing." "Hi, Brian! Don't worry, it's a safe place here."

So they're doing EU... does this mean I can has K-Wings?

chaos0xomega wrote:
So they're doing EU...

Moldy Crow came out last wave dude. Not to mention a bunch of the pilot names since wave one.

I think they have access to anything that has appeared in a videogame+main movies.

I'm thinking E-wing+stealth+R2-F2 (+Advanced sensors, just 'cause that's an awesome upgrade) will be fairly common, as far as E-wings go. Evade 5 is kinda intimidating, especially if there is some kind of focus manipulation going on.

Eumerin wrote:


The article explicitly states that the Defender has an attack of 3.

Marek Stele, the obvious choice for a TIE Defender pilot, has already been used for the TIE Advanced X1. Ironically, the only other pilot who I can identify off the top of my head who actually flew one of the things was Darth Vader, who's the other TIE Advanced X1 pilot. Are there any other named pilots who've been identified somewhere as piloting a Defender?

You forget that a lot of the pilots mentioned already in the packs come from the EU and the Decipher game (where the Onyx Squadron idea came from) also has two named pilots already established for the TIE Defenders. I think they will, more than likely, go off of the Decipher CCG names:

Colonel Jendon
Captain Yorr

Both of those are already in the game as Lambda shuttle pilots.

would be cool to have other named pilots pilot other ships, Like Darth Vader in a defender.

 Guitarquero wrote:
would be cool to have other named pilots pilot other ships, Like Darth Vader in a defender.

Shrug, why not? I can see it happening, seeing how Luke, Vader and Chewie are already pilots for one ship and crew members in another. They're still special characters that can only be used once on each team, who could mind if they get access to other whips they've piloted.

 Farseer Faenyin wrote:

Eumerin wrote:


The article explicitly states that the Defender has an attack of 3.

Marek Stele, the obvious choice for a TIE Defender pilot, has already been used for the TIE Advanced X1. Ironically, the only other pilot who I can identify off the top of my head who actually flew one of the things was Darth Vader, who's the other TIE Advanced X1 pilot. Are there any other named pilots who've been identified somewhere as piloting a Defender?

You forget that a lot of the pilots mentioned already in the packs come from the EU and the Decipher game (where the Onyx Squadron idea came from) also has two named pilots already established for the TIE Defenders. I think they will, more than likely, go off of the Decipher CCG names:

Colonel Jendon
Captain Yorr

Okay, okay, I hadn't thought it through, you guys are right, i get it lol.

I'm not sure about the E-wing, but I plan on getting all three of the others. I have already been using Z95's using some pretty good fan-made rules online, and more TIE variants is always a good thing.

Z-95's are just awesome because they make me feel like I'm 14 again.