And the defender's action economy's not great to start with...
That said, it depends if you're trying to use two named defenders or just two generic defenders - a Fleet Officer in a Lambda Shuttle gives you the ability to hand out the focus tokens you otherwise lack - and at range 1-2, not range 1 like most support ships - which means you can use your native action for boosting.
The Engine Upgrade defender isn't devastating but it's very tasty once you master it. Using boost after you come out of a koiogran turn is its big party piece, and is as close as the empire can currently come to a segnor's loop.
The problem with two named defenders in a squad is that their pilot skill isn't as high as a lot of small, elite squads (like TIE interceptors or TIE Advanced) and their pilot abilities don't complement each other - Vessery wants everyone to be Target Lock-ing and shooting first, whilst Brath (the higher
PS pilot in reality) wants to be focus-ing and shooting last (once an opponent's shields are down).
I'd therefore pick
one named defender and build your squad around it. Taking a second TIE defender is fine, just don't waste points on the second named guy.
I'd never take a missile and a cannon upgrade on the same fighter because you can't use both simultaneously - not to mention that the Defender's Primary 3 isn't exactly rubbish to start with, especially with the Colonel's kind-of-fire-control-system.
If you want Colonel Vessery
Vessery and a second generic defender work well - Vessery gets his free target locks because he has a higher
PS, and the odds of someone taking out a TIE defender before he can do so are pretty low. Plus, you gain back points for weapon upgrades or some wingmen. His ability does work very well with Cluster Missiles.
A nice squad (because it's very simple) is:
Colonel Vessery with Cluster Missiles
Delta Squadron Pilot
Delta Squadron Pilot
Alternatively, if you only want (or only have) 2 defenders, consider
Colonel Vessery with Cluster Missiles, Engine Upgrade, Outmaneuver
Delta Squadron Pilot
Academy Pilot
Academy Pilot
Vessery's ability to pull turns out of back-to-back koiograns means triggering outmaneuver shouldn't be too hard, and a cluster missile with cycling target locks and an evade dice penalty could easily one-shot a small ship.
If you want Rexler Brath
Brath needs two things to work - he needs his target's shields down and he needs a 'spare' focus token in addition to any other attack boosts. I wouldn't take an engine upgrade on him because he's going to need all the actions he can spare.
A Heavy laser cannon isn't a bad buy, then either a shuttle with fleet officer or a squad leader (the problem with the latter is that only Vader is really up to the task and he's damn expensive too - plus he'll have difficulty holding formation with a defender).
Push The Limit is an option, but TIE defender have trouble shedding stress. Come Wave VII, Twin Ion Engines MkII will really shake this up - making all the banked manouvres green and giving the TIE Defender one of the best green dials in the game alongside the A-wing and TIE Interceptor. If your opponents will let you proxy it, or once it arrives, I'd suggest it probably becomes the go-to modification for a defender.
If I wanted to try and field both named guys, then you want to try and swap their firing order - I suggest Decoy works well.
Rexler Brath
- Heavy Laser Cannon
- Push The Limit
- Twin Ion Engines MkII
Colonel Vessery
- Heavy Laser Cannon
- Decoy
- Engine Upgrade
That's 96 points - so a cheap missile on one pilot or the other is possible; Ion Pulse Missiles might be nice to mess with a Falcon or Decimator, or Cluster Missles on Vessery for a range 2 one-two punch.
Brath lines up on the enemy and rolls in slowly, using his speed 1-2 green straights and banks, and focus/target locks using Push The Limit.
Vessery hits the gas and uses boost or barrel roll as he sees fit, as he can feed off Brath's Target lock as long as he stays within range 1-2.
In the combat phase, Vessery uses Decoy to swap
PS with Brath and shoots first, getting a free target lock to modify his cannon's results - hopefully flattening the target's shields. Brath then fires, using the target lock to do as much damage as possible then spending the focus to convert all those results (effectively) to critical hits.
Devastating? Probably not. But not unworkable.
