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This set looks pretty good to me! Someone mentioned EPT at the beginning of the thread- what is EPT?

And why isn't the Tie Defender a good ship now?

Thanks!

My partner is so happy about the new Defender upgrades. It has always been her fav ship, and just this past week it was causing headaches at our local store. Plush she keeps telling me she will crush me when she get's it.

EPT is Elite Pilot Talent eg Predator, Crack Shot.

 Tamwulf wrote:
This set looks pretty good to me! Someone mentioned EPT at the beginning of the thread- what is EPT?

And why isn't the Tie Defender a good ship now?

Thanks!

Elite Pilot Talent. The Upgrade cards that have the Medal on the back of them.

The TIE Defender is just over-costed with sub-par named pilot abilities currently. It also lacks a specific build that makes it unique.

 Tamwulf wrote:
This set looks pretty good to me! Someone mentioned EPT at the beginning of the thread- what is EPT?

And why isn't the Tie Defender a good ship now?

Thanks!

EPT = Elite Pilot Talent

The Tie Defender is not a good ship right now for a few reasons:
1. Overcosted, and that's BEFORE you start adding upgrades. Pretty soon damn near half your list is one ship. The list math is not there.
2. The maneuver dial has a lot of red, which means you need to clear with green; all the green maneuvers are straight moves, which make the ship movement predictable.
3. While some like the Elite Pilot abilities, they're pretty meh IMHO.
4. The Empire has so many better options.

So when the new pack drops, you'll get two titles that make the ship better, to include some new pilots; the big one is Countess Ryad, who can do dang near every speed of K turn as a green maneuver, which is pretty nifty.

Yes, the TIE Defender may be overpriced a bit but the key to using them is to fly them like you just stole them. Hit and run and flying at max speed all over the board. And the Countess plays right into that strategy.

I love the defender as-is, but this pack just makes them so much more lovable.

Of course, I'm a casual player and refuse to do tournaments (bad past experiences).

 Stormonu wrote:
I love the defender as-is, but this pack just makes them so much more lovable.

Of course, I'm a casual player and refuse to do tournaments (bad past experiences).

Amen, Brother (or Sister as the case may be)!

 House Griffith wrote:

 Tamwulf wrote:
This set looks pretty good to me! Someone mentioned EPT at the beginning of the thread- what is EPT?

And why isn't the Tie Defender a good ship now?

Thanks!

EPT = Elite Pilot Talent

The Tie Defender is not a good ship right now for a few reasons:
1. Overcosted, and that's BEFORE you start adding upgrades. Pretty soon damn near half your list is one ship. The list math is not there.
2. The maneuver dial has a lot of red, which means you need to clear with green; all the green maneuvers are straight moves, which make the ship movement predictable.
3. While some like the Elite Pilot abilities, they're pretty meh IMHO.
4. The Empire has so many better options.

So when the new pack drops, you'll get two titles that make the ship better, to include some new pilots; the big one is Countess Ryad, who can do dang near every speed of K turn as a green maneuver, which is pretty nifty.

Pretty much this, and as HG says point 4 being the biggy, the Defender had the unluck to come out in the same wave as the Phantom, which was a better ship all round, especially with the pre-errata Cloak rules

 Mathieu Raymond wrote:
Dude. Spring is here. Go bask in the pollen and the sunlight. They'll get here when they get here.

Quoted for truth... (people still do that, right?)

 Anpu-adom wrote:

 Mathieu Raymond wrote:
Dude. Spring is here. Go bask in the pollen and the sunlight. They'll get here when they get here.

Quoted for truth... (people still do that, right?)

If krodarklorr's location is accurate (Virginia), we haven't had much sunlight to bask in this spring.

 Mathieu Raymond wrote:
Dude. Spring is here. Go bask in the pollen and the sunlight. They'll get here when they get here.

i LOLED

 ScootyPuffJunior wrote:

 Anpu-adom wrote:

 Mathieu Raymond wrote:
Dude. Spring is here. Go bask in the pollen and the sunlight. They'll get here when they get here.

Quoted for truth... (people still do that, right?)

If krodarklorr's location is accurate (Virginia), we haven't had much sunlight to bask in this spring.

And I see this, right as I get in to work, while it's pouring rain outside. I suppose I should quote this for truth, yes?

 krodarklorr wrote:

 ScootyPuffJunior wrote:

 Anpu-adom wrote:

 Mathieu Raymond wrote:
Dude. Spring is here. Go bask in the pollen and the sunlight. They'll get here when they get here.

Quoted for truth... (people still do that, right?)

If krodarklorr's location is accurate (Virginia), we haven't had much sunlight to bask in this spring.

And I see this, right as I get in to work, while it's pouring rain outside. I suppose I should quote this for truth, yes?

At least it's just rain out in VA, in Oklahoma (and the midwest at large) it's the ever present threat of tornadoes, flooding, and -the best- baseball/softball sized hail.
It's quite enjoyable wondering "Will today be the day my car gets totaled?".

 House Griffith wrote:

 krodarklorr wrote:

 ScootyPuffJunior wrote:

 Anpu-adom wrote:

 Mathieu Raymond wrote:
Dude. Spring is here. Go bask in the pollen and the sunlight. They'll get here when they get here.

Quoted for truth... (people still do that, right?)

If krodarklorr's location is accurate (Virginia), we haven't had much sunlight to bask in this spring.

And I see this, right as I get in to work, while it's pouring rain outside. I suppose I should quote this for truth, yes?

At least it's just rain out in VA, in Oklahoma (and the midwest at large) it's the ever present threat of tornadoes, flooding, and -the best- baseball/softball sized hail.
It's quite enjoyable wondering "Will today be the day my car gets totaled?".

I too dodged total vehicle destruction last night... and hopefully the rest of the week as well.
But I did get my wife's garden in (no bending for that on right now...medical). Enjoy the weather that you can enjoy.

 Mathieu Raymond wrote:
Dude. Spring is here. Go bask in the pollen and the sunlight. They'll get here when they get here.

Vitamin D is lethal to nerds.

I want this to come out so bad and reignite my X-Wing passion. I decided I wasn't into anything from the second half of wave 8 and when the local store that ran games went out of business it kind of shut the whole thing down for me...

 Lord Corellia wrote:
I want this to come out so bad and reignite my X-Wing passion. I decided I wasn't into anything from the second half of wave 8 and when the local store that ran games went out of business it kind of shut the whole thing down for me...

The only reason I'm not looking forward to this coming out is the dent it'll put in my wallet. I'm buying at least 2 of these.

"Here they come!" - looks like they've been offloaded from the boat. I'm guessing they'll be in stores in about a month?

Id say Thursday

 House Griffith wrote:
https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2016/4/25/defend-the-empire/

Of Note:

Holy. Crap.
Countess Ryad can do GREEN K TURNS AT ALL STRAIGHT SPEEDS (2-5)

I plan on pairing her with 2 Glaive Squadron with the X7 title and Adaptability. Comes in at 100 points even and gives me the option to run all of them at PS 5 if need be.

23rd is what I heard a few weeks back. At least for the US.

There is a grace period after release before they can be used in tourneys, is there not?

 Mathieu Raymond wrote:
There is a grace period after release before they can be used in tourneys, is there not?

Not that I know of... any released material can be used right away.

 Mathieu Raymond wrote:
There is a grace period after release before they can be used in tourneys, is there not?

Depends on the tournament. For low-tier tournaments everything is legal as soon as it is officially released, for higher-tier tournaments (nationals, regionals IIRC, etc) there's a delay before you can use new stuff.

I'm asking because a lot of people on a FB forum in my area are losing their gak because our usual release schedule is Fridays, and this upcoming Friday is a National Holiday, so if it is a week of grace period, they couldn't get Imperial Veterans in time for the Nationals on July 2nd.

Somehow I got it into my mind this set was coming with two defenders, which got me a bit overexcited. Seeing the box with the bomber in it (which I have had really disappointing games with) made me reconsider ordering two boxes straight away.

I got mine in the post this morning and played the included mission this afternoon. The mission is actually really cool and different, it features...
I had fun with the bomber, managed to kill Jake Farrell with a well timed proximity mine. The x7 Defender was a bugger to put damage on though.

Just wondering what you all think about some possible builds based on the new pilots /titles for the defenders :

1) Raging Ryad/Rexler. .. rage + x7 + eng mk 2

Same base points cost as the pilot plus ability to evade even if stressed and plenty of green maneuvers to shed stress. And a 3 dice attack to take advantage of the reroll. .. (note, I could also see this as an interesting option for a Defender - D )

2) Jukers wild: Glaive/Ryad /Maarek /Rexler with juke & x7

I suspect this would work best accompanied by Vader or valen Rudor (also with juke) and a small ship with opportunist (thinking Baron in TAP or Gamma vet because opportunist doesn't specify primary weapons )...

I'll probably come up with more, but these seemed like options worth investigating

Apostasus wrote:
1) Raging Ryad/Rexler. .. rage + x7 + eng mk 2

This is awful. Double stress is a terrible idea and you get very little benefit. Ryad might as well just take PTL and get a full target lock for only a single stress.