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I played some games with Countess Ryad and PTL. I'm not sure how I feel about Engine Upgrade on her... I usually love EU, but with her low PS she's often moving before other aces, so there is little advantage in choosing a shorter move + boost, when you can just choose a longer move, save the action, and get the x7 evade token. I think I'd prefer the Twin Ion Engines so she can easily steer around obstacles without losing defensive actions. I think the only other modification that could tempt me would be Stealth Device, since she could move 3: get an evade token, focus, and also get +1 evade. It would make her brutally difficult to put damage on.

Also tried infinite Crack Shot Tomax...

Tomax Bren Tie Bomber (34 Points)
Crack Shot
Guidance Chips
Concussion Missiles
Proton Rockets
Extra Munitions

Bit expensive, but the combination of bonuses from Crack Shot, Guidance Chips and Concussion Missiles made him hilariously powerful. Prockets don't need to be there really, but I figured since I was getting a deal on them with Extra Munitions, and had already invested a lot in the ship, I might as well give it something that can cover R1 and doesn't require a target lock. Managed to KO a Z-95 on turn two with them, so they at least paid for themselves that game.

After Tomax killed a second ship, my opponent twigged that Tomax really needs to die, and started to focus on him. Unfortunately, the lack of shields and agility make him a bit of a soft target, he's almost like a naked Whisper. Probably not very competitive, but quite fun.

Indeed. Especially with the green K-turns, so you don't need it for turn+boost for 'non-stressful sweeping turn'.

Twin Ion Engines are nice if you're specifically taking stress on Ryad (because you can come off the straight-line rails) - if you're just wanting insurance against enemy tacticians, etc, I think just her green K-turn is enough.

Certainly compared to the hilariously tough X7/Stealth Device idea. Focus/Evade/Agility 4 is not quite as hard to hit as the Inquisitor or Soontir Fel because no autothrusters, but on a ship with 6 hit points it's ridiculous - and if you accept your lower PS, predator lets you take care of the offensive side of the house without needing your action.

After Tomax killed a second ship, my opponent twigged that Tomax really needs to die, and started to focus on him. Unfortunately, the lack of shields and agility make him a bit of a soft target, he's almost like a naked Whisper. Probably not very competitive, but quite fun.

Much like elite B-wings, elite Bombers do die very quickly once someone actually starts aiming guns at them. That's my one concern with Tomax Bren - his 'unlimited use' ability is nice, but you've probably got to get at least two, ideally three uses out of it to justify the cost of buying him over a normal Gamma veteran. Certainly if he's worth more than 30 points, he's a hell of a target.

 Peregrine wrote:

 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.

Yeah, that's actually a relatively recent change:

For Relaxed and Formal events, all product is legal in North America upon the product’s official release. For Premier events, all product is legal in North America 11 days—typically the second Monday—after the product’s official release. Players outside North America should check with their organizer to determine which products are tournament legal.

That change was made to the tournament rules effective June 10.

 Smacks wrote:
there is little advantage in choosing a shorter move + boost, when you can just choose a longer move, save the action, and get the x7 evade token.

But why not do both? Being able to take a 5-k and boost to change your arc is a really powerful thing to have. It lets you keep a target in arc and it gets you off the really predictable straight line of consecutive k-turns. It's a lot of points, but if you have points to spare it's worth it.

I'm curious....could we see Tomax used as more of a support ship with the shuttle title or as something akin to a nuisance like Biggs? I mean, for 25 points you can take Tomax with just Crack Shot. I feel like for the cost, that's not too bad of a deal. And if you pair him with a couple aces you could either have your opponents target him off the hop because unlimited crack shot on a bomber chassis, or he gets ignored in favour of more threatening things like Soontir/Vader and he sneaks through damage...

Might also be a niche for cool hand + shuttle title + fleet officer, maybe? I dunno, just trying to look for something different than crack shot + lots of ordnance, though obviously that's his thing and I will probably go for that build if I use him, but I would like to see what others think on the matter.

 Peregrine wrote:

 Smacks wrote:
there is little advantage in choosing a shorter move + boost, when you can just choose a longer move, save the action, and get the x7 evade token.

But why not do both? Being able to take a 5-k and boost to change your arc is a really powerful thing to have. It lets you keep a target in arc and it gets you off the really predictable straight line of consecutive k-turns. It's a lot of points, but if you have points to spare it's worth it.

It might let you keep a target in arc, but with her low PS she's easy to arc dodge (or just point the wrong way). Long k-turn+Boost is certainly one application for Engine Upgrade, but I don't think she gets as much value out of it as someone like Vader. It's a bit like putting Stealth Device on a B-Wing... It'll certainly do something, it might even save you some damage, but you're "probably" not going to get as much value out of it as Autothrusters Soontir Fel would. Twin Ion Engines 2 also lets you get off the straight manoeuvres, and costs 3 points less, that's quite a lot of points to just be going "spare". Ryad with x7+PTL+EU= 39 Points, that's not easy to justify with so many other great imperial options in that price range.

EdSnark wrote:
I'm curious....could we see Tomax used as more of a support ship with the shuttle title or as something akin to a nuisance like Biggs? I mean, for 25 points you can take Tomax with just Crack Shot. I feel like for the cost, that's not too bad of a deal. And if you pair him with a couple aces you could either have your opponents target him off the hop because unlimited crack shot on a bomber chassis, or he gets ignored in favour of more threatening things like Soontir/Vader and he sneaks through damage...

Might also be a niche for cool hand + shuttle title + fleet officer, maybe? I dunno, just trying to look for something different than crack shot + lots of ordnance, though obviously that's his thing and I will probably go for that build if I use him, but I would like to see what others think on the matter.

He's quite expensive as a shuttle, he'd really need to be able to do something above and beyond what a Scimitar or Lambda could do to justify the points. Paying an extra ~9 points just to avoid a stress token doesn't sound like a good deal. If he tries to play ace with something like Adrenaline Rush, then he'll be competing with Pilots like the Inquisitor and Vader, who just have more fire-power. Ysanne Isard might make him just about durable enough to be worth it, but for the same points as Vader, I'd rather take Vader...

Tomax Bren (35 Points)
Adrenaline Rush
Engine Upgrade
TIE Shuttle
Ysanne Isard
Tactician

I'm a little disappointed you can't combine the shuttle title with the long range scanners + systems officer ; I would have liked to have at least once to run a sort of Tie AWAC that skirts the fight handing out targeting data to other ships passing by.

 Stormonu wrote:
I'm a little disappointed you can't combine the shuttle title with the long range scanners + systems officer ; I would have liked to have at least once to run a sort of Tie AWAC that skirts the fight handing out targeting data to other ships passing by.

Why can't you do that?

 Smacks wrote:

 Stormonu wrote:
I'm a little disappointed you can't combine the shuttle title with the long range scanners + systems officer ; I would have liked to have at least once to run a sort of Tie AWAC that skirts the fight handing out targeting data to other ships passing by.

Why can't you do that?

The TIE Shuttle title makes your upgrade bar lose the torpedo, missile, and bomb icons while the Long-Range Scanners modification requires your upgrade bar to have the torpedo and missile slot.

Oh! (duh!). I should really read the cards more carefully, I was looking at it in squadron builder, and it totally lets you take them both together

Also that's a shame :(

Yeah, you need to be careful with squadron builders because they don't always hard-enforce restrictions like that.

I've found (Yet Another) X-Wing Miniatures Squad Builder to be the best at not allowing restricted card combinations.

 Stormonu wrote:
I'm a little disappointed you can't combine the shuttle title with the long range scanners + systems officer ; I would have liked to have at least once to run a sort of Tie AWAC that skirts the fight handing out targeting data to other ships passing by.

even if you could have both upgrades it still doesn't work like you think it does. Systems officer lets the other ship acquire a target lock, THAT ship has to still measure range for the lock and make sure it is legal not the ship with the LRS. If you want a ship that can pass out locks from any range of the target and range 1 of your friendly ship take jendon with title.

Oberron wrote:

 Stormonu wrote:
I'm a little disappointed you can't combine the shuttle title with the long range scanners + systems officer ; I would have liked to have at least once to run a sort of Tie AWAC that skirts the fight handing out targeting data to other ships passing by.

even if you could have both upgrades it still doesn't work like you think it does. Systems officer lets the other ship acquire a target lock, THAT ship has to still measure range for the lock and make sure it is legal not the ship with the LRS. If you want a ship that can pass out locks from any range of the target and range 1 of your friendly ship take jendon with title.

Yeah Jendon in the Lambda is a better one, but it would have been nice if you could have done some form of AWACing with a TIE shuttle. At the least, it would have been an off-beat game to try out and see how viable it might be.