Talk:Phantom/@comment-86.141.178.242-20180328145359/@comment-454133-20180328163928

Yea I agree. You almost never see an attack shuttle that isn't docked with the ghost, and you almost never see a sheathipede shuttle docked.

The Sheathipede's pilot abilities (especially Fenn and AP-5, or stress ezra), the amazing coordinate action, and crew+astromech slots make it a solid and dynamic support craft. It can be a stressbot (Ezra + R3-A2), coordinate source, foe debuffer (Fenn), and so on. It's cheap so it fits well into just about any fleet, and that cost fits its mainly supporting role.

A docked sheathipede gives the ghost a cool free coordinate every round just before combat (in addition to enabling shooting out its butt like the normal phantom title). This is great because it lets you take actions last, e.g. to reposition or to make other choices based on the current state of the table. However, the ghost is a very expensive ship for this role, so you may want to go with the cheaper pilots and upgrades to avoid over-investing in a mostly support craft. You're looking at 50 points minimum (AP-5 + cheapest VCX-100) without any other upgrades. Or you can gear up and go heavier on the support, but at that point most players prefer the teeth added by the normal Phantom.

The Attack Shuttle's Phantom title makes the ghost into a monster thanks to the extra attack, plus firing out the rear. Since you're fielding it with the ghost at great expense, your fleet will be built around this combo (unlike the sheathipede which can be inserted individually into an existing fleet as a support). Despite having a turret slot it doesn't see a lot of individual use; the cost and stats aren't quite right for it.

Usually the cheapest pilots -- zeb, ezra, or maybe sabine depending on your contingency plan -- get fielded because when that shuttle is deployed, things have already gone very wrong. ;)  Even with 3 attack power, the shuttle is not a star player.  At that point you're mostly just staying alive to go to time, or get in some pot shots with the rest of your team etc; the attack shuttle itself can be dangerous, but it's not how you'll win most matches and you don't want to sink a lot of points into it that could go into other ships instead.