Talk:Imperial Veterans Expansion Pack/@comment-137.45.145.223-20160706210600

I have been toying around with building some squads with the new Defenders, and IMO, they are still broken. Nothing about the Defender makes sense points-wise. Getting a measly two points for sacrificing both the cannon and missile upgrade slot is not enough. Sure, you get an evade token for executing a 3, 4, or 5-speed maneuver, but in a flying game where slower is often better, this has questionable value. Meanwhile the Chardaan Refit only takes a missile slot and yields the same two points.

The Defender is still excessively expensive, points-wise, and FF has done nothing to fix this. I'll compare the Defender to the B-wing. A level four Dagger Squadron B-wing has a cannon, two torpedo slots, and a system upgrade slot. It has comparable primary attack and hull points, and its defensive capabilities are actually slightly better than a Defenders. How do I make that conclusion? One defense die has only 3/8 chance of saving your bacon from a hit or crit. The extra two defense dice a defender has only yields a 75% chance of canceling ONE hit. Meanwhile, a shield is a guaranteed defense, even though once it's gone, it's (usually) gone. Considering how fast things can go once an attacker has keyed in on a target, I'll take two shields over two defense dice any day, especially to delay crits being an issue. Perhaps I should add that I am a notoriously unlucky dice-roller. So I cannot count on defense dice, even considering the odds.

So, now let's compare a Level-4 B-wing to a level 3 Onyx Squadron Defender. It has an identical action bar, and a comparable upgrade bar, though missing a second missile slot as well as the system upgrade. Let's consider that that the two shields are worth the same as two attack dice (though they are actually worth WAY more--consider that the shield upgrade card costs four points). So you have a Tie Defender whose pilot skill is lower, its upgrade bar is worse, its action bar is identical, and its attack, defense, hull, and shields are a wash compared to the B-wing. And yet somehow the Tie Defender is EIGHT points more expensive? Don't talk to me about the maneuver dial. White 4 K-turns are fine, except that the rest of the dial is for crap, and makes the Defender a very predictable and clunky piece on the board.

This is all just preamble to my issue with the Veterans pack. Again, the -2 squad points are laughable for losing two upgrade slots. And to make the ship maneuverable you have to still add the one-point TIE mk II engine, which precludes any other useful mods (like stealth device). So, you have gained one measly point on an extremely overpriced piece. Whoopity do.

Concerning the cannon upgrade with the Tie/D title: It is nice to be able to shoot twice in a round, that is certain. But the amount of useable attack dice you bring to the table, added to the cost of a workable machine one which to mount it, just doesn't add up to being useful. Consider: a level 3 Onyx Squadron pilot with Tie/D, TIE mk II, and an ion cannon costs 36 points. That's more than 1/3 of your squad points for what amounts to, at most, 4 damage. You're not likely to run a full squad of pilot level 1 Defenders with the same upgrades, but if you did, you're bringing potentially 12 Damage per round to the table. But the downside is, you're flying only level 1 pilots. You move without being able to react to your opponent by barrel rolling, and you shoot last.

Again, the point costs are just not worth it. If you want a high level Defender pilot, you're paying out the nose, and still not guaranteed a crack at reacting to your opponent's moves and/or shooting first. Rexler Brath's ability is only good at mid to late stages, and Vessery's has very narrow applicability. So that leaves you with a level 7 Maarek Stele. Unless you are determined to add two Tie/D's to your squad, using more than 2/3 of your available points, your opponent will concentrate on your one D and wear it down in one or two rounds. You may only get to use your double attack only once when all is said and done. Even with two double attack D's, the point cost is outrageous for what amounts to, at most, four potential damage points from each.

This "patch" kit is a failure. It has not addressed the underlying issues with their interpretation of the Tie Defender. FF needs to issue an errata where the squad points of Defenders is seriously adjusted. At the very least we need an updated maneuver dial that isn't a joke.

Now, proceed with the flaming!