So Nobody likes this. Nobody plays it. It just makes the defender Worse for the points.
What shall we do with it?
I heard a suggestion a while ago to Rework the defender entirely:

• Full Throttle gets 2 green (with appropriate severe Point drop).
• Elite gets the 3 green, but no auto Evade.

Another Approach would be to split the chassis like Wartime Ys and Delta7(b).
Any other Suggestions?
Have there already been some considerations to fixing the elite Config? (Is that more a design or a points team issue?)

Whilst I agree in possibly splitting it like 7B/Wartime, and that the base model is almost certainly superior, I might be starting to tinker with them soon and see what I can come up with.

I have just been playing around with Torani Kulda (Scum Kimogila), slowly improving over the past month, and enjoying the simplicity of just a mediocre dial, rolling up to something with the double lock droid and Cluster Missiles and hopefully railgunning something/many things. But a bit of an epiphany that I had this afternoon is that the statlines of Elite Defenders and Kimogilas are broadly similar (if you make the very loose assumption that 7 Life and 3 Agility is roughly the same as 9 Life with 1 Agility), but instead of double railgunning you can just doubletap the same target. There has to be some value in that, right?

Consider:

• Vessery is Very good at doubletapping in this manner. Just make sure someone else has a lock and away you go. If everyone is all the same or lower initiative, you open the account with a Tractor Beam... Or if you want to go the Brutality route, the new Precision Cannons offer you effectively a bonus attack with Fire Control. Paired with Ruthless, and you have a Cold Hard Killer.
• Ryad doesn't care that she loses the 4K because she turns any straight into a KTurn... so mobility actually improves.
• Homing Missiles and Ion Missiles are cheap (shame there are no Multi-Missile/Barrage carriers for Defenders)
• Defender Vader with Tractor Beam basically threatens any individual ship he wants to. Shame you can't really pair him with two other Strong I6s (you can get basic Soontir and Dark Curse with a baby TIE though, or Ciena and BoE Soontir), but Imperials do have some strong I5 options too. Redline & Whisper seems like a Great pairing against something Tractored.

Like... I get that the base Defender is pretty good for the points and that it looks like Elite is strictly worse... but I feel like it more unexplored than strictly "bad". I'll let you know once I have tested them more (may not be for a long while yet... Thweek is so much Fun :) )

Ok, wow, points changes.
Ryad Elite sad with Loadout drop, and I don't think that Vult gets much better with a Squad point increase but miniscule Loadout buff...
But Vessery has options now. I think that is going to count for something, either as a lower initiative double tap or one of your first shots with Tractor Beam.
Small buff to Defender Vader might be inconsequential, but nice to see.

This is probably where my play testing in the near future will lie. I'll let you know how I get on.

Vessery is well suited for Elite but his ability timing is unfortunate. It means that if he spends the lock acquired with his ability during the first shot on the first shot, he can't take the second shot, because he hasn't got a lock at the time he needs it. FCS certainly helps (I reckon it's probably stapled to Elite-Vessery), but if you blank out on your cannon or missile shot you have a choice between burning the lock, or just taking the 1 FCS reroll to keep the lock to shoot primary.

Ryad I'm not sold on. She does get all the k-turns with Elite but if I'm understanding the cards right, those are all red. Either the 4-k off the dial (+1 difficulty because of Elite, turning white to red) or a converted straight from her pilot ability (+1 difficulty with her ability text, +1 because of Elite, turning blue to white to red).

Homing Missile is a great option for an Elite. It mitigates the problem that double-tappers tend to have of mods being stretched too thin, by threatening 4 red dice unless the target accepts 1 auto-damage (which means that you don't have to spend any tokens to push through damage).

So... it's been a while since I have been able to play, and tonight I got to play twice.
It's Experimentation Meme O'Clock!

So... I sort of started with low hanging fruit here and, as we have said, Vessery is suited for Elite.
I have a thing for having the same initiative if possible in my lists. I'm a simple man, and it makes it easier to get into/out of trouble when you can move your ships in the same initiative step. This probably goes double when considering Vessery.
As such, I spent a while trying to build out Four I4s. It is a bit awkward building four I4s when you want a doubletap Defender in there because I feel like most things I want to put in means that I can not have something elsewhere. You probably want Deathrain in there as your Lock Generator, and I generally rate Punishers at the moment (their loadout is Enormous, the named pilots abilities are Great). I really want Vermeil in, but you have to skimp on the fourth ship. Sabacc is fragile and has a target on his head, but you can do some nasty things. Echo is fun but expensive for this style of gameplay. TIE/ln Gideon is an interesting choice, but I just don't like it as a ship. The TIE Bombers are there. Vynder isn't bad in either form. The V1 Advanced Brother/Sister are looking good, particularly Fifth Brother with a Homing Missile (gives Vessery another Locking vector).

The list I came up with is to test several things at once.

Colonel Vessery – TIE/d Defender (16)
Interloper Turn (1)
Fire-Control System (3)
Tractor Beam (4)
Precision-Tuned Cannons (3)
TIE Defender Elite (0)

“Deathrain” – TIE/ca Punisher (13)
Parting Gift (2)
Fire-Control System (3)
Adv. Proton Torpedoes (7)
Diamond-Boron Missiles (5)
Thermal Detonators (6)
Angled Deflectors (1)

Iden Versio (BoY) – TIE/in Interceptor (11)
Predator (0)
Fanatic (BoY) (0)

“Pure Sabacc” – TIE/sk Striker (10)
Snap Shot (7)
Tiber Saxon (6)

None of this is particularly well optimised, it is definitely a Meme list, but it was there to test a few things out.

• Vessery has options if I want to double Pain tap or Team Player Tractor tap. This is Super Not Optimised. Interloper Turn is simply there for the memez.
• Deathrain is a Lock Generator for Vessery, has options in attack, and can drop Thermal Detonators to generate actions. 4 Drops is Cheap for 4 Actions... maybe.
• Iden is there to protect Sabacc
• Sabacc has a 3 Dice Snap Shot that should hit half the time... and if you do, Tiber Saxon makes your initial shots laughably easy. Following up with 4 Dice attacks afterwards turns him from an annoying nuisance into a deadly one.

Game One saw it all come together perfectly as my opponent mistakenly flew two XWings into a Killbox of All Of My Things, and predictably got annihilated. Turns out that when you Tractor from Vessery, into Primary attack, into untouched Sabacc at R1, things disappear quickly. Who would have guessed? Iden came in clutch to keep Sabacc healthy enough to hit hard. Once that whole process got started, it felt like the rest of the game was inevitably mine.

Game Two saw how to not do it At All, as I flew Sabacc and Iden a little too aggressively and (as a pair) without the support of Deathrain and Vessery. A droid swarm tear through them in consecutive turns (though, in my defense, it would have been nice if any of my defense rolls showed any paint... but I also flew Badly against an opponent who is generally pretty good around here, it was a much deserved loss). Vessery and Deathrain were fine, on the other side of the board, but definitely had no hope against the majority of an angry droid swarm. Basically, I flew badly this game and my opponent rightfully punished me for it.

Some dot point takeaways from these:

• In both games, I played mostly at or above the opponent's ships initiative... I suspect I run into some trouble if I fly against all I5+ or have to play for specific objectives (as I am fairly Action Dependent)
• Elite Vessery and Deathrain, as a pair, are Pretty Good. If you are confident that you won't lose one prior to their shooting, this is a good starting point for something like this. It is 29 points, leaving you with only 21 to play with, so you do have to be a bit careful with what you purchase after that... but you have a good base line with which to work here.
• I did not even consider using Precision Cannons on Vessery. In my mind, he is there solely to Tractor before your team slaps someone silly. Drop it and Interloper for... I don't know. Predator? Marksman? Deadeye? Ruthless, probably. I can see an argument for Targeting Syncronizer if you have other munition carriers. Maaayyyyybbbbeeee Thread Tracers against low Agility Ships. You are one point short of Greatness (read: Crack Shot or any of the 5 point Techs).
• Iden/Sabacc pairing is... fine, I guess. They require caution, patience, and forethought. I am good at almost none of this... but I have improved in recent times. Game Two showed me that I should remember that the critical turn these days is probably Turn Three, not Turn Two (as it was with the way I flew in AMG Times). This could still do with some exploring, though I wouldn't bet the house on it. Memes aside, it was somewhat average.
• Individually, Vessery with Tractor Beam felt Pretty Good. This was expected, but flying all at the same initiative really helps here. Vessery is basically your first shot with the Tractors, and let the good times roll from there. Fire Control System gained me half a dozen additional dice results over the two games. Not that it was ever in doubt, but Fire Control is still Pretty Good.
• Defensively, Vessery was alright, took a reasonable beating, and had enough friends nearby in the first game to make target priority a bit of a nightmare for my opponent. That might be the way to go: have enough things nearby to make him less of a target.

I feel like this was a good first test for an Elite Defender. There are almost certainly better ways to do it, such as have a second locking ship nearby for Vessery to latch on to, but it was a reasonable experience. With a bit of optimising and some practice, things should improve.

Tonight's testing was basically non-useable data as I flew terribly.
I once Interloper Turned my way onto a rock, and Deathrain literally just touched a rock after a bomb boost into a 1 Bank. Iden kinda just existed. Sabacc did manage to get another Saxon Snapshot off but I think needs some other method of modifying dice for that big 4-5 Primary (if he can ever get that off).
A thing I used to use when I was flying 5 Reapers was Gar Saxon crew. When a Friendly Ship attacks at I4 or less within 1-3 of you against a ship you have Locked, they can turn a Focus to a Hit. That's a lot of words for "All of Your I4- attacks have Force Mods when you lock". Back in the day, I used to run that on Feroph. While he is I3, the bonuses provided to higher initiative ships are not to be overlooked. The More attacks, the Better it gets. I could do it with Vermeil, but I want to try the ol' classic Vader Vermeil. I guess I could also try Jendon or Kagi Lambda, but Kagi doesn't feel particularly good with it. The hard part there is the cost. 13 points does mean that I have to skimp out somewhere... whereas Feroph is a nicer 11. Feroph, Vermeil and Vessery leave 11 points to play with. That could be Vynder, though he is less likely to be in that R3 bubble for Feroph... But still an option. Sabacc or Gideon Hask in any form are still fine.

For loadout changes, Interloper did Less-Than-Good things for me (...that's a Me problem more than Interloper problem) and I still haven't used Precision Cannons on Vessery (that's probably for anything I can't Tractor), so that is 4 points to play with. Leaning to Ruthless. With A Reaper or Two in the mix, there is bound to be some good pincushions around. Nothing special for two left over except maybe Baffle.
Vader Vermeil is always a hoot.
Feroph with Ablative Plating, Gar Saxon, and Krennic (probably give to Vessery... it's the first attack, and useful as a Shield Stripper).

My thoughts were this:
1337/D (50/50)

TIE/D Defender: Colonel Vessery [16 + 11]
+ Interloper Turn ·1
+ Fire-Control System ·3
+ Targeting Relay ·3
+ Tractor Beam ·4
+ TIE Defender Elite ·0
TIE/D Defender: Captain Yorr  [16]
+ No Escape
+ Predator
+ Ion Cannon
+ Computer-Assisted Handling
TIE/ln Fighter: Magna Tolvan [8 + 7]
+ Squad Leader ·5
+ Targeting Computer ·2
TIE Reaper: "Vizier" [10 + 9]
+ Thrawn ·6
+ Director Krennic ·3
2 Double tapping defenders, supported by 2 Coordinators.
give them Evades and locks and something to convert eyeballs.
Shoot first with tractor, then follow up with the other shots.

Yeah, I don't mind the look of that. Vizier Thrawn seems like such a good combo that I haven't had the chance to try. I used to run Reapers all of the time... Viz is an underutilised gem and Thrawn just makes the whole ability Much better.
Kinda also want to look at Magva backing up Vader and Jendon in the same manner, for the lolz.
Viz with the I5 Defenders and Wampa also seems amusing. Could give both Defenders the thing they are built for (Rexler's Evade, Vult's Action Ability without a Strain downside).

Tonight's test is going to be Triple Doubletap Defenders.
Vessery, Yorr, and either an Onyx Defender with Tracers and Precisions OR Rexler with options. I do tend to stick to same Initiative for ease of movement and one-step-annihilation purposes... But with additional Loadout, Rexler has some interesting options.
First pass was Tractor, FCS, Ruthless and Tracers for some flexibility. A thought occurs, though, that you can then do some Nasty things with Vessery if you use Targeting Synchronizer on Rex or the Onyx. Mag Pulse and Concussion Missiles are Right There... Ion Missiles if you want to be cheap and pick up a Proton Cannon or Heavy Laser. I don't know which way I will go yet, but it is going to be awfully awful for at least one of us :P

EDIT
I think that Targeting Relay on Vessery is also kinda clever. Elite Defenders have plenty of Blue on the dial, that's a good way of getting double mods on both attacks. Nice one :)

EDIT EDIT
Ok... Maybe there might be something to this. Targeting Sync and Tractor on the third Defender. Vessery with Clusters, FCS and Relay. You have double mods on either a Cluster Primary double (so two 3-4 dice attacks), or a secondary shot to someone else if you spread locks around (because Yorr probably already has double mods for the Primary Attack due to abilities anyway, so can get away with Locking a different target to Defender3)

Only one test game tonight... but it was interesting.

Triple Doubletap Defenders
The List:
Colonel Vessery (16)
 Fire-Control System (3)
 Targeting Relay (3)
 Cluster Missiles (5)
 TIE Defender Elite (0)

Captain Yorr (BoE) (16)
 No Escape (BoE) (0)
 Predator (0)
 Ion Cannon (0)
 Computer-Assisted Handling (BoE) (0)
 Ship Cost: 16 Loadout: (0) Half Points: 8 Damage Threshold: 3

Rexler Brath (18)
 Ruthless (2)
 Fire-Control System (3)
 Targeting Synchronizer (3)
 Tractor Beam (4)
 Precision Ion Engines (1)
 TIE Defender Elite (0)

Total: 50

View in YASB

Flying against Old Teroch, Dash, Palob, and Mando Naboo.

Loose plan:
Yorr can choose to Lock something other than what I want for Vessery and Rexler because if they kill something then I have a better shot to whatever Yorr is pointing at. With a possible Tractor and potentially 4 Dice Fire Control Reroll/Ruthless then a 3-into-4 Dice shot with FCS Focus Calculate (because Targeting Relay)... That is a decent chance at removing a 6 Health 3 Defense Focus Evaded ship. Anything less than that is just Toast.
I have some reservations, primarily that I can not Doubletap with Vessery at Range 3, and that the whole thing is a bit Rube Goldberg, with all three ships relying on each other to provide bonuses. If I lose Rex, Vessery can not Doubletap on anything he doesn't already have locked. I lose Yorr, I lose a second Locking ship for Vess. I lose Vess and neither other ship can have two Green Tokens, which is vital for defense.

You have to fly a little carefully and choose your moment of impact correctly...
Defenders living and dying by Green Dice tend to die by Green Dice. I lost brutally because of this.
The initial entry saw Yorr being able to Lock Dash, but Dash only being in range/arc of Vessery at R3, so only a single attack here... but Yorr got a little too much heat initial engagement and died before shooting in the second round of engagement. This was a shame because he had a solid doubletap potential lined up.
However... the whole Lock-Calculate thing on Vessery after a Rexler Tractor is Gold. Between the two, managed to wipe Mando in one round, even forgetting about Ruthless on Rex. Rex Tractored Mando back into Vessery's arc but still just within R1 of himself. Primary, Cluster, Primary saw a dead Mando.
Next turn saw Vessery wiped before shooting because Palob threatened to take a token so he did not provide one to be taken. Turns out that 3 Defense aren't going to save you if you take 4 Hits and 3 Hits with Outrider dropping an Evade to a Focus.

So.... the Takeaways:

• Be careful with how you fly. Overcommitting a turn early may leave you high and dry. My opponent correctly saw and exploited this (...higher Initiative helps A Lot here)
• When it hits.... Hooboy does it Hit

I am questioning whether to rejig it so that Vessery has a Long Range attack and a shorter range Attack. Switching out Targeting Relay gets you Precision Cannons. You lose a bit of team building with Lock-Calculate shenanigans, but you gain Doubletap at all ranges. A friend suggested also rejigging Rex so that he has FCS, Tractor, Ruthless, and Targeting Relay to accommodate this. The aim is to get an R3 shot in first and then, because you have already acquired the Lock, you don't have to worry about already having a Lock and can send Vessery alone to wipe a target and/or mildly over-using Targeting Relay to give Vessery a Calculate every shot if he needs it (which, with a possible Focus/Calculate/Lock after just one, he shouldn't).

I am going to try this (a variation of Yorr/Vess/Rex) again.
Seems alright, albeit having a higher burden of execution.