Well, I missed the Rome Space Jam, sleeping through all my alarms. Right now, I have to move past that and look forward. I’m currently on the waitlist for the Los Angeles Space Jam, but considering how late I was to sign up for that waitlist, it’s best to remain realistic and not invest too much emotion in the tournament. Ultimately, especially considering the pandemic and all, these are but trifling matters, so easy come easy go, I suppose.
I would be remiss, however, to end my mentioning of said tournament there. Given that most of my readers are in fact German, I must mention how fitting it is that one of Germany’s best, Timo Raab, won this Space Jam. Alle gratulieren Ludo Liubice! Not only does his victory maintain the precedent of the Space Jam winner being local (i.e., from the same Time Zone as the location listed on the event), but also a bearded X-Wing player. These are both meme-y correlations drawn on insufficient datapoints that we in the X-Wing community laugh about, so I can only imagine the state of the forums when Hairy Nick goes 10-0 to win the Australian Space Jam.
That aside, today’s topic is concerning a specific Blackout-favored talent: Trickshot. It’s the talent featured on his promotional Quickbuild Full Art card, it easily synergizes with his ability, and it can area deny to force opponents to move differently or otherwise slug out the damage when the targets aren’t too careful in avoiding obstructions. Yet, it is of my opinion that of the popular Blackout loadouts, it is the worse talent by itself. However, in certain squads that can support Blackout efficiently or play off his ability, it can prove its value.
Firstly, why does Blackout–in a vacuum–have better talent options? It’s the same reason as for most similar questions in this game regarding any pilot: the probabilities associated with the card. Blackout comes in at 63 pt base, which means that at a good portion of your list, he has to be dealing damage. By himself, his 3 dice and focus are expected to sling 2.25 hits per attack, with a probability of maxing out on hits at 42%. 4 dice and focus are expected to yield 3 hits per attack, with a max out probability of 32%. 5 dice and focus are expected to yield 3.75 hits per attack, with a max out probability of 24%. As one can see, on single-modded dice, diminishing returns are very much present, with each additional die offering only .75 more hits. This is not surprising at all, given that .75 sides of the dice feature paint.
As it has been apparent in the first and then second points changes in this game, occasionally increasing the number of hits rolled by .75 is a very good ability when it costs only the same as Crackshot, is still rather good when it costs the same as Predator, but becomes harder to justify when it nears the cost of Lone Wolf or of Fanatical and Advanced Optics. The fact of the matter is that Trickshot is not going to trigger all the time, but is instead a bonus. What had set it as a viable alternative to Crackshot and Predator in the olden times of incorrect costings was that it could be triggered easily and more times than Crackshot and Predator for most chassis. The benefits it provides when it does trigger are not enough to compete in its pricing with the near-constant benefits of Lone Wolf or the once-and-until Blinded/Death ability of Fanatical. And claiming that Blackout’s ability will push Trickshot further than the other talent options is a fallacious move, for Blackout’s ability works on those talents as well and boosts their effectiveness all the same. Yes, the ability combined with Trickshot is some serious burst damage, but it isn’t that much more bursting than the ability with any other neat hyper-mod slugfest. Even putting aside the defensive value of Lone Wolf, consider the following table in just damage output:
| Talent | at Range 2 hits generated | at Range 1 hits generated | with Proton Rockets (+7 pt) hits generated |
| Trickshot + Focus (67 pt) | 3 | 3.75 | 4.5 |
| Lone Wolf + Focus (68) | 2.68 | 3.51 | 4.32 |
| Fanatical + Optics (69) | 2.78 | 3.55 | 4.27 |
| Vanilla (63) (or at the least more than half the shots on the Trickshot, again 67 pt) Blackout | 2.25 | 3 | 3.75 |
To put this into an even further useful table, let’s contextualize the dps of the Blackout builds across an entire “typical” (if such a word is applicable) game. Let’s suppose that Blackout is going to take 7 shots, an entire 3 of them being obstructed (although for an unsupported Blackout, realistically the number is going to be 2 obstructions). For the first 2 shots, Fanatical will not be active. For 6 of the shots, friendly ships are going to be beyond range 2 of him. For simplicity’s sake, all shots will be focused and no range 1 shots or munitions are to be considered.
| Talent | “non-loadout specific” shots | “loadout specific” shots | Total |
| Trickshot | 4 * 2.25 = 9 | 3 * 3 = 9 | 18 |
| Lone Wolf | 1 * 2.25 = 2.25 | 6 * 2.68 = 16.08 | 18.33 |
| Fanatical + Optics | 2 * 2.55 = 5.1 | 5 * 2.78 = 13.9 | 19 |
So Trickshot is a trap, then is it? In most squads, yes, unless you are strapped for points as it is the cheapest of the heavy-hitting Blackout loadouts. You could strap a Pattern Analyzer and increase the Trickshot Blackout cost to 72 pt, but as you K-turn and Talon Roll through gas clouds, you will be triggering those Trickshot Blackout dps numbers again. I’m not sure if it is worth those 72 pt still with the changes to gas clouds nearly guaranteeing a strain upon maneuvering through them. So is there any utility at all for Trickshot Blackout? Yes, in support.
Whereas adding additional dice to your single-mod yields diminishing results, adding additional mods to your double-modded dice yields diminishing results. Fanatical + Optics + Lock on 3 dice is going to yield only 0.19 more hits than just the Fantical + Optics. That extra consistency is good, but if it came at the cost of coordinating as opposed to coordinating to a friend if viable, then it likely isn’t worth it. So if a squad is taken where Blackout has a good source of support, be it an Upsilon, Muse, or Holo, Lone Wolf and Fanatical + Optics are not going to be adding much else to his steady source of Lock + Focus. Don’t get me wrong, double-downing on the mods is good when it is free, such as when Blackout is coordinated a focus into a reposition and then clears the stress so as to take a lock, especially on the Fanatical Optic loadout. When you pull that move, Blackout becomes a diet Supernatural Kylo, further accentuating the Silencer as the muggle craft that smuggles in some force sensitivity! But Lone Wolf Blackout is a poor coordinate target, let alone a horrendous Holo token-toss target. Fanatical Optic Blackout is good, but if Trickshot Blackout were to be supported in the list, he’d probably be taken so long as the format weren’t Hyperspace. For when Trickshot Blackout has full mods, he hits hardest of all the Blackouts. And even when he doesn’t have the Trickshot, at least he has been coordinated and assisted about and still resting with his full mods, hitting just as hard as the other Blackouts.
Supported Blackout of any variety triggers the ability significantly more often than the unsupported test pilot. Just as Supernatural Reflexes Kylo more often than not ends up unstressed and ready to pre-maneuver reposition again, coordinated Blackout can fly more aggressively with the ability and park himself in front of an obstacle, unstressed, with full mods, and ready to be coordinated again. This is especially the case with Muse, who can use the pilot ability to destress Blackout’s 2nd use of autothrusters in that turn with some coordinated flying. Even the state of being unstressed has in itself some value as it means that when firing through most obstacles, the 1-hard turn that avoids clipping the obstacle isn’t going to leave you stressed. Even though coordinated Blackout is going to trigger range 1 and/or his ability significantly more often than non-coordinated Blackout, unless he’s just being token-tossed by Holo although that has some extra goodies in some edge cases, finally being able to fully mod those trickshots is itself its own reward. Let’s return to the most recent table, but now suppose that Blackout not only has a focus, but that focus was gifted from a friend, opening up his action to lock. The results are to be expected: solo builds for Blackout aren’t the most efficient uses for coordinate in a list. Well, saving Lone Wolf for defense or using lock + Fanatical and saving the focus for defense have their values, but at this point that’s delving into situations that can only be properly analyzed in-game.
| Talent | “non-loadout specific” shots | “loadout specific” shots | Total |
| Trickshot | 4 * 2.81 = 11.24 | 3 * 3.75 = 11.25 | 22.49 |
| Lone Wolf | 1 * 2.81 = 2.81 | 6 * 2.81 = 18.86 | 21.67 |
| Fanatical + Optics | 2 * 2.9 = 5.8 | 5 * 2.97 = 14.85 | 20.65 |
This information is all useful, but like all information, needs context to be actually useful. This is especially the case when one considers that lists that overly rely on “handshake” abilities or dedicated support pieces dramatically lose effectiveness when the list’s glue gets merc’d. This is why I wrote so much in the past about Muse and her effectivity in Torpedo Kylo + Vonreg/Blackout, as she can adapt to the situations by giving Vonreg the extra tokens when she would move before most the enemy list or give Kylo the ability to jerry-rig Supernatural Reflexes when she moves after a considerable portion of the enemy list…all at the low cost of 36 pt. Fortunately, First Order is chock-full of these pieces that can support or trigger bonus abilities rather easily, and they don’t have to go out of their way to do this. For 1 pt more than base, Thannison is the best tractoring ship in the game, considering the changes made to tractor. For 6 pt more than base, Tavson is the most effective support ship in the game when considering the amount of coordinating, tanking, and dps against an enemy list. For 2 pt more than base, Rivas has a better version of Colonel Vessery’s ability, even if not on the best chassis for that by a longshot. And in addition to being an I5, Holo invalidates any argument for Debris Gambit in the FO faction by being able to shove debuffs and regen-proc’d disarms to blockers on one turn and throwing a clutch evade for a token stacked friend on a whim on the next turn. People joke about wanting to see Darth Vader in a TIE Defender while I want the Old Expanded Universe Canonical placing of Luke Skywalker in an E-Wing. At any rate, there is no way of achieving that level of defense. Unless you bring Holo and Kylo, upon which should the need arise, turn Kylo into a damage sink with that evade token and his force while he modifies offense with lock and force.
A list that I have come to enjoy that embodies this FO “whim” support rather well is what follows. It has options that open themselves and make themselves further apparent the more the list is flown, and the exciting part about all these options is that none of them are necessary in and of themselves. Simply fly the list and seize the moments with the high-coordination plays, but don’t chase anything out of your way. There are so many interesting interactions and plays here that not one flight style is necessary. Anyway, here are the Tricksters, with Trickshot, Trick of the Light, and Tricky Tractor Trap Card:
“Holo” (54)
Proud Tradition (2)
Mag-Pulse Warheads (6)
Ship total: 62 Half Points: 31 Threshold: 2
“Blackout” (63)
Trick Shot (4)
Ship total: 67 Half Points: 34 Threshold: 3
Petty Officer Thanisson (59)
Biohexacrypt Codes (1)
Kylo Ren (11)
Ship total: 71 Half Points: 36 Threshold: 6
Total: 200
View in Yet Another Squad Builder 2.0: https://raithos.github.io/?f=First%20Order&d=v8ZsZ200Z382X319WW311WY237X133WWWY281X202WW179WWWWW&sn=New%20Squadron&obs=
Yes, I know I said that Kylo crew is trash back during the I’ll Show You the Darkside post, but the following list is for a “Banned” format tournament tomorrow that has ousted both Kylo pilot and Proton Torpedoes. After a few games with this loadout, just so that I can keep the Supreme Leader in my First Order list, I have come to appreciate the nuances that an 11pt force charge for an Upsilon can pose, even if I still think it’s lackluster compared to what a true Extended tournament is going to include. Rather than tell you how I fly this list, as I will when bat repping tomorrow’s tournament, I will more efficiently list a few of the interactions that this list can pose. Removing one piece is not going to have it fall apart: there’s too much going on here.
- Holo tosses Blackout a focus for full mods (offensive)
- Holo tosses Blackout an evade for full mods (defensive)
- Thannison coordinates a focus + reposition to Blackout, whose blue clears the stress to lock for full mods
- Thannison uses Kylo’s force for his own dice mods
- Thannison coordinates an evade/focus to Holo
- Thannison uses Kylo’s force for his own dice mods
- The green token is sorted out later
- Less effective than just giving the green token at I1 and letting the reposition get sorted later, but sometimes a clutch move: coordinate Holo a reposition around an obstacle or something
- Thannison parks and uses Kylo’s force for his own dice mods
- Thannison reinforces and uses Kylo’s force for his own dice mods
- If you want to tank, this can withstand 10 focused 3-dice shots before dying
- If you really want to meme-tank, throw in Holo’s evade and a range or obstruction bonus: 12 shots
- Holo spams his ship ability, using his pilot ability to throw the strain onto the 1 agi 12 hp ship that doesn’t care
- Holo gets locked by Thannison so as to keep his token options open longer a la classic Holo. But tossing Thannison’s token has a passive bonus by charging the Biohexacrypt Codes to another friendly target.
- Holo executes a red maneuver in Thannison’s arc. Proud Tradition functions as the focus action and Thannison’s tractoring ability functions as the reposition.
- Holo can toss the tractor to Thannison, the 1 agi 12 hp ship that doesn’t care.
- Holo can toss the tractor to Blackout, giving him his own perfect information reposition.
- Heck, Holo could just stress himself, toss the stress to Blackout in Thannison’s arc and then get Blackout tractored when the situation and need arise.
- The enemy turning off Proud Tradition for Holo is a bad move not only for normal Proud Trad reasons, but because up to 2 ships could be firing at the target that just took a critical damage or lost a focus token. That and False Tradition isn’t all that bad on a TIE/BA, especially when tractor tricks or token tossing is involved. Also, proc’ing False Tradition can proc I’ll Show You the Darkside.
- A tractored Blackout triggers his ability even more often than a coordinated Blackout.
- Also remember that just as you can execute a white maneuver on the next turn and still focus a la a Proud Tradition TIE/FO, Thannison can coordinate a focus to Proud Tradition Holo even as he is stressed, who then clears the stress and does his thing on his own turn.
- Thannison uses I’ll Show You the Dark Side to assign Stunned Pilot to a suitable target. It will be even less likely than ever before to self-stress in his arc given that it will end up on an obstacle. Mag Pulse Warheads from Holo’s full mods trigger the Dark Side far more often than not.
- Thannison just being Thannison and tractoring people into obstacles synergizes heavily with Blackout, both on the initial turn (4 dice versus -1 for ability and -1 for tractor) and on the subsequent turns (bad positioning).
- Thannison uses I’ll Show You the Dark Side to assign Panicked Pilot to a suitable target. When the Mag Pulse Warhead lands, the target gets tractored into an obstacle.
- Mag Pulse Warheads neutering offense (deplete+jam), defense (jam, especially against reinforce that Thannison and Trickshot Blackout are staring at), and future effectivity (the crit from I’ll Show You the Dark Side).
- Holo charges over a debris cloud and uses Proud Tradition to focus after Thannison uses his ability to tractor and reposition him.
- And of course, all the goodies and options that come from a tractored Holo.
- The “Muse” failsafe: killing the linchpin (Thannison) means that the aces have probably already mangled you up horribly. The mangling doesn’t happen as quickly as it does with Outmaneuver Vonreg and Instinctive Optic Torpedo Kylo, but killing the linchpin takes a lot longer than it does with Muse.
Blackout is not always going to end up full mods and Trickshot in this list, but he’s not built to be expecting that. Similarly, Holo is not always going to be defensively tokened with a lock and no self-nerf. Thannison is not always going to be able to be reinforced + force. But the special thing about this list is that it is a larger, meta version of the TIE/BA or Holo’s ability: you optimize for the best situation out of all the many that are available. Thus, when the list is played correctly like a well-choreographed dance, Blackout will have his 4 dice double modded to hammer things with the burst damage, Holo will be a nuisance, and Thannison will be tractoring and mauling things. From the games that I have played with this list, that isn’t a “might” happen. It will happen.
All these things considered, the main weakness of Trickshot–it not triggering enough for its cost relative to the options–is made trivial. Also, not having to be distant for Lone Wolf in a list that encourages coordinated dancing is a good thing. As is not waiting for the enemy to trigger Fanatical.
Screaming into the Void 