Vulture Droid vs Tri-Fighter: Don't Count the Vulture Droid Out

The Tie Fighter vs Tie Interceptor debate seams to have been mostly resolved in favor of the Tie Interceptor. This is due to the average output of damage for the tie interceptor is higher , and they are both anti-squadron fighters. Because of this it becomes easy to dismiss the Vulture Droid in place of the Tri-fighter, and while I do love my Tri-fighters comparing both of these squadrons to Tie fighters and tie interceptors and then dismissing the Vulture droid on that biases I think is a false equivalence and is therefor flawed. Let me explain why you should not so quickly dismiss the Vulture droid.

First and foremost in this argument for the Vulture droid is its armament. While the tie fighter and tie interceptor comparison is pretty simple 3 blue vs 4 blue, meaning an average damage of 1.5 for the tie fighter and 2 average damage for the interceptor before factoring in swarm. The comparison of the Vulture droid vs Tir-fighter is much more complex. We will be assuming you will always be getting AI in our evaluation as well you always should be if you are using droids right. First 99.9% of the time your vulture droid should be adding in a black die the only exception is when attacking a scatter ace with one hull left. So 2 black 1 blue this will produce 2 damage on average before swarm.

On the other side a Tri-fighter with 1 red 3 blue also averages 2 damage same if we did 2 red and 2 blue. However this is misleading while the red dice do have 4 total damage on the die giving it a chance of .5 damage per roll when attacking a squadron, 2 of that is on one single face. This makes it a little inconsistent so we get highs and we get lows and the highs help average out he lows. A better way to look at this in my opinion to give us a better look at what results are most likely is not to look at average damage, but to look at the odds of each dice of producing a face with damage. When we look at dice in this way the red goes from a 0.5 chance of damage to a 0.375 chance of damage. So our average with 1 red and 3 blue drops from 2 to 1.875 and our 2 red 2 blue drops to 1.75. If we did the same with the Vulture droid it stays at an average of 2 damage, meaning it is more consistent then a Tri-fighter. So while the Tri-fighter might have a higher ceiling for damage the Vulture is a bit more consistent and well consistency is king.

To counter this the Tri-fighter as counter (an unintended pun) and will on average produce 1 damage with its counter 2 without factoring in swarm this does boost the Tri-fighters damage from the 1.875 to 2.875 assuming you get to attack and counter with each Tri-fighter. Looking at the tie interceptor if it gets this it average damage output per turn goes from 2 to 3 for a total gain of 1.5 damage over the tie fighter. So again the Tri-fighter vs Vulture droid falls just a little short from the Tie Fighter and Interceptor comparison. This will be especially true if the Separatists get some way to give Vulture droids counter.

The main thing that pushes the Tri-fighter over the Vulture droid is its black die anti ship die. If you have not seen how reliable a single black non bomber die can be I invite you to try it out. So against ships they are far more effective then vulture droids, and once you factor in counter they are also more effective against squadrons. So why are the vulture droids not down and out? It all comes down to why you are taking squadrons.

The Tie Fighter vs Interceptor debate is easy they are both anti-squadon fighters and the Interceptor is superior in every way. However its not until the counter comes in that the Tri-fighter starts to compete with Vulture droids and the black die helps to justify the 3 point price increases. However if you are not going to use the black die is the 3 point increase still worth it? I would argue no.

The only aspect that Tri-fighters overwhelmingly outclass the Vulture droid is against ships. A Tri-fighter gets the black die with an average damage output of 0.75 the Vulture a Red with 0.5, however if we factor in the odds of producing a damage face like we did for the Tris red anti squadron die it drops to 0.375. Compare 0.375 to 0.75, if you are really quick with math this means the tri fighter is twice as likely to produce damage against a ship compared to a vulture droid. The black die is by far the most compelling reason to take the tri-fighter over the vulture droid, and if you are not going to use it you have likely overpaid for what you are getting.

If you are looking for a screen you at the bare minimum want 4 fighters in my opinion to be effective. 4 Vultures vs 4 Tris is a price difference of 12 points, that is a lot of points if you bring it up to 6 each that is18 points that is quite a lot of points. I suppose if you have nothing better to do with the points its fine to upgrade vultures to tries, however if the primary function of your squadron ball is to screen ships and not attack ships it might not be worth the extra 3 points across the board. You must also consider if you run into a squadron list are you really going to get to use the black die of a tri-fighter if you only have 4 or even 6? If you come up against a heavy squadron complement you will likely not have gotten much from screen of tris that a screen of vultures could not have given you.

I have personally had a large amount of success with just 6 Vulture droids its a mean screen, even without the ability to counter while giving me the last few extra points I need to get the upgrades I need to make my ships work. I content that tri-fighters are a strong pick for lists that are going to lean on their fighter wing to deal some damage to ships for them, however tris are outclassed point for point as a screening anti-squadron fighter by the vulture droid. This is why I think the Vulture droid vs tris debate is not so clear cut and dry.

What do you think of the Tri vs Vulture debate? How have you used them? Until next time have a great week!