I'm quite excited about R3-A2 on a Y-Wing with an Ion Cannon Turret.

In the opening engagement, probably at range two, you fire your Ion Cannon into a target that is within your arc (hopefully with the benefit of a TL). Use R3-A2 to then assign a stress token to both of you and then work out the attack. So long as you get one hit through, they will be stressed and Ioned so they will have to go one forward and can't barrel roll, boost, evade etc. Now you can follow two options, either keep hitting the same target until it is dead, possibly assigning more stress to it as well in case you miss so that it won't be able to get away easily and will take several turns of green maneuvers to clear, or you can stay stress free, or you can hit it up 2-3 times and then focus on a new target whilst your previous target has to limp around clearing stress for several turns.

You don't even need it to be a good pilot in the Y-Wing either.

I like the idea of having another Gold take over the job of keeping that ship locked down, and have the R3-A2 guy move to a new target. Seems like a great control list.

I'm quite excited about R3-A2 on a Y-Wing with an Ion Cannon Turret.

In the opening engagement, probably at range two, you fire your Ion Cannon into a target that is within your arc (hopefully with the benefit of a TL). Use R3-A2 to then assign a stress token to both of you and then work out the attack. So long as you get one hit through, they will be stressed and Ioned so they will have to go one forward and can't barrel roll, boost, evade etc. Now you can follow two options, either keep hitting the same target until it is dead, possibly assigning more stress to it as well in case you miss so that it won't be able to get away easily and will take several turns of green maneuvers to clear, or you can stay stress free, or you can hit it up 2-3 times and then focus on a new target whilst your previous target has to limp around clearing stress for several turns.

You don't even need it to be a good pilot in the Y-Wing either.

I like the idea of having another Gold take over the job of keeping that ship locked down, and have the R3-A2 guy move to a new target. Seems like a great control list.

There is one more unique astromech that hasn't been spoiled for the Transport yet (R5-?) wonder what he's going to do?

Astromechs let you do things you shouldn't be able to do...

R5's deal with damage reduction...

It would have to screw with interceptors to be in theme...

"When declared the target of an attack from outside your primary arc gain an evade token. The attacker gains a stress token."

But in all seriousness- so much interceptor hate.

Turrets nerf maneuverability. Stress negates action. Ions keep stress. Stress now can be converted to damage. Missiles now ionize. Torpeados now stress. Xwings can now stress. Xwings now Kturn without stress. Xwings can now steal your tokens.

Not all at once but if the counter to interceptors used to be turrets (half of ships) now every ship can somehow negate an interceptors small (now smaller) advantage.

I think a lot of people's worry, whether or not it turns out to be justified, is because the Rebels have a lot of ships that do well on their own, so while you might not get the most amazing or competitive squad, there are tons of robust options. For the Empire, so many of the ships need to be used in careful combinations and if you lose a part of it, Howlrunner or Jonus for instance, your prospects go into the tank. There aren't nearly as many combinations that work well, and unless you're running a swarm or bounty hunters, you've got to field ships that are quite expensive to either hit a home run or self destruct. Interceptors and bombers, esp. once you factor in ordnance costs, can feel risky in a way a B-wing or X-wing just doesn't.

Bombers with flechettes are gonna make it easy for the interceptor to get behind you...

I'm quite excited about R3-A2 on a Y-Wing with an Ion Cannon Turret.

In the opening engagement, probably at range two, you fire your Ion Cannon into a target that is within your arc (hopefully with the benefit of a TL). Use R3-A2 to then assign a stress token to both of you and then work out the attack. So long as you get one hit through, they will be stressed and Ioned so they will have to go one forward and can't barrel roll, boost, evade etc. Now you can follow two options, either keep hitting the same target until it is dead, possibly assigning more stress to it as well in case you miss so that it won't be able to get away easily and will take several turns of green maneuvers to clear, or you can stay stress free, or you can hit it up 2-3 times and then focus on a new target whilst your previous target has to limp around clearing stress for several turns.

You don't even need it to be a good pilot in the Y-Wing either.

I like the idea of having another Gold take over the job of keeping that ship locked down, and have the R3-A2 guy move to a new target. Seems like a great control list.

as soon as you miss though imperial ship can 5 straight to what I'm guessing would be out of range of the cannon

This is true but then he's still stressed and will take a few turns to get back into the fight. Meanwhile you start ioning a new target and bring your Y-Wing around to get them into your arc so that you can stress them.

Example:

You attack an Intercpetor outside of your front arc with your ion cannon turret. Assuming you land the blow, (probably with the aid of a TL), he'll still be able to boost and barrel roll, but his movement is pretty restricted. You use this turn, to bring your Y-Wing around and hit him again, this time you drop a stress on him. Now he's on 1HP, an easy target and should get away, it will take him two turns before he can come around into the fight again, or risk being finished off by the Ion Turret. Against B-Wing's it's amazing since you can pile up a few stress tokens, and then leave them be. They'll take several turns of slow movement to come back around into the fight with their limited turning ability.

they can still do stuff while stressed though. also the other enemies can shoot him down while you're on the other guy. what if hes got a firespray with HLC and maybe gunner? if you go for him he can still shoot you, if not he's got 4 dice against you.

they can still do stuff while stressed though. also the other enemies can shoot him down while you're on the other guy. what if hes got a firespray with HLC and maybe gunner? if you go for him he can still shoot you, if not he's got 4 dice against you.

Against a Firespray or Falcon, this will always be less useful. The fact that you can't consistently ion them for a start puts a damper on it. However, putting stress tokens on them will still hamper their ability to fight and evade your other ship's attacks. And a stressed Falcon/Firespray that is copping an Ion move every other turn is still going to be unhappy. Their moves will become more predictable and in the case of the Firespray, make it much easier to get into the blind spots with your other ships.

Also R3-A2 on the new supposedly highly maneuverable E-Wing....

What will be interesting to note is how much more popular the generic R2 Astromech will be. It is an inexpensive way to counter much of the new stress-generating mechanics in a mirror-match. What I hope to see is that as a result, the new metagame will make it so that x-wings are more attractive versus b-wings than they presently are, so we'll see more variety in the lists. Generally, I consider b-wings more vulnerable to stress than x-wings

What will be interesting to note is how much more popular the generic R2 Astromech will be. It is an inexpensive way to counter much of the new stress-generating mechanics in a mirror-match. What I hope to see is that as a result, the new metagame will make it so that x-wings are more attractive versus b-wings than they presently are, so we'll see more variety in the lists. Generally, I consider b-wings more vulnerable to stress than x-wings

Indeed, they've just doubled the amount of named X-Wing pilots from four to eight which give you great selection choices. The GR-75 literally is the equivalent of the Imperial Aces pack.

The Empire is in trouble. I foresee stress being added to ships that haven't moved yet, and have chosen a red maneuver, happening A LOT more frequently!

Nothing that's been revealed lets Rebel lists inflict stress during the Activation phase.

So far, there isn't anything that adds stress to a ship before it can move. The only thing that can do that is the Transport's action.

People are thinking that the PS8 E wing, Corran Horn has the ability to attack during the activation phase, based on the image on the FFG shop listing. If this is the case, he could equip R3-A2 and/or flechette torpedoes. Therefore, assuming he had a target lock beforehand, he has the potential to inflict TWO stress in the activation phase, then perform a green to mitigate the stress from the astromech.

Could cause problems for ships that selected Red maneuvers.

It should be noted that Corran's ability to attack is complete speculation at this point.

There is literally no reason to think it's an attack in another phase other than the fact that whatever he does, he likely cannot attack normally.

It should be noted that Corran's ability to attack is complete speculation at this point.

There is literally no reason to think it's an attack in another phase other than the fact that whatever he does, he likely cannot attack normally.

Card definitely says " At the start..."

and yes, I mentioned that it is speculation, but thought it was worth a mention.

Don't panic, TIE Phantoms will put this new rebel scum on its place...

As soon as they evade that flechette torpedo, and dodge the stressing shot from that X-Wing with R3, they will power up their cloaking devices as an actio.... Oh ****....

So all you have to do to keep Fel alive is not fly him like Fel? Still sounds like a nary counter to me

It's not just PtL, either... No K-turns, and there's basically nothing you can do against a Rookie with A3 and a Flechette Torp.

Shrug. I guess I just felt like Interceptors were on the bubble anyway, the new stuff does nothing but make it worse.

No, what you have to do to keep Fel alive is to fly him exactly like Fel--meaning you maintain your situational awareness, avoid head-to-head engagements whenever possible, and generally behave like a rude, treacherous, and slippery little so-and-so.

...at least, that's the way I fly Fel.

I admit that Flechettes are more worrisome, and a Rookie with R2-A3 and a Flechette Torpedo is a potent anti-Fel weapon. But so is Ten Numb, and for that matter so is a 27-point Blue + Autoblaster, and those didn't shove him out of the metagame.

I love the blue + Autoblaster. I once took a shot at Vader with Jan boosting the shot and almost melted his face off. They're tricky to use in low PS boyos but man are they fun and effective when you do get to use them.

Don't panic, TIE Phantoms will put this new rebel scum on its place...

As soon as they evade that flechette torpedo, and dodge the stressing shot from that X-Wing with R3, they will power up their cloaking devices as an actio.... Oh ****....

Don't be a hater, Jehan. You can always change your avatar to reflect true awesomeness. We won't say anything.

I just realized that some of these cards interact differently with Ibtisam. While Flechette Torpedoes give her a stress after the attack is resolved, R2-A3 will give her a stress at the start of the attack, allowing her to reroll her agility die. Interesting.

All this talk about the hopeless plight of the interceptor is making me want to defect - to the Empire! I mean, the problem with Interceptors used to be that they were fragile, so you needed actions. But with the Royal Guard Title you can beef them up and withstand a few hits. Right?

I just realized that some of these cards interact differently with Ibtisam. While Flechette Torpedoes give her a stress after the attack is resolved, R2-A3 will give her a stress at the start of the attack, allowing her to reroll her agility die. Interesting.

All this talk about the hopeless plight of the interceptor is making me want to defect - to the Empire! I mean, the problem with Interceptors used to be that they were fragile, so you needed actions. But with the Royal Guard Title you can beef them up and withstand a few hits. Right?

No astromech on B-Wings, so no R2-A3 on Ibby, sorry.

Also, I fully agree with your second point. After the novelty of these ships wares off, Interceptors are going to be fine. Also, I don't think anyone will take certain upgrades 'just in case they have to face in interceptor'.

I just realized that some of these cards interact differently with Ibtisam. While Flechette Torpedoes give her a stress after the attack is resolved, R2-A3 will give her a stress at the start of the attack, allowing her to reroll her agility die. Interesting.

All this talk about the hopeless plight of the interceptor is making me want to defect - to the Empire! I mean, the problem with Interceptors used to be that they were fragile, so you needed actions. But with the Royal Guard Title you can beef them up and withstand a few hits. Right?

No astromech on B-Wings, so no R2-A3 on Ibby, sorry.

Also, I fully agree with your second point. After the novelty of these ships wares off, Interceptors are going to be fine. Also, I don't think anyone will take certain upgrades 'just in case they have to face in interceptor'.

You misunderstood. I meant when she's being attacked by R2-A3. I should have made that clearer because I forgot that it also gives the user a stress. So when she's attacked by the Flechettes, she doesn't get to use her ability on the defense, but when she's attacked by somebody with R2-A3 she gets that advantage.

After all, it's not always Rebel vs. Imperial out in the big, bad world.

I just realized that some of these cards interact differently with Ibtisam. While Flechette Torpedoes give her a stress after the attack is resolved, R2-A3 will give her a stress at the start of the attack, allowing her to reroll her agility die. Interesting.

All this talk about the hopeless plight of the interceptor is making me want to defect - to the Empire! I mean, the problem with Interceptors used to be that they were fragile, so you needed actions. But with the Royal Guard Title you can beef them up and withstand a few hits. Right?

No astromech on B-Wings, so no R2-A3 on Ibby, sorry.

Also, I fully agree with your second point. After the novelty of these ships wares off, Interceptors are going to be fine. Also, I don't think anyone will take certain upgrades 'just in case they have to face in interceptor'.

You misunderstood. I meant when she's being attacked by R2-A3. I should have made that clearer because I forgot that it also gives the user a stress. So when she's attacked by the Flechettes, she doesn't get to use her ability on the defense, but when she's attacked by somebody with R2-A3 she gets that advantage.

After all, it's not always Rebel vs. Imperial out in the big, bad world.

You're right, I did misunderstand. I apologize.

Welp, here's Rebel Aces!

No seriously.

Did you guys notice the "here's how to fly the A-wing" post on their page too? I wonder if the designers feel some kind of way about the way those ships are often slighted.

No astromech on B-Wings, so no R2-A3 on Ibby, sorry.

Also, I fully agree with your second point. After the novelty of these ships wares off, Interceptors are going to be fine. Also, I don't think anyone will take certain upgrades 'just in case they have to face in interceptor'.

It's not just in case they face an interceptor... they are good on their own... they just happen to own interceptors in certain combos that you will likely already use.

Being able to at-will stress a ship is actually pretty awesome. It stops them from K-turning next turn (which will be HUGE on a joust). It shuts down Advanced Sensors and PtL. It's pretty **** devastating in combination with an Ion Cannon Turret - one hit, no choice of maneuver and no action, guaranteed. At the absolute bare minimum it forces the ship into a green maneuver (or action denial) next turn.

If you just shrug at the idea of handing out stress at will, and what it can accomplish, you really haven't thought it through.