Taken from: http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=4750

We made two small but significant changes to the 100-point Dogfight tournament rules. First, we made full wins significantly easier to achieve. Under the new rules, a player only needs to destroy at least 12 squad points (the lowest squad point cost of a single ship) more than his or her opponent, which means players no longer have to build their lists with total annihilation in mind and can opt for a slightly more tactical, defensive game if they wish. Second, we gave players with lower squad point totals the ability to choose whether they want initiative or not. Some lists benefit from having initiative, whereas other lists are stronger when opposing ships move first. Now, players can tailor their lists to their own liking without having to worry that a lower squad point total will guarantee that they have initiative.

Now that you can play your points down for initiative and even play "defensively" for the win with a new margin of 12pts for total victory, will this change how you build lists for tournaments? Especially now with higher priced ships (looking at you Defender), does this make investing in more robust builds with fewer ships more palatable?

I'm thinking that lists with Gamma's are going to be ~98pts or so. For the price of a seismic charge, you can put in a pretty good investment to not get initiative when facing all those other PS4 pilots, which would otherwise make the game MUCH harder for bombers.

As long as TO's don't allow excessive "stalling" tactics I think this is a good thing.

Maybe PTL Into will see more play. You can kill 1 ship, escape, turtle until another opportunity, and still get a full win. Should be fun.

Though, double falcons with Expert Handling will be quite annoying, and will see the top tables more often due to more full wins.

I think this promotes more robust builds or even builds with a particular tactic at their core which, to me, is a good thing. Higher cost ships seem FAR LESS problematic on this rubric since what you trade in ship #s you gain in staying power. Swarms will still work of course. But you won't need to chew through the entire swarm to claim victory. Winning will entail understanding what kind of win your opponent is going for and simultaneously denying it -- not just losing in general.

Builds that are defensive in nature will still be able to get a full win as long as they cross the 12 point threshold, even if they go to time. There is likely a small bias against 2 attack ships in tournaments since it's hard to get a full win. But after Rebel Aces comes out, consider this tanky squad.

6 A-wings, 100 points:

4x Prototypes w/ Refit (15x4)

2x Green Squadron Pilots w/ Refit + Push the Limit (20x2)

This squad should actually be quite competitive.

I wonder if this arrangement will bring back the hardest smallship to kill: the Tie Advanced.

I wonder if this arrangement will bring back the hardest smallship to kill: the Tie Advanced.

NA, the TIE Advanced just sucks. The A-wing will be amazing value at 15 points, its jousting value will be even slightly better than naked B-wings.

As long as TO's don't allow excessive "stalling" tactics I think this is a good thing.

Maybe I haven't played enough but my impression is stalling would be difficult. Even with an R2 defense type setup I don't think you could last long enough.

I also get the impression that being defensive in movement is generally futile in most cases, rarely have I gotten out of range by running away. Usually I have more success getting closer, slower movements where the area of attack is much smaller. Sure in some cases barrel rolls etc will get you out of lines of fire but with the 90 degree firing angle I have noticed in many cases it doesn't matter.

Like I said maybe I have to play lots more but I don't see enough variations in movements/speeds vs the length of the range ruler to make "hiding" or avoiding combat a viable option.

As long as TO's don't allow excessive "stalling" tactics I think this is a good thing.

Maybe I haven't played enough but my impression is stalling would be difficult. Even with an R2 defense type setup I don't think you could last long enough.

I was thinking more like taking 10 minutes to place your dials.

Does this make a super-kitted out 2 ship build vaguely possible now? Like:

x2 TIE/Defender + Cannon + Missiles + Boost + EPT.

Even if it doesn't get to 100pts, now you can also choose initiative and plan for it appropriately. I wonder too about the E-wings since they have a full upgrade bar, what with sensors and astromechs in addition to secondaries, EPTs, and mods.

Builds that are defensive in nature will still be able to get a full win as long as they cross the 12 point threshold, even if they go to time. There is likely a small bias against 2 attack ships in tournaments since it's hard to get a full win. But after Rebel Aces comes out, consider this tanky squad.

6 A-wings, 100 points:

4x Prototypes w/ Refit (15x4)

2x Green Squadron Pilots + Push the Limit (20x2)

This squad should actually be quite competitive.

why not refit the greens as well and put a mod on somebody

The initiative bit is very nice, might be just the last poece bombers need to make it into the mix.

I don't think the "full victory" change really shakes much up... Certainly not enough to make and advanced outside of Vader viable. Probably have a few more ships disengaging at end game and turtling up to protect points but that feels like a slower less exciting game to me. It does change targeting priority a bit in the mid to late game.

Builds that are defensive in nature will still be able to get a full win as long as they cross the 12 point threshold, even if they go to time. There is likely a small bias against 2 attack ships in tournaments since it's hard to get a full win. But after Rebel Aces comes out, consider this tanky squad.

6 A-wings, 100 points:

4x Prototypes w/ Refit (15x4)

2x Green Squadron Pilots + Push the Limit (20x2)

This squad should actually be quite competitive.

why not refit the greens as well and put a mod on somebody

He did, he just didn't write it down. A green w/ PTL is usually 22pts.

Very disappointed about the initiative ruling. Now squads (esp imperials) would want to build for 99 or 98pts just to grab that not-initiative, eg Soontir PTL, Bombers for their TL, etc

Meanwhile, rebels are not affected as much, and can stick to 100pts

What it does allow, is for the Swarm to get more full wins. This truthfully allows them to actually show up at the top tables a bit more. The Swarm vs Swarm matchup was a big detriment to the Swarm doing better. Now, they have a bit of a better chance to nab a full win in a mirror match.

Good thing a lot of swarm counters are coming in Wave 4.

Very disappointed about the initiative ruling. Now squads (esp imperials) would want to build for 99 or 98pts just to grab that not-initiative, eg Soontir PTL, Bombers for their TL, etc

Meanwhile, rebels are not affected as much, and can stick to 100pts

I'm not sure how having a choice you didn't before hurts them. Before, there was no reliable way to not have initiative. Now there is. Nothing forced you to take it.

edit: ninjad

What it does allow, is for the Swarm to get more full wins. This truthfully allows them to actually show up at the top tables a bit more. The Swarm vs Swarm matchup was a big detriment to the Swarm doing better. Now, they have a bit of a better chance to nab a full win in a mirror match.

Good thing a lot of swarm counters are coming in Wave 4.

I agree, in theory we should see more Swarms at Regionals than we did at Store Championships.

You might start to see some effective high agility three ship builds that aim to just stay alive for most of the game and only attack at an opportune moment. For example three interceptors that dance around the board until they get a chance to gank one X-wing in a turn and then fly away. It won't likely make three ship rebel builds any better though as they lack the agility and speed generally to keep the enemy at arms length.

Very disappointed about the initiative ruling. Now squads (esp imperials) would want to build for 99 or 98pts just to grab that not-initiative, eg Soontir PTL, Bombers for their TL, etc

Meanwhile, rebels are not affected as much, and can stick to 100pts

I'm not sure how having a choice you didn't before hurts them. Before, there was no reliable way to not have initiative. Now there is. Nothing forced you to take it.

Before, you didnt have a choice

Now, you are going to have an arms race for lower sqd points. 99 will drop to 98, which would drop to 97, then people either realize that it is stupid and go back to 100 and start the loop all over again, or they go further to 96, 95 etc

Y Wings all loaded with PTs. Destroy an enemy ship and outlast their weakened damage capacity.

Very disappointed about the initiative ruling. Now squads (esp imperials) would want to build for 99 or 98pts just to grab that not-initiative, eg Soontir PTL, Bombers for their TL, etc

Meanwhile, rebels are not affected as much, and can stick to 100pts

I'm not sure how having a choice you didn't before hurts them. Before, there was no reliable way to not have initiative. Now there is. Nothing forced you to take it.

Before, you didnt have a choice

Now, you are going to have an arms race for lower sqd points. 99 will drop to 98, which would drop to 97, then people either realize that it is stupid and go back to 100 and start the loop all over again, or they go further to 96, 95 etc

Of I weren't paying from my phone, this seems like the perfect place for an Ackbar video. Because really, what you're saying here is that players will chase something they shouldn't, and waste points in the process.

Uhm... So what? That doesn't make it a bad idea, or somehow worse for Imperials. Bad players will still make bad decisions, good players will make good decisions. I'm not sure how this is worse for one side over the other.

Very disappointed about the initiative ruling. Now squads (esp imperials) would want to build for 99 or 98pts just to grab that not-initiative, eg Soontir PTL, Bombers for their TL, etc

Meanwhile, rebels are not affected as much, and can stick to 100pts

I'm not sure how having a choice you didn't before hurts them. Before, there was no reliable way to not have initiative. Now there is. Nothing forced you to take it.

Before, you didnt have a choice

Now, you are going to have an arms race for lower sqd points. 99 will drop to 98, which would drop to 97, then people either realize that it is stupid and go back to 100 and start the loop all over again, or they go further to 96, 95 etc

Of I weren't paying from my phone, this seems like the perfect place for an Ackbar video. Because really, what you're saying here is that players will chase something they shouldn't, and waste points in the process.

Uhm... So what? That doesn't make it a bad idea, or somehow worse for Imperials. Bad players will still make bad decisions, good players will make good decisions. I'm not sure how this is worse for one side over the other.

^^^This. It doesn't take long in the "race to the bottom for initiative" before the gain is outweighed by what you could have got by spending those points.

Y Wings all loaded with PTs. Destroy an enemy ship and outlast their weakened damage capacity.

Who has 4 y-wing? But yeah that would be a pretty effective list. 4 PTs should be enough of an alpha strike to take a ship or two out and the y-wings would have so much hull and shields to eat through.