I guess I will just get this out of the way first; yes we don't know what the E-Wing Dial looks like. I will fully embrace the fact that it could have the most flat out crazy maneuver dial ever to grace the game and it could completely change my opinion. Its a shame that we didn't get a peek at in the introduction article. I'm sure FFG has their reasons, but I can still be disappointed.

Anyway, on to the meat of my post. I have been pouring over the pilots and combinations for the E-Wing in anticipation of it's release. I find my play style generally focus on maneuvering rather than knock down drag out fights and the E-Wing seems like a perfect choice for my squadron. The problem is this, it is REALLY expensive for what it is. The two basic pilots are so expensive that they almost seem silly in comparison to the rest of the rebel ships (I don't want to get too deep into the Named Pilots as their abilities need to be weighed into their cost as well). This ship eats up almost a third of your points even before you get to upgrades and it is the upgrades that will make this thing really sing.

I keep thinking that I am missing something about the E-Wing that makes it a must have unit. It could be that when you take into account the Z-95 and it's bargain basement cost the E-Wing makes perfect sense but for the moment I just can't get behind it.

I think they do a fantastic job of filling the point gap between an ORS and Lando.

If the dial on the E is anything close to the A's it will be a must include for me, even with the high cost. The trick will be finding what upgrades work for me with it and go from there.

I'm REALLY eager to try this:

Corran Horn - R5-P9, PtL, AdvSensor, Engine Upgrade.

I love how PtL Interceptors fly, so if this is anything close with the addition of AdvSensor and TL... ooooh boy!

50 point Corran Horn FTW? We'll see.

I wanna know how others will fly. FCS + Marksmanship?

I wanna know how others will fly. FCS + Marksmanship?

Probably.

To put on a tinfoil hat for a moment, maybe they didn't show the E-wing dial because it's underwhelming to the point where it would hurt sales with veterans?

To put on a tinfoil hat for a moment, maybe they didn't show the E-wing dial because it's underwhelming to the point where it would hurt sales with veterans?

I heard there was a contest somewhere to spoil the dial correctly. Someone suggested FFG hasn't done so yet to honor the contest. No idea.

I'm reserving judgement till I see the dial, but I am a little worried it'll end up being too much. It will have a lot of options and combos, but you've gotta pay even more points for those combos. I dunno.

To put on a tinfoil hat for a moment, maybe they didn't show the E-wing dial because it's underwhelming to the point where it would hurt sales with veterans?

I heard there was a contest somewhere to spoil the dial correctly. Someone suggested FFG hasn't done so yet to honor the contest. No idea.

Was also me. Just wasn't wearing the hat then.

Either that or maybe they just want to keep it a mystery, since each ship has one or two unspoiled things. If you open the box and you already know every single element inside, the reward center of your brain doesn't engage as strongly, downplaying from "OOH, LOOK AT THE PRETTIES!" to "yes, everything checks out. carry on."

I'm reserving judgement till I see the dial, but I am a little worried it'll end up being too much. It will have a lot of options and combos, but you've gotta pay even more points for those combos. I dunno.

Well you already know the cost of the ships, it's not like seeing the dial is going to make them more expensive. If I had to guess, I'd say it was more maneuverable than an X-wing, but hopefully not quite as good as an Interceptor or A-wing. Possibly has a 1 turn?

I'm reserving judgement till I see the dial, but I am a little worried it'll end up being too much. It will have a lot of options and combos, but you've gotta pay even more points for those combos. I dunno.

Well you already know the cost of the ships, it's not like seeing the dial is going to make them more expensive. If I had to guess, I'd say it was more maneuverable than an X-wing, but hopefully not quite as good as an Interceptor or A-wing. Possibly has a 1 turn?

The question is whether it's worth the cost. I know the cost, I don't know its worth.

I calculated the jousting costs here:

http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/100360-using-lanchesters-square-law-to-predict-ships-jousting-values-and-fair-point-values-work-in-progress/

TL;DR: The E-wing has about the same jousting value as a TIE Advanced. But the E-wing has some nice upgrades slots, and presumably a very good dial. It probably still won't be worth its cost in points, but I'll wait for the dial before making final judgement.

I will be flying Horn for sure. Add Marksmanship and FCS to make use of his ability and R2-F2 for the turn you can't attack.

While I tried to find something but my hunt simply yielded this:

to combine the best elements of both the X-wing and A-wing, the E-wing easily stands among the Rebellion’s fastest, toughest, nimblest, and most versatile starfighters

Which I copy and pasted from the Performing the Impossible news page.

I calculated the jousting costs here:

http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/100360-using-lanchesters-square-law-to-predict-ships-jousting-values-and-fair-point-values-work-in-progress/

TL;DR: The E-wing has about the same jousting value as a TIE Advanced. But the E-wing has some nice upgrades slots, and presumably a very good dial. It probably still won't be worth its cost in points, but I'll wait for the dial before making final judgement.

The generics might not be, but both of the named pilots have abilities that defy quantification at this point. Their worth will be meta dependent, I feel.

Actually, Corran's power should be one of the easiest to quantify, right? Two attacks in one round should greatly boost his jousting profile.

Actually, Corran's power should be one of the easiest to quantify, right? Two attacks in one round should greatly boost his jousting profile.

Well, Corran's ability also denies him an attack on the next round, so it's sort of a wash. Sort of. Like I said, it will be situationally dependent on the meta. If you're fielding only three ships, which seems likely given his high price point, having a fourth attack against a similarly small list will be valuable indeed. This is especially true when dealing with high priority targets like the Phantom, where opportunities for a followup attack will be rare anyways. That having been said, I don't think it's a coincidence that Corran is being released alongside the Phantom.

Corran Horn with a bunch of Z's + Ion Missiles should be nasty. The Z's can Ion up and Corran can mow them down.

Corran Horn with a bunch of Z's + Ion Missiles should be nasty. The Z's can Ion up and Corran can mow them down.

Could be. But when Coran is taking a turn off, a bunch of Zs just aren't gonna cut it. You'll be alternating a strong turn, and a really weak turn. That's not a game of attrition you can play for long, methinks.

I'm planning on using them as replacements for Adv Sen Daggers in a Biggs Walks the Dogs list.

I don't do math type stuff but I think they will be more resilient than B-Wings. Waiting on the dial like everyone else though and will see how they go.

Every wave, every ship gets a thread like this. OMG this breaks the game, and a corresponding OMG this is way too expensive! Generally speaking, for each ship.

FFG playtests this stuff. It's likely to have a really useful set of maneuvers, a hybrid of the X-Wing and A-Wing. It's got one of the most powerful set of upgrades available (astromech and system upgrade combos = crazy fun). Make it too cheap and it would break the meta, and have the whole player-base whining about powercreep. Make it too expensive and people whine about it not being worth it.

How about you just reserve judgement till you can try it in a game or a few games with different combos? There is enough data out there to test the Z95, TIE Phantom and TIE Defender and the pseudo-drama surrounding those has died down. We only have a few more weeks till the Preview event, as soon as that happens the dial will get posted and we can all see how it works out.

Every wave, every ship gets a thread like this. OMG this breaks the game, and a corresponding OMG this is way too expensive! Generally speaking, for each ship.

FFG playtests this stuff. It's likely to have a really useful set of maneuvers, a hybrid of the X-Wing and A-Wing. It's got one of the most powerful set of upgrades available (astromech and system upgrade combos = crazy fun). Make it too cheap and it would break the meta, and have the whole player-base whining about powercreep. Make it too expensive and people whine about it not being worth it.

How about you just reserve judgement till you can try it in a game or a few games with different combos? There is enough data out there to test the Z95, TIE Phantom and TIE Defender and the pseudo-drama surrounding those has died down. We only have a few more weeks till the Preview event, as soon as that happens the dial will get posted and we can all see how it works out.

Isn't that what the vast majority of replies have been on here? People reserving judgement?

I calculated the jousting costs here:

http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/100360-using-lanchesters-square-law-to-predict-ships-jousting-values-and-fair-point-values-work-in-progress/

TL;DR: The E-wing has about the same jousting value as a TIE Advanced. But the E-wing has some nice upgrades slots, and presumably a very good dial. It probably still won't be worth its cost in points, but I'll wait for the dial before making final judgement.

The generics might not be, but both of the named pilots have abilities that defy quantification at this point. Their worth will be meta dependent, I feel.

Very true. I make no attempt to try and quantify named abilities, just the base ship at equivalent PS1 cost.

I wish I could read mathwing without my eyes going all googly...