Uhmmm did the developers just forget about karsabi? They don't seem to have realised just how useless his ability is now..

27 minutes ago, william1134 said:

Uhmmm did the developers just forget about karsabi? They don't seem to have realised just how useless his ability is now..

What makes you say that? He's still able to SLAM or reload then still shoot.

33 minutes ago, thespaceinvader said:

What makes you say that? He's still able to SLAM or reload then still shoot.

Or SLAM and Reload! The configurations only work if you have 1 WD token, so being able to strip one off may sometimes be helpful.

I've been saying that for a while now - Karsabi's ability might as well be blank. It doesn't work with Adv SLAM so you can't SLAM + Reload or do any other action. You literally end up stressed to drop a WD token instead of taking a TL or mod for the same stress. It's just bad and pointless with the new titles.

The point is that BOTH titles let you SLAM/reload and shoot now, so his ability is fairly meaningless outside of very obscure edge cases (pre-coordinate, etc). And his PS is the same as the Rhos and costs 2 more... and there's no super necessary talents for gunboats in the first place, so I find the argument for anyone other than a Nu or Vynder to be pretty stretched currently.

3 hours ago, punkUser said:

I've been saying that for a while now - Karsabi's ability might as well be blank. It doesn't work with Adv SLAM so you can't SLAM + Reload or do any other action. You literally end up stressed to drop a WD token instead of taking a TL or mod for the same stress. It's just bad and pointless with the new titles.

The point is that BOTH titles let you SLAM/reload and shoot now, so his ability is fairly meaningless outside of very obscure edge cases (pre-coordinate, etc). And his PS is the same as the Rhos and costs 2 more... and there's no super necessary talents for gunboats in the first place, so I find the argument for anyone other than a Nu or Vynder to be pretty stretched currently.

Karsabi used to be good for a HLC XG-1, as only he could SLAM and fire the HLC. This is no longer the case, and while it's true that Karsabi could get one extra die out of the HLC or any other cannon at range 1, I think his preferred title is now going to be OS-1. With Karsabi eating the disarmed token he is free to spend the lock when firing his ordnance, giving him an extra kick. Is this amazing? Not really, especially with FCS equipped, but it is unique to him. I think they could drop him a point without ill effect.

4 hours ago, punkUser said:

I've been saying that for a while now - Karsabi's ability might as well be blank. It doesn't work with Adv SLAM so you can't SLAM + Reload or do any other action. You literally end up stressed to drop a WD token instead of taking a TL or mod for the same stress. It's just bad and pointless with the new titles.

The point is that BOTH titles let you SLAM/reload and shoot now, so his ability is fairly meaningless outside of very obscure edge cases (pre-coordinate, etc). And his PS is the same as the Rhos and costs 2 more... and there's no super necessary talents for gunboats in the first place, so I find the argument for anyone other than a Nu or Vynder to be pretty stretched currently.

I haven't seen the new Advanced SLAM. Why doesn't it work?

You let this temple of Gunboat to go idle. I will not accept that.

Gunboat 2E costs where revealed 2 days ago. 2 days! And no theorycraft?

PS: she has System slot! (but no double cannon)

My #1 thought for 2.0 gunboats is proton rockets with an ion cannon to set up your shots. Assault configuration, advanced sensors or FCS as you prefer, advanced slam and maybe homing missiles as a backup for targets that are hard to pin down

Missiles/torpedoes/cannons seem pretty tame in 2.0 for now so inspiration hasn't really hit me much yet, but they are also generally kind of cheap so loading ships up a bit doesn't feel so bad, especially when you know you have the reload action available

I've been thinking about Vynder and a tie mini swarm...

5 hours ago, JJ48 said:

I haven't seen the new Advanced SLAM. Why doesn't it work?

It stresses you, so Karsabi can't use it with his ability

4 hours ago, Odanan said:

no theorycraft?

Two ships I'm looking forward to:

XG-1 Nu Squadron pilot with ion cannon. If spare points are available, he can also take advanced SLAM and/or FCS. I've flown this guy in 1.0 and he's a great bumper/control piece (but he does take some time to turn around).

OS-1 Vynder with advanced SLAM, fcs, homing missiles, saturation salvo, and proton torps. Advanced slam going red hurts, but I'm feeling the need for speed and I can't wait to bring back this nasty fellow. He can even take prockets, clusters or advanced protons for the range 1 threat!

how much you wanna bet that now the Gunboat doesnt have 2 cannon slots but the bwing does were gonna get some really awesome 2cannon upgrade.....

Just now, Vineheart01 said:

how much you wanna bet that now the Gunboat doesnt have 2 cannon slots but the bwing does were gonna get some really awesome 2cannon upgrade.....

Almost certainly going to happen.

Honestly the b-wings need help, so I'm fine with it...

Cannons in general are fairly tame right now but at least they have a place on the gunboat due to the title. They are a pretty situational option on anything other than gunboats and M3-A's (for the extra die) as in most cases in 2.0 it's preferable to be throwing the same number of dice without the cannon effect vs. 1.0 where if you expected to only do 1 damage you effectively got a "bonus effect" on Ion cannons (plus the range 3 bonus denial).

As an aside - note that ioning things with 2-3 green dice in 2.0 is actually pretty hard/rare. I've gone entire games with multiple ion gunboats and never actual landed an ion token. Since you now need 2+ hits on something to land even a single token it doesn't happen nearly as often as 1.0.

a) It's far easier to tractor something than ion it.

b) Conner nets are the only really sure-fire way to ion something right now.

c) Even IG88-B isn't awesome at ioning things as it's quite possible/likely to hit and do a damage (and thus not trigger the gunner effect) but not land an ion token.

That's a good thing overall for the game and "fun factor" I think, but worth noting.

I think I'm ok with that. Control may be necessary to some extent, but perfectly controlling the opponent's deck removes all the fun for them.

3 hours ago, HolySorcerer said:

Almost certainly going to happen.

The good news is, if the XG1 isnt seeing play, and the hypothetical 2 slot cannon upgrade for the Bwing would help it, they can add the 2nd cannon slot, and the Gunboat can get the cannon too

54 minutes ago, Cap116 said:

The good news is, if the XG1 isnt seeing play, and the hypothetical 2 slot cannon upgrade for the Bwing would help it, they can add the 2nd cannon slot, and the Gunboat can get the cannon too

They'd have to add the cannon to the base gunboat, which would screw with the OS-1 title at the same time.

I did some tests and felt in love with this squad:

4x Nus with Proton Rockets and Afterburners (200 points)

OK, I need to try 5x Nus with Heavy Cannons.

5 HLCs would be so difficult to line up but good god if you managed it....byebye ship

3 hours ago, Vineheart01 said:

5 HLCs would be so difficult to line up but good god if you managed it....byebye ship

You don't need to line up all of them at the same time.

Nu Squadron Pilot - OS-1 config, FCS, Barrage Rockets, Adv. Slam = 47pts

That's what I'll be trying first. It's super cheap, barrage rocket's [focus] restriction gives you a figurative deadeye, if you lock and hold it (Porkins style), you can utilise both FCS and the config to get a shot with a single re-roll and a focus token for mods after slamming.

You can even add in a ion torpedo (total 53pts) for the most consistent dealing of ion in the game currently.

5 minutes ago, BVRCH said:

Nu Squadron Pilot - OS-1 config, FCS, Barrage Rockets, Adv. Slam = 47pts

That's what I'll be trying first. It's super cheap, barrage rocket's [focus] restriction gives you a figurative deadeye, if you lock and hold it (Porkins style), you can utilise both FCS and the config to get a shot with a single re-roll and a focus token for mods after slamming.

Why don't you promote them to Rhos and give them a Crackshot or Marksmanship? 50 points each = 4 Gunboats.

13 minutes ago, Odanan said:

Why don't you promote them to Rhos and give them a Crackshot or Marksmanship? 50 points each = 4 Gunboats.

I didn't realise marksmanship was 1pt! I like that. That works really well with barrage rockets if I can line up the bullseye. Slamming Rhos it is.

2 hours ago, BVRCH said:

You can even add in a ion torpedo (total 53pts) for the most consistent dealing of ion in the game currently.

Technically speaking, Ion cannons/turrets get an extra die at R1, making them an equivalent 4-die attack. Arguably, an Ion Bomb is the best strategy though, given the inevitable number of low PS ships that will populate the early meta.

1 hour ago, Astech said:

Technically speaking, Ion cannons/turrets get an extra die at R1, making them an equivalent 4-die attack. Arguably, an Ion Bomb is the best strategy though, given the inevitable number of low PS ships that will populate the early meta.

Ion torpedoes have 4 dice all the time they are in their range bracket. You're going to be at R2-3 more often than at R1. Ion bombs don't exist. Conner nets only have 1 charge that can't be reloaded.

Ion Torpedoes are the most consistent, or should I say reliable, way to deal out ion. Especially when considering large bases need 3 ion tokens to be affected.

Regardless of all the other guff, we're talking about the gunboats. They can't use bombs or turrets.