Honestly, the existence of the Phantom really ups his utility. It's not always about directly boosting the pilot itself...

I have 571 squads recorded from Regionals. Boba Fett showed up twice.

In wave 3 Regionals, he showed up twice:

• Eliminated in Top 8 round in a 24 player tournament
• #26 in a 116 player tournament

In wave 4 Regionals, he never even showed up in Final Cut or Top Third.

So, I don't think the Phantom is making people want to take Boba.

He will be making an appearance in the next vassal tourney

[Et tu, hothie? He's PS8 or PS10, so you place your asteroids carefully and deploy Fett so that he doesn't have to run traffic.

Yes, me too. I have tried, Lord knows I have tried more than most to make him work, and I just so seldomly ever use his ability that you will never talk me out of Kath over Boba on the imperial side.

I am just waiting patiently with everyone else until Most Wanted becomes available.

You'd go Kath over Krassis?

You'd go Kath over Krassis?

If you want to add Recon Specialist to Krassis, I change Rebel Captive to Gunner.

Alternately, I would take a BH with engine and gunner over krassis with hlc as well.

If you test it out a few times and find out that it's not enough, I'd suggest holding on to the theme of unpredictable maneuverability, but doing away with the dial manipulation (which relies on having both the need and ability to make a different maneuver than the one you planned). Something like this:

After you execute a [bank] maneuver, you may perform a free barrel roll action.

I've been over a couple of versions of this in my head, but this seems like a plausible way to increase his maneuverability further. It might be too powerful--that is, it might justify a cost of 40--but I'd have to have it on the table a few times to decide how I really feel about it.

That's pretty interesting, and would be a big deal. Barrel roll is huge and as a free action would be fantastic.

Slight wording correction. He won't gain a stress, you just treat that maneuver as red, but you can then navigate it to another maneuver that isn't red, so he wouldn't actually gain a stress token for using SoT. Although admittedly, that ruling is in flux right now, so I guess we will see what happens when it becomes official. If you're going to house rule his ability, it should be something along these lines.

True, good word-smithing catch. My main point was that Boba Fett's pilot ability doesn't have any synergy with Stay on Target, which, reading your further reasoning here, I think is still true.

[Et tu, hothie? He's PS8 or PS10, so you place your asteroids carefully and deploy Fett so that he doesn't have to run traffic.

Yes, me too. I have tried, Lord knows I have tried more than most to make him work, and I just so seldomly ever use his ability that you will never talk me out of Kath over Boba on the imperial side.

This is off-topic (for this thread), but I have been eyeing all 3 Firespray pilots for slight buffs, since none really get used competitively. For Kath, her ability triggers if the opponent cancels 1 crit, or 2 hits. That would make her ability far less of a "kicker" as Vorpal says, and more something that you can start to revolve your squad around, especially with a more fully developed stress economy in the game. For Krassis, letting him reroll 2 attack die instead of 1, when using secondary weapons. I had other ideas for Boba Fett as well, along the lines of "no disintegration":

After modifying your attack dice, you must change all crits to hits. If you changed at least 1 crit to a hit, then add 1 hit to the result.

But I'm leaning towards keeping the same flavor of FFG's original text and simply making it more useful. I would prefer to go with the 2nd option in my OP, if it's not overpowered:

When you reveal your dial, you may change it to another maneuver of the same speed.

But the jury is still out. My experience is the more skilled the player, the less useful this is.

If you want to stick with ffg's original, that's cool. But if you're lookiing for other options, I have long thought that his ability should have been:"When attacking, if the defender has a unique pilot or upgrade card, you may reroll 1 die."

Unique cards is an area that ffg hasn't delved into with pilot abilities, and I think it would be perfect for a bounty hunter without being too broken. I don't think its broken because there are so many generics out there that this wouldn't work against, and its only refilling one die.

If you want to stick with ffg's original, that's cool. But if you're lookiing for other options, I have long thought that his ability should have been:"When attacking, if the defender has a unique pilot or upgrade card, you may reroll 1 die."

Unique cards is an area that ffg hasn't delved into with pilot abilities, and I think it would be perfect for a bounty hunter without being too broken. I don't think its broken because there are so many generics out there that this wouldn't work against, and its only refilling one die.

For technical balance fixes I prefer to keep as close to FFG's original intent as possible, but that mechanic is really cool, and the triggering condition would be perfect for a bounty hunter. You could even keep the same triggering condition, but change the effect to handing the target a stress token to the target.

You could even keep the same triggering condition, but change the effect to handing the target a stress token to the target.

I like that better, because the defender _knows_ it's Fett who is after them.

That could be a nice variant though, Hothie.

Honestly, it was weird to me too that Boba had a move ability and Han had an attacking ability. Honestly, I did think Imperials were getting a little short-changed on pilot abilities in the previous waves.

I am just waiting patiently with everyone else until Most Wanted becomes available.

If you're waiting patiently until Most Wanted becomes available, I think you might have less company than you think.

If I were to give a new ability to the Empire version of Boba Fett, it would go like this:

''At the start of the game, choose an enemy ship. When attacking that ship with Boba Fett, you can change all your focus results into hit results.''

Basically, the Empire has paid him to get rid of this particular pilot and when Boba has his eye on a target, there is nothing to make him lose his focus.

Our "house rule" for him was that he acquired a free TL at set up and as long as he had a TL he rerolled 1 att or def die. You know, like he's a focused BH.

To keep with theme I think a 1 pt cost reduction AND allowing him to change to any same speed bank or turn would be good.

Although I do like the idea of any uniques he fires on getting a stress. That's just so flavorful!

So, thread bump:

If Imperial Boba Fett's ability was changed to:

When you reveal a maneuver, you may rotate your dial to another maneuver of the same speed.

... do you think this would be overpowered? For reference my House Rules for Kath and Krassis are:

Kath: When attacking, the defender receives 1 stress token if he cancels at least 1 [critical] result, or at least 2 [hit] results.

Krassis: When attacking with a secondary weapon, you may reroll up to 2 attack die.

My personal opinion is that it is too much. Give him navigator and veteran instinct and he can go wherever he wants at PS10 without any penality. No need to put the dial down, just react once every other ship as moved. It would be as hard to have a line of sight on him than it is with a Phantom.

Wait, doesn't Stay on Target make Boba's ability useless, with the only exception being not taking a stress to flip a bank?

I like Boba with Engine upgrade. As said above, squirrelly as hell. If points weren't a huge issue I would take Boba, EU, Recon Specialist, PtL. The large base makes a green 1 bank + boost coves a large area.

He's useful when your opponent is running him, so that you are facing a list with wasted points....

I wish I could argue this, but I've been struggling to find a place for Boba it Kath and they are just too expensive for their mediocre abilities. This is compounded by a lack of cards to synergize.

I'm shocked at your foul language, we don't use the "S" word.

Fett is one ship that can outfly a phantom. Fettigator+VI lets him move last and shoot first. He is also still flying the most balanced ship. I like running him.

Fett is one ship that can outfly a phantom. Fettigator+VI lets him move last and shoot first. He is also still flying the most balanced ship. I like running him.

The problem is, you are dramatically being outvoted by the competitive community across the entire planet, since Boba Fett didn't make Top Third or Final Cut even once at any of the 18 wave 4 Regionals events that I have data for. So replies along the lines of "Boba Fett is fine in this meta" are questionable at best.

Slight wording correction. He won't gain a stress, you just treat that maneuver as red, but you can then navigate it to another maneuver that isn't red, so he wouldn't actually gain a stress token for using SoT. Although admittedly, that ruling is in flux right now, so I guess we will see what happens when it becomes official. If you're going to house rule his ability, it should be something along these lines.

That's being addressed in an FAQ. It will still cause stress with a Navigator.

The best way to run Boba Fett that I have found is like this:

Boba + Pred + Navigator + Engine Upgrade.

The idea is to use Navigator and Engine upgrade to make sure either his nose, or bum, is pointed in the right direction. Predator makes up for the loss of actions caused by Boosting. YMMV with bombs in this build.

Fett is one ship that can outfly a phantom. Fettigator+VI lets him move last and shoot first. He is also still flying the most balanced ship. I like running him.

The problem is, you are dramatically being outvoted by the competitive community across the entire planet, since Boba Fett didn't make Top Third or Final Cut even once at any of the 18 wave 4 Regionals events that I have data for. So replies along the lines of "Boba Fett is fine in this meta" are questionable at best.

I really like Boba Fett, and I think Fett+VI+Engine Upgrade is stronger than it's given credit for, and that supported by the right list it can make an impact. But even I wouldn't go so far as to say he's a particularly competitive choice.

I very much respect the work that you did compiling all the results, however I cannot help but wonder if you started a chicken and the egg situation.

The wonderful thing about the internet is its an unfiltered resource of information. The terrible thing about the internet is its an unfiltered resource of information. All it takes is one person with some online credibility to say "X sucks, Y is much better," and the vast majority of people believe it.

And so enter the meta tracker that was the regionals results thread. I know there are a lot of casual players that did not read that thread. I know every competitive player has that thread on follow. After every regional, casual Xwing night at my LGS would see at least one person running a clone of the first place or runner up of the most recent regional tournament.

So the question remains, does the meta exist because its real, or is the meta in and of itself meta? Does telling people what the meta is make them take a meta list, or do they take a meta list because of the actual meta? And is there a distinction? Why think on your own, if you have the internet telling you your idea sucks because no one uses it and that you should use the idea that everyone is using because its the best idea because everyone uses it.

Granted there are some ships that are more powerful than others, but the regional meta thread demonstrates cycles of group think and circular reasoning.

This and other deep thoughts brought to you by Jack Handy.

Slight wording correction. He won't gain a stress, you just treat that maneuver as red, but you can then navigate it to another maneuver that isn't red, so he wouldn't actually gain a stress token for using SoT. Although admittedly, that ruling is in flux right now, so I guess we will see what happens when it becomes official. If you're going to house rule his ability, it should be something along these lines.

That's being addressed in an FAQ. It will still cause stress with a Navigator.

The best way to run Boba Fett that I have found is like this:

Boba + Pred + Navigator + Engine Upgrade.

The idea is to use Navigator and Engine upgrade to make sure either his nose, or bum, is pointed in the right direction. Predator makes up for the loss of actions caused by Boosting. YMMV with bombs in this build.

I actually do really like the sound of that list on him, what do you do though in the case of a higher pilot skill? that's the only issue I have with him having anything but veteran instincts, there's always the possibility of someone having a higher PS and then the pilot ability and engine upgrade are pretty much wasted right? or have you not had any issues with that since he's got the front and back arc anyways?

Late to the party. Didn't read pg2.

That said, Boba is way overpriced. If you want to houserule him back into usefulness, price him at 35. That way he becomes a blankslate platform for the Firespray. Hell, you can even house rule his ability away, it's stupid anyhow. The designers needed to put the EQ of a BSP in this ship's class so that you can make better use of it. EPTs are everything in this game and I'm hoping that down the line they are just going to open EPTs to every non PS1-2 ships.

OR

Let Boba fire secondaries out of his rear arc. He'd still be way too expensive to put an HLC or a Torpedo on, but at least it's something different.

What's a "BSP"?

The problem is, you are dramatically being outvoted by the competitive community across the entire planet, since Boba Fett didn't make Top Third or Final Cut even once at any of the 18 wave 4 Regionals events that I have data for. So replies along the lines of "Boba Fett is fine in this meta" are questionable at best.

I very much respect the work that you did compiling all the results, however I cannot help but wonder if you started a chicken and the egg situation.

The wonderful thing about the internet is its an unfiltered resource of information. The terrible thing about the internet is its an unfiltered resource of information. All it takes is one person with some online credibility to say "X sucks, Y is much better," and the vast majority of people believe it.

And so enter the meta tracker that was the regionals results thread. I know there are a lot of casual players that did not read that thread. I know every competitive player has that thread on follow. After every regional, casual Xwing night at my LGS would see at least one person running a clone of the first place or runner up of the most recent regional tournament.

Granted there are some ships that are more powerful than others, but the regional meta thread demonstrates cycles of group think and circular reasoning.

This is why I added the effectiveness calculations as well, to see how well everything does relative to how often it gets brought.

There are still clear winners as to what is the most effective. Some of the relative losers still get brought very often.

Individual pilot effectiveness is extremely pertinent here. In wave 4 Regionals, there were only 10 pilots that had an effectiveness above 85%. The rest were clearly below average or well below average. Those 10 pilots were generally at the top of the usage rankings as well.

There was only ONE pilot that was rarely brought and still did well when he appeared: Captain Yorr. The next closest was Tarn, who ranked #13 for usage and was slightly above average in effectiveness. All of the other pilots that were below Tarn in usage, with the exception of Yorr, did below average or worse at their conditional effectiveness.

Boba didn't appear once in wave 4, so we have to go back to wave 3. His conditional effectiveness was 38%. That is absolutely terrible. It was higher than only 2 other pilots: Darth Vader and Kyle Katarn.