Title is the topic. I don't think they would be nearly as competitive. They would certainly play differently.

Any thoughts?

I think adding B's ability to a named defender would catapult that ship's ability to compete at the top, so it might completely break double and single IG lists.

I have never used B.

i played D a few times, paired with outmaneuver and adv sensors. its ok, but not life changing. B is where its at.

it's what lets them hit soontir at all basically (through dice I mean, ito arc the player has to know what he's doing), so as long as soonts sticks around IG-88B will probably remain essential

dice insurance is always great to have, though. They're less than consistent, that's for sure.

I'm not really convinced it'd do much for a named defender especially considering it'd be priced along the same as IG-88whichever only without all the extra swag you could load on top

B's ability is, in my opinion, what makes a dual Aggressor list viable. Without it they could be individually good ships mixed in with other things, but the dual Aggressor list would have been dead on arrival.

B is the most powerful of the four.

Dual agressor lists require B. C or D is a matter of preference. A is superfluous.

A is good vs. swarms! Oh wait...

I guess it would depend on what ability it got replaced with. Without the built in gunner ability I think you'd see double Aggressor with a Z. Since you wouldn't be forced to but cannons on them.

What about C and D (or A, I suppose if you're not going to be flying B why not) naked except for the title, and a Starviper with Autothrusters? Or instead of the Autothrusters you go for Adrenaline Rush on them?

Nah, who am I kidding, dumb broken RAC predator hyper action ecnomy bull would kill them by the 3rd round. The only way to fly them is with hyper shenanigans, or maybe with a mini swarm.

Any squad with few ships need more reliable damage. Its pretty a pretty simple concept. If I have less attacks per round I need those attacks to be more reliable. That's why so many fat Hans run gunner.

Is it the only way to fly? I don't like absolutes, so I'm sure someone smarter than I could make it work, but I see it being a very different approach.

I think the developers anticipated how action-dependent the Aggressor would be, and learned from their mistakes with the Defender. Consistency in damage is necessary for two ship lists to compete, and a free Gunner effect allows you to spend your remaining points augmenting the Aggressor's defense and maneuverability. When flying it, you only need to worry about getting arcs -- the damage will be there. HLC + FCS + 88B is brutally efficient, and I think it also fits thematically, with IG-88 as a relentless killing machine.

Without b. Competitive lists would not exist. B is the main piece of any dual ig list.

B and FCS. Yummy.

I don't think 1 uber-pilot would have mattered without the title, so maybe this isn't a good fix plan for any other ships.

The title is one of the things that make the Aggressor a unique ship. It's the first ship in the game where every pilot has the same PS, but they can share skills for free. Kinda cool.

Well lets first take a look on B and why it is there. As of now until Wave 6 every big ship could have taken an upgrade that gives it a second attack if it misses. That was gunner. Aggressors do not have gunner so something had to be given to them.

Now I will admit that the only reason the B cost 36 points is because all the other aggressors cost 36 points, when clearly the B should have paid more for its ability. To be fair if IG-2000 title was 1 point that may have had a better effect on what to take but not by much because the best combination will still be the B plus (anything but A). but then again they may have tried dual aggressor non-IG-200 builds. With 2 Aggressors IG-2000 is an auto-include title and IMHO those are not the best designed upgrades.

Well lets first take a look on B and why it is there. As of now until Wave 6 every big ship could have taken an upgrade that gives it a second attack if it misses. That was gunner. Aggressors do not have gunner so something had to be given to them.

Now I will admit that the only reason the B cost 36 points is because all the other aggressors cost 36 points, when clearly the B should have paid more for its ability. To be fair if IG-2000 title was 1 point that may have had a better effect on what to take but not by much because the best combination will still be the B plus (anything but A). but then again they may have tried dual aggressor non-IG-200 builds. With 2 Aggressors IG-2000 is an auto-include title and IMHO those are not the best designed upgrades.

It's arguable the other ships should have costed less rather than B costing more.

You do have to spend at least 2 points to get Bs ability to work, as well. It's a built in cost that none of the other's have.

It's easy to decode. The Aggressor has built into it the 2 most taken upgrades for large base ships, Engine Upgrade and Gunner.

Easy to see that the developers were aiming for a large base ship to hit the meta that doesn't have a turret.

I think a crafty C + D could be viable, lots of calculated pre-maneuver boosts and evades with Adv. Sensors, followed by hard loops. Much more defensive and positioning-minded, and you'd have to be very good at maneuvering, but B is obviously the easy choice for most competitors.

When the meta shifts away from Pic and Gorc, I really think that A is viable.

While it remains in a 2-ship wasteland, that's trading a pilot ability for the possibility of a single shield upgrade, and that isn't worth it.

That won't happen until we get squad upgrades like wonderwaaagh suggested.