I know this is heresy but I'm okay with a point or so not being balanced. I doubt that tournaments are so perfectly played that 1 point difference in a ship completely throws the game. I'm happy seeing the X-Wings be a little more maneuverable without turning into a TIE fighter. They will now, both generics and unique, see a lot of use in friendly games. Too many cards for fractional fixes may help with math but not necessarily the game itself.

err, the problem is that you don't need "perfect play" to see the inherent mathematical limitations of the X-wing. You just need dice, an enemy, and a large enough sample size.

after those rookies, with no re-positioning action or any capability to do anything apart from joust, get routinely steam-rolled by far more mobile tie fighters then you start to realize the value of that 1 point

integrated astro makes the rookie at least maybe a comparison to the bsp (no barrel-roll makes fickle skeptical) lets you take the r2 astro for some beautiful greens while not shooting yourself in the shoot, potentially giving you the ability to outplay the opponent without just losing to dice

TIE pilots are numerous and may not regularly engage hostiles, while Rebels are few and are pushed to fly many many missions, so gain more skill relative to the average imperial.

Also Starfox 'barrel rolls' do not equal XWM BR action. That's just spinning! Any kid can do that!

In ANH Luke barrel rolls in a scene during the Battle of Yavin. In ESB the Falcon does as well.

Aileron roll. Not the Barrel Roll action.

That being said it's possible for any ship (though not every pilot) in this game to BR, either through standard action, EH or pilot abilities. No matter how much it seems like certain ships should be able to have BR as a standard action it's just not gonna happen. I happen to think that most small ships should be able to Evade as a standard action but I don't cry about it. Especially since the green dice give every ship the ability to 'evade' anyway.

I happen to think that most small ships should be able to Evade as a standard action but I don't cry about it. Especially since the green dice give every ship the ability to 'evade' anyway.

hah! good joke

after those rookies, with no re-positioning action or any capability to do anything apart from joust, get routinely steam-rolled by far more mobile tie fighters then you start to realize the value of that 1 point

The T65 has always been too inflexible, a jouster that isn't great at jousting and with not enough room in its action bar/dial to be anything else. The additional problem of a purely astromech-based fix is that it would have to be auto include. For anything to be worth that much awesome it would add to the cost of the ship, undermining the fix by decreasing the efficiency of the X wing. The only other option was to discount the fix (like the Adv fix). Any free astromech good enough to bridge the value gap would also kill off diversity in builds. There would be no reason to take other droids and no point in taking a naked X wing, which is something people should be able to do without penalty, i believe.

One of the things that IA does well is that it removes the dilemma by making it a 2 part solution and adding extra value to astromechs overall. Now there is still nuance to your astromech selection (as much as the range of droids allows you to have) and removing the need for the Ubermech solution (More astromech options wouldnt hurt though).

I wish IA made astromechs cheaper by -1 point or something and had been an attachment that didnt take up the mod slot. On Porkins w/ R5-D8 and R2-D2 carriers you are going to want the Hull/Shield upgrades anyway to increase regeneration potential, which removes the benefit of IA . That would have been more attractive overall. Unless that new targeting astromech card is really good for its points, or free, I dont see how IA closes that value gap.

What I dont like is that IA is more of a boost for astromechs, than it is for the T65. IA buffs astromechs by giving them situationally increased value. It doesn't actually improve the X wing itself, except indirectly by association with the beeping trashcan in the backseat. Therefore it forces you to take an astromech (possibly thematic, but still a BS fix).

Yes, IA can act as almost a free hull/shield upgrade (which mathwing suggests are overcosted as upgrade cards anyway) but it comes with consequences (loss of droid), considerable opportunity cost (2 upgrade slots) and is situational (i.e. those situations where you take precisely enough damage that triggering IA will save you).

As for the choice issue, you will pretty much ALWAYS discard this at the last safe moment (when your last HP has gone). You may choose to discard a crit over a hit, in which case you could potentially cancel 2 damage rather than 1 (very situational) but this leaves you in a worse situation than before (no droid) and likely easier to get picked off next turn. If you are unlucky enough that this happens at the beginning of your HP, then you could potentially lose the droid for a far longer period during the game - making that comparison to the extra shield or hull less valid. At least a Shield Upgrade doesnt rob you of your droid when it goes pop.

Overall, a nice option but as has been said before, more of a bandaid than a fix.

But if you have 2 damage cards already, and are hit for 2 more, this upgrade will not save your ship, so it will not be effective every time. That makes it clearly less effective then a theoretical 1 point shield upgrade.

In that situation a shield upgrade would help either lol.

A shield or hull upgrade only helps if the final attack that kills you does exactly enough damage to kill you. No different than IA.

You are also simultaneously complaining that the IA may not keep you alive and complaining about having to lose your astro. How long will you be running around without an astro? Exactly one more hit.

This is a 1pt shield that guts your astro right before you would have died. If this is not enough to make you want to fly xwings, fine. Not your kind of ship. No problem. But to say this fix is not enough to make the Xwing competitive? That's not an opinion and time will tell. Math would indicate its just about perfect.

I love IA. I will fly (T65) Xwings when I have it. My opinion and I understand those pilots that like swoopy slippery shipps. Don't assume the Xwing has to be slippery to be effective. I like games that are won in the planning stage. Low PS blockers are your friend.

Ia doesn't allow the xwing to transcend its jouster status; just lets it suck less at it

Bb-8 lets you transcend jouster status

You're still fodder for pwts, but hey: babysteps

Similar, the t70 can't joust for **** but at least it has outlets to escape its horrible stats with (bb8, boost , thrusters, potentially the tech slot in the future; pilot abilities...even the red vet might be worth taking with ept + astro + thrusters + boost)

Also t-roll. Can't forget that bit of gloruousnesss

The lore does not say anywhere that the X-Wing is not a fast ship nor that it's not maneuvrable.

Actually according to one image I saw that George had drawn up, X-Wings, Y-Wings and Tie Fighters are all about the same speed. The idea that the X-Wing is slower and less maneuverable, or that the Y-Wing is even more so, is purely EU and Video game lore.The bottom line is as FGD said. The lore has to come second to a balanced game. As long a the X-Wing is not a competitive ship, then something needs to be done to it. This upgrade as I said does not do enough.

The diagram (two actually) is not canon, is contradicted by the films (Millenium Falcon chasing down TIE Interceptors!) and was not drawn by George, but instead one of the ILM people's IIRC.

Well even then nowhere in canon does anything say that X-Wings are slower or less maneuvrable than TIEs.

And even in EU games like X-Wing vs Tie Fighter they are the sane speed.

What is even more ridiculous is that IF we cobsider EU sources, the X-Wing should be able to gain boosts of speed by closing its S-Foils (Empire at War and i believe also Rogue Squadron games had that). Which is exactly what i suggested many times.

Nothing of that however justifies the X-Wing being a bad ship and even if they would say so, game balancing should be prime!

You are also simultaneously complaining that the IA may not keep you alive and complaining about having to lose your astro. How long will you be running around without an astro? Exactly one more hit.

Unless you pull a 2 damage crit on your first (or second) point of hull damage, triggering IA Seems like a good call under these circumstances, which leaves you with no droid and 3 (or 2) hull. You tell me how long a 3 hull x wing can last. I have had them last all game. How is IA worth more than a shield here?

If this is not enough to make you want to fly xwings, fine. Not your kind of ship. No problem.

Condescending much? Actually i own and fly 14 of the T65 (i play big games). Im not particularly impressed with the need to buy 14 T70s to make my ships effective. Plus it deserved better than this.

Ia doesn't allow the xwing to transcend its jouster status; just lets it suck less at it

Exactly this. Damned by faint praise. It IS an improvement (If you have 15 bucks for each T65 you eant to improve). Just not much of one.

A shield or hull upgrade only helps if the final attack that kills you does exactly enough damage to kill you. No different than IA.

You are also simultaneously complaining that the IA may not keep you alive and complaining about having to lose your astro. How long will you be running around without an astro? Exactly one more hit.

This is a 1pt shield that guts your astro right before you would have died. If this is not enough to make you want to fly xwings, fine. Not your kind of ship. No problem. But to say this fix is not enough to make the Xwing competitive? That's not an opinion and time will tell. Math would indicate its just about perfect.

I love IA. I will fly (T65) Xwings when I have it. My opinion and I understand those pilots that like swoopy slippery shipps. Don't assume the Xwing has to be slippery to be effective. I like games that are won in the planning stage. Low PS blockers are your friend.

So i will fly Z-95 since they still are more efficient than X-Wings more so when i want low PS blockers.

You think the X-Wing will be competitively played now? No it will not. It's still mediocre as a jouster and can't donanything else. Don't forget! It now costs 22 points and has more green maneuvers on its dial. For that price i can get a BSP. And that's still a better choice if only for its barrel roll alone.

The X-Wing needed mobility. A native boost action for Autothrusters to be precise. Because even in low PS against low PS game the boost is priceless.

But oh well we all find that on the T-70 for 3 points more than a Rookie. And we STILL can give it the same bufffor the same cost as the T-65.

So if they don't want it to be completely replaced by the T-70 they better bring some more "Fixes" just so we need to buy more ships just for the fix cards.

Just one per blister pack? Come on FFG

Minor improvement, yes, but free

(Free ito points, and also free if you don't need to buy t-70s for the cards IF You don't play at store championships /regionals/nationals/worlds)

You get a Shield Ubgrade for 1 point - but its better then a Shield Upgrade because you decide when to absorb a crit. In this point its almost as good as Chewy crew for only 1 point.

Its a very well designed fix and if you Rebels still think the X-Wing is underwhelming ... well then you need to learn to fly.

Here's something I'm wondering: why is everyone so fixated on mobility rather than durability, particularly with the advent of TLTs? As a primarily Imperial player I've been envying Rebels more and more in that regard.

Because you can counter tlt with mobility

For durability you're thinking of pwts (only way to beat them is outdice them)

More generally, though, mobility is fairly important in a game about maneuvering

It's not everything, which is why jousters like the z95 exist, but if you can't joust and have no mobility...well life's just not fun eh?

Ia at least helps in the "can't joust" department. Incentive to r2 astro is a decent boost to maneuverability. Bb-8 is a hilarious boost to maneuverability but without thrusters or great speed (limited to greens) I don't know if the vanilla x will be as good a home as the thrusters + boost t-70

Either way, though, need to try out bb8 + ia wedge. It'll be like an old friend finally come back to visit

I know mobility can work, particularly against one turret with a donut hole (I've solo-d Dash with a 1hp Soontir), but with more on the board it's still going to hurt dodgy ships a lot more. So far my games have had people spread them out so no matter where you go you're getting beaten up quite a bit.

I struggle to see how/why this would be a fix for the X-Wing.

The T-70 made the X-Wing more obsolete than ever. As "new universe" successor to the X-Wing, it's arguably even better (for its points) than the "old universe" successor to the X-Wing, the E-Wing. And unlike the latter, any and all upgrades that, in theory, could help the X-Wing, also go on the T-70, meaning the insane advantage the T-70 has over the X-Wing isn't reduced in any way.

I don't think it is a far-fetched guess that the old X-Wing models we've all bought over the last few years will see even less (competitive) play than they already do, once the T-70 is flying.

And, sadly, I don't think FFG has any interest in bringing the classic X-Wing up to scratch, now that he's also been kicked out of the starter box too.

The fat turret meta necessitated having hyper mobile ships to keep a fat turret in arc. Fat turrets are the best arc dodgers in the game. When flying a normal ship like the X-Wing it's often impossible to get one in arc because of boost. So when the x wing doesn't even have barrel roll it can't compete.

This is why the only 'normal' ships in the fat turret meta near the end of it were B Wings and a handful of Z-95 escorts. They simply couldn't compete with the mobility or hyper dice modification of fat turrets and other super ships like the IG's and Super Corran.

Now that fat turrets are gone, the lack of mobility isn't a huge issue and the extra health is the more important one IMO.

You get a Shield Ubgrade for 1 point - but its better then a Shield Upgrade because you decide when to absorb a crit. In this point its almost as good as Chewy crew for only 1 point.

Its a very well designed fix and if you Rebels still think the X-Wing is underwhelming ... well then you need to learn to fly.

You can't fly a lot because it still has no movement.

Anyway nobody needs imperial fanboys posting here that fear their ships would suddenly be worse than X-Wings if ever they got a real fix.

It's achewbacca for 1 point while discarding an R2 or 5. But it does not help the named pilots with high PS. They want 3-4 point astros and need an EU to be efficient. And if they take that they cist too much and are too vulnerable.

Nobody asks a 5 HP interceptor with astromechs. But the X wing named pilots are just as bad off as the generics. And they git hosed. You won't see them played, and you won't see generics played either because if following reasons.

Against Arc dodgers they are done for because they will get arc dodged (no movement) and one more HP will just make it take a few minutes longer.

Against Turrets no AT so forget it. They are also too slow to get in donuts.

Against Low PS swarms with BR or boost, still a small disadvantage but the only matchup the upgrade helps somewhat.

It's achewbacca for 1 point while discarding an R2 or 5. But it does not help the named pilots with high PS. They want 3-4 point astros and need an EU to be efficient. And if they take that they cist too much and are too vulnerable.

Okay now I'm confused. For months on end people have been saying the X-Wing is okay with named pilots but the generics needs a boost. Tarn, according to an interview with FFG, is one of the best pilots in the game., period.

So now we have a fix that definitely help the generics, but now that's not good enough.

How about we all chill; wait until the card comes out; then see how they do in tournament.

I've worn my X-Wing dial down pretty bad, and in my experience the X's problem is not in the furball. It's in the opening joust. Losing a 3-dice ship to massed enemy fire means you are effectively only ever fighting with a 3-ship list, regardless of your other choices.

Barrel roll and boost are nice. But they naturally lead into PTL or action-efficiency point sinks like FCS. X-Wings require thinking two steps ahead, as opposed to the purely reactive one-upmanship of arc-dodging or "avoid the table edge" play of fat turrets. A 4 k-turn out of a furball is actually pretty good. You don't rely on green dice to stay alive so much so you can afford to pull that kind of move, and you're not constantly flying around with PTL stress on you so actually have the opportunity.

The X-Wing is never going to be the seksie asteroid-dodging B-Wing. But a B-Wing can't power its way out of a fight and simply has to take punches to the face. For a green-turn X-Wing with 3 hull and 3 virtual shields, that's something I can now bring to the table with the same kind of average survival time but with different flying tactics. And that's all I want for 22 points.

The X-Wing needed mobility. A native boost action for Autothrusters to be precise. Because even in low PS against low PS game the boost is priceless.

Then buy Engine Upgrades. The X-wing doesn't need mobility to be successful; you want it to have mobility to fit your play style, but that's not at all the same thing.

The T-70 made the X-Wing more obsolete than ever. As "new universe" successor to the X-Wing, it's arguably even better (for its points) than the "old universe" successor to the X-Wing, the E-Wing. And unlike the latter, any and all upgrades that, in theory, could help the X-Wing, also go on the T-70, meaning the insane advantage the T-70 has over the X-Wing isn't reduced in any way.

I don't think it is a far-fetched guess that the old X-Wing models we've all bought over the last few years will see even less (competitive) play than they already do, once the T-70 is flying.

And, sadly, I don't think FFG has any interest in bringing the classic X-Wing up to scratch, now that he's also been kicked out of the starter box too.

(1) The T-70 is three points more expensive than the T-65. And the T-70 js actually less efficient, considering its stat line and its points. The T-65 isn't obsolete.

(2) FFG says they're interested in bringing the classic X-wing up to scratch. I believe Alex Davy on this subject more than I believe you.

"avoid the table edge" play of fat turrets.

. Probably the best I've ever heard it said.

It's just... It doesn't scream 'fix' in the way Autothrusters, Chardaan or X1 did. It doesn't really scream 'interesting unique mechanic' like the BTL-A4 did.

I do like it, I really do. I'm not one of the people dismissing it out of hand, but I don't like how many people are claiming that this is it, that the X-wing get's an extra health and FFG can wash their hands of it and go back to fixing their precious Defender.

I do think it's suspicious that:

• There's only one 'Fix' card in the set. This has never happened before (except 3PO lol)
• It's a Mod, not a Title.
• FFG still havent done anything with Rouge Squadron in a Star Wars dog-fighting game. It'd pretty much be a license to print money.

Of course it doesn't scream fix like Chardaan and X1. The Xwing was not broken like the awing and advance.

Of course it doesn't scream fix like Chardaan and X1. The Xwing was not broken like the awing and advance.

Right, but with Chardaan we also got... A-wing Test Pilot!

They could've just taken 2 points off the A-wing, called it a day, and people like you would say 'Stop complaining, the A-wing is mathematically efficient'.

But look! we got a fun, flavoursome upgrade that adds to the game, makes the ship different in an interesting way, rather than reducing the game to numbers and dice.