What does this card do for us? First, let’s look at the ships it affects:

Ships affected:

TIE bomber

TIE Punisher

K-Wing

Firespray with Slave-1 title

Except for the Firespray, which is a corner case, these are all dedicated bombers, most of which do not see play with the notable exception of Miranda Doni.

What does LRS mean for a ship?

It means you will almost always have a TL on the first pass in addition to another action.

This is pure gold, and not only for Torpedo and Missile weapons. But it does notably open up ordnance for low-PS ships in a way that was not possible previously. The attack: target lock prefix is much less of a kick to the gut now.

If you successfully disengage, you can reacquire TL at will before you re-engage.

This could be really useful for K-wings. Hit&run tactics could now be more viable than ever for all K-wings, whether they use ordnance or TLT.

It competes with anything in the modification slot.

For the affected ships, this is mainly autothrusters (on the TIE Punisher), TIE engine mk2, and Advanced SLAM for the K-wing. Guidance Chip also competes for the modification slot, and although we don't know what it does yet, it will probably be very important for ordnance. I don’t see this as much of a downside... for the moment.

**Update***

Psychological warfare

No one wants to fly their ships into a trap. Having one or more Target Locks on a ship could make players think twice about engaging directly with those ships. Target locking key ships on the enemy squad could make players make bad decisions going into the first engagement, and in all the positioning leading up to that engagement.

You may even be able sometimes to goad a player into disengaging with a ship before the first engagement, only to switch your target locks to a ship that will be engaging you, depending on how the ranges and maneuvers play out.

This is pretty durn nice on a Firespray!

This is pretty durn nice on a Firespray!

I agree. I've never been much of a fan of Engine Upgrade on Firesprays, but I'd totally put this on the Slave I.

Throw this on a Bounty Hunter with RecSpec. Hilarity.

Miranda with Homing Missiles gets scarier and doesn't require support for a fully-modified 5-dice attack ignoring evade tokens.

The fact that it takes up the mod slot also has it competing with the new Guidance Chimps.

However, I do love it for anything running Homing Missiles. Being able to get an early lock on Soontir force him to face a focused 4-dice attack that ignores evade tokens will really help Bombers control his movement.

For a zero point cost I'm sticking it on Miranda if I'm running her with Recon Specialist. I'm taking a Target Lock before she's in range to attack, as when up close I'm always taking the two focus. Also works when I've Slammed out of range and focus tokens are of no use!

The fact that it takes up the mod slot also has it competing with the new Guidance Chimps.

However, I do love it for anything running Homing Missiles. Being able to get an early lock on Soontir force him to face a focused 4-dice attack that ignores evade tokens will really help Bombers control his movement.

Oh, I didn't realize we knew Guidance chips were a mod.

This goes on Miranda

Miranda with five dice homing missiles

TLed + focused

Scary ****

So, TIE Bomber, with Shuttle title, and Long Range Scanners, Weapon Engineer and another crewmember of choice. Vessery has just found yet another good wingman? Jonus?

Need something to do while those TIE/fos are stocking up on evades and Old Moldy is saving up focii? Use your Long Range Scanners to TL all the ships! Act now and it's free!

(No returns for defective TL actions at range 1-2)

This goes on Miranda

Miranda with five dice homing missiles

TLed + focused

Scary ****

You can already pull off 6-dice Miranda with TL and focus. The new card just releases the points wasted on the Cracken.

This goes on Miranda

Miranda with five dice homing missiles

TLed + focused

Scary ****

You can already pull off 6-dice Miranda with TL and focus. The new card just releases the points wasted on the Cracken.

So now it's actually viable

Redline's nastier on approach as well!

Nevermind! I thought LRS said 'target lock action'. Reading fail...

Redline's nastier on approach as well!

On approach, but arguably less of a threat once the battle is underway. The restriction against acquiring target locks on targets within range 1-2 does not play well with Fire Control Systems.

TIE punishers actually REALLY like the long-range scanners. With FCS, they don't care about the R1-2 'no TL for you' drawback.

Not true. You can't reacquire after your shot at R1-2.

TIE punishers actually REALLY like the long-range scanners. With FCS, they don't care about the R1-2 'no TL for you' drawback.

I actually think they care a great deal about the no TL at range 1-2. A lot of combat happens at range 1-2. The card specifically says you cannot acquire a target lock and range 1-2, so FCS won't work at those ranges.

this is no bueno for Redline

the reasoning is incredibly simple: Cluster Missiles

This is a really interesting card, and I'm looking at my ye olde Jonus and Scimitars lists. You could:

• Use LRS to come in firing with a TL+Focus without Jonus at all, giving each Scimitar at least a Focus to modify dice with (or a TL+Focus with some missiles)
• Use it in conjunction with Jonus for Jonus+Focus attacks, giving Jonus a Rebel Captive for defense/annoyance.
• Alternatively, give Jonus a Fleet Officer and let him pass out Focuses, mostly negating the need for LRS at all. Then again...
• Jonus with both FO and Captive, lighter loaded Scimitars now getting double Focuses for both attack and defense modification.

So many options, so many Bombers... I'm excited

I think this was a big miss.

I understand why they went for a bonus and a drawback 0 point upgrade, but it's too many drawbacks there.

1) It's a modification, which is one of the better upgrade slots. Opportunity cost alone is high for that.

2) Limited to ships with both Torpedo and Missile. All the 1 shot craft aren't taking their ordnance either, why is this just a heavy bomber buff?

3) No target locks at R1-2. Basically means don't take more than 1 or 2 pieces of ordnance, because after the initial engagement, you're going to be at R1-2 for a while before you can escape. And its only available on ships that take multiple pieces of ordnance.

It's alright on a K-Wing, they can SLAM away and re-engage.

But overall, Ugh. I don't like it.

TIE punishers actually REALLY like the long-range scanners. With FCS, they don't care about the R1-2 'no TL for you' drawback.

That was my immediate thought as well. Throw on two missiles and an extra munitions, and you'll be constantly spewing out missiles.

I think this was a big miss.

I understand why they went for a bonus and a drawback 0 point upgrade, but it's too many drawbacks there.

1) It's a modification, which is one of the better upgrade slots. Opportunity cost alone is high for that.

2) Limited to ships with both Torpedo and Missile. All the 1 shot craft aren't taking their ordnance either, why is this just a heavy bomber buff?

3) No target locks at R1-2. Basically means don't take more than 1 or 2 pieces of ordnance, because after the initial engagement, you're going to be at R1-2 for a while before you can escape. And its only available on ships that take multiple pieces of ordnance.

It's alright on a K-Wing, they can SLAM away and re-engage.

But overall, Ugh. I don't like it.

have to disagree with everything except point 3

1st, the mod slot kind of sucks ass unless you have boost or have a dedicated Ship-type Only upgrade. There are no upgrades from them that see regular play outside of Auto-thrusters or EU on large ships.

the only real competition for it is the yet unspoiled Guidance Chip (or chimp), which we know nothing about

2nd, one-shot craft aren't going to be particularly great with bomber regardless, so the mod is targeting extra munition ships for the most part (apart from the double torp ships, which largely suck as ordnance carriers because torps largely suck in general)

More to the point, however, this would be auto-include with every other ship without ordnance. The reasoning is very simple: you barely ever target-lock in this game. But, when you can set it up on turn 1 and have the re-roll ready on approach, you'll be slapping this on almost literally every ship you have. It would be especially great on FOs.

only PTLs who use TL for damage, FCS carriers, and corner cases such as Vessery wouldn't want it

TIE punishers actually REALLY like the long-range scanners. With FCS, they don't care about the R1-2 'no TL for you' drawback.

I just want to note that FCS at Range 1-2 DOES NOT WORK, the card prevents "acquire^[sic] target locks on ships at Range 1-2".

FCS wording is specifically "acquire a target lock".

At least the generics (Z-95, maybe some A-Wings) might be using missiles - they will get their TL now for sure, and most of the times even a focus to go along with the attack then