I've been puzzling over the TIE Shuttle. When FFG creates a new upgrade, they normally have multiple ways for it to be played. I'll run through my thoughts on it, and then maybe you can help me see what I'm missing?

1. Role

The TIE Shuttle loses all access to ordnance in exchange for two crew slots. So when we pick an upgrade or pilot, we don't want them to focus on ordnance, or even attack boosting abilities. This leaves the obvious path to build the TIE Shuttle as a support ship.

2. Pilots

You have two options here. The 16-point Scimitar Squadron Pilot for cost reasons only, or Captain Jonus to help rerolls. If you take the former with two crew which help ships close to you, you're basically telegraphing where you will (or want to) move because the Scimitar has to move first. Jonus has higher PS to help with that. That makes him the best pilot (so far) for the support role. But is he really worth an extra six points? Maybe if you have a lot of ordnance carriers next to him.

3. Crew

There are several crew out of the 30-40 options that will actually fit the support role.

• Intelligence Agent - Maybe put two on a Scimitar and fly it around close to the enemy? If you really need to know where their High PS ships are going.
• Saboteur - If you have a support ship, it doesn't really need its action, so why not chance a damage card flip? Besides, if you pick this, your opponents will laugh a bit, then ignore this ship until it actually causes damage.
• Mara Jade - Maybe the strongest candidate. You can stress lots of ships. The Bomber is fast enough to get in close to the enemy quickly.
• Fleet Officer - Another strong choice. If you're taking Jonus alongside some ordnance carriers, this'll give them extra dice modification that they need.

4. Builds

With all of that taken into consideration, it looks like there are two builds for a TIE Shuttle. Debuffer, which would take a Scimitar with Intelligence Agent and Saboteur or Mara Jade and fly it in close to the enemy. Worth the 20ish points? Maybe. Buffer, which would center around Jonus and Fleet Officer. Now that I'm typing this, it sounds like a pretty powerful dice modification combination there. That might be worth the 26 points if you've got a large enough ordnance swarm around it.

So what am I missing? It feels like there should be more options for TIE Shuttle builds, but this is all I can come up with. What are your thoughts?

'Cause it's awesome.

19 point doom shuttle lite

You have two options here.

The Gama Squadron Vett may be a good choice, PS5 and a EPT. Which depending on the crew you take may be useful. 1 ps and 3 points less than Jonus, that means you could effectively get a 'free' 3 point EPT, or a 2 point one like Squad Leader and still be a point less.

So what am I missing?

There's room for upgrades that won't likely make it to the top tables at worlds, but still give people a fun and interesting option.

Tactician spam. That is all.

No particular reason you should telegraph just because it's moving first. Range 1-2 is a lot of board area, and if you use e.g. Fleet Officer, the people you're supporting can just go wherever they fancy once the shuttle has done its action.

It's basically a cheap way of getting some support crew out.

My personal one to try is Scimitar/Fleet Officer/Rebel Captive. The opponent wants to take it down, but doesn't want to shoot at it, you leave it at the back buffing two aces, and it presents a neat catch 22.

Tactician scimitar is 18 points of stress. Imperials haven't really ever had options for stress that cheap before.

Doom bomber is an interesting option at 19 points, though admittedly it maxes out at 3 shots. It is somewhat likely to have a nice Biggs effect though.

I think tie shuttle adds a lot of options and I think it will just take some creative experimentation to develop the strongest options.

Tactician on a Scimitar looks good.

You could add to it, but I think we have ourselves a Stressbomb.

Tactician is the way to go. Add Mara for extra hate, call it Panicbomb, or Imperial Biggs.

You could swarm these...

[post=https://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Galactic%20Empire&d=v3!s!49:-1,-1,-1,-1,-1:35:-1:u.-1,u.61;49:-1,-1,-1,-1,-1:35:-1:u.-1,u.61;28:18:5:1:M.17;10::-1:-1:;10::-1:-1:][/post]

There is something just throwing together a bit of stress, blocking, and the Baron. I'm sure better players could come up with more.

or even just throw down 4x Stressbombers and an ATC equipped Marek Stele!

I am even more pumped for Vets now. Now to get a bunch of Tacticians!

Tactician + Rec Spec looks legit. Hell maybe even a Stealth device? That's 24 points for the cheapest Stressbot the Imps can run. Well 21 if you leave off the SD, chances are you want it elsewhere. Might be a good way to protect your investment though. A little psychological warfare for ya. I mean, I'd say skimp it, but for 24 points? That just seems so cheap and worth it to me. An Imp Stressbot. Stressbom.

Stresshog is good because it can single stress at R1, or double stress at R2 and R3. Tactician in a Bomber can be fun and useful, but let's not go comparing apples to the most useful 26pt ship in existence.

Still, I think these shuttles will have their uses as strong decoys, when fielded with things like Tactician, Mara Jade or Darth Vader.

19 point doom shuttle lite

Fluffy too, given this is what the thing was actually originally designed to do in ANH.

Tomax Bren with Fleet officer and Cool Hand. He gives himself and 2 of his closest friends a focus every turn.

The TIE Punisher has cannibalized the TIE Bomber's role in the game, albeit it only had a small role to begin with. The Punisher is the more powerful ordnance carrier. The advantage the Bomber has is that it's cheap. So, this essentially gives us a new ship to play with. You can throw on a missile and make it a cheap alpha hitter, OR you can throw on a crewmember or two and make it a cheap support ship.

just scimitar with fleet officer. you distribute the tokens before your high ps even move

so they don't spoil their maneuvers.

Tactician spam. That is all.

(X5) SCIMITAR + Intel agent + tactician + Tie mk 2

Tactician spam. That is all.

(X5) SCIMITAR + Intel agent + tactician + Tie mk 2

You think the 4pt restriction was there (rather than 5) specifically so we coudn't load up Tactician + Gunner, then intentionally miss certain targets for a double stress? Tactician + Gunner on a two red dice ship ain't bad for 23 points. Almost a stresshog ....kinda, ...almost.

I wouldn't discount Tomas as a shuttle option. At 25 points, he's got an X-wing like statline, PS 8, and crack shot means he's pretty accurate. The crew options let you add things like tactician or support options.

Tactician spam. That is all.

(X5) SCIMITAR + Intel agent + tactician + Tie mk 2

You think the 4pt restriction was there (rather than 5) specifically so we coudn't load up Tactician + Gunner, then intentionally miss certain targets for a double stress? Tactician + Gunner on a two red dice ship ain't bad for 23 points. Almost a stresshog ....kinda, ...almost.

They did not want Palpatine in a cheap TIE Bomber tooling around the edge of the field well away from any action.

Tactician spam. That is all.

(X5) SCIMITAR + Intel agent + tactician + Tie mk 2

You think the 4pt restriction was there (rather than 5) specifically so we coudn't load up Tactician + Gunner, then intentionally miss certain targets for a double stress? Tactician + Gunner on a two red dice ship ain't bad for 23 points. Almost a stresshog ....kinda, ...almost.

Seems to me it is there so you can't take Gunner or Palpatine, since those are the only two Imperial-accessible crew worth more than 4 points at the moment.

The obvious thing (to me) they would be trying to avoid is gunner/vader/hull or shield upgrade, for 4 (max) shots of suicide doombomber. Palpatine doesn't seem as big of a deal since you can take him for 5 more points in a naked Omicron Group shuttle, and he'd be WAY easier to kill in a bomber.

Tactician spam. That is all.

(X5) SCIMITAR + Intel agent + tactician + Tie mk 2

You think the 4pt restriction was there (rather than 5) specifically so we coudn't load up Tactician + Gunner, then intentionally miss certain targets for a double stress? Tactician + Gunner on a two red dice ship ain't bad for 23 points. Almost a stresshog ....kinda, ...almost.

They did not want Palpatine in a cheap TIE Bomber tooling around the edge of the field well away from any action.

could have said none over 6 or none that occupy both spaces.

Yeah it's not quite the Stresshog, but hey! At least we get it cheaper.

Shuttle plus Tactician and Mara is a 22 point stress-generating, filler ship. Cheap enough to lose, but the enemy still has to take it into account.

Tomax with adrenaline rush

Shuttle title

Mara jade

5k with impunity behind someone and keep applying stress.

Anyone have a link to the actual Tie shuttle card?

You could also get a pair of Gamma Squadron Pilots with Wingman and Fleet Officer for 48 points. That's a pair of PS5 pilots handing out four focus tokens per turn without regards for stress, or simply countering your opponent's TLT Stressbot, and still leaves you with 52 points to flesh out the rest of your list with some heavier offense.

Anyone have a link to the actual Tie shuttle card?

No, but it's the top card in the fan on the preview so it's not to hard to read.