... Okay. Wave7 currently is giving us one of the most diverse, freely-allowed game states to date, but when Wave8 comes, WOW, we have a huge amount of options.

The new crew from Ghost and Scum are giving really cheap and powerful options for all the crewed ships, including the lowly hwk.

Guidance Chimps totally validates a whole new spectrum of ships, and raises the possibility finally for ordnance generics as 30-40 pts filler. This is a completely unprecedented competitive archetype. We've had ordnance generics as filler before, but they were honestly not competitive.

Tie Bombers get a whole new role as 20 points supports.

Rebels get attack shuttles for huge amounts of frontal damage for 20 ish points, and a new Autoblaster/blocker carrier with BR.

The Syck gets Tractor Beam. Not a lot of other roles, but well, that tractor beam looks pretty good.

Even Palp 2aces gets a buff going into the anti-ace meta: Tractor beam.

Defenders are once again naaasty.

The ships I see suffering as we end wave8 and Imp Vets are still the Starviper and Syck, mainly due low roles/usage and overcost of choices.

Ewings other than Corran still suffer. And the generics will suffer more now, trying to find a role between all of the other possible options. I think they really should be addressed next.

Ywing unique pilots are okay... They maybe could use a little help, but they all have strong options now with TLT.

After playing with some wave7 stuff I didn't get to and theorizing about some wave8 stuff, I've found that I've literally made attempted competitive squads from basically every ship out there.

And almost all of the old meta ships have a place once more.

Oh. And if a real T-65 fix does happen, whoa.

Oh. And if a real T-65 fix does happen, whoa.

Integrated is the fix!

I've been using 2 Rookies with R2's and IA for 12 games now and it's made them into the ships they should have been. Each game integrated has given at least one of them an extra round or two which has helped immensely.

Guess I should add that out of those 12 games I have won 10 and came 4th and 3rd in two winter tournaments.

Yep, some new toys to bring down filthy regening rebels in a single fell blow

Brilliant

I also must see the unspoiled OVERCHARGED AGGROMECH as soon as it comes, hope it's something scummy!

Attani mindlink makes me actually want to put a Tansarii Point Veteran on the table. So there's that. My two M3-A's have just looked pretty since the one time I flew them.

Epic games can now include every bounty hunter from the bridge of the executor in one list.

Guess I'm playing scum these next few months.

Defenders were already nasty they got nastier.

Hopefully Acewing will die a horrible, cruel, Guidance Chip Homing Missile spam death. Soontir and Poe can shrug off a homing missile or two, but not 4 4/4 hit attacks in a turn.

6x Bandit Squadron, 4x Homing, 2x Concussion, 6x Chips.

Hopefully Acewing will die a horrible, cruel, Guidance Chip Homing Missile spam death. Soontir and Poe can shrug off a homing missile or two, but not 4 4/4 hit attacks in a turn.

6x Bandit Squadron, 4x Homing, 2x Concussion, 6x Chips.

I think Tracer Blount is needed to avoid trouble with getting the TLs. Range 2 isn't too much of a leash, so you will still get them into arc.

/sourpuss

Lets not forget that Wave 7 also brought us two dud ships, eh?

sourpuss/

But yes, bring on Wave 8. Imagine seeing a Defender on the table again.. *shivers*

Wait is imperial veterans somehow being considered wave 8 now?

/sourpuss

Lets not forget that Wave 7 also brought us two dud ships, eh?

sourpuss/

But yes, bring on Wave 8. Imagine seeing a Defender on the table again.. *shivers*

Which ones were that, K-Thing? Not really, it is a good filler that is slightly eclipsed by TLT Y-Wings, but still a solid Crackshot carrier. Hounds Tooth? Bossk is a sledgehammer and Slavers are good controll ships. It is only going to get better with more crew released. Punisher? Deathrain is the king of 2 ship metas, which makes him obsolete for now, but alsways positioned for a return, Redline is a god that is only hindered by his reliability. There were some ships that didn't make a competetive splash, but no ship in wave 7 was a dud, they all have strong configurations.

Oh. And if a real T-65 fix does happen, whoa.

Integrated is the fix!

The designers have stated that Integrated is not the fix. It may help, but we'll hopefully get something even better with Rebel Veterans.

Hopefully Acewing will die a horrible, cruel, Guidance Chip Homing Missile spam death. Soontir and Poe can shrug off a homing missile or two, but not 4 4/4 hit attacks in a turn.

6x Bandit Squadron, 4x Homing, 2x Concussion, 6x Chips.

Tracer blout and concussives for EXTRA FUN

I ran a t-70 with stealth device against my buddy with an IA, 1 extra hit versus 1 extra agility die.... no contest.... 1 extra hit against AT.... again, no contest.....

the integrated astromech is not a fix for anything, it is only a way to keep an x-wing alive a second or 2 longer, however, the AT and SD both increase survivability by keeping the hits off of you, nope, rather keep my droid and add better 'd' into the mix

Fix or not. IA sure helps the X to take one extra hit.

Which is nice. Not nice enough for me to pick An X over a T70 though...

Oh. And if a real T-65 fix does happen, whoa.

Integrated is the fix!

The designers have stated that Integrated is not the fix. It may help, but we'll hopefully get something even better with Rebel Veterans.

The designers said it wasn't necessarily the only fix and that they wanted to see how IA did. Don't let hope cloud things.

Palp fix? Have you heard about a little crew called Boba Fett?

I ran a t-70 with stealth device against my buddy with an IA, 1 extra hit versus 1 extra agility die.... no contest.... 1 extra hit against AT.... again, no contest.....

the integrated astromech is not a fix for anything, it is only a way to keep an x-wing alive a second or 2 longer, however, the AT and SD both increase survivability by keeping the hits off of you, nope, rather keep my droid and add better 'd' into the mix

SD or AT are more expensive and might never help you at all. Especially if you don't face a turret. IA helps against everything.

Palp fix? Have you heard about a little crew called Boba Fett?

Funny enough, even though it is hilarious, Boba'ing Palpatine probably is the wrong choice when facing Palp-Aces. The wisdom of never focussing the Shuttle first should still be relevant. The better idea is to take away Vaders ATC or Fels PTL, depending on who is the more convenient catch.

Intragrated Astromech is the fix for the T-65, not T-70. That ship doesn't need a fix. Also, it's ONE OF THE FIXES as they stated the title card is still out there. Smart money is on it being the T-67 title that gives you Boost.

I do agree that the meta will be wide open when Wave 8 and Imp Vets comes out.

Wait is imperial veterans somehow being considered wave 8 now?

Tractors man, tractors!

I ran a t-70 with stealth device against my buddy with an IA, 1 extra hit versus 1 extra agility die.... no contest.... 1 extra hit against AT.... again, no contest.....

the integrated astromech is not a fix for anything, it is only a way to keep an x-wing alive a second or 2 longer, however, the AT and SD both increase survivability by keeping the hits off of you, nope, rather keep my droid and add better 'd' into the mix

Who the heck puts SD on a 2 agility ship? IA is not the end all solution to the T65 X wing. However it is definitely a start in the right way. MJ's math showed that the T65 needed 1 extra hull to have a comparable jousting value to the B wing. It has gotten a super shield for 1 point*. However, as we all know jousting value is not the end all of the game. So it's jousting value *should* exceed that of the B wing now. But the 2k, coupled with the BR and systems slot still makes the B wing on average a better ship.

Plus, taking the mod slot is quite a big deal for the ship. The lack of any post maneuver mobility actions leaves the T65 dead in the water. Typically this is solved on the high PS ships with engine upgrade, but that cannot be coupled with IA.

And even still, there's the fact that for 3 points more, you can take the T70, which has an extra shield, a better dial, and a native boost - that's cheaper than putting an engine upgrade on the T65 - not to mention that you sitll have your mod slot open for IA/AT. IA is *not* a fix for the T65. It buffs the ship, but the ship is still not in line with the other competitive ships.

Looking into the design space and how they've made other ships viable, the Interceptor got the Royal Guard Title (and then Autothrusters later), the A wing got Chardaan Refit / Prockets and the A wing Test Pilot title, the Defender got the xD and the x7 titles, the Bomber got the shuttle title and a major boost to ordnance, let's not forget the x1 title... Following in line with those fixes, one would expect a title and something else to solve as a fix for the T65.

The major reoccurring thought is that there will be a Rogue (not Rouge) Squadron title card. It's impact to the game is up for debate, but the common themes circle around adding a hull and the barrel roll action, or something of the sort. The other theme seems to be around linking squad abilities since the Rogues flew as a team very well.

I don't foresee a hull/BR combo since it's kinda "blah" and everything else has been very exciting. I don't foresee a team buff either, since they have that right now with IG-2000 and the Atanni Mindlink. I'm actually a bit torn by what I see happening with the T65 fix. On the one hand, I would like to see a new action, let's call it strafe that basically copies Lt. Lorrir's ability - barrel roll with the 1 bank template (perhaps limit it to a turn in bank exclusively). This would be a unique design space that would really push the T65 into the competitive arena, even if its jousting value isn't on par. It would also be an unique fix as essentially no other ship can do this.

However, I'm pretty certain that's not the direction that FFG wants to go. I'm pretty sure that at this point, FFG is kind of sick of the PS race, a large part of that is post maneuver mobility actions. So adding another one to the fray isn't going to help that at all. The only other thing I can think of though (and I'm not a game designer, so keep that in mind) is to make the Rogue Squadron title more deadly. The Rogues were also known for their pinpoint accuracy. An easy way to demonstrate this would be to introduce a new blue die. The Rogue Squadron title would allow the T65 to replace any red dice with blue dice on that ship (or up to 2 or 3 dice if you want to cap it). The blue die would possess a different distribution, let's say 1 double hit, 1 crit, 4 hits, 1 focus, 1 blank or something that the developers feel accurately represents the deadly force of Rogue Squadron. I'm still up in the air on the double hit feature - I'm thinking that if it caps it at 2 or 3 dice, it might be okay, but it could be deadly if it's uncapped. You could also introduce a new upgrade modification "focused lasers" or something, that would allow anyone to roll 1 blue die instead of a red.

But keep in mind that this is just the title half of the fix. There's always been two things to go along with each fix to make the ship competitive again. The second comes in terms of upgrade cards that synergize well, especially with the ship in question, but not exclusively. I would think this would come in terms of one or more astromech cards. This makes sense because it also affects the Y wing, E wing, and T70, but the droid(s) would have to be tailored to the T65 specifically (AT helps the A wing and SV, but it's best on the TIE/in... Prockets occasionally get used on TIE/x1, but primarily on A wings, etc). Or perhaps the IA is the second half of it already and we're just waiting on the title half of the fix.

The minklink puts a lot of underused scum ships back on the table. The only thing that I find sad about it is that it seems that I might have to buy 2 Jumpmasters to get the right amount. Gonk can also force an enemy player to fly more aggressively or risk facing a strong regen ship by the end of the game.

Overall, I like a lot of this stuff

I ran a t-70 with stealth device against my buddy with an IA, 1 extra hit versus 1 extra agility die.... no contest.... 1 extra hit against AT.... again, no contest.....

the integrated astromech is not a fix for anything, it is only a way to keep an x-wing alive a second or 2 longer, however, the AT and SD both increase survivability by keeping the hits off of you, nope, rather keep my droid and add better 'd' into the mix

It's not just one extra hit. It's effectively one extra shield, plus anywhere from 2-4 points depending on whether you're replacing Autothrusters, Hull Upgrade/Stealth, or a Shield Upgrade. The only cost is that you have to equip an astromech for it to work.

And seriously, Stealth Device on any X-Wing was a terrible idea even before Crackshot was a thing. The only ship that should even consider it are Interceptors, and I'm not even sure about that anymore.

and yet, that SD on that t-70 with 3 dice has undamaged at the end of nearly every match, if I need points I may go with AT, but I stand by my point from before, you use IA and when you no longer get benefits from the droid you have on the ship, it is your choice, I will keep my droid functioning though