Continuing our series where we re-evaluate the points costs of cards in the current meta, one card category at a time. Just copy the list and insert your own point values.

If you find a card on the list that you have never been interested in taking in competition because it seems too inefficient or too situational, consider the point value that would convince you to try it in a competitive squad and write in that value.

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CANNONS

Autoblaster (5)

Flechette Cannon (2)

Heavy Laser Cannon (7)

Ion Cannon (3)

Mangler Cannon (4)

Tractor Beam (1)

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TURRETS

Autoblaster Turret (2)

Dorsal Turret (4)

Blaster Turret (4)

Ion Cannon Turret (5)

Twin Laser Turret (6)

On the turret count, Flechette is good, but should be able to give a ship a second stress. Autoblaster Turret Cannon should probably be 3-4 points due to the extreme range restriction.

Blaster Turret should probably be two points if you were going to keep the Focus requirement. Maybe Ion Turret at 4, and TLT at 7.

As a general rule, I wish that the rules in the Force Awakens set had changed these weapons so they were subject to range, but that would probably have overpowered the Autoblaster Turret.

On the turret count... Autoblaster Turret should probably be 3-4 points due to the extreme range restriction.

More coffee. Obviously you meant cannon.

On the turret count... Autoblaster Turret should probably be 3-4 points due to the extreme range restriction.

More coffee. Obviously you meant cannon.

You are correct. I was only halfway through my morning coffee when I wrote that.

Just errata saying that defenders get a bonus die at range 3 against all secondary turrets with a defender out of arc. Since TLT is the only range 3 secondary turret, its the only one effected.

Anyway. As they are now:

CANNONS

Flechette Cannon 1 (If it stacked stress I'd say keep it at 2)

Ion Cannon 3

Mangler Cannon 4

Autoblaster 4 (I'd go 3 if it weren't for the Tie/D title )

Heavy Laser Cannon 7

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TURRETS

Autoblaster Turret 2 (this is the best priced turret currently)

Blaster Turret 2 (currently, or keep it at 4 w/o focus requirement)

Ion Cannon Turret 4 (Make it a bit more competitive vs. TLT)

Twin Laser Turret 7 (you can still run 4, but without any upgrades to your Ys.)

CANNONS

Flechette Cannon 2

Ion Cannon 3

Mangler Cannon 4

Autoblaster 4

Heavy Laser Cannon 7

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

TURRETS

Autoblaster Turret 2

Blaster Turret 3

Ion Cannon Turret 5

Twin Laser Turret 8

CANNONS

Flechette Cannon 2

Ion Cannon 3

Mangler Cannon 4

Autoblaster 5

Heavy Laser Cannon 7

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

TURRETS

Autoblaster Turret 2

Blaster Turret 2

Ion Cannon Turret 5

Twin Laser Turret 8

Most are correctly priced except the ridiculous blaster turret for 4 points. Requires a focus use, plus if you get stressed, you cant fire it, so really, the only ship that can safely use it is the HWK with Moldy Crow title which adds another 3pts to the weapon. They should of just added blaster turret to the Moldy Crow title for free, like Phantom title giving Ghost special attack capabilities for free. "With Moldy Crow title equipped, you may equip blaster turret for 0pts." Something like that.

TLT I feel is underpriced. For the consistent damage it deals with a range 2-3, it should be 8pts. At least 7pts, on par with HLC. At 8pts, I think people would still fly TLT Y-Wings with them (they just cant fly 4 of the them), and stresshog would just be a bit more towards the 30pt range where it should be for its effectiveness.

I would only drop the price of autoblaster cannon by 2 and the price of dorsal turret(which you left off) by 1.

Flechettes: 0
​Ions: 2
Mangler: 3
​Autoblaster: 3

HLC: 7

Autoblaster Turret: 2
​Blaster Turret: 3
Ion Cannon Turret: 5
​Twin Laser Turret: 8

I say all are fine, except Autoblaster Cannon and Blaster turret. I'd make the Autoblaster Cannon be 2-3 pts. I'd make the Blaster Turret 3 pts.

Twin Laser Turret: 99

I would only drop the price of autoblaster cannon by 2 and the price of dorsal turret(which you left off) by 1.

But as far as I'm concerned, the current meta excludes Wave 8, and so the question is being asked as if you were going to a store championship tomorrow.

None of these take the TIE-D title into account.

CANNONS

Flechette Cannon 1

1 point discount. It's not as strong of a stress mechanic as other upgrades, and it does only minimal damage.

Ion Cannon 2

1 point discount. The ion effect is powerful, but your damage output is minimal.

Mangler Cannon 4

Correctly priced.

Autoblaster 3

2 point discount. Strong, but situational.

Heavy Laser Cannon 7

Correctly priced.

Tractor Beam 1

Correctly priced.

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TURRETS

Autoblaster Turret 2

Correctly Priced.

Blaster Turret 2

2 point discount. The action dependence and the lack of dice modifiers is a huge downside.

Ion Cannon Turret 4

1 point discount. The ion effect is powerful, but your damage output is minimal.

Twin Laser Turret 7

1 point price hike. TLT is overly efficient for it's price.

Dorsal Turret 2

1 point discount. This is about as good as a blaster turret.

I do not think Mangler is correctly priced... until you take the Tie/D title into consideration, as you stated.

The TIE-D really throws a wrench into any consideration of the Mangler Cannon's price :/

The easy solution would be to make the TIE-D title only apply to Cost 2 and lower cannons, and then use the adjusted prices I listed, while also lowering the Mangler to 3pts.

Autoblaster should be 4 dice, not 3.

Blaster turret should not discard the focus token.

Only thing I'd change the price on would be +1 pt to the TLT... And a 1pt discount to the K-wing to go with it.

The pair are fine. TLTs are fine to be potent. Just a slight shift in emphasis, and a reason to fly an ionhog, is all I ask.

The Mangler is correctly priced. If they want to make cannon carriers more powerful, they'll just provide a Cannon Chimp, which I'm sure they'll do eventually, if non-HLC cannons continue to be underused. A Chimp-enabled double-critting Blue B (firing last, after other ships have removed tokens and shields) for 26 (maybe 27 or 28) points, seems quite strong to me.

In my personal opinion, cards as written, Autoblaster Cannon and Blaster Turret are both a point too much. But there's more to it than this. You can't compare turrets and cannons without also comparing ordnance. These threads should compare ALL secondary weapons at once if we are to discuss value for cost, especially considering *most* ships that can take one weapon can take another of the same or different type, IE Cannon and Torpedo.

Understanding that previous posts have focused this on Wave 7 and earlier, with the imminent release of Guidance Chips, the value we get out of single use weapons will be increased, and we can combine the accuracy buff with Extra Munitions on a number of ships.

Just playing devil's advocate here, but it is unfair to compare groups of categories when they are all secondary weapons. For instance, many are saying Flechette Cannons are too expensive because they can only assign up to a maximum of one stress, but you can fire the weapon indefinitely. Flechette Torpedoes are the same cost for a single use weapon with higher damage potential that deals automatic stress to the majority of small base ships in the game. Which price should be different?

Plasma Torpedoes deal a minimum of two damage against a shielded target should the attack hit, with the potential of up to 5, but is only one attack and is the same price as Dorsal Turret, which can attack repeatedly but has a much lower damage cap. For two more points, with EM, you can increase the point for point value of your expendable weapons, especially if your load more than one.

Now don't get me wrong here, I am aware and realistic about the weaknesses of expendable weapons. For four points each, I don't think Proton Torpedoes cab ever compete with Mangler Cannon for the same price, which sacrifices one attack die for limitless attacks. I just think that many more of the expendable weapons will soon be viable and all weapon values are relevant in all of these conversations, and our predispositions towards them aren't a fair reason to isolate them into separate categories.

You can't compare turrets and cannons without also comparing ordnance. These threads should compare ALL secondary weapons at once if we are to discuss value for cost...

For instance, many are saying Flechette Cannons are too expensive because they can only assign up to a maximum of one stress, but you can fire the weapon indefinitely. Flechette Torpedoes are the same cost for a single use weapon with higher damage potential that deals automatic stress to the majority of small base ships in the game. Which price should be different?

That's not really what these threads are for, although that's the direction a lot of people have taken them and it's fine. The real question is, what price would make you consider using it in a squad? If you've been playing the game for any length of time (as I'm sure you have) you can make those calls about certain cards without having to compare them across categories.

Flechette Cannon 2 1

Because I just don't reach for it at 2. Maybe when Scyks are more cost-effective I'll reconsider.

Ion Cannon 3

Mangler Cannon 4

Heavy Laser Cannon 7

Autoblaster 5 3

I haven't looked at this card in a year or more. Will reconsider when Imperial Veterans is available.

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Autoblaster Turret 2 1

Because I still pass it up.

Ion Cannon Turret 5 4

Use it, love it, but would use it a lot more (instead of TLT) if it were cheaper.

Blaster Turret 4 1

Shrug.

Twin Laser Turret 6

It's aggressively priced (which I like!), and maybe a little bit OP when you have three or four of them, but I think TLT is a key reason for the Wave 7 diversity, which is the best it has ever been. I want to see more cards priced like this, rather than increasing the costs of cards that are known to be efficient.

CANNONS

Flechette Cannon 2

Ion Cannon 3

Mangler Cannon 4

Autoblaster 5 4

Heavy Laser Cannon 7

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TURRETS

Autoblaster Turret 2

Blaster Turret 4 3

Ion Cannon Turret 5 4

Twin Laser Turret 6 7

The price of the upgrades cannot be looked at in vacuum either.

We know that most ships from wave 0 to 4 were wrongly priced and were quite unbalanced, and later on there have come upgrades (titles or other) that have balanced them.

Unupgraded, the Y-Wing and the HWK cost more than they are worth, by far. These ships were the few that could equip turrets, and the only turrets for a long time were the Blaster turret (underpowered and overpriced) and the Ion Turret (harsh damage cap and pricey), that led to the Y-Wings and HWK to be even more underpowered for what costed to properly equip them.

Twin Laser Turret and, soon also, Dorsal Turret are quite aggresively priced.

You can have 5 Y-Wings with Dorsal turrets in a 100 points squad. That is 5 ships with 8 hitpoints each dealing up to 2-3 damage each in 360 degrees. Average 12.5 red dice per round, all of them can deal damage or critical damage.

With TLT we all know what can be done. 4 Ships equipped with it can deal up to 8 damage per round total.

In vacuum, TLT and Dorsal should cost more than what the currently do? Sure. But considering that the Y-Wing and the HWK are overcosted, and the these are the main intended carriers for them, it is natural that these turrets are undercosted by 2-4 points each.

Probably, if they were to release the Ion Cannon Turret today, it would cost 1-2 points tops, instead of 5, for the same reason that something like the TIE/D title should cost about 4-5 points, and instead it costs 0.

If you think an ion cannon is OK at 2 you haven't been shown off the board before.... Or been block locked.

And we're back! Almost a year has passed since we last checked the value of these upgrades on a category-by-category basis, so let's get updated! We have two new additions: Tractor Beams (cannon) and Dorsal Turrets (turret). How do we feel about the costs of these cards now, and what cost would you assign to them in order to make them difficult to pass up?

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CANNONS

Autoblaster (5)

Flechette Cannon (2)

Heavy Laser Cannon (7)

Ion Cannon (3)

Mangler Cannon (4)

Tractor Beam (1)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

TURRETS

Autoblaster Turret (2)

Dorsal Turret (4)

Blaster Turret (4)

Ion Cannon Turret (5)

Twin Laser Turret (6)

As others mentioned auto blaster should be 4 at a minimum to avoid crazy Tie/D shenanigans.

Also I think blaster cannon at 2 points is too cheap. I'd maybe make it 3 to compete with dorsal. They are the same price then, you just have to decide if you want to use a focus to get that extra die for range 2 attacks.