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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LAMBDA-CLASS SHUTTLE PILOTS

Omicron Group Pilot 21

Captain Yorr 24

Colonel Jendon 26

Captain Kagi 27

Omicron remains one of the best values in the game; one could argue for a price increase, but I won't. The rest are all OK, they have corner case usefulness, but the dial on the ship is such that paying for pilot skill is generally a waste. They all seem fine to me, in so far as I only ever take Omicrons.

OGP is efficient as always... as for the others without elite talents they're each a point or two overpriced, maybe even 3.

Omicron Group Pilot 21 (0)

Captain Yorr 23 (-1)

Colonel Jendon 24 (-2)

Captain Kagi 25 (-2)

I have a lot of love for the good ol`space cow, but in 100 point games the named pilots, especially Jendon and Kagi needs more than a straight up point reduction to be viable. The Shuttle scales relatively poorly, and Kagi with a few upgrades doesn`t really bring much more to the table than a 24 point doomshuttle or a 29 point Palpmobile, other than easy points for your opponent. Though Kagi with upgrades like Sensor Jammer and Rebel Captive can be really annoying

Captain Yorr:

Has got a solid ability, and the only named shuttle pilot where I feel his PS compliments his ability. He most likely moves before most of your ships so he will be in range to grab stress from your K-Turns and PTLs. And in the worst case, you can always equip Enhanced Scopes for 1 point to move at PS 0 if needed. I don`t think he is neccesarily overcosted at 24 as such, but once you start soaking stress the poor shuttle struggles even more. No hard turns, no actions and no stop, so I would still drop him 1 point.

Other than that no fix really needed.

However, to complicate things:

Cost: 24 points. PS 5. EPT slot, as there are several cheap upgrades like Wired, Cool Hand, Adrenaline Rush, Crack Shot and maybe even Determination and Draw Their Fire that could be ok to put on Yorr. PS5 interferes slightly with my previous statement about Yorrs ability, but again, Enhanced scopes are available for 1 pt.

Colonel Jendon.

I quite like his ability as such, and have used him to great effect in Epic, But in 100 points it is hard to leverage properly. His mid PS means he will often struggle to grab an early target lock for the first round of shooting, unless you have the title (3 points), and once the fighting starts, his range 1 limitation can really get in the way. And if you do get to pass on a target lock, it means you have basically spent Jendons action to help someone else, and have no target lock(or focus) for him. Unless you equip Weapons Engineer (another 3 points.) So you are suddenly looking at a 32point shuttle that you might struggle to use effectively.

I have dropped him 2 points, though I don`t see that doing much for him. And with the upcoming Long Range Scanners and Tracer Missiles, he is probably redundant anyway.

What I would do to help him:
Cost 25 points Give him an EPT, extend his ability range to Range 2 and reduce the title to 2 points.

So you could run him with Weapons Engineer, Veteran Instinct and title for 31 points, for PS 8 and with a better ability,.Still probably not enough in standard play, but he might be too good in Epic

Captain Kagi.

Again a not terrible pilot ability, as messing with your opponents target priority is not without value. But PS 8 means you move late, and your opponent might already have moved before you and done their actions before Kagi moves into range, Only a problem on the first round of firing and as with Yorr, Enhanced Scopes might be an option. Anyway, drawing fire to an relatively expensive shuttle is not that brilliant. There are a few upgrades that are fun to put on Kagi, like Sensor Jammer, Flight Instructor, Rebel Captive, Countermeasures and the upcoming Reinforced Deflectors, but oh my does poor Kagi get real expensive quick..... 39/40 points for all of the above

Dropped him 2 points, but as with Jendon, I do not think that will help him much on its own. A problem is that a lot of the defensive upgrades that could be ok on Kagi are very expensive.

Alternatively: Cost 22 PS 3 Want to keep him as cheap as possible, so defensive upgrades doesn`t make him too expensive,

A multiple use Countermeasure for 2points would be really neat on Kagi

LAMBDA-CLASS SHUTTLE PILOTS

Omicron Group Pilot 21 (0)

Captain Yorr 23 (-1)

Colonel Jendon 24 (-2)

Captain Kagi 25 (-2)

The main problem with the named shuttles is you never run them naked (you can but they aren't effective for their point cost). So before you know it they are +30 points and usually don't carry their weight. Kagi might become a thing more with all the ordnance fix, but still he's pretty **** expensive.

I actually think that the vanilla space cow should increase a point. Utility for it's double crew, Firepower 3 and good durability will be my cited reasons. Dial can be mitigated by the EU.

If ordnance and Omega Leader make a big enough splash, I wonder if any Palp + Aces list will consider Kagi as an option. Probably not worth the extra points but who knows.

Yorr and Baffles could also be an interesting counter to the stress hog.

1 point reduction across the board for named pilots is probably about right.

Electronic Baffler is going to make non-Palpatine shuttles good. Real good.

OGP, ftw.

LAMBDA-CLASS SHUTTLE PILOTS

Omicron Group Pilot 21

Captain Yorr 24

Colonel Jendon 25

Captain Kagi 26

Pilot skill is pretty meaningless to Lambdas: if anything it's a disadvantage. The jump from generic to named is still its original three points to keep the generics in use, but once you're in the named band Yorr Jendon and Kagi becomes a choice of pilot ability with pilot skill jumps at TIE fighter cost.

If ordnance and Omega Leader make a big enough splash, I wonder if any Palp + Aces list will consider Kagi as an option. Probably not worth the extra points but who knows.

Yorr and Baffles could also be an interesting counter to the stress hog.

1 point reduction across the board for named pilots is probably about right.

I already play my Palp Aces with Kagi (and Sensor Jammer). It works rather nicely, despite being a 39 point shuttle. Only really viable to take Omega Leader as one of your two aces though.

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.

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

LAMBDA-CLASS SHUTTLE PILOTS

Omicron Group Pilot 21

Captain Yorr 24

Colonel Jendon 26

Captain Kagi 27

Cant this be one post rather than spamming the front page with a post for each ship?

Nah, the discussions are easier to follow for only one subject.. would get out of hand quick otherwise.

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.

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

LAMBDA-CLASS SHUTTLE PILOTS

Omicron Group Pilot 21

Captain Yorr 24

Colonel Jendon 26

Captain Kagi 27

Cant this be one post rather than spamming the front page with a post for each ship?

It may look spammy in its presentation but each thread is a balance discussion of the ship in question. To combine them all would be to have a very general balance discussion in which most things would be neglected with only the more contenious issues like the Twin Laser Turret being discussed.

LAMBDA-CLASS SHUTTLE PILOTS

Omicron Group Pilot 21

Captain Yorr 23

Colonel Jendon 24

Captain Kagi 25

I love hipposhuttlebuses! I use them to strike fear into the heart of my enemies. The named have more problems than point costs (much like the hwks but on a better chassis). A single point reduction for Yorr is good (his ability doesn't mesh well with their dial even though it is otherwise strong). Jendon and Kagi both need 2pt drops to even be considered for play. ALL are great for EPIC (where saving 5pts total across 3 ships isn't a big deal anyway) but not much else going for the naked albino void bison...

I'm going to completely shift this game around:

honestly i like all their costs, but only change i would make is have Jendon's Ability be R1-R2. With the Defender Fixes coming in Aces i can see it being super useful, but with the innate negative amount of maneuverability and range 1 band requirement i cant see it being used. for 26 points id be more than happy to have a R2 band to hand out TL's

Shuttle with engine upgrade is actually very scary at times.

Imo the shuttle is actually one of the most balanced ships we have. It doesn't try to be more then it is and with every new crew card released it gains new ways to be used.

The biggest problem for the named pilots is just that all of them have a double-edged sword on their pilot abilities.

Yorr can take stress off of more important pilots, but that means he loses access to red moves and actions until he clears it.

Jendon can pass out target locks, but that means he also doesn't have any way to modify his attack dice (barring Weapons Engineer).

Kagi can absorb Target Locks, but then you're just encouraging your opponent to pour their damage into your 27+ point ship.

Jendon and Kagi are a lot better in Epic play, though. 31 points for Kagi and a Sensor Jammer isn't a big deal in epic, and forcing your opponent's CR-90 to lock onto the shuttle instead your Raider has value. Similarly, Jendon with ST-321 and a Weapons Engineer can acquire two target locks, pass them to your epic ship (who also has a Weapons Engineer) to give it two target locks, and free your capital ship up to use the Coordinate action.

I love flying Jendon, but I'm worried that the release of LRS will mean the effective end of him. He's wonderful for handing TLs to your Bombers before they're in range, and I've also used him to great effect with Kir Kanos (still undefeated with that list, though to be fair it's now been ages since I've flown it). Could also see some value in flying him alongside TIE/x1s with ATCs, especially those not named "Darth Vader". Give Juno and Stele, either with Predator, a TL before they have to worry about getting shot at? That'd be huge. Get your re-rolls, have an Evade or Focus for defense (or Focus to use on an attack if you're not getting shot at). Heck, could use it with generics with ATCs and simply give them TLs on an opportune target at the start of Combat.

But Bombers have always been my "go to" usage for Jendon. LRS sort of does the exact same thing as Jendon+Title. Then again, maybe there's an argument to be made with Jendon escorted by Bombers with Guidance Chips. Slap some Concussion or Homing Missiles on all of them, and you're entering firing range with TL+Focus+Chips for what should be a lot of four red hits/crits. Guess that depends on how much extra damage Chips will give you on top of TL+Focus.

And he'll still be good times for non-Bombers. "Wampa", TIE/x1s, TIE/v1s, TIE Interceptors... they'll all appreciate Jendon being around, even in 100pt games.

The biggest problem for the named pilots is just that all of them have a double-edged sword on their pilot abilities.

Yorr can take stress off of more important pilots, but that means he loses access to red moves and actions until he clears it.

Jendon can pass out target locks, but that means he also doesn't have any way to modify his attack dice (barring Weapons Engineer).

Kagi can absorb Target Locks, but then you're just encouraging your opponent to pour their damage into your 27+ point ship.

Jendon and Kagi are a lot better in Epic play, though. 31 points for Kagi and a Sensor Jammer isn't a big deal in epic, and forcing your opponent's CR-90 to lock onto the shuttle instead your Raider has value. Similarly, Jendon with ST-321 and a Weapons Engineer can acquire two target locks, pass them to your epic ship (who also has a Weapons Engineer) to give it two target locks, and free your capital ship up to use the Coordinate action.

To me, if you fly Jendon in 100pt play you make sure you have either a Weapons Engineer or FCS on him. If you can afford both, all the better. It can be a rightly powerful ability, though I'm always saddened by its double limitations (Must be in R1 to pass off, can't be used to switch a friendly ship's lock if they already have one).

The main problem with the named shuttles is you never run them naked (you can but they aren't effective for their point cost). So before you know it they are +30 points and usually don't carry their weight. Kagi might become a thing more with all the ordnance fix, but still he's pretty **** expensive.

I think that's true of most of the shuttle "problems", as far a I can tell.

It's not that the base shuttle is overcosted per se - the cost feels okay for the stats and PS. But you really do need to add stuff to them (Weapon Engineer and title for Jendon, some kind of defensive upgrade for Kagi, etc) to make them 'work'.

What if the shuttle had some kind of...actually, I dunno what FFG could do at this point, as both the modification and title slots are pretty critical to the shuttle, but...something...that gives them a 5 or points to spend on upgrades (modifications, titles, crew, etc) 'for free'? I dunno...

The range of the shuttle pilot abilities really hinders them imo. As such, only a massive point reduction would ever get me to use any of the unique pilots.

Yorr- 23

Jendon- 24

Kagi- 25

even then I'm still not really looking to dump more points into a shuttle than what is absolutely necessary, so they might not see much play time.

ST-321 should have been 1 point at most, or even free.

I kinda feel like 21 - 22 - 23 - 24 is the right pricing scheme for now.

But the right system upgrade could change all of that.