SO I have been toying around with Sabine shuttle and trying to fit it in to my lists.

Basically it has come down to two different builds

PTL (because reasons)

TLT (tried auto blaster turret but if I am at range one, most likely I am behind you and most likely I am going to want to pump 4 dice into you she is pretty easy to get into arc)

Hull Upgrade (because 4 HP is no bueno with two evades)

and then here is where it gets a bit tricky. Do you put Crewbacca on there or Kanan?

Both of these offer HUGE boosts to an already potent (if well wielded) ship.

I tried Crewbacca out a for a few games and he did quite well and I was especially happy when I was able to use him to stop Direct damages (yes in two successive games that was the first damage through my shields)

I then switched it over to Kanan for the store championship at Cardboard Gaming in Odenton last weekend. I did pretty well went 4-1 against some pretty stiff competition. Made the cut and then made a ridiculously dumb decision with her and she got obliterated by bro bots.

So now I am in a bit of a bind. I love flying ships with the re-position ability that she and others like her provide (she actually replaced PTL BB-8 Ello in my list) but do i limit myself to greens and go with the added tankiness, or do I just make my opponents' life hell and never let her get shot with Kanan.

As maneuverable as Sabine is, I don't get dropping 6 points on a TLT. Seems like 6 points on a gun you will maybe use once at best?

I think PLT and Hull/Shield are a must, and Chewie is always the copilot. The shuttle is a good target for your opponent and it doesn't have the greens to last long while focused. So I think you need the extras to give it a shot to arc dodge.

I was thinking the same thing, then I tried it out. I got WAY more use out of it than I thought I would. When an ace has a choice between getting blasted with a 4 dice primary or getting hit with a TLT it really limits their options.

Also, you have those people that hear "TLT" and then proceed to dedicate everything they have to chasing and killing it. Which is fine because Sabine can navigate a super tight asteroid field and people will for some reason follow you in there.

and lastly, it allows me to chase down people that are trying to run away in the end game. My lists never really had a TLT in them before and it really helped at the store championship when Dash was trying to scoot away late game.

The rest of the list was R2D2 Poe and a stress hog

(kanan also affords me R2D2 instead of R5P9 on Poe)

With Sabine, maybe go with Chewie. Her lifespan (2gi, 4hp) is that of a Z-95. Give her some HP with the wookie! TLTs or ordnance can end her day real bad.

As maneuverable as Sabine is, I don't get dropping 6 points on a TLT. Seems like 6 points on a gun you will maybe use once at best?

I think PLT and Hull/Shield are a must, and Chewie is always the copilot. The shuttle is a good target for your opponent and it doesn't have the greens to last long while focused. So I think you need the extras to give it a shot to arc dodge.

What??? Use once at best??? This is Sabine we're talking about here. She gets a boost OR barrel roll before her move every time (as long as she's not stressed). That gives you incredible control over range. So um, that means she's possibly one of the best twin laser turret carriers in the game!

Push the limit is definitely NOT a must. While it can be used to give her extra mobility, its not necessarily needed. It can be helpful for sure, but keep in mind that she is already highly maneuverable. Ships that need things in arc are going to struggle a great deal to get shots on her, so she doesn't need to be tough. Her only real weakness is other turrets and higher PS interceptors (possibly---she can still give them headaches).

I would say there are two ways to build her:

*PTL + kanan + Twin laser turret = 33 (optional: hull or shield). This build gives you maximum mobility but at the expense of firepower. Its unlikely her shots are going to be devastating with minimal dice mods. For that reason, I don't think its the best, although its almost impossible for low PS jousters to shoot her...

*predator (or lone wolf) + chewie + twin laser turret = 34 (optional, for the same cost, can take intel agent + hull instead). This build gives you much better firepower (re-roll on all attacks). Mobility is still solid, but not quite as crazy as push the limit. Its more durable with chewie, but intel agent + hull gives you a better fighting chance against higher Pilot Skill enemies without sacrificing durability that much. I prefer the intel agent and in my opinion is the optimal Sabine build.

I'm gonna disagree that PTL isn't a perfect option for Sabine. Yes, the offense output is limited to a single focus, but that just means she's a standard TLT carrier... Except good luck catching her.

Sabine + PTL + Kanan

I used this combo to have Sabine wind up BEHIND enemies chasing her, and able to maintain the range 2 for TLT shots. She Boosts to one side, takes a focus, does a hard 2 in the same direction as the boost (Kanan gobbles up that PTL stress you shouldn't have bothered putting down) and she can still barrel roll or evade as she sees fit.

Against other TLTs, she can usually choose the above but with an eye of getting into range 1 (no shots until you choose the engagement) or getting out of range three (Boost, Focus/Evade, 4 Straight, Remove Stress, Barrel Roll or Evade/Focus).

If you want a tank shuttle, grab Ezra with Rage or PTL. He also enjoys Kanan or Crewbacca.

Sabine kind of makes the Hera shuttle never the right choice, as far as I can tell (well, barring the ability to grab a higher pilot skill, I guess).

Edit: Also, HAH to her only using the TLT once. She has such amazing positional abilities that it would be rare you DON'T get a shot (unless that's your choice). Unless the issue keeping her plugged into the Ghost... I tend to prefer undocked Sabine and grab Ezra if I plan on keeping a Phantom docked.

If you are spending 25 points on your TLT carrier, then sure, having minimal mods for your attacks isn't so bad. But Sabine is 33+ points, so having the firepower of a 25 point ship puts her low on the damage output curve. Still, PTL + kanan turns her into a mini-dash and that is certainly fun. The reason I want predator or lone wolf though is because 3 agility ships can tank through unmodified TLT shots more often than you'll like. And when x-7 defenders become a thing, TLT are really going to struggle (because its just one more counter on top of autothrusters). Besides, as I said, if you are good at predicting opponent moves, the extra move option from PTL is not really needed.

So on the PTL Kanan version, are you guys seeing that hull upgrade is worth it here? I think it lets her stand up to one more round of tlt shots and pushes her up to needing two uboats to take down. If they get a shot at her, but lets face it in my list they have to kill my stress hog first. Which gives her a chance to get in range one/behind them and do bad bad things.

Actually, She really is a great anti UBoat threat.

Like I said I have tried both Chewbacca and Kanan and BOTH have preformed great. Intel agent does have some merit here though, but if I did I would want Kanan on the board somewhere to turn her into an anti Ace menace.... If only HWKs were a bit cheaper

As for Hera, yea I see no real use for her pretty much across the board (Ghost AS or crew) which is a shame.

I really think that PTL is the way to go (boost Barrel roll is just too good) but I may try out predator and see if it works for me so thanks for the suggestion!