I'm playing around in squadron builder today, and realizing that the only X-Wing's with EPT's are skill 7 and higher, starting with Porkins. And then, after looking at all the skill 4 to 6 x-wings, how awesome some of their abilities really are.

The issue with the X-Wing isn't really so much maneuverability, as it's a very maneuverable ship. The issue is the inability to reposition after movement, something every high tier ship is capable of doing at this point, but beyond that, also being glass cannons with only 2 shields, thought IA helps with that.

High tiered ships have 1 of two things at this point: Respositioning ability, lots of hit points. That's always been a strong part of the meta, either a lot of hit points, ala B-Wings, K-Wings, Decimators, Ghosts, y-Wings, whatnot, or the ability to arc dodge and get out of the way of shots. Neither of those is the X-Wing, and for that reason we rarely if ever see them because most feel that the points spent on a pilot does not justify it's placing in a squadron when a single attack could simply take it down or cripple it beyond usefullness. 2 Agility are all but useless against TLT's, and if going against more than one TLT, or even any large turreted ship, the x-wing is pretty much done for.

We all still want a fix that puts the X-Wing largely back in the Meta. While Integrated astromech has certainly brought some life back into the fold, we are still seeing rare use of the X-Wing. Yesterday at the Regional in Michigan, I think I saw two, and they were in the same list (FYI, I don't think the list did well at all. It lost to a 5 Z-swarm list, thought the person flying the x-swarm is a pretty **** awesome dude so).

Noone wants to put an engine upgrade on because it's crazy expensive and eats up the Mod slot with is needed for IA, which is a free shield essentially. Yes, you blow your astromech, but it's a last minute thing anyway.

Now, much like the defender, it's likely to be a title, and likely to be in the Rebel Verterans pack (we know it's coming, don't kid yourself).

I won't speculate what else would be in there, but I'd be surprised if it weren't at least an X-Wing. I think we have come to a general concensus it will likely be X-Wing and E-Wing. Fair enough. Let's leave the E-Wing for somewhere else.

What about a Title then? Personally, I'd like to see a title, for 0 point, that provides either a Boost or barrel-roll action, and if pskill is 4 or higher, adds an EPT slot, even if one already exists (there's precedent with the A-Wing with this). Heck, maybe allow the use to choose to utilize either barrel-roll OR boost when deploying (precedent in adaptability). This provides a myriad of options for the X-Wing now, but still makes the A-Wing and T-70, something we can compare this to because of the similarity between the two now, still a desirable choice.

Imagine if you will the following setups as an example.

Red Squadron 23

Title - Boost - 0

PTL - 3

BB-8 - 2

Autothrusters - 2

TOTAL: 30

It's not as fast or maneuverable as an A-Wings, but still can defend itself better. It's very dodgy, but only in the slow roll, making it only a little bit predictable. It's not the same as the T-70 as the T-70 has an extra shield, and although the T-70 is overall more efficient like this, the T-65 is 1 point less in this setup.

Now, let's look at Hobby.

Hobbie Kilvian - 25

Title - Barrel-Roll - 0

PTL - 3

Targeting Astromech - 2

Integrated Astro - 0

TOTAL: 30

K-Turn, gain target lock on a target close to left or right, but maybe not quite in arc, clears stress, Barrel Roll to get into arc for target, push to stress. Clears stress in combat phase after spending target lock. That's a hell of a think there, and for 30 points, you would start seeing him in a lot of setups.

Now, let's look at a combo.

Wes Janson - 29

Title - Boost - 0

Veteran Instincs - 1

Wired - 1

R3-A2 - 2

Autothrusters - 2

Total: 35

Wedge - 29

Title - Barrel Roll - 0

Outmaneuver - 3

Opportunist - 4

R2 Astro - 1

Integrated Astro - 0

Total: 37

(This leaves 28 points for the rest of the squad, like maybe a stressbot or y-wing with protons.)

That can be NASTY to setup and if pulled off properly, Wes will remove a green token from the enemy and Wedge will add an attack die and effectively reduce the defenders agility by 2. Pretty situational, but if flown correctly can be brutal.

I firmly believe this would be a great way to go. It gives the X-Wing the much needed repositioning after movement that it sorely needs and the badly needed EPT for the <7 pskill pilots.

Wow, sorry guys. I just reread what i put up and there were all sorts of grammatical errors. Lol. Sorry about that. Will proofread if i do another wall of text haha.

What I really want is an upgrade that makes the x wing feel different from the t70 while still leaving the other rebel ships relevant. I still think just giving them a better dial would be the most "elegant" solution. A 1 hard turn (red) and a 3 s loop (red), would give them all,kinds of options with r2 and targeting astro, less predictable, but also leaving the t70 a thing with its boost, extra shield, and t roll. It would feel more like a space superiority fighter but would be different from using other ships.

I just don't like the idea of giving them boost/barrel roll. We have b wings, e wings, t70s, a wings, and attack shuttles that already do that. It's probably the easiest way to make the aces great though.

Giving red squadron and some of the middle ps pilots EpT slot would by itself go a long way too.

I was one that thought the T-65 needed boost, that without any post maneuver movement, it is getting left behind. While I still think it needs the boost, I do so for different reasons. I've been flying Poe a lot recently, and Red Ace before that. Very rarely would I boost, often times I would just focus. But having boost makes the ship more survivable even if you never boost out of an arc, by granting the ability to take Autothrusters.

I've found that I only boost if I made a mistake or my opponent did something I never considered, it is a crutch that I don't think is needed if you fly well, but autothrusters can save your ship (imagine Biggs with autothrusters)

I've also been a big proponent to give a title that gives either an extra modification or an extra EPT for any ship PS4 or higher (sorry Tarn, I wish I could). It's a boring fix, but it would work well.

The jack of all trades is master in none. Same problem as the Khiraxz.

R2-D6.

No, no and no. Please no repositionning actions on X-wings, there are already too much in the game, and the T65 must remain a jouster, not a "cheaper T70" or "B-wing with a droid".

I would propose 2 titles as well :

Trench Runner
0pts - Title - T65 only
You must equip an upgrade in your torpedo slot;

this upgrade costs 4 points less (with a minimum of 0).

this one to make some use of the torpedo slot

and


Rogue squadron
Title - 0pts - T65 (maybe also E-wing) only; Pilot value 5 or more.
When defending, you can change one of your blank results to an eye result.
If you don't have an upgrade slot, you gain one.

This would make the Rogues a little more consistent, and also get Luke a garanteed evade, so he would at last be up to his cost.

We have talked about several ways to improve the T65, from replacing the torp to adding a title, but I have not seen us look at the new tech modification slot. So far there are only 2 of those out with comm relay and weapons guidance. Maybe a title card adding that to the bar might be a way to go. With this being a new area for FFG there might be many new options it would open up. Weapons Guidance right now would help to increase the hitting power of the x-wing. I would love to see a repositional mvt, but that may not happen. A tech slot power that would let you use a spend a stress token would be interesting to use in conjunction with say expert handling, get the stress and maybe a tech slot that allows an evade or something along those lines. There is a broad range of possibilities by integrating that into the x-wing design. Usually that is how you improve an airframe, new technology.

The jack of all trades is master in none. Same problem as the Khiraxz.

R2-D6.

except that kihraxz has no droid for the BatWedge shenanigans

Xwings just need to live. They can punch hard, with a proton torpedo and chips they can get 2 crits in.

To make the Xwing live, they need a title similar to Defenders X7. Something like:

"After you do a speed 2 or 3 maneuver, you may receive an evade token."

"After you do a green maneuver, you may receive an evade token."

"After doing any turn or kturn maneuver, you may receive one evade token."

"Add evade action to your action bar" - little falcon title for the xwing

This keeps them as jousters, and gives them life to joust. An evade token can do wonders for the Xwing when combined with Astromechs. Look what C3PO does for the Falcon.

R4-D6 ensures only 2 damage from multiple hits (not including crits) and an evade token ensures 2 hits goes down to 1 hit. or those single hits are void.

R2-F2 + evade token + Stealth Device + PTL = a 4 green die, evade tokened Xwing. Now imagine Luke with this, changing an eyeball to evade!

Evade token gives insurance you evade a hit. No more Xwing relying on green die. I think that is the fix.

T-65-R title. T-65 X-Wing only.

"You may acquire a target lock past range 3, if the ship is in your forward arc."

Cost: I dunno. I want to say 0.

I will continue to support the idea that the X-Wing should stick to what it was meant for. Purely jousting. It doesn't need boost or barrel roll. Instead, it should get things that cater to its role as a superior jouster. I've thrown out these ideas in a couple other threads, and so far, I haven't gotten any feedback on them:

Guidance Astromech

When attacking with your primary weapon, if you have a target lock on the defender, you may change one die result into a [hit] result. If you do, you cannot spend target locks during this attack.

1 point

Basically a combination of Guidance Chips and Advanced Targeting Computer. This would give the X-Wing a somewhat better offense. Admittedly, the TIE Advanced with the Advanced Targeting Computer would still be a better jouster over-all, so the X-Wing would still need more.

T-65 X-Wing

Title. X-Wing Only. Rebel Only.

After you execute a white bank maneuver, if you are not stressed, you may rotate your ship 90 degrees and align your ship along the maneuver guide as if performing a barrel roll. Treat this maneuver as a red maneuver.

0 points

Basically picture a Tallon Roll on banks instead of hards, and that could end up facing in either direction. This gives the X-Wing a new level of maneuverability, allowing it to perform extremely hard turns from round to round. More red maneuvers would also help trigger Targeting Astromech, which Hobbie would love. Most importantly, it'd give the X-Wing a way to change its arc's direction after maneuvering, without turning the X-Wing into an arc dodger. Instead, the X-Wing would be something totally new, an arc hunter.

That's an awesome title. I could definitely go with that. Hobbie would be very unpredictable.

I think the fix is going to be two titles 1 for a cost reduction for Droids (working like the sensors for the Advance with -3) and the other Torps (giving a free target lock and a - 4 point reduction) over giving it a boost, barrel roll or free movement.

Rogue Squadron Pilot (title) 0 pts

X-wing only, Non-Resistence Rebel Alliance only.

When in R1 of another Rogue Squadron Pilot you receive an evade token in addition to a focus token when you perform a Focus Action.