First of all, it looks awesome. But as I look at it and what has been spoiled I wonder, If it can joust and arc-dodge, why wouldn't you still arc-dodge with it. Sure I get that the pilots' abilities, may not lent themselves to arc dodging like Soontir's or Vader's, but I still think that you will spend as much time arc-dodging as you can.

Joust if you have the one on one engagement present that would allow you to take on the opponent at a seriously advantageous position, such as range 1 with Focus and TL with Fenn when your opponent has only a focus.

Maybe we'll see a new breed of arc-dodging with the high PS pilots.

If you only arc-dodge, you're doing so without the same amazing tools the Imperial equivalents are using. At that point, why not just play Empire?

I think it highly depends on the pilot.

Ships without an EPT slot will not be able to take advantage of the Fearless EPT anyway, so the title is the only thing tying them to being in Arc/R1. If you can arc dodge and maintain a shot, not being shot is always better than getting extra dice. So Arc Dodge. Can't Arc Dodge? Joust! Even if you arc dodge, the title is a whopping 1 point. You're not losing much by not utilizing it.

Playing Kad Solus? You get two focus tokens for executing a red maneuver. If you take an EPT other than Fearless (say Calculation), those two Focus Tokens can let you hit/crit your eyeballs safely from the side of the enemy's fighter, no jousting necessary.

Fenn Rau is really the only one that definitively WANTS to be head on. Even then, pick your fights. That extra 1Red isn't worth being blown up immediately afterward. Arc Dodge throwing 4 red until you are likely to destroy your opponent, then joust to finish them off.

I think it also depends on the opponent. Against a turret ship, you won't be arc-dodging much anyway so why not fly straight down their primary firing arc?

According to the article, there are 4 ships that want to be at R1:

Fenn Rau

Old Teacher (whose ability isn't fully spoiled but looks like it removes tokens)

Title

Fearless

Title is 1 point. If you take it but arc dodge and don't use it, you're only "wasting" 1 point.

So if you're not using the other three cards, arc dodge to your heart's content.

Even fenn raus ability doesnt require you to joust, only be at range 1, no arc requirements. So i still plan to arcdodge with him, but if you cant get out of arc, take advantage of the title

I'm curious how the starting costs for these are going to work out. From a pure stats perspective, it's exactly the same as a StarViper except for the point of shields. I can't imagine that the dial will be worse than the one on the Viper. The action bar and stock upgrade options are identical, but Fenn Rau is already starting out at 3 points cheaper than Xizor despite +2 PS. The StarViper can take the Virago title to give it access to Systems and an Illicit, but you're paying a point for that.

I'm curious how the starting costs for these are going to work out. From a pure stats perspective, it's exactly the same as a StarViper except for the point of shields. I can't imagine that the dial will be worse than the one on the Viper. The action bar and stock upgrade options are identical, but Fenn Rau is already starting out at 3 points cheaper than Xizor despite +2 PS. The StarViper can take the Virago title to give it access to Systems and an Illicit, but you're paying a point for that.

The money's on 19-20 points, given the Alpha Squadron interceptors are 18pts and considered overpriced at even that.

If this goes to laugh at the StarViper's cost... well, there you go.

I'm curious how the starting costs for these are going to work out. From a pure stats perspective, it's exactly the same as a StarViper except for the point of shields. I can't imagine that the dial will be worse than the one on the Viper. The action bar and stock upgrade options are identical, but Fenn Rau is already starting out at 3 points cheaper than Xizor despite +2 PS. The StarViper can take the Virago title to give it access to Systems and an Illicit, but you're paying a point for that.

The money's on 19-20 points, given the Alpha Squadron interceptors are 18pts and considered overpriced at even that.

If this goes to laugh at the StarViper's cost... well, there you go.

Given that the starviper's also overcosted, that would be fine with me. I'm hoping for 19 points, but expecting 20

A second thought: With Autothrusters and the title, provided you gave guns on target literally the only range band you fear is Range 2, In Arc.

Interestingly enough, this has been where Aces have been trying to avoid for years because of our old friend Tactician.

Equally interestingly, the title doesn't help against turrets you get in Range 1, so it doesn't negate the need for Autothrusters either. And I can hear Kavil giggling even as we speak.

the dial might not support ptl arc-dodging

the dial might not support ptl arc-dodging

The preview article already directly compared it to the A-wing and the Interceptor, and pointed out the cool mechanical effects they've come up with to try and encourage you to not fly it like a standard arc-dodger. The cost is also about right for an Interceptor flying a Hull Upgrade.

...And they remember the Scyk and the StarViper.

You're right, we don't know. But I will be genuinely horrified if they don't have either hard 1s or 2s on their dial, and that the TAP showed up with the same action bar and hard 1s just last wave suggests they're not scared of the idea and wishing they'd never done it.

With an Interceptor-ish dial, you've got a great little interceptor, and one whose ace pilot has been carefully configured to be as worthy as Soontir, without quite such the potential for frustration in the you-can't-touch-me stakes - Interceptors with hull upgrades are perfectly viable, but even Carnor (notice the similar emphasis on agressive flying, here) is not as rage-inducing-can't-kill-me as Soontir's 4-dice-and-millions-of-buffs, so for a 'new' Soontir-equivalent, I'd say this is a slick bit of design.

With a Scyk-ish dial? DOA. And for this ship, at least, they've enough comparative data points that they have to know that.

eh

if it gets a scyk dial, the ps 9 might be doa but I wouldn't give a crap as long as the PS 5 is appropriately costed to be able to fly four with crackshot thrusters

so 22 point base. The poor Saber squadron/RGP will cry, but the poor Saber squadron/RGP isn't viable

I'd be 110% down for scum having a useful generic boost ship, even if it's just a crackshot caddie or a ps 1 blocker

I think it highly depends on the pilot.

Ships without an EPT slot will not be able to take advantage of the Fearless EPT anyway, so the title is the only thing tying them to being in Arc/R1. If you can arc dodge and maintain a shot, not being shot is always better than getting extra dice. So Arc Dodge. Can't Arc Dodge? Joust! Even if you arc dodge, the title is a whopping 1 point. You're not losing much by not utilizing it.

Playing Kad Solus? You get two focus tokens for executing a red maneuver. If you take an EPT other than Fearless (say Calculation), those two Focus Tokens can let you hit/crit your eyeballs safely from the side of the enemy's fighter, no jousting necessary.

Fenn Rau is really the only one that definitively WANTS to be head on. Even then, pick your fights. That extra 1Red isn't worth being blown up immediately afterward. Arc Dodge throwing 4 red until you are likely to destroy your opponent, then joust to finish them off.

I think it also depends on the opponent. Against a turret ship, you won't be arc-dodging much anyway so why not fly straight down their primary firing arc?

According to the article, there are 4 ships that want to be at R1:

Fenn Rau

Old Teacher (whose ability isn't fully spoiled but looks like it removes tokens)

Title

Fearless

Title is 1 point. If you take it but arc dodge and don't use it, you're only "wasting" 1 point.

So if you're not using the other three cards, arc dodge to your heart's content.

How do we know the name of 'Old Teacher' and the ability of Fearless?

eh

if it gets a scyk dial, the ps 9 might be doa but I wouldn't give a crap as long as the PS 5 is appropriately costed to be able to fly four with crackshot thrusters

so 22 point base. The poor Saber squadron/RGP will cry, but the poor Saber squadron/RGP isn't viable

I'd be 110% down for scum having a useful generic boost ship, even if it's just a crackshot caddie or a ps 1 blocker

Me too bro, full stop. I freaking love Dengar, but he's expensive and there's currently nothing in Scum that can escort him that's not terrible or too expensive to fly 2.

How do we know the name of 'Old Teacher' and the ability of Fearless?

we don't; just going off the article's promise

in the image spoiler, though, Fearless seems to have the exact same trigger wording as the title , except it's reversed. The defender's firing arc seems to come before the attacker's and it's "when attacking" instead of "when defending" and it specifies "1 hit result"

so if that's

• when attacking
• at range 1
• inside the attacker's firing arc
• and the attacker is in your firing arc

add 1 hit result to your roll

probably

which, honestly, is kinda crappy unless it's 1 point

If people have correctly interpreted the "Fearless" EPT, Fen Rau in arc at R1 will essentially be throwing 6 red dice, one of which is automatically a hit. And will receive a free evade at Agility 4. To be on the receiving end of this will be game over for many ships.

On a related note, I think this might be the final nail in the already well-nailed coffin of Talonbane Cobra.

eh,

cobra's been DOA so I would never dispute that

mr Rau, however, will only be working with a focus, four dice and 1 hit. with my luck, that's really not that impressive especially on the defense where it's effectively 0 agility and an evade token

How do we know the name of 'Old Teacher' and the ability of Fearless?

we don't; just going off the article's promise

in the image spoiler, though, Fearless seems to have the exact same trigger wording as the title , except it's reversed. The defender's firing arc seems to come before the attacker's and it's "when attacking" instead of "when defending" and it specifies "1 hit result"

so if that's

• when attacking
• at range 1
• inside the attacker's firing arc
• and the attacker is in your firing arc

add 1 hit result to your roll

probably

which, honestly, is kinda crappy unless it's 1 point

Or you can give it to Wedge for a re-usable Crackshot.

At range 1

for the 2 turns Wedge is alive.

Ok yeah you have a point

exactly

the amount of time's you're likely to use something that restrictive is about as many times as you'll get to use crackshot

honestly would not be surprised if Fearlessness were 0 points. It's absurdly situational and eats the spot of far more useless cards, except in the case where crackshot greenies drop a point of PS to get a whole lot meaner

As a 0 point upgrade it would give a lot of live to the current EPT-endowed Jouster Generics. It also would add more of a skill element to jousting. Rather than setting up opposite and trading shots until one of you poofs, range control becomes much more important.

Alas, I feel FFG will err on the side of caution, and make it 1 or 2 points.

eh,

cobra's been DOA so I would never dispute that

mr Rau, however, will only be working with a focus, four dice and 1 hit. with my luck, that's really not that impressive especially on the defense where it's effectively 0 agility and an evade token

Somebody correct me if my math is wrong, but as far as I can tell, it should be 5 dice + a hit:

3 Natural attack dice

+1 for R1

+1 for his pilot ability

+1 added hit for the title

If the PS1 generic is more than 18 points, it won't be a viable ship.

Remember the Contracted Scout costs 25 points. We have entered a new era of ship costing.

Before wave 8, the last generic ship they costed correctly was all the way back in wave 4, the Z-95.

eh,

cobra's been DOA so I would never dispute that

mr Rau, however, will only be working with a focus, four dice and 1 hit. with my luck, that's really not that impressive especially on the defense where it's effectively 0 agility and an evade token

Somebody correct me if my math is wrong, but as far as I can tell, it should be 5 dice + a hit:

3 Natural attack dice

+1 for R1

+1 for his pilot ability

+1 added hit for the title

yeah misstyped

it's 5 reds and a hit for fearlessness (title is evade) and then 4 greens and an evade for title

only one focus makes that far less effective than the handful of dice would suggest

I'd still bet that the interceptor is the template here, meaning that the pricing will be similar. Not identical, but similar. Soontir is 27 points and the PS1 is 18, 9 lower->eight additional for pilot skill and one point for the pilot ability. Following this template, the PS1 Fang falls at 19, 9 less than Fenn Rau at 28, who is one point more than Soontir Fel.

Now, the differences in ships are also relevant, obviously, so it's not an exact science. But I expect a similar trend. I'd expect a 《mildly》 inferior dial on the Fang, and it has one more hit point. That hit point costs 3 points when bought separately, or about 2 or less points based on the existing trends on built in Hit Points. The dial is the unquantifiable variable here, and it will have the biggest impact. But I'd doubt that impact will vary the cost by more than a point or two because I'd really expect the Fang to be wrote maneuverable.

Another close consideration is the Kihraxz, which many disregard as the prevailing opinion is that it's clunky and inefficient. I bring it up as a comparison because it will be similarly costed and the cards in the Fang suggest the intent is a flexible joust with dodgy choices, as opposed to a dedicated dodger as most will play it. The Kihraxz is a dedicated jouster, so with similar roles and similar stats, the cost will be similar. I believe naked Kihraxz actually have a slight edge in efficiency, assuming the dials were identical (which they're not) and both ships simply joust. The extra hit point is generally more reliable than an extra defense die, barring defensive spikes that are few and far between. So, again, the variable we can't pin is the dial, as the Fang has notable similarities to both the Interceptor AND the Kihraxz, which is quite interesting in my opinion. It falls somewhere in between two vastly different ships, which is really cool design IMO.

Based on all of these points, and knowing that the Fang will most often be played on the dodger side if this analysis with the jouster mostly being the generics I'd say the PS1 is minimum 19, but 20 is more likely. Slightly more fragile, but more maneuverable than the Kihraxz, and likely slightly less maneuverable but more durable than an Interceptor, I think 20 points feels about right. Any higher is certainly over costed, but lower seems really aggressive.