So there's a new torpedo in Wave 9 that is fired with an Action, rather than an attack.

Knowing that that's a thing that FFG is willing to allow to exist, makes me REALLY wish that Tractor Beams were Actions instead of Attacks.

Because, really, the whole point of starfighter Tractor Beams was to hold ships so you could shoot them, which, currently, only the TIE/D is able to do in this game.

If the Tractor Beam had been an Action instead, then any ship with one would have been able to use it to slow the enemy down so they could shoot them.

I doubt you fire it with action, I think you need just an action if you want to rotate your mobile firing arc

What torpedo are we talking about?

My guess is that it is going to be something very much like a mine, but taking the Torpedo slot.

It makes sense, but then it does not. Your reasoning is sound, and I was about to jump on that hayride, but then you have to compare it to other actions.

TL: reroll attack / focus:eyeballs. / evade: bye, die / Tractor: minus green, plus denial of arc/range/attack/rock damage/etc.

It's too much for an action, I think. Unless you're justifying the points of a tie d (I heart defender titles).

"So there's a new torpedo in Wave 9 that is fired with an Action". Oops. I think I missed the point. With that reasoning: Mines get action (prox), torps get action (new torp), and turrets get an action (tractor). I can dig it. But ion would perhaps be a better candidate?

What torpedo are we talking about?

There is a half-covered torpedo-card in the ARC-170 spread which starts with "Action"

If it is what I think it is, the Torp doesn't attack ships but rather affects an open area like a bomb using an obstacle token.

No, because there's no token associated with it in the box. If it was a long-range "fired" bomb, there'd be the bomb rules card and a token to place to draw range from. The only rules card is the auxiliary firing arc.

Reading what we can, it says:

"Action: blah blah blah

to choose blah blah blah

Range 1 - blah blah blah

Primary Firing blah blah blah

Range 1 blah blah blah

1 attack blah blah blah

damage [boom] blah blah blah

[kaboom] rolled blah blah blah"

Essentially - spend your action, pick someone within range 1-(probably 2) and discard the card. The target and everyone within range 1 takes 1 attack die. Which is nice, because (like mines) there's no allowance for dodging it.

It's not an attack, so no guidance chips, and no killing stealth, but that's still potentially very nasty. Depending on the cost, cheap torpedo bombers are going to love this.

And most likely it makes you skip your firing in combat phase after using. now its time to think howthis interacts with extra munitions...

And most likely it makes you skip your firing in combat phase after using. now its time to think howthis interacts with extra munitions...

It would probably let you do it... twice?

Hmm, wording says discard, not "use attack"so should be good

If the tractor beam was an action, I could see B-wing spam returning. Blues with FCS and tractor for 25 makes them that much more dangerous, and arguably too much so. You could easily reduce any ship in the game to effectively zero agility before the shooting phase even started. Your pimped out Soontir, Rex, or Whisper are all (literally) defenceless. Sure, you might take out one of the Bs before they got to fire, but the trade would be in their favour.

There'd have to be at least some way to potentially avoid it, or trade-off the ability to attack for the ability to simply give a tractor token to a ship. Tractor action, then fire, is simply a bit too strong.

Now that we have both "Seismic Charge" (bomb) and what looks like Seismic Torpedo - maybe we'll eventually get a Seismic Cannon or Seismic Missile? The trend does seem to be for prefixes to be available in a wide range of weapon types.

Ion Bomb, Ion Torpedo, Ion (pulse) Missile, Ion Cannon, Ion (cannon) Turret being an obvious example.

bleh

it was almost interesting, but if it's die dependent it's almost certainly going to do nothing

Now that we have both "Seismic Charge" (bomb) and what looks like Seismic Torpedo - maybe we'll eventually get a Seismic Cannon or Seismic Missile? The trend does seem to be for prefixes to be available in a wide range of weapon types.

Ion Bomb, Ion Torpedo, Ion (pulse) Missile, Ion Cannon, Ion (cannon) Turret being an obvious example.

I think Seeking Torpedo makes more sense considering it is an anti-ace weapon.

Hoping it a decent option for Fenn. They make him want to be in range 1, give him 3 agility, then give him a torp slot not a missile. The guy was made for Prockets

What torpedo are we talking about?

Seismic Torpedoes.

hope it's defined as an attack

g-chips need it to be an attack to work on it

I think Seeking Torpedo makes more sense considering it is an anti-ace weapon.

True - and seeker torpedoes existed in the Legendsverse thousands of years before ANH:

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Seeker-torpedo

I could ae the action as "arming the weapon" Kindof like a built in deadeye but not

it could be a long-range torpedo, and the action is because youre placing a token rather than actually attacking. First ship it hits gets the damage, and it can be shot down.

Still surprised we didnt get any beyond range3 weapons with the Imp Vets to work with the longrange scanners.

It will all make sense when we can read the whole card.

Somehow, I think this card will do something different. Like Extra Munitions isn't exactly the weapon but something that enhances ordinance with a certain effect.

Looks like it says Attack to me.

Wait, no, it is Action.

Doesn't mean it's a secondary weapon though.

I say let's wait to see what the card says. It's hard to speculate at this point.

Because, really, the whole point of starfighter Tractor Beams was to hold ships so you could shoot them, which, currently, only the TIE/D is able to do in this game.

If the Tractor Beam had been an Action instead, then any ship with one would have been able to use it to slow the enemy down so they could shoot them.

The Shadow Caster will get to do funky stuff with Tractor Beams. Not just that, but advanced TB that doesn't go away! Now, that's cool.

While only the Tie Defender /D will soon be the only ship that can TB and fire, there are ships that can use a TB to good effect. A Heavy Scyk is only 17 pts for the cheapest version. 3 pts onto total of a Scyk to get it. It's especially good if you have a fair number of ships in your list instead of just 3.

There'd have to be at least some way to potentially avoid it

There is. The same way you avoid all attacks. Tractor Beams still have attack rolls and are still fired from firing arcs.