So I remember an interview with Alex Davy a while back where he talked about the development cycle for X-wing products being 18 months long between conceptual design, playtesting and release.

The wave 9 and Heroes of the Resistance material includes 3 ships and multiple pilots that have only existed since December of last year.

To be fair the TIE/sf has probably been in development since it was first featured in the second Force Awakens trailer.

That leaves several possibilities open:

1. The development cycle has been shortened
2. The FFG design team kicks around ideas independent of what the final product will be (i.e. they might repurpose a rules design for the TIE Aggressor into the TIE/sf)
3. We will see some changes to the costs or text of the few cards that we have had spoiled for wave 9.

I do seem to remember Scum Boba Fett's pilot cost being raised between his initial preview and the final product.

Discuss

So I remember an interview with Alex Davy a while back where he talked about the development cycle for X-wing products being 18 months long between conceptual design, playtesting and release.

The wave 9 and Heroes of the Resistance material includes 3 ships and multiple pilots that have only existed since December of last year.

To be fair the TIE/sf has probably been in development since it was first featured in the second Force Awakens trailer.

That leaves several possibilities open:

1. The development cycle has been shortened
2. The FFG design team kicks around ideas independent of what the final product will be (i.e. they might repurpose a rules design for the TIE Aggressor into the TIE/sf)
3. We will see some changes to the costs or text of the few cards that we have had spoiled for wave 9.

I do seem to remember Scum Boba Fett's pilot cost being raised between his initial preview and the final product.

Discuss

For heroes of the resistance, they're just adding new pilots and upgrades to existing ships. Probably a lot easier development cycle than creating whole new ships.

So I remember an interview with Alex Davy a while back where he talked about the development cycle for X-wing products being 18 months long between conceptual design, playtesting and release.

The wave 9 and Heroes of the Resistance material includes 3 ships and multiple pilots that have only existed since December of last year.

To be fair the TIE/sf has probably been in development since it was first featured in the second Force Awakens trailer.

That leaves several possibilities open:

1. The development cycle has been shortened
2. The FFG design team kicks around ideas independent of what the final product will be (i.e. they might repurpose a rules design for the TIE Aggressor into the TIE/sf)
3. We will see some changes to the costs or text of the few cards that we have had spoiled for wave 9.

I do seem to remember Scum Boba Fett's pilot cost being raised between his initial preview and the final product.

Discuss

I think it's a combination of (2) and (4). That is:

4. As a result of Disney's licensing arm being much larger in scope than LucasFilm's was, FFG is getting closer to 'inside information' about upcoming products, allowing them to start work on them MUCH sooner than they could in the past*.

* We have at least partial confirmation of this, in that FFG had commented late last year they were already working on Rogue One ships - and we won't see those for another 6 months or so.

But I think #2 is a good bet, too. FFG is almost certainly working on upgrade cards that are mechanics the game needs - with no real idea where or when they'd get a chance to release them. For example, the new moving fire arcs. And the TIE/sf as possibly a drop-in replacement for the TIE Aggressor is not a bad guess, either. So when it comes time to release a new product, FFG looks at the pool of what mechanics they've been testing for upgrades, and see what is the best fit for the new pilot/tech/ship/etc (based on whatever information Disney gives them about it), and runs with that.

Important to keep in mind that these new ships are not on the shelf yet, either. Could be as early as GenCon, could be as late as Thanksgiving or Christmas. It's certainly possible it's been shortened, but they'll have had ample time by the time it reaches shelves. Definitely important to note, however, that once we've seen any cards from a release, then that release has completed playtesting. The next release is in heavy development.

I'd imagine they have ships ImpX, ImpY, ScumG, Rebel5, etc. and they match it with an actual ship/model when the time comes.