Did the attack shuttle get lost in wave 8?

By nikk whyte, in X-Wing

  1. No reason to get a 2nd Ghost pack . Seriously there is none. No builds that have either 2 attack shuttles but most of all there are no builds that use 2 VCX. Those ships are expensive and they only work good with the title (that gives them an additional TLT attack now). However since the title is unique, you can only have one.

OH SNAP, them's fighting words right there. I know you've complained that you can't carry X-Wing on your motorcycle, but you will need to figure out a solution tonight because YOU'VE JUST THROWN DOWN A GAUNTLET, SIR, AND MY DOUBLE LOTHALS MUST ANSWER THE CALL!

Unless I'm flying Imperial Vets, which was my original plan.

  1. No reason to get a 2nd Ghost pack . Seriously there is none. No builds that have either 2 attack shuttles but most of all there are no builds that use 2 VCX. Those ships are expensive and they only work good with the title (that gives them an additional TLT attack now). However since the title is unique, you can only have one.

OH SNAP, them's fighting words right there. I know you've complained that you can't carry X-Wing on your motorcycle, but you will need to figure out a solution tonight because YOU'VE JUST THROWN DOWN A GAUNTLET, SIR, AND MY DOUBLE LOTHALS MUST ANSWER THE CALL!

Unless I'm flying Imperial Vets, which was my original plan.

I can think of far worse builds than those that use double lothals

Double lothals with FCS and autoblaster turrets with a little Prototype A-wing blocker have game against both major legs of the current meta [with enough room leftover for crew, esp hera and Ezra]

if my luck weren't so horrid that it necessitated guaranteed damage in every list I play, I'd run more double lothal + A-wing

ive noticed a lot of people seem to think you cant even take the shuttle without the ghost. That could be why you never see it.

Only shuttle pilot that is really good to me is Sabine. That pre-reveal boost or barrelroll...slap intel on her and you simply CANNOT get away from her. Had one guy do that 6 **** turns in a row to my vader lol...made **** sure he was always sitting right where i was trying to go. Only way i could escape was going to have autoblasters pointing at my butt so i never blasted off at full speed.

The others are...meh. Being able to dodge crits first is cool but not really that amazing.

The ability to dodge crits with the attack shuttle is terrible considering that it only has two hull in the first place. It will save you from those attacks where you took just enough damage to take a crit, but not enough to die outright. And he doesn't even have an EPT slot to carry him. You'll get much better mileage out of Ezra's super-tank ability. Zeb exists only as a way to enable the title for 18 points instead of 20.

  1. No reason to get a 2nd Ghost pack . Seriously there is none. No builds that have either 2 attack shuttles but most of all there are no builds that use 2 VCX. Those ships are expensive and they only work good with the title (that gives them an additional TLT attack now). However since the title is unique, you can only have one.

OH SNAP, them's fighting words right there. I know you've complained that you can't carry X-Wing on your motorcycle, but you will need to figure out a solution tonight because YOU'VE JUST THROWN DOWN A GAUNTLET, SIR, AND MY DOUBLE LOTHALS MUST ANSWER THE CALL!

Unless I'm flying Imperial Vets, which was my original plan.

I can think of far worse builds than those that use double lothals

Double lothals with FCS and autoblaster turrets with a little Prototype A-wing blocker have game against both major legs of the current meta [with enough room leftover for crew, esp hera and Ezra]

if my luck weren't so horrid that it necessitated guaranteed damage in every list I play, I'd run more double lothal + A-wing

I was using them for my regional squad. One with Hera, Dash, FCS, AB Turret, Plasma Torps and Chimps, the other with Chopper, Zeb, FCS and AB Turret, along with a Prototype blocker. I went 3-2 on the day, with both of my losses coming to a pair of skilled Palp Aces pilots who refused to allow me any good R1 shots.

It's a squad I still want to play with. I think the next variant will ditch the Plasma Torpedo, and use the points to upgrade Zeb to a Weapons Engineer. The ability to carry double TLs on a ship with FCS and a 4-dice primary could be effective.

ive noticed a lot of people seem to think you cant even take the shuttle without the ghost. That could be why you never see it.

Only shuttle pilot that is really good to me is Sabine. That pre-reveal boost or barrelroll...slap intel on her and you simply CANNOT get away from her. Had one guy do that 6 **** turns in a row to my vader lol...made **** sure he was always sitting right where i was trying to go. Only way i could escape was going to have autoblasters pointing at my butt so i never blasted off at full speed.

The others are...meh. Being able to dodge crits first is cool but not really that amazing.

I must be terrible with Sabine because Intel Agent rarely helps me since you have to decide to BR or Boost prior to looking at the opponent's dial *and* your maneuver is already set. And whichever one I pick, after I move, I always wished I picked the other one , or the other direction, because inevitably I'm in the wrong place :)

Edited by piznit

uh i think youre doing it wrong.

Intel Agent: At the start of the activation phase: i.e. before anybody reveals anything you look at a dial.

Sabine becomes active, but doesnt reveal her dial yet. Revealing your dial isnt what marks you as active, its just 99.9% of the time the first thing you do. She elects to boost or barrelroll then reveals dial.

They dont happen simo and even if they did you still pick which one happens when.

Also the ship has barrelroll naturally so you can somewhat modify your move if you were short by boosting and then barrelrolling into the right spot.

Its not guaranteed, you still have to predict where theyre going. Sabine ability + intel basically makes her base a lot wider without actually making it bigger.

Edited by Vineheart01

uh i think youre doing it wrong.

Intel Agent: At the start of the activation phase: i.e. before anybody reveals anything you look at a dial.

Sabine becomes active, but doesnt reveal her dial yet. Revealing your dial isnt what marks you as active, its just 99.9% of the time the first thing you do. She elects to boost or barrelroll then reveals dial.

They dont happen simo and even if they did you still pick which one happens when.

Also the ship has barrelroll naturally so you can somewhat modify your dial if you were short by boosting and then barrelrolling into the right spot.

Its not guaranteed, you still have to predict where theyre going. Sabine ability + intel basically makes her base a lot wider without actually making it bigger.

That's cool. Shows how much I play with/against Intel Agents. I always thought you looked at the opponent dial before you decided an action but after your maneuver. I suppose it much more useful the other way :)

The cost efficiency simply isn't good enough for any Attack Shuttle loadout that I have analyzed. The best one that I have seen is Ezra + TLT / PTL / Chewbacca crew, which has roughly the efficiency of a B-wing, but at PS4 with a turret. Against generic PS2 filler that ship would be very good, but generic PS2 filler has been left in the dust by newer, more powerful pilots. Without any additional capabilities, the Attack Shuttle is simply not cost efficient enough to keep up with the newer releases of ships such as:

  • U-Boats
  • Inquisitor
  • Omega Leader
  • Dengaroo

The Attack Shuttle pilots by themselves, without upgrades, are slightly subpar compared to generic filler ships (B-wings, Z-95, TIE's, Y-wing TLTs). Their lack of competitive play was clearly predicted before launch by the raw numbers. The Ezra loadout above could have been good if not for the game's overall inflation of the power curve due to the aforementioned ships.

Well, there are a few things that are holding it back, besides better options on the table.

  • Fairly weak stat line . Now go ahead and say how can firepower 3 be a weak stat line and I will point to TIE Defender and TIE Interceptor before their aces/veterans pack. The stat-line is nothing more than a Z-95 Headhunter with 1 more firepower.
  • No multiple builds , Not just talking that you have to buy 2-4 of one of the most expensive expansion packs out there to get more than one attack shuttle but the attack shuttle has no unique pilots. So in order to build around an attack shuttle you need either an ACE a high Pilot Skill ship that you can build your list around. If you cant get that then getting a build you can copy will work (like contracted scouts or brobots w/title) However that is impossible to do with 4 different pilots all at 4 different pilot skills.
  • No reason to get a 2nd Ghost pack . Seriously there is none. No builds that have either 2 attack shuttles but most of all there are no builds that use 2 VCX. Those ships are expensive and they only work good with the title (that gives them an additional TLT attack now). However since the title is unique, you can only have one.
So yeah there is no attack shuttle list, because you can't build either an ACE and you can't copy a good Attack shuttle build. Also since there is no multiple VCX builds people won't buy a 2nd ghost pack so it is very unlikely that people will have a couple of attack shuttles to play around with. Also Z-95s die easy and 4 attack shuttles won't last half as long as a TIE swarm.

No dual vcx builds is about as inaccurate a statement as one could make. Dual-vcx is strong and very easy to play well. It's 8-10 attack dice behind 32hp. And one with hera crew and fcs has one of the best dials in the game and doesn't cage about stress.

Zeb's ability is essentially flavor text; he's there to cheaply enable Ghost/Phantom and nothing more

Ezra has the best dice modification, but the horrible dial necessitates TLT to compensate. With PTL, you're looking a defensive focus + evade and an offensive focus for mods on a 29 point platform. Not the worst I imagine, but nothing absolutely inspiring either

Sabine shuttle is indeed a glorious blocker

Hera I can't fathom a use for

During Regionals I played:

VI hera with tlt and tactician... better than you would think it is. Although now that build is gone.

I brought Ezra to regionals with elusiveness, chewbacca and autoblaster turret and he was incredibly tough in every game but 1 where his green dice decided they were going to be nothing but blanks. In a couple of games he was easily the mvp of the list.

I love this little ship. It's like a HWK and an X-wing mixed. It turns out that's a pretty dang good combo.

They took the HWK dial, added red turns where there where none at all, then threw a K-turn on it. Not amazing, but not bad.

As far as cost, take a base HWK, drop one HP and target lock, add barell roll, evade, +1 PS, a (mostly meaningless) pilot ability, and 2 attack dice! Would you pay 2 points more for all that? You should.

Lol!!

They took the HWK and then..and then...and then...and then... :) )

Sorry but the Attack shuttle has NOTHING in common with the HWK except for the crew slot

Nothing in common except it's upgrade bar, similar cost, and a nearly identical dial if you stick exclusively to white maneuvers.

People seem only to be able to compare it to the Z-95. I get that it has pretty similar stats but that's a narrow view of it. Sure it costs completely different, has no upgrades in common, moves differently, and has a completely different battlefield role, but that comparison is worthwhile but a HWK isn't?

The hwk's use is almost entirely centered around its pilot abilities. I guess you can compare the Attack shuttle to a rebel operative, but who runs a rebel operative?

Nobody, because they're bad. That is exactly my point.

Just not sure why people think it should only be compared to Zs. It has more in common with a TIE phantom than a Z-95.

  1. No reason to get a 2nd Ghost pack . Seriously there is none. No builds that have either 2 attack shuttles but most of all there are no builds that use 2 VCX. Those ships are expensive and they only work good with the title (that gives them an additional TLT attack now). However since the title is unique, you can only have one.

OH SNAP, them's fighting words right there. I know you've complained that you can't carry X-Wing on your motorcycle, but you will need to figure out a solution tonight because YOU'VE JUST THROWN DOWN A GAUNTLET, SIR, AND MY DOUBLE LOTHALS MUST ANSWER THE CALL!

Unless I'm flying Imperial Vets, which was my original plan.

I can think of far worse builds than those that use double lothals

Double lothals with FCS and autoblaster turrets with a little Prototype A-wing blocker have game against both major legs of the current meta [with enough room leftover for crew, esp hera and Ezra]

if my luck weren't so horrid that it necessitated guaranteed damage in every list I play, I'd run more double lothal + A-wing

Double vcx with a Y-wing won the Massachusetts regionals. And beat the tar out of my pocket Palp aces build.

Edited by SamTheJ