Wave 9 didn't have much for me. While I like the tactical maneuvering best in this game, I knew from playing with and against Firesprays that rear arcs were surprisingly boring. The expanded arc of the Hound's Tooth is more fun and a simple 360° firing is much simpler and fun occasionally. So I gave the Tie/Sf a play in proxy and it was only kinda fun; not worth getting. I haven't tried the Shadow Caster yet, but really it's just Rigged Cargo and Sesimic Torpedos that have my excitement.
This Wave is much more exciting. I'm not a Star Wars fan, so I'd much rather have ships look cool than be familiar , and gameplay is much more important to me than aesthetics. The Epsilon shuttle, Sabine's Tie and Quadjumper all look appealing to me, unlike the hideous Shadow Caster.
The designs look good too. I think the coordinate action on the shuttle is a simple addition that will work wonders as a support ship, since it seems like it will often neither attack nor defend and would rather have its action go to another ship. I like how Kylo's pilot ability discourages attacking. Kylo's condition looks like it'd be fun to play around with, and I look forward to chasing frightened foes out of my 4-dice arc.
The quadjumper looks like a cheap ship that won't last too long, but would make a neat blocker, especially with Unjar as the Pilot (bumping a ship and messing with its movement sounds like fun
) But a Score to Settle not only looks like the fun of Agent Kallus, on almost any ship (as an unrestricted elite pilot talent), with a little Mangler Cannon action built in, but I'm excited to see what the condition does.
The main thing that concerns me about this wave is the complexity creep. It's clear that the simple design space has been totally exhausted, hence the scum tie interceptor with tallon rolls and some bonuses for jousting last wave, and the millionith card that modifies attack and/or defense dice in way x under condition z with cost y. If Fantasy Flight Games wants to keep selling expansions, then they have no choice but to keep adding rules so they can have more special abilities that interact with those rules. Conditions are a good choice for a mechanic that's only moderately complicated with a lot of potential for designs.
Still, imagine yourself as a new player who's playing in their first tournament after playing the core set. In any given game, you could have to figure out tractor beam tokens from bumping this ship but also from being in Range 1-2 of this ship's rotating firing arc (another mechanic to learn) and also have to understand dropping a debris field and the difference between debris and asteroids while they're still trying to wrap their heads around asteroids and a cloaking device thanks to an upgrade that might get discarded at the end of the round and conditions and modifications and titles and dual cards and ion tokens and how mines work. And then have to process ten different pilot abilities and upgrade cards.*
It's a lot to handle all at once and I think it will seriously hurt new player acquisition.
Also, we're reaching the threshold where there are so many special abilities that the game becomes more about combining special abilities than it is about flying ships. The game will be played more and more in the squad building step than in the actual game, making having the right cards more important than player skill. See Dengaroo as a list based on special ability synergies; these will become more common.
I'm also miffed that faction differentiation, which is very important in promoting diversity in squad lists, is further undermined by giving a tie fighter and illicit upgrade slot to Rebels. Rebels and Scum need to play differently; they shouldn't be drawing from a very similar upgrade pool. Rebels and Imperials need to play differently; they shouldn't both have cheap, maneuverable, disposable ships. It's bad enough that most upgrades are faction-neutral. Imagine how different the factions would play if Push the Limit and Predator were Imperial only, if Connor Net and Veteran Instincts and Deadeye were Rebel only, like how Glitterstim and Inertial Dampeners and Hot Shot Blaster and Rigged Cargo are Scum only– oh wait. This needs to stop.
*Easily accomplished with Unjar Plutt in Quadjumper with Connor Net and Cloaking Device, Shadow Caster with Rigged Cargo, Gyrostabilizer, Adaptability, and Shadow Caster Title, other assorted upgrades and pilot abilities.
