You actually can always spend a focus, even if there aren't any dice to be modified. They FAQ'd that a while back to help out Garven Dreis and Keyan Farlander. In other words, this upgrade is a hard counter to Poe. May actually see him running Sensor Cluster if HSCP becomes very common, that way he can get some benefit when it triggers.

By Jove, he's right. This is mega sucky for Poe. Hopefully the points cost and the crew slot put everyone off....

or you can use Biggs

don't need to care about spending the focus if you're not getting shot at

But you would have to spend it if you fired at the ship with HSCP, killing any prospect of using R5-P9. So budget Poe is effectively neutered against HSCP.

like I said

while you have Biggs, who cares?

"no one! I can't regenerate the damage I havn't taken!"

You actually can always spend a focus, even if there aren't any dice to be modified. They FAQ'd that a while back to help out Garven Dreis and Keyan Farlander. In other words, this upgrade is a hard counter to Poe. May actually see him running Sensor Cluster if HSCP becomes very common, that way he can get some benefit when it triggers.

By Jove, he's right. This is mega sucky for Poe. Hopefully the points cost and the crew slot put everyone off....

or you can use Biggs

don't need to care about spending the focus if you're not getting shot at

But you would have to spend it if you fired at the ship with HSCP, killing any prospect of using R5-P9. So budget Poe is effectively neutered against HSCP.

like I said

while you have Biggs, who cares?

"no one! I can't regenerate the damage I havn't taken!"

Because there's no way Biggs gets killed and then Poe gets shot within the same round?

Wait.

i wouldnt really be all that worried about Poe facing HSCP. Due to its price it kinda limited on where its a valid option. I'd slap it on a tie shuttle in a heartbeat if it wasnt too expensive to do so.

i wouldnt really be all that worried about Poe facing HSCP. Due to its price it kinda limited on where its a valid option. I'd slap it on a tie shuttle in a heartbeat if it wasnt too expensive to do so.

It's not.

It costs 4, TIE shuttles can take crew costing 4 or less.

Unless you mean it's too expensive as a value judgement, in which case that's a better argument.

You actually can always spend a focus, even if there aren't any dice to be modified. They FAQ'd that a while back to help out Garven Dreis and Keyan Farlander. In other words, this upgrade is a hard counter to Poe. May actually see him running Sensor Cluster if HSCP becomes very common, that way he can get some benefit when it triggers.

By Jove, he's right. This is mega sucky for Poe. Hopefully the points cost and the crew slot put everyone off....

or you can use Biggs

don't need to care about spending the focus if you're not getting shot at

But you would have to spend it if you fired at the ship with HSCP, killing any prospect of using R5-P9. So budget Poe is effectively neutered against HSCP.

like I said

while you have Biggs, who cares?

"no one! I can't regenerate the damage I havn't taken!"

True, Biggs will spare you a round of fire. Can you take out the ship with HSCP in one round though? It's not unreasonable to have Biggs go down in one round.

Note that it doesnt say you spend a focus for no reason. You still get the benefits from said focus or choose on what you spend it on. You just cant opt out of it, unless you are unable to use it obviously (Jax is around or denied dice mods).

They'd still have a focus against the huge ships. They just wouldnt be able to keep it for defense if they rolled well and didnt need it.

Pretty sure that's what it does. Opponent has to spend it. Not use it. It means they have to discard a focus token if they attack or defend before doing anything else.

Against a 2 ship list, you have to get pretty unlucky to lose biggs in 1 round

Outside fat pwt garbage, hotshot wont find a lot of room

Maybe on Uwings (cheapest 2 crew platform that aint a lambda) with gunner? 9 points is still a lot. A path finder already hits 32 with that; 34 with fcs

Guess the bomber is cheaper but at two dice it is a piddly pos

Note that it doesnt say you spend a focus for no reason. You still get the benefits from said focus or choose on what you spend it on. You just cant opt out of it, unless you are unable to use it obviously (Jax is around or denied dice mods).

They'd still have a focus against the huge ships. They just wouldnt be able to keep it for defense if they rolled well and didnt need it.

Pretty sure that's what it does. Opponent has to spend it. Not use it. It means they have to discard a focus token if they attack or defend before doing anything else.

spending does mean they use it.....

if it required them to discard it, it would say remove or unassign. Literally ANY rule that uses a focus token says "You many spend a focus token to...."

On that note, it does not say "You must spend a focus token to attack the ship with this upgrade" - the player spending the focus may use it and get the benefits out of it as they please, but they cannot opt out of using it.

HSCP fits perfectly on Palob. Ran him with Mindlink, ABT, HSCP, Cloak & Styg (31). Makes an already annoying ship downright obnoxious. The rest of the list was Manny & Fenn, both Mindlinked of course.

Note that it doesnt say you spend a focus for no reason. You still get the benefits from said focus or choose on what you spend it on. You just cant opt out of it, unless you are unable to use it obviously (Jax is around or denied dice mods).

They'd still have a focus against the huge ships. They just wouldnt be able to keep it for defense if they rolled well and didnt need it.

Pretty sure that's what it does. Opponent has to spend it. Not use it. It means they have to discard a focus token if they attack or defend before doing anything else.

spending does mean they use it.....

if it required them to discard it, it would say remove or unassign. Literally ANY rule that uses a focus token says "You many spend a focus token to...."

On that note, it does not say "You must spend a focus token to attack the ship with this upgrade" - the player spending the focus may use it and get the benefits out of it as they please, but they cannot opt out of using it.

Seems pretty expensive upgrade to force to do something he would most likely do anyway.

Note that it doesnt say you spend a focus for no reason. You still get the benefits from said focus or choose on what you spend it on. You just cant opt out of it, unless you are unable to use it obviously (Jax is around or denied dice mods).

They'd still have a focus against the huge ships. They just wouldnt be able to keep it for defense if they rolled well and didnt need it.

Pretty sure that's what it does. Opponent has to spend it. Not use it. It means they have to discard a focus token if they attack or defend before doing anything else.

spending does mean they use it.....

if it required them to discard it, it would say remove or unassign. Literally ANY rule that uses a focus token says "You many spend a focus token to...."

On that note, it does not say "You must spend a focus token to attack the ship with this upgrade" - the player spending the focus may use it and get the benefits out of it as they please, but they cannot opt out of using it.

Seems pretty expensive upgrade to force to do something he would most likely do anyway.

There are many scenarios that are not worth spending a focus token. To name a few:

- Attacking and you roll all blanks and one focus

- Defending and you rolled enough natural evades to not need to spend your focus

- Defending against gunner and you roll enough evades to suffer exactly 1 damage

Not to mention the fact that you can spend a focus and flip no eyeballs. Opening up a plethora of possibilities like:

- Attacking and you roll all blanks

- Defending and you roll all blanks

Removing choices from your opponent is never a bad thing, especially if you're removing good choices.

HSCP fits perfectly on Palob. Ran him with Mindlink, ABT, HSCP, Cloak & Styg (31). Makes an already annoying ship downright obnoxious. The rest of the list was Manny & Fenn, both Mindlinked of course.

I would use this any day if secondary weapons triggered it, but having to use a primary weapon kills any abuse that ABT would have allowed.

Note that it doesnt say you spend a focus for no reason. You still get the benefits from said focus or choose on what you spend it on. You just cant opt out of it, unless you are unable to use it obviously (Jax is around or denied dice mods).

They'd still have a focus against the huge ships. They just wouldnt be able to keep it for defense if they rolled well and didnt need it.

Pretty sure that's what it does. Opponent has to spend it. Not use it. It means they have to discard a focus token if they attack or defend before doing anything else.

spending does mean they use it.....

if it required them to discard it, it would say remove or unassign. Literally ANY rule that uses a focus token says "You many spend a focus token to...."

On that note, it does not say "You must spend a focus token to attack the ship with this upgrade" - the player spending the focus may use it and get the benefits out of it as they please, but they cannot opt out of using it.

Seems pretty expensive upgrade to force to do something he would most likely do anyway.

Not remotely. It's very frequent that I want to retain a focus token I've taken for defence - either because I didn't roll any eyeballs, or because I need it for defence, and vice versa.

And that's not taking into account the interaction with Gunner...

Note that it doesnt say you spend a focus for no reason. You still get the benefits from said focus or choose on what you spend it on. You just cant opt out of it, unless you are unable to use it obviously (Jax is around or denied dice mods).

They'd still have a focus against the huge ships. They just wouldnt be able to keep it for defense if they rolled well and didnt need it.

Pretty sure that's what it does. Opponent has to spend it. Not use it. It means they have to discard a focus token if they attack or defend before doing anything else.

spending does mean they use it.....

if it required them to discard it, it would say remove or unassign. Literally ANY rule that uses a focus token says "You many spend a focus token to...."

On that note, it does not say "You must spend a focus token to attack the ship with this upgrade" - the player spending the focus may use it and get the benefits out of it as they please, but they cannot opt out of using it.

Seems pretty expensive upgrade to force to do something he would most likely do anyway.

Not remotely. It's very frequent that I want to retain a focus token I've taken for defence - either because I didn't roll any eyeballs, or because I need it for defence, and vice versa.

And that's not taking into account the interaction with Gunner...

But paying 4 points and taking the crew slot for that?

How bout something like this?

HSCP fits perfectly on Palob. Ran him with Mindlink, ABT, HSCP, Cloak & Styg (31). Makes an already annoying ship downright obnoxious. The rest of the list was Manny & Fenn, both Mindlinked of course.

I would use this any day if secondary weapons triggered it, but having to use a primary weapon kills any abuse that ABT would have allowed.

At range 2-3, that 1 die primary shot becomes far more relevant. The great thing about the card is that it works when he gets shot as well. That should not be overlooked. Palob garners more hate than most other pilots, so adding a reason NOT to shoot him is worth all 4 points IMO

Note that it doesnt say you spend a focus for no reason. You still get the benefits from said focus or choose on what you spend it on. You just cant opt out of it, unless you are unable to use it obviously (Jax is around or denied dice mods).

They'd still have a focus against the huge ships. They just wouldnt be able to keep it for defense if they rolled well and didnt need it.

Pretty sure that's what it does. Opponent has to spend it. Not use it. It means they have to discard a focus token if they attack or defend before doing anything else.

spending does mean they use it.....

if it required them to discard it, it would say remove or unassign. Literally ANY rule that uses a focus token says "You many spend a focus token to...."

On that note, it does not say "You must spend a focus token to attack the ship with this upgrade" - the player spending the focus may use it and get the benefits out of it as they please, but they cannot opt out of using it.

Seems pretty expensive upgrade to force to do something he would most likely do anyway.

Not remotely. It's very frequent that I want to retain a focus token I've taken for defence - either because I didn't roll any eyeballs, or because I need it for defence, and vice versa.

And that's not taking into account the interaction with Gunner...

But paying 4 points and taking the crew slot for that?

Yes.

Consider: One of the things that makes /x7s so difficult to kill is that they suaully have a focus and an evade token every round.

If they loser the focus, guaranteed, when they shoot at you, they're now defending only with an evade and their chance to dodge goes way down.

The Gunner interaction is even better - Gunner is usually there to strip tokens from high defence ships so that the second shot is more likely to be effective. This guarantees that the focus token gets stripped.

Removing focus tokens is extremely powerful and well worth the cost, in the right context.

I'm thinking Patrol Leader/Vader/Gunner/HotCoP as the core of an interesting build at the moment. Or, as noted upthread, Latts/HotCoP/Gunner/Bossk.

I really kinda want to put him on Torkil Mux and run it along side Palob. Probably it competative, but oh, the trolling fun.

Epic ships are the big winners with this crew. Because if opponent want to modify dice to attack your huge ships, they need to take a target lock, which means they have no focus for defense, so your other ships can more easily kill them.

those are huge winners*

Sorry, I don't understand why a ship must take a target lock instead of a focus to attack a huge ship?

Opportunist anyone?

Rear Admiral Chiraneau (46)
Opportunist (4)
Gunner (5)
Hotshot Co-pilot (4)
Engine Upgrade (4)

Total: 63

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

4 or 5 dice Chiraneau sounds pretty nasty.

Or the Rebel version:

Rey (45)
Opportunist (4)
Luke Skywalker (7)
Hotshot Co-pilot (4)
Engine Upgrade (4)
Millennium Falcon (TFA) (1)

Total: 65

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Don't get caught in that front arc.

Ooh, yeah, Opportunist is a nice combo. Opportunist/HotCoP/Gunner/Vader. Or Bossk/Opportunist/Gunner/HotCoP/Ops Spec. Dodge this, Defenders...

The more I look at this crew the more I like it...

Herm... I don't know how much play this card will actually see. Sure, it's good, but keep in mind that it's essentially a nerfed form of Wes' ability in today's meta. Sure, Wes doesn't have the "when defending" clause, but against 2-3 ship lists, it's essentially the same thing. And Wes sees some limited play time, and he can even remove evade and TL tokens as well. While he is on a sub-par ship, and you pay 2 points for Wes' ability, the T-65 is only ~1pt too expensive, so you're really paying 3 points for his ability instead of 4 for HSCP. Don't get me wrong, there will be uses, and the fact that you can now put his ability and combo it with others (Gunner for example) will open more combinations. But I doubt it's going to make Opportunist viable, or Juke swarms a thing (short of the random representation they had during the regional season already).

Herm... I don't know how much play this card will actually see. Sure, it's good, but keep in mind that it's essentially a nerfed form of Wes' ability in today's meta. Sure, Wes doesn't have the "when defending" clause, but against 2-3 ship lists, it's essentially the same thing. And Wes sees some limited play time, and he can even remove evade and TL tokens as well. While he is on a sub-par ship, and you pay 2 points for Wes' ability, the T-65 is only ~1pt too expensive, so you're really paying 3 points for his ability instead of 4 for HSCP. Don't get me wrong, there will be uses, and the fact that you can now put his ability and combo it with others (Gunner for example) will open more combinations. But I doubt it's going to make Opportunist viable, or Juke swarms a thing (short of the random representation they had during the regional season already).

I can see where you're coming from, but I disagree with your conclusion. This may not be a top-tier card, but there are some notable combos that aren't to be discounted. Namely, a fat turret greatly enhances the strength of this card. Being able to choose a target in any direction and force them to use a focus is going to be nasty. Specifically, I think using this as on a fat turret to counter another fat turret will be its strongest use. It's easy to imagine Rey stripping a token from RAC, who already can't benefit from a focus on defense.

My hunch says this will most likely see use in 2-3 ship builds, and is most powerful against 2-3 ship builds. When the ship count gets high on either side, it loses effectiveness (either fewer 3/4 dice attacks or reduced effect of stripping one ship of a token.) Offense is the key, and Defense is a bonus.

*Quick note: this attitude may be why my games are normally so bloody.

i dont think ive had a single game where a situation didnt arise where you either never had the opportunity to use a focus (blanks) or didnt need it (rolled like a boss).

HSCP makes them spend it anyway in these situations. If it was spending a focus before rolling dice, it would not only say so but then this guy would EASILY be an 8pt crew because it works both ways: you attack him, spend a focus before rolling, or he attacks you and YOU must spend a token before YOU roll defense.

That would be outright broken at 4pts. Any ship with him would require focus stacking to face. If it was only defense, i could see it at 4pts because then you simply ignore him. But you have to deal with him because he will just rip focus tokens off you free of any rebuttal and your defense would also be hampered. He still strips focus like that, but you atleast get to evade his shots if you roll eyeballs.

The counter play to HSCP is the Evade or TL action. So basically, any ship that relies on a focus to be used WHEN THEY WANT and not when they don't want will be hurting. Of course, there will be many times an opponent WANTED to spend a focus on attack or defense (if they roll focus), so many times it won't earn value.

Also, since it works on defensw, it is good for both low PS and high PS ships.