All right, I know it has been mentioned in the various Wave 10 and Preview Threads, but Inspiring Recruit and Rage make a cheap, powerful combo that I think we've barely touched on. As a longtime Psycho Tycho fan, I'm downright giddy. And unless the search function has failed me (for the last time...again...), there's a whole lot to chew through.

On top of streamlined powerhouses like the 40 point Contracted Scout/Unhinged/Rage/Recruit someone pointed out, there's a whole lot of wondrous interactions even excluding the possibility of plopping the recruit on a dedicated support ship:

Ships with the System Slot can grab Electronic Baffle (also dirt cheap) to expand their maneuverability options before/after raging since the triggers permit Recruit to clear both stress for one damage. There may be errata on this or exact card wording might change (or I might just be wrong), but until then, it's nasty. Advanced Sensors also opens up some intriguing possibilities with pilots/other ships that grant combat-phase bonus actions, (rage, green, clear both, unstressed for bonus options or other ability triggers). Might be too expensive but could work well in a few niche situations.

Sadly B-Wings lack EPT generics, but this could be a huge boon to the Gand Findsman and G1A in general, whose Illicit and open Mod slots allow for further shenanigans (Range 1 Zuckuss Dampeners/Baffle, Rage Baffle again, nuclear facepunch/tractor out of having a shot, K-Turn and repeat). The native Evade could also make a couple Findsmen good companions for a Swarm Leader, which could then deliver some significant punishment on their own. I could also see some devastating and thematically appropriate Kylo Ren murder-buses (depending on Dial) given the wealth of other potent upgrade slots they can leverage.

Could also be versatile if not a little pricey on a Shadowcaster, which could threaten enemy moves with a powerful Damp/Stim deterrent on top of its decent primary attack, or Cassian to make a Raging Support U-Wing (Kanan, Recruit, Rage, Baffle) with serious bite for a measly 33 points. Plus some moderately fierce Attack Shuttles (Ezra being of particular note).

Plus simple buffs to existing standbys. Hera-wearing Lothal Rebels that might someday take another action (especially if the YT1850+/-550 next to them doesn't need it's Kanan that turn)! Zuckuss crew leaving options open! A cheap way to use Mandalorian Mercs! Downright horrifying RAC! Not to mention Rage has no primary limitation, and so can punch up Ordnance and Cannon carriers as well.

I'm sure only a couple of these concept will survive the competitive efficiency grinder, but I would be surprised if at least one of them didn't claw its way into the meta in a couple weeks.

So how wrong am I? How DoA is Wave 10 and everything in it? Alternatively, what brutal builds or full squadron combos are you working on? Do you think the Recruit will find his home on a cheap support platform worked into a more conventional squad, small semi-efficient Rage cannons, or tweaks to existing 'fat' ships?

Wave 10 looks kinda fun for the Rebels. The U-wing is not a powerhouse but a toolbox. It is a cheapish transport with a whole load of options. I think it is better than the Lambda although Rebels lack a "Palpatine" to ferry about. I think it will show in lists in a support role.

Sabine's Tie looks even more fun and the 2 expansions between them bring a lot of cheap transport slots for the Rebels. Given the number of Rebel characters with good abilities, this is never a bad thing.

The Striker looks a little harder to judge. On paper it seems on-par with the generic Tie Interceptors which would seem DOA but some of the pilots have sufficiently interesting abilities to warrant further investigation. Countdown in particular seems to be built as a big-game hunter.

The Upsilon shuttle looks like a bigger, better (but costlier) lambda. Some of the upgrade cards look tempting but I am not sure about the ship itself.

I don't play Scum so have no particular feelings on the Quadjumper.

I'm really looking forward to Making Rexler Great Again. Auto hit with the Tractor beam thanks to Hux. Hit again with your Primary, potentially turning a bunch of hits to crits. Now Chirpy can attempt to apply that Kylo crit against a ship with -1 agility. Dauntless provides bump blocking for the Hux action.

Hux's Tractor(100)

Rear Admiral Chiraneau (60) - VT-49 Decimator

Predator (3)

Kylo Ren (3)

Inspiring Recruit (1)

General Hux (5)

Dauntless (2)

Rexler Brath (40) - TIE Defender

Rage (1)

Tractor Beam (1)

TIE/D (0)

Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)

problem with gand finds-men is that mindlink seems to be a much better deal overall

for only one more point than rage + inspiring, a gaggle of FCS mindlinked gands can run around with focus + TL + evade. Apart from the evade, i's all action independent to boot, so long as someone starts the chain

only issue there is red maneuvers, but rage + inspiring puts the cap on that too

rage inspiring could be cute on Cassian (especially given room for gunner; could probably smack even an x7 around); inspiring also works on his ability if you need it to

I've been thinking about Ezra with Rage, TLT and Inspiring for 28 points. That's a huge amount of value, with full rerolls on both TLT shots, one offensive focus and practically infinite defensive focus. Greens on the attack shuttle are a little limiting, but given the value (and the fact that you get the defensive benefit even on turns where you can't clear the stress), it may be worth a shot. Fits well in a 4x TLT list with 3 gold sq. pilots.

How about two tough aces with (your pick; Defender possibly raged and):

Gamma Squadron Veteran (19), TIE Shuttle (0), Adaptabilty (1), Inspiring Recruit (1) X 2

In general I think the key to raging recruits will be to not get cute. Treat it like it's ptl or any other ept which gives a a single stress and just run it for cheap value. If you're pairing with a system slot I'd vote for advanced sensors so you end up not stressed if you do a green.

Also if you want a fun and probably bad ship go echo, rage, advanced sensors, advanced closking, recruits.