Not to be too poetic or dramatic, but as an Imperial first player; I almost lament the X7 card. Not due to it's opposition by players wanting a silver bullet to counter its awesomeness, but as a players who has a sinking feeling that it's design has tempered the ships in waves following the buff card's design and release.

Don't get me wrong, it did not only resurrect the ship that most state was DOA (save its pre-buff love from Biophysical), but it made a wonderful, hard-hitting, solid defending ship to add to the mostly glass-cannon Imperial fleet. However, did the buff make the ship so strong in comparison to it's TIE brethren that it made the others hard to compare and select for squads? Did it flood the tables too much? And worse, did the buff make the designers of future waves a bit gun-shy --pardon the pun-- in giving the Empire another all-round fantastic solid fighter? In my humble (and mostly uneducated compaired to the wisdom on this forum's) opinion, feel that the amazing results of the X7 title might have curved resulting design details on subsequent ships; details such as the TIE SF's thematic ability to have a tail-gunner crew? ...yeah, I know I belly ached about that already on a post. Or, in another example, did it insure that Lightened Frame would cost 2 squad points instead of the pre-disclosure forum assumed 0 points?

Just thoughts that bang through the rocks in my head; wanted some expert opinions... thanks.

I wish the TIE/d title would at leat be on par. It is great, but just not as good.

While I am a big fan of the x7 title, I do understand the difficulty it has placed on using things other than it. When looking at raw numbers, x7s are hard to pick against. Same with Palp in some builds.

details such as the TIE SF's thematic ability to have a tail-gunner crew?

I don't know if this will help you develop/assuage feelings on this, but I have a solid argument that taking Tailgunner is NOT thematic to the /SF. Or rather, if you could take tailgunner, then it would have to be in place of Special Ops Training. "Now UnitOmega," you might say, "Those are different upgrade slots!". Yeah, they are, and it works good for what it does. But if the TIE/SF had a crew slot, then Special Ops Training would need to be a crew card. Because if you took a crew slot and put in a Recon Specialist or a Gunner or Rebel Captive or Darth Vader - then that means that you do not have the backseater in the back who is there to do the things that the backseater is supposed to do, instead you have whatever it is you paid Squad Points for. Yeah, yeah, the ARC has a crew slot and the aux arc. It's also a 3 seater, and it's not like that seat is "empty" if you don't put someone in it - just whatever it is they do would be part of the normal stat-line of the ship. But since the /SF only has two seats, and I'm pretty confident the pilot doesn't have access to doing fun stuff with the rear-arc toys (and why would he that would be super distracting) if you pull the Special Ops guy in the back working in tandem with the pilot then you do the special thing the new guy you added does, not the special thing the Special Ops backseater does.

Obviously, people will still argue FFG should have done than, but who knows, maybe they tested it and found it lacked punch. Or that people didn't do anything with the crew slot because they filled it with "Special Ops Guy" at 0-1 points all the time.

To be fair, Lightweight Frame at 2 pts is a great deal for 2 AGI ships. Its a free agility for what will be like 75% of shots defense rolls.

I agree with the assessment the devs gave in the Team Covenant interview. TIE x7 is pretty strong but not game ruining dominant. TIE S/F is pretty strong and the lightweight frame is going to make a it even easier to have it in your list.

I think X/7 should have been an upgrade for any Tie ship, not just Defenders (without a points reduction). I think Zuckuss and Dengar have really warped the meta away from flimsy arc dodgey Aces.

Really defenders didn't need X/7 to be good, but now with it they are AWESOME. Tie/D however is much more thematic and makes them a cool niche double attack ship.

To me X/7 has really forced my hand every time I look at buying Soontir or Carnor. I say to myself, "For one point more I could get Ryad with a free evade and KTurn madness".

I agree with the assessment the devs gave in the Team Covenant interview. TIE x7 is pretty strong but not game ruining dominant. TIE S/F is pretty strong and the lightweight frame is going to make a it even easier to have it in your list.

I am excited for the potential of the SF TIE with lightweight frame, as I really like the idea of the SF TIE. That being said, I still don't see it competing with the TIE/Defender.

Comparing the SF TIE with Lightweight Frame to the TIE Defender with X7 at the same pilot skill, the SF TIE is only 5 points cheaper. Except the TIE Defender always has 3 Agility and has a free Evade token every single turn. Also, you don't need a 2-Die Rear Arc when you can just K-Turn every turn and use your 3-Die primary.

Tie-D is way way more fun to play. Blow stuff up. Ion canon and Tie-D is fun.

Didnt make the designers shy away from kylo nor hux

Imperial Veterans was so long in coming that I doubt there was much time between it hitting the shelves and Wave 9 going into production. I doubt its reception had any significant impact on design decisions for the SF or Striker.

The x7 title is shoddy design. I can't really say if it's balanced or not anymore (balance in this game seems to change so quickly these days), but it encourages simple, sloppy flying. Ideally, you should be trying to strike a balance between triggering the title and making the right move; but in reality, 99% of the time, it's better to just go fast and get the evade, especially since the worst case scenario is bumping -- in which case you have one guy that isn't shooting you, and you still get the evade.

The x7 title is shoddy design. I can't really say if it's balanced or not anymore (balance in this game seems to change so quickly these days), but it encourages simple, sloppy flying. Ideally, you should be trying to strike a balance between triggering the title and making the right move; but in reality, 99% of the time, it's better to just go fast and get the evade, especially since the worst case scenario is bumping -- in which case you have one guy that isn't shooting you, and you still get the evade.

I think it would have been better if it was a free Evade action. As it stands it is a little too good and easy (doesn't stop me fielding them though ).

To be fair, Lightweight Frame at 2 pts is a great deal for 2 AGI ships. Its a free agility for what will be like 75% of shots defense rolls.

x7 had zero points would be a great deal too, even at 2 points it might have been good enough ;-)

I think it would have been better if it was a free Evade action. As it stands it is a little too good and easy (doesn't stop me fielding them though ).

Ehh...that means not only do they get their evade on a bump, they can PTL off of it. Ryad would be even more annoying.

I wish the TIE/d title would at leat be on par. It is great, but just not as good.

And this is my main issue, and proof to me that X7 went too far.

Tie/D is very, VERY strong. It makes the Defender a nasty piece. But x7 Is even MORE insane. So insane that doing TWO ATTACKS FOR 2 POINTS MORE can't compete with it. If x7 didn't exist, the Defender would still see healthy amount of use with Tie/D. But with /X7, nothing except the most stellar of pilots compete with it.

TieD will be better with hux

Reason x7 is better than is that D relies on Dice

X7 is a guarantee

Hux might even things out and is a good break from palp

I think the /x7 title is fine on Defenders becuase they have a pretty restrictive dial and they do not have super high pilot skill aces. The highest PS is Rexler and his pilot ability is extremely situational. Ever since wave 6 or so it seems like the devs have learned to give the mid-PS pilots the truly outstanding abilities (Ryad is a fine example, Pure Sabacc or Countdown from the Tie Striker expansion are also fine examples).

At regionals last weekend I went up against a Defenders Palp list and it was actually my easiest game of the day becuase the Defender is kind of a one trick pony as far as manuevering goes.

The /x7 title is fine, the problem was that they didn't make /D -2 points as well. The Ion /D just isn't worth 5 points more than the /x7, which is a shame, as the Ion /D is fun.

IMO, TIE/x7 should have granted the Evade token on a 4+ speed maneuver. You can zip crazy fast and be hard to hit, or you can maneuver and be less hard to hit ... but maneuvering and being hard to hit? Just a little too far.

Alternately, the phrasing "if you didn't overlap a ship or obstacle this turn get an evade token" could have been used. I think the first solution is best, but this would have helped a little. All well, to whatever extent it applies, mea culpa .

Or maybe have x7 only work on forward maneuvers. They already have a big advantage with the white 4k, being able to both focus and evade after doing a kturn is ridiculous.

I'll admit, when asked to play with someone I don't know who has pedigree or moxie, and I am given the Imps to run (we usually draw straws, so-to-speak) and I'm tired from a long day, X7 Defenders are my easy pic. I know all factions have one easy I guess; and it's not a bad idea to have a list for a friend who wants to fly against you and doesn't want you to take the day off. But, I'd love to have more than one ship that, well, fits the powerful niche. Maybe the X7 is the Imp's Biggs, or the Scum's Jumpmaster; when your against the wall and feel you can't win...add one of these = X-Wing power-curve bending ships.

I wish the TIE/d title would at leat be on par. It is great, but just not as good.

And this is my main issue, and proof to me that X7 went too far.

Tie/D is very, VERY strong. It makes the Defender a nasty piece. But x7 Is even MORE insane. So insane that doing TWO ATTACKS FOR 2 POINTS MORE can't compete with it. If x7 didn't exist, the Defender would still see healthy amount of use with Tie/D. But with /X7, nothing except the most stellar of pilots compete with it.

I think there's a bit of meta cloudiness here. I really like the D, but I don't think that the X7 being so good is what pushed it out of the meta, but that it is a stronger card (and maybe a necessary one) where you are going to be seeing cards like Zuckuss and large ships (which negate/ignore some of the effects on a ion or TB cannon). For example, if rebel regen were the dominant force, I think that TieD would be a much stronger card. I think it's even strong against X7s -- my record with Tie Ds is very good against those types of lists, but against Dengaroo and Bossk, they tend to melt quickly.

The problem is building cards that can hit a ship like Soontir Fel really hurts other cards that rely on agility but aren't Soontir Fel (or now X7s).

I expect Hux and his ability to give automatic hits if you spend a focus (which it gives you) will make TIE/D more popular paired with Ion, or more likely Tractor. If you can roll a focus, that result can't be canceled, so your attack will hit (barring somebody like Countdown), and then you can follow it up with a 3+ primary while they're down one agility. Maybe even work in Expose or Swarm Leader or some other ability like that in there to add even more dice to the glass cannon punch. It might shift some Defender lists into glass cannons live and die fast - but still has an element of chance in them.