Well Poe is now gone. But holy cow that is a permanent focus. I'm going to see some Flechette weapons in there to pump on the stress.

Who wan'ts Whisper with Expertise?

Almost nobody, because a PS7 z95 is pretty easy to PS kill, even if it does have an evade token.

Wedge likey

Horton.... wait... never mind.

Horton Salm (25)

Twin Laser Turret (6)

R2-D6 (1)

Expertise (4)

Ten Numb (31)

A Score to Settle (0)

Electronic Baffle (1)

Ion Cannon (3)

Red Squadron Veteran (26)

Trick Shot (0)

R2 Astromech (1)

Pattern Analyzer (2)

Integrated Astromech (0)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

With Expertise you just want to free up an action. But for what? You rarely need a focus action for defend for a y-wing. And you don't need a target lock with Horton. Therefore, if you don't have EU, vectored thrusters or action bombs, maybe Marksmanship is the better (and cheaper) choice here.

But Kavil with vectored thursters and Expertise + Autoblaster can easily hunt < PS8 Defenders with 3 undefendable attack dice. 33 points worth it to have an ace and defender hunter (with unhinged mech)

You are giving way to many of my top secret plans away

R7-T1 seems like a good combo for expertise.

R7-T1 seems like a good combo for expertise.

you mean "target lock"

R7-T1 seems like a good combo for expertise.

you mean "target lock"

Just extra options for how you approach a situation. At the cost of potential regen of course

Indeed. Ultimately, it's a free, permanent focus as long as you're unstressed.

Which isn't bad, but isn't earthshaking either.

• Ultimately, the reason you want the card is because you expect to have focus results on red dice, and don't expect to have a focus token, and don't need your elite pilot talent for anything else.
• Since you could just take a focus action if not stressed, that means either you need to use your action for something else (like Norra Wexley) or you plan to use your focus token for something else (like Rexler Brath or a ship with Weapons Guidance)
• The difference between reroll/modify one die (like Predator, or Poe Dameron) and Expertise's modify all ability becomes very noticeable when rolling 4+ dice (where you can realistically expect multiple blanks*). See, again, the idea of Rexlar w/Heavy Laser Cannon.
• The idea of a "bonus which applies whilst unstressed" makes the card very well suited to those ships who don't tend to incur stress very often, but struggle to get rid of it once they do - things like the Decimator, or TIE defender

* As opposed to me, who can realistically expect multiple blanks when using a bloody TIE swarm. There is a reason I witter on about how Rage can produce noticeably better results than Howlrunner's ability....

Rey: Expertise, Kanan, Finn, new title.

Pricey but beastly.

Vader could be a good choice with expertise, he has ptl built in, high ps, at means his TL is rarely going to be spent so he can evade focus for defense and still have a solid attack

It definitely looks like FFG is slowly taking the dice out of the game with the right builds.

It definitely looks like FFG is slowly taking the dice out of the game with the right builds.

slowly?

Reducing variance is the MO of any competitive list

It definitely looks like FFG is slowly taking the dice out of the game with the right builds.

slowly?

Reducing variance is the MO of any competitive list

One of most competitive players goal is to build a list that has consistent results. What I am referring to is for the last several waves there has been upgrade cards that take reduce the variance. They, FFG, has always ha mitigating upgrade and abilities such as Focus and Evade. But the more we see the release of newer waves the more they are more prevalent. Soon there may be enough of these types of cards that we will be able to simply add up and compare attack and defense totals.

Just an observation of a certain type of 'power creep'.

It definitely looks like FFG is slowly taking the dice out of the game with the right builds.

slowly?

Reducing variance is the MO of any competitive list

One of most competitive players goal is to build a list that has consistent results. What I am referring to is for the last several waves there has been upgrade cards that take reduce the variance. They, FFG, has always ha mitigating upgrade and abilities such as Focus and Evade. But the more we see the release of newer waves the more they are more prevalent. Soon there may be enough of these types of cards that we will be able to simply add up and compare attack and defense totals.

Just an observation of a certain type of 'power creep'.

This has always been an option, though, and is a feature found in any game with dice. There are always skills, upgrades, weapons, whatever that can be taken to mitigate variance. This has been around since Wave 1, and to act like's power creep now for FFG to explore new options of such abilities is silly and is wearing some pretty rosey-colored glasses when looking at X-Wing's past (remember Howlrunner?).

Even in Wave 1 you had Howlrunner, Garven, Luke, Salm, and Dutch who all had abilities that reduced variance. Wave 2 gave us Han's pilot ability, Gunner/Luke, Krassis, and PtL. This continued with every single wave.

There are basically only a few types of abilities in this game:

(1) Those that reduce variance of rolls (e.g. Howlrunner, Predator, Lone Wolf, Palpatine etc.)

(2) Those that improve action economy, and can indirectly reduce variance by action-stacking TL/F/E (e.g. Push the Limit, Experimental Interface, X7)

(3) Those that alter stats, action bars, or upgrade bars (Veteran Instincts, Hull Upgrade, Engine Upgrade, Bomb Loadout, Vectored Thrusters)

(4) Those that toy with movement dials (R2 Astromech, Nien Nunb, Intel Agent, Adrenalie Rush, Bo Shek, etc.)

(5) Those that interact with the expenditure, assignment, or retention of tokens (Dutch, Kyle, Tactician, R3A2)

(6) Miscellaneous everything else

Many cards, like Dutch, fall in multiple categories (1, 2, and 5). To say that FFG should not make any new cards that explore (1) is pretty absurd, as it is a key aspect of the one game and probably the most central bit of design space for FFG to explore with new abilities.

4 x Saber + Expertise

Well, casual list of course.

But could be fun as well.

It definitely looks like FFG is slowly taking the dice out of the game with the right builds.

slowly?

Reducing variance is the MO of any competitive list

One of most competitive players goal is to build a list that has consistent results. What I am referring to is for the last several waves there has been upgrade cards that take reduce the variance. They, FFG, has always ha mitigating upgrade and abilities such as Focus and Evade. But the more we see the release of newer waves the more they are more prevalent. Soon there may be enough of these types of cards that we will be able to simply add up and compare attack and defense totals.

Just an observation of a certain type of 'power creep'.

This has always been an option, though, and is a feature found in any game with dice. There are always skills, upgrades, weapons, whatever that can be taken to mitigate variance. This has been around since Wave 1, and to act like's power creep now for FFG to explore new options of such abilities is silly and is wearing some pretty rosey-colored glasses when looking at X-Wing's past (remember Howlrunner?).

Even in Wave 1 you had Howlrunner, Garven, Luke, Salm, and Dutch who all had abilities that reduced variance. Wave 2 gave us Han's pilot ability, Gunner/Luke, Krassis, and PtL. This continued with every single wave.

There are basically only a few types of abilities in this game:

(1) Those that reduce variance of rolls (e.g. Howlrunner, Predator, Lone Wolf, Palpatine etc.)

(2) Those that improve action economy, and can indirectly reduce variance by action-stacking TL/F/E (e.g. Push the Limit, Experimental Interface, X7)

(3) Those that alter stats, action bars, or upgrade bars (Veteran Instincts, Hull Upgrade, Engine Upgrade, Bomb Loadout, Vectored Thrusters)

(4) Those that toy with movement dials (R2 Astromech, Nien Nunb, Intel Agent, Adrenalie Rush, Bo Shek, etc.)

(5) Those that interact with the expenditure, assignment, or retention of tokens (Dutch, Kyle, Tactician, R3A2)

(6) Miscellaneous everything else

Many cards, like Dutch, fall in multiple categories (1, 2, and 5). To say that FFG should not make any new cards that explore (1) is pretty absurd, as it is a key aspect of the one game and probably the most central bit of design space for FFG to explore with new abilities.

Where is the world did you think I said "To say that FFG should not make any new cards that explore (1) is pretty absurd, as it is a key aspect of the one game and probably the most central bit of design space for FFG to explore with new abilities." HUH!!! I agree it would be absurd if I had said that. Maybe you're referring to someone else's post?

Yes I knew the things from your post as well, I got all that. I'm sorry I'm not being very clear. I apologize. I know this and other items you point out as always being an option. I thought I said that. To be clear I think FFG has always been coming out with more and more things which have the effect of mitigating the randomness of dice.

Again! Yes from the beginning FFG has been releasing upgrades that mitigate the randomness of dice. But I also added that I think it has picked up in the level of the ability that does this function. You may disagree and that's okay. However I thought, and this is just my opinion, that these newer cards are not simply the equivalent of abilities we've had since wave one as I think you're saying. Rather I thought these newer cards were distinctly more powerful; that is to say they mitigate the dice more effectively as each new wave come out. That is what I was calling as a form of power creep.

I was not saying FFG should stop releasing cards.

I was not saying this wasn't always around.

I was just saying, poorly, I thought the impact of these cards over previous upgrades seemed to do the job more effectively and tried to add humor that soon we may not need dice as we can remove all the dice roll all together.

did this help?

You use Rey and Veteran instinct on Norra. Not PTL. It's pointless to make 2 action unless have vector thruster.

1. Vectored Thrusters are very useful on Norra though and usually worth the 2 points if you can spare them.

2. Considering Norra spends majority of the game firing from the rear, Tail Gunner is her crewman of choice. Granted, you can fly her like a normal figher and only use rear arc occasionally but this is a massive waste of ARC's potential.

Well Poe is now gone. But holy cow that is a permanent focus. I'm going to see some Flechette weapons in there to pump on the stress.

Who wan'ts Whisper with Expertise?

The offensive part of Poe's ability was never really what defined him - after all, you only get to shoot once per turn with him anyway. It was the unlimited defensive use of eyes, coupled with autothrusters and regen, that made him perfect for the TLT spam era. That part remains undiminished.

And no, you don't want to fly Whisper at PS7. There are still a lot of PS8 lists out there. You couldn't arc dodge them and you couldn't fire before they do, so you'd end up flying a very, very expensive Z-95. Granted, a Z-95 with a lot of firepower, but one that might evaporate before it shoots once. And certainly before it shoots twice.