The issues i raise here only apply to official snoozefesta 100/6 format.

List-building for 100pts can really be a struggle recently if you don't want to stick to well-tested lists. You have to consider a lot of stuff that you will encounter, get all the "must-include" cards, find and understand the synergies, but don't rely on them too much not to make the list fall apart if you lose a ship or two. It became even more prominient for me when i tried list-building with newly-relased upsilon shuttle.

It's a great ship and there are a lot of lists it will shine in. It's not a complain post. It's about something different, about struggling to insert such ship to a list you're not going to spend hours on trying to figure the best way to utilize it, because of it's awkward point cost. Another example of such ship is Slave I. I'm talking about a good build of course - a build that can put a good performance and is self-contained, but the one that is not overloaded with stuff, making it obvious (and pretty easy) primary target.

Basically, when we're list building, the most obvious and usually the best picks are:

Small-ship "full" aces, oscillating around (such as Fenn Rau, Whisper, Poe Dameron) ~30-40 points

Big, fat "carry" ships, oscillating around ~60 points (such as Dengar, Rey or Chirenau)

Small support ships (such as Palpshuttle, tie shuttle, stresshog, ashoka tano or quadjumper), oscillating around ~ 20-29 points

Pocket aces (such as Omega Leader, N'dru Shulak, or Jess Pava), oscillating around ~25 points

Multiplied generic, various costs

My problem is in the final group. Lone generics don't cut it anymore and taking a 12-20 -point ship with sole purpose of playing it as a blocker/distraction is pretty bad, because most lists will ignore it and then one or two-shot it when good occasion happens. It's essencially like playing ~85 point list and there is a reason lonely tie-fighters or b-wings aren't really showing up.

And then we're back to "problem" ships, such as slave or whoopsilon. They cost around ~45-55 points and in my opinion it's the worst place to be in. If you want to run them with ace, we're probably going to have to ran a tie fighter with them, which is pretty damn bad. The only strenght of generic ships right now is the fact that you can spam them and multiply their power and have enough numbers to deal with losing a ship or two.

Let's say you want to run the upsilon with tie fighters, alright, get that howlrunner and three black cracks... oops. Not enough space, we're getting howlrunner and two black cracks. 3 ships is a pretty sad miniswarm and it's not enough to strip all those tokens. Second thing is that probably you want to get some use out of howl's ability and you'll need to fly them in formation with said upsilon, which is going to be pretty awkward.

So the only viable option that is left are pocket aces, which are alright on their own ("Omega Leader" is a notable exception), but struggle to perform well against "real" aces.

How do you overcome listbuilding problems when you want to use one or two ships with awkward cost, but then there is space left in which nothing really fits? Do you think the mini-ace or self-sufficent generic ships should be given more options?

Godforbid you have to think about list composition

Some ships are sadly just shite, ie slave 1

For the ups, it is a pretty recent addition so you just gotta go hail mary and get some table testing done

Word of advice, just becausr it has tons of upgrade slots doesnt mean you should fill them

Due to the still overall relatively poor dial, it isnt worth decking out like cheri and his mindless PWT that youre guaranteed to fire every round no matter what unless you love asteroids

The rest is justremembering what x7s cost, 28 for the delta and 33-36 for everyone else short of brath

And that omega leader exists at 26 points and that countdown is a very solid 20

Also pure sabacc with vi at 23, 25 for lightweight

Also so called pocket aces should not be able to hang 1v1 v moexpensive "real" aces. Thats why theyre cheaper

I find 40-42 is where the UPS wants to be, then you can fit a lite ace and a pocket ace with it.

What do you want your UPS to do?

Always ask myself that question when I start building a list, especially if there is something I want to put specifically in the list. It doesn't need to be full of upgrades to carry out it's role, depending on what that role is.

Exactly what FGD said - just because it's got so many fun upgrade slots, doesn't mean you have to fill them all with goodies.

On that note, I've got the ship on day one, but sadly didn't have the pleasure of flying it yet. The list I was thinking of, however, follows the UPS+"Real Ace"+"Pocket Ace" formula to the letter.

Major Stridan (32)
Fire-Control System (2)
Rebel Captive (3)
Operations Specialist (3)

"Backdraft" (27)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Fire-Control System (2)
Sensor Cluster (2)
Lightweight Frame (2)
Special Ops Training (0)

"Omega Leader" (21)
Juke (2)
Comm Relay (3)

Total: 100

Surely, there would be other possibilities, the most obvious being swapping out Backdraft for say, Ryad (dropping the Ops Spec for something else). But first - I don't own any Defenders, and second - I wanted it to be an "all black", pure First Order list. That, and I'm really enjoying the rear-arc mechanics.

The idea revolves around using Stridan as a buzz-saw that goes head-first, that the enemy hates to shoot at, thanks to Rebel Captive. Meanwhile, high-PS wingmen make the most out of OS, getting defensive Focus tokens whenever they fail to bite hard enough. If the setting is right, they might also pass the extra Focus to Stridan himself, for a sweet 4 Red Focus+TL attack. Shuttle itself should use all available actions to help out his colleagues with Coordinate, either doubling on their tokens, or providing sort of Advances Sensors Barell Roll whenever a block is coming, or a rock needs to be cleared without heading the wrong way. I can think it can be pretty potent list, as the ships compliment each-other nicely, with UPS upgrades and Coordinate making up for the poor natural action economy of the other two. In exchange, Aces will strip tokens for his devastating attacks, and cover his soft sides and back.

I don't think there's anything wrong with the costs here, at all. Upsilon has afer all, a very powerful stat-line and upgrades' slots combination. That, and the sole inclusion of Coordinate icon on its action bar is like getting free Squad Leader, extended to R2 (R3 on Stridan!) without the PS restriction, or any other drawbacks. I'd easily pay some 4 points for that if it came in an upgrade form. 40 points total for the one I've built is nowhere near limiting when it comes to the Empire, where good 20-35 point ships are the most common.