So the, TL:DR from playing T-70's and seeing them in action.

1. Poe is super Fel. Can do many of the same tricks, but also some brand new ones including focus+lock Torps and with 7 HP and Heroic relies significantly less on not getting screwed by green dice. Absolutely a fantastic pilot and good Poes win games.

2. Bastian was a high pick early on at only 2pts more than a generic and great pilot ability in general that's great with or without torps. Repeated games have not done anything to dampen my enthusiasm on this pilot. I put him in the same category as 1.0 Jess I.e. Far better than a generic for an inconsequential amount of extra points. You should only run a generic if Bastian is already in the list.

3. Jess, the great destroyer, is still every bit as good even with her ability being charge based. Passive mods have only gotten stronger with the more limited access and the ease by which she gets them makes her a high pick. The only issue is that the cost difference between Jess and a generic is a good bit more without a significant buff to initiative making her less of a first round pick, but still high on my list. Much like in 1.0, people far too often feel like if they don't have the option to reroll every last dice it isn't worth it, but even 1 die rerolling with a focus behind it is still quite significant.

Ello and Nien are in the uncanny valley for me at this point. It's less that I feel they're bad and more that with how tight list building feels in Resistance, I have a lot of trouble justifying their cost. Torp Bastian is 57 and, TBH I think you'll get at least as much mileage in a game out if him than either of these 2.

Maybe it's just me, but points for Resistance have been pretty tight, so I feel like I have to do some serious triage every time I build a list. Probably why I've been leaning towards the Jess/Bastian team so much.

I really like the idea of this combo. Think I'll throw it on the table tomorrow!

19 hours ago, MasterShake2 said:

Maybe it's just me, but points for Resistance have been pretty tight, so I feel like I have to do some serious triage every time I build a list. Probably why I've been leaning towards the Jess/Bastian team so much.

If you're flying "like an X-wing used to" then Jess/Bastian is nice and cheap and very effective - handing one another rerolls and providing good support to a 'decent' ace like Poe, who's off boosting, barrel rolling and SLAM-ing like there's a waiting charge if you stay too long in an area.

I think Nien and Ello are more "budget Poe" than they are "Improved Jess/Bastian". Snap and - especially Kare really sit in an odd position; mobile but low intitiative and (in Kare's case, lacking the action economy to really support her ability).

Jess/Joph might work too, just because Seastriker is a pain in the backside to kill with concentrated fire. Actually making him enough of a threat to matter might be more difficult, though.

Tubbs.....his ability is nice, but since he needs to be flying in range 1 formation, anyone he's flying with has probably done a blue move too....so will remove stress anyway, and the T-70 isn't exactly laden with options or pilot abilities that stress it in the first place.

I can see him being a great escort for a big, fat resistance bomber but his place in a pure T-70 squad is much more questionable.

3 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

Tubbs.....his ability is nice, but since he needs to be flying in range 1 formation, anyone he's flying with has probably done a blue move too....so will remove stress anyway, and the T-70 isn't exactly laden with options or pilot abilities that stress it in the first place.

I can see him being a great escort for a big, fat resistance bomber but his place in a pure T-70 squad is much more questionable.

Good analysis all around. I do think that Tubbs may have value in a T-210 squad. The First Order has some ways to double stress, and the Empire has Sloane, not to mention Panicked Pilot (perhaps getting more prevalent with Kylo Ren). I guess ultimately it's a meta call, so your overall impression is a good take on Tubbs' current usefulness. But I predict Tubbs is going to be a pretty common choice.

P.S. You can also do shenanigans with debris, potentially.

2 minutes ago, Parakitor said:

Good analysis all around. I do think that Tubbs may have value in a T-210 squad. The First Order has some ways to double stress, and the Empire has Sloane, not to mention Panicked Pilot (perhaps getting more prevalent with Kylo Ren). I guess ultimately it's a meta call, so your overall impression is a good take on Tubbs' current usefulness. But I predict Tubbs is going to be a pretty common choice.

P.S. You can also do shenanigans with debris, potentially.

Even as a meta choice, his pilot ability being blue maneuvers only and 0-1 only is too restrictive. Wait, it's 0-1? And Fully execute? How the **** do you end a maneuver at range 0 and fully execute it? That stupidity aside, that's a lot of restrictions to pull 1 stress. Loosen a few of them, and maybe he's good.

12 minutes ago, MasterShake2 said:

Even as a meta choice, his pilot ability being blue maneuvers only and 0-1 only is too restrictive. Wait, it's 0-1? And Fully execute? How the **** do you end a maneuver at range 0 and fully execute it? That stupidity aside, that's a lot of restrictions to pull 1 stress. Loosen a few of them, and maybe he's good.

I guess it means if JT is double stressed, he can do a blue manoeuvre and clear both stress off himself?

12 minutes ago, Parakitor said:

The First Order has some ways to double stress, and the Empire has Sloane, not to mention Panicked Pilot (perhaps getting more prevalent with Kylo Ren).

That's where Ello really shines in my opinion. Slap PT on that bad boy for extreme situations and you are more mobile then most ships even with 2 stresses.

18 hours ago, MasterShake2 said:

How   the **** do you end a maneuver at range 0 and fully exe  cut  e it  ? 

18 hours ago, timg_83 said:

I guess it means if JT is double stressed, he can do a blue manoeuvre and clear both stress off himself?

Yeah, pretty much any ability that includes range 0 as part of its ability (outside of things meant to bump, such as Chop and Zeb crew) is just allowing you to use the ability on the ship it’s on.

On 12/22/2018 at 10:36 AM, SpiderMana said:

Yeah, pretty much any ability that includes range 0 as part of its ability (outside of things meant to bump, such as Chop and Zeb crew) is just allowing you to use the ability on the ship it’s on.

Exactly. If you came up against Sloane or Thannisson, then it's a good point, but I wouldn't pick a pilot "in case if". If there was something akin to opportunist or something similar, fair enough, but there isn't (yet)

On 12/21/2018 at 7:45 AM, MasterShake2 said:

Even as a meta choice, his pilot ability being blue maneuvers only and 0-1 only is too restrictive. Wait, it's 0-1? And Fully execute? How the **** do you end a maneuver at range 0 and fully execute it? That stupidity aside, that's a lot of restrictions to pull 1 stress. Loosen a few of them, and maybe he's good.

You can fully execute a maneuver and then be range 0 of yourself. Also it’s possible with the 2.0 FAQ to fully execute a maneuver and be range 0 if you’re physically touching another ship even though you fully completed your maneuver, though unlikely.

edit: sorry not faq, rules reference: “Although rare, it is possible for a ship to move in such a way that it is at range 0 of another ship (in physical contact with it) without having overlapped it.”

Thanks for all the great input!

Anyone got any feedback playing Temmin (Snap) Wexley? Feel like putting composure on him is pretty solid for getting double mods?

Yep - he’s as fun as ever, but still suffers for being i4.

1 hour ago, Dreadai said:

Yep - he’s as fun as ever, but still suffers for being i4.

The I4 is an issue but it feels like he'd be more consistant at triggering than Nien.

Definitely more consistently able to get multiple actions. The problem he has, I think is that his TL at i4 is less likely to land on a meaningful target.

13 hours ago, Tyhar7 said:

The I4 is an issue but it feels like he'd be more consistant at triggering than Nien.

Regarding the trigger frequency, I felt that way before I played them both , but feel exactly the opposite now. I feel like I can trigger Nien between 1/3 and 1/2 of the time where as Snap/Composure is 1-2 times per game.

Also don't neglect the lack of a boost-linked action, Nien can get 3 actions but snap can only get 2.

It’s easier to force snap to fail because you can place your own ship somewhere in front of him. But that relies on some flight discipline or having a lower Initiative wingmate.

Looking at a pure-and-simple alpha strike torpedo bomber list:

• Poe Dameron
  • Swarm Tactics
  • Proton Torpedoes
  • R4 Astromech
  • Targeting Synchroniser
• Red Squadron Expert
  • Swarm Tactics
  • Proton Torpedoes
• Blue Squadron Rookie
  • Proton Torpedoes

Pretty unsophisticated tactics. Everyone moves up in a close formation and performs a focus action. Poe follows his with a red target lock using his ability to designate the lucky winner of three initiative 6 proton torpedoes.

What about M9-G8 on Bastian? Potentially you can use the droid several times:

• Initially, lock Poe/another high I ship
• Poe fires his torpedo at I6. Reroll with M9.
  • If you deal a damage: switch
  • If you locked another high I ship that shoots after Poe, the chances are that you can reroll and then switch on the same shot.
• Defender gets a damage card -> switch to him
• Chances are high that the defender is between I5 and I2 (because most ships are)
  • reroll his attack die when he attacks
• Use the TL now the 3rd time and fire the torpedo .

It's necessary that the third ship of the list has high I or attacks at I6 (swarm tactics) to get the combo going.

16 minutes ago, Magnus Grendel said:

Looking at a pure-and-simple alpha strike torpedo bomber list:

I'd be afraid of the follow up. That Poe doesn't look very strong to me, compared to other builds, and the generics have nothing they can do besides point and shoot. But that's just two 3dice attacks, single modified if even that due to the low IN.

That being said, it's a very elegant list at exactly 200pt.

22 minutes ago, GreenDragoon said:

I'd be afraid of the follow up. That Poe doesn't look very strong to me, compared to other builds, and the generics have nothing they can do besides point and shoot. But that's just two 3dice attacks, single modified if even that due to the low IN.

That being said, it's a very elegant list at exactly 200pt.

Agreed. But the fact that it's 200 points means that fitting a triple-torpedo-strike squad isn't going to do much else, because there's literally no more space in 200 points to put anything else in - one ship is already an absolutely clean-basic I2 generic, and the other is only better than that to allow them to equip swarm tactics...

I agree that once the torpedoes are expended, the squad hasn't got much going for it. But if you've managed to put 6 proton torpedoes into an enemy squad, something should be dead or else you're really, really doing it wrong.

plus, there aren't really any slots left to give Poe anything else. I guess one of the T-70s could drop torpedoes to homing missiles and you'd have the points to upgrade Poe's shields? It'd improve his odds of living long enough to boost a second round of ordnance fire, which could help.

22 minutes ago, GreenDragoon said:

What about M9-G8 on Bastian? Potentially you can use the droid several times:

• Initially, lock Poe/another high I ship
• Poe fires his torpedo at I6. Reroll with M9.
  • If you deal a damage: switch
  • If you locked another high I ship that shoots after Poe, the chances are that you can reroll and then switch on the same shot.
• Defender gets a damage card -> switch to him
• Chances are high that the defender is between I5 and I2 (because most ships are)
  • reroll his attack die when he attacks
• Use the TL now the 3rd time and fire the torpedo .

It's necessary that the third ship of the list has high I or attacks at I6 (swarm tactics) to get the combo going.

I wouldn't anticipate switching locks too many times but locking Poe for rerolls, then moving lock to his target, interfering with that target's fire, firing your own attack, spending the lock and immediately reacquiring it if your own attack does damage is pretty darn skippy.

There are only two problems in this context:

1. Bastian with M9-G8 is 55 points without anything in his hardpoint. Cutting points to fit him in means you have to give up either the targeting syncrhoniser on Poe, which is a big part of what makes the squad work
2. Bastian's ability's one weakness is that it's range 1-2 - a torpedo-bomber squad is normally wanting to stage the opening engagement at range 3, where they get defence bonuses and the enemy squad doesn't.

I took a queue from @MasterShake2 , and ran Poe/Jess/Bastian several times last night. Bastian is no joke and will surprise people who have never seen him, and threaten those who have. I'm less convinced that Jess is a powerhouse, but she and Bastian do make a good fire team. My concern there is if/when Bastian goes down, Jess' ability is effectively turned off because I'm unlikely to tether Poe to her for rerolls.

I'm going to try some Nien variations in place of Jess and see which I like better.

5 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

Agreed. But the fact that it's 200 points means that fitting a triple-torpedo-strike squad isn't going to do much else, because there's literally no more space in 200 points to put anything else in - one ship is already an absolutely clean-basic I2 generic, and the other is only better than that to allow them to equip swarm tactics...

I agree that once the torpedoes are expended, the squad hasn't got much going for it. But if you've managed to put 6 proton torpedoes into an enemy squad, something should be dead or else you're really, really doing it wrong.

plus, there aren't really any slots left to give Poe anything else. I guess one of the T-70s could drop torpedoes to homing missiles and you'd have the points to upgrade Poe's shields? It'd improve his odds of living long enough to boost a second round of ordnance fire, which could help.

If you're going for a Homing Missile on one instead of a Torpedo, you could swap a T-70 out for an A-Wing.

[Heresy! Heresy against T210!]

Here's another thread.

The variant I like best: Poe with R4, Torpedoes, and TSync; Jess with M9-G8 and Torpedoes; and [choice of A-Wing--any will fit] with Homing Missiles and Swarm Tactics and Heroic. All Init 6, and both Poe and Jess have rerolls and focus. Most variants would also give room for Poe to grab Black One, and really disengage after the opening volley, to transition into arc dodger mode.

[end Heresy]

That has three issues, though:

1. Homing missiles are great weapons for their cost but not actually a great alpha strike weapon since they will rarely cause more than 1 damage
2. (rather more importantly) I don't actually own an A-wing
3. Heresy.

5 hours ago, gennataos said:

My concern there is if/when Bastian goes down, Jess' ability is effectively turned off because I'm unlikely to tether Poe to her for rerolls.

That's why in a previous edition she paired very well with Red Ace (now Joph Seastriker) - M9-G8 gives him attack rerolls, he gives Jess attack rerolls, but crucially Joph, like Jess, is harder to kill than a normal T-70 because you can't concentrate fire effectively on him.

5 hours ago, gennataos said:

I took a queue from @MasterShake2 , and ran Poe/Jess/Bastian several times last night. Bastian is no joke and will surprise people who have never seen him, and threaten those who have. I'm less convinced that Jess is a powerhouse, but she and Bastian do make a good fire team. My concern there is if/when Bastian goes down, Jess' ability is effectively turned off because I'm unlikely to tether Poe to her for rerolls.

I'm going to try some Nien variations in place of Jess and see which I like better.

I just did Poe/Nein/Bastian with Torpedos. Posted about it in this thread HERE . Really good list. Might try HLC on Poe and Nein (or Ello). Bastian has been my favorite T70. Been running him since first cracking open my resistance box. Naked, M9G8, or torps. Torps is by far my favorite with him.