So, I agree with a lot of the current discussions in the forums and FFG's decisions and intents to forge a better X-Wing meta. It all boils down to:

• Push the players into having to take interesting choices, not automatic ones
• Don't give rewards without risks
• Don't allow for powerful effects without random components
• Emphasize strategic planning and tactical decisions

With this in mind, how is the Ghost with Autoblaster Turret, Accuracy Corrector and a docked Phantom still around? It contradicts everything that's stated in those bullet points. Choices? Decisions? Not at all, you just point at any ace at range 1 and say "remove it". Risks? Random elements? There's no die roll involved!

I see complaints about Negative Play Experience, but did you ever face this combo? Mechanically, it's a true obscenity, and you have to fly scared all the game with the fear of ending up at range 1 of the monster and just die (and if you ran Fenn Rau, that's like playing with a 68 pts. list.) Lots of fun and brilliant strategic flying displayed.

And yes, it's a hard counter to Soontir, Fenn and co., but that doesn't mean it's not a NPE, or doesn't fly in the face of every principle raised by the recent FAQ.

Soontir plays a long game running away whilst chipping the ghost down to half health and wins on time.

Problem solved.

I dunno man. I have fun overcoming challenges like that one. It's like hard mission in a video game, a puzzle that needs solving.

Jacob

It is a challenge, but it is not so mechanically powerful that you have no other recourse. Which is to say: It does not flood the gamespace.

It's also one ship, and an expensive one, with a very specific, range 1 power at hand. Yes, it can delete an ace in a single round with no fail. So can two bomber K-wings.

The trick is not to mess up playing against it; I've killed several such setups when flying Triple Aces, where TBH it's the Inquisitor that's the most vulnerable - he wants to stay at range, but his dial leaves him awful vulnerable if the Ghost manages to chase him down...

The trick is, it's an interesting match.

Choices: stay out of range 1

risks: no double tap beyond range 1, low damage (relatively speaking) against high health/low agility ships that are shooting back at range 1. Unreliable primary weapon when shooting beyond range 1 (where AC is far inferior to fcs)

the ghost is obnoxious.

Shoot it three times with other ships, then shoot it with Fel.

If autoblaster could go out to range 2, maybe this would be a problem.

All the ships that get eaten alive by that thing have higher PS than the Ghost in almost every case. If you fly right into range 1 of it? You made the wrong move. Not sure what else to say.

And even if in the worst case scenario it does maul aces and I'm incorrect in my assumption that it is avoidable with strong piloting, it is essentially wasting 5 points against low agility ships.

Throw this combo in the Kylo pile- Sucks to play against with the wrong match up, but not wrecking the game as a whole.

I have played against this a couple of times with several different lists, and won both times. Scared the crap out of me the first time, though. It was actually the first time I went up against a Ghost, right when it came out. You have to make sure you keep your distance, and/or reposition out of range 1. When they get close, peel off and preferably put an asteroid (not debris) between you and the Ghost. Most aces will have a high enough pilot skill that they can move after the Ghost and barrel roll/boost out of Range 1 if necessary. The alternative is to bump! As long as Zeb crew isn't on board (or you can avoid the front arc, even if he is), the Ghost can't vaporize your ship if you're in contact with it. Put that knowledge to use. That's actually how I won my first game, I remember. My buddy had just lost badly to the AC/Autoblaster Ghost piloted by our mutual friend, and I had the winner. When it was looking like I might not be able to avoid that Range 1 hit, I just plowed my most fragile ships right into the side of the ghost.

The Ghost/Phantom combo is also so expensive that you shouldn't have too many other ships to worry about, either.

Even if you do all these things, it may still be painful game. And you know what? You are perfectly entitled to dislike playing against this list. If you don't want to see it again and aren't playing a tournament, just ask your friends to lay off playing it against you. That's what I plan to do with Kylo Ren Crew, esp. on Admiral Chiraneau w/VI.

Out of curiosity, what would YOU do to nerf the combo you illustrated?

I'd honestly complain about bombing kwings and Sabine before the ghost blaster. It's possible to combat ghost blaster with maneuvering and careful flying. It's almost impossible to approach a ship that can move twice before you do, drop a connor net on you and have it do 2 damage (often 1/2 hp of the ace). Ghost blaster is also very hard wired against aces as it is worse at shooting primary without fcs and worse at the turret game without tlt.

Sabine is much more of an issue than Autoblaster turret. Hell, I'd argue I have more issues dealing with a TLT Ghost than an Autoblaster one.

Having said that, the first counter that pops into my head when reading the OP talking about Fenn getting caught is simple enough: Boba Fett crew. It's a zero agility ship. Strip the shields at R3 and dump a crit on there with a Mangler. Boba rips the turret away, and Fenn gets free reign again.

Imperials have plenty of firepower to deal with a zero agility ship from R2-3, and Rebels can control their slower speeds better than most to begin with, so maintaining range isn't so much of a problem there.

Basically, I see a lot of answers to a vaguely decent list. It's not like the Ghost isn't dangerous at R1 anyway. I've tanked enough 5 dice shots from that thing to last me a lifetime. Honestly, my buddy's FCS/RecSpec/ICT build is scarier. I've seen him walk a Dash off the board on turn 3 with that monster.

If you think that set up is bad, try throwing it on Hera along with an Intelligence Agent. No amount of careful flying is going to save your ace from that.

How do I know this? That's what I flew at the last Regional I attended. Hera and Biggs. I was trying to come up with something that could deal with (pre-nerf) Triple Defenders, Dengaroo, and Palp Aces, and it did handle them fairly well. But I regretted taking the list. It just wasn't very fun to play. The games that I lost were the most fun- games where I had a tough matchup (rebel regen, TLTs), or games where my opponent flew very skillfully and I had to fight to try to get those R1 kill shots. But the games that I won? Those were typically against people who didn't realize how nasty my list was or just didn't have the right ships/strategies to deal with in. So I just curb-stomped them and felt crappy afterwards.

So yeah, it's not much fun to fly against, but it's not that much fun to fly either (unless you're that guy... )

I'm much more scared of a Ghost with FCS, Finn, and TLT than I am an Autodamage Ghost.

It should be pointed out that the blaster ghost doesn't just erase an ace if you get in range 1. It fires once at its PS, and once at end of phase. So anything that fires after the Ghost can remove it before it gets its 2nd shot.

Obviously, depending on pilot skill, that doesn't always matter, but it is worth keeping in mind if you've got the right matchup.

Also that most low HP aces generally have evade actions, which can cancel autoblaster hits. There's even potential to have a pair (Mindlink, comms relay) for when you get into that situation, cancelling an entire attack.

4 minutes ago, NakedDex said:

Also that most low HP aces generally have evade actions, which can cancel autoblaster hits. There's even potential to have a pair (Mindlink, comms relay) for when you get into that situation, cancelling an entire attack.

Someone hasn't played in the last 2 years

6 minutes ago, NakedDex said:

Also that most low HP aces generally have evade actions, which can cancel autoblaster hits. There's even potential to have a pair (Mindlink, comms relay) for when you get into that situation, cancelling an entire attack.

Nope, not for a long time now. That got changed in an FAQ years ago, but that was before the days of Autoblaster Turret, and Autoblaster (cannon) was and is still pretty unplayable, so many people didn't even notice the change.

from the FAQ, the entry for Autoblaster, P. 14:

Quote

Autoblaster

When attacking with Autoblaster, the defender cannot cancel results with evade tokens or other added results, such as from C-3Po (see "rolling Dice" on page 6).

EDIT:

Quote

Someone hasn't played in the last 2 years

Ninja'd!

3 minutes ago, Herowannabe said:

Nope, not for a long time now. That got changed in an FAQ years ago, but that was before the days of Autoblaster Turret, and Autoblaster (cannon) was and is still pretty unplayable, so many people didn't even notice the change.

from the FAQ, the entry for Autoblaster, P. 14:

EDIT:

Ninja'd!

but your reply was actually useful!

Now I'm thinking about... What if just using 5 Y-Wings with Autoblaster Turrets?

Even medium sized ships would be threatened by that many shots.

and Aces? Yea, sure... I will let you argue that a skilled flying ace can stay out of range 1 of a single Ghost... but staying out of range 1 of 5 different ships? No way, that's way too much board zone~

4 minutes ago, Talamare said:

but your reply was actually useful!

Now I'm thinking about... What if just using 5 Y-Wings with Autoblaster Turrets?

Even medium sized ships would be threatened by that many shots.

and Aces? Yea, sure... I will let you argue that a skilled flying ace can stay out of range 1 of a single Ghost... but staying out of range 1 of 5 different ships? No way, that's way too much board zone~

Yeah but 5 of them don't get to fire twice with Accuracy Corrector for automatic 4 damage like the Ghost does. If the 5 of them did catch something though, hoo buddy it would still sting.

24 minutes ago, Talamare said:

Someone hasn't played in the last 2 years

22 minutes ago, Herowannabe said:

Nope, not for a long time now. That got changed in an FAQ years ago, but that was before the days of Autoblaster Turret, and Autoblaster (cannon) was and is still pretty unplayable, so many people didn't even notice the change.

from the FAQ, the entry for Autoblaster, P. 14:

EDIT:

Ninja'd!

Except the whole part where the point of the build is that it's a double taps of 4 guaranteed hits, and you can cancel one of each, halving the incoming damage. The equivalent of one attack...

2 minutes ago, NakedDex said:

Except the whole part where the point of the build is that it's a double taps of 4 guaranteed hits, and you can cancel one of each, halving the incoming damage. The equivalent of one attack...

What are you cancelling one of each of hte hits with?

Evade tokens. Autoblaster prevents you from cancelling hits with dice, but tokens are fair game.

1 minute ago, NakedDex said:

Evade tokens. Autoblaster prevents you from cancelling hits with dice, but tokens are fair game.

Hero straight up copied the FAQ for you man...

" When attacking with Autoblaster, the defender cannot cancel results with evade tokens "

2 minutes ago, NakedDex said:

Evade tokens. Autoblaster prevents you from cancelling hits with dice, but tokens are fair game.

No, they aren't.