3 hours ago, Stay On The Leader said:

Ok, although I believe the most powerful version of 'Paratanni' that's being devloped now doesn't use Jumpmasters and replaces Manaroo with 28pts of cloaked Palob.

Mindlink without Jumpmasters > Mindlink with Jumpmasters?

Not sure about that, time will tell. I've always find Palob an easy target, especially compared to Manaroo. The scum cloak relies too much on luck for my own taste. I've seen opponent lose it after the 1st usage way too many times.

The shadowcaster is a really good ship but i've always felt it was in the "sweet spot" in therm of balance while playing against it.

To me FFG made many mistake when they released the Punishing One xpac. Too many great upgrades in just one box (Mindlink, R5, Gonk, Boba, Feedback...) lowest PS ship with EPT, cost is too low when not using the title, one of the best dial (if not the best) for a large ship in the game, really strong pilot abilities. It's probably the most broken xpac they made to date. Some would argue that the Tie Phantom was also OP at release. It took only one correction to bring it from awesome to average...

I dont know what they were thinking or how long they playtested the thing before deciding to release it, but something seems to have gone wrong...

New FAQ. Effective 8 May 2017. Changes noted in red.

Quote

100% true. Definitely the new sick tech from NonRonCon. Absolutely all of us are flying this most powerful version. No bamboozle guaranteed.

This comment should read:

0% true. Definitely not the new sick tech from NonRonCon. Not one of us is flying this most powerful version. Not even most powerful version. Bamboozle guaranteed.

10 minutes ago, Thormind said:

Not sure about that, time will tell. I've always find Palob an easy target, especially compared to Manaroo. The scum cloak relies too much on luck for my own taste. I've seen opponent lose it after the 1st usage way too many times.

The shadowcaster is a really good ship but i've always felt it was in the "sweet spot" in therm of balance while playing against it.

To me FFG made many mistake when they released the Punishing One xpac. Too many great upgrades in just one box (Mindlink, R5, Gonk, Boba, Feedback...) lowest PS ship with EPT, cost is too low when not using the title, one of the best dial (if not the best) for a large ship in the game, really strong pilot abilities. It's probably the most broken xpac they made to date. Some would argue that the Tie Phantom was also OP at release. It took only one correction to bring it from awesome to average...

I dont know what they were thinking or how long they playtested the thing before deciding to release it, but something seems to have gone wrong...

Issue would seem to be the cost. Nearest ship is the Wild Space Fringer, which has 1 extra shield, a moderately weaker dial, and considerably weaker options for upgrade slots (it gets a cannon and missile, compared to double torps, illicit, and salvaged astro). Even if we price the shield at a full 4 points, Contracted Scout is still 1 point cheaper. But, it should have to pay 1 point for its higher Pilot Skill and another point for the EPT. That would price it at 27 base. And I think that'd feel right. Triple scouts wouldn't be able to run Extra Munitions on everyone, and Rau + 2x Torp Boats has a lot harder decisions to make. Paratanni just no longer works with a Scout, so Kaa'to or Tansari Point Vet would step in, introducing a fair weak link in the squad. Fenn Rau, Old Teroch, and a Scout is still fine, though it gives up some upgrade flexibility.

So how'd the make the mistake? Probably looked at Wild Space Fringer, noted that the ship gets 0 appearances in competitive play and figured it must be overcosted. If you try to cost the Scout using a 27 or 28 point Wild Space Finger as your benchmark, you could end up with a 25 point Scout.

With an EPT slot.

2 minutes ago, Stay On The Leader said:

With an EPT slot.

This is 100% true. Great observation.

On ‎4‎/‎10‎/‎2017 at 2:33 PM, Cerve said:

Strange, I found Mindlink way more flexible than PTL. With PTL you must take a green maneuver all the time. Plus, against any stress dealer you're litterally screwed 'cause you stress yourself.

With Mindlink you have the entire dial opened, EVEN the Tallon Roll/Koyogram, that's huge! And still keep a focus.

Plus any stress dealer needs to focus you 2 times, so you actually fear only the R3-A3 BTL Y-wing. A ship that is pretty easy to dodge.

When I was typing that out I was thinking about mid-end game. Overall I think they are pretty equal. Mindlink is a little better at the start of a match, PtL is about equal when you are down to 2 ships, and just better if Fenn is your last ship on the board.

When I have run Fenn with PtL I don't Push every turn. I use PtL somewhat conservatively so I keep my dial open. Once Fenn is in the mix I can PtL most turns because he can Boost/Barrel roll to dodge arcs and get shots. Soontir is fine with Pushing every turn, the Inquis is pretty ok with it too, but I didn't find that it was necessary or even a good idea with Fenn. Fenn has the dial and tools to arc dodge stress dealers if played well or you can send the rest of your list to take it out before it gets to Fenn.

Mindlink is great, it is what I'm running right now. It takes more planning to get every ship where they need to be while clearing any stress from maneuvers or enemy ships. I've found that while Mindlink is stress resistant, stress still makes my moves more difficult. The good old stress hog can give me a hard time when flown well and a turn or two of one or two of my ships not getting an extra action or doing the thing I would like for them to do can be enough to swing the game in my opponent's favor.

Lately, Mr. Jax has come back into my local meta, no doubt due to Mindlink's popularity. He can shut down shenanigans for a turn or two and cause some major head aches for Mindlink when properly flown. PtL Fenn has less trouble with that, he can arc dodge better.