Well...actually, General Hux is way more Attanni Mindlink than Op. Specialist.

Operations Specialist loves Snapshot!

List:
https://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Rebel Alliance&d=v4!s!31:205,73:7:25:U.140;31:205,73:7:25:U.140;31:205,73:7:25:U.140;222:140:46:6:U.210,U.-1&sn=Unnamed Squadron

In epic, a guy brought 2 operation specialist:

- Z-95 shoots and misses, 2 focuses for the X-Wings and B-Wings waiting nearby.

I mean it just seems pretty weak to build a list with the expectation of only having 1 successful 3 die attack each round. I guess I'm not seeing how 'drowning in focus' really matters when you compare it to something like fenn boats (to pick a meta list) which vomits between 11 and 13 success results fairly reliably or a standard ace focused list which usually has good repositioning and 6+ success results a turn. Op spec has a place I suppose but costing 3 points, a very relevant crew slot, and needing a miss to work means it's really not even on the same planet as mindlink. Unless you're getting some crazy snapshot value (which requires warping your list in a strange way already) you might as well take recon specialist or fleet officer and get the focus on the front rather than paying points to hope your ship misses.

2 hours ago, lazycomet said:

Operations Specialist loves Snapshot!

List:
https://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Rebel Alliance&d=v4!s!31:205,73:7:25:U.140;31:205,73:7:25:U.140;31:205,73:7:25:U.140;222:140:46:6:U.210,U.-1&sn=Unnamed Squadron

The only one way to use OS nicely, in my opinion.

Or any other double attack of course.

6 hours ago, Turbo Toker said:

It can reward you before you fire. Ship A fires and misses, which triggers Ops Spec and can gives ship B a focus before it fires. If you have high PS, it can work defensively too.

I think it's a reasonable comparison. Both can add a few extra focuses to a list. I acknowledge that Mindlink is generally better.

LOL holy ****, calm down. And you're calling me hyperbolic.

The problem, Turbo, is that Mindlink is guaranteed to work just from moving and taking a focus. It's that easy. Mindlink is 10x better than Op Spec. You can build a list around mindlink working for you everytime.

Op Spec requires a miss. You cannot guarantee a miss everytime (nor do you want to), and cant depend on that focus coming to a ship. For instance equip a blaster turret on a HWK then be taking TLs and assume a focus will come your way to fire the blaster turret.

That is the power of mindlink. Fenn already has his focus so his entire dial and action bar is open.

Op Spec is a great card, and will have its day in the sun, but its nowhere near the power of mindlink.

double post

One of my favorite "ALL the tokens" builds is

TOMAX/VESSERY/RYAD

100 points

PILOTS

Tomax Bren (31)
TIE Bomber (24), TIE Shuttle (0), Cool Hand (1), Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1), Systems Officer (2), Fleet Officer (3)

Colonel Vessery (35)
TIE Defender (35), Juke (2), TIE/x7 (-2)

Countess Ryad (34)
TIE Defender (34), Juke (2), TIE/x7 (-2)

Systems officer hands off a target lock to Ryad which is basically also giving one to Vessery. Take Fleet Officer as your action dealing focus tokens to both Defenders, giving yourself a stress which activates cool hand to give the bomber a focus or evade, and flipping it back over with Tomax ability. Rinse and repeat.

Of course this is restricted to imperials, but imperials is what I fly most. Obvious weakness is if Tomax gets multiple stress placed on him but, it's still pretty strong if you can avoid that.

Kinda playing with not-paratani builds

Kyle Katarn (28) - HWK-290 (21)
Cool Hand (1), Operations Specialist (3), Moldy Crow (3)

is this worth its cost?

Kyle moves, focus=1... pass a focus, Kyle will miss, focus=1 either pass or hold, moldy holds it. Should be able to pass 2 focus a turn. Cool Hand for 1 more or to take the red if you want. Recon Spec will generate more tokens but limits Kyle to passing only one... but it can pair with a TLT.

I guess if you've got two strong 36 pointers it's a good micro build

15 hours ago, Kdubb said:

No... No it really isn't though. You are missing shots to get the trigger. Mindlink would never work as well as it does if it needed the ships to miss to get their focus stacks. And it also doesn't have a single 6 health, 2 agility target that can be killed to ruin the synergy 100% (at least not in any good Mindlink list).

Again, Op Spec is a nice card, but let's not get carried away here.

All of this, PLUS the fact that ops spec only gives you 1 focus at a time. Pretty much every mindlink has at least 3 ships, so mindlink is providing at least 2 extra focus tokens.

12 hours ago, Turbo Toker said:

Both Mindlink and Ops Spec can add a few extra focuses to a list. Mindlink is generally the better card, but there are corner cases where Ops Spec can be better and Ops Spec isn't limited to Scum.

I don't think the comparison is hyperbolic.

To get multiple tokens from ops spec you have to miss multiple attacks. Unless using an aforementioned snapshot squad or gunner effects , that leaves it well behind mindlink.

11 hours ago, Turbo Toker said:

When I flew the list before with a U-Wing, I didn't have enough focuses to support Shara.

You need to have one for her offense, R5-P9, and ideally also have one leftover for defensive rolls, and you also want to target lock for Norra. I ended up facing a Wes Janson too and Stresshog too. Rey alone wasn't normally enough and if I only focused + Rey with Shara I would never get to utilize her pilot ability.

Norra needs extra focuses too. One for an extra hit result, one for an extra defensive result.

So Shara can do 2 actions a turn (1.5 really with Rey). She actually needs 4.

Norra can do 3, Push the Limit and Kyle. This should be enough most of the time, but an extra would help.

Ahsoka's ability and Ops Spec should patch the action economy of the squad. If both ARC's have shots, it's likely that at least one is missing. So that's an extra focus, sometimes 2 a round. That's a shield regen I wouldn't have had or an extra evade result, or an extra Rey focus I can bank so I don't have to choose between shield regeneration and banking focuses.

In this list, you only have 2 ships attacking, so you get a max of one free token, and to get it, by definition one of your arcs did no damage for the round. Unless Ashoka is attacking, in which case captured tie is wasted points.

His list is bad, his arguments are bad and his hypothesis is bad. #thatssotoker

I honestly have been thinking this same thing. Operation Specialist is insane. I haven't been able to pin down the best list for it yet, but I'm constantly finding and improving my theory-crafting and I don't feel like I'm even close to cracking its maximum potential. Putting it in lists with multiple shots like gunner or snap shot can be really good.

Also, if I'm reading it right, you can have multiple Operation Specialists in different ships and trigger them all at the same time. For example, lets say that you are bad at the game, so you are flying 4 bombers with snap shot, operation specialist, and intel agent or something. A ship moves in range 1 of all 4 bombers. You fire 4 snap shots and dont hit with any of them. You now get to distribute 16 focus tokens, right?

Why sixteen?! Four.

1 minute ago, thespaceinvader said:

Why sixteen?! Four.

4 operations specialists and 4 missed snap shots, 4 focus per snapshot * 4 shots = 16 focus tokens. Not that you need nearly that many...

Derp yeah.

Sorry.

Your opponent's got to be magnificently bad to let that happen tho. And even then you probably can't use all those tokens.

What Kdubb said. You are going to need gunner to make it work as well. Still that is 1/4 of your points in a ship that if done correctly won't be attacking.

You might want to try and add a Stresshog and edrin Vrill w/gunner as you get to add in some stress for BMST and be able to exploit it even further. Also with the BTL-A4 title or even TLT you get to trigger Operation Specialist more often on the turn you attack.

Operation Specialist is a hard sell, in support of high pilot skill it works great defensively because if an attack goes bad (even after spending focus) you get it back for defense. But for low pilot skill you really need a double attack to make it good. Problem is Rebels already have luke and in a way it is cheaper as you don't have to burn an extra crew slot.

One of the things that makes Atanni mindlink so powerful is that it gives focus in the activation phase before (most) everyone starts shooting. And say what you want it is the only thing standing in the way of Snap-Juke A-wings from taking over the meta as they can shoot and ignore a single evade result. Now of course that might not be such a good thing as snap juke A-wings can tear up Y-wings. SO okay nerf Atanni mindlink to nerf TLTurrets so A-wings can take over the meta and rolling dice that is pointless (since it will be modified to focus that cannot be changed) can be the game of X-wing. That sounds awful, keep it all in.

I've played with Ops Specialist a little bit, and IMO it works decently well with both TIE/Ds and Snapshot A-wings (and obviously in epic). I found this list to be the funnest use of the card:

25 Ahsoka w/ VI, Captured TIE, Title, Ops Specialist, Feedback.
73 (3x) GSP w/ Snapshot, PRockets, Chips, Title, Crackshot.
0 Initiative.

It's janky, but it's solid jank that will scare the pants off your opponent. You'll never be so excited to miss a shot.

I like that Ahsoka/3GSP list. I call it "Togruta Soup"

My opponents all make a face when the get a serving of it.

I was trying to fit it with mindlink squads, it is one card of the future, but still sleeping one.