They where quite a thing a while back but since Jumpmasters got released it seems like no one cares about them anymore.

I haven't played them myself really but speaking as their opponent I felt they where very competitive back, especially beacause their real counters where only few (imo).

So ... any ideas why Jumpmasters have driven them out of the meta?

Or maybe something else has, as said I really have no idea.

Honestly, I don't think anythying much has happened to them. Since I started playing 6 months or so before Jumpmasters, they've always been at a low level in the UK regionals+ meta, played by a few dedicated and very skilled indivduals, but never been hugely popular, and that's still the case. They're good, but they're high risk, because even if you win, you're likely to lose a lot of MoV.

The Aggressor has had a bit of a resurgence with Moralo/Bossk88 builds, but not a lot.

They're still around, they're just not the new hotness any more, basically.

They were decent choices at one point, but the game's power level has gone up and left them in the dirt. Brobots was the only scum list I was interested in, but it's been a good long while since I've touched the IG88 duo.

Brobots are definitely under the curve now. Avoid.

They aren't broken enough to compete.
You shall restrict yourself to play broken lists if you want to win at tournaments.

The MoV rules change hurt them more than any other large base ship. Thats why you don't see them that much any more.

It's funny, back when I started brobots were considered THE scum list. Which was why despite owning 3 Aggressors I've never used more than 1 in a game. Planning on trying it in epic eventually, but I have been tempted to try brobots lately.

They used to be terrifying.

Now?

They had issues cracking X7s (like everyone else)

They are outPS'ed by Aces.

They are outMoV'ed by 3-4 ship lists.

They are outgunned by JumpMasters.

They are vulnerable to stress/Ion control and direct damage (Bombs & Sabine shenanigans).

In short, powercreep and metashift did them in.

Brobots are pretty much as good as they've always been. But they've basically been displaced by Jumpmasters and Lancers, which often present a cheaper and more efficient choice to the Scum players, allowing Scum builds to easily include three ships and some nice upgrades or two Jumps and some really quality upgrades.

Ironically, I just won a local tournament with IG-88B and C while losing only 25 points (half an IG) per game. Here is my view on the "history" of the ship.

1) Initially, IG-88 was a superb ship. Manoeuverable, hard to hit and with a decent health pool for the stats. It was widely used in tournaments and the innate "guner" ability of IG-88B allowed it to bypass token staking ships like Soontir (if you piloted well enough to get him in your arcs).

2) The appearance of the Emperor turned the odds, allowing token stacking ships another level of defense that allowed them to resist even IG-88Bs gunner effect.

3) Wave 8 introduced the jumpmaster, a very hard hitting ordnance ship at the time which could bypss IG-88's defenses and hurt it a lot. Omega Leader and the Inquisitor were two other ships which could bypass its defenses on top of arc dodging it. By this stage, IG-88 use was dropping.

4) The great nerf of Palpatine and deadeye hit, making a lot of ships viable again. The protectorate starfighter is also pushing against the traditional Imperial aces, taking a good chunk of their space. They do not, however, have the defensife capabilities of the Interceptors.

The point I'm trying to make? IG-88 is actually viable again. Don't take me wrong; it's a hard ship to fly. The meta has moved a lot, however, and some classics are worth revisiting.

As a former Brobots player, what killed it for me was red dice creep.

IGs are great at absorbing damage when it comes in 2-3 dice chunks. When it comes in 4-5 dice chunks? Not so much

I would not be surprised to see them make "surprise" appearances at a number of store championships. Seems like a pretty good match-up against Miranda? Biggs with R4-D6 is a real annoyance to HLC though. I'm curious is mangler and crackshot make an attractive option. There are also some pretty interesting new toys out there like rigged cargo chute, thermal detenators, scavenger crane etc. that weren't available when brobots first hit.

If you believe the Meta-Wing ranking then the story on Brobots is very clear - they've been in terminal decline ever since Wave 8 was released, and performing worse and worse with each successive wave.

I wonder if Arc Casters will make an impact on Brobot builds. You have to lose something off the standard Glittercrack build (most likely Glitter i think) to get it in there, but having a 4 die gunner attack at all ranges would really help them I think.

I've flown Double Aggressors for a long time, grabbing both Regional and National wins. They would happily chew through swarms, fat turrets and Jumpmasters without problems, when flown right. When using Push the Limit and Advanced Sensors, you should never lose to triple jumps. What gave them some issues was Palp Aces and, to a lesser extent, well-piloted Biggs squads.

Their real downfall though? Stress/ion control. Bombs with Sabine are also very hard. Miranda can quite happily pack all three while running loops around multiple IG-88s. Fenn and Asajj are the power to both tank your shots, control your movements and smack you really hard.

They're still a great squad. They are, in my opinion, the ultimate "take all comers" squad with very few truly terrible matchups. It's still a wonderfully customisable platform. But really, when an enemy ship can happily swipe all your shields off in one go and whack stress on too, your 50 point non-turret ship starts to look real vulnerable.

Heavy stress meta is very hard on them.

What happened to Brobots? Simple. The true power of scum does not lie with assasin droids. It lies with a lobotomized, unthinking killer in a Û-Boat.

By the way, for those wanting to dust off their good old aggressor, consider trying the rigged cargo chute with advanced sensors. A properly placed debris field will ruin the day of any ace, while the IG-88 itself can usually use advanced sensor to fly through one without too much trouble. Also with advanced sensor, you can drop it before or after you move, which is a nice plus.

They're basically what they always have been. Decent list, a few variants, roughly 50% win rate against most things. I imagine it's a combination of people usually want a more skewed power profile (they'll trade having 1-2 bad matchups for having some number of actual good matchups), the list being somewhat boring if you aren't particularly in love with the aggressor dial, and stress being so prevalent making them harder to fly in general. They also don't get new goodies very often so they're less exciting to experiment with.

I love brobots. They're just really hard to fly right now. You can't afford to make any mistakes.

IG-88B made off with IG-88D's love interest. A and C took sides and now nobody is speaking with anyone.

It's sad really.

I didn't play Bro-Bots when they were the hotness. I bought one on a whim for a team epic tournament. My 200pts were Moralo with triple-Bots (borrowed other two from a friend) and I fell in love with those things. I also took them for a spin in FLGS escalation tournament and finished fifth (of eight). Competitive or not I occasionally fly them for the giggles.

I don't play them in my local meta anymore so I can swing them out as the dark horse. They are still a great all comers list and barring bad dice they live or die by piloting. Don't let the PS6 bother you, they block great with their maneuvers + Boost.

PS9 alphas? I'll trade your torpedo for one damage. Here, let's trade shots now.

Pincer attacks and leapfrogging slow rolls are the name of the game.

Bombs can be annoying, but barring a trip K I'm not too worried.

Its a putty the ig88d crew doesn't do backwards compatibility, just imagine igg88b and dengar... Guest that's why its not

2 hours ago, BlodVargarna said:

IG-88B made off with IG-88D's love interest. A and C took sides and now nobody is speaking with anyone.

It's sad really.

Never trust a short robot, they are home wreckers:

B-D, B-D, B-D.