2 minutes ago, DR4CO said:

My money would be on "It's just (yet another) Jumpmaster problem". Intel Agent came out in Wave 3, and it's been possible to put it on a low-PS large base with barrel roll and a great dial ever since Wave 5. What's changed recently is that it's become possible to take a low-PS large base with barrel roll and a great dial, build it to be one of you main guns and/or fuel the rest of your list, and then just slap the Intel Agent on top because you can and still have only spent 30 or so points.

It's quite possibly this.

However, I do think there's an element of something "overlooked," and I say that because even after bringing up how to basically infinite block someone, a mass majority of players (this includes good players) do not believe it's true. And given our own personal discovery method, it was similarly accidental and tangential to what we were even trying to accomplish.

So, for instance, rebels can now create their own bump master with a 2400... BUT, one thing they're missing (other than moar greenz) is simply a good "hammer" for the list - a Fenn Rau, or good missile/alpha. However, if rebels were given something like this, I could see this same style creep up elsewhere.

So, in summary, I think it's a confluence of Yet-Another-Jumpmaster-Problem™, a meta development problem (the meta has moved slowly in many cases), and a lack of good synergistic tools to pair with a bump master.

Store Champs season is over for me, so I've done some very limited screwing around with Upsilon builds. I don't really like Kylo Crew, because the Upsilon seems so action starved already, but I've had some interesting games with Kylo the ship. It's true, you can't control who gets the condition, but I'm not sure that's a major issue. If they're concentrating fire, the highest PS ship fires first, which is often one worth putting Damaged Cockpit or Blinded Pilot into.

I've tried a few upgrades on the build that have been pretty useful. Engine Upgrade and Pattern Analyzer are both winners, albeit ones that are starting to make this a really costly ship. Pattern Analyzers lets you really make serious use of the stop and hard turns. It's not an IG2000 or anything, but it's fast and can get guns on target and it can effectively disengage. It's also a powerful combo with Intel Agent, because you can set a stop maneuver, check the dial of a close ship, and then maneuver (or not) as appropriate.

Here's the thing, though. We're talking about a ship in the mid 40s after you add all this stuff on. If has to put in serious work, and I'm really not sure it can. It's been interesting enough that I'm not sure it can't, either, though. There's a pretty high skill ceiling on Intel/Coordinate, and there's an EPT and second crew slot that are very unoptimized in the builds I've tried. Even if I abandon Kylo pilot, adding Pattern Analyzers and Engine Upgrade to a different Upsilon has pretty strong synergy with Intel Agent, Coordinate, and that giant freaking gun on the front.

Advance sensors Guri cannot be blocked once the new title comes out. And she may want to run into the bumpmaster if she has a different ship to shoot at. She gets her focus token either way.

Just played against Jumpmasters for maybe 4th time ever but jumps intel for the first time. All i can say is intel is crazy. Blew one jumpy out of the game in the second combat before the intel stuff started.

I had Whisper with Advanced Sensors and Boba Fett. The ability to barrel roll before revealing with Whisper helped a bunch along with the decloak before the check. And Boba had a handful of options with the bank moves.

Still it threw me off alot and couldnt recover really. Boba's big base just got bumped into one trap after another until he died. Took me a few more rounds to try and get whisper out to range 3 again.

I think if i played against it a bunch of times i could start to learn how to really use AS/Cloak and Boba Banks to get around em. But yikes does it turn the tables on an Ace.

Echo would have faired much better i think.

Pretty sure Intel Agent should be Range 1 only or maybe require you to burn an action or take a stress.

Ultimately though its that dial on a big base that made it so killer. White/Green hard turns and the segnor loop and the big base. Thats what made the blocking possible.

6 minutes ago, Boom Owl said:

The ability to barrel roll before revealing with Whisper helped a bunch along with the decloak before the check.

Intel Agent is supposed to happen BEFORE you decloak.

1 hour ago, EdgeOfDreams said:

Intel Agent is supposed to happen BEFORE you decloak.

Isn't this depending on initiative? They both happen in the same phase... Please correct me if I'm wrong.

28 minutes ago, LagJanson said:

Isn't this depending on initiative? They both happen in the same phase... Please correct me if I'm wrong.

https://images-cdn.fantasyflightgames.com/filer_public/6e/96/6e96c3c3-85e1-4138-97f6-5b31cef1bee7/x-wing_faq_v433_low.pdf

Page 2:

"At the start of the Activation phase, after players have resolved all other abilities that trigger at the start of the Activation phase, each ship may spend a cloak token to decloak, starting with the ship with the lowest pilot skill (using initiative to break ties)"

Intelligence Agent is an effect that triggers at the start of the Activation Phase, so it goes first. Initiative only determines decloak order when both players have cloaked ships of the same pilot skill, and even then, Intel Agent still happens first.

2 minutes ago, EdgeOfDreams said:

https://images-cdn.fantasyflightgames.com/filer_public/6e/96/6e96c3c3-85e1-4138-97f6-5b31cef1bee7/x-wing_faq_v433_low.pdf

Page 2:

"At the start of the Activation phase, after players have resolved all other abilities that trigger at the start of the Activation phase, each ship may spend a cloak token to decloak, starting with the ship with the lowest pilot skill (using initiative to break ties)"

Intelligence Agent is an effect that triggers at the start of the Activation Phase, so it goes first. Initiative only determines decloak order when both players have cloaked ships of the same pilot skill, and even then, Intel Agent still happens first.

Yep. No argument there. Had not read that passage.