Hooray for the Star Wing!! (thank goodness they finally released the reveal on this epic ship). It looks really unique and an innovating ship to fly.

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2017/10/20/indiscriminate-devastation/

I however, am quite interested in the new cannons, because new cannons mean new things for B-Wings, my favorite ship in the game. Sadly right now they tend to get blown out of the sky with only one attack dice and a bunch of crazy Quickdraw and Torpedo builds flying around.

However, I could see these new cannons being useful on the Rebel's cheapest cannon carrier. The jamming beam seems to be something that could be really effective to shut down aces right now, and could be really good (I think anyways) on a cheaper carrier. If the B Wing is going to die in one or two rounds, if you can use it to jam up an ace like Fenn or something, I would much rather draw fire and lose the 24 point B wing to remove a 30-something point high ace.

The Linked Battery could be useful, I see it as being less so on standard FCS B-Wings, but could definatly bring back the classic Adv. Sensors B-Wing. Usually that ship suffers nowdays because without FCS the ability to perform pre actions with a B Wing is somewhat negated (barrel rolling into a different position doesen't quite matter for a lot of the high damage output ships with turrets or later movement). The Linked Battery seems to be a totally legit way to combat this problem becsaue now you can have the best of both worlds. You can barrel roll or focus before you move, and have to worry about target locks because you get the free re-roll anyways AND it works on the primary. No more choosing between a cannon and primary: you get the effect either way.

Possibly most important, its the cannon that everybody wants from the B-Wing on Rebels. Sure it doesen't have the actual B-Wing on it, but at least its adaptable (and a really good card for only 2 points).

Those are just my thoughts having just read the article, what do you guys think? Can the B-Wing be revived a bit by these new cannons? 1 Defense ships are going to be hurting for a while until the heavy hitters pass on from meta play, but will these at least make them more viable again in local and casual play? (let alone the Tie/D title, but thats a whole different thread). What B-Wing shenanigans do you all have cooked up?

Best,

Cow

Unfortunately Blues still sit at 22 points and you'd be unable to field 4 of the Linked Battery and Advanced Sensors variety in a standard 100-pt game.

But it doesn't mean you couldn't add one in to flesh out a squad or something. I think they're still decent ships in a bomb heavy meta, having 8 hit points and all.

But I think this isn't the fix the B-wing needs to be relevant again. They could really go for a title that lowers cannon upgrade cost or improves function of cannons for themselves. They should be the heavy fighter they were meant to be. A line buster meant to lay the smack down on larger ships especially. They're still my favorite fighter, hopefully they'll have their day again soon.

I stand by the statement that what the Bwing really needs is access to Primed Thrusters.

I think a Linked Batteries B-Wing would be stronger than a FCS B-Wing (unless you've got torpedoes in there). Fewer rerolls, but not that many fewer. Meanwhile, you'll get them on the opening round of fire, and also you'll be able to change targets freely. I'd say that's worth it. You can get Collision Detector at 24 points, or Electronic Baffle at 25. Baffle the stress and you can have focus and rerolls if you do a 2 K-Turn. However, while I think it'd be a better build than current ones, I don't think B-Wings are worth it in general. I wish they increased the cost of the title or the Star Wing and decreased the cost of Linked Batteries.

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I don't see Jamming Beam being that good in general. You'll be doing zero damage, and you're still rolling only 3 dice (why not make some of these no-damage weapons into FOUR dice attacks?), so you won't really be any better at hitting high-agility token-heavy ships. I could see it on TIE/D Defenders, maybe. It'll be a pain against a Poe, but whatever.

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1 minute ago, Rakaydos said:

I stand by the statement that what the Bwing really needs is access to Primed Thrusters.

Oh man, that'd be amazing.

I thought about it and I agree with you Fig about the Jamming on a B Wing. I think that it will probably be a good cannon for the Scyk or defender though, but not worth safricicing the 3 dice shots from a B-Wing.

The biggest issue with the B-Wing is its points inefficiency. A Blue Squadron Pilot + FCS + HLC would be a great list filler that packs a decent punch... but not for 31 points. IMHO B-Wings either need an upgrade that reduces upgrade costs, or somehting like the TIE/D title for double shots.

Yess Tie/D for B Wings would be fluff and make them relevant again.

I could see Linked Cannons on Farlander though. Still hes expensive for what he does!

Prototype B Wing (title)

Blue Squadron Pilot Only

If you have the Linked Battery upgrade equipped, when you fire it, vaporize your opponent and any non-rebel ships at games within earshot of you. Rejoice in the glory of the restored and broken B Wing (B-Wings broken? not since wave 2 )

3 hours ago, AngryAlbatross said:

Yess Tie/D for B Wings would be fluff and make them relevant again.

I could see Linked Cannons on Farlander though. Still hes expensive for what he does!

The issue with Keyan Farlander is "how do you get the stress?" Push the Limit seems meaningless in a Linked Batteries build, since you'd have to take either a Focus or TL action (unless you add Jan Ors in the /E2, which starts to get up to 37 points before getting a Sensor upgrade). Stay on Target is meh from low PS. Maybe it's just VI and pulling Red moves, maybe also with Hera crew. That'll really open up the dial. However, it'll still be more expensive than a basic Rage Keyan.

TIE/D would be great, though. Keyan with Rage and any cheap Cannon.