I think a TIE Defender with no title may be somewhat interesting with Linked. You get the offensive mod, and you can save the focus for defense. Less damage but better token manengmant.

53 minutes ago, Celestial Lizards said:

I think a TIE Defender with no title may be somewhat interesting with Linked. You get the offensive mod, and you can save the focus for defense. Less damage but better token manengmant.

I was thinking on this a little and the best I could manage was something with Expertise or A Score To Settle. You get fully nodded attacks and so your Focus can be for defense or repositioning.

Maarek Stele, ASTS, Linked Batteries = 37

Arguably better than Flechette, depending on opposition. Engine Upgrade fits with this sort of build pretty well if the overall PS and offense drops a bit. Closing to R1 and dropping a fully modded 4 dice shot is good, but dying is not.

VI Rexler Brath might be interesting. He'd be 40 points with Batteries and VI. PS10 is good in this meta, and it would make up for an otherwise anemic offence on an x7 version. He could still pack a missile if there was something really useful, but that's probably making him too expensive.

11 minutes ago, Biophysical said:

I was thinking on this a little and the best I could manage was something with Expertise or A Score To Settle. You get fully nodded attacks and so your Focus can be for defense or repositioning.

Maarek Stele, ASTS, Linked Batteries = 37

Arguably better than Flechette, depending on opposition. Engine Upgrade fits with this sort of build pretty well if the overall PS and offense drops a bit. Closing to R1 and dropping a fully modded 4 dice shot is good, but dying is not.

VI Rexler Brath might be interesting. He'd be 40 points with Batteries and VI. PS10 is good in this meta, and it would make up for an otherwise anemic offence on an x7 version. He could still pack a missile if there was something really useful, but that's probably making him too expensive.

Eh, if Linked was 0 points (as it should have been), then there may have been an edge case for linked on a Defender. As it is, I think I'd go for pretty much anything else over Linked.

1 hour ago, Celestial Lizards said:

I think a TIE Defender with no title may be somewhat interesting with Linked. You get the offensive mod, and you can save the focus for defense. Less damage but better token manengmant.

Take x7 and Juke for 2 less points. It'll be better.

Linked Batteries is basically a dead card on anything other than the Gunboat, and I'm not convinced by it there.

29 minutes ago, HolySorcerer said:

Eh, if Linked was 0 points (as it should have been), then there may have been an edge case for linked on a Defender. As it is, I think I'd go for pretty much anything else over Linked.

I agree, it's generally a good bit worse than the alternatives.

27 minutes ago, thespaceinvader said:

Take x7 and Juke for 2 less points. It'll be better.

Linked Batteries is basically a dead card on anything other than the Gunboat, and I'm not convinced by it there.

rather than x7 and juke, take x7 and predator

it's literally the same thing as Linked Defenders, except it's 1 point cheaper AND you still get the incredibly significant evade benefit (and gets more re-rolls v ps 2 or less, if you ever run into those again)

personally think it'll be just dandy on boats, but we're going to have to test it against cannons that you can use with the XG-1's weapon disabled benefit to see which is more useful overall. In this 1 agility meta, even an unmodified TB shot after a SLAM could be a massive boon.

except in Karsabi's case. Karsabi can fire any weapon after SLAM thanks to their ability, so linked HLC all the way for action independent modifiers

Why not both? About the only thing that's really caught my eye so far is Flechette and Linke d Batteries, but it's not cheap enough to run good lists with any of the combos that fit it.

Vynder is 34 tricked out, generics are a little over 20 and a little over 25 respectively.

If only it worked with Ion Cannons

2 minutes ago, thespaceinvader said:

Why not both? About the only thing that's really caught my eye so far is Flechette and Linke d Batteries, but it's not cheap enough to run good lists with any of the combos that fit it.

Vynder is 34 tricked out, generics are a little over 20 and a little over 25 respectively.

If only it worked with Ion Cannons

because being limited to doing only 1 damage is **** awful (and 2 dice primaries are also **** awful)

ion cannons in this meta would have been gorgeous enough to not care about the damage cap, but alas

What about a Nu, Assault Configuration, Flechette Cannon, Linked Batteries, Ion Pulse Missile, and Long Range Scanners for 26? You get all manner of control and you make use of the title.

2 minutes ago, ficklegreendice said:

because being limited to doing only 1 damage is **** awful (and 2 dice primaries are also **** awful)

ion cannons in this meta would have been gorgeous enough to not care about the damage cap, but alas

When the ship is running in the low 20s, one damage is not bad at all.

2 minutes ago, Biophysical said:

When the ship is running in the low 20s, one damage is not bad at all.

Especially if you know where they are going to be next round due to ionization so you can bring larger guns to bear on that location. People seriously underestimate how good ionization is.

14 minutes ago, Biophysical said:

When the ship is running in the low 20s, one damage is not bad at all.

I would not agree, unless that damage were guaranteed.

Linked flechette XG-1 Nus are 23 points. Springing the extra three points for Omega Leader would be such an exponential improvement that I'd do it every time. If not Omega L, then countdown for 20 points because he could conceivably do more than one damage and still be a massive pain in the ***. Or even an unguided LWF sciminatar for 20 points, or an unguided crackshot gamma vet for 22 (or 24, one more point for the NU, with LWF).

as filler, a flechette XG-1 would be incredibly underwhelming and easily ignored considering the incredibly limited utility of flechette cannon. Even the more useful jamming/tractors still don't do enough to justify the ship having no damage potential.

even if you had a list of five of these guys pumping out a max of five damage, well that'd still be just laughable. It isn't much of a force multiplier, or much of anything really.

the exception would be ions because they're such a significant control piece. If ions were allowed to fire through weapon's disabled, the benefit would be significant enough to offset the 1 damage cap.

5 minutes ago, HolySorcerer said:

Especially if you know where they are going to be next round due to ionization so you can bring larger guns to bear on that location. People seriously underestimate how good ionization is.

Ionisation is amazing.

Unfortunatley, ion cannons are 3 points so don't work with the SLAM part of XG1, and only affect large bases every other round, so in the current meta, difficult to use.

Having spent a good portion of my X-wing time of the last few months playing an Engine Upgrade Upsilon, I think 3+ point cannons are not going to suck.

The Upsilon can make gun runs on a flank and not worry about turning around, or it can boost away from the fight faster than an opposing ship can pursue, then turn around at its convenience. That seems to be the exact same tactics Ion/Mangler/HLC equipped Gunboats would use.

If you're going the linked battery route, I think it's also worth noting that drawing into R1 of something with focus/reroll primaries does not suck.

yes, linked range 1 primaries don't suck even if they also aren't particularly great for the amount of points invested.

but they suck even less if the ship is capable of significant damage output at all ranges

as is, I simply do not feel that the 1-2 point cannons enabled by the XG-1 do enough of anything to merit how sharply they cut down on the ship's, and therefore your entire list's, damage potential. Granted, I can see why XG-1 is limited to 2 points (an IC gunboat would basically win the game 1v1 if it SLAMed behind a low agility ship) but that doesn't mean the remaining options are necessarily worth crutching on.

As is, I'd be far more comfortable either completely ignoring the XG-1's weapon's disabled benefit (especially on Karsabi, who doesn't need it) or complementing a crappy cannon with something that does at least some measure of work. In the second case, predator on anything above the Nu could take Linked Batteries' place.

If we have the Tie Silencer I hope we'll see a first order interceptor, a pair of them running along side the Silencer would have a greet look and be pretty theamatic, if the Silencer is the FO Interceptor, The FO have won on coolness alone. This is Sienar Flight Systems teeming up with Lamborghini. I play ships that I like the look of much more that what the current meta is saying.

I am planning on running 2 gunboats and a silencer. I can flank with the gunboats so the silencer can maximize the first vanguard title offensively.

3 hours ago, ficklegreendice said:

rather than x7 and juke, take x7 and predator

it's literally the same thing as Linked Defenders, except it's 1 point cheaper AND you still get the incredibly significant evade benefit (and gets more re-rolls v ps 2 or less, if you ever run into those again)

personally think it'll be just dandy on boats, but we're going to have to test it against cannons that you can use with the XG-1's weapon disabled benefit to see which is more useful overall. In this 1 agility meta, even an unmodified TB shot after a SLAM could be a massive boon.

except in Karsabi's case. Karsabi can fire any weapon after SLAM thanks to their ability, so linked HLC all the way for action independent modifiers

Karsabi with crackshot, HCL, aslam and linked is 37 points. Sure, the damage output is a little higher than for example of Ryad with TL+Focus with her 3 dice attack and x7 title. But the gunboat is a lot more squishy for just a little extra damage. Against naked agility 1 it's 2.4 vs 3.1 damage. So you gain less damage than the extra damage you get. So basically you need something drawing more aggro in your list or it won't be worth it, because Karsabi would melt too fast to make it worth it.

So call me a little unimpressed for HCL Karsabi, Ions might actually suit him better. Compensates for the low amount of greens he has as well.

12 minutes ago, SEApocalypse said:

Karsabi with crackshot, HCL, aslam and linked is 37 points. Sure, the damage output is a little higher than for example of Ryad with TL+Focus with her 3 dice attack and x7 title. But the gunboat is a lot more squishy for just a little extra damage. Against naked agility 1 it's 2.4 vs 3.1 damage. So you gain less damage than the extra damage you get. So basically you need something drawing more aggro in your list or it won't be worth it, because Karsabi would melt too fast to make it worth it.

So call me a little unimpressed for HCL Karsabi, Ions might actually suit him better. Compensates for the low amount of greens he has as well.

why are you taking ASLAM? Karsabi's ability shuts it right off (taking the wep disabled token is a part of the action, you'll be stressed when you try to ASLAM off of it)

Karsabi is a 35 pointer with a significant damage increase over Ryad (1 die is a crapload of difference, plus there is no dependency on low PS target-lock for full mods and you get crackshot).

And while the gunboat is a lot squisher against conventional firepower, SLAM is just a world of difference when it comes to not getting bombed. The amount of distance it generates greatly improves your positioning prospects and makes it far easier to avoid the guaranteed damage that punches right through x7.

Basically, the XG-1 is an alpha strike monster with SLAM utility. The x7 is one of, it not the, most durable ships in the game against conventional damage and is a stupidly good jouster. They fill completely different roles

I don't believe the gunboat in general won't be setting the world ablaze because stuff like Dengar is still just too stupid to engage conventionally, but it has a lot of advantages over the x7 specifically when engaging with the bomb heavy meta

besides, you could always run both. Karsabi fits right in with an x7 PTL ryad and an x7 delta with two points to spare. You could also up the alpha with crackshot Vessery instead of Ryad (use LRS Karsabi to enable Vessery) with 3 points to spare.

3 minutes ago, ficklegreendice said:

why are you taking ASLAM? Karsabi's ability shuts it right off

Because I was reading the order of things wrong. Good point.

This decreases the damage vs agility 1 to 2.6 (3 for the crackshot). Your point about bombs is still true. But in the end he is **** expensive. And he seems to be the best thing about the GUN boats. As I said, the missile ones look nice and taking him together with some ships which generate more heat might work.

or just take 3 boats
They all generate the same "heat"

while I love love x7s (my absolute favorite empire ship, because it's one of about two small bases that doesn't get shafted by green dice), they are very difficult to use in the high PS bomb + turret meta. Gunboats, specifically the XG-1 because it has no TL restriction to fire, just strike me as much easier to use.

EDIT: could also do http://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Galactic Empire&d=v4!s!268:140,-1,-1:56:24:U.247,U.23;70:140,-1,-1:33:-1:;269:170,-1,-1:56:24:U.247,U.23&sn=x7 XG&obs=

****, do you have to choose?

Personally, I'm gonna go with the Gunboat. I like the Silencer, but by sheer looks and interest alsone, this is a tough, but ultimately one-sided decision.

8 hours ago, thespaceinvader said:

Ionisation is amazing.

Unfortunatley, ion cannons are 3 points so don't work with the SLAM part of XG1, and only affect large bases every other round, so in the current meta, difficult to use.

Wait, so Ion Tokens stick around on Large ships until enough stack to take effect? I thought they went away, and were therefore useless against the big ships unless you could get more than one on in a single round! I will have to reevaluate them, then!

Concerning the XG-1 title, I understand why they cut it off at 2, but it still seems a little odd that the Gunboat can't benefit with the one cannon it was actually known for having! (In TIE Fighter , it was the only ship you could fly with an ion cannon until the TIE Defender came along.)

28 minutes ago, JJ48 said:

Wait, so Ion Tokens stick around on Large ships until enough stack to take effect? I thought they went away, and were therefore useless against the big ships unless you could get more than one on in a single round! I will have to reevaluate them, then!

Concerning the XG-1 title, I understand why they cut it off at 2, but it still seems a little odd that the Gunboat can't benefit with the one cannon it was actually known for having! (In TIE Fighter , it was the only ship you could fly with an ion cannon until the TIE Defender came along.)

Yup, ion tokens stick around until they do something. Get one ion token on a large base ship and they can never face the board edge again.

I completely forgot these ships release around the same time as Hannukah.