32 minutes ago, ficklegreendice said:

whatever the **** you call the A-wing

can't be assed to remember the preamble when it's basically the same ship

RZ-2. You know. Like the RZ-1.

I mean T-70 has been a thing for uh. Two years now, little longer really.

5 hours ago, Boba Rick said:

Quick question on Advanced Optics:

Poe has AO and another ship has Jan Ors on board. Poe already has a focus token from a previous turn. Can he do a focus action so that Jan Ors can turn it to an evade for him?

Yes. Jan Ors works before the focus token is assigned. So it will not overwrite the old focus first. At least that would be my read on it.

Am i the only one who's excited we also got the sheathapede dial and it's decent............?

4 hours ago, wurms said:

Man, two advanced optics for $40? Yikes.

You can half that, after all everyone wants to throw missiles bombs into the general direction of the enemies.

No. I is ecstatic too!

9 hours ago, SEApocalypse said:

Nope. Resistance is a sub faction of rebels. And this it refers only to resistance ships, which currently are the T-70, this new bomber, new falcon and that's about it … at least I can't remember any other resistance ships currently in the game.

Your mention of the new falcon is interesting, in that you can mix and match the model, falcon title, and pilot cards between both YT-1300 packs. If I'm running the new model and new title and original trilogy Han pilot, am I in the resistance or the alliance?

4 hours ago, BlodVargarna said:

Was it ever not?

Depends. Do you like TIE fighters?

Weapons Guidance allows TIE/fo's to function in a world without Howlrunner. In a traditional TIE swarm, the swarm maintains Range 1 of Howlrunner to gain the benefit of 1 reroll. A TIE/ln + Focus has an expected damage of 1.5, with Focus and Howlrunner's reroll, that increases to 1.75*. A TIE/fo with a Focus and Weapons Guidance has an expected damage of 1.8125, however they are also independent to move around without losing any effectiveness. Also, as everyone knows:

"Kill Howlrunner first."

Once Howlrunner is dead, the effectiveness of each individual TIE drops from 1.75 to 1.5 but the squadron member are then free to move about the cabin table. Howl + 3 Crack Blacks + 3 Academies is a bit to work out, because the effectiveness of Crack Shot varies depending on the Agility of your opponent. What is amazing against a 3 Agility target is worthless against a 0 Agility target.

So for simplicity, I worked up the effectiveness of Howlrunner with +1 hull and six AP's vs 5 Epsilon Squad's with WG and 1 without (due to 100pt limitation). We consider Howrunner to be targeted first, and the Epsilon without the upgrade to be left for last (since its a lesser threat).

The Imperial squadron starts off with a higher expected damage output, however it drops significantly once Howlrunner dies and the squadron runs out of HP a little before the First Order forces do. It is pretty close and they trade places a few times.

Taking an average, it looks like the Imperial squadron puts out approx. +8.1% more damage on average over the lifetime of the squadron thanks to Howlrunner initial boost, but /fo's squadron lasts longer, and have unmeasured benefits such sloops, target lock, and ignoring the first potential critical. This also simplistic and not a complete picture of all the variables of a game of X-Wing, of course.

*Expected Hits:

Focus Only Howl + Focus WG + Focus

0 6.25% 3.125% 0%

1 37.5% 18.75% 18.75%

2 56.25% 78.125% 81.25%

35 minutes ago, Joe Censored said:

Your mention of the new falcon is interesting, in that you can mix and match the model, falcon title, and pilot cards between both YT-1300 packs. If I'm running the new model and new title and original trilogy Han pilot, am I in the resistance or the alliance?

Alliance. The logos of the resistance, alliance, empire, scum and first order are on the pilot cards.

50 minutes ago, kris40k said:

Howl + 3 Crack Blacks + 3 Academies is a bit to work out, because the effectiveness of Crack Shot varies depending on the Agility of your opponent. What is amazing against a 3 Agility target is worthless against a 0 Agility target.

I know this isn't the central focus of the analysis, but

Horse. ****.

I've played with double crackshot red vets and had to spend both in the first round of firing against a list that was two VCX and a ABT Y-wing. I've played many games where even a Y-wing could tank an entire squad of AC advanced because it just wouldn't stop rolling evade. ****, the VCX can evade as an action while low agility and stuff like the Auzzy is only really feasibly one-rounded by crackshot bearing ships

Crackshot is a massive boon against literally every target, basically amounting to an extra damage for one point unless your opponent is unrealistically unlucky or you die before you get to shoot

Since aces might not be coming back as some may have prophesied, it's important to advertise just how effective crackshot always is even in a low agility meta where things still need to die and fast. It's going to be the corner-stone of XG-1 gunboat alphas, and it is an ept we should always keep close in preparation for any future release that can effectively slot it into their ept slot

and then you can also do things like contrast Crackshot with Cobalt leader, poor, poor Cobalt leader

1 hour ago, Joe Censored said:

Your mention of the new falcon is interesting, in that you can mix and match the model, falcon title, and pilot cards between both YT-1300 packs. If I'm running the new model and new title and original trilogy Han pilot, am I in the resistance or the alliance?

It all depends on pilot. So old Han = Rebel Alliance. New Han = Resistance

50 minutes ago, ficklegreendice said:

I know this isn't the central focus of the analysis, but

Horse. ****.

I've played with double crackshot red vets and had to spend both in the first round of firing against a list that was two VCX and a ABT Y-wing. I've played many games where even a Y-wing could tank an entire squad of AC advanced because it just wouldn't stop rolling evade. ****, the VCX can evade as an action while low agility and stuff like the Auzzy is only really feasibly one-rounded by crackshot bearing ships

Crackshot is a massive boon against literally every target, basically amounting to an extra damage for one point unless your opponent is unrealistically unlucky or you die before you get to shoot

Since aces might not be coming back as some may have prophesied, it's important to advertise just how effective crackshot always is even in a low agility meta where things still need to die and fast. It's going to be the corner-stone of XG-1 gunboat alphas, and it is an ept we should always keep close in preparation for any future release that can effectively slot it into their ept slot

and then you can also do things like contrast Crackshot with Cobalt leader, poor, poor Cobalt leader

Fair enough, calling it "useless" was a little too strong language (kinda like horse **** is heh). VCX's can evade, range 3 defense bonuses, obstacles exist, etc.. Certainly, there are many situations with low/no agility defenders that Crack Shot can be used to push another point across for 1pt. But you can certainly see that there is much more effective use pushing 1 more damage through against a 4hp TAP than against a 16hp VT-49.

But I will concede it is never "useless," I misspoke there.

6 hours ago, BlodVargarna said:

It all depends on pilot. So old Han = Rebel Alliance. New Han = Resistance

Exactly. So if you want a crew caddy that can also support crossfire, you've got a choice of Resistance Sympathiser, HotR Chewbacca, Rey, or HotR Han.

I didn't notice Deflective Plating was Friendly Bombs only. (Sigh) So you can't even use one as a battering ram to clear mines out of the way...

• 4 of them firing spitballs doesn't sound that scary. Yes, they have much health but 12 health behind 1 agility doesn't take that much killing, and a target with autothrusters is basically going to ignore your existence.
• 2 with Trajectory Simulators and Thermal Detonators sounds interesting, but will probably only leave you 30-odd points for an ace to support them.
• 3 with the same doubles down on bombing - it depends just how good you are at planning pattern-dropped thermal detonators. It's less scary than Nym, at least; they're 'on reveal' bombs without the benefit of 'Genius', at low PS, with no re positioning available. At the same time, watching someone get caught in a wall of thermal detonators would be very satisfying.
• Theoretically you can turn one into a 'target lock buddy'. 32 points gets you Crossfire Formation, Fire Control System, Targeting Synchroniser. It's a lot more expensive than something like Epsilon Ace/Targeting Synchroniser or a TIE Shuttle/Systems Officer buddy, but it's also not going anywhere any time soon with 12 hits and a garuanteed focus result to spend that focus token on.
  • Alternatively take one with Accuracy Corrector and Targeting Synchroniser - use your action to replenish target locks for other people because you don't need it yourself.

Deflective is definitely a niche use, but it makes sense. It lets you get at least one opportunity to like, lob a bomb and then rush in after it. And maybe it works more than once. It's got decent potential for 1 point there, reminds me of the design of Scav Crane.

If it applied to non-friendly bombs, it would increase the price, similarly if it wasn't only locked to the B/SF. I feel like the intent here is that you can reasonably fit at least one into a 3 ship list without trying too hard but still get some of your upgrades in, so making it cost more is against the idea of the ship.

Plus like somebody else said, you don't build counter-cards JUST for one situation. Even AT also helps if you're at long range. The AT for bombs as opposed to turrets would need some other move, like killing a crit to a facedown too, or help against other secondary weapons, or something. This would only complicate the design and cost more, I think. But also maybe it lets FFG test the waters for how non-bombers might be able to resist bombs?

I think that Ion Bombs + Silos + Trajectory + Ion Projector will make for a great control ship - just get up in there and bump & ion.

8 minutes ago, RunnerAZ said:

I think that Ion Bombs + Silos + Trajectory + Ion Projector will make for a great control ship - just get up in there and bump & ion.

32 points for a two dice pwt and no additional damage, though

On 11/22/2017 at 8:52 PM, kris40k said:

Fair enough, calling it "useless" was a little too strong language (kinda like horse **** is heh). VCX's can evade, range 3 defense bonuses, obstacles exist, etc.. Certainly, there are many situations with low/no agility defenders that Crack Shot can be used to push another point across for 1pt. But you can certainly see that there is much more effective use pushing 1 more damage through against a 4hp TAP than against a 16hp VT-49.

But I will concede it is never "useless," I misspoke there.

Non-seq, but historically, horse **** is actually pretty useful. In the late 17th century, the city of Paris used to grow enough food inside the city to not only feed itself well, but they also had enough to export to other cities, such as London. One of the things that allowed this was the abundance of horse manure that was composted and used as a soil amendment.

3 minutes ago, JasonCole said:

Non-seq, but historically, horse **** is actually pretty useful. In the late 17th century, the city of Paris used to grow enough food inside the city to not only feed itself well, but they also had enough to export to other cities, such as London. One of the things that allowed this was the abundance of horse manure that was composted and used as a soil amendment.

I was actually saying that horse **** was strong language, not that horse **** was useless.

But thank you for that fun fact.

2 hours ago, JasonCole said:

Non-seq, but historically, horse **** is actually pretty useful. In the late 17th century, the city of Paris used to grow enough food inside the city to not only feed itself well, but they also had enough to export to other cities, such as London. One of the things that allowed this was the abundance of horse manure that was composted and used as a soil amendment.

Horse **** is pretty **** for xwing, though

On 11/23/2017 at 1:52 AM, kris40k said:

Fair enough, calling it "useless" was a little too strong language (kinda like horse **** is heh). VCX's can evade, range 3 defense bonuses, obstacles exist, etc.. Certainly, there are many situations with low/no agility defenders that Crack Shot can be used to push another point across for 1pt. But you can certainly see that there is much more effective use pushing 1 more damage through against a 4hp TAP than against a 16hp VT-49.

But I will concede it is never "useless," I misspoke there.

Swings and roundabouts. I often find Crack Shot is more useful against mid-to-low agility targets. Against an agility 3 target, especially the token-stacker brigade, there's a non-trivial chance that they'll have at least 3 evade results in front of them once 'defender modifies dice' is done with, at which point crack shot on a 2 attack ship does me no good.

On an agility 2 or less target, spending crack shot will almost always net me at least 1 damage if I have a shot in the first place, and avoiding losing the odd hit to the odd green die (heck, even a decimator can dodge a couple of damage at range 3 from a swarm) goes a long way to getting fast kills, as @ficklegreendice says. A good example is the Twin Laser Turret Y-wing; a realistic question (especially with a swarm) is 'can you reliably bring down a Y-wing with a focus token before it shoots?'.

With 5 TIE/fos it's doable but crack shot makes a massive difference to the likelihood of it actually happening, and reducing the fire coming back at you by 1/4 is a big tilt in the opening turns of the game.

6 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

Swings and roundabouts. I often find Crack Shot is more useful against mid-to-low agility targets. Against an agility 3 target, especially the token-stacker brigade, there's a non-trivial chance that they'll have at least 3 evade results in front of them once 'defender modifies dice' is done with, at which point crack shot on a 2 attack ship does me no good.

The paraphrase a wise man,"Horse. ****."

On just a first glance, Crack Shot will cause damage equal to 25% of the total health of a TAP and 6.25% of a VT-49. Its a huge difference before even considering the idea of sneaking a Direct Hit through to the TAP. On a deeper look, you can see that against high agility token stackers, you are getting much more value than a single point of damage. Lets use your example where your Crack Shot does your 2 attack ship "no good". If you roll two hits, your opponent must put out 3 Evades to avoid taking the 1 damage from Crack Shot with 3 defense dice only rolling 3 natties ~5.3% of the time. This is before you have even decided to spend the Crack Shot. In other words, they likely have to spend a Focus token or Evade token to reach 3 Evades without you having to spend the CS, you are effectively token stripping your target just by having Crack Shot and you keep the upgrade to use again. This has great effect for TIE swarms where you token strip to the benefit of the rest of the swarms shots. Now, + AT + 1 def for Range 3 + Palp + the kitchen sink, sure, but that's when you are getting into multiple sources and a large amount of points sunk into defensive options.

17 hours ago, ficklegreendice said:

Horse **** is pretty **** for xwing, though

Extreme asteroids anyone?

Has anyone figured out what to run with a 30ish point bomber? I am at a loss, since Nym or Miranda easily consumes too many points.