Eesh. Crimson Specialist is the only interesting named pilot here. Cobalt Leader might be okay with cluster bombs, as there's usually a token or two left after they go off and the target is probably in R1 of it, but otherwise he seems like a trap that requires you to specifically build a squad to make his gimmick work. And Crimson Leader's rattled condition is another one of those that requires way too much setup to justify bringing him along.

At least none of them are spending a lot on their pilot abilities. You're basically paying for pilot skill, with barely useful pilot abilities as a side bonus.

I have to admit, as soon as I read "Crossfire Formation", the only thing I could think about was

So "Launch" really does not have a "drop after moving" part. I was completely wrong there, but that also makes launch pretty irrelevant IMO.

This 41pt Poe can shed 2 TLs per turn: Poe (33) + Veteran Instincts (1) + Black One (1) + BB-8 (2) + Advanced Optics (2) + Autothrusters (2)
Which makes him immune to non-deadeye alphas!

11 minutes ago, PhantomFO said:

Crimson Leader's rattled condition is another one of those that requires way too much setup to justify bringing him along.

I disagree. The only real negative I see of it is that it telegraphs your bombing target.

During a round you lob two measly red dice at a reasonably agile, high PS target with a focus token and roll a hit and a blank. You are going to miss. You know it, your opponent knows it, its pretty obvious. You cancel the hit and apply rattled. Now, if you activate (PS 7) before your target does, you can drop an action bomb on them, adding + 1 unavoidable crit damage before they have chance to clear the effect. Have Sabine (crew) somewhere and you are even more brutal with another +1 unavoidable damage. Worst case scenario is that it costs them an action the next turn to clear the condition preventing them Focusing or Target locking for damage on your guys, instead of costing them nothing but reasonable green dice.

6 minutes ago, kris40k said:

I disagree. The only real negative I see of it is that it telegraphs your bombing target.

During a round you lob two measly red dice at a reasonably agile, high PS target with a focus token and roll a hit and a blank. You are going to miss. You know it, your opponent knows it, its pretty obvious. You cancel the hit and apply rattled. Now, if you activate (PS 7) before your target does, you can drop an action bomb on them, adding + 1 unavoidable crit damage before they have chance to clear the effect. Have Sabine (crew) somewhere and you are even more brutal with another +1 unavoidable damage. Worst case scenario is that it costs them an action the next turn to clear the condition preventing them Focusing or Target locking for damage on your guys, instead of costing them nothing but reasonable green dice.

It's still awful fiddly to set up. It devotes most of your list to a specific trick that a good player can limit you to getting off 1-2 times a game, and it's only effective for punishing PS7+ enemies. Still, I'll probably try each pilot at least once within a casual setting (likely with Miranda and Jess), and this may turn out to be better than I expect. My money's on Crimson Specialist, though.

30 minutes ago, Npmartian said:

It's still awful fiddly to set up. It devotes most of your list to a specific trick that a good player can limit you to getting off 1-2 times a game, and it's only effective for punishing PS7+ enemies. Still, I'll probably try each pilot at least once within a casual setting (likely with Miranda and Jess), and this may turn out to be better than I expect. My money's on Crimson Specialist, though.

Crimson Leader + Clusters + Silos is like 35pts, which is reasonable. If you are running Miranda or Nym, there is a good chance that Sabine was already going to be in the list, but shes not necessary for Crimson Leader who basically carries their own Sabine effect that just stacks with the actual Sabine.

If you are running a bombing list with other low PS bombers, they can trigger your rattled condition on their own bombs.

As well, lets say you do shoot a low PS ship, like, oh whats popular now, Wookies! You are going to make them waste an action to attempt to clear the condition and not be able to reinforce against the rest of your list. You are going to get a lot more value out of that happening.

I'm not saying CL is tossing the meta around, but its a very usable pilot ability.

Edit: Oh, actually throw Enhanced Sensors Scopes on there for 1pts and now you move at PS 0 and this works against ANY pilot skill.

2 hours ago, Celestial Lizards said:

Crimson Sqd Pilot - 25

Crimson Sqd Pilot - 25

Crimson Sqd Pilot - 25

Crimson Sqd Pilot - 25

Total: 100

That's 48 hull and shields to work through. 2 attack isn't great, but with a 360 arc...

Who else is getting four now?

Don't forget, four Courier Droids so they all deploy at PS8 and four Collision Detectors so they can't get hurt by debris... and four Guidance Chips just 'cuz.

1 minute ago, AllWingsStandyingBy said:

Don't forget, four Courier Droids so they all deploy at PS8 and four Collision Detectors so they can't get hurt by debris... and four Guidance Chips just 'cuz.

With what crew slot?

5 hours ago, WAC47 said:

I'm going to assume that Resistance refers to any ships within the faction... given that "Rebel" applies to resistance ships.

From p15 of the TFA Core Set rulebook:

"There are three primary factions in X-Wing: Rebel, Imperial, and Scum. The Rebel primary faction consists of the Resistance and the Rebel Alliance. The Imperial primary faction consists of the First Order and the Galactic Empire."

Thus, "Rebel only" can apply to both Resistance and Rebel Alliance ships, but "Resistance only" does not apply to Rebel Alliance ships, and if they make a "Rebel Alliance only" upgrade, it would not apply to Resistance ships. Rules-as-written work fine.

11 minutes ago, kris40k said:

Oh, actually throw Enhanced Sensors on there for 1pts and now you move at PS 0 and this works against ANY pilot skill.

Enhanced Scopes makes that way better, actually. Nice job!

9 minutes ago, Celestial Lizards said:

With what crew slot?

I ... I ... uhh .... what ... how in the **** does this thing not have a crew slot? It's one of the biggest ships in the game... even the Rebel TIE has a crew slot and the TIE/Bomber can take two crew. Sheesh, Rebel craft always seem to get the shaft with upgrade slots.

Why do I feel like, had this thing been a Scum ship, it would have had three crew, Crimson Leader would have had an EPT, a turret upgrade slot, and it would have had a 3-Sloop .... all for probably four less points than its current cost. HAHAHA. It's funny, but it's also not...

5 minutes ago, AllWingsStandyingBy said:

I ... I ... uhh .... what ... how in the **** does this thing not have a crew slot? It's one of the biggest ships in the game... even the Rebel TIE has a crew slot and the TIE/Bomber can take two crew. Sheesh, Rebel craft always seem to get the shaft with upgrade slots.

Why do I feel like, had this thing been a Scum ship, it would have had three crew, Crimson Leader would have had an EPT, a turret upgrade slot, and it would have had a 3-Sloop .... all for probably four less points than its current cost. HAHAHA. It's funny, but it's also not...

He is called Nym... and he can equip the trajectory simulator and bomblets

3 minutes ago, AllWingsStandyingBy said:

Sheesh, Rebel craft always seem to get the shaft with upgrade slots.

Yess... as an imperial player I can say The rebels with the TIE fighter with additional slots, the ships with astromechs, turrets AND OTHER FACTION'S SHIPS WITH ADDITIONAL SLOTS who don't have a single ship without slots always gets shafted for upgrade slots

That resistance bomber is beautiful.. I am really excited for it. Now given that we get the made up callsigns for the ship, we will possibly get a heroes of the resistance II type of pack with some actual named pilots - when the movie and Cobalt Squadron book release.

Kinda sad that Advanced Optics came in at 2 points. It's pretty much LRS but for focus. It could have been 1 point and not broken anything :|

Only ONE flight assist astromech with the Phantom II (but TWO advanced optics with the bomber!)???

There's no love for the ol' T-65 X-Wing in this game ....

Could launching bombs make B-Wings interesting again (with E2, Sabine, Thermal Detonator, Extra munitions)? Still very expensive.

1 minute ago, Transmogrifier said:

Kinda sad that Advanced Optics came in at 2 points. It's pretty much LRS but for focus. It could have been 1 point and not broken anything :|

Wut? Looks like everybody is thrilled it's only 2 points instead of 3. Comms Relay is 3 points for an evade token.

Really it could have easily been a 3 point card. Be glad its only 2.

1 hour ago, wurms said:

Man, two advanced optics for $40? Yikes.

the TIE Silencer comes with 2 copies too, so if that's all you're looking for you can save $10 and buy that instead

Or buy one of each, because you were gonna anyway, and get 4.

17 minutes ago, AllWingsStandyingBy said:

I ... I ... uhh .... what ... how in the **** does this thing not have a crew slot? It's one of the biggest ships in the game... even the Rebel TIE has a crew slot and the TIE/Bomber can take two crew.

Crew slots have never been about how many people can fit in the ship. They've always been about how many non-essential personnel you can add in addition to those who are already performing important functions (pilot, gunners, tech officers, etc.) whose seats are already filled and therefore don't appear on the upgrade bar. Apparently everyone already on this Bomber is super important.

21 minutes ago, AllWingsStandyingBy said:

I ... I ... uhh .... what ... how in the **** does this thing not have a crew slot? It's one of the biggest ships in the game... even the Rebel TIE has a crew slot and the TIE/Bomber can take two crew. Sheesh, Rebel craft always seem to get the shaft with upgrade slots.

Why do I feel like, had this thing been a Scum ship, it would have had three crew, Crimson Leader would have had an EPT, a turret upgrade slot, and it would have had a 3-Sloop .... all for probably four less points than its current cost. HAHAHA. It's funny, but it's also not...

Designers addressed that in an interview.

Because Sabine is bonkers they would rather not give rebel ships crew slots than fix Sabine.

1 minute ago, Stay On The Leader said:

Designers addressed that in an interview.

Because Sabine is bonkers they would rather not give rebel ships crew slots than fix Sabine.

Have I said **** Sabine? Because **** Sabine.

4 hours ago, Arkanta974 said:

Can we said that Weapons guidance is now useless ?

Was it ever not?

17 minutes ago, BadMotivator said:

Wut? Looks like everybody is thrilled it's only 2 points instead of 3. Comms Relay is 3 points for an evade token.

Really it could have easily been a 3 point card. Be glad its only 2.

Advanced Optics is nowhere near as strong as an effect as Comms Relay (which incidentally is a niche card due to its high costing)

Comms Relay is useful because - while the Evade action is strong - it also has a huge opportunity cost. Often when you take the Evade action you get no benefit - you aren't attacked, you don't actually need it, etc. Comms Relay lets you hold onto the Evade until you need it, which is great.

Focus tokens, however, are rarely not spent - most ships in combat will use their focus token either on offense or defense each round. So the primary use of Advanced Optics is giving you +1 action on the initial round of combat and then the possibility of that action economy in later rounds if you manage to disengage and recharge. So we're talking about similar utility as Long Range Scanners (which is 0 points with a large opportunity cost).

The main issue with both Comms Relay and Advanced Optics is that they are using the Tech slot, which has excellent alternatives like Pattern Analyzer and Primed Thusters *and* they cost as much/more than these other options. So the question is: are you able to get 2 points of value out of a single focus token (and the possibilty of +1 focus token if you live that long), or would you rather have something else (or nothing and spend the points in a better way). I can't think of many cases where I'd invest the points in Advanced Optics.

1 hour ago, GreenDragoon said:

This 41pt Poe can shed 2 TLs per turn: Poe (33) + Veteran Instincts (1) + Black One (1) + BB-8 (2) + Advanced Optics (2) + Autothrusters (2)

So Can Poetensity. But I guess advantage of this build is PS 11.