FFG almost certainly didn't know what it would do in the film. They knew a name for it (and not a final one at that), a combat role, and a design/model, plus some generic squadron names.

I'm really starting to wish they didn't have to do tie-in releases. EVery single one to date has been at best mediocre:

TIE Striker: reasonable, fairly well balanced, interesting, but immediately murdered by the metagame.

T70: All overpriced until HotR, and even then, still needed another fix card in FAA to really work.

TIE/fo: exactly one decent pilot, maybe two now that Advanced Optics is out, and again, got crushed by the changing meta.

U Wing: just lol.

TIE Silencer: overpriced, probably. I struggle to believe that 40+ points on a ship with 6HP and no regen is going to work long term, it's in a similar (but not quite as dire) position to the pre-buff Defender. And missing the missile slot is irritating.

Resistance Bomber: remains to be seen - I suspect Trajectory Simulator will be stupid good, but will be the only thing in there that is - especially because there's very little in the set that's usable outside it.

It's a term of their contract that they must have stuff ready for the movies release, i'm sure they would prefer to have full info ready before they design stuff.

The Resistance Bomber should have had a crew like it did in the movie.

4 minutes ago, Hobojebus said:

It's a term of their contract that they must have stuff ready for the movies release, i'm sure they would prefer to have full info ready before they design stuff.

Do we know that from an interview or something?

I've been assuming, but it's always a shame, given how far out they have to work. AT best we end up with a mediocre product, at worst we end up missing major characters that really should have been in there and including nobodies people don't recognise, like in the U WIng.

Just now, Pooleman said:

The Resistance Bomber should have had a crew like it did in the movie.

Crew slots represent supernumeraries not essential to the normal functioning of the ship. It had 4 or 5 people operating it, but they all served essential roles - crewing the turrets, operating the bombs, and flying the ship. By the same logic that the Y Wing and TIE/sf don't have crew, nor should the Res Bomber.

(I could have been fine with it having crew, if Sabine didn't exist, or even Team which could have been cool, but the above is the most likely justification for why not)

8 minutes ago, thespaceinvader said:

Crew slots represent supernumeraries not essential to the normal functioning of the ship. It had 4 or 5 people operating it, but they all served essential roles - crewing the turrets, operating the bombs, and flying the ship. By the same logic that the Y Wing and TIE/sf don't have crew, nor should the Res Bomber.

(I could have been fine with it having crew, if Sabine didn't exist, or even Team which could have been cool, but the above is the most likely justification for why not)

It could have been restricted to “resistance crew” members, just like the title gives a benefit when resistance ships are nearby.

Which would be fine, if there were any way to identify subfaction on anything other than pilot cards

15 minutes ago, thespaceinvader said:

Do we know that from an interview or something?

I've been assuming, but it's always a shame, given how far out they have to work. AT best we end up with a mediocre product, at worst we end up missing major characters that really should have been in there and including nobodies people don't recognise, like in the U WIng.

Its standard with every star wars licence owner be it Lego or any other product, they want stuff out when the movies released not months after when hypes died down.

10 minutes ago, thespaceinvader said:

Which would be fine, if there were any way to identify subfaction on anything other than pilot cards

There is always a way.

Ok.

32 minutes ago, thespaceinvader said:

Crew slots represent supernumeraries not essential to the normal functioning of the ship. It had 4 or 5 people operating it, but they all served essential roles - crewing the turrets, operating the bombs, and flying the ship. By the same logic that the Y Wing and TIE/sf don't have crew, nor should the Res Bomber.

(I could have been fine with it having crew, if Sabine didn't exist, or even Team which could have been cool, but the above is the most likely justification for why not)

Oh man Teams (and epic only crew) would be so cool and broken in standard play (see ordnance experts)

2 minutes ago, AngryAlbatross said:

Oh man Teams (and epic only crew) would be so cool and broken in standard play (see ordnance experts)

TARKIN ON AN OGP WOULD BE AMAZING FOR ONLY 27 POINTS!!!

Not epic only crew. Just team. Ordnance Experts would be great, but would it be worth bringing a minimum of 30 points of non-ordnance-carrying ship to take one?

Probably. If the Rebellion had any good ordnance carriers, that is.

Maybe some generic K-Wings...

1 hour ago, thespaceinvader said:

Not epic only crew. Just team. Ordnance Experts would be great, but would it be worth bringing a minimum of 30 points of non-ordnance-carrying ship to take one?

I think having a guaranteed hit for your PS 2 Harpoon Gunboats would be worth it (even if its only once per round). Then you can practically have LRS and Guidance chips!

Sabine's gunboat?

2 hours ago, thespaceinvader said:

Crew slots represent supernumeraries not essential to the normal functioning of the ship. It had 4 or 5 people operating it, but they all served essential roles - crewing the turrets, operating the bombs, and flying the ship. By the same logic that the Y Wing and TIE/sf don't have crew, nor should the Res Bomber.

(I could have been fine with it having crew, if Sabine didn't exist, or even Team which could have been cool, but the above is the most likely justification for why not)

This applies only to people operating the turrets. Weapon systems officers, copilots, bombardiers etc. are represented by crew slots, for example the K-wing has a pilot, two gunners (PWT + turret slot) and a bombardier (crew slot). B-17 has the same crew setup as K-wing plus an extra flight engineer.