Hi Folks!

Hope everyone's enjoying their new ships from Waves 12 & 13!

I've been mulling about an observation that I've made about Pilot Skill and the cool abilities that seem to be at Level 7 for Pilot Skill Level. Some of my favourite Pilots are all at Level 7 and it seems to be almost the optimum for:

• Skill Level (one of the highest, can still be bumped to Level 9)
• Pilot Abilities (Unique, strong abilities)
• Costing (Premium ship/Pilot while still not the most expensive)
• Cool factor/fun (some of the neatest Pilot abilities that are fun to fly)

You could almost randomly choose any Level 7 Pilot from any faction and still get the same answer, and while I do understand that there may be some exceptions to the above four points, most of them are still true. If I were to take one choice from each faction - even from the oldest ships, it still rings true.

For example:

What an amazing ability he has! Coupled with R5-D8 (a match made in heaven) a great way of managing stress.

Here's another cool Pilot that gets his firepower bumped up to 3 dice fairly easily and a major discount for points.

Speaking of discounts, here's a cheap version of an X-wing for Scum and Villainy!

Now fast forward to the newest ships and the same rings true!

Anyways, I'm amazed at just how many awesome Pilots are all hovering at the magic Level 7 - for the reasons I've already given. What do you guys & gals think? Have you noticed the same? Please let me know, thanks and God bless !

I've got a buddy who always plays what he calls "Gambler Squadron" (because of 777 being a lucky spin on a slot machine). The ships trade out from game to game, but the rule is they have to be Scum, they have to be PS7, and there have to be three of them. These squads always seem to have the best synergies, and I can't tell you how often I've lost to them! So I agree. For Scum, at least, the PS7 ships are the best. Porkins, Scourge, and Genesis Red unfortunately don't do well in today's meta, but I do think a lot of the PS7 pilots are definitely the best!

The best Kimogila seems to be the PS 7 one as well...

My two PS7 faves are Whisperer and Omega Ace! Honorable Mentions are Maarek Stele and Old Teroch.

5 minutes ago, Kieransi said:

I've got a buddy who always plays what he calls "Gambler Squadron" (because of 777 being a lucky spin on a slot machine). The ships trade out from game to game, but the rule is they have to be Scum, they have to be PS7, and there have to be three of them.

Some of my favourite builds all have three Pilots, all at Level 7 from across the board - Rebels, Imperials and Scum & Villainy .

1 minute ago, JJFDVORAK said:

My two PS7 faves are Whisperer and Omega Ace! Honorable Mentions are Maarek Stele and Old Teroch.

I love Omega Ace!!! I've been toying with getting into Range 1 with him having him equipped with Expose, Advanced Optics and by having a Target Lock from a previous turn, and a Focus Token squirreled away, maneuvering into Range 1, take my Expose Action and covert my 4 dice into 4 Critical Hits!!!

Sigh......gotta love it!

I like many ps 7 imp aces as well. Steele is an old favorite, and I haven't even played the games.

5 minutes ago, RufusDaMan said:

I like many ps 7 imp aces as well. Steele is an old favorite, and I haven't even played the games.

One of my favourite builds too !

I've made a few builds with all ps 7 as well, in honor of John Elway ...

1 hour ago, SlaveofChrist said:

You could almost randomly choose any Level 7 Pilot from any faction and still get the same answer, and while I do understand that there may be some exceptions to the above four points, most of them are still true. If I were to take one choice from each faction - even from the oldest ships, it still rings true.

For example:

What an amazing ability he has! Coupled with R5-D8 (a match made in heaven) a great way of managing stress.

Oh, you poor, deluded, innocent player! Jek Porkins is truly atrocious!

Not because he isn't fun to fly, but because he is so over-costed for what you get. He is the 2nd most manoeuvrable X-Wing, because he can turn around and still get an action (but that action often needs to be to activate R5D8...and then he needs to keep doing that for about 3 rounds, on average) plus he isn't tied to doing green moves, but for the same point cost (26+3 for R5D8) you can have Wedge, Wes, or Luke who can then take a cool droid and they have even better abilities.

If R5D8 didn't need an action, or didn't have the random roll, or costed less (or had a special cost of 'zero when equipped to Porkins') then he'd match up with your criteria - he is so much fun to fly!

18 minutes ago, Gilarius said:

Oh, you poor, deluded, innocent player! Jek Porkins is truly atrocious!

Not because he isn't fun to fly, but because he is so over-costed for what you get. He is the 2nd most manoeuvrable X-Wing, because he can turn around and still get an action (but that action often needs to be to activate R5D8...and then he needs to keep doing that for about 3 rounds, on average) plus he isn't tied to doing green moves, but for the same point cost (26+3 for R5D8) you can have Wedge, Wes, or Luke who can then take a cool droid and they have even better abilities.

If R5D8 didn't need an action, or didn't have the random roll, or costed less (or had a special cost of 'zero when equipped to Porkins') then he'd match up with your criteria - he is so much fun to fly!

I actually prefer running Porkins with R3-A2. You can get him at PS8 for 28 points with Adaptability and IA. At that level, his ability is less about stress mitigation as it is about flexibility. The trick is that you don't want to lean too heavily into his ability. He's better off taking the stress if you know you'll be able to do a green maneuver next turn. On the other hand, being able to use R3-A2, eat the stress, and then flip into a K-turn gives him some moves that the other X-Wing pilots just don't have.

The unfortunate thing is most people put VI on the PS7 pilots to keep up with the aces. Might as well have made them PS9 with no ept then.

1 hour ago, Gilarius said:

Oh, you poor, deluded, innocent player! Jek Porkins is truly atrocious!

Not because he isn't fun to fly, but because he is so over-costed for what you get. He is the 2nd most manoeuvrable X-Wing, because he can turn around and still get an action (but that action often needs to be to activate R5D8...and then he needs to keep doing that for about 3 rounds, on average) plus he isn't tied to doing green moves, but for the same point cost (26+3 for R5D8) you can have Wedge, Wes, or Luke who can then take a cool droid and they have even better abilities.

If R5D8 didn't need an action, or didn't have the random roll, or costed less (or had a special cost of 'zero when equipped to Porkins') then he'd match up with your criteria - he is so much fun to fly!

Well...I am a casual player, so I guess I'm not up on the tournament scene . I tried to pick the oldest ships on purpose, just to show that even they are still cool - but I do think that the newer ships have come a long, long way and are even better though !

1 hour ago, PhantomFO said:

I actually prefer running Porkins with R3-A2. You can get him at PS8 for 28 points with Adaptability and IA. At that level, his ability is less about stress mitigation as it is about flexibility. The trick is that you don't want to lean too heavily into his ability. He's better off taking the stress if you know you'll be able to do a green maneuver next turn. On the other hand, being able to use R3-A2, eat the stress, and then flip into a K-turn gives him some moves that the other X-Wing pilots just don't have.

A very neat and novel idea , I'll have to give a go sometime - thanks for the tip!

24 minutes ago, markcsoul said:

The unfortunate thing is most people put VI on the PS7 pilots to keep up with the aces. Might as well have made them PS9 with no ept then.

That's actually really sad......sorry to hear that. One benefit of playing casual I guess....all the same, that sucks...

2 hours ago, SlaveofChrist said:

I love Omega Ace!!! I've been toying with getting into Range 1 with him having him equipped with Expose, Advanced Optics and by having a Target Lock from a previous turn, and a Focus Token squirreled away, maneuvering into Range 1, take my Expose Action and covert my 4 dice into 4 Critical Hits!!!

Sigh......gotta love it!

My favorite Omega Ace build is really a build around his ability. It is Omega Ace with Swarm Leader and 2 low level Ties or Tie/FOs and Major Stridan with Hux. If you time it right, both Ties will have evade tokens and in arc of Omega Ace's target and Omega Ace will be in range 1 of his target and be able to TL. General Hux will pass out 3 focuses(one to Omega Ace of course) and Major Stridan will allow it from anywhere within range 3. Then Omega Ace will attack his target with 2(attack value)+1(Range 1 Bonus)+2(Swarm Leader)dice for 5 attack dice. He will spend his TL and Hux's Focus for 5 crits. If you really played it good, one of your Ties will have blocked the target and it will have no defensive tokens. 5 crits can ruin anyone's day.

12 minutes ago, JJFDVORAK said:

My favorite Omega Ace build is really a build around his ability. It is Omega Ace with Swarm Leader and 2 low level Ties or Tie/FOs and Major Stridan with Hux. If you time it right, both Ties will have evade tokens and in arc of Omega Ace's target and Omega Ace will be in range 1 of his target and be able to TL. General Hux will pass out 3 focuses(one to Omega Ace of course) and Major Stridan will allow it from anywhere within range 3. Then Omega Ace will attack his target with 2(attack value)+1(Range 1 Bonus)+2(Swarm Leader)dice for 5 attack dice. He will spend his TL and Hux's Focus for 5 crits. If you really played it good, one of your Ties will have blocked the target and it will have no defensive tokens. 5 crits can ruin anyone's day.

Wow ! 5 Crits!!! Nasty! I forgot about Swarm Leader! Thank you my friend, I will try it out !

How is Norra not here? She's a dead sexy Ps7.

Back draft is my go to ps7

39 minutes ago, MasterShake2 said:

How is Norra not here? She's a dead sexy Ps7.

And no mention of our newest PS7 powerhouse Blackout?

Jake Farell, Keyan Farlander, and Turr Phennir are also some of my favorites!

1 hour ago, MasterShake2 said:

How is Norra not here? She's a dead sexy Ps7.

Absolutely! Love her !

56 minutes ago, Yoda Man said:

Back draft is my go to ps7

I used him in my last game with my son, awesome Pilot!

51 minutes ago, T70 Driver said:

And no mention of our newest PS7 powerhouse Blackout?

See!!! You guys know exactly what I'm talking about! Awesome new Pilot!

43 minutes ago, Kieransi said:

Jake Farell, Keyan Farlander, and Turr Phennir are also some of my favorites!

Yup, yup and yup! Amen to these guys!

Zeta Leader is my favorite PS7 pilot ! Especially with Wired/Weapon Guidance/MK II

You have much possibility : Predator, Comm Relay, Veteran Instinct, he is a good ace under 25pts.

Now with Advanced Optics he could be more fun !

And Dash freaking Rendar

2 minutes ago, BlodVargarna said:

And Dash freaking Rendar

How did I forget him?