As above.

1. It makes sense, after all - why bother creating an entirely new mechanic to track the 'Force' ability of pilots, complete with tokens and new rules, if it will only ever apply to 6 or 7 different pilots across the 100+ already in the game? What it DOES give you, though, is new design space for new factions - a Republic faction with significant numbers of Jedi pilots could be differentiated from existing ships by just their Force levels, alone. (And did anyone notice that the droid IG-88 now has what appears to be a new, unique, droid-looking action on its action bar - 'Calculate'? Again, not something that really makes sense to bother to add into the standard game if it's a one-off. But if there are going to be a number of droid fighters soon...)
   
2. Permanently splitting up the Resistance from Rebels as well as First Order from the Empire also sets the precedent for how the Separatists or Republic could fit in - the alternative was always weird. Were would you have put the V-Wings, flown by Republic Clone Troopers as well as the Empire? Or the ARC-170, one of the Republic's ships that the Empire used...but also the Rebellion? Lots of weirdness, all solved now that the factions are being broken down more granularly.
   
3. The Y-wing has been renamed to BTL-A4 Y-Wing. Hmmm. Interesting. Why would they need to do that? The X-Wing also renamed to T-65 X-Wing, but we know that's because there is a T-70 X-Wing in the game, too, and the two ships need to be distinctly identifiable. BTL-B Y-Wing confirmed?
   
4. The objection that the new factions would have too few ships to be viable is also partially addressed, given how few First Order and Resistance ships we have - yet apparently that's enough already for its own faction.
   
5. Also - the timing works. Introducing a new faction to the existing 1.0 game would have been a colossal pain - with three factions that have THAT many ships already, getting a new faction up to a competitive level would have been near impossible, nevermind the 1.0 game was already stretched-to-bursting with mechanics patched into the core game that it was never designed to support. With the cutting out of FO and Resistance, not only are the big 3 factions smaller, but there are 2 other factions now that are quite small themselves - making it the ideal time to slot in another pair of factions.
   
6. Sort of building on that last point - these factions would be released entirely and exclusively as 2nd-edition expansions. So players that just want to 'try out' 2nd edition without having to go all-in with their existing collection can dip their toes in with new factions, unrelated to anything they currently have, and see how they feel about it. Better - for potentially net-new players, it also provides some "easier" entry points to 2nd edition - if it's a Republic or Separatist SKU...you know it's a 2nd edition ship, no question. No need to try to keep in mind what has been updated for 2e, what hasn't been and you need an upgrade kit for, or how many of what items are in the upgrade kits or etc. If it's Republic or Separatist - *boom*, done, you're buying the latest edition and you've got what you need in the box.
   
7. Lots of players have historically expressed lack of interest in Clone Wars-era as factions, given the previous game release model of requiring cross-faction purchases to play. IE., they didn't like the Clone Wars, didn't want to have to buy Clone Wars ships to get a critical upgrade they need for the Rebel/Imperial/etc ships. 2nd edition ALSO solves that problem - "Cross faction upgrades are no longer a thing - if you only play Scum, you only need to buy Scum stuff"

8. As a final thought - "He was the best star pilot in the galaxy, and a cunning warrior." Indeed, it's a game about Starfighter combat, and the best star pilot in the galaxy...is not in the game. Nor, indeed, is Obi-Wan. Or Yoda. This was always an obvious omission in the game to date, but never had a good spot to fit any of them in. Especially not as pilots. Enter the Clone Wars era, and...pilot cards for all!

I mentioned the Force/Droid Focus/Calculate actions in the 2.0 announcement thread. I'm really hoping these changes lead to a Clone Wars expansion. Might be a while down the line, but I'm happy to wait if they'll do it right.

7 minutes ago, Alpha17 said:

I mentioned the Force/Droid Focus/Calculate actions in the 2.0 announcement thread. I'm really hoping these changes lead to a Clone Wars expansion. Might be a while down the line, but I'm happy to wait if they'll do it right.

There was definitely only so much that could really be done with 4 core stats and a pilot skill number per ship. Dials, special abilities - enough to grow the game, but it was definitely more fenced in than the new possibilities.

Having fire arcs with different firepower and 5 distinct arcs (four quadrants and the bullseye arc) printed on every ship, alongside new "standard" actions, alongside the Force as a stat...

...it definitely opens things up a lot, to where most arguments against Clone Wars in the past are now addressed.

I certainly hope so, the only reason ive heard is the prequels had bad dialogue, however this is a tabletop wargame, not a taperecorder. and the clone wars is perhaps a better fit for a wargame than the OT

2 minutes ago, mad mandolorian said:

I certainly hope so, the only reason ive heard is the prequels had bad dialogue, however this is a tabletop wargame, not a taperecorder. and the clone wars is perhaps a better fit for a wargame than the OT

Do you really think that you can get away without hearing your opponent say, "This is where the fun begins" while playing against a Republic squadron?

I wondered about this too - it'd be a great way to avoid just issuing repaints of 1st Edition ships in future waves

1 minute ago, kris40k said:

Do you really think that you can get away without hearing your opponent say, "This is when the fun begins" while playing against a Republic squadron?

"Now THIS is podracing."

But actually I would be soooo happy if we got Clone Wars content. I just want my N-1.

Seems reasonable to me.

As long as we can do good tricks like spinning I'm on board.

4 minutes ago, kris40k said:

Do you really think that you can get away without hearing your opponent say, "This is where the fun begins" while playing against a Republic squadron?

They've changed the barrel roll mechanic a lot, too.

So now it really is "a good trick". ?

I love this idea and I hope it is going to happen!

maybe in like...a few years?

cause we kinda need to fatten up the sequel factions first. they're more than a little anemic atm

Just now, ficklegreendice said:

maybe in like...a few years?

cause we kinda need to fatten up the sequel factions first. they're more than a little anemic atm

Not sure FFG has a lot they can do with those. I mean, the RZ-2 A-Wing, sure. Do repaint releases of a TIE Bomber and TIE Interceptor to make First Order versions of them. Otherwise...we've basically got everything seen on-screen in the sequel movies, so far. I assume more will arrive in 2019 with Episode IX, and presumably some ships with the new 'Resistance' animated series - but either of those are a ways off.

Clone Wars era is something they can release right now - it's already fully fleshed out, and there ain't new content coming for it, nor any character/story surprises, that they have to try to figure out how to incorporate.

2 minutes ago, ficklegreendice said:

maybe in like...a few years?

cause we kinda need to fatten up the sequel factions first. they're more than a little anemic atm

Say goodbye to Poe/Dash builds....

5 minutes ago, Boba Rick said:

Say goodbye to Poe/Dash builds....

hello, Poe Rey builds!

or Poe Bomber builds

where he lets them all die ?

I like the OP’s thinking here. I’m a little on the fence with 2.0. If anyone is going to get out of the game, now is the time to make the break. If they were to announce something significantly new ship wise, that could pull a lot of people over the fence, especially people like me who are as much a collector of the ships as a player.

I also think Legion will want to do Clone Wars at some point because there’s so much to do with battle droid armies and clones. This might help see the clone wars pop up in other games like X-wing.

Blech.

I'll just leave this here...

https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/268664-the-big-clone-wars-thread/

Once school's out, I'll probably be making some 2.0-style cards in there.

I do hope they release Clone and Droid factions for X-Wing. If they do there's another game we'llsee them in...Legion. If they add the GAR to Legion, it'll be a "Shut up and take my money!" moment for me.

1 hour ago, dadocollin said:

I like the OP’s thinking here. I’m a little on the fence with 2.0. If anyone is going to get out of the game, now is the time to make the break. If they were to announce something significantly new ship wise, that could pull a lot of people over the fence, especially people like me who are as much a collector of the ships as a player.

To be fair, they do have a lot of new plastic and retail kits to get on the store shelves in a very short timeframe. And retailers with 1.0 content filling their shelves are probably already a bit...concerned. Announcing even more factions at this point feels...unlikely.

Maybe a GenCon announcement?

57 minutes ago, xanderf said:

To be fair, they do have a lot of new plastic and retail kits to get on the store shelves in a very short timeframe. And retailers with 1.0 content filling their shelves are probably already a bit...concerned. Announcing even more factions at this point feels...unlikely.

Maybe a GenCon announcement?

It does seem very unlikely this year. I’m thinking in maybe a year’s time. Not that they have to coincide with Legion, but Legion is just gearing up as well and it would be too early for a big release like that.

I’m looking forward to Saw’s Renegades, the Striker, and hopefully some Solo ships soon.

After that I can think about 2.0 with the full picture available.

1 hour ago, dadocollin said:

It does seem very unlikely this year. I’m thinking in maybe a year’s time. Not that they have to coincide with Legion, but Legion is just gearing up as well and it would be too early for a big release like that.

FWIW, there is another potentially-valid reason to do Republic vs Separatist, now.

Those factions would be released entirely and exclusively as 2nd-edition expansions. So players that just want to 'try out' 2nd edition without having to go all-in with their existing collection can dip their toes in with new factions, unrelated to anything they currently have, and see how they feel about it.

For potentially net-new players, it also provides some "easier" entry points to 2nd edition - if it's a Republic or Separatist SKU...you know it's a 2nd edition ship, no question. No need to try to keep in mind what has been updated for 2e, what hasn't been and you need an upgrade kit for, or how many of what items are in the upgrade kits or etc. If it's Republic or Separatist - *boom*, done, you're buying the latest edition and you've got what you need in the box.

15 hours ago, T70 Driver said:

I do hope they release Clone and Droid factions for X-Wing. If they do there's another game we'llsee them in...Legion. If they add the GAR to Legion, it'll be a "Shut up and take my money!" moment for me.

If we get clankers and clones in Legion ... I would be forced to join the game.

Personally, I think all the Clone Wars ships other than Naboo fighters look like utter, worse-than-Scum trash, but I know a lot of folks like them. I have no real idea what the Resistance/First Order factions will really look like, but it looks like the game will be able to fold them in reasonably well. My biggest issue with more CW-era ships was that they didn't exactly fit in terms of existing factions. I'd be glad for CW to get into the game, I guess. We'll need new things eventually, and I'd much rather it happen in Clone Wars ships I don't already have, than reprints of ships like B-Wings and A-Wings which I do.

I know that at least for the first wave, there won't be new content in the XWM2.0 X-Wings and Y-Wings and such that aren't in the conversion sets, but will that hold up though? By the time FFG get around to reprinting the ships out in the original Waves 4-5-6-7 or so, I'm kinda suspecting that it won't only be the same stuff already in the conversion kits. However, if the new stuff shows up mostly in Republic/Separatist factions, well, maybe that works out better.