So for the most part, X-wing 2.0 will play a lot like X-wing 1.0. There are some differences but initiative, firing arcs and dice will remain the same. So here are some predictions based upon what I saw and a few assumptions coming form the articles.

Assumptions

• Pilot skill is now 1-6 (overlapping still cancels actions)
• Turrets are changed to MFA mechanics
• Higher point limit in compassion to model point cost
• Maybe a reserve mechanic

and now Predictions

Initiative will matter a lot!!!

So the scale being reduced from 0-12 now down to 1-6 (as far as we know) means that each point increase for pilot in initiative is a big deal. a 5 will beat a 4 no matter what. Also you will still see the smile curve in effectiveness and initiative with low pilot skill being good at blocking. Instead of 4 and 5 being the middle of nowhere pilot skill now 3 and 4 is the middle. This could be mitigated by an exponentially growing point cost to initiative curve instead of the rather linear one 1st edition where replacing a basic Black squadron with a dark curse cost no extra points but getting howlrunner at skill 5 is nearly double the point cost.

Fat Han's Return

Assuming PWTs go route of MFAs then segwaying from the last topic the only turrets that would be competitive are those with a higher initiative. The Goldie swarm with turrets would probably be just as big as they were back in 1st ed wave 1. Tie interceptors will be able to simply move to the side the arrow is not pointing. Now if turrets are more like Blaster where you need to spend a focus to fire out of arc (or spend a focus to move MFA).

Higher Model Counts

So you still might have the limit 8 of a single ship but 8 might not be the maximum number of ships a player could have on the table. That being said a higher number of ships could offset the Ace power that Arc Dodgers like soontir fel would be getting. Just like how in Epic more ships meant that arc dodgers had a harder time finding gaps and the glass cannons could easily be taken out. Still now since there is no PTL the combo of BoostBR out of any firing arc is no longer there. So maybe swarm meta instead of Ace meta? Well at least we will get more than just 2 on 2 clash of the flying fortresses like we had with Wave 5.

Possible Reserves

So there was an interview on team covenant where they said in the core set they put in a reserve token so that the starter missions were not over after the loss of a single ship. I can see this as a great mechanic to keep the initial buy in cost down with a higher model count. In a way you won't need 8 TIE Fighters to run an 8 TIE Swarm as you can make do with 6 TIE Fighter models. Have 4 at the start and have 4 in reserves (giving you 2 extra fighter models). That being said it could also be a way to shelter those fragile aces from a more intensive Alpha strike attack since now many secondary weapons such as torpedoes are built in and come with multiple shots instead of the single bullet derringer that they use to be.

So what are your predictions? Agree or disagree (of course you don't). Put your predictions below.

The Turret upgrades works like a mobile firing arc. Also, the gunner upgrades I am sure will help lower pilot skill turrets remain viable.

Just now, Sithborg said:

The Turret upgrades works like a mobile firing arc. Also, the gunner upgrades I am sure will help lower pilot skill turrets remain viable.

So all turrets are MFAs. That what I was trying to say. I see that I wrote PWTs instead of all turrets but I really meant 360.

As for gunner I don't see how it could help if a high Int (PS is old ed). Ace can dodge the arcs. Granted they don't have the combo that lets them mover from in arc line on the right side to completely out of the left side of the firing arc. Again, to sum up what I was trying to say Initiative in 2nd edition will matter more than pilot skill did in 1st edition .

We don't have all the gunner upgrades yet. The few we have seen are kind of nasty. Like, Veteran Turret Gunner gives them double shot, ala Y-wing title, except unlikely to not fix the turret into one position. And the Veteran Tail Gunner gives rear arcs the SF double tap.

There is likely to be an upgrade that allows low PS Turrets to compete.

But, then again, I don't think higher PS is auto win as you seem to be indicating.

Just now, Sithborg said:

We don't have all the gunner upgrades yet. The few we have seen are kind of nasty. Like, Veteran Turret Gunner gives them double shot, ala Y-wing title, except unlikely to not fix the turret into one position. And the Veteran Tail Gunner gives rear arcs the SF double tap.

There is likely to be an upgrade that allows low PS Turrets to compete.

But, then again, I don't think higher PS is auto win as you seem to be indicating.

autowin, no but important yes. Narrowing the scale down and nothing that can make adjustments (as far as we know) does make each point more important. Sure we did have the races were 9 beats 8 and 8 beats 7, but 8+2 beats 9 but looking at the jump from 5 pilot skill to 6 pilot skill really wasn't worth the ept slot. Now the jump from initiative 4 to initiative 5 is as different as PS 8 is to PS10.

I can see this as one of two ways but it really depends on the pricing of ships. Either it will go Swarm meta in which low pilot skill for blocking is the win, or it will go into ace wars where it is 6 or bust. Now with that force mechanic there could be something where say Luke spends force to go into into skill 8 (force is now Roark Garnett).

Again, these are predictions based on assumptions from the limited information we have, they could all be wrong .

So what are your predictions, what list archtype would we see win all the store championships?

How many TIE fighters can I cram into a single squad ? 12 ? The more models, moving becomes a lot longer than shooting.

How timing clashes work will set out many things. My suspicion is that first player will pass each turn, so having init for the whole game is just not goign to be a thing any more.

Honestly, my predictions are that there will be a very varied meta with potentially a minor focus towards OT stuff and away from things which have been traditionally meta for a while like auzis, k wings, ghost-fenn etc.

I'd like to see Firesprays versus Falcons, X Wings and A Wings and B Wings Oh My.

I expect turrets to be bad and arc dodgers to have an hard time adjusting to the new barrel roll.

It also seems that it will be hard to stack modifications.

If all of that will be true, I welcome back our overlords: bulky generic jousters

2 minutes ago, Sunitsa said:

I expect turrets to be bad and arc dodgers to have an hard time adjusting to the new barrel roll.

It also seems that it will be hard to stack modifications.

If all of that will be true, I welcome back our overlords: bulky generic jousters

Who are also gone.

Even the Y-wing has a barrel roll now.

Being able to balance the game through updating point costs, I don't think there will be a meta any more. I do think we will see more movie ships that EU ships, so I guess the meta will circulate around them.

7 minutes ago, Firespray-32 said:

Even the Y-wing has a barrel roll now.

Where are you getting that from?

2 hours ago, Dr Zoidberg said:

Where are you getting that from?

The Covenant 2.0 demo game video shows them having a red Barrel roll ability.

5 minutes ago, Alpha17 said:

The Covenant 2.0 demo game video shows them having a red Barrel roll ability.

Cheers. I really must get around to watching that!

2.0: Action efficiency cut down (no ptl, very specific action chaining, FCS hard nerfed, FFG mission statement emphasizing base level maneuvering)

Meaning: new meta will have incredible action efficiency...just like the old meta, but hopefully not as extreme

so we're looking at

1.) Support ships becoming more prominent (Hopefully not as broken as the sheathe)

2.) Force powers looking really good (since you can use it as a "focus"), especially Luke who can "Regen" them

3.) Ordnance being HUGE because they don't spend TLs and have multiple charges

just LOOK at pro-torps. 4 dice, TL can be used on attack, free focus --> crit. SELF SUFFICIENT FULL MODS

4.) High initiative + bids , to get that Ordnance off... really hope we pay premium for high initiative or else it's just x-wing 1.0 again

5.) Reaper jam to knock off tokens which seem to have become all the more essential

From the cards I've seen, there isn't a native action link that is both Focus AND Target lock so we could be looking at old school set up or just praying that the target lock is enough for those torps.

Alternatively, and this is what I am excited about, support ships will have a purpose (like Fickle said) and the coordinate action is even more important now.

Hopefully 2.0 won't have as many native mods and tokens will still matter (if not not more).

Also , I saw something specifically mention "green tokens" so hopefully things like Wes and Jam will be able to remove, focus, evade and reinforce now.

AND another thing. . . . people notice that the TIE Advanced doesn't have native access to the evade action anymore?

(Actually on topic)

I think we will see synergistic Rebels and Swarm-y Imperial lists to start with shades of old school Soontir with a TIE Swarm whilst on the other end of the spectrum we will have Miranda / Low and Fenn knock about, Ghost/Fenn will still be a thing (use Fenn to coordinate the mobile arc on the Ghost for example) and maybe even see a reinvention of Fairship Rebels

Hmm, players will need the first wave or 2 to learn what is most efficient. Just when those lists are rising to the top the first cost/slot adjustment will occur. Rinse. Repeat. New Content. Rinse Repeat.................................

From the text we've seen so far, ordnance and R2-D2 just provide energy totals, which can then be used by those cards. There's nothing in the text that requires the energy used be from that card.

I'm predicting that cheap ordnance will be taken on a ship carrying R2-D2 just to power more shield regeneration.

2 minutes ago, Freeptop said:

From the text we've seen so far, ordnance and R2-D2 just provide energy totals, which can then be used by those cards. There's nothing in the text that requires the energy used be from that card.

I'm predicting that cheap ordnance will be taken on a ship carrying R2-D2 just to power more shield regeneration.

I'm predicting that you won't be able to move charges from one place to another freely, but there might be upgrades that let you.

1 minute ago, Freeptop said:

From the text we've seen so far, ordnance and R2-D2 just provide energy totals, which can then be used by those cards. There's nothing in the text that requires the energy used be from that card.

I'm predicting that cheap ordnance will be taken on a ship carrying R2-D2 just to power more shield regeneration.

I don't think that's the case

because that's how force upgrades work


Charge I'm almost positive is just a way to track how many uses these limited-use upgrades have

6 minutes ago, Freeptop said:

From the text we've seen so far, ordnance and R2-D2 just provide energy totals, which can then be used by those cards. There's nothing in the text that requires the energy used be from that card.

I'm predicting that cheap ordnance will be taken on a ship carrying R2-D2 just to power more shield regeneration.

I would agree with you but the Darth Vader crew card agrees and disagrees with you.

The card allows you to spend a force token to create an effect, however, the card it's self doesn't have an energy limit, it just shows {Force Symbol} +1

Based on that, I have to assume that the card itself doesn't have an allowance, but merely increases the pol available to the pilot where as things like Crackshot, R2, R2-D2, Torps etc, seem to have their own "charge" pool.

If it does work the way you do, then a bomber with two sets of torps and a bomb, armed with crackshot, will have seven uses of crack shot.

Furthermore, I suspect the "reload" action will allow you to add a charge token to a upgrade card, maybe that will work on EPT, who knows.

No matter what happens, I really really really really hope aces are ACES.

Vader should be terrifying to face. As should Wedge. And Fenn.

Soontir Fel and the Squint brigade. Yessss please.

No where enough information to even begin speculating. So many unknowns at this point that need to be answered.

Most missile/torpedo has multiple shots now, so I can see most jousty lists also equipping ordnance of some kind. Proton torps let you keep the lock now. Maybe 4 B-wings with torpedos now for that instant alpha since post maneuvering has been reeled in. No more boost + barrel roll means lower PS is gonna rule.

Ace + Miniswarm will probably be a thing, or else jouster lists like BBBBZ,etc. Without PTL and the option to boost and barrel roll to avoid arcs, I don't think people will take fragile ships like Interceptors.

Im sure Miranda will still be broken ? The seismic bomb thing Alex Davy showed off looks like some nice cheese that will probably be broken if you can plant a seismic and then move it to any asteroid within range 1. Seems super powered, and if Sabine crew aint reeled in, that could be really broke. We all know they love bombs and didnt think bomblet generator was a problem.

Here's hoping Fel's Wrath becomes meta ? The dude has waited for this moment

2 minutes ago, wurms said:

Here's hoping Fel's Wrath becomes meta ? The dude has waited for this moment

I heard they changed his ability:

"As long as this ship is on the board, you cannot lose and your opponent cannot win."

8 minutes ago, Viktus106 said:

I heard they changed his ability:

"As long as this ship is on the board, you cannot lose and your opponent cannot win."

Aw, swapped with Miranda's 1.0 ability I see