Perhaps the big problem with fleet troopers is the pure points efficiency of rebel troopers which aren’t in any way as situational as these guys.

The shotgun looks good but the launcher is another poorly considered weapon. Sometimes I struggle to comprehend what happened in testing to make the designers value exhaust weapons so expensively.

This game so far has really good balance overall... but these consistently crap weapon upgrades with exhaust are a problem

I'm definitely doing to try the launcher out, but I'm not expecting to like it. It's just too expensive, and the Exhaust is too prohibitive. One or the other would be fine, but both is not good. And on a unit where every other model is limited to range 2 it's just even worse.

3 hours ago, beefcake4000 said:

Perhaps the big problem with fleet troopers is the pure points efficiency of rebel troopers which aren’t in any way as situational as these guys.

The shotgun looks good but the launcher is another poorly considered weapon. Sometimes I struggle to comprehend what happened in testing to make the designers value exhaust weapons so expensively.

This game so far has really good balance overall... but these consistently crap weapon upgrades with exhaust are a problem

I agree- in a game of only 6 rounds, I dont see the need for "exhausted" weapons. If you're paying so many points for it, why are you punished for using it by needing to spend an action just to use it again? Instead, they should have made these not so good exhausted ones cheaper, and the better cheaper ones more expensive.

They should have just gone with rounds or charges that the gun has so you can only use it say twice during the game. With maybe needing to do a ready action to reload those two charges.

Its like the ion snow trooper that will probably never see play. 34 points for only two white and one black die. Considering adding in an additional snow trooper gives you a white dice, the only bonus from that gun is another white and one black die. Plus an ion token isnt really that terrible to have on a vehicle anyway.... which is another discussion in itself, why FFG struggles with making "ion" anything actually good and something to be scared of. Unless you're being attacked by multiple ion weapons, its not a big deal, nor worth 34 points.

2 hours ago, Jman444 said:

I agree- in a game of only 6 rounds, I dont see the need for "exhausted" weapons. If you're paying so many points for it, why are you punished for using it by needing to spend an action just to use it again? Instead, they should have made these not so good exhausted ones cheaper, and the better cheaper ones more expensive.

FFG reading this post, laughing whilst the painting team behind them prepare the AT-AT for it's announcement.

Against troopers, the shotgun actually performs better in all scenarios (even vs. heavy cover) over the grenade launcher. So really what you are paying for is the impact 2.

If you’re going to make a close assault anti armor unit I’d rather just pay 28 points less for inexhaustible impact grenades.

17 hours ago, beefcake4000 said:

Perhaps the big problem with fleet troopers is the pure points efficiency of rebel troopers which aren’t in any way as situational as these guys.

The shotgun looks good but the launcher is another poorly considered weapon. Sometimes I struggle to comprehend what happened in testing to make the designers value exhaust weapons so expensively.

This game so far has really good balance overall... but these consistently crap weapon upgrades with exhaust are a problem

Rather than aim and shoot, or move and shoot, you reload and shoot. They are meant to play a very specific way. They are very pricey however.

2 minutes ago, Mep said:

Rather than aim and shoot, or move and shoot, you reload and shoot. They are meant to play a very specific way. They are very pricey however.

They are certainly going to be a prime suppression target, which prevents the reload/shoot combination. I think that is one of the primary problems with exhaust weapons; even one suppression token makes it impossible to reload and shoot in the same turn.

Don't get me wrong, suppression is effective against any trooper unit, but I think those with exhaust weapons are extra vulnerable to it.

Just now, Orkimedes said:

They are certainly going to be a prime suppression target, which prevents the reload/shoot combination. I think that is one of the primary problems with exhaust weapons; even one suppression token makes it impossible to reload and shoot in the same turn.

Don't get me wrong, suppression is effective against any trooper unit, but I think those with exhaust weapons are extra vulnerable to it.

Yeah, the best reload weapon is the stormies rocket launcher. Use them at range 4 and have a killing zone with other units if they come into range 3. Short range exhaust weapons outside of Veers one command card are problematic to reload and often not worth the points. Still it forces them to be a target to be suppressed rather than some other unit you would rather not be shot it. This is a chess game.

2 hours ago, Mep said:

Rather than aim and shoot, or move and shoot, you reload and shoot. They are meant to play a very specific way. They are very pricey however.

I think that’s even worse when you factor in the range 2... not moving is seriously counter intuitive.

5 hours ago, beefcake4000 said:

I think that’s even worse when you factor in the range 2... not moving is seriously counter intuitive.

It all comes down to the terrain and denying area movement. If you set up a range two corridor through terrain with that one unit to can deny access or make it rather pricey to pass through. That might be once a game sort of deal.

So I have had a game where they worked, but that was because there was a compound on the map with LOS blocking walls in an area of the map, which allowed them to get into range 2 and shred two squads of snowtroopers.

Couldn't standby though because there were still openings. Shotgun really works well at increasing the squad lethality, thanks to surge to hit.

On 5/19/2018 at 9:12 PM, beefcake4000 said:

The shotgun looks good but the launcher is another poorly considered weapon. Sometimes I struggle to comprehend what happened in testing to make the designers value exhaust weapons so expensively.

I am curious what made them point these weapons so high myself. None of them seem powerful enough to warrant the point cost. Perhaps they are planning for the game environment sometime next year when more units/models have been released?

As for Fleet Troopers and their MPL-57 Grenade launcher, I haven't come up with an effective way to use it yet, in my head. I considered using it to suppress enemy units that are outside of Range 2, but unless you are focusing on a unit with other suppression then 1 Suppression token isn't that reliable to shut down a unit.

The gernade launcher does add versitility.

If you need your unit to rout some enemies in heavy cover. The launcher helps.

If your unit needs to put the hurt on enemy armor. The launcher helps a lot.

If you need to add one more suppression on a unit at range 3.

I don't think that it is enough to redeem the price plus exhaust but we will see.

On 5/20/2018 at 11:04 PM, Orkimedes said:

They are certainly going to be a prime suppression target, which prevents the reload/shoot combination. I think that is one of the primary problems with exhaust weapons; even one suppression token makes it impossible to reload and shoot in the same turn.

Don't get me wrong, suppression is effective against any trooper unit, but I think those with exhaust weapons are extra vulnerable to it.

If you keep Leia close to them suppression shouldn't be a problem as she removes 2 suppression from all friendly units around her when she activates.

44 minutes ago, Bdolfos said:

If you keep Leia close to them suppression shouldn't be a problem as she removes 2 suppression from all friendly units around her when she activates.

What prevents the opponent from shooting at them after leai removed suppression from them?

3 minutes ago, Deuzerre said:

What prevents the opponent from shooting at them after leai removed suppression from them?

Hopefully your strategy.

2 hours ago, Bdolfos said:

If you keep Leia close to them suppression shouldn't be a problem as she removes 2 suppression from all friendly units around her when she activates.

Wait what? I thought it was two suppression total, not two from each. Posted in the rules thread, so as not to derail here.

3 minutes ago, DwightE1 said:

Wait what? I thought it was two suppression total, not two from each. Posted in the rules thread, so as not to derail here.

You are right.

8 hours ago, Bdolfos said:

Hopefully your strategy.

8 hours ago, Deuzerre said:

What prevents the opponent from shooting at them after leai removed suppression from them?

You could use Leia’s back-to-back activation command card to prevent this, but unfortunately you only get one shot with that.

On 5/16/2018 at 10:32 PM, Mep said:

One tactic is to activate them end of turn, move them twice into position. Next turn, activate them first or early, move once more into final position and put them on standby near an enemy unit. They are basically a time bomb sitting there. They aren't going to be easy to use effectively and standard rebel troopers will be more efficient.

Am I missing something, why move them once near a unit and then standby? I get that you get an aim token, but if you move up first near an enemy unit, arnt you just losing the chance to shoot them?

Another enemy unit from further away just just fire at them and they lose standby?

I havnt ready up much but surely if the chance is there, shoot after you move?

31 minutes ago, VAYASAN said:

Am I missing something, why move them once near a unit and then standby? I get that you get an aim token, but if you move up first near an enemy unit, arnt you just losing the chance to shoot them?

Another enemy unit from further away just just fire at them and they lose standby?

I havnt ready up much but surely if the chance is there, shoot after you move?

Terrain. You won't always have line of sight to the enemy. In fact, you really shouldn't have line of sight a lot of the time. If your troops are having trouble taking advantage of Standby you're probably playing with way less line of sight blocking terrain than you should be. Check out this thread for a good discussion on terrain density.

1 hour ago, Jake the Hutt said:

Terrain. You won't always have line of sight to the enemy. In fact, you really shouldn't have line of sight a lot of the time. If your troops are having trouble taking advantage of Standby you're probably playing with way less line of sight blocking terrain than you should be. Check out this thread for a good discussion on terrain density.

Fair enough.

13 hours ago, Orkimedes said:

You could use Leia’s back-to-back activation command card to prevent this, but unfortunately you only get one shot with that.

22 hours ago, Deuzerre said:

What prevents the opponent from shooting at them after leai removed suppression from them?

You could just wait with Leia's activation until all units that could suppress them have already activated. Or you give those units a bigger threat to shoot at.

By the way don't forget that every unit has a 33% chance to get rid of each suppression token once they activate.

On 5/20/2018 at 4:27 AM, Orkimedes said:

Never mind I found it.

Two white, one black, 1-3, exhaust, 33 points.

That seems... not great. I mean, blast is really good. And impact 2 is the most for any rebel infantry weapon, but the exhaust and 33 point cost seem to price it out of being efficient.

Link?

32 minutes ago, Jabby said:

Link?

Go on reddit and scroll down a bit