Threat cards from the new core set

By HolySorcerer, in X-Wing

3 hours ago, Commander Kaine said:

But... Is it useful at all?

If we use these Threat levels, I'm confident that the xwings will will almost always against these TIEs.

This is a joke.

it is if you aren't a derp and take the shield + hull TIEs

two generic TIEs per escort or three per named character is quite fair

On 5/28/2018 at 3:53 AM, HolySorcerer said:

You can (now) fly 5 X-Wings in 1.0, I'll bet you can fly 5 X-Wings in 2.0.

Blue Squad Escort, 40 points or less. Consider it called.

I would not be so sure about that. 5 X-Wings at the end of 1.0 is essentially a proof of concept imho. They want to prove that low PS generics without ordnance can actually compete if you price them accordingly. This is a Test for 2.0 if pricing offsets the advantages of higher PS Arc-dodgers. Because there have been periods in X-Wing where one Supermobile Ace could have soloed any useful number of non repositioning generics, given enough time.

That being said, 5X vs 8Ball, might be a bit skewed in the new X-Wings favor.

On 5/28/2018 at 1:09 AM, HolySorcerer said:

With the threat cards you can take 4 blue squad escorts, each with proton torps and R3. The proton torps alone will cost that squad 40 points, plus the four R3 mechs. With this pricing you will certainly be able to take 5 naked X-Wings, though even if you couldn't I would favor the 4 blues over 8 TIEs anyways.

The costing calculations in all honor, but i know for sure that 4 of the old base set X-Wings with Torps were no match for 8 TIEs when the game started. That went in the TIEs favor 8/10 times. This is why a Howlswarm or an 8Ball Swarm were considered competitive lists, while 4X were much less seen.

Now with 4 more HP and repositioning abilities on the X-Wings side, along with a more flexible dial, it looks like a much closer matchup. But they are not favored. If you use your TIEs to block and get 1-2 named or upgraded TIEs for the remaining points, this will be a very, very tight matchup. I would still take these against a 4X list any day.

Edit: Acually, with both basic ships now being PS 1 and with repositioning tools, it's a real dilemma whether you want initiative or not even if you have the choice. Usually, as the Rebel player i would pass initiative over, as arc-dodging via barrel roll can give you free shots, which is a really big deal. But as the Imperial player, it's not going to be so easy. do you want to block and deny actions, or do you want to arc-dodge yourself. This is going to be a really interesting set of questions at a very basic level. I do like where they are going with 2.0

Edit: seems i wrong, the basic X-wing is still PS2. Would have thought that PS 2 in 1.0 equals PS1 in 2.0 This is another advantage for the X-Wings. I really hope they revert to 4 of them, or they might need to make the 9 Swarm a thing to compensate

Edited by ForceM

I can't imagine that we can get 5 x-wings in 2.0. For the ending of 1.0, yeah sure.. they have purposefully buffed x-wings and imp aces just as a send off for the old archetypes. I am hoping it is just that.. purposefully making them OP but not for 2.0 where they don't need to swarm anymore due to the rebalancing of all.

On 5/27/2018 at 4:34 PM, HolySorcerer said:

The Emperor and I are on pretty good terms, I already have the purple tattoo.

Pics or it didn't happen!

End of the day this is for rookie players to jump in and learn the game right? It doesn't really matter of they are off by a few points.

Once you get into the real game this'll be forgotten pretty quickly.

Has the 2.0 content in Saw's been fully spoiled yet?

Because when you're asking about cheap x-wings, surely whether I1 zealots are in 2.0 is a relevant question?

12 hours ago, william1134 said:

I can't imagine that we can get 5 x-wings in 2.0. For the ending of 1.0, yeah sure.. they have purposefully buffed x-wings and imp aces just as a send off for the old archetypes. I am hoping it is just that.. purposefully making them OP but not for 2.0 where they don't need to swarm anymore due to the rebalancing of all.

As i said, i also think they will go back to 4X, as in 1.0 right now, 5 X-Wings might not be OP due to the generally higher powerlevel. But in 2.0, 5X lists would probably be a bit unhealthy...

I’ll add to the higher tie cap pile. Not looking forward to converting this many but 5x’s is fine if imps get 10 ties then. It’s a starter times 5 pretty much and the opening move will obliterate several ships most likely. So really you’re just setting up who can take the alpha strike better.

Again xwings win here I think but the ties can kill it with that new reinforcements move. If you can kamakazi 8 ties into an x-swarm and go for enemy losses as top priority then top off 2-4 fresh ships... man that’s the empire I always wanted. Ties can pop like corn all they want as long as I can old school zerg them.

2 hours ago, LordFajubi said:

I’ll add to the higher tie cap pile. Not looking forward to converting this many but 5x’s is fine if imps get 10 ties then. It’s a starter times 5 pretty much and the opening move will obliterate several ships most likely. So really you’re just setting up who can take the alpha strike better.

Again xwings win here I think but the ties can kill it with that new reinforcements move. If you can kamakazi 8 ties into an x-swarm and go for enemy losses as top priority then top off 2-4 fresh ships... man that’s the empire I always wanted. Ties can pop like corn all they want as long as I can old school zerg them.

That's just a theory of mine, it's not confirmed or anything.

I think trying to predict points off this is an exercise in futility. Everything is a bit vague and wobbly. It's all easy mode X-wing with the threat cards.

2 hours ago, heychadwick said:

I think trying to predict points off this is an exercise in futility. Everything is a bit vague and wobbly. It's all easy mode X-wing with the threat cards.

This, by miles.

It's not just 'easy mode', though. I think that these cards/builds are going to be incredibly fun to play with - both with the mentioned drafting format ideas, as well as from a 'learn to fly non-optimal things' way. By playing with 'simple' ship builds, you can learn how to squeeze the best performance out of yourself and your ships, without the 'correct' upgrades to get you out of tough spots.

Ask any Magic player if learning to draft and play well without an optimized constructed deck has improved their game and (if they're even a little bit self-aware), they'll say it absolutely made them a better player.

1 hour ago, Aaron Foss said:

It's not just 'easy mode', though. I think that these cards/builds are going to be incredibly fun to play with - both with the mentioned drafting format ideas, as well as from a 'learn to fly non-optimal things' way.

By no means did I say it wasn't fun, nor good to get better.

1 hour ago, heychadwick said:

By no means did I say it wasn't fun, nor good to get better.

Oh, I didn't mean to imply that you did. I'm just super excited for the options Threat Level cards open up.

On 5/27/2018 at 11:01 AM, ficklegreendice said:

Def gonna have to take these threats with a casual grain of salt

No way in **** are any of those TIEs worth even a naked xwing

Edit: actually, it's possible they are

Forgot to note shield upgrade, which will be overpriced enough so that it isn't autoinclude on everything

Well that is the funny thing is there is no naked X-wing.

The threat will be interesting to play around with but I don't see it anywhere as a competitive format. That being said I can see perhaps a GM/AI driven campaign that uses Threat. Most likely threat are going to be in missions and well spinoffs of HotAC type campaigns. Maybe FFG will finally give X-wing a skirmish mode. Pair it up with Imperial Assault and we have a good thing here.