Hey everyone, how would you go about building a double IG list in 2.0? I haven't seen any of those yet, are Brobots not viable or did people just get bored of them in 1.0?

I was trying some three ship droid lists including one or two Aggressors but I had mixed results. Losing PtL, Autothrusters, and 1.0 FCS is a pretty big hit to their firepower and survivability, but they gained the medium base and Calculate. My next brobot list is going back to their roots:

IG88-A: Elusive, Ion Cannon, HLC, Adv Sensors, Shield Upgrade, Title

IG88-B: Elusive, Ion Cannon, HLC, Adv Sensors, Shield Upgrade, Title

200

I am going to have to experiment to see what I like the best. Trading Adv Sensors for FCS and a Proton bomb on both is high on my list to try.

I messed around with TrajSimBros last night, with a DeadMan Pirate to make up points. Ran up against two Ion B's and Proton Torp Wedge. I had Seismics on A and Protons on C. My opponent remembered my Simulators throughout the game, so I only managed to catch him with one Seismic, but caught both B-Wings with standard Proton drops - which was the death of one.

Flying medium bases is going to take some getting used to. And Wedge just **punishes** mistakes. The medium base makes the Aggressors rather a lot slower, and the new X-Wing dial is so much more maneuverable. Woof. All that said, I may have developed a taste for BroBots. Just not with Trajectory Simulator. Watching a game at the next table with Guri rocking Collision Detectors...I think I might give that a try.

IG88-A&D: Elusive, Collision Detector, Shield Up, Prox Mines, Contraband Cybers, Titles. I've never used IG-D before, and using its extra maneuverability to recharge Elusive tickles me. I've only flown BroBots maybe three times before; I can see their potential, but I can definitely see how unforgiving a two-ship list is now.

I've had a ton of fun running two brobots and 4-LOM. Minimal upgrades, but loads of hp and calculates. Going to try palob next.

(70) IG-88A
(2) IG-2000
(1) Crack Shot
Points 73

(70) IG-88C
(2) IG-2000
(1) Crack Shot
Points 73

(49) 4-LOM
(4) IG-88D
(1) Crack Shot
Points 54

Total points: 200

20 minutes ago, Hos said:

I've had a ton of fun running two brobots and 4-LOM. Minimal upgrades, but loads of hp and calculates. Going to try palob next.

(70) IG-88A
(2) IG-2000
(1) Crack Shot
Points 73

(70) IG-88C
(2) IG-2000
(1) Crack Shot
Points 73

(49) 4-LOM
(4) IG-88D
(1) Crack Shot
Points 54

Total points: 200

Maybe drop the Crackshots to give 4-Lom Elusiveness?

19 minutes ago, Sonikgav said:

Maybe drop the Crackshots to give 4-Lom Elusiveness?

Totally!

I want to try Palob next, who is cheaper and let's me try ion cannons and IG-88B

(70) IG-88A
(2) IG-2000
(5) Ion Cannon
Points 77

(70) IG-88B
(2) IG-2000
(5) Ion Cannon
Points 77

(38) Palob Godalhi
(4) IG-88D
(3) Elusive
Points 45

Total points: 199

I used to play Brobots quite a bit. I think I will kit them a bit more, but still allowing points for a cheap blocker to mess with the opponent when the Brobots charge. Advanced sensors with IG88C (for the pre-movement boost while gaining evade) is what makes Brobots worth playing in my opinion. Ion Cannon is great in 2.0 because you can actually ionize a big ship in a single turn (if I understand the rules correctly).

IG88B/Predator/IonCan/AdvSens/Title 87 pts

IG88C/Predator/IonCan/AdvSens/Title 87 pts

Binayre/DeadmansSwitch 26pts

5 hours ago, Sixter said:

Ion Cannon is great in 2.0 because you can actually ionize a big ship in a single turn (if I understand the rules correctly).

They are the opposite of great. Gaining the 'possibility' of ionizing a large ship in one shot (and only if you happen to be at range 1) does not make up for the serious nerf all cannons received in the cross-over to 2.0. While its true they got a point decrease, the nerf to their effectiveness does not make up for it.

Think about it: if you have a range 1 shot on a Ghost, what is better, dealing 4 damage (with the possibility of crits) or dealing 1 damage + 3 ions? And if we are talking about a ship that has 2 or 3 agility, the ion cannon suddenly becomes next to useless. So its 5 points for a weapon that you can only use effectively if your opponent happens to bring low agility ships (so when fighting rebels, basically).

The designers really didn't spend enough time thinking things through on cannons. And a simple 'point fix' is not going to be the solution. Dropping their cost by one or two points still leaves the same situationally effective 'issue' that plagues all of the different types of cannons (for example, HLC is only useful if you happen to be Initiative 5 or better, because otherwise most enemy ships can easily dodge your bulls-eye).

Having said that, if you are hellbent on running IG88B, then Ion Cannon is the best choice for him.

Ion cannons really aren’t that bad. Most of the time they’re just a normal 3 dice attack that gets one damage through, and can set the rest of your list up well to punish the opponent harder the following turn.

1 hour ago, blade_mercurial said:

They are the opposite of great. Gaining the 'possibility' of ionizing a large ship in one shot (and only if you happen to be at range 1) does not make up for the serious nerf all cannons received in the cross-over to 2.0. While its true they got a point decrease, the nerf to their effectiveness does not make up for it.

Think about it: if you have a range 1 shot on a Ghost, what is better, dealing 4 damage (with the possibility of crits) or dealing 1 damage + 3 ions? And if we are talking about a ship that has 2 or 3 agility, the ion cannon suddenly becomes next to useless. So its 5 points for a weapon that you can only use effectively if your opponent happens to bring low agility ships (so when fighting rebels, basically).

The designers really didn't spend enough time thinking things through on cannons. And a simple 'point fix' is not going to be the solution. Dropping their cost by one or two points still leaves the same situationally effective 'issue' that plagues all of the different types of cannons (for example, HLC is only useful if you happen to be Initiative 5 or better, because otherwise most enemy ships can easily dodge your bulls-eye).

Having said that, if you are hellbent on running IG88B, then Ion Cannon is the best choice for him.

The idea is to use the primaries when that's the more viable option of course, then you have to use a cannon for the second shot. Ion cannon was being used towards the end of 1.0 in control bots builds and proved quite formidable. Ion cannon was better in 1.0 when you only got 1 hit through because you would both get a hit and 1 ion token. In 2.0 you get a simple damage for the first hit that gets through but then you can actually get 2 ions if two more hits go through. In some circumstances that will make large ships with low agility very uncomfortable because you can ionize them with one ship in a single turn.

Edit: I just noticed you need 3 ion tokens on a large ship to be ionized, so I guess a single Ion Cannon cant ionize a big ship in a single turn.

40 minutes ago, Sixter said:

The idea is to use the primaries when that's the more viable option of course, then you have to use a cannon for the second shot. Ion cannon was being used towards the end of 1.0 in control bots builds and proved quite formidable. Ion cannon was better in 1.0 when you only got 1 hit through because you would both get a hit and 1 ion token. In 2.0 you get a simple damage for the first hit that gets through but then you can actually get 2 ions if two more hits go through. In some circumstances that will make large ships with low agility very uncomfortable because you can ionize them with one ship in a single turn.

Ion cannons are in some ways better, some ways worse in 2.0. Getting range bonuses means that dice on ions are the same as the bots primary attack. That range 3 ion shot is not any better. I don't think ions are great on the bros. My opinion is light bots with a 3rd ship. 4-lom is interesting, but I've been use the quadjumper with IG crew on board. Running him with A & C right now, this allows calculates to be passed like crazy.

1 hour ago, Sixter said:

Edit: I just noticed you need 3 ion tokens on a large ship to be ionized, so I guess a single Ion Cannon cant ionize a big ship in a single turn.

It can in range 1

That's right, some secondary weapons can benefit from range bonus in 2.0. So many new rules...

19 minutes ago, Sixter said:

That's right, some secondary weapons can benefit from range bonus in 2.0. So many new rules...

Its not complicated. Cannons are affected by range bonuses, just like primary weapons. Missiles and Torpedoes are the same as always (no range bonuses apply).