Jamming Beam is pretty much worthless on lower initiative pilots so I started thinking about what could be done to help without changing the printed card. What if at the start of the cleanup step you could remove all Jam tokens from an enemy ship to remove 1 charge from a Torpedo, Missile or Device equipped to that ship?

35 minutes ago, Caduceus01 said:

pretty much worthless on lower initiative pilots

I take it you're looking at Cartel Spacers or Sunny Bounder. On a Juke Serissu or Genisis Red it can set up a target up nicely for the lower init members of the squad to paste, though it is hampered by its range (1-2).

53 minutes ago, Hiemfire said:

I take it you're looking at Cartel Spacers or Sunny Bounder. On a Juke Serissu or Genisis Red it can set up a target up nicely for the lower init members of the squad to paste, though it is hampered by its range (1-2).

I wasn’t thinking about any ship in particular. I was just thinking about how dependent the Jamming Beam is on shooting first to have any effect because the tokens go away at the end of the turn. Removing charges from munitions would at least give it some utility on lower initiative pilots in some matchups. It wouldn’t make the Jamming Beam great but it might bump it up to situationally useful.

What they could have done is make jam tokens 1 at a time per ship max, they never go away until removed and to remove one the carrying ship must execute 1 action that is then cancelled. Multi-action ships are slowed but not neutered and jam tokens are not as situational.

Drop it by three points and I'll consider it.

Absolutely worthless.. I think I will usually just want to shoot as that will normally force the opponent to use their focus/evade and if im lucky I may sneak a damage through.

I was surprised it doesn't have the ion effect of doing a damage first.

It's not just the beam; the action is pretty much useless too. I think they need to redo the token rules. It's round though, so it will get removed, but I suppose they change it so that if the token is removed in the end phase, it gets replaced with a stress token.

ISB Slicer

I've always thought the only real issue with the Jamming Beam is the range 1-2. If it was Range 1-3 in 1e, I'd totally have flown that on some TIE/D. Granted, that was "jam stays" in 1e, and a lot more potent.

Now, with Jam not sticking around, things are a bit tougher, but a jam still prevents an opponent from having a token to defend now. That can be--at times--as good as a reduced agility from Tractor Beam. Not always, but this is cheaper than Tractor Beam. Maybe it should be another point cheaper, too.

Low-init, the Jamming Beam effect isn't bad set-up. High-init, Jamming Beam disruption has potential. Except it lacks the range 3 to be effective in a lot of first-round situations. If Serissu could jam opponent's Torpedo attacks before they shoot, that would be a niche role for the Jamming Beam, but it doesn't work because of the weak range.

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Some of this is just my philosophy. I don't need Jamming Beam to be top-tables-large-tournament. But it should have a role, and it should be able to fulfill that role. With Range 1-2, it can't really accomplish those goals. If a Jamming beam was 1-3, it'd remind me a lot of an E-Wing. The E-Wing is a functional ship. It has a role (long range Locks, plus a boom-and-zoom style), and it has the tools to accomplish that role. It's of course hideously overpriced, making a list with an E-Wing worse than a list which uses some other ship, but the E-Wing itself can accomplish what an E-Wing wants to accomplish.

Jamming Beam would have been a niche choice if it was range 0-2. As is though it is dumpster tier.

A Tie/D upgrade for ships with Cannons could bring it to the fore. Especially with the changes to Tractor beam. But as others have said its range and lack of damage is what does it in. It needs to be used on high int ships but those ships don't want to sacrifice their attack to jam.
I really wish B-Wings, Gunboats, Sycks and Defenders could double tap with cannons. I could definitely see a two defender list (one with tractor and one with jamming beam) eating up things if there was a way for them to double tap.

I suppose they could release an expensive mod that adds TIE/D capabilities to any ship with a cannon. 10-12 points maybe? They'd probably have to remove the mod slot from the Scyk, but it's not like it's used for much anyway.

1 minute ago, Okapi said:

Scyk, but it's not like it's used for much anyway.

Afterburners or Stealth device on Quinn Jast… The removal of that slot would hard lock her to ordinance or Crack Shot... I which case her points should be shaved.

Allow to fire them during the Systems phase as bonus attacks against a target in your bullseye arc.

22 hours ago, Caduceus01 said:

Jamming Beam is pretty much worthless on lower initiative pilots

FTFY

Jamming beam maybe strips a green token or TL. Now, imagine a weapon which has a good chance of stripping a green token when you fire it, and which actually does damage when it hits. This mythical weapon I've described is every other weapon in the game (with the exception of tractor beam).

If you're bringing jamming beam to strip target locks, consider the following: you need to shoot before your opponent, you need to hit, you can't jam from range 3 (ideal torp range), and worst of all you've spent your entire attack jamming, but your opponent can still shoot their primary weapon.

15 hours ago, Okapi said:

It's not just the beam; the action is pretty much useless too.

Not true - the jam action is very powerful, particularly because it doesn't waste your attack. Jam actions are a great way to deny an enemy crucial dice mods (or prevent a torp from firing), keeping your ships alive longer or helping you kill them faster. At worst, jam is a 1:1 trade, giving up your action to remove the effects of an opponent's action. This is well worth it if your opponent needs their token more than you need dice mods (eg. a high hull ship jamming a fragile interceptor). If you've got the action economy to jam and still have dice mods (moldy crow, zuckuss, vermeil) then that's even better.

One caveat for the jam action: watch out for enemies who can remove the jam token and then still get a target lock (or whatever token they need). Notable examples include Vader, Redline (who can just keep a spare lock on a rock for jam prevention) and coordinated ships.

Beam weapons should have been their own slot with their own rules. Either firing in the system phase or being an action to use or being fired with the primary weapons like the /D. I'd take jamming beam if it fired every round at range one without eating my regular attack.

On 11/6/2018 at 8:19 PM, LordFajubi said:

What they could have done is make jam tokens 1 at a time per ship max, they never go away until removed and to remove one the carrying ship must execute 1 action that is then cancelled. Multi-action ships are slowed but not neutered and jam tokens are not as situational.

You mean exactly like Jam in 1.0? Why would anyone ever want that again?

Jamming Beam is a lot like Tractor Beam. If you don’t have a follow-up bonus attack it’s kind of worthless. It’s possible the FO kit adds something like that because otherwise the Upsilon ship ability is the most pointless text to ever be put on a card. ?

if the beams had 180° firing arc at least you could sometimes take a shot when your other weapons can't. Or the systems phase idea. But like this, na

Jamming Beam should have been a cannon slot that adds a white "jam" action to your action bar... maybe with the restriction that it has to be in arc. Same with Tractor Beam (range 1-2, front arc, use your action to assign 1 tractor token, 2 tokens if in bullseye).

Personally, I really don't want easy cannon double-taps to happen. I'd still charge like 10 points for a double-tap which reduced the primary and cannon attack dice each by 1.

I want TIE/D to remain in 1e. I don't want any 2e Twin Laser Turrets unless they're single-shot, twin-arc. Someone wants to shoot twice? Let them buy a Veteran Turret Gunner. Cluster Missiles correctly don't allow a double-shot on the same target. Roark + Han Gunner does, but that costs like 50-60 points.

I understand that cannon attacks are a hard choice on a 3-red ship, and there's only one 2-red ship with cannon slots. But I'm happier to be in the world of 2e.

50 minutes ago, MikeEvans said:

Jamming Beam should have been a cannon slot that adds a white "jam" action to your action bar... maybe with the restriction that it has to be in arc.

Perfect fix I think.

I like the range 0-2 solution. More range 0 attacks should exist they're interesting.

15 minutes ago, thespaceinvader said:

I like the range 0-2 solution. More range 0 attacks should exist they're interesting.

Probably not anywhere near competitive, but a Brobot or 4-LOM+88D ramming to set up the target for another of the IGs just jumped into my mind... I can hear the rage now...