32 minutes ago, Micanthropyre said:

I genuinely feel like this is the wrong focus. Imperials have some really cool crew and very few places to put them. Phantoms are a bad place for that, I want a small base 35 point crew carrier, not a 40+ point arc dodging front line fighter.

Bring back the TIE Shuttle!

35 minutes ago, InterceptorMad said:

People seem to be forgetting that we have 2 whole new factions (and therefore new cards) coming soon, plus general new releases.

It could be that apart from Vader, we also have some new generic crew cards coming that FFG don't want on the Phantom. And we could have new Gunner cards coming that would work well on it.

And so far almost every upgrade has been faction locked. We aren't getting any new Imperial gunners for a long time.

32 minutes ago, HolySorcerer said:

Bring  back the TIE  Shuttle!

This! I'd be happy with just a points - adjusting title that removes upgrade slots

I miss my Perceptive Copilots… COPILOTs .

I think that's a good comparison. Maybe the HWK-290 doesn't allow room to walk around in flight, but the second person probably has a lot of other things to monitor. I'd consider that more of a Copilot, which is a Crew card. In the TIE Phantom, the second person has nothing else to do or pay attention to but controlling the guns (it was the reason those levels were rail-shooters despite making you to fly a TIE in preparation for the mission).

I agree that the fluff only matters so much in the face of balance, but I think this works for both. We're used to the Crew slot, but there's nothing inherently necessary about the Crew slot. Even if they removed the slot entirely, the Phantom would still be able to do the things that it's known for. The Gunner slot means a lot less choice for now, but that can easily be expanded.

As for Imperial Crew carriers, that's something that wasn't really appropriate for the Phantom, from a balance or fluff perspective. The Empire just needs a better option for that, and the Phantom losing the Crew slot might encourage that to come faster. At least, hopefully.

I'll admit that hinges on whether we get more Gunner options or Imperial Crew carrying options within a reasonable time frame. In the past I've said "hey, don't worry about this because it can get fixed in the future" about things in other games, and it ends up never getting fixed or takes five years, so I'm willing to admit I'm wrong if this doesn't work out.

5 minutes ago, Jokubas said:

The Empire just needs a better option for that, and the Phantom losing the Crew slot might encourage that to come faster. At least, hopefully.

Do we, though? Both the Lambda and the Reaper are capable in 2.0, and for only a few points more than the 35 points people suggest for a TIE Shuttle. I wouldn't complain if they gave us another option, but I don't see it as a necessity.

2 hours ago, miguelj said:

Needs moar emphasis.

Exactly.

Phantoms could make great crew carriers, but I ran them no crew plenty. Juke Whisper or Echo, at 56(59) and 54(55) points were very viable pieces.

I expect we see more people catch on to just how great Captain Feroph is now. Reaper life!

Seeiously, if you want a great brawler to just get in and make a mess of your opponents formation, that’s the ship to be.

2 hours ago, Micanthropyre said:

I genuinely feel like this is the wrong focus. Imperials have some really cool crew and very few places to put them. Phantoms are a bad place for that, I want a small base 35 point crew carrier, not a 40+ point arc dodging front line fighter.

Now this? This is a legitimate thing. I loved the old TIE shuttle. In fact in late 1st ed I flew them extensively. I would kill to have that back as an option, it was a really fun and interesting piece.

7 minutes ago, JJ48 said:

Do we, though? Both the Lambda and the Reaper are capable in 2.0, and for only a few points more than the 35 points people suggest for a TIE Shuttle. I wouldn't complain if they gave us another option, but I don't see it as a necessity.

It's not something I've been looking for personally (though with the way I build lists, that doesn't mean much), but I've seen it mentioned so I thought it was a fair point.

3 hours ago, Herowannabe said:

Personally I always thought it was odd that Phantoms had a Crew slot instead of Gunners. In my mind if the crew member can’t get up and walk around the cockpit then it shouldn’t be a crew slot.

The ship has two seats, very much like the HWK-290.

10 minutes ago, Wh0isTh3D0ct0r said:

The ship has two seats, very much like the HWK-290.

Yeah, but the HWK also has the ability to take passengers. It's closer to a U-Wing than a snub fighter.

1 hour ago, PhantomFO said:

Yeah, but the HWK also has the ability to take passengers. It's closer to a U-Wing than a snub fighter.

Nothing that a few bungee cords can't fix.

Its good they made it gunner instead of crew for the future. So many crew options is hard to balance when it can go on things like Lambdas and Phantoms. Gunner gives them control, because they limit gunners with turrets, rear arcs, etc.

12 hours ago, HolySorcerer said:

Whomever labled the HWK as a transport is an idiot. It's a two seater heavy fighter/recon craft. The Phantom has a larger cockpit.

We don't usually agree, but right here, right now, we most certainly do.