With the decrease in points for v1s and their upgrades, I think the are pretty viable. 5 generic Inquisitors all with FCS fits for double mods plus barrel roll (Force + FCS + b roll)l. I was also thinking generic Inquisitors + crewed support ship. What v1 squads does everyone have? Personally, i'm really interested in the generic Inquisitors, but the other pilotslets are ok too. V1s in general probably aren't competitive enough though.

So I’ve dabbled around with them, and it’s tricky because they lack punch. Even with FCS it can be hard to push damage. Now the points do help. I will revisit them.

But I had a list to try out weird stuff, to see what sticks. And I had a generic Inquisitor with FCS. At 43 points it was not feeling super great. I swapped it for Desthfire with seismic charges and Prox Mines with skilled bombardier. And it felt better, more effective. Which cost the same before.

Now? Not sure. The change gives me 4 more points to work with for it. Can I find something to do with those points?

Gonna give them a new look. Maybe, maybe.

They seem a bit like a poor man's Aethersprite. But, I guess the thing to take advantage is that they're Imperial, so they have a lot of good options for wingmen.

Yeah, their problem was often competition. If I had 43-44 points to spare, I’m going for one of the named strikers first in most lists. Duchess in particular.

I’d still probably look to find the few extra points in most cases, but perhaps with something that wants friendly locks (Vessery anyone) they could become best buds.

Vessery, Vader, Inquisitor? Hmm… might be something there.

Super Nat still works for the generic inquisitors since at their init it is only 8 points (a 4 point reduction from what it was before the points adjustment).

How dead exactly is Grand Inqy? His ability’s nerf for 2e makes me so sad. There’s very little more value in him than there is in the generics, but the point difference is pretty huge. And of course Supernatural Reflexes (a great fit for the /v1 and Quiz in particular) takes too much force and now costs 24 points.

If only there was something other than Hate to regen Force...

In my experience, x5 Barons with FCS and Predator really is not so bad. They're nimble, have very strong repositioning, and you'd be surprised just what they can do with proper formation flying. They have more teeth than TIEs due to their Target Lock, and largely because of that. That, and they can cancel out two crits before dying.

In fact, they're not entirely dissimilar to A-Wings. But having that system slot makes them ever so slightly scarier.

They are definitely viable, but in many ways they are X-Wing hard mode. They have great action economy, but due to their weak statline they also have great action dependency. Their linked actions are great (as they are on StarVipers and Fangs), but you'll quickly notice that you'd much rather boost and lock (because you have missiles and/or FCS) or boost and evade (because you already have the lock, a force token or two, and want to stay alive). Unfortunately you can't, so you'll have to learn to fly them very carefully and know exactly which action to pick at which time. They also have the odd combination of a 5-straght and blue 1-turns, which means you can go really fast, but if you want to shed stress, you need to stop and knife fight.

Personally, I find that the best build is one that includes FCS. Set up a turn in which you won't get shot at and get that lock, and stick to your target until it's dead. If you're flying a force user, evade unless you're sure you can get out of arc. A ship with 3 greens, and evade and a force is very hard to hurt, and having an opponent trying to get damage through on your little tank can give the rest of your squad time to hit them in the back. Focus on staying alive. Against a higher initiative ace, you won't get all that many shots, but with the v1s great dial and some careful flying, you'll get some, ideally with FCS ready to go as well as a range bonus or a missile.

As for pilots, The Grand Inquisitor is probably still a little overpriced I'd be hard pressed to recommend him over Soontir Fel or Whisper. The generic Inquisitor is good, but Seventh Sister is hands down the best value. +1I has limited value in a meta where everyone is I5, but the extra force charge is very nice. At first I felt the ability looked expensive and situational, and I guess it kind of is, but when it hits (which it usually does for me 2-3 times a game), it really hits. Smacking Fenn Rau with a Concussion Missile, rolling hit/hit/crit, seeing your opponent light up when rolling three evades, and then go pale with fear when you say "well, let's spend two force then", is just about my favourite thing you can do in this game. If that crit happens to be Panicked Pilot and Direct Hit he's really in for a ride when the Concussion effect triggers.

I have relatively little experience with the Baron of the Empire, but I think he can be decent. Since you don't have force charges you'll probably play him more aggressively, do the linked actions more often, trying to be a nuisance while your more expensive aces do the heavy lifting. Of course, if you manage to clear off your opponent's I3-6s, he suddenly turns into a very potent arc-dodging ace. Anyway, I'd keep this guy cheap.

Some suggested builds:

Grand Inquisitor: Fire-Control System. He's expensive as is, and with his ability he doesn't need missiles. Sense is worth considering if you're flying him with Phantoms or I1 Interceptors or Strikers.

Seventh Sister: Fire-Control System, Concussion Missiles. Homing Missiles are decent, but with the points increase I don't think they are worth it. Again Sense might be interesting, Instinctive Aim isn't bad. I'm not sold on Heightened Perception, but some like it.

Inquisitor: Fire-Control System and maybe Concussion Missiles. Again you might consider pairing missiles with IA.

Baron of the Empire: Curiously I think this is probably the most flexible pilot, particularly due to the greater selection of talents. I'd keep him cheap though, since he's less tough than the force users. He's fine naked, but I think FCS and Crack Shot seems like an interesting build. Marksmanship, Predator, Trick Shot and Elusive are also possibly decent picks.

Suggested wingmen:

These guys really love Jendon. He's their best friend in the whole world. Unfortunately Sai is less good, since she doesn't have boost, roll or evade, although perhaps Sai (Krennic) + Grand Inquisitor (FCS, Optimized Prototype) has potential. I haven't tested it out, but maybe Vizier? I feel I may have underestimated that particular Reaper pilot. I would have suggested Vessery, what with all the FCS going around, but I think he still might be a little overpriced. With your middling iniative and ability to block and tank a lot of shots, softer aces like Duchess, Pure Sabacc and Soontir Fel might go well alongside v1s. If your opponents ships are either blocked or working their way through a stack of tokens, you might just have bought your aces time to set up a late game situation where they can dominate.

Basically, I think , especially with Inquisitors and especially if you fly them without missiles, you want to set up a situation where they are the most tempting or easiest targets, while still being very difficult to actually hurt. I don't think they work as well alongside, say, TIE Fighters and Bombers.

I'm not sure how good it would be in actuality, but something I'd tested with Fly Casual was:

• Inquisitor (38) - Predictive Shot (4), Concussion Missiles (6)
• Inquisitor (38) - Predictive Shot (4), Concussion Missiles (6)
• Inquisitor (38) - Predictive Shot (4), Concussion Missiles (6)
• Inquisitor (38) - Predictive Shot (4), Concussion Missiles (6)

used to be exactly 200, now you can fit in FCS on all of them, or up one to Seventh Sister. Predictive means their primary hits harder, and if you line it up with the missiles as well you've got a better chance of decent damage going through.

I can’t think of any situation in which I would take any of them over the alternatives. The grand inquisitor is now hilariously overpriced thanks to the hamfisted hike to supernatural.

The ship is still dead.

What about Inquisitor with Supernatural and FCS for 48? Boost, linked focus, execute blue maneuver, lock (or evade\reposition again)?

1 minute ago, PT106 said:

What about Inquisitor with Supernatural and FCS for 48? Boost, linked focus, execute blue maneuver, lock (or evade\reposition again)?

That’s a quarter of your list for two red dice.

I wanted to try this list out before the points drop:

Inquisitor (38)
Hate (3)
Fire-Control System (2)
Proton Rockets (7)

X 4

With the price drop FCS fits in there nicely. Could be a nice surprise against Trips UPs. Yeah, go ahead and joust me. You'll get 20 red dice back.

Here's something which strikes me: put a 12-16 point price hike on the TAP v1, give it a 3rd red die, and it'd be amazing.

It's a ship with so many cool tools, a sweet dial, great actions. It just doesn't do any damage. In a game where the objective is to kill your opponent's ships, it'll never really fit in, because all the sweet things it can do won't really matter.

2 hours ago, PT106 said:

What about Inquisitor with Supernatural and FCS for 48? Boost, linked focus, execute blue maneuver, lock (or evade\reposition again)?

I feel like I'd rather test out SNR and Ion Missiles for 50. Certainly a fun ship to fly either way. Effective at winning games? I mean, it's still just 2 red dice.

10 hours ago, ClassicalMoser said:

How dead exactly is Grand Inqy? His ability’s nerf for 2e makes me so sad. There’s very little more value in him than there is in the generics, but the point difference is pretty huge. And of course Supernatural Reflexes (a great fit for the /v1 and Quiz in particular) takes too much force and now costs 24 points.

If only there was something other than Hate to regen Force...

Dude with SNR went from 70 to 80 points, so pretty dead. He was already awkward, since he required a totally different style (1e was a long-range, safe sniper, 2e is a close-range knife fighter--dude can't afford the force to make 3-dice attacks at range 2-3, so he's got to stay range 1), but gaining 10 points of cost on a 2-red ship is painful. I've only flown him twice as such, but he was always wicked cool. Now... I dunno.

I wonder if Predictive Shot could be good... No... looking at the dice calcs, Predictive Shot is just trash.

I guess just FCS like @Okapi suggests is probably best (maybe Proton Rockets?).

They are neat little ships, but suffer from the 2 red dice like all other 2 dice chassis. I think FFG just doesn't quite get the math on such things, IMO. I've only flown the 1.0 versions and Inq was obvious fun, but the Barons were/are great in epic. We'll see I guess.... but hey, TIW/LNs aren't doing well either, so these "supped up brothers", like the TIE Advanced, simply suffer in damage output.