16 hours ago, heychadwick said:

Well, the only Faction that can really get Strain are thr Clone War ones. So, it is not necessarily faction specific as a rule set, but it's like saying Imperials can use Spare Parts Cannisters (if they ever had the ability to get an astromech).

Indeed. But once a new mechanic is created and inserted into the Rules Reference, expect to see it pop up elsewhere - as @Animewarsdude pointed out, there's one in the Resistance transport pack.

-1 Agility for one attack only is painful but more tolerable to deal with than (say) tractor tokens, and it's ultimately just another mechanic for FFG to hang game options off of.

12 hours ago, dotswarlock said:

My gut feeling is that both of the new factions are priced around so that it is meant to be fielded with a minimum of a mini swarm + a few elites. Nothing that I have seen so far makes me think that I will see 3 high Init elites roaming the battlefield. Their abilities are interesting, but not devastating like some other elites out there. And overall... I'm perfectly fine with that!

I suspect multiple Jedi might be a thing, but I agree that the Seperatists seem to be designed around a swarm of vultures and a bubblebath......bellboy.....blabbermouth.... whatever the heck they're called , most of which seem to have decent 'command' options and Treacherous to block damage with minions (if necessary) or enemies (if possible).

I'm starting to get a civil/revolutionary war vibe from the Republic considering all the pilots lateral arc abilities that make them better. I guess I better go pratice my left and right wheels before I give the command to volley 1st rank fire second rank fire.

53 minutes ago, Marinealver said:

I'm starting to get a civil[...] war vibe from the Republic

One side of the war is the Grand Army of the Republic and the other is a secessionist faction called the Confederacy.

It's very, very intentional.

Regardless of whether three aces might work, it wouldn't *feel* right would it? Two Jedi at most, I'd say. Gotta have some clone backup, that's the whole point of the era!

I admit that I think of these things in a vacuum too often. So, when I think of Republic and how they fight, I automatically consider them fighting Separatists. I don't consider them even fighting themselves.

When I think of Separatists fighting Jedi aces, I see the advantage to the droids. Blocking is a lot easier when you have a lot of ships to do it with. Special abilities and extra Boosts dont do much when you get bumped on your 2 Bank. Not an auto win or anything, but I like my odds in that fight.

Thinking outside the vacuum....I wonder how this affects the overall meta. I have often believed that people enjoy maximizing aces and the high Init. It's not necessary to be successful, but it is what many people like to play. The only option some people see is a rigid Tie Formation, which can be easy to avoid the forward facing. The meta can focus around what works against aces (as that is what people take). I wonder, though, if both of these factions might show that more ships can work. Even Republic lists can be more middle sized with 4-6 ships. There are times that what works against 3 enemy aces is not as effective against more enemy. This might even change the meta for the other factions. Maybe. I can dream.

Jim is correct I think and yes, he can dream. If the Separatist ships are as cheap when released as they appear they should be, the strategy to fight it will start with the quintessential, "don't get in a land war in Asia" quip. I'm thinking Coordinate will become a staple of any list going up against it with high priced ships as a "death by a thousand cuts" works on your aces when they are action-less.

5 hours ago, mazz0 said:

Regardless of whether three aces might work, it wouldn't *feel* right would it? Two Jedi at most, I'd say. Gotta have some clone backup, that's the whole point of the era!

The Delta-7 existed before the clones were being used. Jedi sometimes went on missions without clones, just as clones sometimes went on missions without Jedi.

48 minutes ago, CaptainJaguarShark said:

The Delta-7 existed before the clones were being used. Jedi sometimes went on missions without clones, just as clones sometimes went on missions without Jedi.

There are also several Canon instances in prequels and TCW where Obi-Wan and Anakin in their fighters take on droid forces without any immediate clone assistance.

6 hours ago, GuacCousteau said:

One side of the war is the Grand Army of the Republic and the other is a secessionist faction called the Confederacy.

It's very, very intentional.

Oh I get it, just like how the OT was like the revolutionary war. But I am just talking about the formation style. 2nd edition is feeling a lot more ground like with tank like turrets, ships landed on terrain and firing line formations.

Don't get me wrong the mechanics are more in depth than 1st edition, but you can't ignore that there is a slight ludonarraitive disconnect creeping in there. I would like to see some mechanics that bring in a little more "flying" type behavior, maybe a bonus for each base your movement template touches to bring out the characteristic that they are not flying on the same 2d plane. Just something to bring out that 3rd dim. depth, I'm not asking for space realism here, I already know that doesn't apply to Star Wars.

9 hours ago, Marinealver said:

I'm starting to get a civil/revolutionary war vibe from the Republic considering all the pilots lateral arc abilities that make them better. I guess I better go pratice my left and right wheels before I give the command to volley 1st rank fire second rank fire.

Ooh! Then we can affix bayonets, repel their cavalry charge, and beat them hand-to-hand!

ZERO-G LINE INFANTRY: CONFIRMED!

3 minutes ago, JJ48 said:

Ooh! Then we can affix bayonets, repel their cavalry charge, and beat them hand-to-hand!

ZERO-G LINE INFANTRY: CONFIRMED!

1 minute ago, Marinealver said:

Nice! Though I hope the official release makes the armor red, with a black, tricorn helmet. Also, the largest and strongest can have instead a tall, fuzzy helmet, and be Zero-G Grenadiers!

7 hours ago, CaptainJaguarShark said:

The Delta-7 existed before the clones were being used. Jedi sometimes went on missions without clones, just as clones sometimes went on missions without Jedi.

In groups of three though? Wasn't the usual, non-war Jedi mission a master and an apprentice?

I suppose I will allow Obi-Wan, Anakin and Ahsoka.

6 hours ago, LordBlades said:

There are also several Canon instances in prequels and TCW where Obi-Wan and Anakin in their fighters take on droid forces without any immediate clone assistance.

Yeah but they didn't go setting off into fights on purpose that way. That would be great for story missions.

Speaking of which, I really want something like HotAC in the Clone Wars!

4 minutes ago, mazz0 said:

Speaking of which, I really want something like HotAC in the Clone Wars!

I have no doubt someone in that circle will set something up.

Oops, did I quote instead of editing?

6 hours ago, mazz0 said:

In groups of three though? Wasn't the usual, non-war Jedi mission a master and an apprentice?

I suppose I will allow Obi-Wan, Anakin and Ahsoka.

Just finished Dark Disciple (TCW novel) last night, and there is one scene where 4 Jedi (Obi-Wan, Anakin, Quinlan Vos and another Knight) set off in their fighters and have a space fight without any Clone support (Clones are kept in reserve until the Jedi have finished investigating the target).

6 hours ago, mazz0 said:

Yeah but they didn't go setting off into fights on purpose that way. That would be great for story missions.

The way I see it, the X-Wing board can also represent a piece of a larger battle (like one only containing Jedi) and mustn't necessarily be a small, stand-alone battle.

19 hours ago, Marinealver said:

Don't get me wrong the mechanics are more in depth than 1st edition, but you can't ignore that there is a slight ludonarraitive disconnect creeping in there. I would like to see some mechanics that bring in a little more "flying" type behavior...

While there isn't 3D in the game, AI do think that there is a lot in these ships that deal with flying. It's more positionable stuff than other waves. Before, there have always been special abilities that just work within a certain range requirement. That happens a lot with these ships. I think it matters quite a bit for the Droid ships to be near enough to pass around the Calculate tokens to the ones that need it. The Jedi have a lot of abilities that pass near each other. Synchronized Consoles helps with those in range. There are a fair number of these standard ones that do affect where ships are and matter where you fly.

There are a lot more than that, though. I feel like there are more abilities that matter about placement. Vulture Droids want to have a target in Bulls Eye Arc. Same for TV-94 and a few other Separatists. Dedicated Talent and Axe want friends in their side arcs. Several Jedi abilities don't want to be in Bulls Eye Arcs. Grievous works when not in someone's arc. It seems to me that this wave has a lot more upgrades that deal with flying behavior a lot more. Maybe it's just me, though...

31 minutes ago, heychadwick said:

While there isn't 3D in the game, AI do think that there is a lot in these ships that deal with flying. It's more positionable stuff than other waves. Before, there have always been special abilities that just work within a certain range requirement. That happens a lot with these ships. I think it matters quite a bit for the Droid ships to be near enough to pass around the Calculate tokens to the ones that need it. The Jedi have a lot of abilities that pass near each other. Synchronized Consoles helps with those in range. There are a fair number of these standard ones that do affect where ships are and matter where you fly.

There are a lot more than that, though. I feel like there are more abilities that matter about placement. Vulture Droids want to have a target in Bulls Eye Arc. Same for TV-94 and a few other Separatists. Dedicated Talent and Axe want friends in their side arcs. Several Jedi abilities don't want to be in Bulls Eye Arcs. Grievous works when not in someone's arc. It seems to me that this wave has a lot more upgrades that deal with flying behavior a lot more. Maybe it's just me, though...

Makes sense from a Star WARS perspective - OT-era was a small opposition force gaining traction against a larger, dominant Imperial army, so it was mostly skirmish fighting, while CW-era battles were a lot more large-scale in many parts of the galaxy. The two sides were in open war, so we're looking at dedicated attack squadrons, with heavy support from the Venator -class ships and Commerce Guild destroyers.

Placement and positioning have really stepped up in 2.0 overall, I find; not just this wave. So many more ships have abilities that care about being in arc or bullseye, so many more Talents reward you for better positioning...