I2 dude is definitely on the punchy end - +1pt on the B-Wing for hull @ rear arc.

But nothing else in the faction is great, they really need that guy.

57 minutes ago, dsul413 said:

If I’m reading this correctly, why would I ever take the I2 if I can get the I3 for the exact same cost, with a talent slot option? Matching initiative with a different squad member?

Because I2 makes a better blocker. If you are going low initiative then you will build your list with the lower initiative in mind. If you build a list of I3 with the intentions to out maneuver and out shoot the lower initiative, then you will never be able to overwhelm an I5 list that a lower swarm was designed to do so.

54 minutes ago, Tvboy said:

Eh but I5 is not way better off against I2 than I3 because they are paying significantly more points to get the same advantage as I3. Ideally you want a matchup where your initiative is just slightly higher than your opponents because then you get all the advantages of higher initiative without the opponent getting the advantage of having significantly more health and guns than you.

Also they should not be charging points for empty talent slots unless they make all talent upgrades free. This isn't 1.0 where talents are super powerful, pretty much all the talents in 2.0 have negligible effects, have a difficult extra requirement like bullseye, or are overcosted.

I3 does confer a tangible, if matchup specific, advantage in this metagame, but it needs to be appropriately costed, which is not 0 points and not 5 points.

A higher initiative list is better off in the fact that it doesn't have to change strategy when dealing with an I4 list because it was designed to always have the higher initiative. This is the same thing with pilot skill when you had 1's and 2s as the best blockers and on the other end of the spectrum a 7 with an EPT could be bumped up to 9 for ace builds. However 4 through 6 were the worst pilot skill you could have because they would be blocked by the 1s and 2s or out maneuvers by the 8+s.

When you pick middle initiative you get the worst of both worlds, you will be out classed by higher initiative and out numbered by lower swarms. Now for the most part it seemed like FFG knew this and gave the strongest pilot abilities to the middle initiatives to compensate for this. Although some still found its way to the top heavy 5s (as I6 was mostly priced out of the meta).