A new article by Matt Cary. Discussing this past points change and hopes for the next one. Check it out here.

I've been enjoying these, and so far think you are pretty well spot on. Waiting impatiently for your take on my Scum bois, ha ha.

Should be next week for scum.

Some interesting thoughts. I have a habit of only focusing on the stuff I fly rather than the wider picture.

Gunboats are fine though 😛

Decimators are being played in my vicinity. And not just by me!

Chiraneau is a good price, but Oicunn at 2pts less than the Admiral and 8 points more than the Patrol Leader is 4pts too expensive.

Vader crew is only just expensive enough - he'd be playable at 16 or maybe 18, but 14 feels about right.

Moff Jerjerrod and Ciena Ree are far too expensive for what you get, whilst Tarkin at 6pts would be ok if he didn't have the that action restriction so he could go on a Lambda with just the title. As it is, he's 11pts and takes up both seats on Lambdas and Reapers! Decimators want Tua (oddly not mentioned?) and e.g. Vader on board.

Tua at 7pts is fine - Chiraneau's best friend!

1 hour ago, Gilarius said:

Moff Jerjerrod and Ciena Ree are far too expensive for what you get, whilst Tarkin at 6pts would be ok if he didn't have the that action restriction so he could go on a Lambda with just the title. As it is, he's 11pts and takes up both seats on Lambdas and Reapers! Decimators want Tua (oddly not mentioned?) and e.g. Vader on board.

Wave 5 will help Tarkin at least since you can always just take the Targeting Computer mod on a ship which opens him up to use on the Lambda or Reaper without Krenic.

41 minutes ago, Animewarsdude said:

Wave 5 will help Tarkin at least since you can always just take the Targeting Computer mod on a ship which opens him up to use on the Lambda or Reaper without Krenic.

Came here to say this. It will be especially interesting as Electronic Baffle will finally have good competition for the mod slot.

The thing I disagree with is the Reaper and the Striker. Feroph is amazing… when used as a VIP crew carrier.

Sadly the VIP crew was lacking in hyperspace, and in cases like Ree was overpriced. But as a Vader or Sloan carrier, even a Death Trooper? Is a frightening thing. But Feroph is personally my favorite of the Reaper pilots.

As for the Striker? Most are fine, but the Black Squadron Scout at 38 is obscene. As one who is a proficient striker player, all have their place except the scout. It needs at least a 2 point drop. The named strikers are mostly fine, though their stat line is not for the faint of heart.

18 minutes ago, millertime059 said:

The thing I disagree with is the Reaper and the Striker. Feroph is amazing… when used as a VIP crew carrier.

Sadly the VIP crew was lacking in hyperspace, and in cases like Ree was overpriced. But as a Vader or Sloan carrier, even a Death Trooper? Is a frightening thing. But Feroph is personally my favorite of the Reaper pilots.

Amen! Vermeil is great, but he dies quickly. Feroph is my favorite Sloane carrier, better than the Lambda. So annoying for opponents to take out.

Why is Feroph good? Better than Vermiel??

Deci's look like they could be pretty good.

22 minutes ago, Blail Blerg said:

Why is Feroph good? Better than Vermiel??

He's incredibly tough for his cost, which makes him a great 'caddy' for the Empire's impressive swathe of 'support officers' like Tarkin, Ree, and Sloane.

Vermeil needs the target to have no tokens when you (as the attacker) roll red dice.

Feroph needs the attacker to have no tokens when you (as the defender) roll green dice.

The difference is that if the attacker spends their focus on that attack, Feroph will trigger (because you have no token by the time he gets to roll) - meaning either your opponent doesn't spend their focus on their attack, or you basically turn Feroph's agility 1 into a permenant, action-free old-style reinforce token

¬_¬ don't really agree with some of your findings there.

Ever run a decimator that isnt RAC? Terrible...

The GUNBOAT? Awful! Aside from the first week or so in v2 I haven't seen them on the table at the club at all.

2 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

He's incredibly tough for his cost, which makes him a great 'caddy' for the Empire's impressive swathe of 'support officers' like Tarkin, Ree, and Sloane.

Vermeil needs the target to have no tokens when you (as the attacker) roll red dice.

Feroph needs the attacker to have no tokens when you (as the defender) roll green dice.

The difference is that if the attacker spends their focus on that attack, Feroph will trigger (because you have no token by the time he gets to roll) - meaning either your opponent doesn't spend their focus on their attack, or you basically turn Feroph's agility 1 into a permenant, action-free old-style reinforce token

Plus the Reaper is just generally a good ship. Semi unpredictable, surprisingly nimble, useful action bar, 3 red dice, well priced and ofc, crew is a great slot.

I don't agree with most of the article, its a little to generalized when you blanket statement a entire shipline and say its good. I think every ship has some tweaks here or there for their pilots. I'll cherry pick Defenders since I think they are still fairly overcosted across the board. Why aren't 2 Defender lists a thing? On paper they should be just as good as IGs in old 1E, if not better. Small base versus large, crazy action bar, white 4 k-turn, etc. However, you really don't see them making any sort of an impact in extended modes. Number 1 is the lack of action economy. You say "hey wait a minute" all they have to do is complete a 3-5 speed maneuver and you get an evade action. Well, a lot of times its easier said then done. A lot of times those speed maneuvers are the worst ones to choose. Number 2 is the lack of damage you put out for a ship that takes basically half of your list. IGs had HLCs and double tapping cannons, crackshot etc. Defenders in 2E just don't have those tools to do the kind of damage they need to do to justify their enormous cost.

Who would you rather have to build a list around?

22 hours ago, Gilarius said:

Decimators want Tua (oddly not mentioned?) and e.g. Vader on board.

Tua at 7pts is fine - Chiraneau's best friend!

Mainly, I didn't mention her because she was fine.

4 hours ago, william1134 said:

¬_¬ don't really agree with some of your findings there.

Ever run a decimator that isnt RAC? Terrible...

The GUNBOAT? Awful! Aside from the first week or so in v2 I haven't seen them on the table at the club at all.

I have not run a Decimator that was not RAC (or any Decimator at all) which I think should be fairly evident in the article. I freely admitted lack of experience, but you don't agree with my finding that the drop in price was good?

I am not convinced that the Gunboat isn't good, but rather that they are played as if they were their 1st edition iteration, trying for the parity of HLC Gunboats and Harpoon Missileboats. Instead they should be treated as a heavy swarm, either as a tankier barrage bomber list or a 5 ship Ion list. Much like a TIE Bomber or TIE Fighter, they just don't work well when they aren't en masse. Both of those list options are considerably less fun than 1st edition Starwings, but at least they are an option, unlike the TIE Aggressor.

46 minutes ago, Jo Jo said:

I don't agree with most of the article, its a little to generalized when you blanket statement a entire shipline and say its good. I think every ship has some tweaks here or there for their pilots.

Well, most of them are fairly generalized because getting in depth on every pilot would make every three ships an article of their own. I'll also admit that some vagueness might be because of lack of experience flying certain pilots. It would be a bit disingenuous of me to offer specific advice for pilots like Oicunn, Zertik Stromm, or Double Edge without having seen them in play at all. You did specifically highlight the Defender which there was an entire article on here if you haven't already read it. Either way, you do seem to agree with me either way that the point drop in Defender's was a good move.

On 4/24/2019 at 5:25 PM, Kleeg005 said:

I've been enjoying these, and so far think you are pretty well spot on. Waiting impatiently for your take on my Scum bois, ha ha.

Scum should be the most in depth article as I have the most experience flying them. As MidwestScrub said, it should be out next week.

52 minutes ago, 5050Saint said:

Well, most of them are fairly generalized because getting in depth on every pilot would make every three ships an article of their own. I'll also admit that some vagueness might be because of lack of experience flying certain pilots. It would be a bit disingenuous of me to offer specific advice for pilots like Oicunn, Zertik Stromm, or Double Edge without having seen them in play at all. You did specifically highlight the Defender which there was an entire article on here if you haven't already read it. Either way, you do seem to agree with me either way that the point drop in Defender's was a good move.

Right, we agree. I think now that Advanced Sensors is 10 points, you can still safely drop Defenders an additional 3ish points across the board. 67 points for the base I1 Delta is a good price. 1 point more before 3 fit in, which you could probably make an argument that 3 Defenders at I1 wouldn't be too crazy.

I ran loaded Vynder (Proton Torps, FCS, Adv Slam, OS-1, Crack shot) with a mini inferno swarm (Howlrunner with shield upgrade and crack shot, Del Meko, Ceyn, Gideon, Ceyn with marksmanship, rest with crackshot) at the club yesterday. Lost to the Fat Han list with 5 points, had Han down to 1 hp. Then won against Kylo, Blackout, Midnight.

The Gunboat is fine but not great, it suffers mostly from a lack of good Cannons and a lack of pilots (in practice it only has 1 named as Karsabi is completely pointless with the changed titles). Also Barrage Rockets on Gunboats are bad, it's anti-synergy with the title.

19 minutes ago, mcgreag said:

The Gunboat is fine but not great, it suffers mostly from a lack of good Cannons and a lack of pilots (in practice it only has 1 named as Karsabi is completely pointless with the changed titles). Also Barrage Rockets on Gunboats are bad, it's anti-synergy with the title.

Lieutenant Karsabi (37)
Trick Shot (2)
Fire-Control System (2)
Advanced SLAM (3)
Total: 44

Just now, Hiemfire said:

Lieutenant Karsabi (37)
Trick Shot (2)
Fire-Control System (2)
Advanced SLAM (3)
Total: 44

Not really useful with Advanced SLAM. Stress from his ability prevents the action.

Just now, gjnido said:

Not really useful with Advanced SLAM. Stress from his ability prevents the action.

First pass sets up the lock for FCS, strafe second pass... Their ability focuses on making their primary an option during SLAMs.

Just now, Hiemfire said:

First pass sets up the lock for FCS, strafe second pass... Their ability focuses on making their primary an option during SLAMs.

Hmm. Interesting.

I guess he could work also with torpedoes. He can reload and shoot the same turn. (assuming he had a lock).

With the title you can reload and shoot the same turn anyway.

If feel that fit just proved my point. Karsabi might as well not exist as a pilot.

4 minutes ago, mcgreag said:

With the title you can reload and shoot the same turn anyway.

If feel that fit just proved my point. Karsabi might as well not exist as a pilot.

To do that you're going slow. Having 2 weapons disabled shuts down os-1. Kersabi flies fast and keeps flying fast.

Just now, Hiemfire said:

To do that you're going slow. Having 2 weapons disabled shuts down os-1. Kersabi flies fast and keeps flying fast.

Uh no? Karsabi does not allow you do Slam, reload and shoot in the same turn.

5 minutes ago, mcgreag said:

With the title you can reload and shoot the same turn anyway.

If feel that fit just proved my point. Karsabi might as well not exist as a pilot.

You are right.

I guess you could use him if you want to shoot a 4 red die cannon. HLC or any other at R1