Wow uh.

The Autoblaster is... Complete trash. This helps actually zero cannon carriers. It DEFINITELY doesn't help X-Wings.

It better be DIRT cheap.

Don't forget a scum y wing can carry the bomb in a list with nym as a pilot to hold that bomb 😉

2 minutes ago, Captain Lackwit said:

The Autoblaster is... Complete trash. This helps actually zero cannon carriers.

Sunny and other M3-a interceptors

7 minutes ago, K13R4N said:

Sunny and other M3-a interceptors

I think it has some mileage if you've got a talent slot, since you can take marksmanship and hunt for that bullseye. I agree it needs to be pretty cheap, since outside the bullseye it's a 2-dice attack and the odds of an undodgeable critical are pretty low (less than a quarter).

I don't really mind a cannon being more-or-less bullseye locked for full effect, though, and in this case rolling to line up a marksmanship/autoblaster shot that's not modified is actually not a bad plan, as opposed to rolling to get a heavy laser shot with an extra dice but no focus (which is a wash at best) or stressing yourself with linked actions.

20 minutes ago, Captain Lackwit said:

Wow uh.

The Autoblaster is... Complete trash. This helps actually zero cannon carriers. It DEFINITELY doesn't help X-Wings.

It better be DIRT cheap.

It's a range one 3 dice shot, or potentially range two 3 dice / range one 4 dice, that does pure damage with a beneficial upside that helps push damage sometimes. It's basically tailor-made for the Syck, or any future 2-dice cannon carriers (tri-fighters?).

On a 3 dice ship, it seems to be a finely balanced weapon. Sometimes better than a primary but sometimes not, without being a control weapon. When you have the range one bullseye, you'll always take it over your four dice primary.

That does mean it needs to be cheap (you can't pay a lot for a "sometimes" upgrade) but it's pretty good, power wise.

55 minutes ago, unfassbarnathan said:

Short piece about the new Electro-Proton bomb revealed on FFG's live stream this week

https://nathanxwing.home.blog/2019/05/02/danger-electro-proton-bomb/

The big limiter is not just the fuse mechanic, but also the telegraphing.

Yeah, fly your traj sim electroproton Punisher into the middle of the board. I super won't know what you're trying to do... lol

Capt Nym just seems to be a nice fit as a wingman for the ship actually carrying the new bomb t hanks to his delaying ability

Nym paired with firespray/adrasta could be interesting. quite pricey but will be worth testing, scum Y-Wing much cheaper way to go.

lets guess the cost of the bomb is 20pts.

u have Hired Gun Y-Wing and Nym each with DT/VTG.

still leaves 83pts for support ship/ships. even if VTG goes up as expected ud have in the range of 75+ pts for 3rd ship. seems doable.

47 minutes ago, svelok said:

It's basically tailor-made for the Syck, or any future 2-dice cannon carriers (tri-fighters?).

Alpha-class star wing?

15 minutes ago, Magnus Grendel said:

Alpha-class star wing?

Yeah, maybe. Hard to say - I mean, it's not like that ship has any shortage of upgrade slots... and the options of SLAM + Config or Passive Sensors munitions exists within that space too. But I don't see why not.

8 minutes ago, svelok said:

Yeah, maybe. Hard to say - I mean, it's not like that ship has any shortage of upgrade slots... and the options of SLAM + Config or Passive Sensors munitions exists within that space too. But I don't see why not.

Unless it’s more expensive than the community on the whole seems to expect, I continue to think we’ll see some folks running 5x Adv Slam Gunboats.

3 hours ago, svelok said:

It's a range one 3 dice shot, or potentially range two 3 dice / range one 4 dice, that does pure damage with a beneficial upside that helps push damage sometimes. It's basically tailor-made for the Syck, or any future 2-dice cannon carriers (tri-fighters?).

Speaking of Droid Tri Fighters, the design of the AutoBlaster card and the Nantex fighter give me hope that FFG is prepared to give the Droid Tri Fighter a 2 or 3 dice primary arc with a bullseye arc having one more dice than the primary arc. Not through the ship ability, just the printed stats.

Nearly 100% chance of Ioning everyone:

I embrace the Bonearm meta

I think autoblasters (esp with trickshot) are a very indirect way of apologizing for gas clouds

"The Punisher, Starfortress and (presumably) Hyena can take everyone’s favorite cardTrajectory Simulator. But it’s even harder to avoid if you’re crazy enough to want to launch it*, with no single maneuver finishing outside the explosion radius. Yes you have an extra turn to get away from it, but then why are you launching it, if you have to then turn drastically and fly away?"

Rest of squad can slow boat up and position to pounce (not sayin "easily", just how it can work), Traj Sim bomber front. Maneuvers + action combo to avoid by Traj Sim carrying lunch platform (adjust for terrain where needed, {launch turn} / {det turn}) :

Punisher: Hard 2 + Bank Boost out from device / 3 straight + straight boost or 3 Bank + bank boost.

Hyena: Hard 1 + roll out / 4 straight + roll or 5 straight + roll.

Starfortress (this is a should clear, might not): 1 Hard / 2 Bank

4 hours ago, Captain Lackwit said:

Wow uh.

The Autoblaster is... Complete trash. This helps actually zero cannon carriers. It DEFINITELY doesn't help X-Wings.

It better be DIRT cheap.

In the same way that we probably don't want Ion weapons being good, we almost surely don't want unpreventable-damage weapons being good either. Green dice can be so bad on their own, I don't want them being entirely ignored when the actually work. Strong and widespread Autoblasters would probably be a pretty feelsbadman play experience. Not NPE, just feelsbadman.

But it might not be too bad.

At first glance, it's probably trash on 3-red ships like T-70s or B-Wings. But I can't be sure of that. I just don't know how good the cannot-be-cancelled crits are. I'll need to see a dice calc to get a good sense of how different it is from getting a 3rd attack die. I just don't have a good sense of how the math works out. However, on folks like Poe or Nien Nunb, having unpreventable crits is potentially scary, and certainly will be easier to fit into a list than Proton Torpedoes (which can create unpreventable crits, by simply having more hits than the opponent has green dice). It's not a staple-on weapon, but there's a role for it. Having a nimble ship which can get out of arc to create moments where your damage *will* be pushed through can be useful. But the specific math and chances of it?

I feel like it's a nice effect on an M3-A. Simply getting an extra die in the Bullseye at Range 1-2 is a nice effect on a baseline of 2 red dice. Cheap Scyks might be able to get to flanks as opponents go after more important ships. Who knows whether the effect will be worth the price, but if a M3-A Quickbuild used Autoblaster over Ion, I'm probably not disappointed. It's nice to know that there's at least somewhere that the effect isn't too bad.

Last, XG-1 Starwings and IG-88 B squads care about the mere fact of Autoblaster being a cannon. XG-1 probably isn't super impressive, but it might make some amount of sense. Essentially a normal attack while Disarmed. Not amazing, not total trash. IG-88 B could be different. Some kind of cannon is needed to help push damage, and this represents a new option. Unlike a capped-at-1-damage Ion cannon, Autoblaster is normal damage, usually at the cost of an attack die. Is it better than an Ion Cannon? Is Dorsal Turret better than Ion Cannon Turret? It'll come down to the price, and how easily a ship can actually achieve bullseye for the extra die.

One other thing is certain, however: at any cost less than 5 points, Autoblaster can enable better squads than Ion Cannon due to break points. Some variant of B + (A or C) + 4-LOM with D Crew fits at 2 to 4 points, maybe with Marksmanship at the lower point end--but there isn't an IG/IG/4-LOM list which will work with Ion Cannons.

5 minutes ago, theBitterFig said:

At first glance, it's probably trash on 3-red ships like T-70s or B-Wings. But I can't be sure of that. I just don't know how good the cannot-be-cancelled crits are. I'll need to see a dice calc to get a good sense of how different it is from getting a 3rd attack die. I just don't have a good sense of how the math works out. However, on folks like Poe or Nien Nunb, having unpreventable crits is potentially scary, and certainly will be easier to fit into a list than Proton Torpedoes (which can create unpreventable crits, by simply having more hits than the opponent has green dice). It's not a staple-on weapon, but there's a role for it. Having a nimble ship which can get out of arc to create moments where your damage *will* be pushed through can be useful. But the specific math and chances of it?

This probably is a local meta call. The more medium and large bases that a T-70 or B-Wing player is encountering the greater the likelihood the bullseye die will be added and they'll be able to be out of the target's front arc enabling the crit retention. Against small bases it is going to be like Marks or Pred, a bit harder to line up but can give a nice (for the AB player) up tick to output if they do get it to fully trigger.

Considering autoblasters uncancelable damage only work

a.) Out of opponent forward firing arc. you can out play this card in a way you couldn't in 1st edition

b.) Only on crit results, the least likely to be rolled AND canceled by evadea (since it's canceled after hits)

It's really no understatement to say this thing is ridiculously situational at best

Now the bullseye benefit is nice, but it's a BULLSEYE benefit. It's the kind of thing that's difficult to trigger at higher I and almost miraculous at lower

Without built in synergy, autoblasters are no better than a 2-die primary the vast majority of the time. The fact that they CAN make a Scyk's "2 die primary" something that isn't laughably ignored is good. It's also something we shouldn't make utterly irrelevant by overpricing it into uselessness.

Autoblasters are, at MOST, a four point upgrade. Like hlcs, they're basically just your primary weapon the vast majority of the time. Occasionally, they'll get a golden opportunity.

I do think autoblasters having two situational benefits (bullseye and out-of-arc crits) make it better than hlc, but I'd also never bother with hlc at its current price

TL;DR I approve of any upgrade that lets your good play punch through lucky green dice and would see it not be uselessly expensive

30 minutes ago, ficklegreendice said:

b.) Only on crit results, the least likely to be rolled AND canceled by evades (since it's canceled after hits)

Here's where I just don't know how the math works out. Clearly, on an attack roll of Hit-Hit-Crit, the Crit has a decent chance to go through against most ships.

However, on an attack roll of Crit-Blank-Blank? What about Crit-Crit-Blank? So Autoblaster doesn't do much to help good rolls, but it might help bad rolls. A Fang Fighter, for example, laughs off a Primary Weapon roll of 1-crit only, but gets mangled by the same roll on an Autoblaster.

A dice calc would give a nice, straightforward sense of how many extra damage an average attack pushes through, and it could be compared to how much more damage a reroll would help push. And I'm just remembering that a 1e dice calc would be handy here, due to 1e Ten Nunb's ability, but I'm not sure if any of those exist online anymore...

dice calc would be misleading, however, as getting that crit to do anything special is predicated on the cannon-ship outmaneuvering (ala the talent card) the opponent. getting the extra die WHILE outmaneuvering is even more of a feat!

it isn't a simple question of efficiency like it would be on a more straightforward weapon like ordnance

4 hours ago, PaulRuddSays said:

Unless it’s more expensive than the community on the whole seems to expect, I continue to think we’ll see some folks running 5x Adv Slam Gunboats.

I think the main problem with this is coming us with 5 Gunboats. They are super hard to find currently. Also, I think 5 Ion Gunboats might be better than a similar Autoblaster swarm.

7 hours ago, K13R4N said:

Don't forget a scum y wing can carry the bomb in a list with nym as a pilot to hold that bomb 😉

Sunny and other M3-a interceptors

Yeah I did some thinking and that was literally the only fighter that benefitted.

I want to use cannons on the T-70, dammit. This is NOT a cannon for the T-70 in the slightest. You practically have to be an arc dodger to get the most out of it.

6 hours ago, svelok said:

It's a range one 3 dice shot, or potentially range two 3 dice / range one 4 dice, that does pure damage with a beneficial upside that helps push damage sometimes. It's basically tailor-made for the Syck, or any future 2-dice cannon carriers (tri-fighters?).

On a 3 dice ship, it seems to be a finely balanced weapon. Sometimes better than a primary but sometimes not, without being a control weapon. When you have the range one bullseye, you'll always take it over your four dice primary.

That does mean it needs to be cheap (you can't pay a lot for a "sometimes" upgrade) but it's pretty good, power wise.

Guess so. Just ain't anything close to what I wanted. It's not like HLC was ever a terrible choice for T-70s, guaranteeing 4 dice so long as a foe is in bullseye at all times is great. But dammit. I need a reliable cannon.

I also want to say that this transport expansion doesn't have me excited. Big *** gun, 2 firepower, same as the pod? Excuse me? It's basically an escape craft you can weld kit onto, but honestly it's NOT inspiring. What, is this my new list filler? Shuttle pods? Oh yeah, very cool, very inspiring. 10/10.

1 hour ago, ficklegreendice said:

dice calc would be misleading, however, as getting that crit to do anything special is predicated on the cannon-ship outmaneuvering (ala the talent card) the opponent. getting the extra die WHILE outmaneuvering is even more of a feat!

it isn't a simple question of efficiency like it would be on a more straightforward weapon like ordnance

I mean, I know it isn't a simple efficiency question, but it'd still be nice to know how much it can help under best-case conditions. If the benefit of outmaneuvering (even on the base two dice, forget range 1 or bullseye) is +0.1 crits or +0.5 crits or +0.9 crits added per attack, that would really be worthwhile information for evaluating it.

47 minutes ago, 5050Saint said:

I think the main problem with this is coming us with 5 Gunboats. They are super hard to find currently. Also, I think 5 Ion Gunboats might be better than a similar Autoblaster swarm.

I feel like Barrage Rockets will remain the best spam Gunboat, however. The raw efficiency of BR damage just seems better than Ion Cannons* or Autoblaster, even though BR Gunboats can't realistically attack after a SLAM. Autoblaster seems like it could be decent filler as a flanker, however. Not necessarily better than a generic Phantom, but it'd fit a different mood.

* I tend to think Ion Scyk spam is better than Ion Gunboat spam, since Ion Scyks can maintain a high ship count (critical mass of Ion cannons seems kind of important), while also bringing a hitter as an extra piece, to help against higher-hull lists where Ion can struggle to push enough damage to win games. Imperials can get a decent piece with the 80 points left over from 3x Ion Nus, but I don't know whether that's enough Ion Nus to matter.

24 minutes ago, Captain Lackwit said:

I want to use cannons on the T-70, dammit. This is NOT a cannon for the T-70 in the slightest. You practically have to be an arc dodger to get the most out of it.

Poe and Nien are examples #1 and #2 about why I want to have a sense of what this cannon can do, statistically speaking, in the best case. They're already arc dodgers who want to leave S-Foils closed. The only thing Autoblaster adds over a Primary weapon on a T-70 is pushing crits.

Ignore. Not enough coffee yet to do the calcs..

58 minutes ago, theBitterFig said:

I feel like Barrage Rockets will remain the best spam Gunboat, however.

For raw damage output, yes. But really, I was just saying that the Ion Cannon is probably better than the Autoblaster will be.

1 hour ago, theBitterFig said:

Imperials can get a decent piece with the 80 points left over from 3x Ion Nus, but I don't know whether that's enough Ion Nus to matter.

You can fit 4 Ion Nu's with Soontir Fel which probably isn't a bad list.

54 minutes ago, 5050Saint said:

I was just saying that the Ion Cannon is probably better than the Autoblaster will be.

Fair.

I still think it'll go beyond just damage, however. The XG-1 spam lists will have more utility, more maneuverability, probably. I don't think that is likely to exceed the damage of an OS-1 Barrage build.

54 minutes ago, 5050Saint said:

You can fit 4 Ion Nu's with Soontir Fel which probably isn't a bad list.

I've thought about it, maybe mentioned it in the past in some other thread. Maybe it'll do it. Not as punchy as Fenn Rau with 4x Ion Scyks, but the Gunboats are going to be a lot tankier.