Matt Cary breaks down his thoughts on the Summer of 2019 Points Change for the Rebel Faction. Check it out, and let us know what you think.

47 minutes ago, MidWestScrub said:

Matt Cary breaks down his thoughts on the Summer of 2019 Points Change for the Rebel Faction. Check it out, and let us know what you think.

Great blog post and I agree with almost all points, only one I'd argue is the Ewing - I wouldn't mark them as Good and the fact no-one flew them at Worlds appears to back that up. I think there is alot of terror at the Ewing's ability to get early locks, but when you think of it Empire can do that in any list with Jendon, and Seps can also with Probe Droids. With torps so expensive at 13 (they seem to go up every time Ewings are lowered such that torp Ewings never really came down) it's just not that big a deal, and the Ewing sans R4 otherwise hasn't got a great dial nor good linked actions. Corran's ability is also greatly feared (1e hangover?) but in actual play is very limited. Love Ewings but they need a points drop

Here are some T65 pilot costs:

Biggs I3, 48pts

Jek Porkins, I4, 46pts

Garven Dreis, I4, 47pts

Thane Kyrell, I5, 48pts

Wedge Antilles, I6, 55pts.

Can you spot the odd numbers? Wedge pays a premium for having a good ability and I6.

Biggs pays for being really useful, possibly slightly too much, but no-one minds him being slightly expensive.

Thane is 1pt more than Garven, 2pts more than Jek, whilst having higher Initiative and also having a better ability.

I5s generally are undercosted and I4 and I3 are overcosted in comparison. It's just more apparent when you look at T65s than many other ships.

I'd like to see all I5 pilots increase by around 5pts, with a bigger points difference between I3 and I4, and I6s go up even higher to stay significantly more.

It should not be possible to run a decent squad where every pilot is I5 or higher. There should be a compromise: lower Initiative for at least one ship, or a much weaker ship like a single Tie Fighter at I5 instead of eg Duchess with her toys so there is a weak link.

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The YT-2400 is also suffering from large base-itis, but got no change. This one I hope FFG remains cautious in point drops as a 180 degree lockless proton torp should be handled with kid gloves. The ship definitely needs to drop in price, maybe just 1 or 2 points on all pilots to stay safe. Combined with a drop in the cost of the title, we might actually see this ship show up. Verdict: Needs work

What does this part mean? You can shoot the proton torpedo from the bowtie arcs?

1 minute ago, SuperWookie said:

What does this part mean? You can shoot the proton torpedo from the bowtie arcs?

It means that the ship shoots the same 4 dice out of it's arcs that a Proton Toro gives you, only without a lock to get it.

1 hour ago, Gilarius said:

Here are some T65 pilot costs:

Biggs I3, 48pts

Jek Porkins, I4, 46pts

Garven Dreis, I4, 47pts

Thane Kyrell, I5, 48pts

Wedge Antilles, I6, 55pts.

Can you spot the odd numbers? Wedge pays a premium for having a good ability and I6.

Biggs pays for being really useful, possibly slightly too much, but no-one minds him being slightly expensive.

Thane is 1pt more than Garven, 2pts more than Jek, whilst having higher Initiative and also having a better ability.

I5s generally are undercosted and I4 and I3 are overcosted in comparison. It's just more apparent when you look at T65s than many other ships.

I'd like to see all I5 pilots increase by around 5pts, with a bigger points difference between I3 and I4, and I6s go up even higher to stay significantly more.

It should not be possible to run a decent squad where every pilot is I5 or higher. There should be a compromise: lower Initiative for at least one ship, or a much weaker ship like a single Tie Fighter at I5 instead of eg Duchess with her toys so there is a weak link.

i do not agree.... if you add too much points to i 6 pilots they became too expensive to build a good 200 points squad around and you risk they would be used only in epic.

for this reason to me is better to make cheaper i-1,2,3 and 4.

but it is not the only solution! we often forget that ffg could change the poins limit... making it higher

some ships would love it (yt2400 for example) and in this way ffg could make more expensive i5/6 leaving them playable

55 minutes ago, Manolox said:

i do not agree.... if you add too much points to i 6 pilots they became too expensive to build a good 200 points squad around and you risk they would be used only in epic.

for this reason to me is better to make cheaper i-1,2,3 and 4.

but it is not the only solution! we often forget that ffg could change the poins limit... making it higher

some ships would love it (yt2400 for example) and in this way ffg could make more expensive i5/6 leaving them playable

How much of what I wrote do you disagree with?

1) should there be a larger points difference between I3, I4, and I5?

2) if so, should I6 go up to accommodate the rise in I5's cost, or should I1 and I2 go down?

3) if I6 go up, they would be less ubiquitous - they would still be playable, just not alongside multiple other 'good' aces in the same 200pts. Eg at the moment, you can fly I6, I5, I5 in Imps and Republic factions and do very well indeed (and FO too probably, at least once Vonreg's Tie arrives). Would matches be better if you either had to field a weaker I5/I6 or a stronger I4 in order to fit things in?

Rebel Beef was (correctly) nerfed to stop getting 4 'good' pilots in the same list; should Ace lists also be nerfed (slightly)?

Your suggestion of dropping the price of I1 to I4 risks strengthening the various 'Beef' options in multiple factions a lot - is that a better outcome?

16 hours ago, mcintma said:

Great blog post and I agree with almost all points, only one I'd argue is the Ewing - I wouldn't mark them as Good and the fact no-one flew them at Worlds appears to back that up. I think there is alot of terror at the Ewing's ability to get early locks, but when you think of it Empire can do that in any list with Jendon, and Seps can also with Probe Droids. With torps so expensive at 13 (they seem to go up every time Ewings are lowered such that torp Ewings never really came down) it's just not that big a deal, and the Ewing sans R4 otherwise hasn't got a great dial nor good linked actions. Corran's ability is also greatly feared (1e hangover?) but in actual play is very limited. Love Ewings but they need a points drop

I still play Corran, and will probably bring him to my Nationals next weekend. It would be nice to see it dropped by a few points, but I think it’s still “almost competitive”

7 hours ago, RoockieBoy said:

I still play Corran, and will probably bring him to my Nationals next weekend. It would be nice to see it dropped by a few points, but I think it’s still “almost competitive”

Look at all the Corran builds that made day 2 of World’s. I can win games with him locally, but that doesn’t mean he’s anywhere close to being actually competitive.

1 hour ago, TasteTheRainbow said:

Look at all the Corran builds that made day 2 of World’s. I can win games with him locally, but that doesn’t mean he’s anywhere close to being actually competitive.

I know i know, but I made Top8 in Bologna SoS this year, and Top32 in the Spanish SoS a month later, with Corran in both squads, and I’m not a Top tier player. I think there are better options out there, but Corran is still capable of making a good run.

Something confuses me about your logic regarding HWK points suggestions. You mention that the rebel HWK pilots are always flown with the Moldy Crow title. But you then go on to suggest decreasing the cost of the title to give them more table time. Wouldn't it make more sense to make the pilots cheaper and leave the title expensive so the ships might be played without Moldy Crow?

Good job!