They are still too expensive for their performance. The have great stats, and can live way longer than they have any right too(like some other 3 Agi ships) but one round of bad rolls and you can lose one(like any other 3 Agi ships). They don't have any linked actions and they don't have any special action economy beyond the Advanced Droid Brain which is comparable to just having the Focus action. Going along this same line, their attacks seem a little weak because they generally need to be taking Calculate actions for offense and defense so they end up without the ability to modify blanks unless you have an Escape Pod handy to coordinate them a Target Lock. Adv Sensors helps them a lot, but because of the one action limitation it has no synergy with Charlie's free Evade after boost ability.

Either all of the IGs need another round of points decreases or their favorite toys need to come down in points. Advanced Sensors and the title both come to mind. If you could run 2 Aggressors with Adv Sensors and still have enough points for a meaningful 3rd ship they would see some play.

A new system upgrade in the vein of Advanced Optics but using Calculate tokens to modify blank results could be useful if the price is right, but generally I don't like to dream up new upgrades. I try to work with what we got.

An example of upgrade would be this:

Targeting laser (cannon):

1 charge, recurring. Requires the calculate action.

When making a primary attack, after attack dice are rolled, you may spend 1 charge. If you do, during the deal damage step, apply the damage from the primary attack and then apply it again with another equipped cannon. If the Targeting laser’s cannon charge is depleted, you may not attack again this round.

(So basically, if you deal 3 damage with primary weapons and have a tractor beam and targeting laser and spent the charge, you get to apply 3 tractor tokens on top of that. If you miss, however, then there is no 2 ^nd attack)

EDIT: 2nd cannon requirements would have to be met as well, so no HLC at range 1.

36 minutes ago, dotswarlock said:

An example of upgrade would be this:

Targeting laser (cannon):

1 charge, recurring. Requires the calculate action.

When making a primary attack, after attack dice are rolled, you may spend 1 charge. If you do, during the deal damage step, apply the damage from the primary attack and then apply it again with another equipped cannon. If the Targeting laser’s cannon charge is depleted, you may not attack again this round.

(So basically, if you deal 3 damage with primary weapons and have a tractor beam and targeting laser and spent the charge, you get to apply 3 tractor tokens on top of that. If you miss, however, then there is no 2 ^nd attack)

EDIT: 2nd cannon requirements would have to be met as well, so no HLC at range 1.

Auto double damage? Hard nope.

Broton Rockets

IG-88B (64)
Tractor Beam (2)
Jamming Beam (0)
IG-2000 (1)

Ship total: 67 Half Points: 34 Threshold: 4

IG-88A (68)
Tractor Beam (2)
Jamming Beam (0)
IG-2000 (1)

Ship total: 71 Half Points: 36 Threshold: 4

Binayre Pirate (24)
Proton Rockets (7)

Ship total: 31 Half Points: 16 Threshold: 2

Binayre Pirate (24)
Proton Rockets (7)

Ship total: 31 Half Points: 16 Threshold: 2


Total: 200

View in Yet Another Squad Builder 2.0: https://raithos.github.io/?f=Scum and Villainy&d=v8ZsZ200Z82XWW13W12WWWW151Y81XWW13W12WWWW151Y159X102WWY159X102WW&sn=Broton Rockets&obs=

IGs are close.... so close.

I have had mediocre luck with them in two modes - jamming beam IGs with Lando (yt1300 with IGD) and then autoblaster mode with 4LOM and IGD.

they pass tokens around to where they’re needed most. They are pretty survivable between 3 green dice, multiple calculates, and elusive on the 2000s.

I think they just struggle because the third ship is always the weak spot for them right now. I run them light because the illicits aren’t usually worth taking and I never have both cannon slots used. And I haven’t used Adv sensors on them since it went to 10 points. Maybe I should look into it again.

I thought of an answer: cheaper Trajectory Simulators .

If I recall correctly, some folks were going TrajSim Brobots early in 2e, and doing decently with it. As a TrajSim ship, the IGs could gain some extra damage output, and that could help out a good deal. A key to recent double Firespray builds has often been using bombs for extra damage.

Relatedly, Ablative Plating probably costs a hair too much. I know Punishers were too much in early 1e, but dang did everything even remotely associated with them get a massive nerfhammer.

I think they should be the only ship with native 4 AGI. Take away the Mod slot and/or raise the price, if necessary. It's not gonna happen, but it's what they need to come back, at least in Brobots form. (Call me a traditionalist, but I think Brobots form is the best form.)

IGs got hit hard by a few things: (1) They're slower. (2) The best cannon for a non-repo ship is Ion Cannon, which is not very good. (3) Their action economy is crap. (4) Advanced Sensors turns off one of their best abilities, and is very expensive. (5) Shield-Hull ratio got worse.

Honestly, they need a total redesign with the current state of 2E in mind. Could be done with Configurations, I guess.

On 10/24/2019 at 7:24 PM, FrozenPhyro said:

I thought IG88A was doing pretty good along with Guri, but 4-Lom didn't feel as good for some reason.

Advanced sensors is an essential upgrade for 4-LOM, that's why.

Alright laddies and gents, listen up

IG-88B (64)
Fearless (3)
Trajectory Simulator (10)
Autoblasters (2)
Tractor Beam (2)
Proton Bombs (5)
Contraband Cybernetics (3)
Ablative Plating (6)
IG-2000 (1)

Ship total: 96 Half Points: 48 Threshold: 4

IG-88A (68)
Fearless (3)
Trajectory Simulator (10)
Autoblasters (2)
Tractor Beam (2)
Proton Bombs (5)
Contraband Cybernetics (3)
Ablative Plating (6)
IG-2000 (1)

Ship total: 100 Half Points: 50 Threshold: 4


Total: 196

View in Yet Another Squad Builder 2.0: https://raithos.github.io/?f=Scum and Villainy&d=v8ZsZ200Z82X121W114W232W13W69W92W103W151Y81X121W114W232W13W69W92W103W151&sn=Unnamed Squadron&obs=

Control bots are no joke, and the 5 rounds of testing my friend and I have put into this have resulted in 5 wins. It autowins against sinker swarm and has a great matchup against the vultures. It also is very good at bullying aces. Try it out and you won't regret it.

title should be free

I do like trajectory simulators IGs. I go with B and D. It does well against swarms, but Aces of any type can present problems. I dont know what the points were exactly, but when 2.0 launched, it was the same. Points adjusted all over and it seemed to stay the same.

New Squadron

(64) IG-88B [Aggressor Assault Fighter]
(5) Ion Cannon
(2) Tractor Beam
(5) Proton Bombs
(3) Contraband Cybernetics
(8) Shield Upgrade
(10) Trajectory Simulator
(3) Elusive
(1) IG-2000
Points: 101

(64) IG-88D [Aggressor Assault Fighter]
(2) Tractor Beam
(5) Ion Cannon
(5) Proton Bombs
(3) Contraband Cybernetics
(6) Ablative Plating
(10) Trajectory Simulator
(3) Elusive
(1) IG-2000
Points: 99

Total points: 200

17 hours ago, Cerebrawl said:

Advanced sensors is an essential upgrade for 4-LOM, that's why.

Contraband cybernetics is an acceptable substitute on 4-lom. 10pts for advanced sensors is a steep price on him, and he can die without using it multiple times (in which case contraband is better).

I agree with @TasteTheRainbow though that advanced sensors feels like a requirement on the IGs. I've only run them a few times, and adding advanced sensors made a world of difference to their effectiveness. Sadly, you lose out on trajectory simulator, which is also really important for upping their damage output. Unlike 4-lom, the IGs often use advanced sensors for self bumping, not just sloops. If I had to build an IG list right now, I'd probably take advanced sensors. Trajectory simulator is really tempting (and very fun to use), but health on the IGs is too important to burn on self-bombing and they don't have any good ways to keep guns on target while avoiding the bomb. Maybe you cold simulate a proton out at a swarm then hard one IG-C boost evade out of there, but that's not a fantastic trade, and its even worse against non-swarm targets

@Cloaker 's suggestion of passive sensors is an interesting one, but I don't really see what it achieves vs just taking a calculate action normally. It leaves you defenseless against i5 and i6 attacks and in 90% of cases I'll still just double calculate when they engage anyway.

In my opinion, the real death-knell for IGs is that everything they do is done better by another scum ship. If you are building them as agile 3-agility gunships, starvipers will do that better and cheaper. If you want beefy bomber/brawler, take a firespray or a scurrg. The only area where the IGs really stand out is control, but you'll be spending over 70pts apiece on ships with very low damage output, so you would probably be better off with a scyk and something else that can do real damage. It's great having so many ships in the scum faction, but you have to accept that not all of them can be as good as each other.

If, as @gadwag says, control is the best use of Iggies, then why not go for a full-on control list like we saw just at the end of 1.0 when Control Brobots placed highly in one of the major events - I don't remember which one. I tried for a little of this approach in a Tractor-Bots list (see below). I'm interested in thoughts.

Aggressor Assault Fighter - •IG-88A - 80
•IG-88A - Aggressive Automaton (68)
•Lone Wolf (5)
Heavy Laser Cannon (4)
Tractor Beam (2)
IG-2000 (1)

Aggressor Assault Fighter - •IG-88B - 73
•IG-88B - Brutal Battledroid (64)
Marksmanship (1)
Autoblasters (2)
Ion Cannon (5)
IG-2000 (1)

Quadrijet Transfer Spacetug - •Unkar Plutt - 46
•Unkar Plutt - Miserly Portion Master (33)
•IG-88D (3)
•Cloaking Device (5)
Pattern Analyzer (5)

Total: 199/200

31 minutes ago, feltipern1 said:

If, as @gadwag says, control is the best use of Iggies, then why not go for a full-on control list like we saw just at the end of 1.0 when Control Brobots placed highly in one of the major events - I don't remember which one. I tried for a little of this approach in a Tractor-Bots list (see below). I'm interested in thoughts.

Aggressor Assault Fighter - •IG-88A - 80
•IG-88A - Aggressive Automaton (68)
•Lone Wolf (5)
Heavy Laser Cannon (4)
Tractor Beam (2)
IG-2000 (1)

Aggressor Assault Fighter - •IG-88B - 73
•IG-88B - Brutal Battledroid (64)
Marksmanship (1)
Autoblasters (2)
Ion Cannon (5)
IG-2000 (1)

Quadrijet Transfer Spacetug - •Unkar Plutt - 46
•Unkar Plutt - Miserly Portion Master (33)
•IG-88D (3)
•Cloaking Device (5)
Pattern Analyzer (5)

Total: 199/200

The trouble with going full control is that there are too many lists with high ship counts. Jesper's Control Bots won worlds at the end of 1.0 because it was perfectly placed for the meta. Most people were flying lists with two elite ships, and the IGs were able to lock these lists down completely. Lists with 4, 5 or even 8 ships are extremely common now and pose a real problem for control IGs.

To help deal with high ship count lists, you'll want to bring bombs (protons are best). I'd also drop lone wolf, because your IGs will end up close to each other a lot. They are challenging ships to fly already; you don't want the extra challenge of keeping them apart.

Linked actions and/or a better ship ability. 1e Advanced Sensors to combo with C's ability.

In particular, they could do with lock-linked-calculate, or for the ship ability to be 'after you perform an action' rather than 'after you perform a calculate action'.

Or to be cheap enough to fit a good third ship in with them, be it a third IGGy or 4LOM.