Hey, new to 2.0 X-Wing player here. Very much a “kitchen table” player.

I just played my first game against a family member. I don’t recall their list, but mine was:

Scimitar Squadron Pilot, Proton Torpedoes, Munitions Failsafe

Deathfire, Proton Bombs, Proximity Mines, Concussion Missiles, Proton Torpedoes

Maarek Stele, Crack Shot, Fire Control System, Concussion Missiles (really a waste of points on him I think)

Mauler Mithel, Outmaneuver

It was a lot of fun. I like the more rigid barrel rolls, the linked actions, and the ORDNANCE. In first edition, I always felt like I was flushing points down the toilet if I added torpedoes or missiles to a ship. It demanded setup and points for something that rarely worked.

Ordnance no longer spending locks is just awesome. At one point I successfully blocked an Aethersprite twice in a row using Mauler, with my bombers coming up from behind to slam it with ordnance repeatedly.

The fact that I could shoot proton torpedoes, not spend my lock, and shoot them AGAIN next engagement phase because my lock was still there was how I feel ordnance should have felt all along.

1.0 was a blast, but 2.0 irons out one of my biggest gripes: ordnance being generally worthless, even to a casual.

The other highlight was how powerful the Tie advanced felt compared to 1.0. Being in Maarek’s arc while locked was a bad place to be. I did miss the evade action though.

@Lightningclaw

Thats a lot of ordnance on those Bombers.

Did you management to get it all off?

If you flew it again sounds like you'd drop concussion missiles from Marek.

If you have Proton torpedos on your Bombers you might find Cluster missiles more useful than concussion, especially for one point less.

Did you find Munitions failsafe triggered much, i think it could be worth it with cluster missiles as you can save a charge from afauked shot (much more likely with only three dice and no mods) but still take a bonus shot.

If ditching the missiles on Marek you might find afterburners keeps him mobile, especially triggering it on Talon rolls.

But this does mean dropping outmanuevour down to crackshot, though its not hard to get a bullseye at range one and that is where you'll get the most out of Mauler anyway.

Love to hear your thought on the bombs on deathfire. And whether you agree or disagree with my suggestions.

Scimitar Squadron Pilot (29)
Proton Torpedoes (13)
Cluster Missiles (5)
Munitions Failsafe (1)

Ship total: 48 Half Points: 24 Threshold: 3

"Deathfire" (34)
Proton Torpedoes (13)
Cluster Missiles (5)
Proximity Mines (6)
Proton Bombs (5)
Munitions Failsafe (1)

Ship total: 64 Half Points: 32 Threshold: 3

Maarek Stele (46)
Crack Shot (1)
Fire-Control System (2)
Afterburners (6)

Ship total: 55 Half Points: 28 Threshold: 3

"Mauler" Mithel (32)
Crack Shot (1)

Ship total: 33 Half Points: 17 Threshold: 2

Your post got me thinking and now I've made a list for a friend to try against me. Basically boosted the initiative of the Bombers, varied their ordnance for a bit more flexibility, swapped Mauler for Wampa as he can draw a bit of heat off the Bombers and dropped all the talents to make a 3 point bid, as three ships in the list really really want to get locks at I4 and i5, so even a little bid is better than none.

Maarek Stele (46)
Fire-Control System (2)
Afterburners (6)

Ship total: 54 Half Points: 27 Threshold: 3

"Wampa" (30)
Ship total: 30 Half Points: 15 Threshold: 2

Major Rhymer (38)
Adv. Proton Torpedoes (6)
Diamond-Boron Missiles (6)
Fifth Brother (9)

Ship total: 59 Half Points: 30 Threshold: 3

Tomax Bren (36)
Proton Torpedoes (13)
Cluster Missiles (5)

Ship total: 54 Half Points: 27 Threshold: 3


Total: 197

View in Yet Another Squad Builder 2.0: https://raithos.github.io/?f=Galactic Empire&d=v8ZsZ200Z174XW113WW105Y221XY204XW134W238WW82WWWY205XW136W98WWWWW&sn=Unnamed Squadron&obs=

You may want to add Crack shot on Tomax Bren because his ability is all but asking for it by name.

Additional tip. Don't win your wife if you want to sleep in bed and keep your arms.

2 hours ago, Minaith said:

Additional tip. Don't win your wife if you want to sleep in bed and keep your arms.

I get the sleeping in bed part, but the arms... Was that a wookie reference? Harsh. 😐

3 hours ago, Flyingbrick said:

You may want to add Crack shot on Tomax Bren because his ability is all but asking for it by name.

I don't think it's worth taking Crackshot (or any of the talents his ability works with). To get a second use of Crackshot he needs to:

1) Use it once - meaning a non-ordnance shot in bullseye (you never want to be stuck firing primary weapon with him, especially when paying the point cost for double payload as above)

2) Reload after this but before a second Crackshot opportunity (it's unlikely you'll be low or out of ordnance charges at this point meaning you'd be reloading and stressing just to recharge Crackshot).

3) Have a second opportunity to use Crackshot (same issue as with step 1).

As I see it, Crackshot's key limitation in 2.0 gameplay is the bullseye requirement, not the non-recurring charge, because most pilots (other than a few outliers like Soontir) would be unlikely to trigger it more than once per game anyway. Or to put it another way, you're more likely to be unable to Crackshot because you don't have bullseye than because you have bullseye but have already used it up.

True enough but in in the unlikely event Tomex does live long enough to shoot off another ordinance salvo it is better to have that insurance policy than not have it and it would have been the one hit to kill whatever he was aiming at. Plus crack shot was one of the most popular upgrades taken at worlds so i think the players that took it there might have known something.

5 hours ago, Dasharr said:

I don't think it's worth taking Crackshot (or any of the talents his ability works with).

Agreed. It's very sad that Tomax is basically just a limited generic I5 pilot with a talent. His ability text might as well be blank.

Can't wait till they put Adrenaline Rush back in the game. Badly needed for both Tomax and Rhymer IMO.

2 hours ago, Flyingbrick said:

True enough but in in the unlikely event Tomex does live long enough to shoot off another ordinance salvo it is better to have that insurance policy than not have it and it would have been the one hit to kill whatever he was aiming at. Plus crack shot was one of the most popular upgrades taken at worlds so i think the players that took it there might have known something.

I'm not saying that Crackshot's a bad talent - it's not - but Bren has bad synergy with it. He's basically never going to get to Crack twice in one game. Even one use is unlikely because he wants to be firing with ordnance as much as possible. I haven't looked at the stats for Crackshot usage at Worlds but I suspect that the vast majority of ships with it weren't dedicated missile or torpedo platforms.

You are right. After i posted what i did i went back and reread what you said and i was like doh!! I do agree with you 100% on it not really being viable on him so much as with other pilots.

if you needed one, elusive would be my go-to for tomax, depending on whether you think you'll get a chance to reload.

17 hours ago, Scum4Life said:

Thats a lot of ordnance on those Bombers.

Did you management to get it all off?

One of my recent games featured several ships, all with ordnance. I used every single charge.

It was amazing, especially since I kept trying to make ordnance work in 1.0 and would often die with points in the tubes.

13 hours ago, Dasharr said:

I'm not saying that Crackshot's a bad talent - it's not - but Bren has bad synergy with it. He's basically never going to get to Crack twice in one game. Even one use is unlikely because he wants to be firing with ordnance as much as possible. I haven't looked at the stats for Crackshot usage at Worlds but I suspect that the vast majority of ships with it weren't dedicated missile or torpedo platforms.

It's his budget range 1 option, if you don't give him cluster missiles, you give him crack shot, so he's got something for range 1, the primary is still 3 dice at range 1 and crack shot can push damage through. In this case you just run him with protons and crack shot.