28 minutes ago, Spinland said:

Well, FWIW, this thread was part of the process that's had me re-thinking my previous dismissal of the subject ship, and adding a couple to my pre-order for a pair of V-Wings. Since I've added Republic to my factions of interest, might as well keep up with the New Hotness. 😎 🍺

I think I might buy a couple of Eta-2s just for the Hyperspace ring for the other ships that can dock with it.

9 minutes ago, 5050Saint said:

I think I might buy a couple of Eta-2s just for the Hyperspace ring for the other ships that can dock with it.

I'm curious what the rings will bring to formats other than Epic. Reduced maneuverability but added shields?

On 10/5/2020 at 11:40 AM, CaptainJaguarShark said:

Speaking on this, have we had Yoda's full card spoiled? There was a tweet today:

Any chance he'll have slightly different stats than the rest, I wonder?

Also, might be our preview article this week?

Any chance? Sure. Much of one? Eh...

Can we think of any ships where the pilots have different stats, other than initiative or charges?

5 minutes ago, theBitterFig said:

Any chance? Sure. Much of one? Eh...

Can we think of any ships where the pilots have different stats, other than initiative or charges?

Not so far in second edition, no. Of course, the main example I can think of from first edition wasn't exactly loved for it (YT-1300), though the ORS did have some time in the competitive scene early on, IIRC.

It would be cool to be able to drop the ring as an obstacle in standard play. Or something.

4 hours ago, Target_2.0 said:

It would be cool to be able to drop the ring as an obstacle in standard play. Or something.

I could see something like being able to set yourself anywhere on the board to simulate warping in during set up, but your first movement must be a 1or2 white forward to simulate undocking from the ring, leaving the ring as an obstacle behind.

That way you get a strong initial positioning but the opponent has a turn to try and respond, plus you get the extra obstacle/whatever a structure is.

On 10/5/2020 at 5:44 PM, 5050Saint said:

Purple lock can be bypassed by Tarkin, Sync'd console, and LAAT reroll. I can't see it being super harmful to the Eta. The white evade worries me as Inquisitors have proven to be tanky with it.

I'm not so sure about that.

Historically, lock support just hasn't been a strong replacement for self served double mods. I'm wary about assuming a ship with the Eta-2's intended role, statline and pilots will be fine if you have to bring a whole extra ship to provide the re-rolls.

Tarkin especially I'm really not sure on, he's System Phase, requires Tarkin himself to have taken a lock the previous round (which he only gets at I3!) and requires the target he locked to have ended the last turn at range 1. That's so many restrictions, so much of the order of play that has to go right. Compare that with Dutch, who gets to just pass a lock at I4. And Dutch still isn't great ace support. I know Wedge isn't technically an ace, but who would you rather have supporting him? Jake Farrell or Dutch Vander? One of those combinations has made it to a Worlds final.... The point is, I5 and I6 ships tend to want to be locking themselves because they have the best chance of getting the locks when they need them. Also, think about the days before B-Wing s-foils. Who was better, Ten Numb with Dutch Vander around to give him locks for re-rolls and double mods? Or Braylen Stramm getting them by himself? Like, it's not even close.

As for Synchronized Console, we don't even know if the Eta-2 is getting the modification slot. I actually suspect it won't. Seems in line with how tiny the ship is. Also, consider this. If the Eta-2 has a mod slot, what's to stop you just putting Targeting Computer on the Eta-2 to give it a white lock and bypass the purple? 3 points is way, way cheaper than a whole support ship.

Again, this is all points dependent. If the Eta-2 is cheap enough that you can involve one or two high I aces, a support ship and maybe a flanker or blocker then it's probably fine. But if it's costed, as I suspect it will be, not far behind the Delta-7, Fang or other strong ace ship then it's probably going to be the domain of three ship lists. And three ship lists don't tend to like a whole third of the list being given over to support.

You're right about the white evade, though. Eta-2s are basically Precog TAPs, and they've demonstrated how scary they are. Again, points dependent though. If the Eta-2 is expensive enough that it's a focal point of the list, I'm cool with it playing hyper defensively - if it's doing that, it's offence is going to be terrible. It might be a hard to kill ship, but a hard to kill ship that does no damage is easy to ignore.

1 hour ago, GuacCousteau said:

Eta-2s are basically Precog TAPs

TAP?

55 minutes ago, Spinland said:

TAP?

TIE Advanced Prototype, AKA the Inquisitor's TIE, AKA TIE/v1. It's had a lot of names.

3 hours ago, GuacCousteau said:

Tarkin especially I'm really not sure on, he's System Phase, requires Tarkin himself to have taken a lock the previous round (which he only gets at I3!) and requires the target he locked to have ended the last turn at range 1. That's so many restrictions, so much of the order of play that has to go right.

You have inaccurate information there, and I can see how that would skew you opinion of Tarkin, but Tarkin's locked object can be range 1-3, not just at range 1. give him an R3 Astromech, and he gets his choice of 2 separate locks to pass off.

3 hours ago, GuacCousteau said:

As for Synchronized Console, we don't even know if the Eta-2 is getting the modification slot. I actually suspect it won't. Seems in line with how tiny the ship is. Also, consider this. If the Eta-2 has a mod slot, what's to stop you just putting Targeting Computer on the Eta-2 to give it a white lock and bypass the purple? 3 points is way, way cheaper than a whole support ship.

Almost certainly the Eta-2 won't have a mod slot, but Synchronized Console doesn't need to be on the Eta-2 for it to get the lock. Any friendly with Sync'd Console at range one can pass the lock. This is further enabled by Wolfpack giving nearly any defender an actionless lock on a target. So not only does this give the Eta-2 a non-purple lock, it gives friendly low initiative ships locks that they can pass to others such as the Eta via Sync'd Console. Also, the LAAT hands out re-rolls anyway, removing the need for lock at all.

3 hours ago, GuacCousteau said:

Jake Farrell or Dutch Vander? One of those combinations has made it to a Worlds final...

I imagine that may have had something to do with being 4 points cheaper, allowing for 4 copies of Crack Shot, and something to do with being more maneuverable, as well. Presumably, Tarkin will be priced similar to an A-wing, and will be similarly maneuverable as one, as well, (at least closer than a Y-Wing) making him fairly comparable to Jake.