https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2020/10/21/total-destruction/

so the fearsome predators are really good against force users, and especially republic jedi. If you take all 3 you can also spread the condition around and all 3 can make use of it on any target, so that's pretty good. The only place where they could be kinda useless I guess is against separatist swarm, funnily enough.

Some cool cards and abilities (even one, 347, that I came up with for a Squadrons character to have if we ever get them)

And these join the HMP as the only two ships I want from CIS.

3 minutes ago, DarthSempai said:

so the fearsome predators are really good against force users, and especially republic jedi. If you take all 3 you can also spread the condition around and all 3 can make use of it on any target, so that's pretty good. The only place where they could be kinda useless I guess is against separatist swarm, funnily enough.

Well the condition is unique, so it really just shuts down one ace, but these guys will still be great at focus firing

2 minutes ago, NoobMaster70 said:

Well the condition is unique, so it really just shuts down one ace, but these guys will still be great at focus firing

ahhh right, i thought each fearsome hunter would each have their own condition to give. Make way more sense really, as it was clearly very strong!

So, while the pack and ship are looking pretty cool, I want to bring up the exciting possibilities that Independent Calculations could represent. Being able to replace a ship’s base ability is a fun idea that could give older ships new options. Shut off the E-Wings Experimental Scanners to better jive with their linked actions (not the best solution, but it gives options), give the RZ-1 rotate options for their primaries, give the sheathiped something fun for solo play, etc. Make it a config for ships without mod slots. Should still fit thematically.

I may be reading too much into that card, but the possibilities have me excited.

21 minutes ago, Jarval said:

These feel A Bit Good in the environment of the 2nd Edition action economy. Very flexible Attack criteria as well, this can happily go on a bunch of ships!

4 minutes ago, Jarval said:

These feel A Bit Good in the environment of the 2nd Edition action economy. Very flexible Attack criteria as well, this can happily go on a bunch of ships!

That combined with the HMP's ship ability could be scary.

I like that Thread Tracers are limited to 2 per list though. Like the Calculations card, it's a good way for the game to go iMO

HYPEFIGHTERS

Triple Fearsome Predators is going to be fun to fly. Hopefully you can squeeze in, at least, a pair of HMPs to act as anvils while Trifighters are the hammers.

Independent Calculations sounds intriguing. Not sure if I like it or not. Depends on cost. I do like the design space.

I'm surprised Thread Tracers have 2 charges instead of 1.

IT'S ALL SO BEAUTIFUL!!!

9 minutes ago, SabineKey said:

So, while the pack and ship are looking pretty cool, I want to bring up the exciting possibilities that Independent Calculations could represent. Being able to replace a ship’s base ability is a fun idea that could give older ships new options. (...) give the RZ-1 rotate options for their primaries

This! ^

The A-wings used by Phoenix Squadron in Rebels look very different from the ones in ROTJ. They are beefier, slower and have those fat cannons (same as the RZ-2). A configuration (R-22 Prototype?) that removes the RZ-1 ship ability, but gives rotating weapons would be cool.

I really did not expect a straight-up upgrade to Thread-tracers for the edition change. Maybe it will be expensive.

Seriously though, two charges, works with Focus, Calculate, or Lock, Works out to range 3 (but not on yourself), and you can still take two of them in a squad?

TIE Aggressors will like it for alpha-strikes that still allow missile spam. TIE Bombers will like it just as much but their torp options (and obvs bombs) make it even better.

I'm thinking Tomax at I5 can use this with a lock to give double-mods to all his teammates and keep the lock for missile/torp shots in later turns, maybe? Or is it better on a dedicated ace?

3 minutes ago, Odanan said:

The A-wings used by Phoenix Squadron in Rebels look very different from the ones in ROTJ. They are beefier, slower and have those fat cannons (same as the RZ-2). A configuration (R-22 Prototype?) that removes the RZ-1 ship ability, but gives rotating weapons would be cool.

I'd prefer to see something more like CLT for the R-22 prototype. They were supposed to be more heavily armed and/or armored, but less maneuverable. Replacing vectored thrusters certainly seems interesting, but I'd like to give it something else that takes it out of the shadow of the RZ-2 rather than making the differences even more pronounced yet again.

34 minutes ago, Jarval said:

I LOVE THESE! Im going to enjoy this ship in general, but these I5s are going to be great. Im a bit disappointed that there isnt a bullseye mechanic on the reverse side of the interceptor boosters. In cannon they have a HLC in the middle, maybe they will have a cannon slot??

FLAKARFOK

That is all.

XX-23 Thread Tracers is the kind of design space I don't like - it's drawback actually almost synergises with its benefit.

Thread Tracers are essentially trading one attack to get the rest of your list better quality attacks on the same target. The drawback is losing out on the damage of one attack (normally a pretty strong drawback) and the benefit is gaining damage on other attacks.

So the best way to mitigate the weakness of Thread Tracers is by putting it on a cheap ship in a list with lots of ships. Losing one attack from 6, 7 or 8 is no where near as bad as losing one of 3 or 4.

On the other hand, the benefit of Thread Tracers also scales with ship count. The more ships that can take a lock from each use, the more value you get from the points investment.

So whichever you look at it, Tread Tracers are way better in high ship count lists. That trade off isn't really much of a trade off. Meanwhile the upgrade is virtually useless in other list archetypes.

Really curious to see the points cost anyway. If it's 6 points or less, you can run 4x Gray Squadron Bombers with Proton Torpedoes and a Bandit Squadron designator with Thread Tracers for 200. Or 5x Scimitars with the same loadout, only in that case the designator also gets to run Concussion Missiles or Proton Bombs.

Those Intercept Boosters seem really cool and thematic. Not sure if they'll be on most Tri-fighter lists, but definitely a neat card to toy around with.

The Phlac-Arphocc Prototype (i5) with FCS and a bunch of cheap blockers sounds like a great basis for a list. It's funny to say this, but the Seps look better than ever xD

Just now, Hippie Moosen said:

Those Intercept Boosters seem really cool and thematic. Not sure if they'll be on most Tri-fighter lists, but definitely a neat card to toy around with.

If they can take a mod slot, slap on advanced slam. 5 straight. Slam 5. Calculate with advanced slam. Launch buzzdroids with the 3 straight. You will be right there in the enemies' grill. I am excited for these.

Interesting. I like the independent calculations, seems like a fun variation. I am cautious to over purchase these out of the gate, but I bought two HMPs thinking they would need at least two, and I was right. This feels like at least two of not three, but I dont want two more I will never end up using. Will probably get one, find the synergies before getting another one or two

10 minutes ago, GuacCousteau said:

Really curious to see the points cost anyway. If it's 6 points or less, you can run 4x Gray Squadron Bombers with Proton Torpedoes and a Bandit Squadron designator with Thread Tracers for 200. Or 5x Scimitars with the same loadout, only in that case the designator also gets to run Concussion Missiles or Proton Bombs.

I'm going to guess 4 points. Not only do you give up the attack, the downside of missing with the thread tracers can be big if the accomponying ordinance ships need that lock to shoot the ordinance. If you bring 4 bombers with torpedoes and a z-95 to paint the target, you'll probably need a focus to fire the tracer. If the bombers all focus they are relying entirely on the z95 to paint the target to launch the torpedoes. IF the z95 gets initiative killed, or has to spend the focus to survive on defense, those bombers are SOL. Even if the z95 gets to shoot, in a three defense dice meta, it has something like a 33%-60% chance of missing on the shot (depending on if the defender has any defensive modifiers) and then those bombers are left sitting with torpedoes stuck in the tubes.

1 hour ago, Jarval said:

"My name is Odd Ball and I approve of this upgrade."

Not really looking forward to 2e Tracers.

///

I wonder what these Independent Calculations will cost. I was already a fan of DFS-311 as a stand-alone buff-bot, and if this is a nice price, this would be a sweet little addition. I think it's just going to feel a lot nicer to field small numbers of droids, and that seems like a listbuilding quality of life improvement to me.