Today's article is up at:
https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2020/11/25/swarm-opposition/

Ah, the real news today. DIS-T81 is nice.

The Hyena may be my new favorite generic bomber. Add a second red (not black, I can't read) with AI and some nearby rerolls and it can potentially spike into 4 damage.

General G is gonna mulch generics.

Just now, Flyinpenguin117 said:

The Hyena may be my new favorite generic bomber. Add a black with AI and some nearby rerolls and it can potentially spike into 4 damage.

Color that is already in your pool.

You're rolling 2 Red.

404-File Not Found on the other hand gets 3 Red Bomber dice if he procs his ability.

2 minutes ago, BiggsIRL said:

Color that is already in your pool.

You're rolling 2 Red.

Good point. Still, itll be fun, and with Bomber, a bit more consistent than Phantoms even if you dont hit 4.

Well these are absolutely pathetic compared to Republic squadrons...

This confirms my suspicions from way back when we got the preview "cinematic". Republic was going to have squadrons as powerful as Rebel's, and ships as powerful as Empire's, while Separatists will have weaker, but expensive ships (like Rebels) and weaker squadrons (like the Empire).

The Republic is Power Creep faction, Separatists are the "We Have No Idea So We Just Made A Mirror Reflection" faction.

4 minutes ago, Petersaber said:

Well these are absolutely pathetic compared to Republic squadrons...

This confirms my suspicions from way back when we got the preview "cinematic". Republic was going to have squadrons as powerful as Rebel's, and ships as powerful as Empire's, while Separatists will have weaker, but expensive ships (like Rebels) and weaker squadrons (like the Empire).

The Republic is Power Creep faction, Separatists are the "We Have No Idea So We Just Made A Mirror Reflection" faction.

Luke dot everything you said dot jpeg

9 minutes ago, Petersaber said:

Well these are absolutely pathetic compared to Republic squadrons...

Yes, the only bomber in the game capable of doing 6 damage in one shot is "absolutely pathetic"...

Seppies - dangerous, cheap, fast, small hulls, FAST

Republic - Expensive Jedi, efficiently priced clones, SLOW

14 minutes ago, Formynder4 said:

Yes, the only bomber in the game capable of doing 6 damage in one shot is "absolutely pathetic"...

Yes... one bomber... that has a 1 in 256 chance is doing 6 damage in one shot... and hurts itself just trying...

Versus all the Jedi combos, Luminara-Plo-V-19 synergy, Ahsoka-Kickback triple-attack-fivefold-healing (if on station) combo, Nevota Bee-Reserve Hangar-Counter resurrection combo, resurrecting Escort squadrons, and cheap and incredibly tough and defensible ARC-170s that despite speed 2 can start almost anywhere on the map at the cost of 3 points, and slightly improved Y-Wings.... (and these are just off the top of my head)

Yes, that one bomber (with no escort squadrons to protect it) makes things even.

Bye bye TIE Bombers.

If you want to hype all the amazing thing Rep squads can do, and downplay all the good things Seps can do, while ignoring their strengths, well, that's on you.

(But you'd still be wrong.)

Looks like the Seps are less about synergy than about just deleting other things before they can get their synergy going.

Also Republic is SLOW. The fastest Republic squadron (which you don't want to put ahead of the rest of the squadrons) is Speed 4. The Slowest Sep squadron is Speed 4.

Flight controllers and AI are quite potent.

2 minutes ago, Formynder4 said:

If you want to hype all the amazing thing Rep squads can do, and downplay all the good things Seps can do, while ignoring their strengths, well, that's on you.

(But you'd still be wrong.)

Very well then. Go. Tell me about all these AMAZING things Seps can do.

Grievous, the stone cold finisher in a Sep. alpha strike.

Both tri-droid aces look nice. Feels like the tri prototype is going to be picked up in lists more for token and dice upgrade then ability. Outside of that, he seems to fit in the same attrition ball vulture prototype goes into.

Surprised about the Hyena red dice anti-ship dice, but it does make sense if AI value going to easily reach 2. Bomber prototype seems to be placed for a world where AI: armament 2 exist.

8 minutes ago, Petersaber said:

Very well then. Go. Tell me about all these AMAZING things Seps can do.

Throw 9 red dice in one activation from 3 bombers and 404? For 9x3+17= 44 points?

Use Tri Fighter black dice against ships after they kill squads, preventing the TIE interceptor problem of "now what" after you kill their squads?

One thing the Sep Squadron bombers do is they make squadronless lists very, very sad if they run into them. Speed 4 and 2 Reds for 11 points each? 44 points can potentially off small base ships in a single pass, and even "gotta go fast" lists will have a hard time going fast enough to outrun Speed 4. And again, Seps have a pretty potent Alpha Strike for squadrons as well.

Their weakness looks like their staying power.

2 minutes ago, geek19 said:

Throw 9 red dice in one activation from 3 bombers and 404? For 11x3+17= 50 points?

While I agree the droid fighters don't seem as impressive as the republic squadrons, especially the aces, there is one important thing to keep in mind.

They are cheap. DIRT cheap. Point for point, they hit hard, and you will have a LOT of them. Ruthless Strategists (eventually) paired with the prevalent red flak the seps seem to get will be a nasty combo. Accept the inevitable losses and drown the enemy in swarms.

@geek19 - That does look like a good start to a droid blob though:

Hyena x 3 = 33
404 = 17
Phlac-Arphocc Prototype = 19
General G = 22
B-22 = 15
Hadr-Chall Prototype = 16
Tri-Fighter = 11

Total = 133