After seeing the unboxing videos of wave 2 (thanks Team Convenant, love ya work), and reading some of the hype/plans on these forums, I'm thinking the hardest hit by these new figs is the stanard Tie fighter.

With a host of new upgrades, a Firespray that could potential 50-60% of your squad (assuming it stays at 100 points) and the tie interceptors looking as deadly as we hoped they'd be, it's looking like the focus will shift to less (but better) ships, and away from swarm. With this in mind, do you tihnk the standard Tie is already on it's way to becoming redundant/superceeded.

I know swarm will always be an option in some form or another, but will it be dropping off drastically in favour of 4-6 ship builds that feature little or no Ties (i know 6 borders on swarm, but once rebels can go to 5 ships comfortably, it's probably not so much anymore).

eh nope. at 12 point, it is still the cheapest ship you could field, and you can easily find points to slot one into your lineup. Some TIEs also have effects that remain useful, such as Howlrunner and Dark Curse (and arguably Night Beast), even with the new stuff (yes, Backstabber and Mauler Mithel will play a significantly smaller role as the TIE/in replace them). the Black Squadron TIE will also see more play as a cheaper way to mass field pilot upgrades (eg. push the limit, or draw their fire)

Maybe it will no longer be the main space superiority fighter, but it will still remain as a rather good support craft, or even a reliable backbone for your squad to be based upon

The original 12-point TIE is not gonna be completely replaced by the new ships. Howlrunner, Mithel, and a couple other unique TIEs are still going to be used and useful in some builds as well (Imagine a firespray shooting 4 dice on it's main weapon attacks) The AP can still be used as filler in squads where you have a couple high point ships, maybe Boba or Kath tricked out, Howlrunner, and 2x AP as an option

[EDIT:] Ninja'd

Duraham said:

Likewise, I may well run a 5-Interceptor squad for fun once in a while, but I'm much more interested in a mixed 3 Int/2 TIE, 3/3, or 2/4 squad. TIEs are still cheaper than Interceptors by a huge margin, and their special abilities are still woth looking at. Plus the flood of new upgrades has finally made Black Squadron relevant in ways they weren't before: for instance, Black Squadron with Veteran Instincts is the cheapest PS 6 ship in the game, and Black Squadron with Draw Their Fire is going to confound focus fire.

Basically, people will stiill run TIEs for pilot abilities (especially Howlrunner), and any time they want to bolt some cheap guns onto a squad.

It comes down to personal preference. I love having more attack dice, so you can bet I'll be filling up on TIE interceptors to supplement my current Imperial armada of only 4 TIE fighters and 2 TIE advanced (and 1 TIE interceptor). So I probably won't be running TIE fighters as often, but it's always nice to have some variety. TIE interceptors look to be my favorite ship in the game with 3 attack and 3 agility. But I agree that 12 point Academy Pilots will see lots of flight time as filler points.

Parakitor said:

Indeed. The four new ships are going to really expand our options for squad building. Today it's basically a choice between 3-Ship Rebels, 4-Ship Rebels, 8-TIE Swarm or 5/6-TIE w/Vader. That's not a whole lot of competitive diversity. Once the new ships hit the market it's going to open up a world of possibilities.

I don't think TIEs will remain the no-brainer, auto-include choice they currently are as the Rebel meta is going to change fairly drastically once the A-Wing hits shelves, but sure, they'll still have a role.

That's the thing I dig about this game- once Wave 2 is out, I think you're going to see multiple viable builds across all the ships. It isn't so paper-scissors-rock as a lot of miniatures games or subject to just outright spamming a particular unit because other units don't make sense in points or capabilities context.

I think as long as you put some time in learning how to use the ships effectively, they all have their place in virtually any list.

I'll still use my TIEs but I'm just chomping at the bit to get my hands on some TIE Interceptors!

It's amazing how the addition of two new ships (and a bunch of upgrades) is posed to blow the meta game wide open. I'm looking forward to seeing all the new squad varients people come up with.