Once the Hull Upgrade is available I suspect it will be used for a number of things. There has just been a big discussion on whether or not the Shield Upgrade is better/worse than the Stealth Device but with the Hull Upgrade coming in a point cheaper than the SU that discussion could turn to favor the HU. HU vs SU is mostly just looking at the ability to possibly negate one crit for 33% more cost. If you say the SU is better than the SD then the HU is certainly better than the SD.

When a ship naturally has shields I can already see why the Hull Upgrade will get used. Although it depends on the dial you could look at a Z-95 Bandit with HU as an X-Wing Rookie with one less attack die but costing 15 points instead of 21. That's almost the same [ercentage jump you see between a TIE Fighter and Interceptor except the Interceptor has boost and a better dial.

Given the choice between Hull Upgrade and stealth device on an already agile ship, I will ALWAYS take stealth device still. For the same price, HU lengthens the life of your ship by one damage. Stealth Device is still superior in that its effect can significantly lengthen the life of your ship, possibly through several rounds.

Hull upgrade will see its uses as a cheaper alternative to Shield Upgrade on ships with low agility where stealth device won't necessarily help because they are likely to take the damage anyway. Ships with 1 agility stock don't get much out of Stealth Device because most incoming attacks involve 3 or more dice, most or all of which could hit. Therefore, for the same cost, you have negated one hit more than you would have for this singular attack, but Stealth Device proved no better than Hull upgrade for the cost. There ARE specific uses for hull upgrade that improve its use, such as with Chewbacca in the pilot seat. As far as Chewie is concerned, a Hull Upgrade is just a cheaper way to get another hit point.

Therefore, each card here has its uses in list building. Shield upgrade is an expensive single hit negation for any ship, but particularly low agility ships. Hull upgrade is a slightly cheaper card with a similar function, but it adds the possibility of a Critical Hit with all pilots but Chewbacca. Stealth Device is a better option than either for ships with high stock agility, IE TIE Fighters, interceptors, X-Wings with R2-F2, etc. Imagine an E-wing, with 3 stock agility and an astromech slot. R2-F2 and a Stealth Device give it five defense dice, and with PtL or a focus pass from Garven or Dutch, it will be nigh unhittable.

So those are my opinions on each of these modifications. To put it more simply, this is typically the order that I would consider them in.

Stealth Device>Shield Upgrade>Hull Upgrade

But all those evade dice won't help if a Proton Bomb lands a Direct Hit. In this case, Hull would keep you from getting one-shotted from bombs (which from what I've seen, bomber lists are on the rise). That could make hull more valuable in certain cases. Overall I'd still go with SD myself still though.

But all those evade dice won't help if a Proton Bomb lands a Direct Hit. In this case, Hull would keep you from getting one-shotted from bombs (which from what I've seen, bomber lists are on the rise). That could make hull more valuable in certain cases. Overall I'd still go with SD myself still though.

Obviously we shall see, but I doubt we will see a shift from assault missiles to proton bombs. Assault missiles do not automatically deal face ups, but it is fast easier to successfully deploy a missile than a bomb. For assault missiles followed by four seismic charges can cripple a lot of lists. And E wings are expensive likely because, with the current card set and meta, they are more survivable than x wings.

Unless your facing a 5 proton bomb bomber list I really don't think bombs will be a problem. I'll still happily take my 5 defensive dice against his 4 assault missile dice.

Imagine an E-wing, with 3 stock agility and an astromech slot. R2-F2 and a Stealth Device give it five defense dice, and with PtL or a focus pass from Garven or Dutch, it will be nigh unhittable.

Yes, please!! This on Etahn on the back with 2 X/B's on the front to hit hard. That or an E-Wing with Biggs' ability if it ever gets printed as a EPT (which I highly doubt). I really love the E-Wing and Phantom from what I see so far!

Imagine an E-wing, with 3 stock agility and an astromech slot. R2-F2 and a Stealth Device give it five defense dice, and with PtL or a focus pass from Garven or Dutch, it will be nigh unhittable.

Yes, please!! This on Etahn on the back with 2 X/B's on the front to hit hard. That or an E-Wing with Biggs' ability if it ever gets printed as a EPT (which I highly doubt). I really love the E-Wing and Phantom from what I see so far!

just realized I meant to say Garven or Kyle, not Dutch

I personally am of the opinion HU > SU > SD on all 2 hull ships. For that specific reason of it puts them out of 1 hit ko range for proton bombs. And I really do expect to see them quite a bit - maybe not by the top players, but by enough good players that the top players will have to have a strat to avoid them.

I'm not saying that those 3 points would be the best way to do that (you could just keep maneuvering such that it doesn't get a chance to deploy)... but the HU does provide defense against that that the SU doesn't. For that one point, the SU is defending against a crit from a very specific attack. I haven't run the probabilities against it, but off the top of my head, I don't particularly think it's high enough to justify 1 point cost. If you just think that an opponent has a 1/8 chance of rolling a crit on a die, or a 30% chance of rolling at least one crit on 3 dice, it's not that high of a number to begin with. Now you need that last shield stripped via a crit in order to make a difference for that 1 point. *shrug.

And you've seen my math on SD always being inferior to SU. Ergo, it will be that much more inferior with HU. Since I know many people still don't believe me, I'll reiterate the same advice I gave earlier. Roll your agility dice as if you didn't have a SD first. Then, if there are uncancelled hits, roll the stealth die. See if that actually helps you (3/8 w/o F and 5/8 w/ F) avoid damage. Do this for a few games to get a true sense of how much the SD is actually helping. This does not account for the psychological effect of the game, but as people become more aware, that warfare will shift course.

I really think the POSSIBILITY of mitigating 2+ damage, possibly 3, 4, 5, outweighs the guarantee of 1. It requires a commitment by the player to position his ships so to make the best of the SD.

I also said that there are definitely situations where I can agree with you. Stealth Device is best used on ships that already have high agility. If I were trying to make a Y-Wing, B-Wing, or likely even X-wing more durable, I would likely choose a Shield Upgrade, because the likelihood of taking a hit anyway and losing your SD is extremely high. The average hit rate of 3 focused attack dice versus 4 focused agility dice is less than 1/2 damage. They will average a hit against you 35% of the time, even less if you stay at range 3.

visible here:

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/905263/average-damage-table-including-critical-hits

I am also of the opinion that oftentimes defensive upgrades aren't worth the points. I can often spend the 4 points from a shield upgrade better elsewhere, and the same typically applies to the three points for Stealth Upgrade. Even on high priority targets it doesn't usually justify increasing the price of their already expensive ship. I most often use a stealth device on Howlrunner, which SIGNIFICANTLY increases her shelf life in my experience, therefore heavily increasing the attack power of a group of Empire ships without target lock. The other use is with Biggs, in conjunction with R2-F2, and occasionally a way to pass focus or an action to him. Keeps his wingman on the table significantly longer because they have to fire on Biggs for several rounds in a row.

If I had some points leftover, I have used Shield Upgrade on B-wings or Falcons in the past, and I expect to take a similar approach with the cheaper Hull Upgrade. Generally, one hit point doesn't change a game for me, so I'd prefer, if I am going to spend the points, to make several hits possible.

I don't expect to see people flocking to proton bombs. They are expensive and if your opponent is not running these 2-hull ships the value goes down even further. Even if they are, it's not a sure thing you will even draw the Direct Hit card and may still have to break down their defenses the old fashioned way. Sure, you can bring two proton bombs but that is 10(!) points spent just on bombs, plus whatever the ships you have chosen to carry them

Proton Bombs may be able to ruin a 2 hull ship with one shot but even if they don't they can often cause havoc with some ships.