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T-70 part is up.








Finally, some good Tech upgrades for ships other than the TIE/fo. Primed Thrusters looks like a good, versatile, cheap option for any of the TFA ships we have so far, while Pattern Analyzer is probably a bit more niche (being for ships who want to take an action other than boost/Barrel Roll after taking a red maneuver, and for PTL Aces). Shame you only appear to get one copy of Primed Thrusters.

M9-G8 looks like another good astromech, being able to either debuff an enemy or buff an ally (Put it in an ARC-170 with Weapons Engineer and do both!).

Jess Pava is probably my favorite new pilot. For only one point more than a Generic, she gets an awesome ability. Nien Nunb is probably my second favorite. His PS7 could actually be a bit of an advantage for him, because it means that you know where your enemy is going to be when you set your dial.

nien numb with arc dodgy droids/upgrades will be nasty.

Snap shot looks really interesting. No mods hurts, but free attacks are great! It will work as a secondary weapon, and so can't be fired out of arc, but there are some pilots who could really use it:

Oicunn with vader can hurt aces like Soontir hard, zeta leader (paired with epsilon leader, this might be something), mauler mithel, turr phennir (amazing to block or set up), fenn rau, n'dru, or even someone like echo who finds himself in a bad spot, so he can shoot to re-cloak, or gain a lock from fire control system.

Additionally, the new mech paired with thane kyrell and weapons engineer sounds sweet!

Or snap shot on r3-a2 nien. Free stress and denying actions.

PS9 Poe is not going to be cheap.

Poe [PS9]-33
Push the Limit-3
R2-D2-4
Pattern Analyzer-2
Black One-1
Autothrusters-2
45pt

Mr ghoti wrote:

Snap shot looks really interesting. No mods hurts, but free attacks are great! It will work as a secondary weapon, and so can't be fired out of arc, but there are some pilots who could really use it:

Someone on the FFG forums pointed out Major Rhymer. His ability to expand the range of Secondary Weapons by +/- one means that any ship moving in front of his arc in range 1-3 gets a 2R attack for free. Kind of amusing. Throw on the TIE Shuttle title with a Tactician and it's a pretty annoying ship to face, even if it is still a TIE Bomber.

I'll be curious to see how the math works out for m9-g8. Giving a friendly ship pseudo-predator is a nice buff, but it comes at a high price.

 DanielBeaver wrote:
I'll be curious to see how the math works out for m9-g8. Giving a friendly ship pseudo-predator is a nice buff, but it comes at a high price.

Well, it costs the same as Predator.

Downsides:
-Lose Caddies Target Lock
-Do not get extra re-rolls vs. PS1-2

Upsides:
-Can debuff opponents
-Frees up Aces EPT
-Can be taken on any ship with a mech. Could work for an X-wings Mech tax (meaning you only pay 2 points, really).


Here's an Example of how it could Work:

Tarn Misson-23
M9-G8-3
Integrated-0
26pt

With your action, target lock a friendly Ace, let them re-roll an attack. Then, when defending, switch target lock to attacker, force them to re-roll. Because there are no limits on either Tarn or M9, do this against every attack.

I'm actually debating using Tarn and Biggs as Wingmen for E-Poe.

Ooh how about:

Nien Numb
Snapshot
R3A2

Range one dead zone for any high ps ace. Best of all, nien doesn't take the stress and can repeat it in the attack phase.

Apologies, Mr Ghoti has already noted this build. Excitement go the better of me...

Jess Pava is an awesome third T-70 for a squad if you're going with 'fly up the middle'. Pack in M9-G8 and Integrated Astromech and you've got a tough, not all that expensive support ship. Bloody poor pilot skill, but enough to trade shots with a jumpmaster, at least.

you've got the points to fit her, Red Ace, and (PS8 regen) Poe as a nice squad of heavies.

Or Pava, Regen Poe and anything better than Red Ace?

 Mathieu Raymond wrote:
Or Pava, Regen Poe and anything better than Red Ace?

Weapons engineer Thane kyrell with M9-G8 can be a great way to fly a brick of ships. Maybe with regen x-wing or other survival gimmicks like Biggs.

A low ps line of biggs, thane, and pava might do alright. I don't think it will be as powerful as a regen build, but it will be interesting.

Ps9 poe with lone wolf, r5-p9, pattern analyzer, autothrusters, black one title gives poe the ability to straight ignore 3 points of damage a turn. Team him up with a Super Dash Rendar and you've got a deadly team.

I could even see Weapons Engineer M9-G8 making Shara Bey work. Tag one friend and one foe, and in the course of one round you can force the attacker to reroll one of their red dice, let your mate fire a torpedo at them, and then hand them predator (essentially) for the shot itself, all without touching their own actions.

Mr ghoti wrote:


Ps9 poe with lone wolf, r5-p9, pattern analyzer, autothrusters, black one title gives poe the ability to straight ignore 3 points of damage a turn. Team him up with a Super Dash Rendar and you've got a deadly team.

Potentially ignore 3 damage. You can and might roll three blanks and reroll a blank, in arc at range 2.

The problem with this setup is that you are 1 point shy of being able to field the optimal Super Dash of Outrider+HLC, Kannan/Kyle, PTL and EU. Something has to give. OTOH, Kannan can be used to remove the stress from an Inertial Dampener, so you could technically still Push for two actions.

The problem with this setup is that you are 1 point shy of being able to field the optimal Super Dash of Outrider+HLC, Kannan/Kyle, PTL and EU. Something has to give. OTOH, Kannan can be used to remove the stress from an Inertial Dampener, so you could technically still Push for two actions.

Probably the pilot skill. Since you're desperate to get that focus and keep it (because R5-P9), you're not going to be boosting if you can avoid it, so being PS9 rather than PS8 is not the end of the world, which saves you 2 points.

I think the PS9 Poe is probably more valuable for a BB-8, Primed Thrusters, Push The Limit setup, where you're going to be pulling all manner of reactive maneuvering jank.

True.

In other news, had someone come up with a Major Rhymer build Tuesday night with Snap Shot as his EPT. Nowhere in the card text did we see that it stated that it was a secondary weapon, but we let him keep it just to test it out. He had paired it with the Shuttle title and a Tactician. Not as brutal as it sounds, because the carrier is so fragile.

Well, I feel like they super buffed Poe Dameron some more.

I feel, if I have understood anything from Peregrine, like the Non-Garbage Tier Items may be:
-Primed Thrusters/Pattern Analyzer (Because making Action Economy easier is always a bonus, especially in an unsused slot.)
-Snap Shot (It could forgive a lack of PTL by having an extra shot to potentially strip tokens before the combat phase. Probably better on Low PS Generics than Aces.)


The rest is really focused and a niche-item, I do not expect but would like to see them in use.

Nunb is cool and a great generic hunter with his action economy upgrades, but he'd have to forgo PTL to get his PS up which may kill his spot as a "playable ship" (airquotes intended). He has "endless hard maneuvers", but we see that with Defender and they are not super popular. Perhaps the fact that the T-70 is more popular than the Defender will give Nien some love with his new ship and because he has a better range of Stress-Maneuvers to take advantage of.

You can't strip tokens with Snap Shot, because the shot happens right after the maneuver ends, before the target takes his/her action. (Comms Relay, Moldy Crow... being exceptions)

Nowhere in the card text did we see that it stated that it was a secondary weapon

Doesn't need to be explicitely stated. If it has a range, and a number of attack dice, and the [Attack] header, it's a secondary weapon. It doesn't have to fall into the (Torpedo), (Cannon), or (Missile) upgrades.

Hot-Shot Blaster doesn't, for example.

And yes, it's one of the better uses for Major Rhymer. A Snap Shot tactician can really mess people about, because you'll get the stress between finishing the manoeuvre and your perform action step (which you'll then have to skip).

The rest is really focused and a niche-item, I do not expect but would like to see them in use.

M9-G8 is one hell of an upgrade, in my view. It's an incredibly flexible card, especially for someone able to maintain multiple target locks and/or gain free ones.

I can see M9-G8/Integrated Astromech being a right bugger on Tarn Mison - it's not quite as powerful as R7 astromech (because you only reroll 1 die), but the fact that Tarn can use it against every single attacker, and still have the lock to spend himself (if he has a shot) is definitely worth the extra point - it's essentially stress-free, unlimited use Elusiveness. Plus, he can lock up another friendly fighter on turn 1 and essentially hand them "predator" for the opening pass.

Alternatively, Weapons Engineer Shara Bey goes from being a bit fiddly (because the main problem with weapons engineer is that you can't put both locks on the same target) to being a monster of a support ship. Lock a friend, they get a reroll on whoever they shoot at. Lock an enemy, they get their own firepower messed with and anyone can expend the lock. Mix and match to taste.

And since you're achieving that with Crew, Astromech and Pilot ability, you've still got a mid PS, 3-dice-attack fighter with an elite upgrade, so it's not like she's totally useless on her own; being a pretty fair match for a generic B-wing in a head-on pass, quite aside from her target lock tricks.



The main thing that makes Gate so good is that it does so many things at once. It lets you make a practical use of a target lock action in round 1. It lets you do something useful with 'spare' target locks that aren't on the guy you're shooting at. It provides a persistant bonus, like the ATC, so you're free to focus or K-turn next turn.



Other than that.... Jess Pava is nice. Her pilot ability means you can safely 'leave her for last' because shooting at her first rather than last is just plain dumb, but at only 1 point more than a Blue Squadron Novice, she brings a hell of a lot of potential if you're stuck for a cheap 3rd T-70 to fit in; even if her ability is nothing more than an action and stress free attack reroll, it's still good, and anything else is a bonus.

You can't strip tokens with Snap Shot, because the shot happens right after the maneuver ends, before the target takes his/her action.

I think you might be able to get 'after you perform X maneuver' tokens (like an X7's evade token, or Night Beast or Outlaw Tech's Focus Token). Making a TIE defender concerned enough to spend tokens with a 2-dice unmodified attack is unlikely, though.

Nunb is cool and a great generic hunter with his action economy upgrades, but he'd have to forgo PTL to get his PS up which may kill his spot as a "playable ship" (airquotes intended). He has "endless hard maneuvers", but we see that with Defender and they are not super popular. Perhaps the fact that the T-70 is more popular than the Defender will give Nien some love with his new ship and because he has a better range of Stress-Maneuvers to take advantage of.

There are a hell of a lot of T-70s thanks to the assorted HotR upgrades who can talon roll and turn for days. If I really wanted to do something nasty with Nien Numb, I'd consider him with Snap Shot and R3-A2; as with the tactician comment above, the best thing you can do with snap shot is trigger things off it. R3-A2 stressing you is really, really bad - because firstly you lose your action, and secondly Nien Numb will be shooting you again (this time with a 4-dice, modified attack) in a few moments....

 Da Kommizzar wrote:
Well, I feel like they super buffed Poe Dameron some more.

I feel, if I have understood anything from Peregrine, like the Non-Garbage Tier Items may be:
-Primed Thrusters/Pattern Analyzer (Because making Action Economy easier is always a bonus, especially in an unsused slot.)
-Snap Shot (It could forgive a lack of PTL by having an extra shot to potentially strip tokens before the combat phase. Probably better on Low PS Generics than Aces.)


The rest is really focused and a niche-item, I do not expect but would like to see them in use.

Nunb is cool and a great generic hunter with his action economy upgrades, but he'd have to forgo PTL to get his PS up which may kill his spot as a "playable ship" (airquotes intended). He has "endless hard maneuvers", but we see that with Defender and they are not super popular. Perhaps the fact that the T-70 is more popular than the Defender will give Nien some love with his new ship and because he has a better range of Stress-Maneuvers to take advantage of.

I'd say that the power ratings would be as follows:

A-Tier:
Poe2- Takes an Already good pilot, and frees up his EPT slot. Doesn't eliminate Poe1, because you are paying a premium for the +1PS.
Jess Pava- Crazy good pilot ability and +1PS over the already solid Blue Novice, for 1pt. A solid choice for a middle-weight jouster.
Tech Upgrades- Finally, the slot is useful for something other than fo/Juke shenanigans.
M9-G8- Turn anything with an astromech slot into a support ship, either defensively or offensively.
Black One- Might as well read "Counter[Omega Leader]"

B-Tier:
Nien Nunb: Has the same issue as Poe1 in having to choose between a useful pilot skill and a useful EPT. However, does have some potential uses.
Snap Shot: Do not expect anything amazing. Sure, your opponent will not have tokens. But it's a range 1, 2-dice attack that requires your opponent to fly into your arc, and is also unmodified. Could land some chip damage on low-agility ships, and has potential gimmick builds (R3-A2 to stop your opponents actions, etc.), but don't expect great things.

Garbage Tier:
Snap Wexley: If he goes fast, he gets a free boost action. With PS6. Joy.

First impressions:

Poe (PS 9): obviously good. You pay +1 point and lose a point of PS compared to old-Poe, but gain an EPT slot. PS 9 is good enough for most situations, and adding more dice modification (with predator or lone wolf) is obviously powerful and even frees up some options for boosting. I've been playing new-Poe with predator and pattern analyzer for a while and he seems really good so far. The only real downside is the point cost increase. You pay +1 point to start with, but then you also have to pay for an EPT and probably have to add an initiative bid in the current metagame. So old-Poe will probably still see some use.

Nien Nunb: potentially mid-tier. There are a lot of neat tricks he can do, with snap shot + R3-A2 being the obvious one. But I think there's some over-hyping going on with people looking at the awesome best-case scenarios and ignoring the ones where he sucks. If you can't get a ship in arc at range 1 you have a blank pilot ability, you're limited to PS 7 in a metagame where PS 8-9 is extremely important, and your best trick means not taking a regen droid. Is this enough to be worth paying ~10 points more than a standard stresshog? I'm not sold yet, but I won't be surprised if someone finds a way to make him work.

"Snap" Wexley: good pilot ability, but PS 6 is a problem. Obviously free actions are good, and the condition on his free action is pretty easy to meet. And you do have an EPT slot to get PS 8, making him eligible for the title (and able to use it every turn). You can take a regen droid, but you might not be able to use it as much as you'd like. I want to like him, possibly as a second ace next to Poe, but I can't help thinking he's going to fall a bit short. Worth some testing maybe?

Jess Pava: right ship, wrong metagame. She's a great low-PS jousting ship in a metagame where low-PS jousting ships auto-lose to u-boats. If there's ever a point again where something like the old "Biggs walks the dogs" list becomes viable she should be a great option. But right now she's just dead weight.

Primed Thrusters: bad. Pattern analyzer is only one point more and, except for some weird edge cases, does the same things and more. Just take the better upgrade instead.

Pattern Analyzer: really, really good. You essentially get a white k-turn/t-roll, for a mere 2 points? This is just an auto-include on anything that can't take a comm relay.

M9-G8: probably not good. Why does FFG keep printing droids besides R2-D2 and R5-P9? Rebel ships are either naked jousters or regen aces. I can't think of a single situation where I'd be willing to spend 3 points on this instead of a regen droid. It isn't viable on aces, and it isn't cheap enough (counting the cost of the carrier) to be a support ship option.

Snap Shot: either really good or really bad, depending on the ship. You'll need to find some combo to make it effective (R3-A2, crack shot, etc), but when you do it's a lot of potential power. The most interesting idea I've seen so far is an a-wing swarm with snap shot and crack shot. You're not going to hide from five a-wings with snap shot, and crack shot makes it a lot more likely that you're going to hit.

Hmm. Howlrunner plus 5 Black Squadron Ties all with Snap Shot? It's going to be fairly brutal if you get close.

 Graphite wrote:
Hmm. Howlrunner plus 5 Black Squadron Ties all with Snap Shot? It's going to be fairly brutal if you get close.

Howlrunner does not let you re-roll snap shot dice. You're probably better off with the standard crack swarm if you're taking TIE fighters.

No, I understand that, but for your 4 spare points you might as well get re-rolls on your range 1 non-snap dice.

Definitely.

Snap Shot's range 1 limit, 2-dice attack, secondary weapon status and 'no modifier' rule limits its use a bit.

The possible uses I can see:

~ Mauler Mithel - adding a die is not a modification. Still unmodified, but a 3-dice attack is a bit better (especially against a tokenless target) and at 19 points all-up for a double-tap at range 1, it's fairly cheap. 7 attack dice in 1 turn ain't bad for a TIE fighter.

~ R3-A2 - if you can manage the stress, it's a good ability. Nien Numb is an obvious pairing (but expensive). Randomly the cheapest ship which can pack both is Jek Porkins, who also has an anti-stress ability. I'm not convinced I'd roll him out though - even with snap shot, getting range 1 shots isn't easy in an X-wing

~ Major Rhymer - upping Snap Shot from range 1 to range 2 is pretty huge, especially on a ship capable of carrying tactician. He strikes me as an imperial analogue to a stresshog - with an awesome PS but sadly very expensive - 32 points all-up is ace territory, so if I got that far, I'd probably consider taking the extra 3 points to put rebel captive on him; he's too expensive to be expendable, and the fact that the Imperial's best defensive crew is also stress-based is just good synergy.

Or, swap out three of the Black ties for Captain Jonus in a shuttle with a fleet officer and Mauler Mithel. 2 points spare.

 Graphite wrote:
Or, swap out three of the Black ties for Captain Jonus in a shuttle with a fleet officer and Mauler Mithel. 2 points spare.

...

Why? This is a terrible idea that makes no sense at all.

Captain Jonus allows re-rolls on secondary weapons. Which snap shot is. So you can re-roll secondaries and primaries with two focuses and the fairly viscious Mithel mentioned by lacarno24.

 Graphite wrote:
Captain Jonus allows re-rolls on secondary weapons. Which snap shot is. So you can re-roll secondaries and primaries with two focuses and the fairly viscious Mithel mentioned by lacarno24.

You can not modify the dice for snap shot. You can not re-roll with Jonus, and you can not spend focus. The Mauler Mithel bonus die only works because adding a die is not dice modification.

Ah. Fair enough, didn't catch that.

But honestly, Rhymer isn't that great as a stresshog. He goes down way too fast, even to middling dice. The concept is cool, and maybe if you are a much better pilot than my opponent was, but no. He handed out maybe 3 or four stress tokens before going down.

It occurs to me that The King Of Garbage, Turr Phennir, could do some very strange things with snapshot. 3 actions a turn? (Boost, Barrel and one other)