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Only three cards showcased so far, but there's a new missile (Harpoon Missiles), new illicit (Ion Discharger) and naturally two new unique pilots for each ship (including Viktor Hel above).

-3 points on the Starviper, have to barrel roll with the bank templates
0 points on the Khiraxz, equip 3 mods and -1 point for EACH upgrade (not just mods) you equip.

Seriously good stuff

Called it. I had a bet with some of the local gaming group as to why it seemed wave 11 was taking a long time. I suggested that they might be releasing an evil aces pack.

Feeling pretty positive.

Vaksai Title looks awesome. Your Generic K-fighter now comes with S-thread tracers, Munitions failsafes, Guidance chips, and either inertial dampeners or BMST for free. A nice way to show it's customization ability and reduce it's point cost, at the same time. Talonbane Cobra gets Vectored Thrusters, Engine Upgrade, and Autothrusters, for only 5 points. With Inertial Dampeners and Push the Limit, he's sitting at 35pt, which is pretty decent for an ace. He probably isn't Soon-tier, but won't be the games laughing stock anymore, and opens up a double-ace list with Fen Rau.

Starviper Mark 2 looks nice. My main complaint was always cost, so getting a nice "Fake" disadvantage as well is a bonus. I know from flying Echo that curved barrel rolls can be a blast. Sadly, I don't see anyone in the PS7+ range, which is what the ship could really use, but Guri will probably be worth a third look now, and we have yet to see what the new named pilots do.

I'm excited personally. I think the Sterviper mk2 could be interesting depending on what new pilots come with the ship, and I now see more of a reason to bother with the Kihraz now that it can be modified to the nines.

All I have to say is HELL YES! Also the paint schemes for the new minis are awwwwwww so cool. The Black Sun Khiraxz is dead sexy.

First impressions, other than "ugh, two boring ships" and "do scum really need to get a buff given their tournament performance lately":

Vaksai: clearly an auto-take title, but does it do enough to make a weak starting point into a viable option? It's not going to be much help on generics since you don't want to load them down with upgrades, but on an ace you're easily talking about saving 4-5 points. And with multiple modification slots you can take engine upgrade + autothrusters, and still have a modification slot left. The downside is that you're still paying some points for those upgrades on a pretty bad platform. You need to buff durability to justify spending 30ish points on an ace, you need to get engine upgrade and/or vectored thrusters to have any chance of winning against other aces, you need a high-tier EPT for action economy, and you aren't going to get all of those things at once. Mindlink Talonbane might be interesting, EU/VT/AT for mods, reposition at PS 9 then get focus from someone else and murder stuff. Worth it at 33 points plus whatever illicit you take? Could be.

StarViper MkII: not literally an auto-take because that barrel roll change can be a double-edged sword, but pretty close to it. Knocking 3 points off the cost is obviously good, and the curved barrel roll is probably good more often than it's bad. The problem, IMO, is that the StarViper is still a trash ship even if it's slightly cheaper. You're still paying the price of top-tier aces but you don't have the things that make top-tier aces good. You don't have defense (regen or green dice), you don't have amazing firepower, your action economy is entirely dependent on mindlink outside of a PS 5 pilot (so far), and the highest PS you can get is PS 7 with a trash ability. And with Fenn Rau and Talonbane available in the same point range can you really justify a StarViper? Those new pilots had better be good, despite their poor PS.

Viktor Hel: now we're getting somewhere. PS 7 at 25 points compared to PS 9 at 28 points seems to be a 1-point cost reduction on top of the title, and you get a pretty good pilot ability. The FFG example with expose is suicidal stupidity, but throw on a stealth device and you get a ship that nobody wants to shoot. The main problem is that you're not exactly threatening anybody with a 3-dice gun and no offensive buffs, so how much do you want to invest into him? You'll probably keep him cheap, mindlink + stealth device + glitterstim is only 28 points. Not bad, but justifiable over Talonbane?

Scum dun stealed our T65 title

The spoiled cards are kind of neat but I think the actual pilots will be the swing factor

Oh, so nice!

That looks to be making a jump to the top of my must-buy list.

I think it'll mostly depend on how well they slot in with existing Scum tricks and shenanigans. There are some strong combos in this faction, so if you can use another platform or make the same tricks a bit cheaper to squeeze something extra in there, I'm all for it.

 Peregrine wrote:
First impressions, other than "ugh, two boring ships" and "do scum really need to get a buff given their tournament performance lately":

Vaksai: clearly an auto-take title, but does it do enough to make a weak starting point into a viable option? It's not going to be much help on generics since you don't want to load them down with upgrades, but on an ace you're easily talking about saving 4-5 points.

My current thinking is that the primary beneficiary of the pack is the generic Khiraxz. So many 1 point upgrades are now free for them:

Attanni mindlink
VI
Crackshot
Tracer missiles
Munition failsafe
BMST
Inertial dampeners

I'm sure there are others, but either of the generics can maintain their basic cost and take any of the above for free (obviously no ept on the marauder). 5 Marauders certainly looks a lot scarier than it did.

Vargas79 wrote:
5 Marauders certainly looks a lot scarier than it did.

Not really. With no EPT (so no mindlink swarm) and no ability to take upgrades that cost more than zero points you can't really do anything with them. Adding free damps to a terrible list doesn't make it viable.

 Peregrine wrote:

Vargas79 wrote:
5 Marauders certainly looks a lot scarier than it did.

Not really. With no EPT (so no mindlink swarm) and no ability to take upgrades that cost more than zero points you can't really do anything with them. Adding free damps to a terrible list doesn't make it viable.

Average is how I'd currently describe 5 cartel marauders. It may not be top tier but it's still 5 ships with 3/4 dice attacks. Throw in an additional movement ability (dampeners) and increase their accuracy (tracers, munitions failsafe, guidance chips) for free and you have a more flexible & efficient list. I'm not sure what "viable" means to you, but if it's something on a par with Rauboats, then no it's not viable (but wasn't ever my point).

I'm thinking about something like this:

Talonbane Cobra (28)
Fearlessness (1)
XX-23 S-Thread Tracers (1)
Glitterstim (2)
Autothrusters (2)
Stealth Device (3)
Engine Upgrade (4)
Vaksai (0)

Black Sun Ace (23)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Cluster Missiles (4)
Engine Upgrade (4)
Autothrusters (2)
Vaksai (0)

Fenn Rau (28)
Push the Limit (3)
Autothrusters (2)
Concord Dawn Protector (1)

Total: 99

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Or this:

Talonbane Cobra (28)
Fearlessness (1)
XX-23 S-Thread Tracers (1)
Glitterstim (2)
Autothrusters (2)
Stealth Device (3)
Engine Upgrade (4)
Vaksai (0)

Black Sun Ace (23)
Fearlessness (1)
Cluster Missiles (4)
Black Market Slicer Tools (1)
Engine Upgrade (4)
Autothrusters (2)
Guidance Chips (0)
Vaksai (0)

Black Sun Soldier (13)
Cluster Missiles (4)
Guidance Chips (0)

Black Sun Soldier (13)
Cluster Missiles (4)
Guidance Chips (0)

Total: 99

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Give me a few minutes, also thinking of something along K-Y....ahem....

 KingmanHighborn wrote:
I'm thinking about something like this:

Better idea: abuse mindlink. Fenn Rau, Manaroo, and Talonbane with mindlink/stealth/engine/autothrusters. Two PS 9 ships delivering 5-dice attacks, with Manaroo feeding focus + TL stacks and letting the aces spend their actions on repositioning.

Loving this pack so far, not so keen on the repainted Viper but the Vaksai looks excellent. These titles are going to be fun especially in epic.

Interesting to see that the SKUs are out of order again as there is a five number gap between the newest wave and this. I would guess that's for the new film released late this year but does that mean the that scum aces will be released after that entire wave? Also C-Roc in three days...

Starviper update:

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2017/7/24/starviper-mk-ii/

new things:

Black Sun Assassin:


Dalan Oberos:


Thweek w/ Conditions:




Ion Dischargers:

Ok, I'm not seeing how, if you reveal a Sloop for Oberos, his pilot ability makes any difference?

Sloop is a K-Turn, so you put the template in the front base guids.

Talon Rolls use the side of the base, so instead of being a 180 for the base, it's only a 90 degree turn instead.

 Azreal13 wrote:
Ok, I'm not seeing how, if you reveal a Sloop for Oberos, his pilot ability makes any difference?

I think it would change your final facing as a standard sloop is just a banked K-turn, with a T-roll you end up at 90 (ish) degrees to your starting facing, with a bit of wiggle room as you get to slide along the side of the base rather than locked to the pegs

Ah, I'm mixing up my Trolls with my Kturns and Sloops, makes sense now.

If they are worth it, that means that they are as pilots, hamstrung as they are by the ship they are on.

I think Thweek will be pretty good. 25pt with a MKII, 26 with both titles. Option to grab either someones PS (Great with the MKII's barrel roll changes) or ridiculous ability, and with Virago he has access to decent action economy with FCS and Glitterstims (Imagine Stealing Corrans ability with both of those).

Bit less exited about Oberos. Good ability, lacks the PS to back it up. VI is an auto-include, meaning that you have no action economy outside Virago.

Ion dischargers could be fun. Also worth looking at Leebo (Crew) on a YT series freighter with smugglers compartments.

... that's actually worth the look.

It's not worth it on Super Dash, however, as Range 1 of your enemy is generally the last place you want to end up.

Oberos seems like he could be fun, but he needs VI no matter what, which is kind of annoying just to maximize the movement potential he offers, but Thweek seems interesting. Throw him Coran's ability, or the Inquisitor, or Darth, might be fun.

Also, good thinking about Leebo with the dischargers, makes it more guaranteed likely to throw around Ion, looks like it's made to work with Pulse Shield Array, but that still doesn't seem super amazing to me honestly. Anyone had luck with that?

Thweek looks like a mindbogglingly bad idea.

Thweek is going to be a double edged sword as he depends so much on what your opponent brings. But still going to love trying the Starviper again.

 KingmanHighborn wrote:
Thweek is going to be a double edged sword as he depends so much on what your opponent brings. But still going to love trying the Starviper again.

If your opponent brings nothing worth stealing than you're in a pretty good place, no? At worst he's 1 point more for a generic StarViper with an EPT that can always bid to go after all of your opponent's ships without having to pay Ace prices and use your EPT for VI or Adaptability. He's absurdly min-maxed, even putting JUST enough points into PS to have access to the Virago title if you so choose.

 KingmanHighborn wrote:
Thweek is going to be a double edged sword as he depends so much on what your opponent brings. But still going to love trying the Starviper again.

I struggle to think of a list Thweek wouldn't be at least decent against, excluding swarms of generics. Meaning, if you run Thweek+2 Aces, you will be in a good position no matter what.

Biggs- Protect said Aces. Trade Integrated Astromech for +1 Agility and Autothrusters.
Inquisitor- 4 dice all ranges.
Omega Leader- Combine with Fire-Control-System via Virago
Dengar- Combine with FCS

Name any half-decent pilot, and Thweek will be really good.

Eh, Even Soontir. With Virago and Adv. Sensors, you could get an action, do your sloop and then get a focus.