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Made in ca
Huge Hierodule






Outflanking

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2017/11/10/coordinate-your-attack/


















Q: What do you call a Dinosaur Handpuppet?

A: A Maniraptor 
   
Made in au
Missionary On A Mission





Australia

A PS11 Fenn shuttle now with a coordinate ability. Let that sink in for a second....

: 4500pts

Lothlorien: 3500pts
Rohan: 1500pts
Serpent: 2000pts
Modor: 1500pts 
   
Made in us
Douglas Bader






First impressions:

"Generic": let's be honest here, it exists for the coordinate action. At 15 points you're paying 4 points more than a z-95 (a ship that isn't relevant at all in the current game) for +1 HP and a rear arc. That's not a blatantly awful trade to make, but it isn't the kind of thing you're going to rush to put into your list. For ~15-25 points you're buying an extra action on a ~40-50+ point ship that just happens to come with a 2-dice gun attached. You're probably going to want to keep the shuttle cheap and efficient, because points invested here aren't really helping its primary role. Spending your action on another ship every turn means rolling unmodified dice with a stat line that isn't exactly impressive, and no amount of upgrades will solve this.

Fenn Rau: Probably pretty good? PS 11 coordinate (yes, this is the VI meta) is obviously strong, and if the dial is good enough to clear stress every turn the pilot ability is a strong one. With a front and rear arc that's a lot of space covered, and forcing your opponent to roll naked dice is a huge drop in damage output. The only real drawback is that you have no maneuvering actions to set that arc, so the region of denial is going to be very predictable unless the dial is god-tier. Even if you add engine upgrade or (more likely) vectored thrusters you're giving up the coordinate action every time you have to reposition your arc, wasting half the ship's potential every turn. And it needs to be said: 21 points for a PS 11 ship is itself a very significant fact.

Ezra: tanky as hell, and for no action investment. The obvious choice here is going to be R2-D2, since you're doing a green maneuver every turn. For ~25 points you have a regen ship with built-in defensive dice modification, making your buff ability a lot harder to remove from that ace. Sure, damage output is still going to suck, but at least with PTL (if you go that route) you can focus for offense and still coordinate. I'm not 100% convinced that it's worth investing the points over a naked AP-5, but it seems to have potential.

Zeb: trash. It's still a terrible pilot ability, just like it has been on every other version of Zeb. And now you don't even have the redeeming factor of being the cheapest possible option for the ship, the only reason anyone has ever used Zeb in the past. PS 3 vs. PS 1 is irrelevant in the current game, and TBH AP-5's pilot ability is even better than Zeb's. This will likely never see any use.

AP-5: speaking of the cheapest possible ship, here it is. And it's actually fairly good. Taking stress off when you coordinate means that you can use it as a buff ship for PTL aces without having to worry about the timing issues (otherwise you need to receive a coordinate action every turn and PTL off it, before executing your maneuver, so you can clear the stress. If you miss a coordinate you can't PTL that turn), and adds a bit of a counter to stress control effects. Sure, you're tied to inspiring recruits as your crew choice, but it's still cheap. TBH this almost seems so good that it's going to effectively act as pre-nerf Biggs with a more generous range limit, as good luck killing PTL Corran that gets five actions a turn plus regen and doesn't even take stress.

Maul: just no. Dengar costs the same points and gives you the same re-roll (because re-rolling more than one die is really stupid 95% of the time) with no stress penalty. Maybe there's an edge case where this is effective, potentially because you need Dengar somewhere else, but it's hard to see. And the rebel option is way too situational. Just the required combination of ships and upgrades makes it a weird edge case, and that's not worth it for a weaker version of a crew upgrade that doesn't even see all that much play.

Courier droid: trash. Deploying at higher PS isn't worth spending a crew slot, and deploying at PS 8 isn't even relevant in a meta where PS 9 is a low-PS ship. Even if it let you deploy at PS 12 it would still be a bad option. Literally the only reason to ever take this is because it is zero points. If you're willing to spend even a single point on that crew slot then don't even consider this. And even for a zero-point upgrade Chopper is better, so you're left with the extreme edge case of a ship that already has Chopper equipped. IOW, never.

Chopper: not bad. Regen is such a strong mechanic that even a weak regen upgrade like this one requires some consideration. It's clearly not on the level of R2-D2 or R5-P9, but it costs a lot less so it might see some use on a cheap ship that doesn't merit the 3-4 point investment in a better droid. Having to pitch upgrades hurts, but if it's a choice between losing a key upgrade or losing the ship entirely the choice is obvious. And most of the ships that can take Chopper can also take at least 1-2 free upgrades to throw away. For example, on a shuttle you can take guidance chips and the title, giving you two free uses of Chopper without even spending an upgrade slot.

Flight-assist astromech: not bad for a droid not named R2-D2 or R5-P9 or R3-A2. Once you accept the fact that FFG is never going to print another top-tier astromech this one seems really good. Sure, the free repositioning action won't help much on defense, unless you manage to have no targets in arc when you need it, but it makes a big difference in being able to get a shot. And for one point? That's a huge bargain. If you aren't already committed to a different droid this is probably an auto-take, and it starts to raise the question of "are generic x-wings good now".

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/11/11 01:33:48


There is no such thing as a hobby without politics. "Leave politics at the door" is itself a political statement, an endorsement of the status quo and an attempt to silence dissenting voices. 
   
Made in ca
Huge Hierodule






Outflanking

Fenn Rau and AP-5 look like they could be good for situations where you don't have the points to buy another good ship. Fenn Rau throws out a nasty debuff, and AP-5 is a cheap coordinate caddy with an ability that backs that up.

Flight Assist astromech is a great choice for paying the astromech tax on an X-wing. It may not be enough to save it, but I think that I'll give Wedge/Wes a whirl with this.

Courier Droid: Well, if you haven't used a crew slot, it's free. If not, it's kinda meh.

Chopper: Regen is nice, could be useful. The combo with BTL-A4 is interesting, so I think that this guy is worth looking at.

Maul: Maybe combine with Hera Crew? Or Keyan Farlander? Doesn't look good, but feels like something that could be good if you find the right combo.

Q: What do you call a Dinosaur Handpuppet?

A: A Maniraptor 
   
Made in us
Ship's Officer






 Peregrine wrote:

Maul: just no. Dengar costs the same points and gives you the same re-roll (because re-rolling more than one die is really stupid 95% of the time) with no stress penalty. Maybe there's an edge case where this is effective, potentially because you need Dengar somewhere else, but it's hard to see. And the rebel option is way too situational. Just the required combination of ships and upgrades makes it a weird edge case, and that's not worth it for a weaker version of a crew upgrade that doesn't even see all that much play.


Maybe it didn't factor into your assessment, but I think it's worth mentioning that Maul's 2nd ability to remove stress after hitting a target doesn't require you to use him for re-rolls. Since re-rolls are pretty easy to come by these days (and as you said, at little to no penalty), I doubt he'll see much play as an offensive upgrade. However, at least on the Scum side, stress-removal options are pretty slim, which is where I suspect he might find some use.

Ask Not, Fear Not - (Gallery), ,

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

Yeah! Who needs balanced rules when everyone can take giant stompy robots! Balanced rules are just for TFG WAAC players, and everyone hates them.

- This message brought to you by the Dakka Casual Gaming Mafia: 'Cause winning is for losers!
 
   
Made in us
Douglas Bader






 Xca|iber wrote:
Maybe it didn't factor into your assessment, but I think it's worth mentioning that Maul's 2nd ability to remove stress after hitting a target doesn't require you to use him for re-rolls. Since re-rolls are pretty easy to come by these days (and as you said, at little to no penalty), I doubt he'll see much play as an offensive upgrade. However, at least on the Scum side, stress-removal options are pretty slim, which is where I suspect he might find some use.


It's still terrible. 3 points and a crew slot is way too much to pay for the ability to occasionally (but not very often, because you have no dice modification) clear a stress token. 95% of the value is in the offense, the primary value of the stress clearing is the fact that it sometimes lets you use the offensive ability without paying the price for it.

And I disagree that scum don't have much stress removal. Scum have ships with dials full of green maneuvers, which puts them in a better than average position. It's not like rebels or imperials are taking upgrades just to clear stress, even if they theoretically have them.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
 Crazy_Carnifex wrote:
It may not be enough to save it, but I think that I'll give Wedge/Wes a whirl with this.


IMO if it's an x-wing saver it's going to be on the cheap generics. The problem with Wedge/Wes/etc is not the lack of firepower, it's that you're paying ace-level points for a ship that doesn't have ace-level durability. Anything that a shot on you is going to hit, and then you die. And the only way to compensate for this, HP regen, requires spending the astromech slot. And in the case of Wes even if you accept that you have a control ship that dies quickly you're probably better off using R3-A2 to make the control effect as nasty as possible before he dies.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2017/11/11 06:40:18


There is no such thing as a hobby without politics. "Leave politics at the door" is itself a political statement, an endorsement of the status quo and an attempt to silence dissenting voices. 
   
Made in us
Ship's Officer






 Peregrine wrote:
 Xca|iber wrote:
Maybe it didn't factor into your assessment, but I think it's worth mentioning that Maul's 2nd ability to remove stress after hitting a target doesn't require you to use him for re-rolls. Since re-rolls are pretty easy to come by these days (and as you said, at little to no penalty), I doubt he'll see much play as an offensive upgrade. However, at least on the Scum side, stress-removal options are pretty slim, which is where I suspect he might find some use.


It's still terrible. 3 points and a crew slot is way too much to pay for the ability to occasionally (but not very often, because you have no dice modification) clear a stress token. 95% of the value is in the offense, the primary value of the stress clearing is the fact that it sometimes lets you use the offensive ability without paying the price for it.

And I disagree that scum don't have much stress removal. Scum have ships with dials full of green maneuvers, which puts them in a better than average position. It's not like rebels or imperials are taking upgrades just to clear stress, even if they theoretically have them.


Of the Scum ships with crew slots, only the Jumpmaster and Lancer have decent greens, and neither of those would ever benefit from Maul anyway because of their typical builds. I agree that Maul isn't great (he's certainly no pre-nerf Zuckuss), but I think there's going to be a fair niche for him among some of the mid-tier Scum ships.

Ask Not, Fear Not - (Gallery), ,

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

Yeah! Who needs balanced rules when everyone can take giant stompy robots! Balanced rules are just for TFG WAAC players, and everyone hates them.

- This message brought to you by the Dakka Casual Gaming Mafia: 'Cause winning is for losers!
 
   
Made in gb
Battleship Captain




The only real use I can see for maul is ezra and maul together on a wookie gunship:

Theoretically thats a nonstress, non action partial reroll and partial focus on a ship with no ability to target lock and a high priority action.

It is expensive, though.


I can see ezra/wired/gunner/r3a2 being cheap and annoying, too.


Agree on flight assist. Earthshaking its not, but it's certainly a worthy competitor to any other 1 point astromech on something lije the baby blues. Chopper, too - as noted, guidance chips gives you something to throw away after the torps are fired, a nice compromise for a cheap torpedo armed x-wing (who normally have to sacrifice guidance chips for integrated astromech) or a torpedo y-wing (chips, and extra munitions -twice- gives you three shields in your back pocket without taking anything you didn't want anyway).

Termagants expended for the Hive Mind: ~2835
 
   
Made in us
Hurr! Ogryn Bone 'Ead!





Fake Englandland

You could also take a tlt y-wing with bomb loadout, chips and possibly the title card for 3 free shields

Shadowrun is the best game ever. It's the only thing I have ever played in which I have jumped out of a shot out van with a chainsaw to cut a flying drone in half before leveling a building with ANFO assisted by a troll, a dwarf, an elf, and a wizard. 
   
Made in us
The Conquerer






Waiting for my shill money from Spiral Arm Studios

The hilarious thing with chopper is a y-wing can potentially get a ton of free/cheap shields.

Gold Squadron Y-wing
-Extra Munitions(gains a munitions token from itself)
-Bomb Load out(gains a munitions token from EM. No penalty to discarding it either)
-Chips
-Title not a huge deal to discard.
-Turret of choice

6 discards that are very cheap/free and you can discard without much penalty. Only 27 points.

Or put him on an Xwing where he can chuck the Integrated Astromech into space. Or in an Arc170/shuttle where he can chuck crew into space. It's hilarious.


This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2017/11/13 18:05:05


Self-proclaimed evil Cat-person. Dues Ex Felines

Cato Sicarius, after force feeding Captain Ventris a copy of the Codex Astartes for having the audacity to play Deathwatch, chokes to death on his own D-baggery after finding Calgar assembling his new Eldar army.

MURICA!!! IN SPESS!!! 
   
Made in gb
Battleship Captain




The problem with that build is you're buying extra munitions purely for chopper to junk. At that point, you're spending 3 points for action-dependent shield regen....so why not just take R5P9? Chopper stands out as a budget version when you've got cards you don't mind junking anyway (like bomb loadout or post-torpedoes-away guidance chips).


Termagants expended for the Hive Mind: ~2835
 
   
Made in us
The Conquerer






Waiting for my shill money from Spiral Arm Studios

3 points for up to 6 shields. Yes it takes your action, but TLT isn't very dependent on your action use, so you're free to simply regen a shield as you take damage.

Or even flee an initial engagement and spend a couple turns actioning shields back while the opponent is circling back around. You don't have to spend every turn in combat.

R5-P9 also needs a focus token. Which you might spend offensively. It also happens in the end phase instead of the activation phase. Chopper can regen a shield just prior to you getting shot at, which can be much more useful than after the fact regenning.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/11/14 17:52:42


Self-proclaimed evil Cat-person. Dues Ex Felines

Cato Sicarius, after force feeding Captain Ventris a copy of the Codex Astartes for having the audacity to play Deathwatch, chokes to death on his own D-baggery after finding Calgar assembling his new Eldar army.

MURICA!!! IN SPESS!!! 
   
Made in us
Noise Marine Terminator with Sonic Blaster





Lincolnton, N.C.

 Crazy_Carnifex wrote:
Fenn Rau and AP-5 look like they could be good for situations where you don't have the points to buy another good ship. Fenn Rau throws out a nasty debuff, and AP-5 is a cheap coordinate caddy with an ability that backs that up.

Flight Assist astromech is a great choice for paying the astromech tax on an X-wing. It may not be enough to save it, but I think that I'll give Wedge/Wes a whirl with this.

Courier Droid: Well, if you haven't used a crew slot, it's free. If not, it's kinda meh.

Chopper: Regen is nice, could be useful. The combo with BTL-A4 is interesting, so I think that this guy is worth looking at.

Maul: Maybe combine with Hera Crew? Or Keyan Farlander? Doesn't look good, but feels like something that could be good if you find the right combo.


Hey you're right he does make BTL-A4 useful.

My beloved 40K armies:
Children of Stirba
Order of Saint Pan Thera


DA:80S++G+M++B++IPw40K(3)00/re-D+++A++/eWD233R---T(M)DM+ 
   
Made in us
Douglas Bader






 Grey Templar wrote:
3 points for up to 6 shields. Yes it takes your action, but TLT isn't very dependent on your action use, so you're free to simply regen a shield as you take damage.

Or even flee an initial engagement and spend a couple turns actioning shields back while the opponent is circling back around. You don't have to spend every turn in combat.

R5-P9 also needs a focus token. Which you might spend offensively. It also happens in the end phase instead of the activation phase. Chopper can regen a shield just prior to you getting shot at, which can be much more useful than after the fact regenning.


Sorry, but you're completely wrong on this. Chopper is useless if you're paying for upgrades just to throw them away, R5-P9 is better by a huge margin at 3 points of investment. If you treat R5-P9's ability as "action: recover a shield at the end of the turn" and declare that you will never, under any circumstances, spend that focus token on anything but R5-P9 then you have duplicated the effect of Chopper except for the timing of the regen (ok, and edge cases involving token removal). But, unlike Chopper, you have the ability to decide that you'd rather spend your action on a focus token instead of regen, and convert the banked shield regen back into a normal focus token. For example, if you roll two {eye} results on your green dice you can spend the focus token to stop two HP worth of damage instead of recovering one HP. And even the timing issue is kind of a double-edged sword. If you go into the turn with full HP then Chopper gives you nothing, while R5-P9 allows you to queue up that shield regen for the end of the turn, after you take a hit.

The actual reason why Chopper works on that y-wing is that extra munitions is not just Chopper fodder, it's a legitimate upgrade for its own sake. You're taking a bomb of some kind, and EM lets you get two shots with it. Getting +2 HP through Chopper (plus another +2 HP from bomb loadout and +1 from chips) is on top of the normal benefit of EM. That's +5 HP from a bomb y-wing before you have to discard a single relevant card.

There is no such thing as a hobby without politics. "Leave politics at the door" is itself a political statement, an endorsement of the status quo and an attempt to silence dissenting voices. 
   
 
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