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Some Cool stuff here.

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2016/1/12/tricks-traps-and-tractor-beams/


















Automatically Appended Next Post:
This looks like a very aggressive upgrade pack.

4-LOMM [Crew]+Electronic Baffle looks like a reasonably cheap way to hurt somebody like Soontir Fel. Heck, put 4-LOM on a large ship and you are laughing off those Ion tokens.

Zuckuss [Crew] I suspect will function like R3-A2- you put it on someone who doesn't mind stress and completely stop your opponent from dodging. Combines nicely with Wired.

Adaptability- Free stuff is always good. Want to see the rules for dual cards- do you have to choose which version you use at the start of the game, or can you flip them around as needed?

Tractor Beam- Being able to mess with your opponents ships, as well as reduce their agility is amazing for one point. Defender/D just got even better. Also, Mandatory comment about Tansarii Point Veteran in a heavy Scyk with a tractor beam and Adaptability.

Since I can never see a reason you would want to permanently decrease your own Pilot Skill, I can only guess that Dual Cards have to be played across ships in pairs. So you'd lower the PS of one ship to increase the PS of another ship. Which is dumb, because VI is 1 point. Scarce is the fleet that can't scavenge up 1 point for +2 PS that will go with Adaptability.

And Tractor Beam Scyk's will be garbage. Because the Scyk is a garbage ship regardless of what you put on it. A TPV w/ Title and TB comes in at 20 points. For a 2H/1S ship that might not even have a rock to throw your opponent onto. I can almost get 2 Zs for that cost.

4-Lom's Crew Card is pretty great for ships like the Firespray or Y-V666 though.

There's been a lot of speculatoin about how the Dual cards work (that maybe they were double-sided). The explanation that makes the most sense to me is that there are two distinct Adaptability cards, and that if you use one, then you must also use the other somewhere else in the list. This would justify it's cost zero: you make one ship better, another worse. I'm personally hoping that it's a double-sided card that you can flip at the beginning of each turn, to give you the option of blocking or arc-dodging.

The tractor beam looks like it's going to be a meta-defining card. Re-positioning enemy ships after they have moved is strong. Keep on the lookout for ships with cannon upgrades that can also be PS9+

Zuckuss Crew is going to be a strong choice on Scum ships that don't need actions. A Generic G-1A /w Zuckuss and Fire Control System is a simple combo that will grant re-rolls for your attacks, and force re-rolls on your defender (sucks to be a Phantom). Note that there is no restrictions on using it when already stressed - you can just keep stacking stress turn after turn.

4-Lom crew is more situational, but has obvious applications against ships who rely on tokens to survive. Self-ion is a big downside, but it's only one point. Fun combo: pair this with feedback array, and ignore the second self-ion (since it just clears next turn).

4-Lom pilot seems obviously good, especially with all the red that's on the G-1A dial. Zuckuss crew seems less useful to me. Yes, 1 extra attack dice is better than 1 extra defense, but... that's it?

I'm curious how much the generic pilots will cost. The dial is very similar to a B-Wing (different k-turns, and the straight maneuvers are white and green), as are the stats. It retains the System and Crew slot that makes the B-Wing so strong, gains the valuable Illicit slot, but loses Cannons (not always used, but sometime) and torpedoes (hardly used, no big loss). It loses Barrel Roll in favor of Evades, meaning the ship can't play the same maneuvering and blocking games that B-Wings could, but does have a superior defensive option. The big reveal will be if there is a Veteran Generic pilot with an EPT - that would be a very interesting ship for scum.

 DanielBeaver wrote:
I'm curious how much the generic pilots will cost. The dial is very similar to a B-Wing (different k-turns, and the straight maneuvers are white and green), as are the stats. It retains the System and Crew slot that makes the B-Wing so strong, gains the valuable Illicit slot, but loses Cannons (not always used, but sometime) and torpedoes (hardly used, no big loss). It loses Barrel Roll in favor of Evades, meaning the ship can't play the same maneuvering and blocking games that B-Wings could, but does have a superior defensive option. The big reveal will be if there is a Veteran Generic pilot with an EPT - that would be a very interesting ship for scum.

I find the lack of cannon slot kind of funny, given the tractor beam is a cannon. So the only way to use the card is to use the Mist Hunter title (which naturally is unique). So there is no way (so far anyway) to equip a couple generics with TBs.

As for a generic with an EPT, I would certainly hope so given Adaptability is an EPT and comes in the set. Then again, like I just said, you get a cannon card on a ship that doesn't even have a cannon slot innately, so...


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Direct comparison of the movement dial to a B wing:



It trades the speed 2 K-Turn for the pair of speed 3 and 4 instead.
The straight 4 is white instead of red, and the straight 3 is green instead of white.

So overall the dial is a little nicer, but the swap from Barrel Roll to Evade is definitely felt; essentially the worse maneuver dial is partly made up for by the Barrel Roll action. The G1-A doesn't have that.

In what seems to be a common trend for scum ships, it also has more hull and less shields than its rebel counterpart (see: Kihraxz vs. X-Wing).

We'll see I guess. I was honestly far more interested in a Jumpmaster preview than the G-1A, but I'll take what I can get at this point.

Happy Happy Joy Joy, considered thinks to follow

 DanielBeaver wrote:

4-Lom crew is more situational, but has obvious applications against ships who rely on tokens to survive. Self-ion is a big downside, but it's only one point. Fun combo: pair this with feedback array, and ignore the second self-ion (since it just clears next turn).

4-Lom pilot seems obviously good, especially with all the red that's on the G-1A dial. Zuckuss crew seems less useful to me. Yes, 1 extra attack dice is better than 1 extra defense, but... that's it?

I'm curious how much the generic pilots will cost. The dial is very similar to a B-Wing (different k-turns, and the straight maneuvers are white and green), as are the stats. It retains the System and Crew slot that makes the B-Wing so strong, gains the valuable Illicit slot, but loses Cannons (not always used, but sometime) and torpedoes (hardly used, no big loss). It loses Barrel Roll in favor of Evades, meaning the ship can't play the same maneuvering and blocking games that B-Wings could, but does have a superior defensive option. The big reveal will be if there is a Veteran Generic pilot with an EPT - that would be a very interesting ship for scum.

1) You an't combine feedback array and 4-LOM. You don't modify dice with Feedback array.

2) Zuckuss [Pilot] looks like he'll be great in a combo with 4-LOM [Crew], and maybe Electronic Baffle. Use Zuckuss to add dice, and modify them with Target lock/Focus. Then deny your opponent the ability to modify their evade dice with 4-LOM. They get 3/8 of an evade extra, you get 3/4 of a hit extra.

3) My guess is that this guy is going to cost 1 point less than the B-wing, since that seems to be the trend with Scum ships.

The ship looks to be better overall in comparison to a B-Wing if you'll only end up flying one in a squad. This is because of the title which would give it a barrel-roll action and tractor beam for a 1 point cost. The movement dial is also a little bit better and the native crew slot on the ship helps make it seem like a good deal for the price.

I can see this ship definitely being playable but how much so I'm not sure.

On an unrelated note: the PS5 generic does have an EPT, you can see a sliver of the icon poking out.

 Crazy_Carnifex wrote:
1) You an't combine feedback array and 4-LOM. You don't modify dice with Feedback array.

You're right.

3) My guess is that this guy is going to cost 1 point less than the B-wing, since that seems to be the trend with Scum ships.

I'm trying to remember my mathwing but I think that would put it's jousting efficiency above 100% (assuming the predicted jousting value doesn't vary too much from the B-Wing). That might make it a bit too good. Does this seem like an overly strong list?

Generic G-1A Pilot (21)
Outlaw Tech (2)
Fire-Control System (2)

Generic G-1A Pilot (21)
Outlaw Tech (2)
Fire-Control System (2)

Generic G-1A Pilot (21)
Outlaw Tech (2)
Fire-Control System (2)

Generic G-1A Pilot (21)
Outlaw Tech (2)
Fire-Control System (2)


Total: 100

Bossk [Pilot]
-Zuckuss [Crew]
-4-LOM [Crew]
-Mangler Cannon

41 points total. Shoot, deny focus, re-roll successful Evades. Massive Alpha-strike potential, for fairly modest cost. K-4 droid can hang around to help you keep the pressure on while you clear off the massive amount of stress you acquire.

Edit: For extra fun, add Crack shot.

I still think the lowest point cost of G-1A will be 22 points since it's a pilot skill of 3. The 22 point B-wing has a 2 PS.

I had it at 23 pts in my estimation, since they like to jack with scum faction and always make it a bit harder to use our ships. I just hope we can keep up with the defenders and whatnot. Playing scum, I always feel like I'm playing 92 pts against 100 pts, like my pilots and ships aren't quite as good as the Imps and Rebs

I do like the cheap crew to take and hope that Boba crew is also useful and reasonably costed. I'm hoping the Grok droid regenerates somehow, though that may be broken on dengars ship

IMO:

Dial: not bad. It compares pretty well with the b-wing, better greens but (IMO) a weaker k-turn. And the same rules will apply, it's a liability if you don't have advanced sensors but with advanced sensors to mitigate the drawbacks of red maneuvers it's pretty good. Overall I think it's a neutral factor, not really a big asset or liability compared to other ships.

Tractor beam: obviously powerful, especially for the point cost. It requires more setup work than an ion cannon to do any meaningful damage, but in the right spot it can be absolutely crippling. On the other hand, the ion cannon is a lot more straightforward so I think it's still going to see plenty of use. And at only one point, "free" on the Mist Hunter, it's not a big deal if you use your primary weapon most of the time. But on the TIE defender it's going to be incredibly powerful since you get the movement control of the tractor beam and a 3-4 dice primary weapon shot against reduced agility. Vessery is going to love it.

4-LOM: wow. We had this already, but it's nice to see the translation confirmed. Take stress to gain an advantage (whether PTL, red maneuvers, etc), then give that stress to an enemy ship. You get the power you paid stress for while keeping your whole dial open, your opponent gets stressed for nothing in return. The only real problem is that he's a lot more expensive than other control options without being more durable.

Zuckuss (crew): cheap, but for a good reason. Stressing your own ships is a high price to pay, and taking multiple stress tokens is usually a suicidally bad idea. So you're usually going to be limited to forcing a single re-roll, and only if you don't use red maneuvers/PTL/etc. If you're optimistic that's +1 damage, but I don't think that compares very well to the added damage of using PTL for a target lock + focus stack, a K4 droid in the crew slot to do the same, etc. He is cheap though...

4-LOM (crew): cheap, but for a good reason. Stressing your own ships is bad, ionizing them is so much worse. You almost have to guarantee a dead ship in return if you're going to use his ability, which means he's going to be sitting idle most of the time. And crew slots are too valuable to spend on marginal abilities. The only time I'd even consider 4-LOM is if points are really tight and I can't take anything better.

Adaptability: cheap, but for a good reason. Costing zero points is barely relevant since the real cost is using up your EPT slot. Veteran instincts gives you +2 PS for the same slot, and +2 PS is almost always going to be better than +1 PS with the option to swap it for -1 PS. This may see a bit of use if you can change modes every turn, which would let you get +1 PS most of the time but swap to quick -1 PS to move first and avoid a block. But even then VI is going to be a much better option most of the time.

Electronic baffle: good ability, terrible upgrade slot. This is actually a much better ability than it seems at first glance. A stress or ion token will very often cause you to suffer more than one additional damage on the following turn since your movement is predictable and/or you lose your actions. Taking one damage immediately to avoid that future damage is a pretty good deal. The fatal problem is that it occupies the same upgrade slot as advanced sensors and fire control system, two extremely powerful upgrades. I can't see many people being willing to give up powerful upgrades that are consistently good in every matchup to get a situational counter that isn't even an auto-win when your opponent brings ion/stress control.

It's worth mentioning that 4LOMs ability works on any ship not just opponents.

I'm not sold on the G1A competitively but it does look like a lot of fun. The tractor beam however is a very nice addition to the game and is certainly going to see use - especially once the TieD title is released and Vessery goes god tier.

The adaptability upgrade is an interesting one. I can't see an immediately good use for it, but at 0 points it shouldn't be powerful. The ability to equalise aces pilot skills might well be worth it. It'll be interesting to see the rules card and any additional abilities or limitations that attach to it.

Very much looking forward to messing about with Tractor Beams (though wish it had been an illicit upgrade or something to make it Scum only).

Originally thought about putting it on my Agressors, but kind of need them to shoot stuff.

Perhaps a Heavy Scyk instead...

EDIT - Yes, that's only 17 points

EDIT - Nah, that's rubbish. The beams would go off at the end of the turn.

The real strength of the Tractor Beam is to force post-maneuver positioning on your opponent's small-based ship; the reduction in agility is just an added bonus.

Flashman wrote:EDIT - Nah, that's rubbish. The beams would go off at the end of the turn.

Not to mention the Scyk is still a pretty bad ship.

ScootyPuffJunior wrote:The real strength of the Tractor Beam is to force post-maneuver positioning on your opponent's small-based ship; the reduction in agility is just an added bonus.

Yeah. You figure a 1 straight boost is generally enough to move someone up one range band. (e.g., range 3 to 2, or 2 to 1) Which means the TIE/d title is going to be nasty. You get to take the TB shot BEFORE your primary weapon, so you can move someone out of Autothrusters or into +1 primary RD. It's sick.

I don't hate my Scyk, but it's admittedly hard to do anything with.

As per my other thread, I like using Serissu as a bodyguard so for the sake of 3 points, I might stick a tractor beam on her for giggles.

 streamdragon wrote:

Flashman wrote:EDIT - Nah, that's rubbish. The beams would go off at the end of the turn.

Not to mention the Scyk is still a pretty bad ship.

ScootyPuffJunior wrote:The real strength of the Tractor Beam is to force post-maneuver positioning on your opponent's small-based ship; the reduction in agility is just an added bonus.

Yeah. You figure a 1 straight boost is generally enough to move someone up one range band. (e.g., range 3 to 2, or 2 to 1) Which means the TIE/d title is going to be nasty. You get to take the TB shot BEFORE your primary weapon, so you can move someone out of Autothrusters or into +1 primary RD. It's sick.

Yeah, it's basically a 2-dice advantage on you main attack if it hits.

Exactly so. Especially with - as peregrine noted - Col. Vessery, because he can get free target locks on both attacks if supported well - which means (a) he's doing serious damage, and (b) leaving the target vulnerable for the rest of his squad to dog-pile it too.

streamdragon wrote:Since I can never see a reason you would want to permanently decrease your own Pilot Skill, I can only guess that Dual Cards have to be played across ships in pairs. So you'd lower the PS of one ship to increase the PS of another ship. Which is dumb, because VI is 1 point. Scarce is the fleet that can't scavenge up 1 point for +2 PS that will go with Adaptability.

It is interesting design space.
Lowering Pilot Skill has been shown to be good for blocking ships. Scum has a lot of those in the form of Z-95's.

 Anpu-adom wrote:

streamdragon wrote:Since I can never see a reason you would want to permanently decrease your own Pilot Skill, I can only guess that Dual Cards have to be played across ships in pairs. So you'd lower the PS of one ship to increase the PS of another ship. Which is dumb, because VI is 1 point. Scarce is the fleet that can't scavenge up 1 point for +2 PS that will go with Adaptability.

It is interesting design space.
Lowering Pilot Skill has been shown to be good for blocking ships. Scum has a lot of those in the form of Z-95's.

True, but how many ships with an EPT slot do you see being used as blocking ships?

Rare, but A-wings come to mind.

 Anpu-adom wrote:
Rare, but A-wings come to mind.

Mostly the blocking A-wings seem to be Prototype pilots, who do not have the EPT. After all, why pay 2 points for a ship that is worse at blocking enemy swarms?

I didn't see it mentioned here, but 4-LOM crew on a big ship has very little downside, especially if the opponent has no ion weapons.

 Anpu-adom wrote:
Rare, but A-wings come to mind.

Maybe something like:

Green Squadron Pilot (19)
Adaptability (-1) (0)
Chardaan Refit (-2)
Autothrusters (2)
A-Wing Test Pilot (0)

Which could vary between PS2 and PS4. You would also want an initiative bid. So for example, against something like a Black Squadron TIE, you could give your opponent initiative, and then be able to selectively choose between moving before or after the TIE. Against something like a PS2 B-Wing, you would take initiative, and be able to do the same thing. Only works in a narrow range band, unfortunately.

I'm more interested in trying it on Darth Vader. The one point I save can be used in an initiative bid against lists with PS10 aces, but also gives me an option early in the game to use Vader as a blocker if the opportunity arises.

Someone was making a point that Ga-1 suffers due to not having barrel rolls, but I am unsure if anyone noticed this:

http://xwing-miniatures.wikia.com/wiki/Mist_Hunter

Mist Hunter title equates to a tractor beam + barrel roll for a net cost of 1 point.

101/100 points: (needs shaving)
Serissu w/ Squad leader, "Heavy Scyk", Tractor Beam
Talonbane Cobra w/ Expose, Engine Upgrade
4-Lom w/ PTL, Advanced Sensors, Engine Upgrade, Tactician, Mist hunter/Tractor-beam

4-Lom can stress the enemies out for days while maneuvering like crazy with help from Serissu if needed. Serissu keeps Talonbane alive. Both tractor beams position enemies for kill-shots by talon.

Possible swaps:
Switch Squad leader for Veteran instincts for a 10 PS tractor beam.
Remove the Title from serissu and instead give Talonbane a glitterstim.

Henshini wrote:
I didn't see it mentioned here, but 4-LOM crew on a big ship has very little downside, especially if the opponent has no ion weapons.

No, it still has a huge drawback, just not as much of one. You'll only be able to use 4-LOM once with your "free" ion token, and you'll be ionized as usual the next time you use him. And some of this advantage is offset by the fact that large ships have a much larger footprint and therefore a much greater chance of the ion maneuver causing a serious problem.

I'm wondering if Dual Cards are Dual Face cards.
One side is the +1 PS, and the other is -1 PS... you can change at the start of each game (maybe each game turn... to be REALLY Adaptable).

 Anpu-adom wrote:
I'm wondering if Dual Cards are Dual Face cards.
One side is the +1 PS, and the other is -1 PS... you can change at the start of each game (maybe each game turn... to be REALLY Adaptable).

I believe hat is the general consensus and it makes the most sense.

The one ship I find myself wondering about for the Electronic Baffle is the Lambda Shuttle - it's very tolerant of damaging itself (the reason it ends up with Vader on board so often!), and this would open up its dial a lot if used in a controlled fashion.

I'm not saying it makes the shuttle devastating (it doesn't) but since I do like flying the giant white space cows every so often for amusement, this adds a lot of options. It means back-to-back hard turns, which lets them dance a lot closer to the board edge, and allows hard turn boost for less points than advanced sensors.

It might also have a use on IG-88D - agressors aren't that tough and you'd have to be careful using it, but two segnor's loops in a row makes the aggressor even more of a bugger to pin down than it already is.