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https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2016/7/1/timing-your-attack/


There's some pretty significant stuff in this one, including the reversal of the TLT ruling when using it as the Ghost's bonus attack as well as a lot of cards whose effect is somewhat changed as a result of the clarification of the "after attacking/defending" step.

Link direct to document..

https://images-cdn.fantasyflightgames.com/filer_public/1c/fc/1cfc62b7-6ce3-49a9-ae93-d21326cb9a45/x-wing_faq_v421.pdf

Important ones:

1) Fire Control System now only activates after the last attack from Cluster Missiles/etc.

2) R4 Agromech no longer allows you to acquire target locks after firing a blaster turret or Deadeye'd torpedoes.

3) Ghost/TLT Reversal

4) Tactician/TLT trick no longer works for double stress


And a very Nifty Flowchart.

So the reason that the U-boat fans are all crying doom and gloom is because they can't get the re-roll on the torpedo the first time they fire it? after already getting the modification on the guidance chips? why not just switch over to Proton torpedoes and get two dice modified?

Still, it's not half bad, because you still get your second shot lined up, even if you do a red maneuver.

Now to find the points to put tlt on ghost

I'm glad to see they reversed the no double Gonk ruling (not that it makes the card any better).

Azeroth wrote:
So the reason that the U-boat fans are all crying doom and gloom is because they can't get the re-roll on the torpedo the first time they fire it? after already getting the modification on the guidance chips? why not just switch over to Proton torpedoes and get two dice modified?

My "complaint", if you can call it that, is that FFG failed to find a broken combo (deadeye/R4), were apparently not bright enough to find a way to fix it, so they literally changed the rules just to make it not work. Then pretended that it was meant to be this way all along, even though Blaster Turret / R4 has existed since scum released back in wave ... 4? 5?

"Pick the target of your attack"
-done-
"They aren't the defender yet, so you can't get a target lock on them."

Cause that makes perfect sense...

I have no problem with them making changes to attempt to balance things. Keep in mind that's working against fire control systems/cluster missiles, brobots with fire control and ig88b, and many other things as well.

I am actually really happy with how frequent FFG handles faq. They could be like lames workchop and take 2 years to address anything because they are busy trying to make and sell new models to care if anything is imbalanced. Just be glad x wing isn't made by them and all the models made from fine cast aka Swiss cheese.

The Y-Wing stressbot combo still works, right?

 TheWaspinator wrote:
The Y-Wing stressbot combo still works, right?

Yes. Stressbot triggers on choosing a target, which will happen for both attacks.

My "complaint", if you can call it that, is that FFG failed to find a broken combo (deadeye/R4), were apparently not bright enough to find a way to fix it, so they literally changed the rules just to make it not work. Then pretended that it was meant to be this way all along, even though Blaster Turret / R4 has existed since scum released back in wave ... 4? 5?

"Pick the target of your attack"
-done-
"They aren't the defender yet, so you can't get a target lock on them."

It is, however, consistent with other rulings recently. This isn't so much a "we must nerf bat the Jumpmaster" as "we changed/made specific a lot of orders of actions occurring in the Force Awakens core set" (like the "check pilot stress step" moving a little benefiting Night Beast) and this is the rules catching up.

The fact that spending a token to initiate an attack is not the same as spending it during attacking was already a thing; that's why the FAQ prior to this made it clear that Deadeye could be used to fire a secondary weapon at Dark Curse.

This is the unfortunate corollary of that.


It's far from the end for Jumpmaster players; you have two perfectly functional substitutes for the R4 Agromech:

The Overclocked R4 lets you 'respawn' your focus token, at a cost of having to deal with stress next turn, but for a point less - allowing you to pack the crew slot with one of the nasty 1-point crew available to scum

The Proton Torpedo has a built-in focus effect, and again, swapping plasma to proton instead of taking the R4 saves you a point.

The Recon Specialist costs a point more but gives you a free focus with no strings attached.

I played against U Boats for the first time this week, so full disclosure the nastiness of its previous incarnation may have either been over or underplayed in my mind, but it was exactly as one of Locarno's suggestions (overclocked R4 with a smattering of 1pt crews.)

It was my opponent's first time using it, and my second using my specific list, although I've been practicing Imp aces for a few weeks, so I was practiced with the style, if not the specific components, and we're both experienced X Wing players and tabletop gamers in general.

My impression is that if this the new level for J5K lists, then they've probably got it about right. It was a tough game, and there's no doubt that they still offer plenty offensively and defensively, but I managed to eke out a narrow modified win, largely thanks to Fel sitting on the tail of one and laughing as the J5Kprimary tried to burn through a stealth device, Autothrusters and an evade token each turn, and Omega Leader and Whisper managing to take one of the others out.

I dare say that with a bit more practice on my oppo's part it will get harder still, but even though I don't think it's the most elegant of solutions, I think they've managed to rein the tripjump concept in sufficiently without neutering it completely.

And we should feel so lucky we get nice, constant FAQ like that to further clarify what is already a clear ruleset, rather than see they've just added another layer of incomprehensible gak on top of a deficient ruleset, like some English companies do. (This is not a dig at Too Fat Lardies, I love their games.)

locarno24 wrote:

It is, however, consistent with other rulings recently. This isn't so much a "we must nerf bat the Jumpmaster" as "we changed/made specific a lot of orders of actions occurring in the Force Awakens core set" (like the "check pilot stress step" moving a little benefiting Night Beast) and this is the rules catching up.

The fact that spending a token to initiate an attack is not the same as spending it during attacking was already a thing; that's why the FAQ prior to this made it clear that Deadeye could be used to fire a secondary weapon at Dark Curse.

This is the unfortunate corollary of that.

I don't disagree, I just would put forward that it was an unnecessary change. Dark Curse's ability could easily have reworded to "During the Modify Attack Dice Step" if they wanted to remain consistent with other similar abilities, while still keeping the R4 as functionally intended (as per FFG's own article).

locarno24 wrote:

It's far from the end for Jumpmaster players; you have two perfectly functional substitutes for the R4 Agromech:

The Overclocked R4 lets you 'respawn' your focus token, at a cost of having to deal with stress next turn, but for a point less - allowing you to pack the crew slot with one of the nasty 1-point crew available to scum

The Proton Torpedo has a built-in focus effect, and again, swapping plasma to proton instead of taking the R4 saves you a point.

The Recon Specialist costs a point more but gives you a free focus with no strings attached.

I have never flown the J5K outside of Dengar, so the change itself does nothing to me. I realize I am probably the only person still doing Blaster/R4, but hey if they want to push me back to TLTs so be it.

Also Plasma Torpedoes are cheaper than Protons as it is: 3 vs 4 points. So no, swapping Plasma to Proton doesn't save anything; it costs a point. Swapping down from R4 to OCR4 AND ALSO swapping from Plasma to Proton is doubly pointless as the Proton already has an Eyeball -> Crit use. So if you only end up with 1 eyeball, having the extra focus does not really help offensively. Assuming you are running GChips (a safe bet), you would need 3 eyeballs out of 4 dice for OCR4 to be in its ideal situation.

locarno24 wrote:
The fact that spending a token to initiate an attack is not the same as spending it during attacking was already a thing; that's why the FAQ prior to this made it clear that Deadeye could be used to fire a secondary weapon at Dark Curse.

The problem is that it goes against the original intent of the R4, which was to let blaster turret y-wings have dice modification on their shots. Spend a focus to fire the blaster turret, get a target lock to modify your dice. Granted, nobody actually used that combo, but it does pretty clearly demonstrate what the intent of the R4 was. And rather than just nerf u-boats in a straightforward way they "FAQed" it in an awkward "no really guys, this is how it was supposed to work" kind of way.

The Proton Torpedo has a built-in focus effect, and again, swapping plasma to proton instead of taking the R4 saves you a point.

It does, however, cost you a ton of damage. If you roll two hits and two blanks with proton torps you can only turn one non-hit result into a hit, where with R4 you could re-roll both blanks and then chip one if it didn't re-roll into a hit. So that's lower average damage, and then you don't get the bonus shield damage that made plasma torps effectively a 5-dice weapon with a near-100% hit rate.

The Recon Specialist costs a point more but gives you a free focus with no strings attached.

This is a rather significant difference, since it means you can no longer take 3x u-boats in a 100 point list.

Also Plasma Torpedoes are cheaper than Protons as it is: 3 vs 4 points. So no, swapping Plasma to Proton doesn't save anything; it costs a point. Swapping down from R4 to OCR4 AND ALSO swapping from Plasma to Proton is doubly pointless as the Proton already has an Eyeball -> Crit use.

That's what I was trying to say; Swapping from "having an R4 agromech with plasma torps" to "having Proton torps and no astromech" saves a point.

This is a rather significant difference, since it means you can no longer take 3x u-boats in a 100 point list.

Agreed. But it is a possibility for at least one Jumpmaster, since they would normally have a point spare in 'traditional' configuration.

It does, however, cost you a ton of damage. If you roll two hits and two blanks with proton torps you can only turn one non-hit result into a hit, where with R4 you could re-roll both blanks and then chip one if it didn't re-roll into a hit.

It only really matters if you roll more than two focuses and less than two hits.

If you get a non-hit (focus or blank), you have the same odds that it's a focus result rather than a blank as you have converting it from a non-hit to a hit with a reroll, and you still have guidance chips to auto-modify one result.

With a focus token, it's exactly the same. With a proton torpedo (or any other "change one" result) it's not as good, but it is not that bad a substitute.

then you don't get the bonus shield damage that made plasma torps effectively a 5-dice weapon with a near-100% hit rate.

Now that one I can't argue with. The loss of the plasma effect is a shame; especially against less agile big targets. At the same time, protons do give you (dramatically) improved odds of criticals, so there are compensations (which is why a some people used that 'spare point' to change plasma to proton on one ship, giving them a 'critical hit' after plasma burns shields down).

Swapping down from R4 to OCR4 AND ALSO swapping from Plasma to Proton is doubly pointless as the Proton already has an Eyeball -> Crit use.

Completely agree.

I wasn't suggesting both, but playing tunes to fit three 'more or less as good' jumpmasters in.

Previously, the simple version of the list you'd have is:

Jumpmaster 1 - Plasma, R4 Agromech, [Stuff]
Jumpmaster 1 - Plasma, R4 Agromech, [Stuff]
Jumpmaster 1 - Plasma, R4 Agromech, [Stuff]

and either a 1 point initiative bid, one ship with protons, or one 1-point crew. Most people used devious variations of this in practice, though (swapping out an extra munitions for a feedback array, for example)

My comment is that you can do a sort of 'points neutral' version

Jumpmaster 1 - Plasma, Overclocked R4, [Stuff]
Jumpmaster 1 - Plasma, Recon Specialist, [Stuff]
Jumpmaster 1 - Plasma, Overclocked R4, [Stuff]

Or one ship could give up its 'extra munitions' reload to give the other two recon specialists (and then take an overclocked on that one to save points). Or whatever.

I'm not saying the Jumpmaster hasn't got harder to use. But you can work around it.