Beginner's Guide to Factions: Rebels

[Updated for Wave 11]

This series describes the strengths and weaknesses of the factions in X-Wing, with this article covering the Rebel faction. Rather than general statements like "Rebels are more supportive and Imperials are more self-sufficient" (which isn't even true), I'll highlight the factions' strongest pilots and upgrades as well as some of its weaknesses. This can help you choose which factions you want to play and which expansions to prioritize.

For the other two factions, check out the links below:
Imperials
Scum

1. Regeneration

Rebels have the best ways of recovering shields in the game. Regeneration effectively mitigates 1 damage every round. It's better than an evade action since it can recover damage taken on previous rounds. Combined with other defensive abilities, these ships can be extremely hard to kill, especially in the end-game. If focused early, a common strategy is to run the damaged ship away and bring it back into the fight at full shields.

• R2-D2 (astromech; Red Core Set) [1][2][3][4]. One of the best cards in the game. It single-handedly makes some of the more expensive Rebel ships viable. R2-D2 is the most reliable regeneration card since it'll always work after doing a green maneuver.
• Miranda Doni (pilot; K-Wing) [1][2][3]. Twin Laser Turret has special synergy with her pilot ability, since she can recover a shield on the first shot and take the second shot with the full 3 dice. Unfortunately, running away to regenerate with Miranda is more difficult since she needs to shoot to regenerate. Twin Laser Turret doesn't work at range 1, but she can spend a shield to make a 4-dice primary attack instead.
• R5-P9 (astromech; Rebel Transport epic) [1][2]. This isn't seen nearly as often as R2-D2 since the focus token is a large cost, but it works with some ships. The main selling point is the ability to use both R5-P9 and R2-D2 in the same squad. It has special synergy with Poe Dameron since he usually won't have to spend his focus token. It lets him regenerate while doing white maneuvers and is a point cheaper than R2-D2, but it does make him more vulnerable to bumping and stress.

2. Anti-Focus Fire

Rebels have many ships which are vulnerable to focus fire. Fortunately, they have several mechanics which keeps your opponent's damage away from your crucial ships, and those extra turns can make all the difference.

• Biggs Darklighter (X-Wing; Red Core Set) [1][2]. Despite flying a weaker ship, Biggs Darklighter is one of the most powerful pilots in the game. I like to keep Biggs cheap since he will die quickly, but sometimes you can get value out of R2-D2. Biggs is sometimes seen with a different astromech like R3-A2 or M9-G8 to provide utility.
• Lowhhrick (pilot; Auzituck Gunship) [1]. Lowhhrick's ability helps keep friendly ships alive. Equip him with either Draw Their Fire or Selflessness to make him better at this job, and Wookiee Commandos or Rey keeps his offense acceptable while he takes Reinforce actions.
• Captain Rex (pilot; Sabine's TIE Fighter) [1]. Captain Rex's ability is annoying enough to encourage enemy ships to kill him first. He's best with Biggs to force enemy ships to lose the attack die. Captain Rex doesn't need upgrades, but can take some utility upgrades like Tactician, Jyn Erso, Jan Ors, or Black Market Slicer Tools.
• Selflessness (elite pilot talent; Auzituck Gunship) [1][2]. Despite its single-use nature, this is more reliable than Draw Their Fire. It can go on many pilots, but the best candidates are include Jess (who opponents usually don't want to shoot first) and ships which regenerate who don't need their elite pilot talent slot for something else.

3. Stress control

Stress is a strong counter to ships which rely on their actions. Not only do Rebels have the cheapest options for stressing enemy ships, they have the best ways of giving enemy ships two stress in one turn. A ship with one stress can do a green maneuver and still take an action next turn, but a ship with two stress will almost never get an action next turn.

• R3-A2 (astromech; Rebel Transport epic) [1][2]. Both of these example ships can shoot twice in one turn and stress the target with each shot. Note the Stresshog only stresses their opponent with the primary attack and the first shot of the Twin Laser Turret, and doesn't stress a third time on the second Twin Laser Turret shot. Braylen wants to miss with the first attack, and you can make it easier by not to adding the extra attack dice from the title for that attack.

4. Tanky 1-agility ships

The C-3PO crew greatly improves the tankiness of ships with 1-agility. By guessing 0 evades, it guarantees a ship with 1 agility will get at least one evade result every round. It's strongest when combined with other defensive measures like the evade action and/or regeneration. Ships with C-3PO and another source of damage mitigation are very hard to take down in a 1v1 endgame.

• C-3PO (crew; Tantive IV epic and promo) [1][2]. Han mitigates two damage per round by taking the evade action, and Norra can mitigate three damage a round thanks to her ability and regeneration.

5. Bombs

Bombs are interesting because they let you deal damage without having to get through defense dice. Rebels get the best use out of bombs thanks to Sabine Wren (crew; Ghost) and K-Wings with the Advanced SLAM modification. Sabine deals one damage to a nearby ship when a friendly bomb detonates, even if the bomb was dropped by another friendly ship. This often doubles the damage of a bomb and is especially deadly against evasive ships with low health. Furthermore, K-Wings with Advanced SLAM have unparalleled flexibility in where they drop their "action" bombs (see below).

There are two types of bombs: ones dropped upon revealing your dial ("reveal bombs") and ones dropped as an action ("action bombs"). You'll probably want at least one of each. Reveal bombs are better if you move after your opponent, and action bombs are better if you move before your opponent. You want to drop these bombs directly on enemy ships or when you otherwise know they'll hit. The most popular reveal bombs are Seismic Charges, Ion Bombs, and Thermal Detonators. The most popular action bombs are Cluster Mines, Conner Net, and Proximity Mines. Note a ship can only drop one bomb per turn, no matter what type, and using the SLAM action doesn't let you to drop a reveal bomb since no dial was revealed.

• Miranda Doni (pilot; K-Wing) [1]. Miranda is used when you want a closer with bombs. Her Twin Laser Turret gives her consistent offense after her bombs are expended, and her pilot ability keeps her healthy. Choose the bombs according to your preference.
• Captain Nym (pilot; Scurrg H-6 Bomber) [1][2]. Captain Nym's ability combined with Bomblet Generator gives you unparalleled zone control. The first build is a kiting build. This Nym gives opponents the unenviable choice between chasing and eating a bunch of bomblets or slowly being whittled away by the Twin Laser Turret. The second build is a close-range brawler. Advanced Sensors gives you more options to drop bomblets and to arc-dodge or bump to avoid shots. The main downside of Captain Nym is he wants another ship to carry Sabine Wren crew.
• Warden Squadron Pilot (pilot; K-Wing) [1]. The generic K-Wing pilot lets you run multiple bombers at the cost of a weak attack. You can have up to three if you use cheaper bombs. If you already have Sabine (crew) in your list, they can take Intelligence Agent to make bombing runs easier.
• Ahsoka Tano (pilot; Sabine's TIE Fighter) [1]. Most lists can't attack Ahsoka until she's your only ship left thanks to the Captured TIE modification. A common strategy against bombing lists is to kill the ship with Sabine first, and the Captured TIE ability makes that strategy impossible for lists who don't have a pilot skill 9+ ship. It also lets her freely run into the enemy formation and generally be a nuisance. Her weakness is requiring a ship to die in close range before she can drop a second bomb.

6. Arc-Dodgers

Rebels don't have great cheap arc-dodgers, but they've got several options in the 40- to 60-point range. They tend to be weak to turrets since they don't have enough dice to avoid damage and can't regenerate. On the other hand, they tend to punch harder than most of the cheaper arc-dodgers.

• Dash Rendar (pilot; YT-2400) [1][2]. Dash Rendar's ability makes him incredibly hard to pin down by ships with lower pilot skill. Combined with Push the Limit and Engine Upgrade, he's one of the best arc-dodgers in the game. Dash has a weakness against ships with higher pilot skill, and he only has a pilot skill of 7. Because of his cost and inability to use Gunner, he often uses the Heavy Laser Cannon. Ships with higher pilot skill can exploit the "donut hole" by closing in after Dash commits to his position. The first build has the best arc-dodging capabilities, and basically has his whole dial available every turn. The second build trades maneuverability for more tokens, but keeps Engine Upgrade.
• BB-8 (astromech; Blue Core Set) [1][2][3]. The ability to barrel roll before your movement is decent for arc-dodging, but being able to use it for extra bonuses pushes it over the hump power-wise. The first uses it to power Intensity, which lets Poe boost or target lock with his normal action while keeping his focus. The second and third builds can use BB-8 to trigger Push the Limit. Combined with boost, it gives these ships a great deal of flexibility.
• Captain Nym (pilot; Scurrg H-6 Bomber) [1][2]. Captain Nym can't barrel roll and boost in the same round, but his high pilot skill and zone control with bomblets makes him hard to pin down. Both of these builds mentioned earlier works great as arc-dodgers.
• Hera Syndulla (pilot; Ghost) [1]. "Heragator" wants to stay at range 3 of one enemy ship at a time and chip away at them with Accuracy Corrector Twin Laser Turret shots while staying safe with C-3PO and evade actions. She can turn a 5-K into any hard turn, and a 2-straight into any straight or bank maneuver. Combined with Ahsoka Tano (see below), she can boost after all ships have moved.
• Jake Farrell (pilot; Rebel Aces) [1]. Jake is the only Rebel arc-dodger in the low 30-point range. Unfortunately, his 2 attack dice means he contributes very little offense outside of the one Proton Rockets attack. Other builds substitute Intensity or Juke for Veteran Instincts, but these significantly limit his ability to set up the Proton Rockets attack against ships with pilot skill 8 or 9.
• Ahsoka Tano (pilot; Sabine's TIE Fighter) [1][2]. Ahsoka isn't an arc-dodger herself, but she lets arc-dodgers reposition after everyone's moved. She can also give actions to a ship which bumped. You can run her light or with bombs.

7. Heavy-hitting ships

All faction have heavy-hitting ships, but Rebels have the most access to ships that can throw out 4 or 5 attack dice with consistent dice modification.

• VCX-100 (ship; Ghost) [1][2][3]. The first build is a relatively cheap support ship with a scary offense and the ability to K-Turn to its heart's content. While expensive, the second and third builds get an extra turret shot at the end of combat and are effectively two ships in one. The second build also gets an extra attack die from Finn, although it's only effective when rerolled with target lock.
• Dash Rendar (pilot; YT-2400) [1][2][3]. Dash is one of the heaviest-hitting ships with a 360-degree turret. Besides the arc-dodging builds with Push the Limit and Engine Upgrade, you can run a cheaper Dash with Lone Wolf just for his firepower.
• Rey (YT-1300 pilot; Heroes of the Resistance) [1]. Finn synergizes nicely with Rey's ability to give her a consistent 4-dice attack against targets in arc. Expertise helps with Rey's action economy since she craves focus tokens for both offense and defense. The new Millennium Falcon title with Kanan lets Rey turn around without stress so she can keep targets in arc and still get use out of Expertise and focus.
• Norra Wexley (pilot; ARC-170) [1][2]. Norra's ability adds an extra hit when you have target lock and focus. The first build is the standard tanky build, while the second has some fun repositioning options.
• Miranda Doni (pilot; K-Wing) [1]. Miranda's back, and this time she uses her ability to make a 5-dice Homing Missile attack with focus and target lock on the first round of combat. If you have extra points, you can add Extra Munitions, bombs, and Sabine Wren, or instead give her C-3PO for more durability.
• Corran Horn (pilot; E-Wing) [1][2]. Corran doesn't have a 4- or 5-dice attack in the traditional sense, but his double tap ability lets him do incredible burst damage. You usually don't want to use it at Range 3 against an opponent that still has defensive tokens. Instead, you want to use it when you wouldn't have a shot next round anyway, ideally against a target at Range 1 who doesn't have tokens. He's extremely strong in a 1v1 endgame. However, Corran has some weaknesses. He has trouble turning around, he's reliant on green dice, and he's especially vulnerable to effects that deal damage cards through shields.
• Jan Ors (pilot; HWK-290) [1][2]. Jan Ors doesn't hit hard by herself, but she pairs well with a hard-hitting ship to give them a 5th or 6th attack die. She dies quickly when built cheap, but Chewbacca and a stack of focus tokens significantly improve her durability.

8. Cheap damage-dealers

Rebels have several options for ships with 3 attack and enough health to survive a turn of being shot at an affordable cost.

• Gold Squadron Pilot (pilot; Y-Wing) [1]. The Twin Laser Turret is the most efficient turret in the game, and putting it on a Y-Wing makes for a cheap and efficient damage dealer.
• Blue Squadron Pilot (pilot; B-Wing and Rebel Aces) [1][2]. The Blue Squadron Pilot is cheap and efficient by itself. Adding Fire-Control System is a strong option that greatly improves its offense assuming it can keep shooting the same target.
• Blue Squadron Pathfinder (pilot; U-Wing) [1][2]. The U-Wing costs 1 point more than the B-Wing and trades a more awkward flight pattern for 1 more agility die. Like the B-Wing, it can be run with or without Fire-Control System. You should strongly consider adding Hera Syndulla (crew) to this ship so it can stay in place forever.

Rebel weaknesses

There are two things Rebels don't do well. First, its closers tend to be more expensive, starting at 37 points with strong reasons to go even higher. The other two factions have closers under 35 points. These extra points make a big difference when building lists.

Second, Rebels don't have a full-featured small-base arc-dodging ace. The A-Wing almost fits this profile, but its 2-dice attack means it can't reliably provide enough offense to justify spending ~30 points on it. Some small-base Rebel arc-dodging ships exist, but they tend to be too fragile for their cost. Imperials have many options, and Scum have the Protectorate Starfighter. That means most small-base Rebel ships want to fly at the enemy ships, and have limited options if they are outgunned.

Beginner's Guide to Your First 100-Point List

Building your first 100-point list as a newbie can be pretty intimidating. I've got some guidelines for building lists, but they might be too abstract for your first game. I've also made some tournament-worthy budget lists, but they can be too complicated for your first game. I haven't been able to find a simple list-building resource for complete beginners with limited collections.

This article hopefully fills that gap by giving you some simple guidelines for your first 100-point list. Basically, pick a combination of ships so you have enough offense, add some upgrade cards that won't make your list worse, and you'll be good to go for some casual games! These guidelines are intended to make it harder to completely mess up your first 100-point list. These aren't ironclad rules, and there are tournament-level lists that break some of these guidelines.

Here's a rough priority list for how to spend your points.

1. Spend on ships so your squad fits one of the recommended categories. Upgrades which improve your ships' offense should also be prioritized first (e.g. turret upgrades).
2. Spend points to upgrade to pilots with strong abilities.
3. Spend points on upgrades which provide extra offensive or defensive actions.
4. Spend points on extra ships.
5. Spend points on pilot skill upgrades for pilots which already have PS 7 or higher.
6. Spend points on other upgrades which can't hurt you (e.g. the survivability upgrades) or to increase your generic pilots' pilot skill.

I'll explain these in more detail below, but first, let's look at some examples. These examples use both Core Sets plus one expansion (in parenthesis). As you read further, pick one of these lists and see if you can explain how it fits my suggestions.

Beginner Rebels 1: Poe Biggs Miranda (K-Wing)
Beginner Rebels 2: Poe Biggs B A (Rebel Aces)
Beginner Rebels 3: T-70 Biggs Chewie (Millennium Falcon)

Beginner Imperials 1: TIE Aces Swarm (TIE/fo Fighter; use a TIE/fo from the Core Set for Omega Leader)
Beginner Imperials 2: Ryad Tomax Miniswarm (Imperial Veterans)
Beginner Imperials 3: Oicunn Miniswarm (VT-49 Decimator)

Ships

Start by picking your ships. There are good and bad ships with the same attack value, but for now, focus on bringing enough offense. Even fragile ships can be salvaged by a couple rounds of good flying, while it's extremely difficult to outfly your opponent over the course of many rounds to make up for a lack of offense.

Pick a squad of ships which fit one of these categories:

1. Three ships with 3 attack dice.
2. Two ships with 4 attack dice.
3. Six ships with 2 attack dice.
4. One ship with 3 attack dice and four ships with 2 attack dice.
5. Two ships with 3 attack dice and three ships with 2 attack dice.
6. One ship with 4 attack dice and three ships with 2 attack dice.

Note these are minimum numbers; you can always bring more ships. When you're new and have limited upgrades, bringing extra ships is often the better use of points.

If you really want to play with a certain ship and can't fit it in otherwise, it's acceptable to be 1 attack dice below the guidelines (e.g. two ships with 3 attack dice and one ship with 2 attack dice). Your offense will be weaker if you do this, so try to compensate by making your attacks more consistent through upgrades or abilities which give you extra actions (see below).

Some upgrades and abilities can affect the ship's effective attack value:

• If a ship equips an upgrade that increases its attack by 1, it counts as having that higher attack dice value. For example, an ARC-170 which equips the Alliance Overhaul title counts as having 3 attack dice.
• A ship with Gunner (or other effects which allow for two attacks in 1 round) counts as two ships with that ship's attack dice.
• A ship with Twin Laser Turret counts as one ship with 3 attack dice.
• A ship with an effect which reliably and repeatedly adds an extra die or hit (e.g. Zeta Leader, The Inquisitor, Norra Wexley) counts as having attack dice 1 higher than the printed value.
• A ship with an effect which reliably and repeatedly negates an evade result (e.g. Omega Leader with Juke + Comm Relay, Tomax Bren with Crack Shot) counts as having attack dice 1 higher than the printed value.

Feel free to experiment with the pilots within your point budget. A good rule of thumb is you should only pay for more expensive pilots if it comes with a strong ability or Elite Pilot Talent upgrade slot you need. In general, the best abilities improve your ship's attack value, give you extra focus/evade/target lock actions, let you reroll dice or convert focus/blank results to hit/evade results, or deny actions from your opponent. Movement abilities can be fun, but those are more situational and are strongest on pilots with high pilot skill.

Upgrades

Once you get your ships, you can fill out leftover points with upgrades. You don't have to fill up all of your available upgrade slots, and most lists won't fill up every upgrade slot. Don't forget you can always spend leftover points on more ships!

As a beginner, your main goal here is to avoid upgrades which make your list worse. You should avoid upgrades which cost an action or replace your attack. That's not to say these upgrades are always bad, and I'll list some exceptions when I go into more detail below. However, many of these are worse than your default actions or primary attack. As a beginner, you may not be able to evaluate when they're better than your default action or attack, so I suggest you avoid them for now. The worst-case scenario is that you've spent points to make your list less effective.

Thankfully, most other upgrades won't hurt you. Even if they're not amazing, they can be fun to try out and will only help you if you have left-over points to spend. Upgrades like Wired, Weapons Guidance, and Cool Hand may be situational and/or weak, but they will never hurt your list as long as you don't go out of your way to activate them. Treat them as a small bonus when you need to take the triggering maneuver or action anyway, and they'll only help you. Even upgrades which are overpriced such as Hull Upgrade and Shield Upgrade are OK for your first lists since they will only help you.

Here's some specific types of upgrades I'd recommend to fill up your extra points, along with some upgrades I'd suggest avoiding.

Turrets

If a ship has a turret slot and only 1 or 2 attack, you'll almost always want to equip a turret on it. The best turret by far is Twin Laser Turret. Dorsal Turret and Ion Cannon Turret are also OK.

Ships with stronger primary attacks like the Attack Shuttle or VCX-100 don't need to equip a turret, but a cheap turret like Autoblaster Turret or Dorsal Turret makes them more flexible at a low cost.

Extra actions

The first are upgrades that reliably give you extra actions for 2-4 points, specifically ones that let you get Focus + Target Lock (or other ways to reroll dice) or Focus + Evade (or other ways of negating 1 damage) every turn. These are usually amazing upgrades, and competitive lists often feature several of these. Here are some examples:

1. Autothrusters
2. Push the Limit (on ships with at least 5 green maneuvers, ideally with hard green turns)
3. Fire-Control System
4. Expertise
5. Predator
6. R2-D2 for Rebels
7. M9-G8 for Rebels
8. Rey (crew) for Rebels
9. Attanni Mindlink for Scum
10. Dengar (crew) for Scum
11. K4 Security Droid for Scum

Extra repositioning actions or upgrades that double-up on an action (Recon Specialist) aren't as good as ones like above, but they can be useful if you have extra points to spend.

Extra pilot skill on pilots with 7+ pilot skill

Veteran Instincts is a reasonable-to-great options on ships with 7+ pilot skill. That puts them above most ships in the game, which makes them more reliable at arc-dodging, catching other arc-dodgers, and shooting first. Adaptability is also a good option. Since it's free, it's even reasonable on pilots with lower pilot skill.

Extra survivability is a decent last resort for evasive ships

These usually aren't that great. For example, the Push the Limit upgrade on the right ship gives you an extra Evade every turn it's used for 3 points. The Hull Upgrade modification only gives you one "Evade" for the whole game for 3 points. Still, these upgrades will only help your list if you have leftover points to spend. Examples include (in rough order of desirability in general; the first 3 are better than the rest):

• Lightweight Frame for Imperials
• Chewbacca (crew) for Rebels
• Ysanne Isard for Imperials (only on big ships with lots of health)
• Hull Upgrade
• Shield Upgrade
• Stealth Device
• Cool Hand (only if you don't have any other use for your Elite Pilot Talent)

Put them on your most evasive and most valuable ships first. A Hull Upgrade on a very evasive ship might let the ship survive an extra two attacks, but it may only cancel out half an attack on a 1-agility ship. Similarly, Stealth Device might last 3+ defense rolls on a ship with 3 agility and Focus or Evade for defense, but will usually break on the first defense roll for a ship with 1 agility.

Avoid secondary weapons besides turrets (Missiles, Torpedoes, Bombs, and Cannons)

For the most part, these require a combination of upgrades and/or pilots to be better than primary attacks or actions. I'd avoid most of these when you're just starting out. Some can actually make your ships worse if you try to use them. There are a few exceptions:

• Proton Rockets on 2-attack, 3-agility ships that can reliably get Target Lock and Focus.
• Cannons on ships with a special Cannon synergy (e.g. IG-88B, Outrider title, TIE/D title). For these ships, cannon upgrades are the highest-priority upgrades and you should spend points here first. You'll want the Heavy Laser Cannon or Mangler Cannon for IG-88B and the Outrider, and Ion Cannon or Tractor Beam for the TIE/D.
• Feedback Array on 2-attack ships (not a secondary weapon, but it replaces your attack)

If you really want to take ordnance, you need the Extra Munitions upgrade. You'll also want the Guidance Chips modification or Long-Range Scanners modification for missiles and torpedoes, and Sabine Wren (crew) or bomb-improving pilot abilities for bombs. The best ordnance options are Homing Missiles, Plasma Torpedoes, Cluster Mines, Conner Net, Ion Bombs, and Seismic Charges.

Avoid upgrades which cost your action

The Focus action is extremely strong. Most upgrades which cost your action aren't better than Focus, much less also make up for their point cost. There are some exceptions:

• Engine Upgrade on big ships is good, especially if they have a turret and/or high pilot skill.
• Vectored Thrusters is OK on ships with high pilot skill and multiple actions.
• Black Market Slicer Tools is pretty good. It's cheap and can be better than Focus.
• Spacetug Tractor Array is amazing.

Think about whether the ship can use the upgrade

When you put an upgrade on a ship, make sure you think about under what circumstances you'll use it! For some reason, I keep seeing the Wired upgrade on the original Han Solo in the Millennium Falcon. The only way to give Han stress to activate the Wired upgrade is to K-Turns. Since it has a turret, he probably won't need to K-Turn too often. Wired is a decent option on many ships, it just isn't a good idea for most turreted ships. Contrast that with Wired on Rey with the new Millennium Falcon title. Even though she has a turret, she has a powerful ability which requires getting opponents in her firing arc. She'll often be using K-Turns and the title ability and picking up stress (before you get Kanan Jarrus crew). She can get a lot of use out of the Wired upgrade.

These aren't awful uses of points since they generally won't hurt you, but there are probably better options. Even a mediocre survivability upgrade might be a better use of points than an upgrade you'll almost never use.

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These guidelines will get you started with a decent list for your first few games. As you get more familiar with the game, you'll probably notice most of the strong tournament lists follow these guidelines, along with some other guidelines like these:

• Expensive ships should be hard to kill through tankiness and/or maneuverability, unless they bring extremely high firepower with moderate survivability. "Expensive" starts around 35 points.
• Ships with 3+ attack and 2+ agility usually need action economy to modify both their attack roll and their defense roll.
• Action economy is pretty strong in general, along with ways of denying actions (e.g. stress).
• Ships with a true 2 attack need to be cheap (as close to 12 points as possible) or have fantastic utility. If you're relying on them for your offense, they need Crack Shot or maybe Juke.

But you don't need to worry about these in casual games, and especially not for your first few 100-point games.

Now go build a list and play some games! Good luck!

My Thoughts on the ZuckManPalpx7 Errata

The 4.3.0 errata nerfed several of the top tier lists. I personally think this was a nice change because the meta was getting a bit stale and this shakes things up.

I've seen some people overreacting to some of the nerfs, so I thought I'd bring my experience into this. I've played and followed League of Legends, a computer game which frequently gets patched. Many years ago, they nerfed a character in League of Legends. People played the character less, and its win rate dropped several percentage points. It turns out they actually forgot to make the changes nerfing that character. It wasn't changed at all. The changes in play rate and win percentage were entirely due to a placebo effect.

It's easy to overreact to changes. We got used to how things were before the nerfs, and now they look much worse. That doesn't mean they're weak. Let's take a closer look and see how bad the changes actually were.

Zuckuss

Let's start with Zuckuss. I actually think this nerf is minor. You can use him for 1 every turn until you're about to die, and it contributes significantly to your offense. When I ran the numbers a while back, Zuckuss for 1 is roughly equivalent to Push the Limit for Focus + Target Lock. Think of him as a 1-point K4 Security Droid.

TIE/x7

I think the TIE/x7 nerf looks small but is larger than it looks. My TIE Defenders tended to survive a long time on 1 HP, and I've often used the option to stay stressed or go over asteroids. Losing even 1 health can swing a game. It also makes them a lot more vulnerable to stress control and blocking.

That said, this is still a fairly minor nerf and it can be circumvented by good play. I think Defenders are still strong, and the TIE/x7 title is still better than the TIE/D title.

Emperor Palpatine

I think the Emperor Palpatine nerf is minor and very significant at the same time. On one hand, it's rare you'll waste his effect entirely. I forgot the exact numbers, but he'll let you save a token on defense over 75% of the time.

However, it's a significant nerf because you can no longer use him on offense for free at the end of the turn if your defense rolls worked out. That's pretty significant when you consider how often 1 damage or a crit from Palpatine swung the game.

At the end of the day, I think Palpatine as he was originally printed was a ~12-point card. This change makes him worth it at 8 points, but now he's not exceptionally strong at this price point.

EDIT: I've since learned that Palpatine triggers immediately after the roll, before any modifications are applied. This makes it worse against Zuckuss on defense (even though that one Palp'd die can't be rerolled) and much worse on offense with Target Lock.

Manaroo

I saved the best for last! This is a huge nerf, and I think Manaroo will be much less common. My article on Support Theory suggests supports have to make their allies a lot better in order to be worth it. A Range 1 restriction not only makes Manaroo more unreliable especially in asteroid fields, it also gives opponents a soft target to go after.

On its own, Manaroo's ability lets you pass actions to another ship for ~1.5 points (I value +1 pilot skill at 0.5 points). That's pretty expensive for not gaining extra actions. However, with Attanni Mindlink, Manaroo gives any of your other ships an extra Focus token for 1.5 points while keeping her own Focus. That's fantastic value compared to other action economy upgrades which usually cost 3 points.

I think the "problem" with this is Attanni Mindlink, not Manaroo. If Manaroo were removed from the game, Attanni Mindlink will still be a very strong card. If Attanni Mindlink were removed from the game, I think Manaroo would be a very niche pilot. That said, Attanni Mindlink is hard to nerf. A range restriction on Attanni Mindlink feels even worse than a range restriction on Manaroo, and raising Attanni Mindlink's cost to 2 is too much. I can see FFG treating Attanni Mindlink as Scum's format-defining card like R2-D2 for Rebels.

With this nerf, I don't think Manaroo will see nearly as much play. In Paratanni, a Contracted Scout and 2 points is a strong alternative. In other lists, Kaa'to and Palob are much cheaper options.

Paratanni is still a strong list. Attanni Mindlink is still strong and Fenn Rau and Asajj Ventress are strong ships. They can keep Manaroo and accept her ability won't be as consistent, or swap her for cheaper options. The biggest challenge is in order to use Manaroo's ability, they have to present her as a target. Unfortunately, Manaroo is often the easiest ship to kill in the Paratanni list, and losing even one ship makes Mindlink much less effective.


The Overall Meta and the Future

I think these changes make swarms a lot more attractive. Besides nerfing some of their biggest weaknesses, the remaining top meta lists often use low-agility big ships which can be vulnerable to swarms. I think non-swarm Rebels are still in a rough spot thanks to Rear Admiral Chiraneau with Kylo Ren crew.

I think Kylo Ren will eventually get errata'd, because like Zuckuss, it's not very fun to play against. We'll see if I'm right!

Dreaming of X-Wing 2.0 is Dangerous, but I'll Do It Anyway

There's been a spate of X-Wing 2.0 podcasts and threads recently. I haven't seen or listened to too many, but I've had some thoughts about X-Wing 2.0 that I haven't seen in other places. I figured I might as well write them down :).

First, a warning. For me, thinking about "what-ifs" is pretty dangerous. I can easily end up pining for the "better" game which won't ever exist at the cost of enjoying the still very fun game that doe exist. This may also apply to you, in which case you've been warned!

I'm going to try to avoid this problem by not thinking about these things too much (despite appearances, I actually haven't thought about this too much 😛). There's a decent chance these are bad ideas! Writing this will probably be the last time I think about these issues in detail. Also, I don't expect any of these ideas to ever happen; it's a fun exercise, and definitely isn't a practical idea for improving the game.

For this, I'm going to focus some big systems stuff. I won't worry too much about nitty gritty things like doubling the points or buffing/nerfing a specific ship or type of upgrade through numbers tweaks (e.g. I think free Extra Munitions and weaker ordnance is a good idea, but I'll focus on bigger overhauls). Some of these depend on each other so it's largely a package deal.

Finally, it's important to say I think the designers of X-Wing are doing a good job. The game is fun even with possible imperfections. I think they've come up with some creative solutions for big problems in the game. For instance, I think Final Salvo is a really well-designed solution to the intentional draw problem. I have the benefit of hindsight, years of testing by tons of playtesters in competitive situations, and the complete absence of constraints. It's much harder to deliver a new game, or to work within the constraints of an existing one. Besides, they might fix some of these issues through other ways I haven't thought of in the future. Finally, some of these "problems" are restrictive but still leave a good game once they're accepted by the players (e.g. the importance of action economy).

Accuracy Dice

The game is severely constrained in ship variety because there's only one attack stat, and it can only take on three values. People have suggested adding different types of attack dice, and I think the new type of dice should be accuracy dice.

An accuracy die is like an attack die but has accuracy results instead of hit results. It's rolled with attack dice as part of the attack. Its faces are 1 crit, 3 accuracy, 2 focus, and 2 blank. Evade results must first cancel accuracy results before hit and crit results. If you only have uncancelled accuracy results and no hit or crit results, the attack deals 1 damage. For example, after-evade results of 1 accuracy, 2 accuracy, and 1 hit + 1 accuracy all result in the defender taking only 1 damage. Spending a Focus token on offense changes all focus results to accuracy results on accuracy dice in addition to changing focus to hit results on attack dice.

The average attack stat line would probably be 2 attack and 1 accuracy, compared with 3 attack today. Low-agility ships with lots of hit points might need their hit points reduced. As examples, a TIE Fighter might have 1 attack and 1 accuracy die, an A-Wing might have 1 attack and 2 accuracy dice, an X-Wing or TIE Interceptor might have 2 attack and 1 accuracy dice, and a B-Wing might have 3 attack dice.

Adding accuracy dice has a lot of benefits:

1. It adds a second attack statistic. X-Wing has a problem where there's only one attack statistic and it can only be one of three values. One is the default, and the other two are either really good or really bad. This severely limits ship variety from statistics alone and contributes to ability creep. Adding another attack statistic increases the variety of ships possible.
2. It's possible to differentiate some higher-PS pilots by giving them an extra accuracy die, which again limits the amount of new abilities needed.
3. It matches the lore. Right now, "interceptor" ships with weak attacks are best against big bulky ships while powerful attacks are best against evasive ships. A-Wings should be attacking the Decimator while your Ghost kills the TIE Fighters, which seems backwards. Accuracy dice allows you to design interceptors which are good against evasive ships while being bad against big bulky ships.
4. It makes evasive ships less binary. It's harder to 1-shot them, so other measures can be used to make them a bit easier to hit (see next item).
5. It helps limit the importance of anti-variance measures like token-stacking. Accuracy dice naturally have diminishing returns, so making sure they come up accuracy isn't that important against most ships. On the other hand, adding lots of accuracy dice is a good way to reliably hit evasive ships without token stacking and without being super-strong against non-evasive ships.
6. It makes focus -> crit mechanics much better. Usually they're not worth their points, but being able to reliably have your accuracy dice contribute to damage output is very strong.

Recost High Attack + High Defense Ships and Nerf Action Economy

X-Wing had a fatal flaw in the formula used to cost stats from the very beginning. Being able to roll lots of dice is only good if you can modify them. Since most ships only have one action, they can't modify both their attack roll and their defense roll. Thus, ships with 3+ attack and 2+ defense dice paid too much for their stats and are mostly underpowered.

Don't believe me? Try listing the underpowered ships with more than 2 attack: X-Wings, generic TIE Interceptors, E-Wings, pre-fix TIE Defenders, Khiraxz Fighter, StarViper, etc.

However, it's cheap and easy to get action economy in this game. Push the Limit requires only an EPT slot, 3 points, and a good dial, and provides benefits way in excess of its costs. Other sources of action economy for a similar cost have also been extremely strong and popular (see Attanni Mindlink, R2-D2, Fire-Control System, K4 Security Droid, Dengar crew, etc.) Cheap action economy distorts the game by making evasive ships extremely hard to hit, especially in a 1-on-1. When you can have a ship that almost lives forever for 35 points, many ships have a hard time competing. Action economy upgrades are so cheap they're almost mandatory for a strong list.

You can't fix one of these problems without fixing the other or severely upsetting the balance in the game (either making some ships too strong or some ships too weak), so both need to be fixed at the same time. Doing this means more generic ships would be viable and action economy would no longer be mandatory.

Can't Natively Boost and Barrel Roll on Same Turn

Highly-maneuverable ships like Dash and Soontir Fel are frustrating to play against since you could potentially never get a shot on them. I'd support changing Boost and Barrel Roll so you can't perform both on the same turn through normal means, similar to how you can't perform an action twice. Higher-PS pilots can still arc-dodge, but their maneuvers will have to be more precise.

For those who love slippery ships, there can still be ways to boost and barrel roll on the same turn. Pilot abilities which let ships boost or barrel roll won't block the other one from being used (although they still don't let you boost or barrel roll twice!). Finally, we'd have a use for pilots like Turr Phennir and Rebel Sabine Wren! We can also have a Push The Limit-style upgrade card which gives the pilot an extra action and the ability to Boost and Barrel Roll on the same turn, but the extra action can only be used for Boost or Barrel Roll.

Specialize Missiles and Torpedoes

Having missiles and torpedoes (and maybe bombs/mines) come with Extra Munitions while making each individual shot weaker is a good idea, but I want to focus on something bigger. Right now, there's little difference between missiles and torpedoes. Both are mostly 4-dice attacks with some benefits attached.

Instead, I'd like to see missiles be specialized towards taking down evasive ships and torpedoes be specialized towards taking down low-agility ships. For example, a Concussion Missile might roll 4 dice, but only deals 1 damage if the attack hits. A Proton Torpedo might roll 3 dice, but deals 2 damage if the attack hits (pretty good if average primary attack is 2 attack 1 accuracy). We could also think of an anti-big-ship Torpedo which rolls only 1 die but deals 4 damage if it hits.

This also means missiles and torpedoes can be cheaper since they're so specialized. Generalist or cross-purpose missiles and torpedoes could exist, but at a higher cost and/or with less effectiveness.

This has a few benefits:

1. It improves variety. Now it really matters whether a ship has missiles or torpedoes.
2. It's a buff for ships with lots of Missile and Torpedo upgrade slots. It lets them have a silver bullet for every opponent.
3. It matches the lore. Concussion missiles were anti-fighter weapons while proton torpedoes were useful against both capital ships and the slower fighters.
4. It improves strategic choice. You can take missiles and torpedoes to shore up a weakness in your list or to target a specific meta. You can also take big ships if you predict people are trying to snipe an evasive-ship meta by taking lots of Concussion Missiles, or take evasive ships if you predict people bringing lots of Torpedoes.
5. Missiles and torpedoes can now be balanced both for ships with average attacks and ships with weak attacks at the same time. Because missiles and torpedoes exist as attack boosters right now, it's best on low-attack ships that didn't pay for a good primary attack it's not using. Specializing missiles and torpedoes gives them a niche even for average-attack ships. It also means that weak-attack ships aren't going to be effective against everything by taking missiles and torpedoes.

Cannons Modify the Primary Attack

The biggest problem with cannons is you're paying points for what's often a sidegrade or downgrade to your primary attack. Rather than being a secondary attack, I think cannons should modify the primary attack.

An unfilled Cannon slot is represented in-universe as having that slot filled by a normal laser cannon. This is represented in-game by the normal attack statline. Cannons that inflict statuses on opponents (Tractor Beam, Flechette Cannon, Ion Cannon) swaps out that laser cannon with a different cannon (e.g. Ion Cannon). This comes at the cost of reduced attack dice or swapping attack dice to accuracy dice, but now the ship inflicts a status effect if it hits. These cannons would be very cheap, free, or possibly even cost negative points. Cannons like Mangler Cannon or Heavy Laser Cannon can instead boost your primary attack.

For example, Ion Cannon could cost 0 points, swaps an attack dice to an accuracy dice, and gives the defender an ion token if they're hit. Tractor Beam could cost 1 point, reduces your attack and the defender's agility by 1, and gives the defender a tractor beam token if they're hit. Mangler Cannon could cost 2 and let you change a hit to a crit. Heavy Laser Cannon could cost 7 points and increases your attack by 1.

This has a few benefits:

1. It makes it worthwhile to use a weak cannon. Using a cannon no longer costs your primary attack.
2. It lets you balance cannons for ships with low, average, and high attack values at the same time.
3. Thematically, it makes more sense. I was shooting my ion cannon with my lasers in the X-Wing video games.

Turrets are Much Worse Out-of-Arc

X-Wing is a game of maneuvering, and turrets make maneuvering much less important. I won't talk about this at length since this is mentioned a lot, but either making all turrets a mobile arc or dice penalties for out-of-arc shots could work.

Secondary Weapons Follow Same Range Rules

Turrets and cannons not having range modifiers makes no sense thematically, and even torpedoes and missiles are easier to dodge when they're shot from a longer range. Removing this also reduces the amount of rules in the game. Of course, doing this requires the secondary weapons be designed with range bonuses in mind, so it'd take X-Wing 2.0 to change this.



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That's all! I hope you found these ideas interesting. In any case, I'd suggest not wishing too much for changes. It's not worth pining for games we can't have if it kills your enjoyment for the games we do have :).