X Wing Musings

Jumping straight in to the recent news that X WING HAS CHANGED IN A BIG WAY, there’s been a couple of weeks to consider what lists to build. Just to recap, here’s what’s happened:

The squad point limit for lists have gone up to 50. Yay!

Unfortunately, the squad point cost of all ships has increased in line with this new threshold. Booo!

• Most ships have gone up 2.5x. So 3 is now 8, 4 is now 10, 5 is now… errrr… 12.5…
• Yeah, this is where it gets interesting! Anything that was an odd number has been rounded up or down…
• Well… mostly up! The points team have admitted that they have been looking to reduce the power levels of the game. This means lists that were 20 points before aren’t quite 50 now (I’ve seen some of my old favourites jump to 58 in this new era!)
• For example, 4x 5 point ships in “old money” are probably 13 points (or more) in the new world… which would be 52 in “new money”.
• Loadout as a concept has been relatively unchanged (each non-Standard Loadout ship has a budget attached to each ship)… although there are lots of changes in points.
• The points team have also reigned in individuality… most chassis have the same slots now as opposed to the more “custom approach” that have been doing the rounds over the last few years.
• Most importantly, there’s now a “Restricted list” to ensure certain ships or talents aren’t spammed. As if we would!!! (spoiler warning – we would).

So… a lot has happened! What has caught my eye the most though…

Lots of changes to points on various upgrades:

Missiles! Both Cluster Missiles and Concussion Missiles have had a slight points reduction (5 down from 6 and 6 down from 7 respectively) making them affordable again! Great news for ships that were struggling to land damage! However, Energy Shell Charges are up a smidge… making it a bit tougher for the cheapest CIS vultures to be as dangerous (although some would say that’s a good thing).

Tech! Not a lot of change except Primed Thrusters and Deuterium Power Cells both dropping a point, making them affordable again! Notably, most of the (good) non-faction Tech cards are now 5 points! This is a mixed blessing… they are cheaper, but still quite pricey and difficult to attach more than one per ship (even if a ship has multiple Tech slots).

Gunners! A few minor changes, (Greedo now 2, BT-1 now 1…) but the most notable (for FO at least!) is that Special Forces Gunner now costs a whopping 9 points!

Talents! Apart from a few aforementioned restrictions on some old classics (Snap Shot? No more than 3 for you! Intimidation? That’s functionally unique now! Juke? only 2 for you…) Enduring feels like a steal at 3 points! However Trick Shot is now 5 points!?!? Those with a long (V1) memory might recall it was originally 0 points when it was released… now it’s almost premium rates!

Cannons! Bad news for Rogue fighters… Synced Laser Cannons are up 33% to 8 points! Yikes! Good news for people that like dicking around with other players ships, Tractor beam is down to 4! That said, I can’t think of a time where Tractor Beam has been used effectively since it was launched, soooo…

Pilots!

This is probably a whole post in itself, but as a really short summary…

• Generics are BACK baybee! Whereas previously they were overpriced and underpowered (limited slots), now they are generally the same (or less) as their named equivalent. Some notable examples are most of the Clone Army! Z95 generics are 7 points… that’s Lower than 3 points in old money! Gold Squadron Troopers are 6 points… that’s nearly 2 points in old money! Bravo Flight Officers are only 8 (exactly 3 points in old money… with enough loadout for Ion Torps!). In fact, a Generic Heavy Republic list just made the cut at a decent sized UK event this weekend!
• Boba Fett has his crew slot back, making him a viable threat again… although he’s very expensive at 20 points (although that’s still 8 points in old money… which is pretty much where he was).
• Talonbane Cobra is back! He’s a very reasonable 12 points and has enough loadout to get useful stuff (like Afterburners).
• VCX-100s are now cheap enough to have 3 in a list (!)… which is just nuts.
• Darth Vader is now a deluxe option! The “cheap” BYO version comes in at 15 points… but has a criminally low loadout value (7!). SL versions are 17 (which is basically 7 points in old money).

There’s a LOT to take in and there’s a new gold rush to find the new meta lists. Before we can even get to that there’s an even more critical question to answer first: What faction to play now???

Big point swings mean big opportunity swings. What was dominant last season might not be good this season… So what’s hot and what’s not? Let’s take a peek!

Rebels are… fairly unchanged. Other than the general points increase that effects all factions, Rebels are still able to field a decent enough list of either mid to high initiative ships, or a load of really cheap ships. Most notably, E Wings are still able to rock around with Pro Torps for days… I’m sure that won’t cause problems.

Empire seem at a first glance to have been somewhat neutered. All the cheap winners (Captain Karsabi, Double Edge, Scimitar 1… all up a little) seem to be more expensive. But then you get to the Defenders… Whilst they still aren’t what you can call “cheap”, there’s gold in them thar hills! Countess Ryad at 16 points is very good value (6 points in old money) and even Colonel Vessary and Vult Skerris are 17 (6-and-a-bit) vs the 7 points they were. You can field a spicy 3 ship Defender list (Ryad, Vessary, Yorr) with the 2 BYO ships having Outmaneuver!!! That’s pretty scary.

Scum are very competitive. Given the fact that they have the most chassis of any other faction, this is not a surprise. I’ve already mentioned TB Cobra esquire, but the sheer variety of ships in Scum mean there’s always something there. Unbelievably, SL Fenn Rau is priced at 15 points (bang on 6 in old money). I personally think this is undercosting him quite a bit since whenever he shows up on the board, he is a problem. Considering the price of his peers (Poe, Vader, Anakin, Wedge) all going upwards, this seems very cheap.

Resistance is evergreen. Lots of options and the pricing is broadly the same… SL Cai and Stomeroni have both nudged up slightly, which is understandable but odd. Stomeroni is a great piece but suffers from being I4. I was expecting him to be “4.5 points”, so 11 or 12 points. Cai felt a little cheap at 4 (old) / 10 (new) points, so 11 is OK I guess. The interesting news is that a few Sofas (Resistance Transports) are now really cheap (8 or 9 points) – basically 3 points in old money. The downside being they lose the cannon slot, so they really become support ships only. However, keep an eye on Kaz… he’s very reasonable at 10 points now.

FO are looking fairly strong. Some key set pieces have been unfairly bumped (Von Reg and Quickdraw both 14 points which is a bit above the 5-points-in-old-money they used to be). However, like Shirley Bassey, they have the range, darling… Lots of cheap generics and some big loadouts on some old favourites (Blackout, Whisper Kylo Ren). One of the good news stories in fact is that WhyLo now has the points to get Advanced Optics, Concussion Missiles, and Instinctive Aim… something he was missing in the last round of points. He’s 15 points, though, so firmly 6-points-in-old-money territory.

Republic are a similar story. There’s a lot they can do cheaply now, with bargain basement generics and Aces for days. I have to admit, of all the factions they are the one I’ve looked at probably the least for reasons I will probably go into later, but Anakin in the Y wing looks dangerous with enough points to equip Proton Torpedoes if you want…

CIS are still as controversial as ever. Whilst the hike in Energy Shell Charges is bad for the cheapest ships, they are still viable on Hyenas and HMP Gunships. However, all their Aces are still relatively unaffected. General Grievous is still very good value (12 points… just under 5 in old money) and has the loadout for Outmaneuver as well as all his usual toys. Jango Fett is an eye watering 20 points… but that’s only 8 in old money. Sun Fac is ready to go at 13 points (just over 5 in old money). Even Volan Das is 10 points, which is very good value. CIS is an acquired taste, so will be interesting to see how they show up.

So in all, it’s a pretty balanced affair. The points team have done a great job in ensuring that there’s something for everyone, so that’s a big plus. At this early stage, it’s hard to pick out an obviously overpowered faction… I guess time will tell.

Me personally? Well, I’m playing in the NCX Team League at the moment (Go Mawlers!) as an FO pilot, so am just continuing that for the time being. I’ve been really pleased to see a huge number of lists available to me and looking forward to trying them out.

So that’s enough for now. Next time I hope to be looking at the impact of the new 50 point meta and review a few tournaments that have been happening this weekend.

See ya next time, cowboys!