How to Tweak a List

There are numerous blog posts on list-building as a subject in general, even on the FFG main page ( Assemble your Squad), but I'd like to take a moment to discuss list tweaking/adjusting.

The process of tweaking comes after play-testing. The fact is you're never going to nail the fine details of a list from the get-go. You put it on the table and see how it fares. At the end of each game, you should be able to see which upgrades performed well, which were unnecessary and see what could be better. This requires good critical ability, you have to be able to differentiate from losses due to mistakes, the list underperforming or just dice outliers (notice I don't say bad dice).

I like to start with a single list and start categorizing the cards in the list. In general, I like to place pilots and upgrades in a list in four different categories, according to their role in the list:

• Must-haves (red): These are cards I have designed the list around or just things I want to fly. These should remain in the list no matter what. (e.g. Soontir with Push the Limit)
• Need-to-haves (orange): Cards that are not mandatory, but I would only give up on them if I really need the points for something else. These are usually utility cards that go well on ships but are not "glued" to them (e.g. Stealth Device on Soontir).
• Toolbox cards (yellow): Cards that provide utility in my list but are not a mandatory or obvious pick (e.g. a Proton Rocket on the Inquisitor)
• Filler cards (green): Cards that provide minor utility and are easily interchanged between versions of the build (e.g. 0pt EPTs).

This is not an indication of actual upgrade strength, but of the importance in the list and the rigidness of allocation of points (i.e. if I'm short on points I would never take out Palpatine in this list, but I would take out Fire-Control Systems if need be).

I'm going to break down my Euros list (write up and short explanation of the list here) to demonstrate the technique of adjusting and show how I've reached this final version. Let's first take a look at the final list and its cards:

• Must-haves are an Upsilon shuttle with Palpatine (pulpsilon?), Sabacc with Title/Lightweight Frame, Backdraft with Title/Lightweight Frame. The pilots themselves are what I wanted to fly, that's why they are fixed. I could have included an upgrade to the Duchess, but the truth is I like Sabacc a lot, so it's a must-have
• Need-to-haves are Fire-Control Systems. FCS is good on a TIE/sf because you can expect your previous target to be in one of the two arcs. It happens often that you are shooting at the same target and it helps a lot with offense. On the Upsilon it's equally important because there's 4 dice involved. If you use the FCS Target Lock once or twice per game I think it's enough. There are plenty of moments where the upsilon has no actions (stop, hard 1 turn, coordinate), so action economy on a 42-pts ship is pretty important.
• Toolbox cards are Kylo Shuttle title and Snap Shot. Snap Shot is a very strong card, but it was not vital on the first list-building attempt. The shuttle title brings down Attanni lists, so it's a utility card that's tailored to the current meta.
• Adaptability and Primed Thrusters are nice cards, but not at all important for this build. I could have easily replaced them with other  upgrades. I also marked the Starkiller Base Pilot as green because I would have upgraded him in a heartbeat if I could spare the points.

Now let's go through the process of tweaking the list. If we start with all the red cards, we have about 9pts to spare, 5pts without the orange cards. Here's a pool of cards that I have considered for this list with their importance.

For the Upsilon:

• a 2pt ugrade to Major Stridan purely for PS, PS4 being above the Contracted Scouts. Also works pretty well for coordinate. In play-testing I have found that the shuttle doesn't go down as easily, and definitely not in the first round against Scouts, so it doesn't matter as much as I thought.
• Electronic Baffle instead of FCS: good only if I really need the points, baffle allows multiple stops and is really good for maneuverability
• Hyperwave Comm Scanner allows me to place the shuttle at PS12, my first deploy being Sabacc at PS6
• Pattern Analyzer is similar in effect to baffle, I can stop and take an action, but I can't do it the following round as well.
• Kylo Ren's shuttle takes down Attanni lists and jousters with bad greens (Defenders that are not Ryad)
• Ion Projector locks down certain ships into an eternal bump with the shuttle

I started with Ion Projector, FCS and title on the shuttle, but dropped the Ion Projector because it was difficult to trigger, I wanted the shuttle to shoot most of the time rather than block as I would do with a lambda.

For Sabacc:

• Snapshot increases the offense of Sabacc from potentially 5 dice to 8 (5+3). I found in play-testing that I could consistently get at least two triggers per game. A good snapshot at the right time can mean game over for the opponent.
• Trick Shot increases offense to 6 dice max. In practice this is more difficult to trigger, especially the 6 dice range 1 shot.

For Backdraft:

• 0-1pt EPTs, because I knew I wouldn't have the points for something more expensive. I took adaptability to take him over Dash and on par with Miranda.
• FCS, no contender
• A tech upgrade: Targeting Synchronizer allows Sabacc to fire a TL+focus shot, potentially keeping that TL for the shuttle as well. Pattern Analyzer allows a lot of shenanigans like 3-sloop focus so I can aim the rear arc at incoming ships.

In the end I went with Adaptability and Primed thrusters, but now I would choose Veteran Instincts. Primed Thrusters was useful in 2 games out of 9, and it wasn't game changing. Having PS9 would have helped a lot more.

So, in summary, these are the steps I would take from a pre-existing list to tweak it:

1. Take the core of the list, mark it as red. 
2. Generate a pool of interesting cards for the rest of the unoccupied slots (you can start with those from the first list), mark them as orange if they're needed a lot, yellow if they're useful and green if they're just around to fill up points.
3. Play-test a few combinations and choose based on what works and what doesn't

So, is this the end? You could end up with a "final" list that you won't modify for months to come, but you're also likely to come up against a shifting meta. In that case, see if there are any toolbox cards that you can quickly swap out to account for that! 

European Championships Write-up

If I was going to make it to one foreign X-wing tournament, it would be the European Championships. Being more busy than usual, I was unable to make it to the Yavin System Open (where we had 415 players last year), but I was instead able to make it to the Euros, taking place at the same location at roughly the same time as Yavin in 2016!

As a list I took what I was most familiar with, Upsilon with TIE s/f and Striker. I had been flying TIE s/f's with great success before lightweight frame, so I was both confident in their ability and in me flying them. I was also investigating a Tomax + Backdraft + extra list, but in tests it underperformed massively in the initial engagement and it collapsed afterwards. 

When taking an Upsilon Palp and a TIE s/f, you're left with about ~30 points for a 3rd ship, which could very well be Omega Leader (as the Mynocks fly it). Omega Leader is nice, but in this meta you have to be much more aggressive and attack-oriented. Pure sabacc does this by having 4 dice in the beginning of the game. Snap shot came about instead of my previous Ion projector and Trickshot, I think it was an extraordinary addition.

Let's do a quick breakdown of the list: I took Palpatine because he's still super good, I can easily tell when I'll be able to use him effectively. He saves Sabacc sometimes, he can get extend Backdraft's life or just provide extra firepower on the shuttle. In practice I've had one Palpatine miss every 2-3 games, at the Euros I was at 1 per game. Kylo Ren's Shuttle is one of the most important upgrades in the list, it decimates Attanni lists and also impedes jousters. Fire-Control System is mandatory for the shuttle, it's a pity not to get a dice modification for free on 4 dice. It's also at 1-2 uses per game, but I lost a game because I forgot it, so I know it's worth it. Lightweight Frame is a ridiculously good card, although it interferes a bit with Palpatine use. Primed Thrusters, for 1pt, allows you to 1-turn/3-sloop and barrel roll, or barrel-roll with stress via Coordinate.  Adaptability brings Backdraft to PS8, where there's a lot of action currently (mainly Miranda, good against Dash too). Snap Shot is the dark horse in this list, that gives it its name: Potential 8 dice coming from Sabacc in a single round. 3 dice with Palpatine against few modifiers (Attani helps here) and another range 1 shot. The Striker is maneuverable enough to make this work, as it can both cover great distances, do very tight turns, or just go over formations.

A summary of the "bag of tricks" of this list:

• Snapshot with 3 dice and Palpatine, catches everyone by surprise
• Kylo stress
• Coordinate with shuttle
• Coordinate a barrel roll while stressed on the TIE s/f
• Using Palpatine on the lightweight frame extra dice, as a last resort if the rest of the roll went really badly

The plan generally is to tank with the shuttle a couple of shots while Sabacc flanks and Backdraft brings in the rear.  Sabacc hops around, the shuttle exits and comes back for another round, Backdraft turns to point his rear-arc where it needs to be.

One problem I've had with it is that I still don't master Sabacc as well as I should. I've had about 30-40 games with Striker variations, but it still feels like I'm driving with no brakes. I am unable to stall with him, I should have practiced some maneuvers for this. As such, I was forced to never stall with the shuttle in the opening maneuvers, I had to get everything right with minimal information from my opponent. I did mitigate this by deploying in an obvious "I'm going to bump the first round" formation, but I always 2-banked or 3-banked out of it. 

Overall I'm pretty proud of how the list performed. My losses could be attributed entirely to user error (getting Sabacc killed too early), which could have been avoided with more training. I would consider it an A-level list, one of the good things the Empire can offer at the moment.

Round 1 - Alban Trinchero (Switzerland)

"Quickdraw" (29)

Expertise (4)

Fire-Control System (2)

Pattern Analyzer (2)

Lightweight Frame (2)

Special Ops Training (0)

Colonel Vessery (35)

Crack Shot (1)

Twin Ion Engine Mk. II (1)

TIE/x7 (-2)

"Omega Leader" (21)

Juke (2)

Comm Relay (3)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

My first round opponent was a good player (system opens, nationals goodies), placed very closely to me in the end. He began by slow-rolling Quickdraw and Vessery and drawing me to the obstacles in the center. Sabacc was not only too early but also clipped a debris field (sloppy play on my part, but it's hard to visualize 1-forward then 2-bank at a millimeter level). Sabacc died the following turn, after getting a snap shot on Omega Leader. The rest of my list focused on Vessery and managed to get it off the table. Unfortunately, I spent a focus too aggressively and didn't leave room for defense on Backdraft, losing 3 shields because of this. Backdraft went down quickly, but the shuttle outmaneuvered and bumped everyone. In the end, it was the shuttle against Omega Leader on 1 hull and Quickdraw on 2. Failing to get a FCS, I was tied between a full stop with no modifiers against Quickdraw versus a 1-forward with focus. The shuttle was playing a game of chicken with Quickdraw, with Omega Leader out of sight. I calculated there was no way he could evade my front arc so I did the 1-forward. Quickdraw was barely able to 3-bank and barrel roll out of arc and so ended any chance of my winning this game.

35-100 loss, which I almost avoided using only the shuttle!

Round 2 - Hey that's my fish!

Just kidding - there were significant delays so we played a few games of hey that's my fish!

Round 2 - Mikkel Lars Knudsen (Denmark)

Shara Bey (28)

Adaptability (0)

Jan Ors (2)

R2-D2 (4)

Alliance Overhaul (0)

Norra Wexley (29)

Push the Limit (3)

Kyle Katarn (3)

BB-8 (2)

Alliance Overhaul (0)

Jess Pava (25)

R3-A2 (2)

Primed Thrusters (1)

Integrated Astromech (0)

Total: 99

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Round 2 started at about 16:30, people were already tired. This list was played in formation, with Norra supposedly exiting the formation at the last possible moment with BB-8 to flank. I was able to block Norra with my flanking Sabacc and get great shots on Jess Pava. Took out Jess and Norra, barely escaping with the shuttle. Then Shara was somehow activated and turned into a monster. It took a potshot at the shuttle, destroying it. It then entered Sabacc's range 1, received a snap shot and a range 1 shot with very little damage. What followed was two rounds of Sabacc getting snap shot and range 1 shots, but with very little damage, instead taking weapons failure (snapshot down to 1!). With Sabacc dieing horribly, Shara 2 pts more expensive than backdraft, I was on my way to my second loss. Backdraft couldn't do more than one damage per turn because of R2-D2 + Jan evade.  I disengaged, got around, then surprised him with a hard turn that got me 1 rit + 3dice with TL and focus on a 2 shield 1 hull Shara. 

100-68 win, definitely not as well as it should have gone after the initial exchanges, but a win.

Round 3 - Luis  A. Lozano Garcia (Spain)

 Wedge Antilles (29)

Swarm Tactics (2)

BB-8 (2)

Integrated Astromech (0)

Biggs Darklighter (25)

R4-D6 (1)

Integrated Astromech (0)

Captain Rex (14)

Jess Pava (25)

R2-D6 (1)

Crack Shot (1)

Integrated Astromech (0)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

My opponent set his formation up to joust me, and we engaged with my perfect setup, Sabacc flanking with a good position to snap shot Jess Pava the following round. I was able to kill Biggs in the first round at range 3, which my opponent attributed to incredible dice.  The fact that I was shooting 11 dice with focus at a 6HP ship was not as relevant. 4 dice with focus + Palp, 3 dice focus and 4 dice with focus at range 3 against 3 dice with R4-D6 at range 3 is 5.15 average damage. Add to that a focus for one of the defense rolls, add that Palpatine counters R4-D6 and above average dice and Biggs goes poof. 

The next round I focused on Jess Pava, almost taking her out, while he put a lot of damage on backdraft. What followed was the best snapshot of the tournament. He had stressed captain Rex by 4k-ing into my blocking shuttle, so I thought he might bump Captain Rex again or at least I could get into a favourable position to snap shot Wedge by 2-slooping behind Rex. He 2-banked, which never fits if you're so close to a large base ship. 3 dice snapshot with Palpatine was Hit-Hit-Crit and he came up empty.

In the end it was a 100-21 win, he got half the shuttle. I think my opponent got flustered after his initial loss of Biggs, but I still consider that my list out-jousted his by a fair amount.

Round 4 - Adam Townsend (UK)

Asajj Ventress (37)

Attanni Mindlink (1)

Latts Razzi (2)

Black Market Slicer Tools (1)

Concord Dawn Veteran (22)

Attanni Mindlink (1)

Autothrusters (2)

Concord Dawn Protector (1)

Fenn Rau (28)

Attanni Mindlink (1)

Autothrusters (2)

Concord Dawn Protector (1)

Total: 99

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

My first Scum opponent of the tournament, and with an Attanni list at that! He didn't seem worried about the stress that much, but he came in for the joust and was surprised when it became difficult to escape with only green maneuvers! I lost the shuttle, but it fired twice pretty well. Sabacc was a monster and took out Assajj on his own, always flying behind her and getting a 5-dice range 1 shot.

100-42 win

Round 5 - Charlie ter Horst (Netherlands)

Contracted Scout (25)

Attanni Mindlink (1)

Extra Munitions (2)

Plasma Torpedoes (3)

Intelligence Agent (1)

R4 Agromech (2)

Guidance Chips (0)

Contracted Scout (25)

Attanni Mindlink (1)

Extra Munitions (2)

Plasma Torpedoes (3)

4-LOM (1)

R4 Agromech (2)

Guidance Chips (0)

Contracted Scout (25)

Attanni Mindlink (1)

Plasma Torpedoes (3)

Intelligence Agent (1)

R4 Agromech (2)

Guidance Chips (0)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

As day 2 began, I was there 2 hours early and my smile dropped as I saw the pairings. Charlie is a friend from the Netherlands, I was there when he started playing, I did video commentary with him on a few dutch games, but recently he's taken it to the next level by going to Worlds 2016 and getting top 16! He's an extremely difficult opponent and he was flying a beast of a list, triple jumpmasters.   

We had already talked about my list, so he knew not to joust. He feigned a joust, but was able to get all the jumpmasters out of arc of the shuttle to get target locks. The last one did a 4 straight and a barrel roll, terribly close to Backdraft and to the edge. Seeing an opportunity, I barrel rolled closer and realised I had him pegged against the board edge!

I was pretty sure that he was going to go off the board, but having no better shots and an asteroid on the other side, I decided to turn the shuttle in its direction. The bump was incredibly close, we called a judge over to be sure (as none of us wanted to perform this delicate operation). It was in by less than 1mm!

Backdraft turned away and got some shots on the jumpmaster, but with little damage. As I was putting down dials, I noticed that the 2-hard turn was very likely to finally get his ship off the board if it cleared Backdraft. I squinted and I squinted and I went for it!

 Success!

With one ship off the board and very little damage taken (the lack of joust meant no torpedoes were fired), I was in a good spot points-wise but in a terrible position. Thankfully I was able to get enough points.

51-47 win, with a crux roll of 0 on 3 dice with TL saving a 1 hull Jumpmaster at the end. We were scrapping for time because of the lengthy bump-off-the-table-situation. A very atypical game, but I was able to squeeze this win!

Round 6 - Juan Riera Arriaga (Spain)

Miranda Doni (29)

Twin Laser Turret (6)

Extra Munitions (2)

Sabine Wren (2)

Thermal Detonators (3)

Cluster Mines (4)

Advanced SLAM (2)

Gold Squadron Pilot (18)

Twin Laser Turret (6)

R3-A2 (2)

BTL-A4 Y-Wing (0)

Biggs Darklighter (25)

R4-D6 (1)

Integrated Astromech (0)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

My first Miranda matchup! As Bogdan, my sparring partner, mostly played Miranda, I was extremely confident in how to approach this game, especially since Miranda had no Homing missiles, only bombs. After a successful feint, the board looked like this:

Sabacc was out of arc of Biggs and the Stresshog, range 1 of TLT Miranda. Perfect! Biggs took a lot of damage, then died the following round when he 1-forwarded right into snapshot range.

After this 100-0 win, I was 5-1 and looking pretty good!

Round 7 - Harrison Sharp (UK)

Darth Vader (29)

Adaptability (0)

Advanced Targeting Computer (1)

TIE/x1 (0)

"Backdraft" (27)

Veteran Instincts (1)

Fire-Control System (2)

Lightweight Frame (2)

Special Ops Training (0)

Colonel Vessery (35)

Decoy (2)

Tractor Beam (1)

TIE/D (0)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

After hurrying up with lunch and trying to see the expo in the 1h break, I got to the table a bit drowsy, having had no time to get coffee.

I got the idea of the list, he was flying it in formation, I made the error of believing he would not go for sabacc. He went after sabacc, tractored him into range 1 and killed him.  I then exchanged the shuttle for his Backdraft. With some clever maneuvering, primed thrusters and good dice I was able to destroy Vessery, but when Vader finally got in my back I had no chance to evade him.

70-100 loss clearly brought down by my misuse of Sabacc.

Round 8 - Pierre Buffiene (France)

Contracted Scout (25)

Attanni Mindlink (1)

Intelligence Agent (1)

Feedback Array (2)

Anti-Pursuit Lasers (2)

Contracted Scout (25)

Attanni Mindlink (1)

Extra Munitions (2)

Plasma Torpedoes (3)

R4 Agromech (2)

Guidance Chips (0)

Contracted Scout (25)

Attanni Mindlink (1)

Extra Munitions (2)

Proton Torpedoes (4)

Boba Fett (1)

R4 Agromech (2)

Guidance Chips (0)

Total: 99

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

A list similar to Charlie's, one that now I at least had a game against. I set up in a similar fashion and I was surprised to see he came in for the joust. The debris you see in the picture right next to the jumpmasters is mine, it  was meant to prevent him from escaping the shuttle if he came in jousting.

I got a good first engagement, good dice and, most important, the shuttle got a repeat shot on the outside jumpmaster when he was passing by. It was a 1mm in shot that we had to call the judge for, but it spelled disaster for my opponent.

100-21 win.

 Round 9 - Jonathan Kok (Netherlands)

Jan Ors (25)

Wired (1)

Twin Laser Turret (6)

Chewbacca (4)

Rey (45)

Expertise (4)

Finn (5)

Kanan Jarrus (3)

Scavenger Crane (2)

Smuggling Compartment (0)

Countermeasures (3)

Millennium Falcon (TFA) (1)

Total: 99

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

This was a matchup I was not particularly worried about, as I had played against Rey before, but not Expertise Rey. 

He slow-rolled it, so Sabacc came in a bit too early. I then thought he would 4-straight over the debris and moved the shuttle in, but he instead did a 1-turn to the left that landed him in range 1 of Backdraft. With Sabacc and Backdraft hurting, I misjudged a Sabacc maneuver and he clipped a debris field. With 2 hull remaining, he took a Direct Hit. 

36-100 loss, this game went south pretty quickly.

 

Hangar Bay

This was a more relaxed environment, and for the 3rd day I was not exactly focused on my game anymore. I had two wins and a spectacular loss to Carlo Tozzi, the Italian who won the Greek nationals last year. I was not only not expecting his list to hit so hard, but again I found myself with Sabacc not being where I needed him to be. I guess the skill ceiling for my list is higher.

 

Conclusion

After 9 rounds, I was 6-3 and 52nd. Not the best score, but not the worst either! Consider how tough the competition was (all the best players from Europe) and how little I was prepared compared to last year at Yavin, it went great!

I had great opponents, from all around Europe (3 UK, 3 Dutch, 2 Spaniards, 1 Swiss, 1 Danish, 1 French and 1 Italian counting the Hangar Bay), this was incredible! Thanks to all of my opponents for great games, looking forward to next year! Sorry to Charlie, the onus was on me to make it further in the tournament after stealing that win from you.

Thanks to all the guys and gals organizing this event,  despite a few bumps it was very well put together and it was a joy to participate!

I was super happy to fly my list, it was super fun to play for 3 days in a row. I'm not the best painter, but I had my dials matching the ships, I was pleased about that too. I got in a spectacular snap shot, a bump off the table and losses that I could easily explain with clear mistakes on my part. Not much more I could ask for.

Obligatory photo of the loot. Left hand side is the won loot: participation coin, Han Solo, Omega Ace and bump tokens, then there's stuff I received from my opponents (Han Solo, swarm tactics in spanish and a Danish bump token), on the right there's stuff I bought: template holder, Armada distance rulers, damage deck holders, 4 fantastic foil cards bought from the Italians.

 

Focus vs. Target Lock: A fresh look with R3 in mind

Introduction

Because of the blog post on poorgreypilot and the recent Mynock Squadron episode covering the R3 astromech, I felt that there were additional points that needed to be made. Namely the fact that R3 astromech shifts the balance between Target Lock and focus.
 
The debate on Target Lock vs. Focus is as old as the old core set. Which is better? Target Lock is purely offensive, can set up torpedo shots, carries over to the next round. Focus is temporary, but can be used for either attack or defense, as needed. I will talk about the established consensus (feel free to disagree on this or other aspects in the comments section), then I will try to explain why R3 shifts the balance between the two actions.

Math and Context

Let's start with the basic math: A single red die has 8 faces: 1 critical hit, 3 hits, 2 focus symbols and 2 blank faces. So the success rate for a single die is 4/8= 0.5 (50%). It is also rather easy to see that with a focus token you have 6/8=0.75 (75%) chances of a success. What about TL? Well, it's a bit more complicated, but you can break it down like this: You have your initial dice roll which gives you 50% chances of a success. In the other 50%, you get to reroll the die, which nets you another 50%. So the TL is 50% plus another 50% of the times you get to reroll, which means 75%, identical with focus!

To summarize:

• An unmodified die gives you 50% with 1/8 chance of a critical hit
• A focused die is 75% with 1/8 chance of a critical hit
• A TL-ed die is 75% with 3/16 chance of a critical hit (the reroll grants us that)

So math-wise, for attack, there doesn't seem to be much a difference! The true difference comes from context:

For Target Lock:

• If the ship you target locked dies, you lose the target lock
• You cannot change targets if you target lock
• You may keep the target lock for next round if you don't use it 

whereas for Focus:

• You can spend it for attack or defense. If your Pilot skill is lower than your opponent, you may prioritize defense over attack on some of your ships (if 3 Academy Pilots have focus tokens and there's only one attacker, 2 can spend focus for attack while 1 can spend focus on defense if needed)
• You can choose your target when you activate

Chance to spend 

The biggest difference, however, and one that I've never seen in written form anywhere, is the chance to spend. If you're the first to shoot, what is the chance you'll spend your token?

The main assumption is that you're spending the TL if you have less than the maximum number of hits/crits. If you're shooting at a low agility target and you're confident you're shooting the same target the following round, you can get away with keeping the TL at 2 out of 3 hits for example for a 6% boost in damage over 2 rounds (considering you focus the next one). This is a conversation in of itself.

With that assumption in mind, for a 3-dice shot you have:

• chance to spend focus: 58%
• chance to spend TL: 88%

In other words, with TL you have a 12% chance  of keeping your TL for the next round, with focus you have 40% chance of it being used defensively, not needing it for offense.

What is the source of this? Hidden information. Focus gives you complete information of how many extra results you're getting if you spend the token, with TL it's literally a dice roll. Reasons that people don't use Target Lock can also be psychological: how many times have you picked up the dice, spent the TL, rerolled, then got nothing? Even if, on average, the results are the same as with focus, the disappointment felt is real.

Where does R3 come into play?

Where am I going with this? The fact is that when you're using TL, you are discarding a lot of unused results. You're very likely ignoring whether they're blanks or focus symbols but the reality is that 50% of symbols that aren't hits or crits after rerolling are focus symbols. 

How many times are you going to roll perfect 3/3 with a single TL? How many times 4/4? My point is when you're using TL, the are many unused focus tokens. Otherwise said, there's a niche for R3 astromech usage where the impact on damage output is 0. 

What are those odds you say? For any red dice, there's a 7/8 chance that after rerolling you don't get a focus symbol (initial focus symbols are rerolled). So a 3-dice attack has 1 - (7/8)^3 = 33% chance of getting at least 1 focus it's not using. For a 4-dice attack it's 41%.

Assume you're playing with TLs instead of focus: you don't get any added defense, you have a slightly higher damage output (via keeping the token 12.5% of the time), and now you get 33% chance of an evade for 2 points.

Contrast this with Autothrusters, an extremely cost-efficient card, which is also at 2pts (but on a more precious slot, at least for a T70). If you're attacked only once, and it triggers, you get 61% of it generating an extra evade.

Or compare this to Shield Upgrade. This is half the points, and it needs to trigger only once before you get shot to make up its cost.

To summarize:

• It is half as efficient as Autothrusters when you have one attacker at lower PS, but you have no range/arc restrictions, with better stats at range 1
• It is much more efficient than a Shield upgrade if you get shot at least once after getting a token
• It is a low-cost astromech that can be used with Integrated Astromech
• Coupled with Comm Relay, it's a 5pt Shield upgrade that regenerates 33% of the time. 
• It can be comboed with Autothrusters for extra tankiness.
• Coupled with Juke, it's 33% chance of triggering Juke, while also retaining your offensive action

 Uses

All in all, I think there's a place for the R3 astromech. I'm not advocating its use, but it's not as bad as people say. I would use it on a high-PS T-70 that can't use R5-P9 or R2-D2 effectively. It's also best on a ship that is taking off-fire and isn't the centre of attention. Ello seems the best target, for now, the only high-PS T-70 that isn't Poe (until further HotR spoilers). He also can't use R2-D2 effectively (he wants to T-Roll) and R5-P9 reduces his damage output (actually, with the statistic that 40% of focus tokens aren't used..). Juke is the cherry on top and makes him quite dangerous.

The Great Battle of Yavin - The Preparation

It's been a while since I've written something on this blog. Finishing my PhD was part of the reason, but I haven't posted since then either. A battle report for the Yavin system open for 2016 seems like a good occasion to start writing regular posts again, especially since I think I did rather well! I'm going to start with a small post on my list choice and experience at the Regionals, then I will follow up with a post on the actual Open.

Just like in 2015, there was no X-wing Regional this year in Romania. So I was itching to find a place to go (in 2015 I went with a buddy to Salzburg Regionals - had loads of fun but no results).  The System Opens were also a good opportunity to play some quality matches, but I was undecided on whether to go and to which one. Then came along the announcement of Yavin, a System Open and a Regional in one! Too good an opportunity to miss! We formed a group of 3 and booked plane and expo tickets and we were off!

List building

 

But what to play? I had recent success with Imperial Veterans in the Team Covenant Open (Palpatine, Juno, Vessery) and I figured the expansion will surely be out by then (boy, was I wrong). I trained with Tractor Vessery, Inquisitor, Tomax the Crack Engine, which is quite a good list IMHO. It has a nasty alpha-strike at PS8 and can hold its own afterwards. You're a bit dependent on the Inquisitor to seal the deal in the endgame, because Tomax and Vessery are not the most maneuverable of ships, but otherwise it's very good. I was very confident with it and did very well in my training matches with it.

With the announcement that Imperial Veterans was not legal, I was suddenly without a list to play, with no time to put in the training as I did with the other list. So I scraped together a list with what I liked to play and knew was good. A lot of people like Whisper Omega Leader Palpatine, but OL always seems to do little damage in my games, especially early on. It can take on any ship 1v1, but it will be a long battle of attrition against most. In this meta I'm of the opinion that you need to shift the damage output towards the beginning of the game as much as possible. The inquisitor has a much higher damage output on soft targets, while also being harder to kill (especially when more than 1 ship is firing). Whisper has always been a strong pilot and is a good meta call right now, when the stressbot is rare and PS9 turrets have almost vanished. It's just that I have to take a focus more often instead of my usual evade, but seeing Phildo's games in the TCOpen I see that this can work. The list also has a higher damage output than the OL version when Whisper is cloaked, so you can actually delay Whisper if there's big threats for her in the opponent's list.

So a bare-bones Whisper would be VI, FCS, ACD, with the Inquisitor and Palpatine that's 99 pts. Four choices arise:

• Do I leave the point for initiative? A good initiative bid is 97-98 for PS9 (96-97 currently for PS3), so 1pt does not buy me much. Dangerous PS9's are Han and Dengar, Han is rarely seen now. Dengar is much easier to take down though, and I have had a match with my list against Dengar+Bossk which went pretty well, not losing Whisper or the Inquisitor. Other PS9's will be primary arc ships, which I can hopefully dodge by moving afterwards. 
• Do I take a 1pt crew? Intelligence Agent is very good on Whisper, it will help in a few games I'm sure, mostly against PS9's if I get initiative.
• Do I take Electronic Baffle? It transforms the shuttle into a fighting monster, surprises the opponent in many ways (repeated stops, 3 banks with action). This upgrade increases the damage potential of the shuttle, so it was the upgrade I ended up taking.
• I could also drop FCS and go for something else, but I'm leery of lowering Whisper's damage potential, even if it's not for the 1st round of combat.

Practice at Birmingham Regional 

Disclaimer: Somehow I was counting only on memory for the lists and games, I didn't account for the fact that 15 games over 3 days would become one big blur. I didn't even write down the points, and for the Regional event it's especially difficult since I lost many games.

So off I went to the Birmingham Regional on June 3rd. My expectations for the regional were low, since I wanted to practice for Yavin. I did use the regional bye though, since it allowed me 20 minutes of expo time right when it opened, the opportunity to see wave 9 and Armada wave 4 in person!

Due to specific circumstances, this was the 2nd time I was using a bye, and the first time I was not the only one! I was a bit surprised to find myself opposite someone with Nationals templates with 3 jumpmasters. I said I wanted the practice...

Game 2 was against this 3 jumpmaster list, of the Overclocked R4-Plasma variety. I think one lacked extra munitions and another had upgraded to bobba and proton to stay at 96 points. Having flown very few games against triple Jumpmasters, I set up Palpatine in the corner where the options were most open. The plan was to block with Palpatine using Baffle, since that forces them to 4 forward to get out, wasting torpedo opportunities. He sets them up in a line glued to each other (so a 1-turn would bump for each one), move I hadn't seen before. My Inquisitor and Whisper are more spread out, trying to get them from all sides and make them commit to a target. They leave their options open (and especially dangerous for the Inquisitor), so I power forward with Palpatine and Whisper. Problem is, I forget to decloak and lose my chance of a 1-on-1 exchange with a Scout. With no other shots that round, it would have been perfect. The place of engagement didn't favour him much due to asteroids, so I managed to sneak in with the Inquisitor and Whisper (not without taking damage though). The game was absolutely lost when I found myself head-on with a Jumpmaster at range 2 with Whisper. I had TL on some other jumpmaster, and I decided to barrel roll to get into range 1. I was off by a few millimeters, with no focus. I did 1 damage and because of all of this forgot to cloak. Of course Whisper was taken off the board shortly after.

Lessons learned: Don't forget to decloak, don't forget to cloak, previsualize Barrel rolls better (didn't learn this one properly). Fighting in the asteroid field was pretty good, but he forced me to switch targets so I couldn't get a decent modified shot with Whisper to take something off the board. In the end I got two half-points for Jumpmasters, because the Inquisitor is badass.

Game 3 was against a very interesting list: 2 Y-wings with TLT, Proximity Mines and Extra Munitions and a loaded-up Manaroo with K4 security droid. He played it very slow, I tried to come in from all sides (while still avoiding torps from Manaroo), so the Inquisitor was funneled into the jaws of death. I forgot about K-4 and I didn't register the 1-left free TL Manaroo did in the picture, so I was surprised when the following turn Manaroo turned, Barrel rolled and still got a torpedo off. Coupled with a TLT shot the previous turn, the Inquisitor was barely holding on. I managed to avoid Proximity mines with the Inquisitor and he didn't have room to maneuver to get others off, all while I was chipping away at his Y-wings with everything (shuttle included, mostly because of baffling). In the end I was able to edge out a win.

Lessons learned: Have a better approach plan, my Lambda was 1 turn too slow and the Inquisitor was 1 turn too fast.



Game 4 was against Zuckuss, Palob and Manaroo. He started in the middle, going slowly, I had the Inquisitor and Palpatine on my left and Whisper on the right. I assumed he would not turn for Whisper (a 2-turn with everybody), since that would put him in a bad position and I would potentially escape. I was wrong. Whisper had a torpedo incoming along with other fire, took 2 shields and a critical "Blinded Pilot" (new deck). My return fire was weak, 2 shields on Zuckuss. I was pretty shaken and I forgot about the crit, so the following turn I couldn't shoot so I couldn't cloak so I died. I don't remember if I destroyed anything that round.

Lessons learned: Never discount a move from your opponent, even if it's a move that will put him in a bad position for many of your choices.

Game 5 was against a party bus Bossk (Dengar zuckuss 4-lom), N'dru and Manaroo. He had a good approach, Bossk and Manaroo down the middle, N'dru down my right. I was on the left with all, tried to be very aggressive. I hoped I would get Bossk down in 2 turns and live up to that damage. I managed to get an engagement with Whisper safe from a torpedo shot, but I did very little damage (3 damage on Bossk in exchange for 3 damage - hit/hit/direct hit on Whisper if I recall). A very quick game indeed, couldn't even kill Bossk, but I did kill N'dru with a lucky shot from the Inquisitor (hit hit direct hit).

Lessons learned: I still have no idea how to approach this matchup. Kill the party bus with the shuttle?

Game 6 and the final game was against a Tel Trevura, Torkill, Contracted Scout list. We played in his right hand side corner, with the initial exchange being at range 3 on Torkil. On the second turn, he PS0-ed the Inquisitor, but Whisper was able to kill Torkill off. In the following knife-fight, he had to turn Trevura away, which let me focus fire the Contracted Scout down. Tel Trevura was destroyed shortly after (twice). He did get some torpedoes off, but I don't more than one per turn, which I was able to absorb on my aces.


All in all, I went 3-3 (bye included), so just a hair short of abysmal, I think I was rank 70 out of 130 or something like that. But the good part was that I had things to learn from all of my matchups. Some dice went my way, the greens not so much, I think I took hit-hit-crit on my phantom 3 times in 6 games, that has to be something special. I was highest at table 5, but dropped quickly. I only played against Scum the whole day, while only getting one triple jumpmaster list, and one double, the rest were all very different, but all had at least one jumpmaster.

I knew I wasn't going to change the list anyway, and I definitely felt that I could have turned my losses into wins with better play (and maybe some dumb luck in my 5th). 5 games was enough, I was ready for Day 1 of Yavin!

I would like to thank all my opponents at the Regional, everybody was super friendly and nice.

Video Battle Report #3

A friend from the Netherlands, Charlie, has asked me to join him on some video battle reports. This time, he's no longer TOing the tournament, but in fact playing in the finals! Subsequently I'm commenting along with Faan, winner from our first video!

This is a video from a tournament held in Amsterdam, on the 6th of June 2015.All the participating lists can be found on the corresponding entry in ListJuggler

Hello World

Hello, world!

So this my first post, although it doesn't look like it. I've been trying to start a blog for a while now, but never felt like it was "ready", I didn't want it to start empty. So now I'm starting with ~10 posts. Some are battle reports I have written earlier, some are guides I have published before on other sites (I'm Chilligan on FFG forums). Some are new.

I plan on including a lot of X-wing related things on this blog, maybe some Armada too. Guides, Battle Reports, photos, anything, in the hopes of helping the community grow, both in Romania and in other places.

Have a picture of A-wings doing A-wing things.

Rebel Buying Guide - Waves 1-5

You've bought the Core pack, you like the game and want to delve right into it. But there's so many expansions! Which one to pick? Luckily, there's no such thing as a bad ship (well, except the TIE Advanced, at least until MayJulyAugust 2015 when the Raider Corvette introduces some special cards for it), but some are more efficient than others, and some come with good cards to complement the ship, some don't. Despite that, I'd still recommend buying the ships you like first, since you will be more determined to make them work! Upgrade cards are also important though, and some of them have not stayed relevant. Some have found a niche use, while other are doomed to never see play. More of these types of cards are in the earlier packs, unfortunately. In general, ordnance in waves 1-3 is severely underpowered and some of the earlier Astromechs and Elite Pilot Talents don't affect the game that much. 

I'm going to go through  the Rebel expansion packs and discuss the relevance of the ships and upgrades to the state of the game as it is now (I will avoid discussions about the "meta" and list-building, and stick more to efficiency of ships in the general sense). I'll leave it to you to find out which expansions best fit what you want to play.

Wave 1 - X-wing expansion pack

The expansion pack for this iconic ship comes with two new unique pilots with very good abilities. The ship itself suffers in survivability compared to the B-wing, and is not seen as often because of this, but if you like X-wings, Wedge is the definite pilot for it. In some builds Garven's action economy (pass along a focus after using it) helps a lot, so he is a good pilot.

The cards are pretty disappointing though:

• Marksmanship(niche): good for ships that attack more than once per round (Cluster Missiles, Gunner, Corran Horn)
• Expert handling (subpar): most often used on big ships that can't barrel roll naturally. The stress, spent action and use of an EPT make it a borderline bad card though.
• R5 astromech (niche): Inappropriate on a X-wing, since you are almost dead by the time you get to use it. It has its (limited) uses on Y-wings.
• R5-K6 (bad): It does the same thing as Fire Control System, at the same point cost, but only works 3/8 of the time.
• Proton Torpedoes (bad): There's no way around saying this. You spend the target lock, you get 4 dice with little modifications, expected damage to the defender comes about the same. 

 

Wave 1 - Y-wing expansion pack

 

One of the two ships the Rebels have able to carry turrets, the Y-wing is a good Ion Cannon Turret ship, with decent survivability. It has a modest dial though, so expect to go slower with this ship and K-turn very rarely. Dutch Vander has a good action-economy ability (2 TLs instead of one), but Horton's ability is less useful, since it is designed with range 3 ordnance in mind.  He might see a lot more play if we ever get a range 3 turret (now known to be included in wave 7).

The cards offer the minimum necessary for this crowd control ship:

• 2x Proton Torpedoes (bad)
• Ion Cannon Turret (excellent) : The definite crowd-control weapon. Set up killing blows, fly ships off the table.
• R2 astromech (niche): Still one of the better generic astromechs, especially for its cost. There are plenty of better unique astromechs though. 
• R5-D8 (subpar): A simple focus will save you a hull point 25% of the time (on a Y-wing, more on an X-wing), and can be used for attack if you survive and don't use it. This is slightly worse than that.

Wave 2 - Millenium Falcon expansion pack 

 

The YT-1300 freighter is the first large ship expansion. It contains the ship, 14 (!) upgrades cards (with multiples for the good ones) and a unique scenario to play. This is probably the most successful ship in X-wing, having weathered all the possible meta-games since its debut in wave 2 up to wave 5 and beyond. The 360° firing arc and 3 attack dice give it good firepower. Coupled with a fantastic dial, the ship becomes very good in the hands of an able player, but proves to be very forgiving for the novice as well! The unique pilots all have movie fame, and they don't disappoint!

The cards are also very good:

• Engine Upgrade x2 (excellent): There is no big ship on which Engine Upgrade isn't good, especially if it is an ard-dodging-turret-wielding large ship.
• Shield Upgrade x2 (excellent): While it is quite a waste of points to put this on a Milllenium Falcon, the card is very good, and will often find use on high-agility ships (A-wings, E-wings, TIE Interceptors,TIE Defenders)
• Weapons Engineer (good): This card is great on ships that can pass Target Locks (Colonel Jendon on the Lambda Shuttle), or on ships that fire multiple times (the Epic ships). Its efficiency on the YT-1300 is limited however. 
• Chewbacca crew (good): A crew card that costs as much as a Shield Upgrade, but saves you at least 1 hull and 1 shield, possibly a critical effect as well. This card shines on 2 agility ships, but it's good on the Falcon as well. 
• Nien Numb (good): Nien Numb isn't that necessary on a Falcon unless Lando is piloting (some nice fluff right there) or you're using Push the Limit. It's very good on ships with limited greens, such as the HWK.
• Gunner (excellent): a top notch card, perfect for the Falcon. Han Solo with Gunner rolls dice up to four times, one of those rolls has to be good, right?
• Millenium Falcon title (good): If offense is covered you can spend an action for added survivability.
• Veteran Instincts (excellent): Pilot Skill has increased in importance, and this is one of three cards that can modify it. Good for winning the PS bid (having higher PS than your opponent) on any ship.
• Draw their Fire (good): This card is pivotal in many lists, because of its synergy with pilot Chewbacca or with shield regeneration (Luke + R2-D2)
• Elusiveness (bad): Taking stress is no small matter, and taking stress with 50% (or more) possibility of it being all for nothing is just bad. Taking an Elite Pilot Talent slot and costing 2 points is even worse.
• Assault Missiles (good in Epic): This is included in the bad ordnance of waves 1-3, but does much better against swarms or clumps of ships (of which you see plenty in Epic, not so much at 100 points anymore)
• Concussion Missiles (bad): The equivalent of Proton Torpedoes for missiles

Wave 2 - A-wing expansion pack

Originally designed as a fast and maneuverable missile carrier for the Rebels, the A-wing has suffered because of the lack of good missiles. Upon redesign, the A-wing can lose the missile slot for a 2pt discount (Chaardan Refit, available 3x in the Rebel Aces pack). This makes the PS1 Prototype Pilot an excellent 15 point blocker and brings down the cost of the EPT-capable Green Squadron to 17 points, the cheapest ship with an EPT for the Rebels. The A-wing can still be run effectively as a missile ship if you have some of the newer rockets (Proton Rockets are a good example). Otherwise, I recommend getting this expansion after Rebel Aces, to benefit from those cards. The pilots included are pretty good, Tycho is amazing at doing maneuvers and Arvel can work quite well with some of the newer upgrades.

The cards included are of the missile variety, with one notable exception:

• Concussion Missiles (bad): The equivalent of Proton Torpedoes for missiles
• Cluster Missiles (situational): Can be good if you have a good setup, TL + Marksmanship for instance to modify both attacks, against a 0 or 1-agility ship will be devastating.
• Homing Missiles (bad): The only ordnance in waves 1-2 that doesn't spend a TL, but costs a fortune.
• Push the Limit (excellent): If you're not getting Imperial Aces, then this is the only expansion where you can get this card, it's worth getting just for this. Action economy proved to be very important in X-wing, and this card was a no-brainer pick for an EPT for a long time. Still auto-include in many lists today.
• Deadeye (bad): Makes ordnance slightly less bad (you still spend the equivalent of an action, but are spared the necessity of getting to TL that ship) with the cost of 1 pt and an EPT slot. Not worth it.

Wave 3 - B-wing expansion pack

A mainstay of the Rebel fleet, the B-wing hits like an X-wing, is very customizable (even more with the Rebel Aces B-wing/E2 that adds a crew slot) and has very good tight maneuvers (although those are red).

• Proton Torpedoes (again!): How can this card keep coming up?
• Advanced Proton Torpedoes (situational): I hesitate to call this bad although it's incredibly expensive and needs range 1 because it modifies 3 blanks to focus symbols, so if you have a TL + focus at range 1 you will have a large number of hits.
• Ion Cannon (good): A good control cannon, perfect for the B-wing firing at range 3.
• Autoblaster (niche): The B-wing isn't a very fast ship, so getting in range 1 will be difficult if your opponent avoids this on purpose.
• Fire-Control System (excellent): The perfect card to increase firepower on a vanilla B-wing, or any other B-wing for that matter.

Wave 3 - HWK-290 expansion pack

A support ship with interesting abilities. Despite its ugly maneuver dial (probably the worst in the game), this ship finds its way into lists because of its turret slot, pilot abilities and crew. The support abilities are varied, Roark gives PS12 to a ship, Kyle gives out a focus, Jan Ors gives an extra attack die (for any type of attack). The range on these abilities is fantastic (1-3), so the support ship can stay out of harm's way while still providing the effect. About as resistant as an X-wing, the ship has greater survivability because of positioning in the squad, crew upgrade options (Chewbacca could give it 2+ HP for instance) and possibly infinite focus token stacks.
The upgrade cards form a pretty good bunch:

• Ion Cannon Turret (excellent)
• Blaster Turret (excellent): 3 dice turrets are expensive, and with this card you pay for those 3 dice with a focus token (to be able to shoot) and with maximum range (2). And it's still worth it.
• Intelligence Agent (good): Although this isn't exactly good on a HWK, it's a useful card. Being able to see another maneuver is good, but you also need a way to react, which a HWK without an Engine Upgrade would not have. One of the best ships for this upgrade is the TIE Phantom, especially with the new Decloak rules, where the Decloak takes place just after Intelligence Agent triggers, giving the TIE Phantom vital information.
• Recon Specialist (excellent): Action economy 101, 2 is better than 1. You can use 1 focus for Blaster Turret, 1 for dice modification, or just 1 for attack modification and 1 for defense. The possibilities are there and it's extremely versatile. Not to mention the synergy with the Moldy Crow or with Jan Ors (crew)...
• Saboteur (bad): A card which echoes wave 1 so much - spend an action to maybe do something that is not always possible. The enemy has to have hull damage, you have to be in range 1(!), you have to spend an action, then roll for 50% chance of it all being for nothing. Then slam fist on table, then never take Saboteur again.
• Moldy Crow (good): The HWK needs focus. Whether to share with others (Kyle), or to shoot its Blaster Turret, or merely for more defense, it needs focus. This allows it to accumulate focus tokens in the first rounds of the game, or otherwise keep those that it doesn't spend.

Epic Wave 1 - Rebel Transport expansion pack

The Rebel transport may not be allowed in 100pts matches, but its escort is! This pack brings 4 more Rebel pilots for the X-wing and some cool upgrade cards. While the pilots are good, the X-wing is still less efficient than the B-wing and sees less play. Tarn has an action economy ability, which due to its timing transforms it into a defensive one (coupled with the R7 astromech). Hobbie has an ability which gets rid of stress easily, pairing him well with R3-A2, Jek gets rid of stress very easily, but with a high risk and Wes strips tokens off the opponent. Of all the abilities, Wes' ability is the most lackluster, since it only strips one token, you have to build your list around that. The rest of the abilities work well in their respective scenarios, but fail to give the X-wing enough of an edge to reenter the battlefield in force.

• R2-D6 (good): There are several X-wing pilots that can use this to great effect (not to mention Y-wings). Biggs and Garven can certainly use an EPT.
• R3-A2(excellent): A very good control card. You take one stress to give one stress, with the single constraint of having the opponent in your firing arc. There are many reasons you would want to do this: you may have an easier time getting rid of stress than the receiving ship, or the ship you're putting stress on is of higher value than yours. This card is made even better with the introduction of the BTL-A4 Y-wing, which shoots twice, stresses twice at range 2.
• R4-D6(subpar): A card that will work very rarely and give you little value. Your ship is being focus fired? You can trade that damage for stress and survive another round. With one stress or two , you may be dead in the water the following round too. May find an use on targets that only need to survive that one extra round (thinking of Biggs here).
• R5-P9(good): What makes R2-D2 great is that it doesn't require an action. This card almost requires an action, but you can obtain a focus token in other ways. Still, you might actually keep the focus token while defending, spending it if it saves you 2hp or more.
• Flechette Torpedoes x3(good): This torpedo is better than others since it automatically gives stress to your opponent, whether it hits or not, which may prove crucial against some ships you may be facing against. It is quite cheap as well.

Epic Wave 1 - Tantive IV expansion pack

The Correlian Corvette brings some very nice cards for non-epic play:

• C3PO (excellent): C3PO gives you an evade once per round if you guess correctly. A very fluff-based card ("Never tell me the odds"), this card amounts to a guaranteed evade on a 1-agility ship such as the YT-1300. In a game containing dice, being able to control the outcome of certain engagements is very powerful.
• Han Solo (good): Ever had a TL and then rolled all focus symbols? This is what this is for. A card that makes your TL better than a "normal" TL, but less good than a combination of TL+focus. While this is ok in 100pts, there are better options for 3pt crew. The Epic matches are where this card really shines, since the Corvette has no way of using a focus token. 
• Leia Organa (niche) : I'm marking this as niche since you may be able to craft a scenario in which all of your ships have to K-turn at once and still get their actions, maybe.
• R2-D2 crew (good): I like this card since it's the exact opposite from early astromechs. This will almost always give you something good, and might do something bad. And the best part is, the bad doesn't stack up and might not happen at all. For instance, if you have no damage cards, there is no chance of one getting flipped over. If you have one damage card that's already flipped, again, no chance of it doing further damage. Sure, Minor Explosion becomes your worst enemy, but hey! there's only 2 of those in 33 damage cards.

Wave 4 - E-wing expansion pack

The E-wing can be seen as a more expensive X-wing. The extra point cost goes into added speed (5 forward and green 2-banks), durability (an extra agility die) and versatility (Systems slot). While the non-unique pilots seem to pay too much for those benefits, the named pilots compensate by having amazing abilities: Etahn has an aura ability which applies to every attack on an opponent in his firing arc, much more powerful than a range-1 aura. Corran Horn is a monster, since he can shoot twice in a single round, at the cost of not shooting the following round. FCS, opponents stripped of tokens make this second attack very powerful.
The cards are quite good, Advanced Sensors was only available on the Lambda before, astromechs are very useful:

• Advanced Sensors (excellent): This card might not seem like much at first glance. Surely an action is still an action, whenever you do it? But then you realize you could focus before K-turning, or focus before a bump, or Barrel-roll then do a maneuver. You could even Push the Limit for two actions, get a stress, do a green maneuver, then clear the stress! Turns out Advanced Sensors is an amazing card. 
• Outmaneuver (good): This card gives you Wedge's ability if you are outside your opponent's firing arc. While not exceptional against small fighters, this card is very good against large turreted ships, since it triggers more often and shuts down C3PO use on Falcons.
• R7 astromech (situational): After doing the math I can say that this negates one of their modifiers. You TL, the opponent TLs, they cancel each other out. Unmodified attacks get halved down, which is good. I have yet to see this in play however, apart from the Tarn+R7 combo.
• R7-T1 (good): An action economy droid, giving two actions for one in certain situations. Good for Y-wings that want to get out of arc, or high-PS X-wings closing the distance.
• Flechette torpedoes(good)

Wave 4 - Z-95 Headhunter expansion pack

An inexpensive missile carrier, made to be the equivalent of the TIE Fighter for Rebels. It is quite efficient as 12pt filler, many lists will use 2-3 headhunters to fill up the ranks. It flies similar to the X-wing, but has a 3k turn, for better or worse. Lieutenant Blount is a great one-time delivery boy for Assault missiles (since his missiles always hit) and Airen Cracken gives out a free action in the Combat Phase (which is a very interesting timing for movement actions).
The cards are pretty ok:

• Wingman (situational): A neat little EPT which clears a friendly of a stress. Very good in specific builds.
• Decoy (situational): A similar card to Swarm Tactics, but with a greater leash (range 2) and which switches PS. Requires the entire list to be built around it, suffers greatly when one of two ships dies or gets an Injured Pilot. It can get a Phantom (even Echo) up to PS11, so it can be scary.
• Munitions failsafe (situational): For 1 extra point, you can make sure you never discard a missile that didn't hit. Great for high-cost missiles, though not so often seen.
• Ion Pulse missiles (good): Great against low-agility large ships that have an asteroid in front of them, decent otherwise, since it doesn't require you to spend a TL to use it.
• Assault missiles(good in Epic)

Wave 4.5 - Rebel aces expansion pack

Rebel aces pack brings new paintjobs for the B-wing and the A-wing, together with new pilots and genuine fixes for the A-wing. The A-wing pilots get better defense (Gemmer Sojan), or pure action economy (Jake Farrell, who can also Barrel Roll) . The B-wings get to shoot torpedoes out of arc (Nera Dantels) or a stress-for-focus incredible ability (Keyan Farlander). Keyan is the clear winner of the bunch, and outshines any other B-wing pilot by far.
The upgrade cards tie in to the A-wing fixes and to the addition of the two-seater B-wing:

• Chaardan Refit x3 (excellent): The fix for the A-wing repurposes the ship from the original missile boat to a flanker/annoyer. This card is an auto-include for any A-wing, but also increases the relative cost of any missile that an A-wing carries. 
• A-wing Test Pilot (excellent): As TIE Interceptors have two modifications, the A-wing is allowed to have 2 EPTs. It's so good it makes it easy to get carried away and put too much on a single A-wing. 
• B-wing/E2 (excellent): The B-wing was already versatile, now it can carry an additional slot at the cost of 1pt and the Modification slot (which was not used on the B-wing anyway). Good options include Tactician, Jan Ors, C3PO, Chewbacca etc.
• Proton Rockets (excellent): A good card that is used on A-wings even if it raises their cost by 5pts, the proton rockets have a maximum of 5 dice, do not require a TL, do not require spending a token, they require only that the attacker is in range 1. 5 dice with focus is good damage, and it's quite easy to have a TL+focus when shooting these rockets. 
• Kyle Katarn (excellent): Action economy tied to stress removal, which is very good. Kyle Katarn triggers even if a ship bumps, even if a ship is double-stressed. In combination with PtL, allows ships to potentially do three actions per turn.
• Jan Ors (good): An evade token is worth more than a focus token for many rebel ships. This card synergizes extremely well with many other Rebel pilot abilities or upgrade cards(Garven, Kyle Katarn both pilot and crew, Recon Specialist), since many pass focus tokens among them. Another neat thing is that it can work on any ship in range 3, including the one it is on.
• Enhanced Scopes (niche): If you really want to move before those blocking ships. Vital on a Lambda with Anti-Pursuit Lasers, possibly having other uses.

Wave 5 - YT-2400 expansion pack

The smaller cousin of the Millenium Falcon, this ship only has a 2-dice primary turret, but compensates by being able to carry a cannon and shoot it out of its arc! It's also the first large ship to feature a native barrel roll action. Along with a dial including most of the existing maneuvers, this ship turns out to be very maneuvrable! The first unique pilot, Eaden Vrill, isn't that great, he allows an extra die for the primary weapon attack if the opponent is stressed, the second pilot, Leebo, has a defensive ability (choose one faceup damage card to take from two options). The third pilot, Dash Rendar, has a very good ability, very well matched with this large ship, it can ignore obstacles in the Activation phase.
The cards included are either new cards (most of them good) or older cards that work really well on the YT-2400. This is one of the more self-sufficient packs, in that a lot of the cards you need are already included:

• Lone Wolf (excellent): A reroll of one die both on defense and offense, triggering as many times as you want per round, with only two conditions. Getting blanks is fairly easy to do and getting out of range 2 from any friendlies is easy in a 2-ship build or towards the end of the game.
• Stay on Target (situational): This card was designed by Paul Heaver, Worlds' champion two years in a row. The idea was to give an extra edge to high PS pilots. While the effect is good, the cost is too great. You receive a stress (and skip "perform action" phase) each time you use it, plus the 2 points and EPT slot. It can definitely see play with ships that don't mind stress (on Keyan for instance it's good), but otherwise there are better options for EPTs. It could also be used as a card that compensates for mistakes, which increases its value for new players.