X-Wing, after Wave 3 hit...

Well, after a number of games into the new edition with the Wave 3 stuff on the table I have come to a few conclusions…

Hate:  I hate it J…  “Just a bit” under costed (Now say that in Bob Uecker’s voice ala “Major League”) at 3 points.  Compared to the “Light Side” upgrades available to the Jedi in the Republic?  Just ludicrously cheap.  Mind, just my opinion per usual, but with most of my powers being set on a “sliding” scale where something almost completely useless like “Brilliant Evasion” coming in at 6 points for Anakin Skywalker?  So, double the points for something that MIGHT hit once in a blue moon and MIGHT save me a Force point?  Compared to the gain a Force for EVERY Damage taken (Shields, Hull, whatever…)?  So, the Sith Infiltrator will almost always be full up on Force negating the hard choices WRT resource management I face with the Jedi…  Seems a bit too good.  Now, the Supernatural Reflexes was the obviously OP thing that needed to be adjusted before Wave 3 hit and the I6 Anakin would have been way too good.  I get it.  But now it seems Hate is taking the place as the abusive one.  Hoping it is not a “wait for July” thing. 

As it stands now, none of my Jedi are taking Force abilities as I am finding the resource management portion to be the thing I am struggling the most with.  Anakin with the 7B modification is REALLY good.  And I’m a fairly decent Ace player and dodging Arcs is the key to playing that Ship.  My experience playing Soonter Fel is coming in handy, but I DO think Anakin is a superior version of that Ship.  Costs a lot more, so that follows… 

Other than Anakin?  Well…  Some of the Arcs are solid, but I think ALL of the named ones are slightly overpriced…  Wolfe being the one I think I’ve flown the most for slightly obvious reasons …  

The V-19’s?  Seem like overpriced garbage.  I’ve not flown any, but faced several and they fall in somewhere below the Z-95 and TIE with respect to their utility.  Issue being they NEED Ordnance to become effective.  They’re too expensive and simply not as good as a basic TIE.  Putting on the Missile puts them as too expensive to be effective as filler or even a Swarm.  Lacking Shields, and their Dial is just bad…  Had the Homing Missiles not jumped in price?  Maybe they would have been good, but as it stands now?  A single Missile slot and no Reload action locks them to just bad choices for the Missile upgrade.  Having to spend 4 more points to go to I3 and getting the Talent Slot?  Nope.  Crack Shot or the Dedicated one might be amusing, but I3 still just gets killed too quickly and compared to say the Vulture where jumping from I1 to I3 is only 2 points?  Not worth it, so the V-19 is going to be a “Shelf Unit” for me in my office it seems… 

The other Jedi?  Mace is decent, Ashoka is good I suppose…  I3 though and only 2 Force limits her.  Mace being I4 is extremely limiting.  His 3 Force is good though…  Will likely be running Obi Wan I think as I am finding I5/3 Force to be the break point between the good/mediocre Jedi…  All are perhaps a bit expensive, but I can work with it as long as I can field 3 of them with upgrades.  I DO think that they made the Configurations for the Aethersprite just a bit too expensive though…  Hopefully this is something that gets adjusted down as few of us seem to be flying the Jedi now… 

Droids are solid:  Yes, surprisingly difficult to kill overall…  Calculate is not bad, and the sheer number of them on the field makes for a VERY interesting game…  They have good Ordnance options, excellent synergy within the Faction and are frankly darn cheap.  And with so many customization options there are a lot of different lists that they slot into…  I think that we will see a fair number of good lists from the Faction with these as a big part of it…

Sith Infiltrator:  Another solid one…  Coupled with Hate being too good makes this a solid choice I think.  I5 on Darth Maul, the crew options are all pretty good, Cloak and Barrel Roll on a Large Based Ship that has a pretty solid Dial.  2 Sloop, 5 K-turn, solid Turns, etc…  Maul with the double tap knowing that he is likely to have full Force due to Hate being stupid cheap is not a hard choice I think.  So, it comes down to having to Arc Dodge him well enough to ignore him or be able to kill him REALLY quickly.  Seeing a fair number of lists with either 2 of the Infiltrators or Maul with a mini Swarm of Vultures…  All of them seem solid.

So, the game seems to be in a VERY good place with so many viable options, and with the next big event being Hyperspace I am really looking forward to flying either 3 Jedi or 2 Jedi and an ARC...  Should be fun at least...