Empire because they don't just spam EZ mode ships to win.

Reinforce should have never have been brought into 100/6. I feel your pain.

True, blocking is important for swarms and can make the difference between life and death. I still feel like Reinforce is a BIG negative for this game. Too useful, too easy to use, too hard to counter, mitigates too much damage without any variance.

We'll just have to go to the pound and adopt new mods.

Unfortunately, no. The presence of Harpoon Missiles and Auzituck Gunships means that you effectively cannot play swarms in competitive play. Even if you spread out, mitigating the effectiveness of Harpoons, consider the following scenario: Imagine all 6 of those TIEs firing into an Auzituck with a reinforce token. At range 2, with a focus token, you'd do an average of .35 damage per shot. That's about 2 damage per turn, if all of your TIEs are firing at the Auzituck. That means you'd need at least 5 turns to burn down ONE Auzituck. Now imagine that there's 2-3 of them. Swarms with low attack dice counts are DEAD. Super, mega, ultra DEAD. Reinforce just completely annihilates low attack dice ships.

Yes, but only if the Auzituck is also removed. This game will be Wookie-Wing: TMG without harpoons to reign them in.

Welcome to Imperial's world where, if we want to run Palpatine, we have to pay his 8 points plus 21 for the clunkiest piece of gosa in the verse.

The Holiday Special at least has replay value- it's fun to watch high. I can't imagine ever watching TLJ again, for any reason.

I really love that even on upgrades that Imps can use, they still get crapped on by getting worse versions of said cards. Add this on top of all the Scum and Rebels Only cards and you can see why I named my account the way I did. Pulsed Ray Shields and Arc Caster still make me mad.

I agree that Harpoons are the strongest missile by a wide margin, and that they're warping the meta- but if they're nerfed, Rebels win everything, hands down. You simply cannot push enough damage off onto these crazy damage mitigation lists without something super-punchy like harpoons. I'd be fine with a harpoon nerf- but only if wookies/reinforce see a serious nerf as well.

I mean like they were REALLY concerned that things might be too powerful, and ends up they just end up being 'meh' and completely superfluous. Gunboat titles are a good example: they have many conditions designed to reign in their power level- to the point where they're just unnecessary. Maybe overbalanced is the wrong term.

Amen. I like the Gunboat, but MAN are the titles terrible. It's a common theme with FFG- Imperial cards tend to be VERY conservative, very overbalanced, and generally bland (not much synergy or card combos outside of expansions). Gunboat is a perfect example- a ship that is decent but held back by either inflexibility or sheer overcost. All I'm seeing on tables is Nus with no title, LRS, and some ordinance (only ever Cruise or Harpoon)- and that's sad. Aces are way overcosted, titles are way too restrictive (really FFG I can't use Ions with XG-1?), and the ship just generally gives me a feeling of 'man this could have been so much more interesting'. That being said, I think this wave opened up the meta quite a bit and I like the state of the game a lot more. Now if we could just get a wookie nerf, the game would really shine.

It's hilarious to me how the entire Imperial faction revolves around Quickdraw.

I see it like this: If PS were capped at 9, we now have a game with a BIG IMPACT 'Aces Round' at PS 9. @BadMotivator said it correctly, there will be a big spamming of 9s- but consider the benefits: 1.) Getting PS killed is pretty un-fun. PS9 cap allows you to tie PS much more often, with more pilots, and gives you a shot at initiative if you want it with the bid. This to me is much more interesting than just disregarding most pilots because they get PS destroyed by PS10 Nym. It also allows for a lot more Simultaneous Attacks in the PS9 round, and I would argue more players rolling more dice and more explosions is more fun. Nothing's less fun than "I shoot you with my PS11 and remove your ship, you don't get to do anything with it now." We get more "OMG Vader killed Poe, but Poe gets his revenge shot. OMG HE KILLED VADER TOO!!!!!!!" Basically, if PS is capped at 9, more players and ships get to participate in the 9 'Aces Round'. 2.) Currently, 'the best pilots in the Galaxy(tm)', don't really enjoy much benefit of being 'the best'. With PS capped at 9, all natural 9 pilots get the benefit of EPTs that really show off their power. Vader, Soontir, Fenn Rau, Poe, etc, become much more interesting, more dangerous, and flexible to build (I'm really tired of only ever seeing VI Vader). 3.) A bunch of pilots in the 7-8 PS realm become more viable instantly. Whisper, Turr Phennir, Backdraft, Corran Horn, Thcho Celchu, etc- the pool of Aces opens WAY up. I would argue that Aces represent one of the most cherished aspects of this game, any change which helps more of the 'elite' pilots see more play would be welcome. 4.) Building a list that gets to choose initiative consistently requires sacrifice in total list points. I'm OK with that, players really have to think about if they want to decide initiative and why- different strategies require different planning in your bid. A list that consistently gets to choose initiative gets a big advantage- but in a world with PS capped at 9, that list is likely at an 8-9 point bid disadvantage as compared to a list that just abandoned the bid in favor of more points on the field. It evens out. TL;DR BIGGEST ADVANTAGE: MORE SIMULTANEOUS ATTACKS, MORE PLAYERS PLAYING THE GAME, FEWER INSTANCES OF BEING PS KILLED, PS9 ACES ROUND BECOMES A FUBAR FUN ROUND WITH LARGER DIVERSITY OF ACE PILOTS AVAILABLE. Also, **** Nym and whoever designed him.

Would be nice to be able to put Whisper on the table without insta-losing to PS10-11, that's for sure. I'm all for a 9 cap. Bids would certainly become very important!

I like to ... of people's tolerance here on the forums.

Pssh. Can't beat the classic.

13 damage and not a point of MOV for him. People wonder why Rebels are so consistent on top tables, and this is why: They can force you to split fire, and they have excellent regen. Over a whole tournament it's a huge influence in who makes the cut. I'd be more OK with it if it took even an ounce of skill to use Lowrisk or Miranda's splitfire/regen abilities.

If Davy and Brooks are still in charge? **** NO.

In conclusion: Whoever came up with the idea to give the Scurrg an EPT is an __<insert epithet here>__.

16 point bid? That's legit AF. Did you win?

Amen. Whoever gave the Scurrg an EPT needs to be publicly whipped, mocked, and likely fired.

Yeah and the Arc Caster is an Imperial only (Dark Troopers) weapon from Battlefront. This Dev team just hates giving Imps any consideration of stuff THAT SHOULD BE THEIRS.

Imps need a special faction card, something like "Doctrines" that you can choose one of and it just sits on your side of the table- influencing all of your ships. They could have doctrines for swarms, aces, large ships, etc and the sky is the limit as to what they could do: add upgrade slots, reduce point costs, give combat bonuses. For sure though Imps need something unique that Scum and Rebels can't steal.