Part three of a three part series by Mr. Matt Cary.

After our article Points Change: The Good, the Bad, and the Interesting, I realized I had much more to say about the points change than the format we chose allowed. In this series of articles I plan to break down the faction and the upgrades to dissect what was accomplished by the points change of January 2019. Should FFG see these articles, I hope that they appreciate them as honest constructive feedback and not some random Internet person nay-saying them. In this article, we will look into the guns for hire of the Star Wars universe, the Scum Faction. I will probably be a bit more in depth on this article as Scum is my home faction, and I have more experience with these ships than any others.

The Ships

To start us off, I will dissect each and every ship chassis and their pilots. I may make some comments about upgrade prices as some of them drastically effect a ship’s usefulness (mostly the titles). Each ship will have a verdict applied to it grading the changes or lack of changes.

With the point drop on all IG-88 chassis, you can awkwardly fit three bot brothers into a list! I don’t recommend it. FFG recognized that not all IG’s are created equal, dropping C and D the most by 5. While B does have a nifty ability, it comes with the extra cost of at least one cannon added in (excepting Jamming Beam). Without any really standout cannons and control being less effective in a 4-plus ship environment, it should go down a few to IG-88A’s cost. It’s my opinion that A is the best of the lot, and I am fine with its current cost. Verdict: Good

Correction: It was pointed out to me that I mixed up the costs of IG-88 A and IG-88 B. I’ll blame YASB since the site lists them out of order. In that case, I am amending my IG-88 review. Make IG-88 B, C, and D 65 points and make IG-88 A 66 point. This way you can run IG 88 A and to other brobots with the titles with no other upgrades at exactly 200 points.

My fears with Rebel Y-Wing transfer over to the Scum Y-Wing. Veteran Turret Gunners with either turret and with Drea Renthal’s re-rolls eat the lunch of anything that gets in their arcs. Drea went up as she should have. Kavil could have stayed at 42 points, but going up 1 point isn’t bad. Verdict: Decent, but bad combo’d with VTG and turret drops

The Scum Falcon was one of the few decently priced large bases at launch. It seems a little lackluster at this point as 2 die turrets just don’t seem to hurt much at all, but dropping the price wouldn’t be a good move because you don’t want to make 3 shields and 8 hull too cheap. Verdict: Fine

The Escape Craft was incredibly good at 26 points or less, typically as an enabler for other ships with its Coordinate action. L3 definitely needed her 4 point bump, but Lando probably should have only gone up 2 points since he almost always takes the 2 point Tactical Officer to stay unstressed for his pilot ability. Verdict: Good

I can understand pricing the Fang Fighter is difficult. At range 1 they are devastating, but anywhere else they like to take crits and die. Skull Squadron Pilots might be a point over-costed, especially compared to the I4 T-70 at the same price point and the I4 Phantom at 4 points cheaper. But again, the ship ability is hard to cost. Maybe drop both the generics a point. Maybe. Or don’t.

Old Teroch is priced perfectly. Kad could probably drop 1 point to help him see some game time. Joy Rekkof should be priced with the understanding that she needs to take a minimum of 6 points worth of torpedoes to trigger her ability a maximum of two times. Drop her to the price point of the same initiative Skull Squadron Pilot because that is all that she is without a torp. Also, give this chassis a modification slot. I assume the fear is afterburners, but simply take the slot back if we find out that they are too strong with it.

Now I’m going to get contentious. Fenn Rau should drop in points. Comparing his 68 point price to other maneuverable aces, Fenn is 3 points more than Darth Vader, 16 points more than Soontir Fel, and the same cost as Poe Dameron. Poe and Vader both have versatile double action economy, more health, and shields to boot. Soontir could take a hull upgrade and a shield upgrade and still come in one point less than Fenn. I will certainly not argue that he is not good at 68 points, but rather that the parity between him and other I6 aces is off by a bit. He is not Poe Dameron and should not be priced as if he was. Mildly adjust him downwards. Verdict: Poor

I understand that Boba Fett needed to go up, but I don’t think he needed to go up 6 points since all of his super cheap gadgets and gizmos that made him a monster went up quite bit as well. Drop him back down 2 points. Also, I fear that Boba has shone so well that price adjustments on the other pilots were overlooked. They should all drop by 1 point except Kath, who should drop by 2 because her pilot ability (while thematic) is almost non-existent gameplay-wise. Verdict: Poor

I was almost certain that we’d see 4-LOM go up in price, but instead, just his optimal build did with Advanced Sensors going up by 2. The Findsman went down, and it probably needed to go down. Now, you can field 4 of them and a Y-Wing for a list with 26 hull, 18 shields, 14 red dice, and points to spare. It doesn’t sound like a good list, but that is a lot of beef to chew through. Zuckuss dropping 2 points is a decent move, as well. Verdict: Good

If you have read my article on the Rebel faction changes, my hand has already been tipped that the HWK isn’t a great ship without the Moldy Crow, but at least FFG didn’t give spurious increases to Scum like they did to Kyle Katarn and the Rebel Scout. Torkil and Palob have justifiable increases, but again, with the title’s increase no one will be flying them as they have effectively received an 8 point increase. With force-wielding Jedi and calculating droids now taking up a decent portion of the meta, Palob’s effectiveness was going to wane anyway. Dace Bonearm going down a point is good move, though. Put him with a bunch of ion Y-Wings, and he is usable without the title since his ability doesn’t rely on the arc the title gives. Verdict: Decent, yet poor considering the title

Ugh. FFG really tried here, so I want to give them credit. But… this ship still really isn’t worth putting on the table. In my article Death of a Bounty Hunter, I compared the JM5K to the Scum Falcon and the HWK, and even after the point change both of the other ships are still better, still cheaper, and still have a usable dial. Dengar and Tel should drop to at least the same price as Scum Han and Scum Lando. But you can only drop points so far before these inflate the cheap filler ship market as they did in First Edition. I don’t know what upgrade slots I would add to help the ship either. FFG dug themselves into a hole with the dial, and put a lid on it by making R4 inaccessible. The title could help salvage the ship with the astromech slot, but at 8 points plus the extra cost of the astromech, you are just flushing your MOV down a points toilet. Verdict: The Worst

The K-Fighter isn’t exactly in a good spot, but also, it’s not in a bad spot. Drop Talonbane down by two to match Thane Kyrell’s price at a similar initiative, and drop Graz to Viktor Hel’s price point. You could probably drop at least one extra mod slot since adding points to these guys seems like a trap. So why bother having it? Verdict: Not bad, but also not good

Like most all large bases, the Lancer received a much needed drop in points. While the 2 die turret limp-wristedly punches just like the Scum Falcon and the JM5K, it at least has the advantage of the 3 die forward arc that the Jumpmaster sorely needs. This ship would do greater things if a gunner slot were added to it. Ketsu rolling with VTG or Asajj rolling around with Lattz and BT-1 seem like fun combinations but not overpowered if priced accordingly. Verdict: A step in the right direction

One of my favorite Scum ships from First Edition, it’s the only ship that I think got worse by getting a medium base (well, maybe the Reaper, but really its problems came from the dial change not the base). Lining up the bulls-eye ship ability on a medium base just doesn’t happen as frequently without a barrel roll, and now the barrel roll is stressful. If R4 were unrestricted, it would go a long way to help this ship’s maneuverability. In 1E, they were the Scum equivalent to the Star Wing, but now they are closer to a G1-A with a better dial and worse hull to shield ratio. The generic Cartel Executioner can drop by 1, Dalan and his ineffectual, once-in-a-blue-moon ability can drop by 3 points, and Torani can drop at least 2 as well. Verdict: Poor

The M3-A needs some love. Each of them seems over-priced for what they give. Every one of them went down, but I would drop them all down by another point. Verdict: A step in the right direction

This ship is what makes the M3-A Interceptor obsolete. Any one of them is outclassed by Captain Seevor, who went up two points and would still be the better choice than any M3-A. Until large and medium bases become more prominent, which is unlikely with droid swarms and Jedi aces added to the market, Ahhav could drop a point. Otherwise, these are solid ships. Verdict: Good

I loved this ship in First Edition, but it was way too under-costed at launch which many, understandably, took advantage of. The Jakku Gunrunner correctly went up to 32, forcing the named pilots up. Unkar and Zuvio I can understand, but Sarco Plank has a bad ability that got worse than it was in First Edition since it is no longer immune to Wedge, tractor tokens, Outmaneuver, et cetera. Charging more for Zuvio’s initiative is the wrong direction to go since Quadjumpers largely want to move first. Put all three named pilot at 33 points, and it should be good. Verdict: Needs mild adjustment

The Scurrg hasn’t seen much game time until the points drop, and I imagine that would still be the case if it didn’t gain the gunner slot. The intention was probably to drop the price for the ship so they can take Skilled Bombardier as their gunner and put some bombs into the meta. But as with the Y-Wings, the additional decrease in VTG and turrets created a different monster. I don’t think this one is as toxic as the Ion Y’s, but pumping VTG back up 2 points would likely get rid of the Drea Scurrg list. Maybe push Nym back up 1 point and call it day. Verdict: Good, but mildly problematic with VTG and turret drops

The StarViper is an immensely fun ship to fly, but the ships are priced just a hair too high to use any of them but Guri. With Guri’s 1 point increase, and with her standard Advanced Sensors build, she went up a total of 3. Drop all of them by one point and see how that shakes things up. Verdict: Needs mild adjustment

The price drops on all of the YV-666 are good. Changing the third crew slot to a gunner is a decent choice. You could probably drop Moralo down another point or so, but overall a solid move. Verdict: Good

The Z-95 generics seem to be priced a bit higher than their Rebel counterparts, likely because of their Illicit slot, but as that already comes with a cost in whatever upgrade you take, drop both generics by 1. N’dru and Kaa’to could drop 1 each as well since N’dru’s ability only applies to his primary now and Kaa’to’s ability isn’t super great. At the current price, you’ll just take the Escape Craft in its place for better abilities and the ever-so-valuable coordinate. Verdict: Needs mild adjustment

The Upgrades

For this section, I will address each upgrade that made a point change and the upgrades that didn’t see a change that probably should have for this faction.

As R5-TK so far doesn’t have any synergy except with Torani Kulda, a corner case for Laetin A’shera, and Deadman’s Switch, this can drop to the First Edition price of 0 – it is currently so niche, you won’t see it. Genius bumping up from 0 to 2 is a bit much since it can only be used on Y-Wings (which rarely use bombs) or a Scurrg with a 4 point title (making this a 6 point astromech on it). Drop it back down by 1. R5-P8 could go down 1 point since it only has 3 charges with a 1/4 chance to do nothing and a 1/8 chance to self damage.

The price drops on Cikatro, 4-LOM, Zuckuss, and Jabba are all fine moves. Maul got the force crew drop going around that he needed. Unkar Plutt is nearly useless so drop him to 1. Chewbacca, Ketsu, and Cad could all do with a single point drop to help them see game time. Maybe Boba crew could drop by 1, but he’s still decent at 4 points. 0-0-0 going up makes plenty of sense as noted in the Imperial article.

Bossk is far too much for a gunner that will forcibly stress you. A gunner that makes you not want to shoot since it will give you worse maneuvers the next round if you miss is not worth 10 points. Han going up was inevitable and necessary, but 12 points is priced out of being a choice. Make him 9 or 10 points to at least put him back into consideration.

Scum has a lot of titles, and a lot of work to be done with them. Marauder went up to 6, but 5 would have been good since a gunner is likely included in the cost. Slave 1 dropped to a fine price point. Andrasta dropped to a good point, but as it requires at least another 3 points of devices to be useful, it should drop another point.

I still hold the contentious thought that Moldy Crow went up too many points, as in my Rebel review. My justification for this thinking is that I still haven’t seen a squawk from this Crow in two different factions since the change. Drop it two to three points to remain pricey but more in the realm of usable.

IG-2000 dropped to 1 point which is solid since you will be spending at least 1 point more to make it work. The Shadow Caster could probably drop some since it is restricted to being in both the front arc and mobile arc simultaneously as opposed to First Edition mobile arc only requirement. Virago could drop 2 points as it is really just an expensive shield upgrade. The end phase stressful boost seems cool, but I have never seen it used.

Ugh. And the Punishing One. At 8 points, the title is a points sink that removes a crew slot and adds one die to one arc. The title has a weird anti-synergy with anything that would make it good. Dengar being able to take Perceptive Copilot or IG-88D crew would be nice since he could potentially modify each shot, but since the title drops crew, he can only mod a 2 die shot. L3-37 could go a long way to improve the dial, but then you drop back down to a 2 die primary. Having crew and an astromech together would make the ship a little more usable as the astromech options are a little lackluster without R4 available. Tel would be fun with “GNK” and an R2 astromech. Overall, this title is just frustrating. Make it 1 or 2 points, and maybe the named JM5K’s might be usable.

Well, there is my diagnosis on the Scum points change. What are your thoughts? Do you agree or disagree? What do you think still needs addressed to be usable? What do you think needs addressed because it is too strong?

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