As with the last points change, I have a lot more to say about the points adjustment. 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 June 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 two sequel factions of the Star Wars universe, the Resistance and the First Order.

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. Each ship will have a verdict applied to it grading the changes or lack of changes.

The MG-100 StarFortress saw drops on all pilots, but really hasn’t come into contention with the exception of the “In-Vennie-cible” build. Barring Trajectory Simulator dropping by a point, each StarFortress should drop by one point with the exception of Vennie. Verdict: Good, but needs more

The Resistance A-Wing came out of the gates hot at its launch, and despite price increases on 4 out of 6 pilots, they are still solid. I don’t think any reductions or increases are necessary for the chassis, but rather I think that Advanced Optics should go up instead. Advanced Optics is almost an auto-include on most A-Wings (and TIE/sf for that matter) and it should be more of a choice. Verdict: Good

The Scavenged YT-1300 saw significant drops in the costs of all pilots, putting them into greater contention. Chewie has proven that he can hang in the meta, and I believe Rey has much more potential now. The named pilots shouldn’t drop much more, but cheapening the title might be an avenue to make them stronger. Beyond that I’d be willing to see the Resistance Sympathizer drop to 66 points. Perhaps running three YT-1300 might be too strong, but I’d be willing to give it a shot. Verdict: Good, but needs more

All of the less used T-70 pilots and Jess Pava saw 1 point decreases, which were all good moves. I would drop Kare Kun and Joph Seastriker another point and drop Jaycriss Tubbs down 2 points. I am hesitant to suggest a drop in points for Poe, but comparing him to Vader, he could drop 1 point for parity. Verdict: Good, but needs more

I haven’t seen enough of the Resistance Transport to gauge that ship or its pricing on the pilots, but there is one Pod that has distinguished itself above the others: Finn. The Big Deal was a fantastic deal before his errata, but he is still strong afterwards. I recommend he goes up 2 points, as the returns for destroying him aren’t very great for how much damage he can put out. The other can remain where they are until the distinguish themselves as good or bad. Verdict: Good, except for Finn

The TIE/fo all saw drops except Null, who probably could have still gotten it and it wouldn’t have mattered. While on paper the TIE/fo seems better than the TIE/ln with a better dial and a shield, the First Order TIE is lacking one thing that the Imperial counterpart has: the force-multiplier that is Howlrunner. Every successful swarm we see has a passive mod mechanic in play (Howl, Sinker, Networked Calculations, Drea) which the FO lack with the possible exception of the Fanatical talent. Most of the pilots dropped by one or two points, but another drop by 1 point is warranted, except for Midnight who should drop down to 40 points. She was great in the 2 to 3 ship meta of First Edition, but in the high ship count meta of Second Edition she is less effective, especially with Juke not working with her ability. Verdict: Bad

I’m going to make a bold statement, but the follow-up should allay any fears. The generic TIE/sf are too cheap, and they should go up by 2 points. The followup, however, is that the Special Forces Gunner should go down by 3 points to counteract that increase, that and a suggested drop by one point on pretty much every missile that isn’t Barrage Rockets. Dropping the gunner would net a drop for Quickdraw and would make the generic SFs more punchy for one point cheaper while stepping away from the 5 SFs with Advanced Optics, which was fairly effective and very dull. Verdict: Decent

The TIE/vn Silencer is largely just the TIE/Kylo at this point, and even Kylo is likely overcosted. While four of the pilots received reductions, I’d recommend reducing more. Kylo could drop two-ish points as he is still decent even at his current price point of 76 but is more expensive than every small base I6. Drop Avenger by two; Blackout and FO Test Pilot should drop by one. Verdict: Needs love

Most of the Upsilons went up in price in this update, but that seems unfair. Only Tavson was truly good, and the Starkiller Base Pilot can be justified as that much health should not be so cheap with reinforce and a green die to back that up. Tavson should go up to 66 points, and both Stridan and Cardinal should drop to 63. Verdict: Good, but needs more

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.

The change to scaled pricing on both BB and BB-8 was the correct way to go, but for the two limited-use charges on both Astromechs, they can lessen by 1 point for BB-8 and move to 1 on I1-2, 3 on I3-4, and 5 on I5-6. M9-G8 should drop by 1 point, as well.

Resistance crew almost tripled with the addition of the Transport, and mostly I believe that FFG got it right. Drop Holdo, Larma, and Kaydel by 1 point each. I have a suspicion that Chewbacca crew can be good, but he seems like he would be best on Chewbacca pilot – drop him down a point as well.

The First Order has slim pickings, but both Snoke and Phasma are effective at their current prices. Kylo Crew should drop down to either 9 or 10 points, as he is largely just a blank force charge since IWSYTDS isn’t as strong as it was in First Edition. The strongest drawback to Kylo crew is that you can’t take Kylo pilot if you do.

The Resistance gunners seem good at their price points, but I would not be against Finn or Rey dropping by only 1 point. For the FO, as suggested before, the Special Forces Gunner should drop by 3 points with an accompanying rise in the cost to the TIE/sf.

Black One is a steal at 2 points, but as it has its own drawbacks built in, it is fine there. Rey’s Millenium Falcon could drop by 1 point.

As mentioned above, Advanced Optics should go up by 1 point, to get rid of the auto-include on the RZ-2 A’s and the TIE/sf. Primed Thrusters on the sliding scale is good, but I would drop them by 1. Targeting Synchronizer is so unused that it should drop by 2, and Ferrosphere Paint is actually a good upgrade but the cost of 6 points puts it out of consideration, so drop it by 1. Hyperspace Tracking Data should go down, but Dormitz pretty much will never let that happen unless HSTD somehow gets a limited dot.

Well, there is my diagnosis on the points change to the sequel factions. 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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