X-Wing 2.0 Design Review- Rebel Ship Redesigns

We started a look at the redesign of the ships in X-Wing 2.0 by examining the Imperial fleet. Today we’ll dive through the Rebel fleet.

Rebels

T-65 X-Wing

The namesake for the game works great as a canary for the health of the game. In 1.0, no one played X-wings. They were outclassed by all of the ships. Would the updates coming in Saw’s Renegades have brought them back? We’ll never know. But I think we can say confidently that the X-wing 2.0 is going to be even better.

First, the ship has gained a hull without any loss of shield. Many ships in 2.0 traded a shield for a hull. X-wings just gained a hull. Second, they also gained a barrel roll action. In the early stages, TIE Fighters had the barrel roll action to distinguish themselves from X-wing. But as the game evolved, this action, along with boost, became essential to getting the most out of the game. Additionally, they will also have access to boost via the Servomotors upgrade.

As for the dial itself, there have been a few welcome changes. The two-speed bank maneuvers are now blue. This gives the X-wing six instead of four options for clearing stress. Which is helpful coming off of its two new three-speed T-rolls.

A-Wing

Before we get into the ship changes, I want to say how excited I am that the basic generic version of the A-Wing has become Phoenix Squadron. Prototype Pilot was always kind of a stupid name. And yay Rebels! Phoenix Squadron A-Wings were perfect cannon fodder low skill pilots, which is generally what the Init 1 ships will be used for.

Now, onto the ship itself. No base stat changes, leaving the A-Wing one of only two ships that only have two hull. The action bar has also remained pretty similar, but importantly, it has gained access to barrel roll. Combined with the ship’s new chassis ability, Vectored Thrusters, allows the A-Wing to be a slippery craft. Being able to boost after any maneuver allows the A-Wing to get dice mods while closing in or arc dodging with a barrel roll to boost. Though, unlike the TIE Interceptor, it can’t boost and then barrel roll.

Finally, the dial has seen a slight improvement. The three K-turn has been converted to an S-loop. This gives the A-Wing the chance to angle change when turning around, which is nice. Without PTL it won’t be stressing itself as frequently as before so you might actually take advantage of these in 2.0.

B-Wing

The B-Wing was one of the greatest victims of the evolving stat of 1.0. Once a powerhouse, as firepower increased it eventually got left behind. I’m not sure how it will fare in 2.0 though. With the decrease in consistent max damage shots it could see a resurgence. But, while it has seen some changes, nothing so far really jumps out as a major improvement. Though we don’t know its upgrade slots and that might make a big difference.

The ship has lost a shield in exchange for an extra hull. It has also gained a linked focus to barrel roll action. Most ships with linked actions tend to be the arc dodgers, which was never the B-wings strength so this is an interesting choice.

Looking at the B-Wing’s dial, we still see a lot of red. In fact, it is almost 50/50 red to non-red (8 to 9 maneuvers). Most of the original dial remains intact but it has now picked up a pair of one-speed T-rolls and retains the two-speed K-turn. This makes the B-Wing an excellent knife fighter, able to turn around in tight quarters. Though, its still very easy to block it from turning around. Fortunately, it has picked up a blue three straight, allowing it to clear the stress a little easier. Which will be important without some other way to gain actions or dice mods through all that stress, as the B-wing’s staple of FCS will function very differently now.

E-Wing

Outside of Corran, the E-wing never really saw much play. It was just too expensive for what you got. The two hull left you vulnerable to anything that bypassed shields. No generics had EPT’s to exploit the Advanced Sensors, R2 Astromech, PTL combo. That said, they were always still a secret love of mine. I first encountered E-wings from the old EU books. I didn’t know what they looked like. They just were described as more powerful than X-Wings and I was at the age where that automatically made them cooler. I grew out of that but there is still a part of me that thinks the E-Wings should be awesome.

Well, come 2.0, they no longer suck. They might still end up being too expensive but at least you’re getting something for those points. First, there is a high initiative generic called Rogue Squadron. Not in X-Wings, but at least the Rogues exist. Second, the ship’s biggest weakness, the two hull, has been shored up giving it three’s across the board. It is now equivalent to the old TIE Defender.

The action bar has similarly improved. It has gained the ability to link into a target lock from boost or barrel roll. And that’s right, it now natively has a boost. Corran always had Engine Upgrade stapled onto him.

This linked action might actually be the ship’s only potential flaw. The ship has gained a chassis ability, Experimental Scanners. Now, E-Wings can get target locks from anywhere on the board, aside from range 1. This brings up a number of limitations. First, you are likely to already have a target lock before you move into engagement range, so linking to one isn’t as useful as it would be for other ships. Second, you can’t boost into range one and nab a target lock. This means the E-Wing can still get a target lock focus on the first engagement, unlike most other ships, but it won’t be doing that and arc dodging. Though, the ship can also take R3 Astromechs allowing it to have two different target locks which could be bonkers. Definitely a good balancing factor in the end that it can’t arc dodge and then focus.

Finally, let’s talk about the dial. This has seen some impressive gains. The two banks have become white and the one banks have become blue. This is probably the preferred configuration. It has also gained a four-speed blue, allowing you to go fast and clear that stress. It has also gained hard one turns. These are red but its still huge. It now has access to every basic maneuver. And access to R4 astromech which can make those red turns white. And last, it has gained three-speed S-loops. This is a seriously good dial.

K-Wing

Ah, the K-Wing, a ship that both was the bane of many and kind of a dud. Miranda Doni caused a lot of trouble and the Warden’s, before dropping bombs post SLAM was outlawed, had a good run. But with all bombs dropping in the new System phase, TLT being gone, and Miranda getting a nerf (she can only regen a max of one shield or spend shields on primary attacks) how will they stack up in 2.0?

The ship itself did not see many changes. The dial is identical. The base stats are just about the same, trading a shield in exchange for another hull, like many ships in 2.0. Its primary turret has become a dual arc mobile arc, like the Falcon, Decimator, Outrider, etc. The action bar has expanded slightly, gaining rotate (naturally) but also a white reload. This emphasizes the K-wing’s primary role as an ordnance carrier.

We don’t know if it will have a turret slot in addition to its main mobile arc. Actually, I’m not entirely sure how that would work. Would it gain a second arc indicator allowing three arc coverage or would both weapons use the same indicator? Without the bonus coverage, the only reason they would want a separate turret slot would be to use ion for a control build.

As a side note, Advanced SLAM took a slight hit. It now clearly states its only actions on your action bar and they now become red actions. So if you want to SLAM away with your K-wings and then reload, you’re very limited, and predictable, on your maneuvers next round.

U-Wing

The U-Wing has only experienced a few small but significant changes. The dial remains the same. It has only gained one action, a red coordinate. A small thing but potentially huge in what role the ship fills. It now really works as a squad support ship.

It has lost the typical shield and gained a hull, giving it the health spread of the original Y-Wing. It has also technically gained an agility, as it has two natively and the pivot wings can remove one, rather than adding one. Speaking of pivot wings, that is probably the ship’s greatest gain.

In 1.0, flipping the pivot wings occurred the round before you wanted to make use of the ability. Now, you can flip them right before activating. Your opponent now has to guess which configuration you’ll be in. Additionally, when your wings are closed, instead of flipping 180 on a stop maneuver, you can instead flip only 90 degrees. This could be huge as the ship itself sort of functions like a mobile arc. Though, it should be noted, Hera crew has been nerfed slightly. No more infinite stacking of stress and still performing red maneuvers. After three, you start damaging yourself.

Y-Wing

The Y-Wing has seen a strong bit of improvements in 2.0 First, the big one, it now has blue one banks. The Y-Wing can finally change direction while clearing stress without having to devote its astromech slot to that! This is a very nice change. It’s a lumbering bomber so its dial felt appropriate beyond that oversight.

It has also gained a few new actions; barrel roll and reload. While both red, they are very useful additions to its role as a fighter/bomber. Position is king in this game so any ship that couldn’t barrel roll or boost in 1.0 was at a disadvantage. Being able to reload is a great feature too for a ship whose primary role is ordnance delivery.

Z-95

We come to our generic cannon fodder ship for Rebels. The ship has seen a few small but beneficial changes. Most notably, it has gained a barrel roll. It is red but at least the ship can natively perform a reposition action. Vectored Thrusters in 1.0 felt like a waste of points on something that is supposed to be cheap. But not having any ability to reposition was a real limiting factor.

The dial has also seen a few minor improvements. The ship has gained a four K-turn in addition to his old three. Having two options is great, especially when you consider how many times a three K-turn just wasn’t far enough to clear something. Its three forward has also become blue allowing it to clear stress just a little easier.

ARC-170

I’ll admit it, when First Order and Resistance got split off to be their own faction, a part of me was hoping that the ARC would leave the Rebels to eventually join a Republic faction. That might eventually happen but the Rebels will retain the ship.

The ARC-170 benefits a lot from 2.0 just in ease of design. With the change over to allowing multiple printed arcs, the ship now has the split for forward and rear arc attack values written right on the card rather than requiring a title card. It also has a red barrel roll added, fitting with it being the ship that introduced Vectored Thrusters to 1.0. Other than that the ship’s stats haven’t changed and it retains an identical dial.

Auzituck Gunship

The Auzituck has gained a few things but also lost a few things. The biggest change to the ship is the way Reinforce works. You can only reduce incoming damage, never entirely negate it. When you’re facing a swarm of two hit attacks, you’ll always take at least one of those damage. But. you will also always block at least one of those damage. This combined with the loss of a shield, and unlike most ships, no corresponding increase in hull, means the Auzituck is far less of a tank.

It did gain a red barrel roll, which is fitting with 2.0 design philosophy. It can reposition some when needed and that might save it from far more damage than reinforce. The dial has also undergone a minor but interesting change. Instead of being able to go five straight it can now stop. With that 180 degree arc, being able to stop could be significant for catching your prey.

HWK-290

Front-runner candidate for the award for most improved goes to the HWK-290. First, the dial has gained three maneuvers, hard 3 speed turns and a stop maneuver. Second, the 4-straight and 3- banks went from red to white. While all three new maneuvers are red, the three straight also went from white to blue. This gives your HWK a lot more maneuver options.

Next, the sad, sad one attack die has finally been upgraded to two dice. It has also gone from a primary arc to the new turret arc. It’s only a single but that’s still a marked improvement.

Finally, the action bar has ballooned from just two to five, including Jam, Boost and being able to link Rotate Arc with Focus or Lock. Now, many of the actions are red and the available blue maneuvers are still quite limited. But, even still, this gives the HWK a lot more options available to it. And with the Moldy Crow title granting a 3 dice forward arc and the ability to store focus tokens, you can build your HWK for a lot of different roles.

Attack Shuttle

The attack shuttle has experienced only minor changes. It lost a shield in favor of a hull, which means it now only has one. This makes Zeb a little more appealing. Its dial did not change any though. With its linked action it has the potential to be pretty slippery. Especially with Sabine as a pilot. She can boost before revealing the dial, do a barrel roll as her action and link into an evade. If the Debris Gambit exploit indeed works, that evade might even be white, allowing all of that to be done without stress. You won’t have any offensive mods that way but you’ll be hard to pin down.

The ship’s chassis ability effectively bakes the old Phantom title into the ship. This makes little difference to the ship on its own though so it remains to primarily function as a docked ship.

Sheathipede

The Sheathipede has seen a few small but significant changes. The base stat lined remains unchanged but the action bar took a hit, losing the target lock action. Significantly it, unlike every other small base ship in 2.0, did not gain any reposition ability. No barrel rolls or boosts for this little shuttle. The dial also remains mostly intact with one interesting change. The ship can now perform a one reverse maneuver. Offhand I can’t see a significant benefit to this but I can imagine a funny scenario. With Hera aboard as crew, and your dual arc, you can chase someone down, slowly, if they are in front of you or behind you.

Like the Attack Shuttle, the Sheathipede’s chassis ability effectively bakes in the old Phantom II title but with a slight nerf. Before, Phantom II gave a free coordinate at the end of the activation phase, which allowed full knowledge for any ships wanting to use it to boost/barrel roll. Now, the free action comes before the carrier ship activates, tying the coordinate to its initiative level.

VCX-100

Sadly, the Ghost has seen mostly nerfs in 2.0. In some ways, given the way she has been wrecking the meta at the end of 1.0, this is probably viewed positively. As a big fan of Ghost as a ship and a guy who flew her before it was cool, it makes me a little sad.

The big nerf is the loss of two shields with no corresponding gain in hull. The Falcon and Decimator lost nothing, the Lambda, YT-2400 and YV-666 traded for equivalent health. Ghost is the only large ship to lose health. It still has more than most, but with zero agility that’s a big deal. It did gain reinforce, but this is not as powerful as in 1.0. The dial remains mostly intact, only trading the five K-turn for a four instead. This also feels like a nerf as being able to turn around at speed five gave it a lot of clearance.

Like the two docking ships, the VCX has incorporated most of the abilities from the title as a chassis ability. This is important if Boba Fett remains a thing. What’s significant about all of this though, is all VCX, Attack Shuttles, Sheathipedes have abilities that only work if you have the title. It would have been kind of cool if the docking abilities had been native to the ships so you could dock and undock different ships.

A fully kitted out Ghost will be interesting. Four dice out of your front, a turret out one side, and a two to three dice rear arc. This gives the ship 270 degree coverage, though with very different range and attack values in every quadrant.

YT-1300

Yay! The Outer Rim Smuggler no longer sucks. The role of scaled-down YT-1300 has been taken by Lando’s version coming to Scum. Unlike a lot of ships, the Falcon has not seen any base stat changes. Given the general reduction in shields, this is kind of surprising.

As for the action bar, the ship has, of course, gained a rotate action but also a red boost. The only large ship that can boost this sets the Falcon aside as a slippery, fast ship. It can still make use of Engine Upgrade, the ship that introduced that card to 1.0, to gain white boosts.

The dial has gone through a few significant changes. Gone are the excellent one turns, replaced with three turns. This fits with the ship as a big, but fast, freighter. It’s hard to turn on a dime like that. Fitting with that thought, it has also traded its green one banks for blue two banks. If you want to clear stress, you’re going forward or going speed two. Finally, it has incorporated the second Falcon title into all ships with three-speed S-loops.

YT-2400

After the TIE Phantom lost its fourth attack dice, what happened to the YT-2400 really surprised me. Gone are the puny two attack dice, replaced instead by four. Every YT-2400 is effectively the Outrider decked out with a Heavy Laser Cannon. But better because there is no range one donut hole. Instead, the new chassis ability, Sensor Blindspot, reduces your attack to only three dice (canceling the range one bonus and reducing your dice). But three is still infinitely better than zero.

Balancing this out slightly is the barrel roll becoming red. And I do mean slightly as you can still take Expert Handling to regain a white barrel roll. There is no way to gain a permanent boost at least. It also has no linked actions which will help keep it in check somewhat. The excellent dial remains the same. Unless you take Kanan you are limited for clearing that stress. But you also won’t need to clear stress as often without PTL. And if you do take Kanan, then you have a Force point to spend on dice mods instead of clearing stress. So expect that to still be a thing.

Conclusion

Who are our biggest winners and losers? Probably the HWK-290 gained the most. It is hard to put a value on going from one attack die to two and with a title that even gives it three. Plus the dial is much better. But the E-Wing has a pretty strong claim to the title too. That chassis ability could be huge, plus the dial gained a lot with S-loops and hard one turns.

Biggest loser is a tough one. No ship really suffers too much in 2.0. The VCX probably lost the most with two less overall health. I would have to also consider the B-Wing, which didn’t lose anything but also doesn’t feel like it really gained anything compared to every other ship.