I'm converting from rebels to imperials, since my older brother plays scum and my dad plays rebels. We don't have any special ships for imperials, only 2 TIE Fighters. This ship would be awesome to have for a Christmas gift.
You're welcome. I really want to play this ship, but I am struggling to put together a good list. So far the best I have is Kylo plus Backdraft and Omega Leader. I want to run Silencer and Upsilon together too since they look so great but I'm not sure about a good build for them.
I really like what the Tie/SF added. Backdraft is definitely one of my favorites. Would you fly Backdraft to cover the rear while you used Silencer and Omega Leader as aggressors? Who would want to pilot the Silencer and Upsilon?
I think that there's still a place for TIE Interceptors. Consider that the Alpha Squadron Pilot is 18 points, a full 8 points cheaper than the cheapest Silencer. You can throw one into a squadron with no upgrades and it will still perform reasonably well. You can even field five of them with Autothrusters. 15 attack dice behind ships with 3 agility is no joke. I do wish they would throw the Interceptor a bone, though. It's been a long time since they got a decent boost (Autothrusters was probably the last good new upgrade for them).
The Cardboard Dungeon that's fair, but I feel the named Interceptors aren't worth the purchase anymore. Some of them (Especially the generics) still have their use, but I'd take a generic Silencer over any of them. If nothing else purely for that double health. Too bad the Interceptor already got it's "fix" pack, so the chances of it coming back into the limelight with a second one are close to nill.
Never say never. How many attempts did the designers make to get people to play bombs and missiles/torpedoes? How many attempts to boost the original X-Wing? Integrated Astromech helped, but it helped the T-70 too. Vectored Thrusters were supposed to help, and now we've got Flight Assist Astromech in this wave that might actually get a few of the better X-Wing pilots onto the table. All it would take is one great upgrade for the TIE Interceptor.
I was a bit leery on Kylo but give him PTL, FCS and a Threat tracker and its possible to engineer a position where only the ship you want to tag with I'll Show gets a shot, stick a blinded pilot, rinse and repeat, pricey but strong
+dandyx12 I've been playing around with builds and I think I might end up trying the First Order Test Pilot with Expertise, FCS, title, Sensor Cluster and Autothrusters. Lots of defensive upgrades, gets rerolls plus focus conversion into hits without requiring actions. It's still expensive though. Finding the points to build into a decent squad is the hardest part.
Im a new player and have only just bought the force awakens core set (well ordered it) before i ask my main question i'd like to ask, can I have resistance and rebel force on the same side or no? Same goes with Imperials and first order. I have been doing a lot of research on this game and I think I may start thinking about my first squadron after I have played some games of the core set. I think my squadron will be: 2 Tie Bombers (Not sure what pilots) and a Tie Silencer (again not sure what pilots). Can someone tell me what you think of this squadron?
Yes you can mix rebel and resistance and imperial and first order. You could probably make a decent list with bombers and a silencer but I think two Alpha-class Star Wings and a Silencer is a better option.
Thanks for the quick response! Im definitely going to buy a bomber and perhaps get a silencer and start to build of of there. The bombers are just so good if you can predict your enemies move!
Test Pilot Blackout.... it would seem to me that, I can't remember the name of the card, but you could apply the upgrade that obstructs fire through a large ship modification. Keep that guy behind him, or hovering just around... and blast away! -2 defense dice... out!
+TheDBall73 You're thinking of Tactical Jammer, but unfortunately it only obstructs enemy attacks. Blackout's ability wouldn't work when he attacks through the friendly large ship.
Blackout really wants to fly with a friendly large ship equipped with Tactical Jammer. Mobile obstruction anyone? Yes, please. Maybe combine with Intimidation for extra Agility debuff?
12:40 ''The Silencer is easier to hit than other arc dodgers'' Huh?!? 3 Def dice on this beauty! AND a 'large' ship on a small base...how can it possibly be ''easier to hit''??
Also no built-in action efficiency; Soontir can stack Focus/Focus/Evade with two actions, The Inquisitor can Target Lock/Evade with one action, Poe converts a Focus result to a success on both offense and defense if he has a token which just got easier with Advanced Optics, etc. TIE Silencers have to pay for their actions. Getting great action efficiency is difficult, especially for their cost. They're easier to hit than many other aces because of it.
Interesting points, though I'm going to have to disagree with you on Threat Tracker. Combine it with Fire Control System on either Kylo or the PS7 and you've got a solid chance of getting out of arc. This becomes even stronger if partnered with Push the Limit. This is a pricey combination, but the three together allow you to use your action in the activation phase to focus and the dodge out of anything shooting at you's arc after you shoot.
Well they didn't do such a hot job with the story or the characters in the new film, but at least we got some cool space battles and some pretty neat starships.
+JustBerzerkBricks92 There's a case to be made for QuickDraw or Backdraft along with a budget Omega Leader (with A Score to Settle if flying with Kylo for the added crits).
It has more to do with play mechanics than theme. Large ships move differently and can be harder to maneuver precisely than small ones. So the U-Wing, being more of an armored transport craft that a dog fighter, gets a large base to represent this, while the Silencer, despite being nearly as large a ship, gets a small base because it's a more agile starfighter.
The other thing though is, that large ships effectively move faster for any given maneuver than smaller ships because of the large base.... at least, if I understand the game correctly.
It is a ship with a good dial + actions like boost/barrel roll that is able to avoid enemy firing arcs while putting itself in a good position to shoot.
American Desi you've got three basic archetypes in the game: jouster (deals and soaks a lot of damage, gets into the thick of things), arc-dodger which was already explained, and turrets.
I feel like Trick Shot would work exceedingly well with "Blackout" add an additional attack die through obstacles - 2 Def die for them, plus it's 0 points lol
You would think so. I tried it out sand found that it can be difficult to actually line up shots to take advantage of those abilities. The first time you take a shot at an enemy ship with four dice and -1 defense dice they're not going to hand you too many more opportunities to do it again.
Personally, it's the aesthetics for me, for something that's supposed to be that maneuverable, it shouldn't be as long and wide as the resistance bomber is tall and long
I looked over the preview of this and didn't even notice it was on a small base, that's a shame because I think a large fighter would have been a more interesting addition to the game, because it looks ridiculous and also likely to fall over (crushing any actual small ships it lands on)
It's true that it's way too big for a small base. It extends pretty far forward and back. You can alleviate this by pegging it up to 3 or down to one peg to get it above or below most other ships. I do think that it needs to be on a small base, though. It is a big Starfighter, but it's not a *large* ship, if that makes sense. It's still a single seat skirmisher.
+ThroatSore What Rebels are you playing that use Autothrusters? The T-70 pilots and maybe A-Wings like it, but the Imperials have TIE Interceptors, TIE Advanced Prototype and now the TIE Silencer that all love Autothrusters. Scum has StarVipers and Protectorate Starfighters that use it, so it's fairly evenly used by all factions. It would be nice if a Rebel expansion included it, but Imperial players have needed to buy StarVipers for a couple of years to get theirs.
Well, to be fair it does have two pilots capable of taking Push the Limit and Advanced Sensors with Boost/Barrel Roll, plus maybe the second best maneuver dial in the entire game. If they gave it much more it might be broken. I think losing the action economy that some other aces get was the trade off.
Maybe? We don't really have any idea about his piloting ability yet, though. From the trailer he seems pretty capable, flying into a Resistance capital ship and all.
I think he sits well at nine. His previous pilot card was at a 6 I believe on the TFA Upsilon when he was confused, unsure of himself. Now in The Last Jedi he has obviously grown in power as we clearly see as a Ps 9 ace. Not to mention he is a direct bloodline descendant of Luke and possibly one of the best starpilots of all Anakin.
Grown.. heh. Only like, a few weeks past between TFA and TLJ, if even That long. There is no way he has the experience Vader did piloting a ship (which is what justify Vaders PS9). Also, hes not direct to Luke. Hes direct to Han. To be honest, im not even sure he Pilots the Upsilon shuttle at all. I guess, if anything else, his ps9 in this ship overcomes his shitty ability. *shrug*.
Great Review. Your work on these reviews is awesome and my go to for every xwing release. I can’t wait for the next 4.
Thanks!
Looks nice. Can't believe how much green is on that dial though. Awesome!
It's going to be fun fighting against it (I'm a rebel player).
I'm converting from rebels to imperials, since my older brother plays scum and my dad plays rebels. We don't have any special ships for imperials, only 2 TIE Fighters. This ship would be awesome to have for a Christmas gift.
Cool ship, interesting mechanics. Thanks for reviewing this one Pat!
You're welcome. I really want to play this ship, but I am struggling to put together a good list. So far the best I have is Kylo plus Backdraft and Omega Leader. I want to run Silencer and Upsilon together too since they look so great but I'm not sure about a good build for them.
I really like what the Tie/SF added. Backdraft is definitely one of my favorites. Would you fly Backdraft to cover the rear while you used Silencer and Omega Leader as aggressors? Who would want to pilot the Silencer and Upsilon?
I miss you´re review videos on x-wing ships
Just picked up 2 Silencers, 2 Assault Gunboats, and a B/SF-17 for good measure. Really like this wave :D
Kylo Ren’s ability is beautifully thematic. His anger at being shot at is uncontrollable and harmful to himself.
Key weakness: painting your ship red makes you invisible to the TIE Silencer.
Calder Wishne I laughed harder than I should have, nice joke man.
Totally ran out and got one after this review. Love it.
How about a nice FIRST ORDER build set soon?
Last nail in the Tie Interceptor coffin. Pretty much the same cost with double the health and far better upgrades.
I think that there's still a place for TIE Interceptors. Consider that the Alpha Squadron Pilot is 18 points, a full 8 points cheaper than the cheapest Silencer. You can throw one into a squadron with no upgrades and it will still perform reasonably well. You can even field five of them with Autothrusters. 15 attack dice behind ships with 3 agility is no joke. I do wish they would throw the Interceptor a bone, though. It's been a long time since they got a decent boost (Autothrusters was probably the last good new upgrade for them).
The Cardboard Dungeon that's fair, but I feel the named Interceptors aren't worth the purchase anymore. Some of them (Especially the generics) still have their use, but I'd take a generic Silencer over any of them. If nothing else purely for that double health. Too bad the Interceptor already got it's "fix" pack, so the chances of it coming back into the limelight with a second one are close to nill.
Never say never. How many attempts did the designers make to get people to play bombs and missiles/torpedoes? How many attempts to boost the original X-Wing? Integrated Astromech helped, but it helped the T-70 too. Vectored Thrusters were supposed to help, and now we've got Flight Assist Astromech in this wave that might actually get a few of the better X-Wing pilots onto the table. All it would take is one great upgrade for the TIE Interceptor.
Soontir in a Silencer, with his same ability, would be ridiculous. I would play it though.
Would that not be expected, since the TIE Silencer represents future tech compared to the TIE Interceptor?
I can't wait for the new model.
I was a bit leery on Kylo but give him PTL, FCS and a Threat tracker and its possible to engineer a position where only the ship you want to tag with I'll Show gets a shot, stick a blinded pilot, rinse and repeat, pricey but strong
+dandyx12 I've been playing around with builds and I think I might end up trying the First Order Test Pilot with Expertise, FCS, title, Sensor Cluster and Autothrusters. Lots of defensive upgrades, gets rerolls plus focus conversion into hits without requiring actions. It's still expensive though. Finding the points to build into a decent squad is the hardest part.
I'm thinking Silencer and 2 Alphas might be a thing, or a Decimator but personally not a fan of 2 ship lists
thanks for the video! I want one purely to have it now.
Im a new player and have only just bought the force awakens core set (well ordered it) before i ask my main question i'd like to ask, can I have resistance and rebel force on the same side or no? Same goes with Imperials and first order. I have been doing a lot of research on this game and I think I may start thinking about my first squadron after I have played some games of the core set. I think my squadron will be: 2 Tie Bombers (Not sure what pilots) and a Tie Silencer (again not sure what pilots). Can someone tell me what you think of this squadron?
Yes you can mix rebel and resistance and imperial and first order. You could probably make a decent list with bombers and a silencer but I think two Alpha-class Star Wings and a Silencer is a better option.
Thanks for the quick response! Im definitely going to buy a bomber and perhaps get a silencer and start to build of of there. The bombers are just so good if you can predict your enemies move!
Test Pilot Blackout.... it would seem to me that, I can't remember the name of the card, but you could apply the upgrade that obstructs fire through a large ship modification. Keep that guy behind him, or hovering just around... and blast away! -2 defense dice... out!
+TheDBall73 You're thinking of Tactical Jammer, but unfortunately it only obstructs enemy attacks. Blackout's ability wouldn't work when he attacks through the friendly large ship.
You could put Trick Shot on Blackout and just double down on the obstructed attack strategy.
Very true
Do the Alpha Class "Gunboat" next :) Can't wait to see the new movie and this beast in action!
Nice review Mr. Patt! I just got mine tonight. How do you feel about running a trio of these babies?
I think it could be fun. Maybe not the most competitive of lists, but still fun.
add sensor cluster for 2 points and get the blank defense dice change to one evade, killer.
Nothing that my triple jumps couldn't handle LUL
Super nice ship
Blackout really wants to fly with a friendly large ship equipped with Tactical Jammer. Mobile obstruction anyone? Yes, please. Maybe combine with Intimidation for extra Agility debuff?
Unfortunately, Tactical Jammer only obstructs enemy attacks, not your own, so Blackout's ability wouldn't work
There really needs to be a "medium" size of ship :/
Very true.
There's small, large and epic. So isn't large like medium?
And now there is! I love 2.0. Also this model is way out of scale.
12:40 ''The Silencer is easier to hit than other arc dodgers'' Huh?!? 3 Def dice on this beauty! AND a 'large' ship on a small base...how can it possibly be ''easier to hit''??
No Evade action.
Also no built-in action efficiency; Soontir can stack Focus/Focus/Evade with two actions, The Inquisitor can Target Lock/Evade with one action, Poe converts a Focus result to a success on both offense and defense if he has a token which just got easier with Advanced Optics, etc. TIE Silencers have to pay for their actions. Getting great action efficiency is difficult, especially for their cost. They're easier to hit than many other aces because of it.
Interesting points, though I'm going to have to disagree with you on Threat Tracker. Combine it with Fire Control System on either Kylo or the PS7 and you've got a solid chance of getting out of arc. This becomes even stronger if partnered with Push the Limit. This is a pricey combination, but the three together allow you to use your action in the activation phase to focus and the dodge out of anything shooting at you's arc after you shoot.
Yeah, that's a good point. I might have to rethink Threat Tracker.
Well they didn't do such a hot job with the story or the characters in the new film, but at least we got some cool space battles and some pretty neat starships.
i play it with boba fett. having the main damage dealer (boba fett) always targetet by the enemy. sneaking behind them with the silencer
Blackout is good if you fly him with ouicunn and a tactical jammer
Tactical jammer doesn't obstruct your own shots, only enemy shots, so it won't work with Blackout's ability.
Ya think that this would be good with 2 defenders?
Maybe. You'd be taking the lowest PS Defenders with x7 titles and nothing else. Defenders are still good though.
The Cardboard Dungeon or maybe some tie special forces
+JustBerzerkBricks92 There's a case to be made for QuickDraw or Backdraft along with a budget Omega Leader (with A Score to Settle if flying with Kylo for the added crits).
It’s odd that it’s comparable in size to a U-wing yet has a small base unlike the U-wing. Wonder how to interpret that thematically?
It has more to do with play mechanics than theme. Large ships move differently and can be harder to maneuver precisely than small ones. So the U-Wing, being more of an armored transport craft that a dog fighter, gets a large base to represent this, while the Silencer, despite being nearly as large a ship, gets a small base because it's a more agile starfighter.
The other thing though is, that large ships effectively move faster for any given maneuver than smaller ships because of the large base.... at least, if I understand the game correctly.
American Desi The Uwing base makes no sense.
What do you mean by “Arc dodger?”
It is a ship with a good dial + actions like boost/barrel roll that is able to avoid enemy firing arcs while putting itself in a good position to shoot.
What Russell said :)
American Desi you've got three basic archetypes in the game: jouster (deals and soaks a lot of damage, gets into the thick of things), arc-dodger which was already explained, and turrets.
please make a scurge bomber video!
exelent work
+John Chavez Thanks!
I feel like Trick Shot would work exceedingly well with "Blackout" add an additional attack die through obstacles - 2 Def die for them, plus it's 0 points lol
You would think so. I tried it out sand found that it can be difficult to actually line up shots to take advantage of those abilities. The first time you take a shot at an enemy ship with four dice and -1 defense dice they're not going to hand you too many more opportunities to do it again.
I was very disappointed with the tie punisher it had 3 extra bomb pods but you couldn't put extra missles.
It’s a shame, I really don’t like how long it is
Because of the model bumping into other ships during a game, or just the aesthetics?
Personally, it's the aesthetics for me, for something that's supposed to be that maneuverable, it shouldn't be as long and wide as the resistance bomber is tall and long
That's a good point
I looked over the preview of this and didn't even notice it was on a small base, that's a shame because I think a large fighter would have been a more interesting addition to the game, because it looks ridiculous and also likely to fall over (crushing any actual small ships it lands on)
It's true that it's way too big for a small base. It extends pretty far forward and back. You can alleviate this by pegging it up to 3 or down to one peg to get it above or below most other ships. I do think that it needs to be on a small base, though. It is a big Starfighter, but it's not a *large* ship, if that makes sense. It's still a single seat skirmisher.
The size of the model is wrong. They will fix it in 2.0. Its only supposed to be very slightly longer than the sticker.
we need a star wars the black series version
A fat ship but a fun one.
Without those glorious wings it would be as ugly as the hawk.
the hawk is beautiful what are you smoking man.
*clicks buy*
Autothrusters, on an Imperial ship, meaning Rebels, who use it most, have to buy another ship they won't use. FfG do a bad move once again.
+ThroatSore What Rebels are you playing that use Autothrusters? The T-70 pilots and maybe A-Wings like it, but the Imperials have TIE Interceptors, TIE Advanced Prototype and now the TIE Silencer that all love Autothrusters. Scum has StarVipers and Protectorate Starfighters that use it, so it's fairly evenly used by all factions. It would be nice if a Rebel expansion included it, but Imperial players have needed to buy StarVipers for a couple of years to get theirs.
The Cardboard Dungeon that is my point. FFG classic making you buy useless stuff for a card.
"We hate imperials: the wave"
Why is everything about this thing so anti-synergy?
Well, to be fair it does have two pilots capable of taking Push the Limit and Advanced Sensors with Boost/Barrel Roll, plus maybe the second best maneuver dial in the entire game. If they gave it much more it might be broken. I think losing the action economy that some other aces get was the trade off.
And yet they didn't have this kind of restraint when designing the jumpmaster?
At least they're learning from past mistakes instead of repeating them.
Kylo shouldn't have been a 9.. should have been 8 at most.
Maybe? We don't really have any idea about his piloting ability yet, though. From the trailer he seems pretty capable, flying into a Resistance capital ship and all.
By that logic, Lando should be 9, flying into a Moon sized Battlestation :P
I think he sits well at nine. His previous pilot card was at a 6 I believe on the TFA Upsilon when he was confused, unsure of himself. Now in The Last Jedi he has obviously grown in power as we clearly see as a Ps 9 ace. Not to mention he is a direct bloodline descendant of Luke and possibly one of the best starpilots of all Anakin.
Yes he should not be 9 it should have 10, so you could use that ship
Grown.. heh. Only like, a few weeks past between TFA and TLJ, if even That long. There is no way he has the experience Vader did piloting a ship (which is what justify Vaders PS9).
Also, hes not direct to Luke. Hes direct to Han. To be honest, im not even sure he Pilots the Upsilon shuttle at all. I guess, if anything else, his ps9 in this ship overcomes his shitty ability. *shrug*.
Yep, the scaling in X Wing, like so much else, is unbalanced and ill thought out.