X-Wing September Points Update- Hot Takes

Last week AMG updated the points in preparation for the release of three new ships. If you were expecting something timid and minor then you missed that bet. There were quite a few fairly major changes to come through with this update. We’ll highlight a few hot takes below but we won’t cover everything.

Baked In Costs

There are quite a few ships in the game whivh come with optional configuration upgrade cards. These configurations often define the ship and set them apart from others. The S-Foils for X-Wing is the prime example. Thankfully, S-Foils came in at a cost of zero points and have remained at that level since 2.0 launched. However, this hasn’t been true for many of the other configurations. Most even, came into the game bearing sometimes significant point costs. This made the upgrades feel more like an added cost than a defining characteristic.

Now, AMG has largely done away with this practice. The cost of most configurations have come down to zero. In a few cases, where the ship had two options with different functions, one costs zero and another now costs one point. As a consequence, a few of the ships, mostly the droids, have seen a price increase to compensate. But I think this is the better way to go. Vultures should have struts. HMP Gunships should have sideslip. You shouldn’t debate taking it or saving three points. Now, you take it because it’s free.

This practice has also gone further in that many of the new alternative configurations that are Standardized (Vectored Cannons, Sensitive Controls) are now also free. This eliminates one of the biggest hurdles to giving them a try. If you took them on one ship, you had to take them on all. If you were running a swarm of Interceptor or A-Wings, that amounted to a hefty cost.

I think this will go a long way to helping keep those ships filling their intended roles. A+ to this change.

Who Needs a Gunner

Another major shake up to happen was the elimination of the gunner slot from a number of different ships. The YT-2400 and all Y-Wings, except the Republic version, lost their gunner seat. They were compensated with a major price reduction for the YT-2400 (and its title), gaining a crew slot, and the addition of a missile slot for the Y-Wings. I’m mixed on this.

The YT-2400 without a gunner feels wrong. It’s a big turret ship. Similarly, the Y-Wing has always had that option and it helped define the ship. Missiles feel wrong there too. It is a torpedo carrier. Now, one of the reasons it feels like that is because of old video games. And the modern day equivalent, Squadrons, gives the Y-Wings missiles. So that’s more of an Old Man rant than anything.

Ostensibly, this change was made because of Veteran Turret Gunner. I can’t imagine that was abused all that much. The upgrade itself was already quite expensive. On Y-Wings, you could get reliable double taps, hence the exceptional price on small bases. You can still do this on Republic Y-Wings (which helps set them apart). But with a YT-2400, you have to have targets on both sides of you, which is harder to pull off.

But…Dash and the title came down significantly as a consequence. They are also now a double crew carrier which opens up some doors. You can load Dash up, with title, Trick Shot, and some other upgrades and he’s still cheaper than his original 2.0 cost. If the gunner seat was the cost to make the ship more affordable it’s probably worth it. B+ to this change.

They’re the Same Picture

Another weird change to come about were a few ships now costing the same. The I1 and I3 Vultures being one example. You gain two initiative slots for zero cost on a swarm style ship. The Vultures kind of like being I1 so the I3s were rarely played. There is a bit of a battle in the middle initiatives though, so having I3 has some value. This also opens the door to Vultures hanging out in lists with other I3s, a common value for Separatists, without having to pay a premium. Did we need that? Is it a good design choice? Maybe. On one hand, paying more for initiative on a ship that doesn’t benefit from it much, never mattered much. You’d almost always take the cheaper option unless you were specifically building around a certain initiative.

The other weird same cost change is Hera Syndulla A-Wing and B-Wing now costing the same. This saw a major increase in the A-Wing version and a major decrease in the B-Wing. Now, despite being I6, Hera costs less than other B-Wings but significantly more than other A-Wings. This feels weird but not all together wrong. In some ways, its kind of cool. You can try a list and swap out Hera, sans upgrades, with ease. See which one you like more. Her ability has value but does limit her function solely as an acey I6. In some ways, I think this is more a reaction to all the bitching that happened when she first dropped and her lack of a specific timing window led to some exploitation. That window closed a long time ago though.

I say B to this change.

Advanced Tech

Aside from some obvious changes, Zam going up, Scum came out with few changes. One of the major one was the reduction in cost of Starvipers along with trading a Sensor slot for a Tech slot. That kills Advanced Sensors Guri but opens the door for Primed Thrusters or Pattern Analyzer Guri. This will change the way Guri, and other Starvipers fly. While some lament the loss of Advanced Sensors, I applaud it. Now you can more freely take the linked action without closing the door to your special barrel roll.

Elsewhere, the E-Wing also picked up the Tech slot. This fits with the E-Wins role in lore as an advanced fighter. It did not lose Sensor so you are free to take both. They also saw a slight point decrease. Enough to see them on the table more? Maybe. With their special ability to Lock from anywhere on the board, they might be a Targeting Synchronizer platform. If you can find a good set of escorts to exploit that.

I give an A to these changes.

Cannon to the right of them, Cannon to the left of them

Cannons saw a slight change with Autoblasters and Synced Laser going up one and HLC coming down one. Small changes and given the B-Wings get their title for free, not unexpected, especially for the Synced Laser. But the real cannon change was the loss of the slot on the Eta-2.

The humble Jedi fighter can no longer take Autoblasters, which some think were being abused, but they also can’t take Ion, which is usually the way I flew them. The Eta’s did see a nice price drop. The Aethersprites came down as well, but unlike everyone else, their configs both went up. Overall, this means cheaper naked Jedi.

I give this change a C.