Rogue Hyperspace

Holy points change, Batman! I was expecting new points to come out last week for the new ships released but had missed that FFG had decided to move the January Points Update to November. And while nothing changed as dramatically as before, Hyperspace received a major shakeup. Almost all ships in the format now have either generics or named pilots but not both. This will play a major role in the use of some ships as its common to mix the most efficient generic with the best ace.

Let’s hit the highlights for each faction on what changed and what Hyperspace now looks like.

Rebels

Aside from the generic Wookiee the Rebels only saw prices drop. They also are in a weird place, in that most of their chassis retained a mix of generic and named pilots in Hyperspace, despite the theme revolving around splitting those. They only lost the generic Falcon and Ghost pilots, which weren’t exactly seeing a lot of play. Their signature Talent, Selfless, also dropped to only two points making it more affordable. Will all this give Rebels an advantage?

It should be noted that Rebels lost most of their good crew options; mainly Leia and K-2S0. This means the crew carriers are less effective.

RZ-1 A-Wings went down a good percent making them feel less over-costed every time you look at the RZ-2’s. You can now take seven of Phoenix Squadron pilots. You even have four points to spare for a few Starbird slashes or some Threadtracers.

Kyle Katarn and Corran Horn went down again. This is an ongoing trend for our de-Jedified legends. Moldy Crow also came down a little as well making Kyle even more appealing. The Rebel TIE also came down. Though, none of these ships are included in Hyperspace as they haven’t had a 2.0 rerelease.

The X-Wing dropped across the board. This puts both Cavern and Blue Squadron at 38 points, allowing you to take five at I1 or I2 and then a two point upgrade to taste. Still no Wedge, but they did gain Leevan and Edrio into the Hyperspace list. Though, without Benthic in the U-wing, Edrio’s ability is effectively blank unless you also take Zeb in a Sheathipede for a Coordinate.

Imperials

Far more modest changes for the Empire. A few ships, like Vader, went down slightly. But Admiral Sloane went up by a massive three points. The Empire leans into the Hyperspace change hard though. The only names pilots are TIE/ln Fighter and TIE Reaper pilots.  Everything else, all seven other ships, are all generics. This fits the Empire’s MO of spamming faceless minions at their enemies. And since they don’t have Academy Pilots, their normal spam ship, it will force them to try new things.

Fortunately, all of the named TIE/ln pilots came down, including Howlrunner, who has returned to Hyperspace. This allows you to fly the old Howl + Inferno Squad + Wampa list, just no Swarm Tactics. Will this encourage any of the other named pilots to show up or will we only see those pilots return?

The new TIE upgrades might play a role now, though both TIE only upgrades being three points a pop we’ll have to see if they are worth the cost. The TIE/ln is the only Empire fighter able to take the Precision Ion Engine it might like the option to S-loop. The Defender and Striker would enjoy it but either don’t have a mod or aren’t agility 3. The Interceptor can technically take it but can’t use it as its K-turn is four and already has S-loops.

The Ion Limiter Override has more potential given it has fewer restrictions. Most of the generics have an option that has a Talent slot so the upgrade is on the board. But again, at three points and the ion potential being a strong deterrent makes it far from a staple card.

Scum

Aside from the original Slave-1 title going up one point, Scum saw only price drops. The Kihraxz and Lancer saw across the board price drops. Drea and Serissu dropped slightly as did Constable Zuvio which puts the Quadjumper in a weird place. All the pilots cost the same. We’re starting to see more and more of that, where named pilots with so-so abilities are costing the same as generics. This could make for some interesting options if the trend continues (though with FFG out, who knows what will happen).

The Fang fighter saw a number of changes. Joy Rekkoff came down a fair bit. Joy’s drop of five points, combined with the torpedo price decrease, means she can carry an Ion Torpedo to trigger her ability for less than her old cost. But the big change was, except for Fenn Rau, they all got Modification slots. In Hyperspace, that doesn’t mean much unless you want to spend seven points for an extra hull (or two points to damage yourself with an Electronic Baffle). But in Extended they could now have a shield, or Stealth Device, or Afterburners. And since Afterburners is now priced with Initiative you can get it at a premium.

In addition to the Slave-1 increase, Boba Fett took another hit with the loss of his crew slot. That means no pairing Boba with his Dad in scum. It also means no more Maul. This should bring Boba down a few steps, though he’s still going to be good.

Like the Rebels, Scum managed to hang onto several ships with both generic and named pilots. This will give them more building options.

Resistance

Heroic is no more in Hyperspace! It also went up by a point on A-Wings. A staple of Resistance lists this restriction will dramatically shake up list building. Sad to lose it but this will certainly keep things fresh.  Additionally, all of the large ships are still excluded meaning you’ll still be seeing mostly A-Wings and X-Wings, with a few Transport Pods for backup. Maybe a Fireball swarm since that’s the factions main generic now.

Unlike many other factions, Resistance saw several ships go up along with many decreases. Several RZ-2 A-Wings crept up a few points, including the generic Blue Squadron Recruit, making them more expensive than Merl Cobben. X-Wings, Fireballs, StarFortress and Falcons saw most the of the price decreases. Poe leads the pack here, dropping five points. Though, many of his staple upgrades, Black One and Overdrive, went up in price to compensate.

First Order

Dormitz is back. He dropped and Hyperspace Tracking dropped a ton bringing the combo back into consideration. Though, his ability did get a nerf in that it only effects small base ships now. This will keep him doing what he was designed to do; get your ships set up for a round one alpha strike. Beyond that, FO did not see a ton of changes. Malarus went up slightly but he still has good value. A few SF’s went down.

Republic

Now we’re getting to the factions that saw the most changes, by nature of receiving two new ships, a 33% increase to their total. Republic and Separatist now have eight ships to choose from, which is more than Resistance and First Order. Granted, there are a lot more Clone Wars era material to pull from so we can expect future releases here from AMG.

The Republic has seen almost exclusive cuts. I believe Chopper was the only thing that went up in price. And then Tucker in the V-19 lost his Talent slot for unfathomable reasons. Because he was OP I guess.

The ARC, Y-Wing and LAAT all saw many pilots come down a point or two.  All instances of Oddball came down and most versions of Anakin, surprisingly, came down. The Delta-7 finally started to reverse the continual point rise. Many of the Jedi came down as well as most tiers of Delta-7b title. You can now take four Delta-7b Jedi Knights for instance.

As for the new ships, the V-wing clocks in at a very modest price point. For two more points than a Gold Squad V-19, you lose a health but gain shields, gain an agility and have a better dial. You can’t quite swarm them at the full eight but seven, all with the Esk configuration giving you a swarm with ion potential could be annoying.

The Eta-2 feels, at first glance, more expensive than necessary. But, given that all pilots have a minimum two Force, has a 3 die bullseye arc and a better dial than the Aethersprite for only four points more. Anakin is a bargain in this platform, coming in five points cheaper than the Delta-7 version, and that’s before CLT or 7b are added. The inclusion of a cannon slot is interesting as you have an option for gaining three dice in your whole front arc with ion cannons. The talents plus force slow opens up some combinations to explore as well.

As for hyperspace, the only generics in the mix are the V-Wings, ARC and Delta-7. Expect to see some people trying the V-Wing swarm. But there will be some toying with Jedi shenanigans and the LAAT. Will Yoda crew become a thing now that the Eta-2 is out?

Separatist

Finally, we check the Separatist, who also had two new ships join the fray. The Firespray is mostly just a reskin of the Scum version. Their points are inline with the Scum version which is appropriate. The new Slave-1 title is well costed for the addition of a gunner slot and potential extra crits. The Tri-fighter comes in a bit more expensive than a TIE Interceptor with very similar stat lines. But it’s in the ballpark for that style ship. The system slot was a bit unexpected. This and FCS will make them good companions to gunships.

There weren’t any point changes to Separatists, discounting the emergency fix to Nantex a few weeks ago. Their Hyperspace layout doesn’t exactly follow the generic or named given the unique way the droid fighters handle limited pilots. They still have Trade Federation Drones so their staple remains untouched.

Generic Upgrades

The big takeaways here were the drop in points for Missiles, Bombs and Torpedoes. Ion Missile is finally looking a bit tempting at only two points. The Multi-Missile Pod coming gives it some more potential as an upgrade to add arc. Seven points for Plasma sounds good too. Three point Conner Net might bring that back. Concussion Bomb went up but that feels appropriate. Now for four points you can pick Concussion or Proton.

Crackshot and Advanced Optics both went up a point, proving a further hit to the RZ-2 A-Wings.

Afterburners went from a flat cost to tied to initiative, which is appropriate for it. Now low Init pilots can take it for cheaper and those that most benefit pay the old price or slightly more.