You Must Unlearn What You Have Learned: Re-Introducing yourself to X-Wing 2.0
Welcome back pilots. There’s been a storm brewing on the horizon and it’s now upon us! 2.0 tournaments are coming!
With the new game here many people will be looking forward to getting out their old ships and trying to make all sorts of new and exciting things work on the table. A sense of nostalgia mixed with excitement fills the air as I try to make 5 (or even six!!!) A wings viable again.
Combining with this excitement, the competitive side of me is also considering just how effective all of these ideas could be when they are pitted against the best the galaxy has to offer at a tournament.
Looking deeper, it’s not just lists that are new in X-Wing 2.0. Barrel rolls, Failed actions and a whole plethora of other things will make the new game an entirely new beast to the old one.
So what’s new behind door number two???
I’ve been playing the new edition competitively for about four weeks now through the wonderful world of vassal (an online X-Wing simulator for those of you unaware). It’s been a bit of a learning curve adapting to the new edition. While the game is similar there are definitely some major overhauls!
With that in mind, I thought it might be quite useful to break down some of those changes and what you will need to survive in this brave new world.
List Building: Less is more.
Five or six years ago, when X-Wing 1.0 first came into being, the basic tenements of list building stated that more ships are better than one or two with all the upgrades. Efficiency was king and nothing epitomised that than the wave 2/3 meta-game with B wings and Tie swarms fighting for supremacy on the top tables.
This mindset is encouraged by a smaller and less efficient card pool to chose your upgrades from. With the dawn of 2.0 upon us the age of efficiency has returned and many people will have to rethink their list building. Do you REALLY need that stealth device on your HWK? Or is it just better to add in another ship.
The Empire Strikes Back: Return of the TIE
With auto-thrusters and double token stacks mostly a thing of the past we have seen the return of the two dice gun. All should fear the mighty range three PLINK! Pilots such as Darth Vader and Soontir Fel are now quite scared to place themselves at any range of a tie swarm. Their super reliable green dice are no longer quite as impervious as they used to be.
This brings a couple of changes with it in list building. First of all, it is a completely legitimate choice to throw in a 23 point TIE or Z-95 Headhunter. Unlike first edition they will pose a genuine threat to your opponents aces, instead of being blocking fodder.
Looking at the developing Meta-game for X-Wing 2.0, your list will definitely need to have some sort of answer to a swarm. Be it TIE fighters, assorted scum or the glorious renaissance of the TIE Bomber. Failure to prepare and all that…
Fly better just got that little bit harder
In my opinion, the biggest change to 2.0 is the greater care and attention you need to take when you are playing a game of X-Wing. While the new edition is unquestionably more streamlined and smoother. It also gives you many more opportunities to make choices which affect the outcome of the game. These ‘decision points’ allow yourself and your opponent to make the correct choice and carry along the path to victory, or chose wrong and end up on the path of no return.
I have found this to be both the best and the worst thing about the new edition. It makes games infinitely more exciting as they give you the feeling that you always have a chance. Conversely, the skill cap on the new edition has been raised. If you want to consistently do well, then you cannot afford to make mistakes.
F is for Fail
So why is this the case? first we have failed actions. No longer do you get to try all of your boost or barrel roll moves just to see if they fit. If you get it wrong the first time then tough luck chuck, you’re staying put! Missing your target lock for the perfect missile launch is made all that more painful when you are no longer able to take that evade token as a consolation prize.
The consequences of failing your boost or barrel roll when you are sitting in front of a wall of firepower can be catastrophic for some of the galaxies best (and most expensive) pilots. So make sure your get it right the first time!
To top it all off, barrel rolls just got a little harder. I would recommend anyone who has not tried the new edition to take some time flying a tie fighter or X wing around an asteroid field. Work out just how much movement you have lost from the new barrel roll as it WILL catch you out at the wrong moment in a game.
He’s behind you!
It’s not all bad for arc dodgers in 2.0. Turrets have taken a serious kick in the pants in the new edition and now have to pick which quarter (or bow-tie) of the base they are shooting from.
This major change means that your sneaky interceptors can finally hide in the blind spots of a decimator or YT-2400 with impunity. It might not be easy, but boy is it satisfying! There are consequences to getting it wrong. Auto-thrusters won’t be around to save you if you get it wrong and take a range one hammer.
I’m curious to see how this change will affect the types of turrets we see on the table. I predict that ships like the bumpmaster-5000 will be a thing of the past and most turret ships in the new edition will favour a flanking manoeuvrers, similar to the Lancer Pursuit craft in the original game. Only time will tell what will rise to the top.
Welcome to the Dangerzone!
My final piece of advice for players transitioning over to the new edition is to do with dice. Dice are fickle, whether you have calculated what they should roll at any given moment or believe they are just out to get you. In X-Wing 2.0 variance has a lot more opportunity to affect games. While you can reduce it’s effect with upgrades, the only way to truly reduce it is to not get shot at all.
Obtaining the correct engagement is even more important than it was in the previous edition as it could mean the difference between life and death for your squadron. Gone are the days when an ace sit at range three with impunity. The new damage deck is not kind to the careless and it only takes a single crit for Fenn Rau to get caught in fuel leak/direct hit hell.
Is anything the same???
Fear not! The same skills that have carried you through the first edition of X-Wing are very much alive and well in the second. In fact, they feel exaggerated as each game seems to be much more about the flying and ships involved than just building the best list to take to a tournament.
You will still have to have a good asteroid placement to make life easier against certain lists (looking at you swarms).
You will still need to predict your opponents every move and smile knowingly as they flip over each carefully considered manoeuvrer.
Most importantly, every single game of 2.0 that I have played has been just as fun, if not more so than when i first picked up X-wing five years ago. The team at FFG have done a fantastic job of making something fantastic even better. I look forward to watching it grow.
It’s a brave new world out there. Go explore!
Fly Casual all
Oli
