Ugnaught Jedi, from Vengeance





It's hard to take the Ugnaught Jedi too seriously, since he feels like a v-set design team in-joke, as the flavour text indicates. I don't think anyone wants to see a Tier 1 Ugnaught Jedi swarm, so it's fitting that he has puny stats and low damage output, with 50 hit points and a single +8 attack. I doubt you'll ever see the Ugnaught Jedi anywhere near a competitive squad, but he does have a couple of positive attributes; Evade gives him some ranged defense, and Force Burst gives him potential for area damage. A cheap piece with Force Burst is interesting, but it's irrational to play the Ugnaught Jedi over Momaw Nadon, who's 5 points cheaper, who doesn't get shut down by Ysalamari/Force Defense, and whose War Throat replaces attacks rather than turn. He's unlikely to see competitive play, but I might just take him over Even Piell...... 5/10.

I do think that I'd never even consider him until his cost dropped at least as low as 15. But as Deri and others have said, he's just not a good or competitive design.

I do appreciate this discussion, since I think it does get at the heart of why only a small percentage of pieces are used at the competitive level. Even good and creative pieces, if costed too much, would not get used. I can't see myself using Aayla Secura Jedi Knight (the new one, with Twin and Force Pull) if she costed 35pts rather than her 29. So even good pieces are in the bin of eternal darkness with bad costing.

Perhaps a more telling example (because it's not a dead-boring piece) for a re-costing analysis would be....

Shaak Ti, Jedi Master 47

Hit Points: 130
Defense: 20
Attack: 13
Damage: 20

Special Abilities
Unique
Melee Attack (Can attack only adjacent enemies)
Double Attack (On her turn, this character can make 1 extra attack instead of moving)
Affinity (May be in a Rebel squad)
Crowd Fighting (This character gets +2 Attack for every adjacent character other than her target)
Cunning Attack (+4 Attack and +10 Damage against an enemy who has not activated this round)
Lightsaber Duelist (+4 Defense when attacked by an adjacent enemy with a Force rating)
Stealth (If this character has cover, she does not count as the nearest enemy for an attacker farther than 6 squares when choosing targets)

Force Powers
Force 2
Force Renewal 1 (This character gets 1 Force point each time she activates)
Master of the Force 2 (May spend Force points up to 2 times in a single turn)
Lightsaber Block (Force 1: When hit by a melee attack, this character takes no damage with a save of 11)
Lightsaber Riposte (Force 1: When hit by a melee attack, this character can make an immediate attack against that attacker)


She’s got a number of cool things going, with great stats and Cunning and stealth and MotF2 with Block/Riposte. But she never gets played because 47pts is too much for her in today’s game.

So my question is, What cost would Shaak Ti, JM need to be in order for you to consider her in a competitive squad build?

I'm going to go with 33 for Shaak Ti, JM. She's better than Aayla/Serra and worse than Quinlan, Double Agent. Closer to Aayla/Serra.

It looks like I overuse the rating 5 a bit; if I was starting from scratch I'd probably make 7-8 into three ratings, and fold 3-4-5 into two ratings.

I've covered around 31.6% of v-sets and 31.4% of wotc pieces, so the ratings should be indicative of the game as a whole, until the next v-set comes out.

Yeah, I'm not surprised at the 68% for v-sets - that's really about what they should be shooting for imo. But 32% of WOTC is high - and it doesn't count a few pieces like Republic Commandos and Commando Droids that I covered before they got boosted in the GenCon 2014 sets.

Emperor Palpatine on Throne, from Imperial Entanglements





Emperor Palpatine on Throne is one of the most badass pieces in the game; he can sit in his chair in gambit, evade shots (I guess he spins his chair around?), throw lightning at people, and provide force points for the rest of his squad. While an adjacent diplomat does admittedly cramp his style, he's formidable in tandem with Darth Vader Unleashed - he can power up Vader to use his Force Grips and Lightsaber Throws, but at the same time it wasn't necessarily a top tier combo. Palpatine on Throne did sneak into second place in the 2009 Dallas Regional, in a TBSV build, and possibly made some appearances at other Regionals too, but didn't feature at all in the 2010 GenCon Championship tournament (a good yardstick for what pieces were significant immediately before the v-sets).

One of the most significant additions to the Imperials with the v-sets is Admiral Pellaeon, who does interesting things for Palpatine. On one hand, his Ysalamari means that force users aren't very valuable in Pellaeon squads. On the other hand, Pellaeon's Commander Effect means that you can start with Palpatine in the middle of the board, and swap in a cheaper Imperial piece for pseudo-Forward Positioning, allowing you to make first round attacks easily on some maps. At 31 points, Arica is a leading candidate for this trick. While Pellaeon's Ysalamari anchors most competitive Imperial squads, there are still plenty of Imperial force users who benefit from Palpatine - plenty of Tier 2 builds with him, I just wouldn't expect to see him at tournaments much, apart from the Emplacement and commander swap trick. It's ignominious for the leader of the Empire, relegated to a parlour trick, don't you think? 7/10.

I was debating between a 6 and a 7. He is a pretty efficient force battery too, it's just not what the Imperials are good at.

Does Palpatine on Throne's competitiveness increase now with the 10pt gambit? You get 10 points almost instantly since he sits in gambit 1st round.

This is from page 43:



Could you put the rating scale on the first post for reference? Something like this?

1 - Useless. In any squad, there is a better option to do the same thing.
2 - Unplayable. While not strictly replaced by another piece, in any squad (even at a casual level) there is a better use for the points.
3 - Casual only. Interesting enough that you might want to pull it out for a casual game, but it will make your squad worse - even in a casual game.
4 / 5 - Mediocre / Average. If these pieces are in a competitive squad, they are making the squad worse.
6 - Situationally good. You might see this piece in a competitive game, but it's either a reinforcements-only option or it really only fits into one specific build.
7 - Barely Competitive. These pieces are not out of place in a Tier 1 squad, but they are not pieces you would build around. Probably need synergy to work well.
8 or 9 - Competitive. Tier 1 options.
10 - Very strong. These are pieces so strong that you build squads around them.
11 - Power piece. Pieces that get complaints about being broken. Strong tech pieces that show up in squad after squad after squad.

Speaking of healers.....

Jedi Healer, from Masters of the Force





In the scheme of WOTC's healing pieces, the Jedi Healer isn't too bad; he's not as efficient as Dr Evazan Galactic Criminal, but he's at least a relatively cheap piece, 40 hit points gives him a tiny bit of staying power, and with Force Heal 30 and Renewal, he can heal up a fair bit of damage. While you're unlikely to see him on the competitive tables, he wouldn't disgrace himself either. He can make Satele Shan even harder to kill, or take some damage off a key shooter like Atton 'Jaq' Rand or Carth Onasi, Old Republic Soldier. Like most healing pieces, he's a one trick pony; although he can attack, he's not going to last long in the thick of the action. The Jedi Healer is a solid enough healing piece, but the Old Republic have better options, 6/10.