Titles- Moldy Crow and ST-321

This post regarding Titles is part of a larger article regarding Wave 3 listbuilding- the rest of the posts n this series will be available in the coming weeks as I'm revealing a post or two per day on the various topics in that larger article. For more info, click the "List Building Resources" tab at the top of the page or simply click here.

Moldy Crow (3)
Card Text: HWK-290 only. During the End phase, do not remove unused Focus tokens from your ship.
Usage in game: Making the Blaster Turret and/ or HWK-290 worthwhile.
Breakdown: So look, everybody knows about Katarn + Recon Specialist + Moldy. The advantages are obvious and well, if I talk about it here, I won't have much to talk about in the Katarn article, so we're just going to leave that alone for now.

So not talking about that, is there any other use for the Moldy Crow title?

Well, sure. Sure there is. And no, I'm not going to make some wise ass remark because I'm a hater- there really are some pretty good uses for it.

As for the other two named HWK pilots, going Moldy is never a bad idea, per se, but it doesn't like synergize particularly effectively with Roark Garnet. Again- it's not bad on him, but it's nothing out of the ordinary special really either. It is kind of nice for Jan Ors since she generates Stress and if you've got a way of holding onto a Focus token past the End phase, you don't necessarily have to pull a green to get rid of that Stress token next turn to still be effective. In other words, while you still wouldn't get to complete your Perform Action step, you'd still (hopefully, possibly) have a Focus token or two lying around from a previous turn (or two, or three) so you'd still have the benefit of an Action without actually having to perform one. Of course, you can't use her card text if you're Stressed, but if you were worried your opponent was going to guess your move because you kinda had to pull a green, ah whatever. You know what I'm saying. I'm kinda talking in circles now.

I actually kind of like this card on the Rebel Operative too. For 21 points, you could roll a Rebel Operative with the Moldy title and Saboteur and just fly around Focusing your defense rolls to stay out of harm's way while trying to sabotage anybody the rest of your ships are pounding. That's not horrible. Or for only 20, you could have a Rebel Operative in the Moldy flying around with an Intelligence Agent also Focusing your green dice so you can keep on looking at your opponent's maneuver early. Also not horrible.

I think it's borderline too expensive for what it's actually bringing to the table, but a RO flying Moldy with a Blaster Turret is only 23 points and look- that first turn you never get to really use your Action Token anyway, why not bank it with the Moldy title, then when you do finally get to shoot at somebody, you can fire the turret but still (hopefully, possibly) have a Focus token lying around for emergency defense use or to modify your Blaster Turret attack roll.


ST-321 (3)
Card Text: Lambda Shuttle only. When acquiring a target lock, you may lock onto any ship in the play area.
Usage in game: When Range 1-3 just isn't enough...
Breakdown: Much like the Katarn + Moldy + Recon combo is obvious to the point of discomfort, the Colonel Jendon + ST-321 combo is too. Also like the Katarn combo, it's the main thing to talk about with Jendon, so I'll save the finer points for his article. Suffice it to say though, it works and it works pretty effectively as lots of your ships can conceivably be within Range 1 of Jendon's big ass base.

Nothing particularly noteworthy about ST-321 with Yorr (YORR... YORRRRR!!!) or Kagi, but like Moldy, it's always handy to be able to dish off a Target Lock, so if you do spring for it on one of those guys, it's unlikely to be the stupidest thing you've done all day. Ditto for the Omicron Group Pilot.

There are some other cards this title works well with though- Weapons Engineer being a no-brainer, but consider the Recon Specialist here too. The damn Shuttle has bad moves and a 1 Defense, so if you're TLing from way out then picking Focus when you're going to actually get into range and shoot, you still (hopefully, possibly) have a Focus Token or two to use on defense. Or take a Mercenary Copilot and use that ability as kind of a light Marksmanship Action you don't have to actually declare while you Target Lock stuff.

I think the real advantage of ST-321 is pretty subtle to the point a lot of people might not see the value in it, especially on a lower Pilot Skill variant of the Shuttle. 

Range 3 is a pretty big slice of the board, but if you're sitting there, just out of range of a high PS pilot (like Wedge for example), you may not get another shot at him next turn with that restrictive Shuttle wheel because he's going to move into range with you after you've declared your Action then probably go blowing right by you in the next Activation Phase. With ST-321 though, you can TL him, then after (hopefully, possibly) surviving his initial attack on you, you hit him when it gets to be your Shuttle's turn to shoot with that Attack 3 primary and use the Target Lock folks didn't expect you to have to really make it count.

Modifications- Anti-Pursuit Laser

This post regarding Modifications is part of a larger article regarding Wave 3 listbuilding- the rest of the posts n this series will be available in the coming weeks as I'm revealing a post or two per day on the various topics in that larger article. For more info, click the "List Building Resources" tab at the top of the page or simply click here.

Anti-Pursuit Lasers (2)
Card Text: Large Ship Only. After an enemy ship executes a maneuver that causes it to overlap your ship, roll 1 attack die. On a <filled explosion symbol> or <unfilled explosion symbol> result, the enemy ship suffers 1 damage.
Usage in game: Making folks with spatial awareness issues pay for their transgressions.
Breakdown: So this is another one of those cards that I think people will at one end of the spectrum on or the other- either you can scarcely imagine flying a big ship without Anti-Pursuit Lasers, or you'll never ever use it. Which one are you?

As mentioned, this thing can only go on a big ship, so we're only talking about three potential candidates to start with- the YT-1300, the Firespray, or the Lambda Shuttle, so that's the first selection criteria. If you rarely use big ships in your game, then you'll even more rarely use Anti-Pursuit Lasers. Assuming you do use one fairly regularly, it'll still depend on how you use, or don't use, those ships, but first I gotta spend a couple of paragraphs getting sidetracked about random pop culture references and/ or soccer and at some point actually talking about how it works.

Right. So it's fairly straightforward, but there's some potential for folks to shorten the rule and get it wrong, so let's talk about exactly what's happening here. It kicks on when your opponent bonks into you. That's pretty much it. When it kicks on, you immediately roll an Attack die, and if you roll a hit or a crit, your opponent immediately earns 1 damage for his lack of vision, er, lack of maneuvering prowess.

So you might be wondering, "Jesus- how can somebody get that wrong in their head?" Main thing? It doesn't work when you bonk into somebody else, just when somebody else bonks into you.

Ah. Changes things a bit, doesn't it? Putting this on Solo or even Fett? Kagi? Probably not the smartest idea you've had all day. Yes, I'm sure there are instances where you could still make it work, but they'll be fewer than the instances generated by a Bounty Hunter or an Outer Rim Smuggler, smarty pants.

As mentioned in tons of other articles on TMB, I love cards that deal damage outside of the Combat Phase and as Anti-Pursuit Lasers is another one of those, I am automatically fondly attracted to the card. I'm not quite to the point where I'm in a crush situation, but I'm getting there. This goes without saying to you bikini aficionados out there. What makes this card a little extra intriguing is the fact that it's not a Secondary Weapon System or even an Other Weapon System- it's a Modification which brings up the second part of the selection criteria regarding whether or not you'll get some use out of this card. It's also awesome because you're still invoking all the normally crappy things that happen when somebody runs into you- namely the fact that they lose an Action. Talk about insult to injury, right?

If you're like me, most of the time when it comes to Modifications, you're looking at either Stealth Device or Shield Upgrade. This isn't to say I'd never take Engine Upgrade or it sucks or whatever, I just usually don't take it because I prefer the more tangible benefit of Stealth Device or Shield Upgrade over the fact that I don't really Boost all that effectively. Again Boost Action- it's not you, it's me. While those old standbys are especially great for regular ships, I find for whatever reason I rarely take them on the big ships. Maybe it's just me. Assuming it's not though, here's the place to consider the Anti-Pursuit Laser if you haven't already.

Maybe the last selection criteria I'd mention to you in making this Mod work for you is how you use that large base ship. If you like having it stay on the backline and lob in shots from a Heavy Laser Cannon, for example, APLs might not be a great investment for you. My experience with the Shuttle so far is that it's tough to maneuver anywhere but the deck of a friggin' aircraft carrier, so while the card is included with the Shuttle, I'm not especially likely to use it on one because my Shuttle usually stays the hell outta the way. On a Trelix Firespray with an Autoblaster though? Sure! Or a Chewie Falcon? Hells yeah, why not? On either one of those guys we're well past crush and into lightly obsessed territory.

Long story short, if you like to use large ships, get them into the action, don't make much use of the existing Mods, and find yourself flying low to medium PS pilots you're going to fall in lust with Anti-Pursuit Lasers. If you don't? Well, you'll likely wonder what all the fuss is about.

Long story really, really short- do you find most of your games have at least one pretty good pileup in the middle of the board? If so, then take APLs and bear in mind that card text isn't limited to a single ship- if two (or more) enemies bonk into you, you'd roll for both of them, dig? For two points, how can you not love that? 

Titles- Ship Titles Millennium Falcon and Slave I

This post regarding Ship Upgrades is part of a larger article regarding Wave 2 listbuilding- the rest of the posts n this series will be available in the coming weeks as I'm revealing a post or two per day on the various topics in that larger article. For more info, click the "Ship List Articles" tab at the top of the page or simply click here.

Millennium Falcon (1)
Card Text: Your Action Bar gains the <Evade> action icon
Usage in game: Declaring an Evade Action on a YT-1300.
Breakdown: I really thought I was going to dig this upgrade more than I do. It's a flavorful, thematic upgrade that ought to do you some real good, but if I'm being honest, all the games I've played with it, it's left me a bit wanting. Upon close examination, I think I know why.

So here's the deal- the YT has 1 Defense die standard, so almost without thinking, I grab the Falcon title because it gets me an Evade, right? Sure. And I'm usually mitigating one hit per turn, once in awhile (3/8 of the time) I'm mitigating two. That sounds fine on paper, so where am I screwing this up?

I think it's because the Falcon's so dang big, it's really easy for the opponent to get within Range 1 of her and nobody is rolling two Attack dice, the most I can possibly mitigate. Of course, she makes up for it by having more shields and hull than anybody else in the game, but if you're like me, you feel a little underwhelmed by the Falcon title.

So what did I expect for a point? Were my expectations too high? Is my ability to effectively fly her too low?

Yes to both, probably, but more likely the latter.

Slave I (0)
Card Text: Your upgrade bar gains the (torpedo) icon.
Usage in game: Uhh, it lets a Firespray take Proton Torpedoes.
Breakdown: Back in 1996, I was living in Austin, Texas. A buddy of mine who was my roommate at the time, took his girlfriend to go see this new movie called Ransom starring Mel Gibson. When I woke up the next day, he was all, "Dude- I saw Ransom last night. It was pretty awesome.", to which I replied, "So... Gary Sinise was the kidnapper, huh?" My roommate was shocked at my dead-on presumption and said, "How'd you know?" I said, "Dude, he just stole the show in Forrest Gump. Like he's really going to take some lame-o supporting actor work as a cop or whatever. He's obviously the bad guy."

I never did watch that movie because I was right, well that and the fact you kinda already know how 99% of kidnapper movies are going to end. I got nothing against Ron Howard as a director, but that's like the dictionary definition of telegraphing a punch. For the how to on not doing that, reference Fincher's brilliant Se7en and recall that Kevin Spacey wasn't mentioned in the trailers or promos or anything. Hell, they even kept that dude's name off the theatrical movie poster.

As I often do on here, I digress. There is a point, though.

When I saw teh internets dismissing the Slave I title card because it involved the most terrible of terrible upgrades, I immediately thought, "Ok- why?" Just like when I saw Gary Sinise's was apparently playing second-fiddle in Ransom.

First, like the brews at Delta Tau Chi, the Slave I title don't cost nothin', so there's that. 

Secondly, it doesn't replace anything in your upgrade bar, so if for some reason you fancy the notion of hauling around a double load of ballistic warheads, but aren't hip to a Y-Wing, you can do it for only the cost of what you pick to be in your tubes. 

I think the thing that kills it for most people is the Heavy Laser Cannon, as it's a 7 point Secondary Weapon System that isn't just one-shot and if you're looking at Proton Torpedoes plus a missile, you're looking at 8 points, at least. Keep in mind though, the HLC can't score crits by itself, where Proton Torpedoes gets you much better odds at rolling one, which again, I feel like has a much more tangible benefit in Wave 2 against the big ships. 

You could also kind of hedge your bets a little bit by taking both PTs and a missile of some type. PTs are a decent all-rounder, but having those at your disposal opens you up to having a more specialized missile like Assault Missiles, for example, to use if the opportunity arose. 

I've not tried any of these PTs + Missile gambits out yet, so don't nail me too hard in the comments, I'm merely saying it's a possibility that you ought to at least not outright dismiss, especially with the pilot abilities of Kath Scarlet and Krassis Trelix.

Modifications- Stealth Device

This post regarding Ship Upgrades is part of a larger article regarding Wave 2 listbuilding- the rest of the posts n this series will be available in the coming weeks as I'm revealing a post or two per day on the various topics in that larger article. For more info, click the "Ship List Articles" tab at the top of the page or simply click here.

Stealth Device (3)
Card Text: Increase your agility value by 1. If you are hit by an attack, discard this card.
Usage in game: Making the already hard to hit, darn near unhittable.
Breakdown: Once again, we're looking at a pretty straightforward Modification card that is a benefit to any ship willing to pay the 3 points. There's no ship that somehow gets worse with an extra Defense die, so there's no problem there. Like Shield Upgrade, we're really looking at this card in the context of what other Modifications you might be denying yourself rather than weighing pros and cons of the card itself, because really, there aren't any cons. 

Also remember that this card is a Modification which means that any ship in the game may take it as long as they have the points to pay for it and they don't already have a Modification.

Before we begin though, really quickly lets review what the card text means by "hit."

As discussed in the Bikini Battle Basics- The Combat Phase Explained! article last week, players often use the words "hits" and "crits" to describe attack dice results- namely the filled explosion symbols and unfilled explosion symbols, respectively. I call these hits and crits local parlance, because that's what they are- they're effectively slang terms.

In game terms, or rule book terms as I'm wont to call it, hits are what happens to those explosion symbols that aren't mitigated by a wavy arrow roll, the spending of an Evade token, or an eyeball result which the defending player spends a Focus Token to change into a wavy arrow result. If you roll three explosions and your opponent can only mitigate two of those, you've netted one rule book hit.

Ya dig?

So that's what makes Stealth Device go away- one of those rule book style hits. Scary, huh? 3 points for something that vanishes the first time you're hit? And it doesn't mitigate any Damage you received in the process?

Yeah, no. Not really. They still have to hit you to get it to go away. And trust me, as a primarily Rebel player who's been on the wrong end of Stealth Device a lot lately, that's much easier said than done.

Stealth device is pure evil and don't let anyone tell you any differently. There's a reason why everyone on X-Wing Miniatures messageboards all over the internet have been complaining about the Stealth Device cards only coming in the Slave I ship box, all the while drooling over the potential, especially for Imperial ships though of course, the card is faction agnostic and can be applied to Rebel ships just as well.

Rebel players, you know how hard it is to ding a TIE fighter at Range 3, right? Well, Stealth Device makes it Range 3 all the time. Except of course when it really is Range 3- then it's even worse. Ditto for asteroids, I mean Obstacles. And Dark Curse with a Stealth Device? I'll be honest, I usually don't even bother firing on him unless I'm Range 1 with four dice, and even then I don't bother if he has a token of some kind.

I'll tell you who else really benefits from a Stealth Device and that's a Firespray with a Heavy Laser Cannon and a Mercenary Copilot. Is it cheap? No, but man, if you can manage to keep that thing at Range 3 by having your other ships run interference? That's 4 Evade dice to enemy ships firing on him. 4. On a large ship. Let that sink in for a second.

4 Defense dice. I try really hard to keep it PG on here; if there was a beep button, I'd be sounding like Happy Gilmore missing that putt (which if any of you Bikini Aficionados can find that clip online, friggin' mail it to me- I've been looking for it for 25 minutes now and have come up with nada. I'm starting to think I made it up in my head.) On a ship that has 4 attack dice at Range 3 (remember I said it has a HLC). God help you if Trelix or Kath Scarlet with Marksmanship is driving the damn thing. Holy Mackerel (sorry guys, best I can do- skip ahead to about the seventh minute if you get tired of waiting).

On the Rebel side of the galactic fence (I know, I know, I said take Shield Upgrade on Rebel ships, but I said in general too), X-Wing Pilot Luke gets better being able to roll another Defense die with his defense-only Focus-lite ability, even more so if he's got R2-F2 as a backseat driver. I see a lot people talking about running it on Biggs too, but I personally have a hard time putting Stealth Device on a guy I actually want to be shot. In the interest of full disclosure, the people who advocate putting Stealth Device on Biggs 99% of the time follow it up with R2-F2, so it's not a bad idea, I just don't like the feel of it, personally. Now, A-Wings? That I can support. 4 Defense dice all the time with no other upgrades? Y'all got to feel me.

So all that said, let's say you've got a build of your own making in your hands that doesn't feature any of those pilots or ships and you're still trying to decide between Shield Upgrade and Stealth Device. I think there's two general criteria to keep in mind- 1) If the ship already has shields, stay with that and go Shield Upgrade- if not, throw on a Stealth Device. 2) If you intend the ship to get in very close to your opponent, opt for the Shield Upgrade unless you feel like point 1 outweighs this decision.

Again, at the end of the day, both of these upgrades are great upgrades that will benefit any ship that takes them- Rebel, Imperial, shielded or not. I strongly suggest, as I do with anything and everything in this game, you try both out and see which one suits your playstyle more. Don't rely on strangers you've never met telling you how to play your game- the choice is yours!

Yeah, you're right. I got a little cheesy in that last paragraph solely to set up some Black Sheep. What about it? :)

Modifications- Shield Upgrade

This post regarding Ship Upgrades is part of a larger article regarding Wave 2 listbuilding- the rest of the posts n this series will be available in the coming weeks as I'm revealing a post or two per day on the various topics in that larger article. For more info, click the "Ship List Articles" tab at the top of the page or simply click here.

Shield Upgrade (4)
Card Text: Increase your shield value by 1.
Usage in game: An extra layer on existing shields, or adding one where before there was none.
Breakdown: Again, the current crop of Modifications are all pretty straightforward in their application; Shield Upgrade being no different. Want to add 1 to the blue number on your ship's cardboard insert thingy? Shield Upgrade's your huckleberry.

So, we'll get right to it- is it worth it? And what ships is it worth it on?

As I've mentioned before, I think face-up Damage cards (that's crits for us common people) and your ability to tack them onto ships is going to play a much larger role in Wave 2 matches than it ever did in Wave 1 matches because it's a good way to neuter big ships with tons of hull.

Of course, that's much easier said than done. Not only do you have to find the points and the right combinations to try and actually inflict those crits, you still have to stay alive long enough to strip all those Shield Tokens off of a Firespray or a YT-1300 in the process. Not exactly what you'd call easy, against a decently competent player.

Now, not only that, you have stuff like Shield Upgrade making it that much harder.

All right, so it's sort of a no-brainer upgrade if you have the points; I mean, there's no ship that actually gets better when it has its shields stripped away, so there's no real downside to taking Shield Upgrade. That said, let's move straight on to why you wouldn't want to put it on your ship.

Shield Upgrade is a Modification, and as such, you can only have one. The other choices being Engine Upgrade and Stealth Device, neither of which are bad choices, are what can make picking Shield Upgrade a little tougher than just automatically trading in your Proton Torpedoes.

I'm going to be talking out of turn a little bit as Stealth Upgrade isn't actually posted yet. I'll talk more about it tomorrow, but essentially, Stealth Device grants you an extra Defense die, but disappears after you take your first hit, for one less point than Shield Upgrade. With that in mind, I think as a general rule, the generic, and by generic I mean no-name, non-dotted pilots, Rebel starfighters ought to take Shield Upgrade and the generic Imperial starfighters ought to take Stealth Device- reason being is you're already capitalizing on something you have. I'm not one of those math whiz types, so I may be fully wrong on this, but to me, a Y-Wing with 4 shields is better than a Y-Wing with 2 Defense dice (again- dropping back to 1 after the first successful hit), and so on. Same way with Stealth on Imperial stuff; I think a TIE Fighter with 4 Defense dice is better than a TIE with one shield. I can already hear the keyboards of the would-be commenters clattering away, but let me just say again guys- I don't think either of these are a bad upgrade for any ship, and there may be math that proves my statement wrong, in which case, I'll change my viewpoint, but until then, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Could be an old ghost rattling around in my head from playing 40k for so long- in that game, you never try and make yourself good at everything if you want to win- you make yourself even better at what you already do well.

Big ships, I don't know. I want to say taking a Shield Upgrade on ships that already have so many shields to start with is kind of overkill, but as I've yet to finish a match with any shields left on my big ship du jour, I can't honestly say that in good faith. Of course, if you're capable of that feat, you'd probably be better off with a Stealth Device, regardless. Making things tougher is the fact that you can take the Falcon title for a measly point and just get yourself an Evade Action. On a Firespray, I could see a pretty strong case being made either way, but I'd lean more towards Stealth Device. I'll elaborate on why in tomorrow's article, though I'm sure you can figure it out.

With the named pilots, this becomes much more contextual- X-Wing Pilot Luke, for example, would benefit more from a Stealth Device because of his pilot ability, and an Imperial that sees a whole lot of close-combat like say, Mauler Mithel, who almost certainly will be shot and shot early on, might benefit more from a Shield Upgrade than a Stealth Device. Of course, Rebel X-Wings and Y-Wings further complicate this selection process by adding Droids like R2-D2 and R2-F2 into the mix, so if you were hoping I was going to produce some big table saying which pilots should take which Modification, well, sorry to disappoint.

Largely, the selection between these devices is going to depend on you and your playstyle. If you're great at maneuvering and staying out of people's firing arcs to begin with, and just need to mitigate the occasional gaffe or forced maneuver, Stealth Device may be a better fit for you than Shield Upgrade, regardless of which Faction you play. Conversely, if you end up with a lot of hull damage because you scream forward into the enemy's guns, Shield Upgrade may serve you better in the long run. Like a lot of other things in this game, your own experience and playstyle counts for a lot when it comes to listbuilding- don't just automatically assume the internet is right about everything when it comes to listbuilding advice. If you find something that works for you, especially if it works well, stick with it.

A few final thoughts regarding Shield Upgrade. First, yes, even ships with no shield value (TIEs, TIE Interceptors) can use the Shield Upgrade- any ship may select a modification. Secondly, yeah, if you've already got R2-D2 for your backseat driver, taking Shield Upgrade is probably a smart idea. Third, yeah, if you were to stick a Shield Upgrade on a YT-1300 piloted by Chewbacca, you're going to be really tough to take down. Ditto for another guy driving a YT-1300 with Chewie in a Crew Member role.

Modifications- Engine Upgrade

This post regarding Ship Upgrades is part of a larger article regarding Wave 2 listbuilding- the rest of the posts n this series will be available in the coming weeks as I'm revealing a post or two per day on the various topics in that larger article. For more info, click the "Ship List Articles" tab at the top of the page or simply click here.

Note: Ship Upgrades are considered Modifications. Any ship may purchase and use a single Modification.

Engine Upgrade (4)
Card Text: Your action bar gains the <boost symbol> action icon.
Usage in game: Uhhh... when you want the Boost Action available to a ship that doesn't normally possess it?
Breakdown: I wrote a BBB on the Boost Action a couple of weeks ago, so I don't plan on rehashing what the Boost Action is in this article, so if you're not familiar with Boost and what it's good for, take a moment to peek at that article before reading on. 

The coolest thing about Engine Upgrade, and Modifications in general is you can stick them on any ship (so long as you have the points, of course). You're still able to take Pilot Skills, weapons, droids, whatever in addition to the Modification, so except for the other available mods, you're not really giving up anything or locking yourself out of another upgrade.

I want to like Engine Upgrade in particular because it's the only Modification currently that can't really get shot off your ship- at least without drawing a face-up Damage card that disallows stuff in your Action Bar. Is it worth it though? Seems cool on paper, but how does it work for rizzle?

First, let's look at what ships we'd consider for an Engine Upgrade, which is ships that don't have the Boost Action stock.

Rebs: X-Wing, Y-Wing, YT-1300
Imps: TIE Fighters, TIE Advanced, Firespray-31


Secondly, are there any ships that Boosting would be particularly effective with? Especially in comparison to the other Modifications? 


I think for the Rebels and Imperials, having a Boosting big ship is kinda pointless. I mean sure, maybe you can use it to get into Range 1 or something, but as you're burning an Action to perform your Boost, you'd probably be better off just declaring Focus most of the time with a ship that big. Also realize that this Modification isn't going to keep you from (or even allow you to) bonking into Obstacles or other ships, which is where a lot of folks have issues using the big ships. If you hear people talking about using Engine Upgrade to create some blocking ships, just remember they can't overlap you with a Boost Action. 


Briefly re-hashing, I think the main thing Boost gets you is a little more maneuverability- namely moving out of an enemy's firing arc or moving so that an enemy outside of your arc is now in your arc probably being the most common uses. As the big ships have such gigantic bases, I think it's fairly unlikely a Boost is going to do much in either of those departments for you. Not saying it's not possible, just saying it's probably not likely enough to be worth the 4 points. Doubly so when you take into account the YT-1300 has the 360 degree firing arc and the Firespray can shoot its primary weapon backwards. 


So what about the smaller ships? 


I want to like the idea of a Boosting Y-Wing, but I can't get behind that. Most everyone sticks an Ion Cannon Turret on their Y-Wings anyway, so like the YT, having somebody in your arc isn't a big deal. Yes, you could use it to potentially escape some enemy ship's firing arc, but the Y-Wing is already so limited in maneuverability, most opponents will be all over a Y-Wing like a wet blanket if they want to be, Boost Action or no. PTL + Engine Upgrade doesn't work here either because none of the Y-Wing pilots can take Elite Pilot Skills. A case could be made for looking at adding an Engine Upgrade in lieu of an Ion Cannon Turret to save a point and add some maneuverability to get that primary weapon in a position where it can do more damage, but that's strictly a theory on my part- I've not tried it on the tabletop. Long story long, I think, much like the big ships, there are better Modifications for this ship than Engine Upgrade. 

Ships that get in close to the action will likely benefit from a Boost Action and X-Wings often get up close and personal when they're fighting. When you're that close to your enemy, a Boost maneuver can easily get you out of harm's way or get an opponent ship into your own firing arc. Additionally, one could roll a PTL + Engine Upgrade combo with Wedge and get fairly scary results, especially with another pilot dishing Free Actions or tokens of some kind. Like sticking Expert Handling on Luke or Wedge, Engine Upgrade could be good to produce completely unexpected movement results, especially against those seasoned players who seem to have the maneuverability table memorized for every single ship and plan accordingly.

4 points seems like a fairly significant investment in a TIE Fighter, where it can be anywhere from a third of the cost of the ship itself to a little under a quarter of the cost, depending what pilot you decide to stick it to. I do like it though. Again, TIEs get up close and personal, so being able to Boost out of a Range 1 X-Wing's arc is pretty nice. Is it worth it on a ship that can already Barrel Roll? That's solely going to depend on you and your ability to play the Boost. I have to think though having that as additional option could come in handy. Especially on a ship like Backstabber (to get out of the target's firing arc), Gundark (to get into Range 1), Night Beast (largely because he usually has an Action to spare, so why not?) or even to give a Black Squadron TIE a little more maneuverability to help keep him within the Range of any Elite Pilot Skills he might be carrying. As Bikini Aficionado heychadwick pointed out in the BBB- Boost Action Explained! comments, pulling a 1 turn then a Boost is darn near a 180 that's completely Stress free.

Advanced seem a decent fit for an Engine Upgrade, but not overwhelmingly so. Vader's an obvious candidate with his two Actions per round special rule, Maarek and the rest of the Advanced? Nothing spectacular really comes to mind, though again- if you're the type of player who pushes things forward, and let's face it, in this context that's a great way to try and get a little more juice out of those 2 Attack dice guns, being able to Boost isn't a bad thing. 
Regardless of what ship you attach the Engine Upgrade to, being an Action, you're going to get more precise use out of it with higher PR pilots, which of course, means more expensive pilots. Tacking on another 4 points to the overall cost of a ship is kinda significant, but as Wave 2 lists seem to be skewing towards less, but better pilots with more upgrades, it's worth giving a day in court.