Alright on to the important stuff.
Like many of you I read people's thoughts and feedback on this new Wave 8 ship and the general consensus could be summed up as:
Bad
It's the Scum B-Wing
Agility 1 means it dies too fast
It's overcosted
All of this is, of course, untrue. The first was based on no play experience at all and can be immediately discounted. The second one is interesting but deserves a closer look.
G1-A dial is on the left, B-Wing dial is on the right.
There are a lot of similarities. The 1 speed maneuvers are identical and the 2 speed maneuvers almost are as well. The B-Wing gets a 2 speed K-Turn. The three is where things get interesting on the G1-A dial with the G1-A having a green 3 straight as well as 3 speed K-Turn. At speed 4 the G1-A is superior with a white 4 straight and a 4 speed K-turn. In total the G1-A has one more maneuver than the B-Wing as well as an additional green. So the G1-A is better at closing or disengaging if it needs to. The G1-A dial supports my later thoughts about its role but lets also compare the raw stats.
Blue Squadron Pilot (22 pts)
-Pilot Skill 2
-3 Attack Dice
-1 Agility
-3 Hull
-5 Shields
-Focus, Target Lock, Barrel Roll
-System Upgrade, Cannon, x2 Torpedo, Title, Modification slots
versus
Ruthless Freelancer (23 pts)
-Pilot Skill 3
-3 Attack Dice
-1 Agility
-4 Hull
-4 Shields
-Focus, Target Lock, Evade
-Crew, System Upgrade, Illicit, Title Modification slots
They are pretty close with similar stats. The B-Wing has a better kit fighting up close with a strong focus on secondary weapons whereas the G1-A seems to be built for mid/long range attacks designed more for longevity with a splash of support. Also worth noting that the 23 points prevents you from making a GGGGZ list similar to the BBBBZ jousting lists that used to be popular in previous waves.
I can totally see at first glance where the comparison came from but after playing it I have been using it mainly as a mid-range slugger. I do feel that adding Mist Hunter is pretty important as it gives the G1-A Barrel Roll which can be very helpful but the most important thing is its Illicit slot. Because Cloaking Device is a thing.
Even if you get to use it only once the repositioning it gives you is huge and I find it seems to last 2-3 uses on average. In addition I also use it with Stygium Particle Accelerator and Advanced Sensors. This allows me to have turns where I can Decloak at the start of a turn, perform the Decloak move and gain an Evade token. Then I can take an action and perform my maneuver. Which all in all is very flexible. Also if you get in a bad spot you could potentially Decloak, gain an Evade, Advanced Sensors into a Cloak action, gain an Evade and then move hopefully going for a block making you an unattractive target with 3 Agility and 2 Evade tokens.
I feel like 4-LOM and Zuckuss are the two pilots to consider for this ship; the former if you are looking for more of a control element the latter if you are looking for more firepower. I have been leaning towards the latter because this ship wants to hit hard. The last thing to bring up is the Tractor Beam. I have never once shot it but I think the threat of it existing in the game and potentially seeing it makes it valuable (same as Boba...) because taking all low agility ships means you might get punished harshly by it. Especially if its rolling 4 red dice to hit you...
Here are some builds example builds I think are worth taking a look at:
4-LOM the Stressbot (37 pts)
Wired, Tactician, Advanced Sensors and Engine Upgrade
This build is all about getting stress and giving it. This list has the potential to give two different ships a stress token and you can take advantage of Wired because 4-LOM doesn't pass the stress until the End Phase.
Zuckuss the Brawler (37 pts)
Predator, Dengar and Advanced Sensors
This list is all about getting those red dice as consistent as possible with a guaranteed 2 re-rolls but with the chance to get 3 fairly consistently depending on the list you face. It's almost like a constant Target Lock. Just take a Focus and throw 4 red dice like its your job.
Just a couple ideas to look at aside from my build which is:
Zuckuss the Arc-ful Dodger (see what I did there) (36 pts)
Adaptability, Advanced Sensors, Cloaking Device, Mist Hunter, Tractor Beam and Stygium Particle Accelerator
So in summary; I think this ship is being maligned a bit unfairly and it deserves a closer look as a control-brawler which Scum didn't really have before this wave. My advice is to put it in a list where it isn't the biggest threat and fly it like a mid-range brawler (similar to a T-70) in order to see what it can do.
