What do people think about an action being introduced to the game that did the following:

"Prep for evasive maneuvers". "Receive a 'Ready Token'. The next time you would perform a red maneuver this token can be used to cancel receiving the Stress Token"

- These tokens cannot stack

Maybe an elite pilot skill or R2. Though I would prefer the EPT so as not to exclude the Empire.

Pricing, thoughts, etc

Sorry if this has been discussed before.

Well, I kinda like the concept, but it am loathe to introduce another type of token to the game.

I can understand that. Don't want even more of those!

Hrm. Maybe:

"This ship may perform a red maneuver while stressed. After completing a red maneuver, remove 1 stress token. Action: Gain one stress token."

Haven't really thought through all the implications there, but I think it captures the spirit of the idea without adding another new token.

With the token you save the action for a later round. Which means you perform that action during the very first round of the game.

As an EPT, consider adrenalin rush instead. It allows a red maneuver when stressed.

Rephrase the ability. Like: Action: Discard one stress token. You may perform this action when you have one or more stress tokens.

The last sentence is necessary because stressed ships cannot normally perform actions.

Reinforced Structural Integrity

[modification]

Treat all red maneuvres as white maneuvres.

Cost 8 (at least)

Or

Battle Calm

When you gain or are assigned a stress token, you may perform a free action.

Reinforced Structural Integrity

[modification]

Treat all red maneuvres as white maneuvres.

Cost 8 (at least)

Or

Battle Calm

When you gain or are assigned a stress token, you may perform a free action.

Well, I just spewed my drink all over the screen on the first one. Just... no. At any cost.

The second one is pointless, because by the time you have a stress token, you couldn't take the action anyway.

Rephrase the ability. Like: Action: Discard one stress token. You may perform this action when you have one or more stress tokens.

Not sure what the intended slot was, but this is a very OP (what if a shuttle got this) you could K-Turn every round with this!

Reinforced Structural Integrity

[modification]

Treat all red maneuvres as white maneuvres.

Cost 8 (at least)

Or

Battle Calm

When you gain or are assigned a stress token, you may perform a free action.

Well, I just spewed my drink all over the screen on the first one. Just... no. At any cost.

The second one is pointless, because by the time you have a stress token, you couldn't take the action anyway.

Yeah the first one is way broken at any cost, it would be an auto include at the price of a ship.

The second one isn't worded properly, but the intent is clear I guess. Also overpowered on an A Wing with double EPT, giving three actions per turn.

Stress is one of the key things used to balance the game and shouldn't be messed with too much. Stress tokens being used as a resource to fuel abilities is an entirely different matter from gaining stress and all that entails.

I agree, I don't think a stress-shedding mechanic should be common place and an action to do it seems like it'll be complicated to do without reworking a lot of existing rules.

I could see an EPT card where you can remove a stress token if you successfully cause damage with your attack (maybe just with your primary weapon). Or maybe one where you may choose to drop your agility by 1 to remove a stress. I think it would have to be an EPT, because having PtL and the ability to get rid of the stress would be too silly.

Regardless, stress-shedding should always be conditional to something else happening or at least have some sort of consequence.

There are already plenty of ways to mitigate the effects of stress. Especially with the new cards coming from Rebel Aces and Wave 4 and the X-Wings from the Transport.

You already have Advanced Sensors that allow certain ships to perform a free action before executing their maneuver. Of cause this affects the Acquire a target lock action as you need to have range before you move.

You also have Captain Yorr to soak some of those Stress tokens allowing you to perform your action after executing a red maneuver.

The upcoming Wingman card also removes stress, but too late to perform an action with the stessed ship. But it allows you to execute white maneuvers next turn without loosing an action, or even perform red maneuvers again next turn.

And then there is pilots like Soonthir Fell and Kayan Farlander that you actually want to stress.

So I see no need to try to further mitigate stress.

I'll agree that many of the upcoming cards will help mitigate stress tokens. And this may be too powerful an EPT etc but, it's just that it has always bothered me that very good pilots (Wedge, Vader, Fel etc..) could not conduct a red maneuver without gaining a stress.

I feel that excellent pilots (PS7 or 8+) should have an option available to them that reflects their excellent pilot ability without granting them an alternative dial.

And then there is pilots like Soonthir Fell and Kayan Farlander that you actually want to stress.

I have to slightly disagree with you here. Soontir Fel is OK with getting stress, he doesn't want it like insane Rebel Power Creeper Keyan Farlander does.

And then there is pilots like Soonthir Fell and Kayan Farlander that you actually want to stress.

I have to slightly disagree with you here. Soontir Fel is OK with getting stress, he doesn't want it like insane Rebel Power Creeper Keyan Farlander does.

(sigh)

Keyan's ability costs 2 points over and above his (already fairly costly) PS bid. He has three ways to get stress:

(1) Use a red maneuver without Advanced Sensors. This means he has stress during his Perform Action step, and spending a stress token as part of his attack is the only way he'll be able to modify his dice.

(2) Use a red maneuver after taking an action, using Advanced Sensors. This means he gets an action and a stress token, allowing him to barrel roll and still modify his defense dice or stack target lock and pseudo-focus for his attack. This is very nice, but costs a minimum of 32 points, and is only available on turns where he wants to make a relatively fast maneuver, a K-turn, or a turn-1.

(3) Use an upgrade that causes stress. This is, in some ways, the best option: the upgrades that do this are typically very nice ones, and he isn't really affected by the stress cost as long as he's able to attack. Push the Limit is an obvious candidate, and Opportunist will also be nice as long as he can reliably trigger it. Again, this costs a minimum of 32 points.

***

To boil it down further, Keyan's ability is either relatively difficult to activate and doesn't offer much improvement over a "regular" action, or it's easy to activate but even more expensive than most elite pilots.

It's not that I don't think he's powerful, but calling him Rebel Power Creeper misses the point entirely. The standard Rebel line for over a year was that you should never run Wedge without Biggs, because your opponent would immediately focus fire on Wedge and strip him out of the list before he got to use his pilot ability. Without upgrades, Keyan is the same price as Wedge with weaker PS, and will typically survive just one additional attack; with upgrades that allow him to make the best use of his ability, he's now much more expensive than Wedge but is still no more durable than a naked Blue Squadron Pilot.

What about that yells "power creep" to you? If you compare 33 points' worth of Wedge (with PTL and R2 Astromech, for instance), 33 points' worth of Soontir (with PTL and Stealth Device or Hull Upgrade), and 35 points' worth of Keyan (PTL + Advanced Sensors), does Keyan really look like such an outlier?

Sorry, that part was supposed to be a joke because everyone (myself included at first) was all freaking out over his ability.

My point still stands, though: he likes stress while Soontir deals with it.

Rephrase the ability. Like: Action: Discard one stress token. You may perform this action when you have one or more stress tokens.

Not sure what the intended slot was, but this is a very OP (what if a shuttle got this) you could K-Turn every round with this!

Well, there are a few ships/pilots that can already k-turn every turn if they wanted....

Sorry, that part was supposed to be a joke because everyone (myself included at first) was all freaking out over his ability.

My point still stands, though: he likes stress while Soontir deals with it.

Sorry back at you. I'm still feeling a bit sensitive about Balance Wars: Episode IV. You're right that stress represents a good news/bad news situation for Fel but has nothing but upside for Keyan.

Some might mistakenly say Ibtisam is ok being Stresses in addition to Fel and that upcoming B-Wing. I'd say they are wrong about that but some believe that getting to reroll a die just because you're stressed is a good reason to be stressed.

Why would FFG introduce a card that undoes a game mechanic that is designed to specifically prevent actions? That's half the point of stress IMO. Designing a card that just undoes it seems to break the game a little. Other cards and special abilities bend the rules, this just seems like breaking a major one for every ship.

Why would FFG introduce a card that undoes a game mechanic that is designed to specifically prevent actions? That's half the point of stress IMO. Designing a card that just undoes it seems to break the game a little. Other cards and special abilities bend the rules, this just seems like breaking a major one for every ship.

It should capture an EPT slot.

It should cost an action to activate.

It should not be applicable to all stressful situations.

I mean, we already have Adrenaline Rush. Let's make this one similar.