So, I was spitballing in another thread, and surprised myself with crazy.

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100 point fleets. The game lasts a pre-set number of 30-40 minute rounds. No one is eliminated, but damage is maintained from one round to the next.
Everyone starts with an equal pool of "Credits".

Credits may only be used between rounds, so you cannot simply bribe your opponents with them. There will be a 15-20 minute negotiation round to facilitate this, starting with posting Damage across the board.

Credits may be spent to repair ships damaged ships, but cannot repair dead ships. Repair cost will have to be honed properly.

Credits may be spent to re-fill used ordnance, and other discarded upgrades.

A certain number of counters will be awarded players who have won their rounds, and a smaller number of counters will be awarded players who have gained a modified win in their round. No credits should be awarded for a tie, or for a loss.

Credits may also be used to play politics, leading to ship swapping and combinations of fleets.

E.G. I have lost an X-Wing, and so I am under-pointed. However, Your tie swarm got utterly annihilated, and you're down to two left. I'd be willing to buy your surviving Tie Fighters to fill the hole in my squad for some Credits now, and a percentage of the credits I win for the rest of the tournament

Rounds will be paired randomly in all rounds, as players who have turned their entire fleet into mercenaries may yet hold control over their portion of the fleet, basically turning them into a teammate. If they happen to hold a spot on competing teams, they will essentially profit from both sides: a worthy result of clever politicing.

After all of the pre-set number of rounds are counted, each player may spend their remaining credits to improve their scores in the final tally.

All in all, I think that sounds like a great afternoon's worth of play. But then, I enjoy playing Twilight Imperium and Diplomacy, so I'm a bit of a freak

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So, basically, I figured out a workable (though very unpolished) idea for a multiplayer variant with a non-traditional but flavorful win-condition.

What thoughts do you have? Would you like to help me polish this? Would you be willing to play it once polished, or playtest it while working on it?

I have lost an X-Wing, and so I am under-pointed. However, Your tie swarm got utterly annihilated, and you're down to two left. I'd be willing to buy your surviving Tie Fighters to fill the hole in my squad for some Credits now, and a percentage of the credits I win for the rest of the tournament

I don't really understand how this is supposed to work. If you buy my two surviving TIEs then I don't have a squadron anymore and can't play any of the remaining games. I don't really see how these credits I earn from you are supposed to make up for the boredom of spending the rest of the day watching games instead of playing, or how my randomly-assigned opponent is supposed to have any fun when they automatically win without playing because I have no ships.

I have lost an X-Wing, and so I am under-pointed. However, Your tie swarm got utterly annihilated, and you're down to two left. I'd be willing to buy your surviving Tie Fighters to fill the hole in my squad for some Credits now, and a percentage of the credits I win for the rest of the tournament

I don't really understand how this is supposed to work. If you buy my two surviving TIEs then I don't have a squadron anymore and can't play any of the remaining games. I don't really see how these credits I earn from you are supposed to make up for the boredom of spending the rest of the day watching games instead of playing, or how my randomly-assigned opponent is supposed to have any fun when they automatically win without playing because I have no ships.

You'd be removed from the pool of active players (to avoid having any mystery-opponents), but this system is basically a way for folks who recognize that they've lost their chance at the actual tournament to still have the ability to change the outcome for other people, and still be participating in the game at large.

You'd be removed from the pool of active players (to avoid having any mystery-opponents), but this system is basically a way for folks who recognize that they've lost their chance at the actual tournament to still have the ability to change the outcome for other people, and still be participating in the game at large.

But you aren't participating. You're sitting around watching and hoping that someone else gets to have fun with your stuff. I'd much rather just play a fun game or two against my fellow losers, and I think most people will agree.

You'd be removed from the pool of active players (to avoid having any mystery-opponents), but this system is basically a way for folks who recognize that they've lost their chance at the actual tournament to still have the ability to change the outcome for other people, and still be participating in the game at large.

But you aren't participating. You're sitting around watching and hoping that someone else gets to have fun with your stuff. I'd much rather just play a fun game or two against my fellow losers, and I think most people will agree.

I think the idea is you control your two ties as a part of the larger force of the other player.

ie 2 players sharing a list vs 1 player

100 point fleets. The game lasts a pre-set number of 30-40 minute rounds. No one is eliminated, but damage is maintained from one round to the next.

100 point fleets. The game lasts a pre-set number of 30-40 minute rounds. No one is eliminated, but damage is maintained from one round to the next.

And stop right there. Drop the credits idea. This is your variant: Skirmishes where you are trying to survive and minimize the damage you take.

What you have here is an Elimination Tournament :

- 100 point Squads don't reset but carry damage from one round to the next. If you have no squad you are eliminated.

- Between rounds, those players that have points left in their squads can negotiate to join up with another squad that is missing as many points that they can offer. This way, players team up and co-op squads to make it to the final round.

- Players on the same team can discuss and show maneuver dials to team members to determine a cohesive movement strategy.

- Winning team advances, although team members can be eliminated during the round if all of their ships are destroyed.

- Team members can switch sides if they are flying the same faction as their opponent (so rebel/empire vs rebel/empire can switch to rebel/rebel vs empire/empire.)

-Such an event must be overseen by a T.O. Any point discrepancy for either side the T.O. will resolve by removing ordnance/upgrades till points are even or, in case of a large point discrepancy, the lower side will have a reinforcement ship awarded to it: 15point A-wing for rebels, 12 point academy for imperial. The round on which the reinforcement ship arrives would be delayed for 1 round for each 2 points off of the actual ship value. So, if the point deficit is 10 points for the empire, they get an academy tie that enters the edge of the board in round 2. If the point deficit is 10 points for Rebels, they get an A-wing on Round 3 (10 points plus 2 points per round x 3 = 16 points). If the points deficit is severe (over 20 points) the ship that closely matches that value will be the reinforcement ship. So if the deficit is 25 points, the rebel player could choose between the A-wing proto, A-wing green Squad, a rookie X-wing, a Red squad X wing, a Blue Squad B-wing, a Dagger squad B-wing, or a Grey squad Y wing with Ion Turret*.

(*List would be made up of common point builds so that Y's and Hwk's could chosen to be fielded)

Just my two cents on this idea.

What you have here is an Elimination Tournament :

- 100 point Squads don't reset but carry damage from one round to the next. If you have no squad you are eliminated.

- Between rounds, those players that have points left in their squads can negotiate to join up with another squad that is missing as many points that they can offer. This way, players team up and co-op squads to make it to the final round.

- Players on the same team can discuss and show maneuver dials to team members to determine a cohesive movement strategy.

- Winning team advances, although team members can be eliminated during the round if all of their ships are destroyed.

- Team members can switch sides if they are flying the same faction as their opponent (so rebel/empire vs rebel/empire can switch to rebel/rebel vs empire/empire.)

-Such an event must be overseen by a T.O. Any point discrepancy for either side the T.O. will resolve by removing ordnance/upgrades till points are even or, in case of a large point discrepancy, the lower side will have a reinforcement ship awarded to it: 15point A-wing for rebels, 12 point academy for imperial. The round on which the reinforcement ship arrives would be delayed for 1 round for each 2 points off of the actual ship value. So, if the point deficit is 10 points for the empire, they get an academy tie that enters the edge of the board in round 2. If the point deficit is 10 points for Rebels, they get an A-wing on Round 3 (10 points plus 2 points per round x 3 = 16 points). If the points deficit is severe (over 20 points) the ship that closely matches that value will be the reinforcement ship. So if the deficit is 25 points, the rebel player could choose between the A-wing proto, A-wing green Squad, a rookie X-wing, a Red squad X wing, a Blue Squad B-wing, a Dagger squad B-wing, or a Grey squad Y wing with Ion Turret*.

(*List would be made up of common point builds so that Y's and Hwk's could chosen to be fielded)

Just my two cents on this idea.

Polish!

I like the idea but I have a few concerns that might give TOs headaches. I don't know how to address these:

After each round, especially the later ones, I believe there will be major point discrepancies (20+), especially if we allow players to merge and form teams. Is there any limit to how many people can be on a team? Teams of 2 aren't so bad but larger teams probably won't work well. Can a player leave a team at any time or are the locked into one?

I can see people abusing the reinforcement ship idea by purposely losing ships late in the game in order to obtain ones in the next round.

Although rebel/imperial vs rebel/imperial match ups are intriguing, the game is obviously not designed for this. I'm sure some killer combos would emerge that would break the game balance.

I assume 100 points is still the max for a team? A hidden benefit (perhaps some will say negative) here is that the good players will be locked out from forming teams with other good players since they will most likely have a large set of points remaning and will be pushed towards forming teams with players who have less points (less skilled players).

I assume 100 points is still the max for a team? A hidden benefit (perhaps some will say negative) here is that the good players will be locked out from forming teams with other good players since they will most likely have a large set of points remaning and will be pushed towards forming teams with players who have less points (less skilled players).

Exactly my thinking.