lines of thought on GUNBOAT stats:
Att2
Agility2
Hull 4
Shield 3
Or agility 1 and more shields
Focus, TL, possibly Broll
Either two missiles or missile and torp. Possibly system. Cannon as well.
Maybe a title that allows a second shot after Tractor Beam shot, as well as allowing a tractor beam and another cannon to be added.
Okay, those are some reasonable stat lines. I ask, because there is nothing particularly "gunboat" about the XG-1 as represented in the games so far. Historically, a gunboat was the classic glass cannon. It was heavily armed, but relatively poorly protected. One of the main points of the XG-1 in the X-wing/TIE fighter series was that it was way more of a tank than the other Imperial fighters. I remember it was pretty missile intensive. Okay guns. Average maneuverability. Not sure I'd give it 4 hull. 3 seems better, especially considering 3 shields. So, I think we have some reasonable stat proposals. I still don't like the model, but that's personal preference.
Actually, the Gunboat was pretty tough. Certainly tougher than an X-Wing or TIE Bomber, maybe not quite as tough as a B-Wing or Y-Wing though. It could take a few hits, even from torpedoes. It was slightly slower and less maneuverable than an X-Wing, but definitely faster than a Y-Wing.
I think the 2/2/4/3 statline works quite well, but it needs a bit of (situational) punch. The linked-firing array upgrades some of the community have homebrewed have potential - a BTL-A4 style mechanic, only with missiles or torps.
Gunboat could take a good beating remember that mission where you have to scan cargo near a minefield, bomber wouldn't stand up to that many missiles coming it's way.
Gunboat could take a good beating remember that mission where you have to scan cargo near a minefield, bomber wouldn't stand up to that many missiles coming it's way.
Yes you were bad in evading - but you had good sustaining shielding. But the, once the shields were gone and the hull was starting getting damage, you should better kill or disable whatever was attacking you and then quickly get some distance and those shields up again. Tie Bombers would have been just smashed in that mine field.
I used to edit missions and make some TIE Bomber missions but added shields to them (as they probably should have anyway). Still not as versatile as the GUNBOAT tho.
I used to edit missions and make some TIE Bomber missions but added shields to them (as they probably should have anyway). Still not as versatile as the GUNBOAT tho.
One could also imagine a special operations Tie Bomber squadron equipped with shielding and hyperdrives as a fast responsive or interdictor unit. ... But then ... as long as there are enough Star Destroyers around, the Empire does not need to care about. Because Star Destroyers are huge and Bombers are tiny. And size matters.
Gunboat could take a good beating remember that mission where you have to scan cargo near a minefield, bomber wouldn't stand up to that many missiles coming it's way.
I'm not sure when the concept of a 'tank' entered the wider gaming lexicon, but that's essentially what the Gunboat was introduced as in X-Wing. Sure, it didn't have an explicit 'taunt' ability, but the fact it carried a pretty nasty salvo of missiles did a great job of drawing your aggro as a player.
Kinda plays like one in Tie Fighter too, it's all about managing how you take the damage and when/where you take it, as well as balancing that against speed and damage.
It's probably partly a fond favourite because it's such a change of pace to something like a Tie Fighter. Certainly stick out for me because of that. The advanced TIEs are basically the Interceptor but more forgiving. The Gunboat feels like it utilises a very different skill set.
Applying concepts such as 'tank, dps, healer' etc to every single game can get a bit trite, but I do wonder if there's some design space for Gunboats doing that. Slow and hardy, but they'll draw your fire because if you ignore them then I hope you like eating missiles and ions.
Gunboat could take a good beating remember that mission where you have to scan cargo near a minefield, bomber wouldn't stand up to that many missiles coming it's way.
Yes you were bad in evading - but you had good sustaining shielding. But the, once the shields were gone and the hull was starting getting damage, you should better kill or disable whatever was attacking you and then quickly get some distance and those shields up again. Tie Bombers would have been just smashed in that mine field.
That another dimension of the PC games that has not been translated to this miniature game. You could be not so fast and not so agile, but you had two laser cannons and two ion cannons. That means that not only you had some firepower and control ability, but also, you had 4 energy banks to transfer to shields whenever you took too much damage.
Go to a minefield, do your job, and when your shields are down, pass all energy to the shields while you take some distance to recharge.
That is something you couldn't do with the TIE Bomber. Not even, most of the time, with the TIE Advanced, since its shields were so flimsy that if they were taken down, your hull was probably damaged too.
Maybe they could give it a reinforce or brace action, that is like a temporary hit point.
Gunboat could take a good beating remember that mission where you have to scan cargo near a minefield, bomber wouldn't stand up to that many missiles coming it's way.
Yes you were bad in evading - but you had good sustaining shielding. But the, once the shields were gone and the hull was starting getting damage, you should better kill or disable whatever was attacking you and then quickly get some distance and those shields up again. Tie Bombers would have been just smashed in that mine field.
That another dimension of the PC games that has not been translated to this miniature game. You could be not so fast and not so agile, but you had two laser cannons and two ion cannons. That means that not only you had some firepower and control ability, but also, you had 4 energy banks to transfer to shields whenever you took too much damage.
Go to a minefield, do your job, and when your shields are down, pass all energy to the shields while you take some distance to recharge.
That is something you couldn't do with the TIE Bomber. Not even, most of the time, with the TIE Advanced, since its shields were so flimsy that if they were taken down, your hull was probably damaged too.
Thats true. Your main advantage was to redirect the energy for tractor beams and ion cannons directly into shields and replenish them quickly. Maybe the Gunboat will get the first (and only?) means to regain shields once they are gone. It would reflect the pc game experience.
Gunboat could take a good beating remember that mission where you have to scan cargo near a minefield, bomber wouldn't stand up to that many missiles coming it's way.
Yes you were bad in evading - but you had good sustaining shielding. But the, once the shields were gone and the hull was starting getting damage, you should better kill or disable whatever was attacking you and then quickly get some distance and those shields up again. Tie Bombers would have been just smashed in that mine field.
That another dimension of the PC games that has not been translated to this miniature game. You could be not so fast and not so agile, but you had two laser cannons and two ion cannons. That means that not only you had some firepower and control ability, but also, you had 4 energy banks to transfer to shields whenever you took too much damage.
Go to a minefield, do your job, and when your shields are down, pass all energy to the shields while you take some distance to recharge.
That is something you couldn't do with the TIE Bomber. Not even, most of the time, with the TIE Advanced, since its shields were so flimsy that if they were taken down, your hull was probably damaged too.
Thats true. Your main advantage was to redirect the energy for tractor beams and ion cannons directly into shields and replenish them quickly. Maybe the Gunboat will get the first (and only?) means to regain shields once they are gone. It would reflect the pc game experience.
Imperial regen ship? Where do I sign in? 
Gunboat could take a good beating remember that mission where you have to scan cargo near a minefield, bomber wouldn't stand up to that many missiles coming it's way.
Yes you were bad in evading - but you had good sustaining shielding. But the, once the shields were gone and the hull was starting getting damage, you should better kill or disable whatever was attacking you and then quickly get some distance and those shields up again. Tie Bombers would have been just smashed in that mine field.
That another dimension of the PC games that has not been translated to this miniature game. You could be not so fast and not so agile, but you had two laser cannons and two ion cannons. That means that not only you had some firepower and control ability, but also, you had 4 energy banks to transfer to shields whenever you took too much damage.
Go to a minefield, do your job, and when your shields are down, pass all energy to the shields while you take some distance to recharge.
That is something you couldn't do with the TIE Bomber. Not even, most of the time, with the TIE Advanced, since its shields were so flimsy that if they were taken down, your hull was probably damaged too.
Thats true. Your main advantage was to redirect the energy for tractor beams and ion cannons directly into shields and replenish them quickly. Maybe the Gunboat will get the first (and only?) means to regain shields once they are gone. It would reflect the pc game experience.
Imperial regen ship? Where do I sign in?
Right here, pilot.
Thats true. Your main advantage was to redirect the energy for tractor beams and ion cannons directly into shields and replenish them quickly. Maybe the Gunboat will get the first (and only?) means to regain shields once they are gone. It would reflect the pc game experience.
A title card worded a bit like R2--D2 crew could really work for that!!!!
"State your name, pilot."
Gunboats bringing Inperial regen into the game?
That's an interesting idea. Terrifying, but interesting!
Gunboats bringing Inperial regen into the game?
That's an interesting idea. Terrifying, but interesting!
Every Gunboat is Miranda, basically. Except ith a fire arc.
"State your name, pilot."
ODANAN
(the same I used for my first pilot, back in 1994 - once a TIE pilot, always a TIE pilot)
ODANAN"State your name, pilot."
(the same I used for my first pilot, back in 1994 - once a TIE pilot, always a TIE pilot)
The E-wing was one of my first actual ships for this, game, before I even played, and I was later really disheartened to find out that Ewings sucked.
But i've got high hopes for the Gunboat and Missile Boat from when I was even younger.
How about the regen Gunboat title eing worded very similar to R2-D2 crew but hopefuly without the potential damage, and only working if shields were at 0.
I think it would be mostly balanced.
Odanan is there a way yo could make a title card similar to the r2-d2 crew wording.
Edited by knaveleadI'd maybe make it a dual card, something like:
"At the start of the combat phase, you may reduce your primary weapon value by 1, if you do so, recover 1 shield.
At the start of the end phase you may flip this card."
And on the other side:
"At the start of the activation phase, you may reduce the speed of your selected maneuver by 1 (to a minimum of 1), if you do so you may recover 1 shield.
At the start of the end phase you may flip this card."
On the second one you could maybe just have it reduce the evade value.
Open to suggestions 
Edited by knaveleadI'd maybe make it a dual card, something like:
"At the start of the combat phase, you may reduce your primary weapon value by 1, if you do so, recover 1 shield.
At the start of the end phase you may flip this card."
And on the other side:
"At the start of the activation phase, you may reduce the speed of your selected maneuver by 1 (to a minimum of 1), if you do so you may recover 1 shield.
At the start of the end phase you may flip this card."
On the second one you could maybe just have it reduce the evade value.
Open to suggestions
No more regen in this game please. It was fun in the pc games, it's extremely unfun in this game.
Gunboats bringing Inperial regen into the game?
That's an interesting idea. Terrifying, but interesting!
Every Gunboat is Miranda, basically. Except ith a fire arc.
Miranda? Go back further.
How about the regen Gunboat title eing worded very similar to R2-D2 crew but hopefuly without the potential damage, and only working if shields were at 0.
I think it would be mostly balanced.
Odanan is there a way yo could make a title card similar to the r2-d2 crew wording.
Yes.
But I don't know if you are going to like this:
Shield regen for everybody! (but with a LOT of drawbacks)
I wish there were a category of upgrade cards called "Maneuvers", so this one wouldn't take the Elite slot.
******* fund it.