Decided to make a new post as the other got rather silly but this has an idea for a 3rd faction which someone else suggested already in that other post. Please read this before just dismissing it out of hand for being about a 3rd faction.

To play as a pirate/smuggler you need this:

1) 1 large ship as a base/leader ship. Assume the unique named pilots are named something else. Either Rebel or Imperial.

2) Any points after taking the large ship(with any upgrades) can be use to buy fighters or other large ships. Fighters are limited to non-unique ships that cost no more than 20 points but can be a mix of Rebels and Imperials. Large ships must be non-unique versions but also can be either Rebels or Imperial. Upgrades can be taken where able.

3) No unique named crew cards or Rebel/Imperial only cards can be used.

The nice thing with this that the ships are already out so don't have to come up with something just for a pirate. This could also be used as a base for a box set, about the size of a large ship box that doesn't come with a ship though I guess it could. The box set could just contain cards and tokens turning existing ships into the pirates as the only thing FFG has to make for this. Could also be a way to produce things like containers or a disabled ship used in missions.

Thoughts?

Decided to make a new post as the other got rather silly but this has an idea for a 3rd faction which someone else suggested already in that other post. Please read this before just dismissing it out of hand for being about a 3rd faction.

To play as a pirate/smuggler you need this:

1) 1 large ship as a base/leader ship. Assume the unique named pilots are named something else. Either Rebel or Imperial.

2) Any points after taking the large ship(with any upgrades) can be use to buy fighters or other large ships. Fighters are limited to non-unique ships that cost no more than 20 points but can be a mix of Rebels and Imperials. Large ships must be non-unique versions but also can be either Rebels or Imperial. Upgrades can be taken where able.

3) No unique named crew cards or Rebel/Imperial only cards can be used.

The nice thing with this that the ships are already out so don't have to come up with something just for a pirate. This could also be used as a base for a box set, about the size of a large ship box that doesn't come with a ship though I guess it could. The box set could just contain cards and tokens turning existing ships into the pirates as the only thing FFG has to make for this. Could also be a way to produce things like containers or a disabled ship used in missions.

Thoughts?

Not a bad idea, but this removes many of the central conceits from the game. Without specifically declaring and costing a ship for mercenary work it shouldn't be used as such.

If this happens the ships have to be designed for it.

I am a fan of the older pirate build that existed, which was you may play Rebels (access to unique and non-unique rebel ships), Imperials (access to unique and non-unique imperial ships) or Pirates (access to non-unique rebel and imperial ships.)

We've been following similar rules for awhile, but we also extend it to exclude military ships (which admittedly limits the third faction a lot, but is very fluffy). You can have unique pilots if they aren't actual members of either faction at any point in the movies so Han & Chewie, Kyle Katarn, Jan, Lando, and any of the Bounty Hunters are fair game.

So your available ships would be: Y-Wing, HWK, Firespray, HWK, YT1300, and soon the upcoming YT2400.

It makes for an interesting faction. It still has interesting abilities, but flies very differently from the existing factions: slow, very little arc dodging, but with lots of big guns and effects.

Instead of trying for a global rule based on a points limit (small ships under 20 points), I would just give a list of allowed ships and pilots.

We've been following similar rules for awhile, but we also extend it to exclude military ships (which admittedly limits the third faction a lot, but is very fluffy). You can have unique pilots if they aren't actual members of either faction at any point in the movies so Han & Chewie, Kyle Katarn, Jan, Lando, and any of the Bounty Hunters are fair game.

So your available ships would be: Y-Wing, HWK, Firespray, HWK, YT1300, and soon the upcoming YT2400.

It makes for an interesting faction. It still has interesting abilities, but flies very differently from the existing factions: slow, very little arc dodging, but with lots of big guns and effects.

You might be able to include TIEs in a pirate faction. My guess is that because they are so cheap, the Empire wasn't too worried when a few disappeared from backwater worlds here and there. I'd also include the Z-95. However, non-hyperspace capable ships aren't much use to pirates in general, except to protect their base of operations.

Oh, yeah. Forgot those, thanks. Z-95 is also allowed and encouraged (which is actually the main reason I was excited for them, to add some variety to the pirate fleet options). We've also been allowing shuttles because they seemed a bit more generic, but I thought others might consider them overly Imperial.

Again, I like the lack of serious dogfighting power. To me it makes the faction feel very unique. All the ships are very dependable, but you don't really have any space superiority sihps in the mix, which I like for smugglers/pirates. Everything is either just old and cheap, or big and modified.

I have been thinking of limiting the Falcon to the Outer Rim Smuggler though. That ship is just too strong, and feels to military for me. I would rather it focused on crew and utility than giant guns.

You might be able to include TIEs in a pirate faction. My guess is that because they are so cheap, the Empire wasn't too worried when a few disappeared from backwater worlds here and there. I'd also include the Z-95. However, non-hyperspace capable ships aren't much use to pirates in general, except to protect their base of operations.

I think fluff-wise you can justify almost anything with a bit of work. But personally, my concern is that the faction has a unique feel, the way the Rebels and Imperials currently do. I wouldn't want the third faction to just have a combined feel of the two existing factions, but a unique feel all to itself. And for me, the lack of any really maneuverable small ships or space superiority fighters goes a long way towards accomplishing that goal.

You might be able to include TIEs in a pirate faction. My guess is that because they are so cheap, the Empire wasn't too worried when a few disappeared from backwater worlds here and there.

Aaand and ninja'd.

I also agree limiting the falcon to just the generic. Although creating a couple, fringe only, unique pilots for it and the other big ships would be reasonable, though a lot harder.

You might be able to include TIEs in a pirate faction. My guess is that because they are so cheap, the Empire wasn't too worried when a few disappeared from backwater worlds here and there.

That makes sense from a logical standpoint, but from flavor, the TIE Fighter is THE iconic imperial ship at this scale, and I think, in the interests of preserving faction identities, that the TIE and x-wing should be unavailable to a fringe faction on that basis alone.

And yet, when Wedge Antilles and Wraith Squadron impersonated pirates, they flew TIE Fighters

That is exactly the scenario I came up with when I stated I think you can justify just about anything fluff-wise. In the Tie Fighter video games there were Rebels flying the Tie Defender at one point, and the rebels had quite a few Super Star Destroyers and regular Star Destroyers by the time Wraith Squadron was doing its thing.

From from a game design perspective, you want the factions to have a unique feel. So even though we saw the Rebels flying a Lambda in the movies, they don't get one as one of their fleet options.

Personally I feel the same way about Ties. There are plenty of reasons pirates, or even rebels could be flying them, but in order to make a unique and viable faction I personally wouldn't want to include them as an option.

What he said