Welcome to NOVA Squadron Radio, Episode 3!

This week we are joined by several special guests, including Roy Scales from ‘A Few Maneuvers’, Sean Dorcy from the Omaha Nebraska X-Wing Community, and Alex Davy, games developer for Fantasy Flight Games! That’s right, THE Alex Davy!

What to know what FFG is saying about the TIE Phantom? IS it overpowered? Alex anwsers some hard questions!

We opened up the show with talk about the games we have been playing and the lists we have been testing. We then cover the latest news in the world of X-Wing Miniatures, more Rebel Aces spoilers, and some results from recent Regional events. Next, we have our main topic, ‘How to Build an X-Wing Community in Your Area’ and ‘How to Run a Successful Tournament’. We then sat down with Alex Davy, games developer for FFG and talk about his job, the TIE Phantom, the Meta, and so much more!

NOVA Squadron Radio is:
Ed Horne – Host
Kris Soehnlin – Co-Host and NOVA Squadron founding member
Ronald Brannan – Co-Host and NOVA Squadron founding member
Chad Brown – Co-Host/Editor
Roy Scales – Special Guest and Jedi Master

Sean Dorcy– Special Guest and X-Wing Mad Scientist

Take a listen and let us know your thoughts!

http://novasquadronradio.com/episode-3-alex-davy-from-ffg-building-x-wing-communities-and-running-tournaments/

~Ed

Awesome! Something to listen to while sitting still in NoVA traffic trying to get home from work this evening!

Link added! Sorry for the confusion.

And Sean is Omaha area, which is not OK....

Sean was awesome to talk to. He is a fountain of X-Wing knowledge!

Oh, and Roy of course was amazing as always to talk to!

Fixed Sean's origins... now sure what happened with the old spell check.

Sean was awesome to talk to. He is a fountain of X-Wing knowledge!

Sean is the X-wing TO Man! Hmm I think might even be his name.

Yeah, I was truly amazed at some of the combo's he was coming up with off show. And his advice on preparations for an event were just outstanding! All the reason why we had him on the show!

Yeah, I was truly amazed at some of the combo's he was coming up with off show. And his advice on preparations for an event were just outstanding! All the reason why we had him on the show!

You guys are doing fine. I think you may be the top podcast now.

Cannot wait to listen

I still think that the Kessel run has us beat, but those guys have over 100 podcasts under their belt. But we are trying and hope to improve with each show.

I was sooo looking forward to the TIE Advanced question for Alex Davy............

I think he sort of answered it in the question about older ships getting left behind. Hopefully we will see an Imperial Aces II or something like that to breath new life into that ship. It was my favorite as a kid, so trust me I feel your pain!

Can't seem to get it to work. Is the link to the site broken or is it just me? Trying to access on my Android phone. Thanks !

Try our RSS Feed: http://novasquadronradio.com/feed/podcast/

Here is the direct link: http://media.blubrry.com/novasquadronradio/p/novasquadronradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/NOVA_Squadron_Radio_Episode_03_final.mp3

The rss link gives me an error message. The other one takes me to your page, but if I click the "Audio" link, same thing: error page.

I'll look into it right now. Thanks for the heads up!

If you go down to the embedded play you have the option to download or play in new window. That seems to be working. I'm looking into the RSS feed right now.

Thanks for the heads up.

Really liked the part with Alex, answered a ton of questions about how they do things and their design philosophy. Also showed that they do visit these boards, because he knew way to many names and mentioned stuff we discuss here.

It was Very Nice!

Thanks, I am glad you liked it!

Yeah, I was really surprised how much they watch the boards actually. He was a really cool guy to talk to and I felt better after hearing him talk know that they didn't introduce the Phantom with no regard to what it might do to the meta.

Alex does try very hard to not break the game. That said there will be some combos that sneak through play testing which may be thought of as a gimmick or not a threat. I got to witness the debut of super Chewie at the FFG regional. The initial reaction was a solid meh when described on Friday night. Once witnessed in action I watched the jaw drop. It's not an unbeatable combo but definitely a very strong one.

I really like Alex's design approach to game balance, it is exactly the same that I would have, and is the same philosophy I have with house rules. (Granted House Rules obviously allows for much greater flexibility.)

I'm still convinced that I have better tools at my disposal (MathWing) for getting a good first-cut estimate of ship value, especially looking older wave releases. It has accurately predicted the low performance of the TIE Advanced and A-wing, and more recently: the high performance of the ACD Phantom and Falcon + Z-95s, low performance of generic E-wings and Defenders, and sharp drop in use of generic X-wings. E-wings and Defenders still have some time to gain traction, but I strongly suspect that even after Worlds we won't see much generic E-wing and Defender use, they're priced just a little too high. The model's certainty on E-wing cost in particular is quite high, since the ship has common functionality with other ships, making it easier to baseline against.

(Edit: you can also add low performance of turretless Y-wing to the list, it's about 2 points overcosted without a turret)

What's interesting is that they are on their 3rd team for design / balance, and it sounds like they took over for wave 5. Hopefully balance continues to improve, while still increasing the overall depth and ship capabilities. It is a difficult tightrope to walk...

I really like Alex's design approach to game balance, it is exactly the same that I would have, and is the same philosophy I have with house rules. (Granted House Rules obviously allows for much greater flexibility.)

I'm still convinced that I have better tools at my disposal (MathWing) for getting a good first-cut estimate of ship value, especially looking older wave releases. It has accurately predicted the low performance of the TIE Advanced and A-wing, and more recently: the high performance of the ACD Phantom and Falcon + Z-95s, low performance of generic E-wings and Defenders, and sharp drop in use of generic X-wings. E-wings and Defenders still have some time to gain traction, but I strongly suspect that even after Worlds we won't see much generic E-wing and Defender use, they're priced just a little too high. The model's certainty on E-wing cost in particular is quite high, since the ship has common functionality with other ships, making it easier to baseline against.

What's interesting is that they are on their 3rd team for design / balance, and it sounds like they took over for wave 5. Hopefully balance continues to improve, while still increasing the overall depth and ship capabilities. It is a difficult tightrope to walk...

So I have a question: Your math is base on 100 point squads? Is it possible the generic E's and TIE/D's fit better in Epic? I ask because I haven't had a chance to play Epic yet, but I'm dying to. I've been coming up with a few squad lists for when I can make this happen, which have included some of those fighters.