I haven't seen a discussion about this yet, so I thought I'd kick it off.

With the release of a 3rd faction, and the obvious recognition that there are limited ends to which the rebel and imperial forces can grow to, is it fair to assume that a 4th faction could be in the plans? The rest of the discussion is, of course, which future factions could we assume?

I've seen a lot of people suggesting that Han and Lando and Chewie and so on should be able to transfer over to the Scum faction, however, i really think that assumes the wrong thing about those characters. Han was a smuggler, which was and has always been a different group than 'scum and villainy.' I think that it's easier to come up with a 'Smugglers and Spies' faction and move Han and Co over to that group. You could include the Pulsar Skate, and a few other famous Smuggling vessels there for sure.

I think there's a possibility that you could see a 'Republic Fleet' faction as well, and this could draw either from EU or Prequel content. You could end up with Anakin and Obi Wan ships, particularly that one ship Obi jets across the Galaxy in, and that he and Anakin fight in during the opening of Episode 3. As well, there's content from the Clone Wars tv show.

Finally, I think there's an argument to be made for new factions that arise out of the upcoming Movies. I don't know what they'll be, but whatever new form of government we see in the upcoming films will likely have their own ships and we should be able to get a better idea of that next year. Problem will be with whether that content comes out in a reasonable amount of time to introduce these ships.

I would like to see FFG produce new content for this game through 2020, but it's hard to fathom them having enough content to keep up the pace they've been doing thus far. With a 4th faction, we could see one new ship per faction each wave, so possibly 2 or 3 ships per year per faction.

What do you think?

Jacob

Several S&V pilots(notably the Scyks) are more on the smuggler end of the spectrum, with Black Sun actually /attacking/ Tansarii Point in SWG. I don't think they're going to worry about how nicely the varying subfactions play with each other canonically.

sigh

What ships don't belong in the three factions? We really don't need another faction that is going to need to borrow ships to get up to parity with the other factions.

I would put this in the "Very Unlikely" basket. You would have to bring in some of the more extreme EU content or go back to prequels to achieve this. And I would say that prequels is the more likely occurrence.

I don't have enough TIE Advanced miniatures to throw at people OP.

I don't have enough TIE Advanced miniatures to throw at people OP.

Do we need a donation drive going?

I don't have enough TIE Advanced miniatures to throw at people OP.

Do we need a donation drive going?

We might. It's the most insulting thing I can throw at people here.

I guess my question is, would you rather have a 4th faction or see the games new content end earlier? I realize this may or may not be quick like some suspect, but content will run out at some point.

Jacob

I guess my question is, would you rather have a 4th faction or see the games new content end earlier? I realize this may or may not be quick like some suspect, but content will run out at some point.

Jacob

I don't think those two things are connected. Most if not all of the "smuggler" ships would work just fine in S&V, and the only things that I/R/S factions don't encompass are practically irrelevant outliers.

I guess my question is, would you rather have a 4th faction or see the games new content end earlier? I realize this may or may not be quick like some suspect, but content will run out at some point.

Jacob

I don't think those two things are connected. Most if not all of the "smuggler" ships would work just fine in S&V, and the only things that I/R/S factions don't encompass are practically irrelevant outliers.

Than I guess the real preference I'd make is that I'd rather it be called 'smugglers and scum' rather than s&v. It's inaccurate I'd say, which is why I don't understand the desire to include the 'smugglers' in the group, like Han or the Pulsar Skate and so on. I wouldn't call Karrde or Mirax or Han Scum or Villians at all.

Jacob

I would rather see the Vong as the 4th faction than a smuglers group

A "good guy criminal" faction might make sense from a canon point of view, but I get the feeling that FFG created S&V to both open up additional design space and also to have a place to put ships such as the StarViper and such that would not make nearly as much sense in the Rebel/Imperial model.

So in that sense I do not think a 4th faction is coming anytime soon.

However, the fact that the YT-1300 & 2400 were not included in S&V says to me that there may indeed be a chance of further forthcoming factional development.

I would rather see the Vong as the 4th faction than a smuglers group

I'd rather see Ewok Gliders than the stupid Vong. They are the piece of the EU that I am the happiest about being erased from existence.

JIm

*eyeballs Nomad* why is the Penguin following me....

I wouldn't be surprised if the next faction is something like "smugglers and spies". "Scum and villainy" feels like a faction for "bad guys" at the moment. It would make sense for them to make a "good guy" version of the faction. Just like what they did with their Lcg.

I'm not saying this is something I want, it's just something I see could happen.

I can't see them starting up with the prequel ships this close to Episode 7. It just wouldn't make much sense.

Not that I wouldn't want to see a prequel game. I just don't think I'd buy it.

Definitely wouldn't want a Vong faction. I never read those books and what I've heard about them, I don't much care for.

There never will be a fourth faction. If they announce a fourth faction within 1 year of today I'll buy the OP a small ship of his choice.

Joking, but I'll really do it just for fun if it happens.

*hand wave*

I am...not...the penguin you are looking for.

Truth is...there's a bounty on you. I'm afraid you're going to have to come with me.

There never will be a fourth faction. If they announce a fourth faction within 1 year of today I'll buy the OP a small ship of his choice.

Joking, but I'll really do it just for fun if it happens.

Dang. I was hoping for ship...

Jacob

I could see it going both ways. Always in motion, the future is...

But where would they draw the line between "Scum" and "Scoundrel"?

And what sort of design space would they be aiming at with a Scoundrel faction anyhow?

Han and Lando pre original trilogy I would say fall into the Scum category but they are very solidly in the rebel alliance after empire strikes back.

The yt 1300 and 2400 are used universally in star wars by both honest and dishonest folk. However if you give both those and the Firespray to the Scum and villany they lose significant uniqueness from what they are. But I digress, there's been many a thread on that topic.

4th faction for the time line we are playing is super unlikely.

Corporate Sector Authority

I would rather see the Vong as the 4th faction than a smuglers group

I'd rather see Ewok Gliders than the stupid Vong. They are the piece of the EU that I am the happiest about being erased from existence.

JIm

It's them or the suncrusher as dumbest thing in the EU.

Speaking of that stupid bit of EU, wouldn't it be the correct size for this game? How has it not been speculated for yet.

Joe Bob

Didnt we just leave this party?

There were people speculating and asking for a 4th faction HOURS after s&v was announced. Here we are 5 months or so away from its release date and this argument is already being rehashed.

I didnt feel the game needed a 3rd faction (as many of you here know...) but the games designers did and that is what happened. Can we please kill this debate? Even for a little while?

What would a "Smugglers and Spies" faction bring to the game? What would set them apart? What pilots would they use? The NuBoba set a bad precedent (though perfectly understandable as S&V would have been far lesser without him.) I remember a thread not to long ago about mirror matches in tournies, some people saying it killed the immersion. While i dont think a mirror match faction fight would kill immersion persay (a rebel/imperial commander could defect, pirates dont really like one another) watching Han square off with his 6 years prior self would seem very silly to me. Didnt know time travel was possible.

Han squaring off against Chewie is silly too but thats what comes with faction mirror matches sometimes...that shouldnt come if you are facing an entirely different force. You start multireleasing pilots you start to kill faction identity...I was way into the Resident Evil Deck Building game (have every card...even the super rare gencon Wesker, ran a league ) but having 4 versions of Jill and 6 versions of Chris or Wesker hit the games immersion and killed the specific identities of the characters. I dont want to see that happen here. Each faction should be special in some form...sharing pilots (even if the abilities are different) hurts this.

There is alot of grumbling that S&V doesnt have access to the falcon...we have only seen the FIRST wave...there will be plenty more I am sure and there is still a plethora or ships that can be dredged up for the 3 factions we have now. Who knows what the new movies and tv show will bring. Will we need a new faction at that point? Maybe...but I kinda doubt it. I would think the new empire would easily roll into the old and the New republic could easily roll into the rebellion.

Again...I and many others (even quite a few who supported the 3rd faction) dont see a reason to have a 4th yet...especially when the 3rd has only just been announced.

EDIT to add: Someone upthread mentioned CorSec...while I wouldnt be for it at this point in time...its something that I would probably be ameable to down the road a bit.

I don't really see anything in the EU during this time frame that could provide sufficient ships for another faction. I think S&V is going to be it.

Remember, between Rebels and Episode VII, we're going to have at least a couple years if new material to work with.

So is a couple years of new material enough for you guys? It seems Shake things there's lots of material left, but I don't think everyone agrees. How many waves are left? Could it be just to 10, or perhaps a couple more? At this pace, it might get to 2 more years, but I don't think that would make many people, myself included, very happy.

I didn't see 4th faction speculation, and to say it's been hashed isn't fair to my actual question, which is really whether the current 3 factions really provide enough room for enough future development to keep the game current and exciting for many years. There's a reason Magic and D&D have been successful, and it's because they've had new material on a regular schedule for such a long time. I think the original Star Wars CCG had just run out of material, which is a big factor in why they lost the licensing rights. Not saying FFG will lose the rights, but there must be a limit to things at some point. I'd rather it not be too soon.

Jacob