Decipher's issues with license has nothing to do with having no material left. They did have 4 more expansions pretty well planned out.

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

What ships are there in the EU that couldn't fit in the existing 3 factions? Characters don't matter, just ships.

Mary-Kate

THE YUUZHAN VONG!

Just messin'. Outside of the Coralskipper, I don't remember them having a lot of fighter-type ships. But on the way off-chance that does happen to be faction 4, I won't object.

here's some Vong ships, they're kinda **** designs. So glad they've been swept into the dustbin along with the Vong.

Smuggler ships could include:

Falcon (crossover like the Slave 1)

HWK-290 (crossover like the Slave 1)

Pulsar Skate (Booster/Mirax Terrik's ship)

Infinity (BoShek's ship)

Bargain Hunter (Jorj Car'das' ship)

Skipray Blastboat

Helix interceptor (Cryle Cavv's ship is the G Cat)

Preybird (Raptor and or Skyclaw - Mazzic's ships)

The Fury (Mystryl Shadow Guard Ship)

The Spicy Lady (Jarril's ship)

Large ship could be the Wild Kaarde (Action Vi transport owned and operated by Talon Kaarde)

This is just some of the options. Admittedly some of these examples are obscure, but my point is there is a PLETHORA of EU content for Smugglers, and just as many options for Scum. There are limited options for the Rebels and Imperials however, although there are still good options.

Truth be told, lots of the Rebel options could also be cannibalized for the Scum and/or Smugglers factions. The X-wings were not Rebel exclusives, and some of those ships were common with the smugglers. The whole ugly thing was very popular with both scum and pirate groups. Very few Imperial ships were crossovers however, largely because they required other ships to carry them and did not have their own hyperdrives.

I will also qualify that the great majority of smuggler ships were freighters. So, despite my observations, I actually don't think Smugglers are the best candidates for a 4th faction. I proposed them as obvious candidates, but I think they're not the best, unlike the Scum faction which reminds me more of the pirate groups. If you were to include the smuggler groups in there, that's fine with me, I just don't think the name reflects them well.

I actually think that a Republic group, either a new or an old (or both) would make for a better 4th faction. Either that, or some sort of faction that comes out of the upcoming trilogy... and who knows what that could look like.

The problem lies in how many more ships per faction you can come up with. I think there are maybe 4 more Imperial ships and maybe 4 more Rebel ships available without pulling from some major EU or new source material. Admittedly there are lots, and lots more options available from the S&V group, but having 10-12 of the original factions doesn't make it seem likely that we'd see 20+ scum ships while remaining at 12-15 for the others. If someone can honestly point me to 8-12 more ships for both the imperials and the rebels, I can see this game going 5-6 more years.

That doesn't leave a lot of room for longevity. I can see there potentially being more if they scrape for them, but the main ones are out and available. Aside from Aces packs, it's hard to imagine a long life cycle of development...

However, if they can release a 4th faction with wave 7 or 8, doing as they did with scum and managing to get that group up to 7 or 8 ships quickly, all of the sudden you have the ability to add one ship per faction 2 or 3 times a year. then, you grow the game slowly, building up a few more ships per year, extending the life.

I dunno. It's what I think about while I'm home alone and my wife has the kids at the inlaws. I know this makes some guys roll their eyes, and perhaps some think this is a useless argument. I honestly wonder about the longevity at the pace FFG has got and the limitations of a 3 faction game.

Jacob

To be honest with you guys I would have assumed we will get a 4th and 5th faction when the new movie comes out Christmas 2015. That gives us around 15 months to fill with Wave 5 & 6 and rebel aces which should take us through till Q1 2015, then I doubt we'll get anything till Armada has had a chance to take its share of peoples gaming budgets, so odds are pretty good of us just getting a Wave 7 with maybe 1 new ships for each faction(probably from the rebels cartoon),An aces pack for the tie advanced and maybe one or two huge ships .That would keep things ticking over quite pleasantly until the new movies are here and FFG gets new A rank canon material to draw ships from to keep the purists happy.

On a different note and I know it will never happen, the Yuuzhan Vong how many ships in EU lore do they have that would work at an X-Wing scale? There was the Coral Skipper and I think there was an advanced version but beyond that do they have any other ships ? As right now I can't see a 2 ship faction I can't see working.

Falcon (crossover like the Slave 1). - Exists already

HWK-290 (crossover like the Slave 1) - exists already

Pulsar Skate (Booster/Mirax Terrik's ship) - a yacht could easily fit into scum

Infinity (BoShek's ship) - I couldn't even find out what type of ship this was

Bargain Hunter (Jorj Car'das' ship) - "light freighter" is as specific as I could find. We have the hwk

Skipray Blastboat - easily fits scum and imperial already

Helix interceptor (Cryle Cavv's ship is the G Cat) - owned by imperial nobles

Preybird (Raptor and or Skyclaw - Mazzic's ships) - used by pirate scum in the outer rim

The Fury (Mystryl Shadow Guard Ship) - mercenaries fit in scum just as well as bounty hunters

The Spicy Lady (Jarril's ship) - one of a kind YT-1300 variant, not unlike the Falcon

Large ship could be the Wild Kaarde (Action Vi transport owned and operated by Talon Kaarde) - transports are ubiquitous, this one specifically could fit in all 3 existing factions.

Again, name ships that we couldn't put in existing factions.

Characters don't matter

Specific named ships don't matter (a la Slave 1)

As much as I didn't want scum, you could argue there were a lot of ships that didn't fit imps or rebels. Name ships that would require a new faction to create.

Handsome Jack

As far as I see it, we have factions for the Rebels, the Imperials and now everything else.

I think we're only likely to see a 4th faction emerge if Episode VII moves on from the Empire and introduces an entirely new 4th faction. Which is a possibility.

I'm not going to say a fourth faction is unlikely way down the line, 'cause look what happened the last time we all thought that. However a smuggler faction makes no sense, as this is a game about space battles, something smugglers would actively try to avoid. If there is a fourth faction made, I would bet either Trade Federation or someone from Ep7.

Without knowing the exact details of the licensing agreement FFG has its hard to guess how the new tv series and movies will interact with the X-Wing miniatures line. I would of thought that a high profile new movie is a great opportunity to launch a second edition with new starter set containing new ships for a restored republic/imperial remnant matchup with the new factions perhaps working a bit like the difference between early/late war in WWII historical gaming.

Leaving aside the advisability of the existence of a fourth faction from a game design or fluff perspective-

I think it's a little strange to suggest that Han Solo, one of the primary two heroes of the Battle of Yavin, should be aligned with anything but the Rebellion.

Yes he was a smuggler and all but come on- before that he was in the Imperial academy, should he have an Imperial incarnation as well?

Han and Chewie are part of the Rebel Alliance in a pretty iconic way.

As long as they have upgrades that are cross-compatible with all factions, FFG can put out as many as they want, as far as I'm concerned.

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.

But what about the Chiss/Hapans? I mean that amounts to 2 maybe 3 ships combined between them but they might make a showing

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.

Personally I am already tired of Falcons on the table (I have never even used mine since I bought it to avoid "contributing to the problem") and I am sure a lot of people are too, so releasing a S&V Falcon would just mean even more hit the tables.

I would not be opposed to a YT-1300 (ORS stats 2attack, 6h 4s) but the "Falcon" (3a,8h, 5s) should stay where it is

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.

Personally I am already tired of Falcons on the table (I have never even used mine since I bought it to avoid "contributing to the problem") and I am sure a lot of people are too, so releasing a S&V Falcon would just mean even more hit the tables.

I would not be opposed to a YT-1300 (ORS stats 2attack, 6h 4s) but the "Falcon" (3a,8h, 5s) should stay where it is

Simply preempting the argument is all. I agree with your suggestion that it should be the ORS type...I think ffg dropped the ball by not putting the superior stats on the title as opposed to the pilots.

4th Faction

can we just not talk about this anymore please

What ships are there in the EU that couldn't fit in the existing 3 factions? Characters don't matter, just ships.

Mary-Kate

Funny, this is precisely what anti-third faction people were asking before S&V was released. I personally think every ship from S&V could fit perfectly in either Empire or Rebels, but that didn't stop them from releasing an entirely new faction.

Since they already released one new faction, why would they suddenly say "Sorry, we are sticking with the factions we have already" just because you could fit new ships into the existing factions?

FFG's other Star Wars games have similar guidelines for factions. You have Rebel Alliance, Imperial Navy, Scum & Villainy (already here), then also Smugglers & Spies, Jedi, and Sith. It's not a stretch of logic by any means to expect that X-Wing will follow suite, especially with how much art recycling they enjoy doing (Not a complaint, just a fact).

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?

Not at all: Scum was added by necessity, it slows the Rebel and Imperial releases while content is still released. There is a lot you can add to S&V.

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.

Disagree even stronger than with the first one. Even the LCG doesn't Era mix, FFG is firmly planted in GCW. Personally I don't think they'll ever do Prequels, but if they do it'll likely be a separate but crosscompatible game.

With a 4th faction, we could see one new ship per faction each wave, so possibly 2 or 3 ships per year per faction.

They can already do this with S&V. They did it with just Rebels and Imperials with Wave 5.

FFG's other Star Wars games have similar guidelines for factions. You have Rebel Alliance, Imperial Navy, Scum & Villainy (already here), then also Smugglers & Spies, Jedi, and Sith. It's not a stretch of logic by any means to expect that X-Wing will follow suite, especially with how much art recycling they enjoy doing (Not a complaint, just a fact).

Sure it is. Jedi and Sith in the LCG are pretty much extensions of the Rebel Alliance and Imperial Navy factions: Sith is the Imperial Government and Palpatine's little "projects" and Jedi is Luke, Obi-Wan and Yoda. Smugglers and Spies likewise is the Rebel aligned Fringers, Lando, Han and the like. They're all already under the Rebel umbrella and have already been released under it.

I didn't think Third Faction would happen because it would be too far behind: Most Wanted artfully fixed that. But these new factions, what would they even have? Scum and Villany has no shortage of ships and together X-wing's faction trio cover everything.

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.

Personally I am already tired of Falcons on the table (I have never even used mine since I bought it to avoid "contributing to the problem") and I am sure a lot of people are too, so releasing a S&V Falcon would just mean even more hit the tables.

I would not be opposed to a YT-1300 (ORS stats 2attack, 6h 4s) but the "Falcon" (3a,8h, 5s) should stay where it is

Simply preempting the argument is all. I agree with your suggestion that it should be the ORS type...I think ffg dropped the ball by not putting the superior stats on the title as opposed to the pilots.

That was my thought as well make the title like 11 points and that would have been better (and make the Falcon more "unique" ).

We didn't need a third faction, but we got one anyway.

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.

The thing about the LCG is that the game is built around duality. Light and Dark side. You need 2 decks. And let me assure you, that factions work much, much differently than they do here. Factions are separated in this game, whereas you are able to mix factions in your deck. Taking anything from the LCG and applying it to this game is a dangerous endeavor. At best, it points out some art assets that may show up.

A "light side" scum faction makes no sense in this game. Considering we have Rebel vs Rebel, Imp vs Imp, and soon Scum vs Scum. Something that can't happen in the LCG.

I'm waiting for the Ewok Faction! or the Jawa Faction! :-)

I really appreciate the discussion. It seems there's a strong dislike for even the idea of a 4th Faction. However, not many have really addressed the true question, which I've tried to ask people to address in the first place.

Given that there is a limited life span for this game, does it not make sense to add a 4th faction to extend the life cycle? Regardless of your desire for the current 3 factions (or previous 2 factions) to be the only factions, which is obvious by the vehemence of dislike some people express, ignore your personal desire to argue and/or disagree and ask yourself the question - would you rather see a longer life cycle by the addition of a 4th faction or a shorter life space with the current status?

I personally don't care if there's 2, 3, 4 or 6 factions, I'd rather see this game have a long and fruitful expansion.

Jacob

I think FFG has already answered this by including Amon Azameen in most wanted. He wasn't exactly the scum of the galaxy by any stretch. He even fought with the rebels occasionally. I think any characters left could easily fit in one of the three existing factions.

That said, it wouldn't bother me if they made a "scoundrel" faction. I just don't think it is necessary.